pilot

"..followed an inadequate teacher, or learned from a book." I have a teacher, I teach myself, and I follow books and videos as well. Ultimately what I follow is Nature, and my inner experience. I highly respect teachers, but not the kind that seek to stand between you and...yourself. Or that continuously undermine your own abilities and self-reliance.

What is the name of it?

overcast, saw nothing

the only thing to hope for now is a clear sky.

Yeah, I get it.

No reason a forum can't be a nice place to share experiences. We each have to do our part to make it the place we want it to be, even in the midst of misunderstandings. My impression is you placed your trust in one book from this system and felt betrayed after investing time in it only to be adversely affected. I have replied to your introductory post by saying I am glad you are recovering and that you are sharing your experience with this system. But I also have to say, it would be helpful if you described a bit of what you did, and were open to discussing it with others. You don't like the system, and that much you've made clear. If you have good reason to say the system caused you harm, it would only reinforce your position by being more open to discussing it, especially with those who practice it. I have read a couple of books from this system and decided not to use it because they were too fragmented and scattered to be worthy of attempting to piece together. Ideally, those books I have read would also include a disclaimer along the lines of 'followup with book x and y to understand practice z of this system' or at least more vaguely with 'do not attempt these without supervision' but they did not, plain and simple. Therefore, I do not follow or promote it, but there are plenty of other books and disciplines to choose from that are becoming increasingly more accessible.

I don't know what an ROTC instructor is, but I agree that it would be better to make a decision when you are more centered in yourself. that way it will reflect you and not outside influences, because it is you who will be living that decision primarily. as for the symbolism you use between the heart and brain, I would go with your feelings above your thoughts, especially if they are strong and consistent. A final thing that comes to mind is to suspend self-judgment and just welcome and accept yourself no matter what thoughts come up.

EM-blocking wall paint is something I heard about to protect yourself at home. as for devices, they should have an offline mode, and otherwise don't put them directly on your body which should weaken the signal strength. if anyone has more info please do share it.

hi kata

Hi Shen555 and welcome, I don't have experience blending pakua/bagua with various styles of qigong so I don't know, but my teacher never said to keep them separate. The idea of incompatibility makes me weary of the way in which that system really works, because as far as I know compatibility is key to broadening your repertoire while also building on it in time because of the inherent overlap. It took me a good while time to come to this realization.

thanks Apech, just noticed the new one in, so there must be a delay by the time the new one shows up.

My old avatar that I first uploaded keeps resetting itself. I have followed these instructions and met the specs. Templates do work, but whatever I upload from computer it reverts to the old one.

welcome badogue, I believe you, and I am glad you are raising awareness about it to others. wish you well on your recovery.

I don't and I haven't. I am not calling for enforcing censorship against this or anything else. The freedom and self-moderation is actually great to see. I will write out my point more clearly: connecting practice/belief/philosophy X with political/sectarian group Y forms a relationship. my view (and not yours, but perhaps others on here) is that the practice/belief/philosophy is the only thing that matters, and it does not necessarily have to form a relationship with group Y. in fact, i believe such a relationship is detrimental to X. therefore, I have used the words extraneous, irrelevant, and external. please, disagree with my perspective, I too wish the world be a better place, but it will do so on its own terms when the time is right. what sexual practices one decides to engage in falls under the personal practice category. I'm glad its part of the open discussion. but if they want to use that practice as some sort of political activism, I'm sure they can organize and discuss that elsewhere, and leave the core of the practice as a means in itself. Agreed. My perspective, however, has a point. What you practice for your own sake can remain at that level and be in of itself sufficient, and can be distinguished from others who do not share these views. I am saying there's a place for discussing practices, and a place for discussing politics and worldly affairs and involvement; what one does with their practice/philosophy is their own business, and they themselves are accountable, along with any group or movement they desire to raise, which I hope occurs off this website. but they can't turn around and claim, say, this act of kindness is what our movement stands for. no. the act of kindness just is, and occurs on its own. Good advice. this topic appealed to me since I too tried to understand my strategy for approaching my discipline. I hope is more clear now. I'm not denying the give and take between practice/experience/philosophy and the world, but that it is possible to discuss and focus on these without necessarily invoking third party attributes which would better fit another forum that is dedicated to that sort of thing in the first place.

I come to taobums because it talks about the nature of reality, especially what it means to be human and how to help achieve our real potential. anything else is fundamentally irrelevant, external, and especially distracting. daily life is one thing, but mixing basic things like breathing, enjoying a sunrise, finding some peace, etc. with politics, or anything else, is absurd. who people are, and how they choose to carry out their daily life, including political affairs, is extraneous. I am sure the internet has plenty of other forums on politics and world affairs, but few that attract so many experienced and knowledgeable people that discuss things to the point.

Europe, i miss it

books, websites, videos can't talk beyond their original publication. it is the people that learn, practice, and write (full circle) that make them alive with meaning. the forum has clarified a lot to me and because of that I find it worthwhile to contribute back however I can. it's been a favourable signal to noise ratio so far, and being on the former team with parsimony without loss of poetic meaning is rewarding. as others have said, a discipline can be fairly isolating from the world. this may not replace those friendships that we keep for life, but its a small step in the right direction to connect, celebrate diversity, and act on the emerging glimpses of how much we really share. after a while it can only be

only 1h's drive from Zurich the summer sky, taken over the states-great lakes.

hello

The whole purpose of a term like taoist is to create a contrast to everything else non-taoist in order to make it unique and therefore carry any sort of meaning. I guess the point that I see is within taoism you have different perspectives. Of these, I see self-styled cultivators or energetic taoists (as mentioned in this thread) as having the most 'soft' definition both within and to the broader term of taoism. I propose that at a more extreme end of that particular subset, one can 'subscribe' to more than just taoism without rendering selected alternative practices/perspectives mutually exclusive or incongruous in any way. For example, yoga theory and practice, at least particular subsets within those, correspond to taoist practices to the point of being practically, metaphysically, and empirically interchangeable. simply something to point out.

symptoms to monitor that can come and go: pain in knee, pressure-headache, chi block, burnout (and resulting effects along the road to slow recovery), insomnia, various mild injuries from exceeding physical demands on body structure (wrists, fingers, back, knees) the rest are not due to the practice itself, but more to the devotion/commitment aspect. the best analogy I can come up with is raising a wild animal in a domestic setting, having a mutual attraction, being one with it and apart from it, primal power that creates and heals as much as it destroys and harms. incidentally this agrees with a totem animal dream incubation experiment.

if I understand your question right: An open heart does not pass judgment but sees things as they are and takes action accordingly nonetheless. According to Rudolf Steiner, eagerness to speak out or against 'deafens' the ears and repels higher knowledge, which in my down-to-earth experience seemed true. it's a theme I've come across in more than one 'tradition' (theosophy/anthroposophy, yoga, alchemical taoism) but if you need a strictly taoist/tao te ching perspective don't take my words for it.

hi Dusk, enjoy your journey wherever it takes you, it is a most fulfilling one!

as a new member I'd like to welcome you back

If a long way means lasting pressure in your head from zhan zhuang it certainly did not agree with me, and I have followed safety precautions. I'd rather stick to the stances while doing qigong or taij for that. speaking from theory, check out Yang Jwing-Ming's concerning Huo and Sui Qi. Even gentle attention isn't as clear cut as I've read it can stagnate as much as energize (ex. focusing on Qihai instead of Dantian is promoted by some, and location varies depending on lineage). Some speak of dantian but instead (cryptically) mean the 'center' further confusing the distinction between what true nei dan may be and its relationship to wai dan (do the ribs really convert the two?). I see no point leaping towards everything I hear about even if it works for someone; instead I stick with the basics and from experience see what is true, and take it from there. Said otherwise, there's a point where method meets experience, and the rules change.