andrew

though I have no idea who this guys is, I very much like his timeless way of seeing how we react to what is happening in this blog about the Law of Attraction. http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/08/complaining/ It starts to boggle the mind, but like what has already been mentioned, it does make sense from a divine persepctive. To sum it up, how we react after something happened actually played a part in why it happened in the first place! Talk about quantum entanglement! living today like it was your last is a good test of what you truly value, not particularly good advice for those who are materialistic hedonists! Infact, it might be said that is why the world is like it is. "I'll do what I like to whom i like" mentalities are rampant, would that change if they knew they would die at sun set? Can't tell from here, future hard to see....

Siddhis and Powers are essential for Enlightenment? Great, now you tell me!!. I was only a moment away...

Been there mate. It's actually not a bad place to be, spiritually speaking, although it feels horrible and rock bottom. I've been through losing a child, brother's suicide, losing my father to cancer amongst others and all of it makes you wonder 'what am I doing? where am I going? what is the point here?' But I went through these challenges, mostly limped and crawled through actually. You have the choice, like you have rightly perceived, to live life in vain pursuit of something, or stand and actually be something. Life is being spilled through the cracks of our existence along with our love for it our our desire to keep it, like a waterfall that evaporates before it is out of sight. Letting it go while at the same time honoring it is the path of a Master, and if we have the guts, a path that lays at our feet always. Feel the hurt, re-evaluate everything and press on. It honors those we have lost in the only real way we can. As the psalmist said "We will go to them, but they will not return to us" love and empathy andrew

Awesome. He sounds like a real find, a Master if you will It is very cool that he has real ability and character you can emulate. It doesn't get much better than that... peace andrew

Hi All, This could be a long post, but the basics are simple to state, so I'll keep it as short as i can. I became aware of the power of our cultural conditioning towards sex and started to understand how to let go of compulsion and become aware of it as an energy rather than a need. through moderation (I'm married) and a complete lack of fantasizing I became aware of a heat energy rising in my chest when sitting. It seemed that it was related to letting go of the 'sex as need' thoughts. As I practice Calm- Abiding meditation, such feelings are generally seen as fabrications and to be observed, nothing more. However, I am wondering about Qi and this experience, wondering if they are infact what I have recently read about in Taoism as a potential path of awakening. I have Gold Flower on order (I currently have a pdf copy, not sure who translated it) so I will be exploring further, but any advice / thoughts are appreciated. By the way, I don't sit down and seek out this experience, it has arisen on it's own. I just watch the breath and calm the body. I don't achieve samadhi in any great way, so I'm looking at options on how to use this experience to deepen meditation. thanks andrew

thanks MithShrike, and everyone who has given their time to respond, peace to you all! I will be spending some time with this info, i have a lot of faith in the process of asking god for answers and allowing the answers to come. You have all been a part of that process and I will check in once I have some more experience with it and help out in return were I can. Goodbye for now. thanks, peace and love andrew

Hi surfingbuddha, Back in 2003 I did around 7 months of Aikido and was enamored with Morihei Uesheba and his legendary ability. That was the last time I spent anytime trying to feel/cultivate energy and I was not very successful. I loved doing the rolls and throws though, it is a very liberating thing, and given the time I would do it again. Thinking back, I had no clear purpose for what I was doing so did not get the potential benefit of understanding energy, and only now after doing Calm-Abiding meditation do I feel anything at all, which is a little ironic! The old 'when you stop chasing, it finds you' scenario The Sensei you are training with certainly sounds masterful, what other meditation practices does he suggest to follow in general? Or is it just that one style he uses? I get the feeling that many things are possible, but whether they bring peace is another thing; Let Peace guide you. Deep inner peace is the most powerful ability of all, is he a peaceful person? I found the guys who trained me, though both 3rd dan, we focused on the martial aspect too much, not once did they suggest any meditation beyond a 5 min seiza session before training. Back then, I would spend time at the buddhist temple trying to meditate, but I had no unifying understanding of them at all to bring it all together. Which in the end is probably the best advice, if you have achieve some level of peace, you can best judge the path forward and what he is telling you. I don't think you can do any harm, unless it distracts you from being peaceful, which is your most precious resource.. (It took a long time for me to learn that and I learnt it the hard way!) peace andrew

thankyou Dagon, TWIV, bindo, that is all very helpful, and the links are great as well. The quality of the advice available on this forum is staggering! i will have quite a bit of reading to do to get a grip on it all. And like TWIV said, I will leave room for intuition to guide me through as well. I have always found though, you cannot know what you do not know. So I'll take all this on board and let the divine organize it for me. peace andrew edit: Actually Dagon you have touch on something I had been wondering; what is the relationship between kundalini and chi? i realise they are words from two different systems, but for you to say it could be one and not the other beg the question what is the difference in reality? Is it the way in which the energy arises or an actual different type of energy? and how would I tell the difference? thanks

No worries Torus. I tend to shy away from science these days, but I did study a bit of Chemistry a few years back at night school, and I get into electronics a bit, It would be wonderful to see them converge at some point in my understanding and experience. thanks and peace andrew

Thanks devoid, Goals have been a bit vague regarding meditation for me overall, and I am at a crossroads. It probably is time I wrote such a list. Funny, it has been quite a while that I read anything about goals and then today i picked up that book "The Secret" when I was browsing during lunch break. It was all about the 'Law of Attraction' and it made me consider my goals with this. Then I read your post and I think I get the message! thanks and peace andrew

thanks de_paradise, that is a perspective I hadn't considered. I like the bit especially that I made bold above...very cool! I have always felt a bit frustrated with not 'getting that far' in my meditation, but what you describe has definitely happened, in that the nature of relaxation has changed over time in subtle ways, but I haven't been that mindful of those changes as perhaps I could be. I'm certainly aware of energy now, though in a crude way. I have begun reading the pdf posted by MithShrike http://globalqiproject.com/the-eight-extraordinary-meridians.html which is very well written, thanks for that. thankyou and peace andrew

Hi Torus I certainly am glad for the guidance of divine intelligence! Am I understanding this quote correctly if I say that because I am not fantasizing and being very moderate with sex, that ions are being re routed somehow? My mind has been drawing energy incorrectly all this time? It certainly would explain a few things! thanks Andy

thankyou TWIV, I am focusing on the rise and fall of my belly when breathing, so it would seem then that I have been building Qi without knowing it. Certainly then what you say is true; it is a natural process that requires no mental involvement. It is because Taoism seems the most relaxed and holistic that I am investigating in this direction. My previous desires to experience energy all came to nothing, so I for the most part I just ignored any further learning for many years. I'm actually quite happy I know very little as it allows me to progress without trying to live up to a preconceived set of beliefs about Qi. Or more accurately, what I know is general and non-specific and probably not much more than any well read person. What is your opinion of The Secret of the Golden Flower? I have been reading JJ Semple's site and he links it with Kundalini, which sort of attracts me and scares me at the same time! Because I believe this started when I was able to accept that sex was not a need, and that much of how it is treated in our culture was exploiting me, and not natural at all, I have continued to not fantasize and be moderate in general. As it is a very real thing happening, I don't want to stumble on, 'making it up as I go', I'm already risking going in circles as it is! Though in reality, it is probably too late for that. I suppose the simplest question is; Has studying Qi brought you to deeper levels of Samadhi when meditating? This is probably why I'm not just 'letting it go' and investigating at all, I'm hoping for a more effective use of my time and hoping to 'supercharge' my progress somehow. At the moment I sit in the morning for an hour and the evening for an hour. It doesn't seem though I can get beyond being relaxed, which is good, but I don't see anymore time magically becoming available so I'm hoping this isn't a distraction but rather a path to enhancing the effectiveness of what time I do have. cheers andrew

Thankyou very much everyone, I will be a while digesting all of that but I certainly feel alot of it resonating with me. Just so it's clear, I'm assuming what I'm feeling is chi, I don't have any training to know one way or the other and I certainly don't see it as any great accomplishment, I'm happy however to be aware of energy as I have never been much of an 'energy' person. For all I know, this is how other 'normal' people feel all the time! i just suspect it is chi because it appeared first in the middle of my chest and I thought it was anger or frustration. Once I stopped calling it these abstract names, I became aware of it's hot nature and it began to spread through my chest and arms. At one stage I thought 'is it a blockage of Qi?' so i stopped focusing on the centre of my chest and it did seem to move upwards. Eventually over a matter of minutes it was in my throat and then my head. After that it sort of dissipated. when I sit though, it is back where it started. Again, I don't sit and consciously try and get this happening, I just calm myself as best as possible through watching the breath. The guys who taught me calm-abiding would say it is my ego trying to trick me or just my conditioning unwinding etc, which is why I'm not asking them! The info I'm looking for is a bit of a case of I don't know what I don't know! So I'm very glad to get the input given here. I'm not going to stop Calm-abiding or the general instructions of 'letting go' of these things, but I would like to understand an energy work system and see if it assists in relaxing me so I may deepen my sitting meditation. It seems to me that it would be better to incorporate these feelings rather than just wonder at them, which I think is more distracting. So many good points have been made, thanks again. respect and peace andrew Edit: TWIV Go ahead and sidetrack the thread now, it sounds interesting!

thankyou MithShrike. Torus. I hadn't thought of getting into Qigong, but i will check out a few exercises. It may be good to do this in the mornings as I find it hard to get settled sitting in the morning. It definitely sounds good, I assume it is this site you are talking about? thanks andrew

thanks exorcist, the way is virtue, Yes, thanks for the advice, attachment is certainly not why I sit so thanks for the reminder. I am a visual person, but I don't try and visualize when sitting, just watch the breath. It was unusual to have anything like this, I have previously enter though Samadhi to a blue crystalline state, but that was spontaneous and also unusual. i only asked as it seemed synchronicity at work that the next day I would be reading about 'elements' that's all. thanks again andrew

Hi Exorcist, I must admit I skipped most of this thread, far too advanced for me, I thank Manitou for asking the question she did, because your response made me remember the experience I had while sitting last night, and I thought to ask the forum about it. Now, this is what I felt/saw. My heart and lungs were on fire glowing red and hot, my brain was crystalline blue and cold but also dark somehow, my abdomen was lush and green like a jungle and calm. My legs were made of wood and stone and my arms made of steel and technology. Reading back over this thread, I can't help but think I was seeing something other just a pleasant sequence of thoughts from a brain that has seen to many special effects!. Also my center of vision was in the back of my skull looking forward through my head. I can tell you, it was dark in there! It was a little unnerving to be aware of the inside of my head considering I spend most of my time in the front of it! Do these relate to what you are discussing here, with the 5 elements etc? Either way it was a pleasant change form the usually uneventful sitting I do. respect andrew

Hi brawnypandora0, Have you read a biography about his life? I believe the figure is around 70,000,000 dead as a direct result of his rise to power, purges and artificial famines. Thousands of dancing troop girls kept for his personal sexual entertainment, and in his last years entertained himself with films of rapes he ordered. What does all that mean in terms of Te? I don't know. Perhaps he was only half as bad as he had potential to be, perhaps compared to the alternatives faced by the Chinese people at the time he was a 'saint'. I feel I am looking into the hidden depths of the Chinese people when I consider what they went through with him, and are still going through with communism in general. Then I look at myself and realize I have to breath and bring myself back to the center. What would an answer really provide me? http://www.amazon.com/Mao-Story-Jung-Chang/dp/0679746323/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301378968&sr=8-1 peace to you andrew

To unite the day one must first divide it! This is a little saying I made up recently to remind myself to be mindful of the breath during the day. I treat each breath as a discrete moment, which is itself an expression of the eternal moment. In this way the 'be present in the moment' lifestyle has a real anchor with my experience. At any moment i notice my breath, in any breath I realize the moment. peace and wisdom to you andrew

I like it, it is a bit like a koan to me, but then again to me, most things are! I like to gloss over it, not read anything into anyone one line but let the whole thing just wash over. Like the Secret of Golden Flower which I'm enjoying, I just letting the mystical vibe dispel the over analyzing that comes from religious past. thanks and peace to you, andrew

Hi, I recently started becoming aware of a heat energy which lead me to look into taoist beliefs about jeng, chi, and shen. I believe it is my path to realise a full awakening of this energy, and I have a copy of The Secret of the Golden Flower on order as it struck a chord with me just reading a free pdf copy. I have been reading JJ Semple's website and I have plenty of questions about such an awakening! I meditate 2 hours per day so I am more than just talk, though I am interested in this path as it incorporates the bodymind which i feel I need to learn more about! love and peace andrew

Thankyou, Apech.