Sonhoffman

I feel the shamanist side of this practice is most strongly expressed in the standing S-M outdoors, where one can grow more sensitive to heaven and earth Qi and the way they "play". Spiraling heaviness alternates with soaring lightness, one is rooted in the other.

Right now my favorite is doing standing S-M out in the sunny yard, moving about freely across the lawn. Sort of like a dodgy clumsy tai chi dance sometimes, led by more or less flowing hand gestures, then when the intensity rises, some shaking and grooving of the hips. Time flies when doing this, an hour can be a pretty short time, and it's also giving something to the neighbors to marvel (or shake their heads) at!

You're welcome ! And good luck, have fun, whichever road you choose

I would suggest you find out about Stillness-Movement, make a search on the forum. It's gentle and powerful, a complete and balanced lineage system, with no self-torture involved.

After a three-year-or-so hiatus I am back into Stillness-Movement, only now it feels like I'm REALLY in it for the first time. I guess I've always been a late bloomer at everything, but it's as if the workshop I organized and attended in 2012 has really begun to kick in just lately. I now get grabbed by the vibration throughout the day and begin nodding and circling along without even thinking. The energy is doing its thing constantly and all I have to do is the 1 hour sitting a day to keep it going strong, or as it seems, ever stronger.. Of course I do some GOT now and then as a supplement, but the sitting is what's really happening for me at the moment. This is the opposite of the situation in 2012, when sitting often felt like a bore and a chore. I bet most seasoned practicioners can't even recall all the funny or strange "co-incindences" that have happened since they took this path. It's just something that comes along with it. It's also funny how when you're tuned out of these vibrations, you get easily lost into mundane thinking, and stop regarding the higher levels as important, or even existing. After re-starting this practice a month or so ago, my view was turned upside down in just a couple of days, and the LIGHTer side is definitely up Highly recommended, and please do give it the time & effort it requires!

I think you're right not to act on it if it's not really in your interest. Energetics happen.

I'm sure many other over 30-year olds will agree that being 22, or twenty-anything, can be a most challenging age. Don't expect energy work to be the key to better relationships. You will need more experience with relationships and to work with your own attitudes and mental knots in order to thrive in the world. A decent amount of daily Qigong will support that process but focusing on that too much could only make you feel more of an "outsider". Also you could consider learning meditation/Qigong from a teacher. Then there would be no confusion about "where to concentrate during meditation". edit: I realise this sounds like granpa talking and I probably wouldn't have liked this kind of advice myself when I was your age

Lately I've been doing Gift of the Tao moves with my girlfriend who is not really interested in energetics but likes to do them to loosen up/relax and develop balance. She's into ballet and has her own ballerina way of doing the moves. She even wears those ballet shoes sometimes.

I think it was Einstein who said it's not possible to solve a problem at the level it was created at. Stillness-Movement deals with a specific energy, here we talk about "higher levels" or "heavenly vibrations". Calmness is indeed what it is about. Of course to get definitive answers you need to let Michael know your precise situation but as far as I can tell it's one of the most gentle and least "forced" systems out there.

Thank you for this elaboration and also for the support. For those interested, I have been doing Gift of the Tao movements and Stillness-Movement Neigong for a couple of years and consider myself by no means a "good student", meaning I tend to lose sight of the practice more often than I would like to and generally haven't been able to put in all the gongfu I think this system deserves. Anyway it's good to know that progress is taking place. Only makes me wonder how fast I would progress with consistent 1-2 hours daily practice.

This morning I woke up and my first thought was "Man, I've been far away". I recall some dreams of being in a foreign country but it was unclear what this country was. Then I went online and saw a message from a Facebook friend I've never met. He said I visited him in Costa Rica last night, asked if I could smoke weed at his place and then gave him a hug telling him "It will be alright". This guy is sick with cancer. Right now as I write this I'm watching Twin Peaks and the Blackfoot Indian guy is talking about wandering dream souls.... Look at that. It's as if the Higher Levels were 36 000 bit information and we only receive 36... Or something. Happy 2013 everyone!

Oh goodie! This ought to give my slouched-down practice a perk-up!

I believe my cold was stress release related. I felt the first symptoms on my last workday. Could be my great work ethics at play.

I have felt a shift though. Although I've felt mostly stress, flu and Christmas stress. Maybe shift away from that now.

I try to do 45-60 minutes of Stillness-Movement a day, but all too often end up skipping days because of whatever reason. Rich social life and my general laziness aren't helping. In the summertime it's more Gift of the Tao, in the winter only now and then. I suppose for a person like me the trick is to stay sticky and not give up altogether