Green Tiger

Hodor? I think I know what he's talking about. Starjumper, is the MCO movement kind of like a wave up the body? I've practiced a Chi Kung where you slowly kind of create a wave in your body that starts in the feet and moves up to the head and then travels back down to the feet. There were hand/arm movements that correspond. I think in Jerry Alan Johnson's Chi Kung Healing DVD he calls it the golden bell or the golden ball or something like that.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing, Brion. Is the 'one strong qi force' a technique that you use often, or was it something unique to this case?

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. Are you sure it wasn't one of those feinting goats? They do that sort of thing all the time.

So your practice is more about killing goats with mind bullets?

Pictures or it didn't happen.

For what it's worth... On his Tai Chi and Chi Kung videos, Jerry Alan Johnson says that his teacher (not sure which one he is referring to) told him that moving meditation is 1000 times more powerful than sitting meditation, but only if done with proper posture. He said the problem is, very few people practice with correct posture. *shrug* I'm pretty sure I don't practice with perfect posture, so I augment my moving meditation with standing and sitting meditations. If I only do moving meditation, my energy starts to get agitated. Stillness really calms and clears for me.

*drops to knees and bows repeatedly* We're not worthy, we're not worthy! We're scum!

I can resonate with that. I don't think 'clubber' would accurately describe me, but I've definitely been to some parties of all sorts. Went through different phases of partying all of my adult life. These days, my idea of a party is a good book and a couple bottles of IPA. I used to be very experimental, though. About 7 years ago I stumbled upon what you might call 'psychonaught culture'. People who were very much into the introspective, entheogenic substances. Some of the people were partiers, some were wannabe shamans, some were just curious. I was a little of all three. I was only in that scene for a few years, but it was eye opening. One of the most important things I took away from those experiences, though, was that you need a guide to show you the way. Otherwise it is very easy to get lost. I never did find a good guide then, but later I met a tai chi instructor who introduced me to new methods of introspection. Then, more recently, a neigong instructor who took me even deeper down the rabbit hole.

Hey CatPillar, Just stumbled on your thread while searching and thought I would toss something in. Once, when I was feeling really down, I took a hallucinogenic substance. Now, if you know anything about hallucinogens, this is usually a really REALLY bad idea. Set and setting determine your experience almost always. If you take a hallucinogen when you are in a bad place, it will usually take you to an even worse place. On this occasion, however, that was not the case. Instead of becoming paranoid or having a 'bad trip' I became really happy and euphoric. I realized (it actually felt like I remembered) that none of the crap I was feeling down about actually mattered. It is kind of hard to put into words exactly what I felt, but it was very happy. I started laughing joyfully. It felt like coming home. I remembered that all things ultimately serve love and light and, although we are all part of the Great Thing That Is, our lives are somewhat insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I felt like I had once known this, but had forgotten. It felt very good to remember. Of course, I was hallucinating. So I'm not sure what that anecdote's worth. What may be relevant to your question though, is that afterward I felt that: a. We are all connected to something greater than our individuality. Something that, I think, transcends death. and b. Nothing really matters. This is just a dance. That day I resolved to dance my heart out while the music is playing. If there is no more dancing when the music ends, oh well. If there is another dance after this one, cool. And I called out unto this thread and did bid it rise again.

You speak as though the two were separate. Indeed, the dissolution of separation is what we are talking about, I think.

And that's just the one's that are still in print. His original Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy book (published in 2000) was the first book about medical qigong I've read and I dare say it is still the single most extensive technical document on the subject. I haven't read his newer series of books but I suspect they are just an expanded, in depth version of the original. Also, his Essence of Internal Martial arts v 1 and 2 are really nice resources for anyone who practices internal arts. Lots of good physical training methods shown in volume 1 and volume 2 goes more into the internal alchemy aspects of training.

I can sympathize with feelings of unease about the vast array of traditions he pulls from. He seems to have studied everything he could get his hands on. On the other hand, I've read several of his books and, regardless of the source material, they are very fascinating. I won't be rushing off to beg for discipleship, but the man has earned my respect. His resume is more than impressive--it is unbelievable. So I can understand skepticism, but I think he's the real deal. Just look at his shiny hat! http://daoistmagic.com/prof-johnsons/

Nog. I've seen things while in the presence of a Qigong master that I've never seen anywhere else and I suspect wouldn't be captured on camera. I think I read in Jerry Alan Johnson's Medical Qigong Healing Therapy that he speculated Qigong practices increase bloodflow (or maybe it was chi flow) to the occipital lobe of the brain or something like that and give us the ability to see chi. If that's the case, then I don't know if any camera will ever be able to capture chi. But maybe. The only thing I know for certain is that my ability to see/feel chi seems to be directly related to how much I have been practicing at that time. If I practice a lot, my sensitivity increases. If I stop practicing, my sensistivity dulls.

Equilibrium. Good movie. The gun kata supposedly covers the most strategic angles in a gunfight . . . or something like that. I've studied staff and sword forms and find the staff to be the more beneficial as far as my personal internal development goes. The big waxwood staff is my favorite. When I first started training with it I could only do about six rounds of 'looking for snake in tall grass' before my core was on fire.

Cars are not gasoline, just you have to admit it . . .

I mostly use JAJ's stuff and other publications to supplement my main practice. If you want to learn a complete system, you really need to find an instructor to teach it to you in person.

I don't have this book yet, but I bet I can answer your questions anyway: 1) Complete systems are not entirely transferable via book. 2) All of the above and then some. 3) It is the culmination and product of many years of serious, scholorly research and experience.

I am a meat popsicle.

So practices that develop Jing, Qi, Shen, and Light are not necessarily distinguishable from one another? Practicing the Gift of the Tao movements, for instance, will develop each different type of energy in turn (progressively)? There isn't say, one specific move that develops Jing and another move that develops Shen? Each move has the capability to develop all of them. As does the sitting, standing, ect. So it must just be the quality of the practice that changes as the practitioner progresses from one state to the next? There is a jing quality of practice, a qi quality of practice, a shen quality of practice, and a light quality of practice, yeah? I'm just guessing that is how people distinguish between these things now; by the quality of the practice and not at all by what sort of methods are being practiced. Thanks for taking the time to clear that up for me!

You haven't heard of running meditation? Also, I noticed no one mentioned yoga. Particularly if you are having bowel movement issues, I would recommend some running and yoga. Really helps loosen things up. Then just stand over the toilet in horse stance, I guess. *shrug* Prolly not, actually. Cheeks might be too tight for that to work . . . this may call for some experimentation . . .

and you can get it if you try I'm still working on his other books though. In no hurry to buy this one. I'm banking he won't run out of prints any time soon. Did you catch the bit about the cloud bottom shoes? I think that's my favorite. In case you missed it, he basically gives a tai chi instructor crap for wearing sneakers. JAJ is wearing cotton-bottom shoes. The instructor says, "Oh, you're one of those." The instructor mockingly congratulates JAJ for wearing cloud-bottom shoes and thereby being energetically more connected to the earth. He then proceeds to expain that, if he really wants to get the pure chi, he has to move out of his house with plumbing and electricity and into to the woods where he will chop wood and carry water. Otherwise all his cloud-bottom-shoe-wearing fundamentalism isn't worth much. So he bought some sneakers.

IMHO, he is the top western scholar in the field. And by western, I mean white dude. If you're interested in Chi Kung or Tai Chi, you should start with his videos. Chi Kung Healing Workout and Tai Chi Empowering Workout I think they are great resources for beginners or seasoned students. Could someone with the book let me know how it is bound? I'm curious if I would be able to unbind and scan it easily. I don't plan to distribute electronic copies, but I like to have the electronic resource for myself. It's the only way I can get away with reading it at work.

Those characters look really similar. So 神 is 'shen' and 功 is 'method?'

Everyone's path is different. I suspect it is true that these practices typically have the side effect of good health, but we would have to do a more extensive survey to determine that for certain.

Ain't that the truth! Thanks for the attempted clarification.