Andrei

WHAT? Are you serious? I don't wonder anymore why they are so many screwd up by training from naruto, air bender or dragon ball z.

http://www.acupunctureproducts.com/extraordinary_meridians_chart.html

This meditation is good for charging the yin meridians with yin energy and balancing yin and yang:

After you open the microcosmic orbit and practice a while, then you can open the macrocosmic orbit which is the circulation of energy through all 8 extraordinary meridians. This meditation is described also in Taoist Yoga by Lu Kuan Yu.

Well, yes, they correspond to the lower, middle and upper, they are actually passage gates for the jing to pass through the spinal marrow, the first one is the coccis bone, the second one is one of toracic vertebrae, I don't recall which but should be the one near the heart, and the las one is the last cervical vertebrae which connects to the skull. By opening these three gates you open the governor channel and the microcosmic orbit.

I heard only of 3 gates, not 8. Where did you get that from? The 3 gates are Wei lu, Jia ji and Yu zhen.

I wanted to say exactly the same thing, I wouldn't spend too much time with this guy, he did not have any spiritual or else accomplishments apart from the fact that he read all the Daoist texts from Dao Zhang. Yes, he was a scholar but as he himself recognized in his journal, he failed in the Daoist cultivation.

Laughing qigong, the best

There are 5 exercises you can find them on youtube.

Wikipedia has a huge article related to kundalini with a big bibliography : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini_syndrome#Academic_and_clinical_discussion

Watch this until it ends:

During '80s Chinese government relaxed the politics related to martial arts and qigong practices . Wang Liping started to teach taoist meditation, and both Zhang Hong Bao and Li Hongzhi were his students. After several years Zhang Hong Bao founded Zhong Qigong (1987) and Li Hongzhi founded Falungong (1992). Zhong Qigong was much more popular than Falungong, they started earlier and they were more spread. Zhang Hong Bao intended to enter politics and to create his own party using his qigong followers as political supporters. So I suppose the government was already vigilant when Falungong spread, and reacted much more violently than to their predecessor, although Li Hongzhi had no intention to enter politics. The whole bubble bursted in 1999/2000 and many masters including the leaders immigrated in US and Europe. I can bet that many masters from mainland China you see nowadays in US or Europe are somehow related to one or the other movement.

I agree with you, this is also my experience. I found out that in whatever posture you are capable to sit relaxed is better than stretching. In my opinion some people are more tensed because of their energy, they have the tendons stiffer and muscles tensed even when they are relaxed. This is a Yin state of their energy. If you relax and circulate the Qi the muscles and tendons heat themselves and relax and you can stretch them easier. In time the muscles and tendons will adapt and sit in the posture without problems. People with more Yang energy in tendons are more flexible. This is why Bikram Yoga is so succesfull because it is performed at 30 deg C and the muscles relax and the whole body energy becomes Yang. Also if you do full lotus or half lotus in sauna is easier than in cold weather. So yes, it is a combination of stretching with relaxation but I prefer relaxation. The best stretching is when you fully relax and someone else is pushing you. When you push yourself you still need to tense the antagonist muscles, you need to tense your hands or your column muscles, so still you are not complete relaxed. One example of complete relaxation is a lady nun from Thailand or Cambodia that is floating in a pool of water in full lotus, you can find the video on youtube. I tried myself to do that in a hot jacuzzi at spa and is easier than outside at room temperature. Also massage after getting out of posture is compulsory, rubbing of the knees, the ankles the soles, the hip, the sacrum, the kidneys, the big vertebrae, the head, the scalp, the ears, the eye, the nose, the whole face is helping circulate the energy.

You don't need to do any stretching, all you need is just a couple of pillows or a big pillow, if you meditate outside it can be a rock or a log as seen here, the meditation position is not too strenuous: Also if you want I can give you a lot of books in .pdf format, you can read them on ipad in ibooks, just PM me what interests you. I have 8 out of 10 Castaneda's books.

I think this is the future: The Venus Project of Jacques Fresco and Ubuntu of Michael Tellinger. At least I hope so.

He is doing reverse psychology.

Ancestor Lu is Lu Dongbin founder of alchemical taoism, many texts refer to him as ancestor Lu or master Lu, he is one of the 8 immortals of taoism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BC_Dongbin

Nope, it refers to shen gathering in the upper dantian and the flow of sweet elixir that is pouring from the pituitary gland through the roof of the mouth. This is the "wine of long life"

Diatomaceous earth does not disolve. It is pure calcium carbonate. It is like a white dust made out of micrscopic marine organisms shells. Same as if you eat egg shells. Maybe it disolves in gastric acid but not in water.

In Taoism and TCM there are Jing, Qi, Shen. The Taoist cultivation is Jing to Qi to Shen. Jing is Yin, Qi is Yang, Shen is more Yang. Actually Jing can be Yin or Yang, like Qi can be Yin or Yang. Yin and Yang are just attributes, they can be applied to anything. You can have a fire Yin like a match or a fire Yang like the sun. You can have a water Yin like a glass of water, or a water Yang like an ocean or a heavy rain. Because of that is confusing, no one here agrees which is Yin and which is Yang, which is Jing and which is Jin and which is Shen. By the way Shen means spirit. In Ayurveda is much more clear, they speak of the same categories but is better explained. You have Ojas, Prana and Tejas. Ojas are the fluids and substances, they correspond to Water and Earth element. We are made from Earth and Water, our bones and tissues and muscles and blood are Earth and Water. Prana is the air element, the oxygen from the air, the breathing function. Tejas are the bioenergetic reactions inside the body, whic corresponds to the Fire element. Tejas produce fire and light and aura and spiritual energy. Now if you have too much of each category, this means you have an imbalance (dosha) Too much Earth and Water (Ojas) creates Kapha imbalance. Too much Air (Prana) creates Vata imbalance. Too much Fire (Tejas) creates Pitta imbalance. Each imbalance dictates your personality and body type. If you have a wide body with thick bones, gaining weight easy this is Kapha imbalance. If you have a thin body with thin bones, with digestive problems this is Vata imbalance. If you have a normal body, with constant weight with sleep problems this is Pitta imbalance. There are more symptoms but in general this is true. Normally people are combinations of Kapha, Vata, Pitta which makes 8 energetical subtypes. there are K, V, P, KV, KP, VP, KP and VKP which is a perfect balance between them this subtype is very rare. Same thing in TCM you have 8 energetical subtypes corresponding to the 8 extraordinary meridians. You can have Yin deficiency, yang deficency, Yin/Yang deficiency, Yin excess, yang excess, Yin/Yang excess and Yin/Yang balance. Normally in TCM they say the energy should be tonified not drained or dispersed. The dispersion is used only in emergencies when there is a blockage or something wrong. Usually they say if you have Yin excess (which means Yang deficiency) you should tonify the Yang to create the balance between Yin and Yang. Of course you can disperse/drain the Yin but you loose the jing (the blood or the fluids) to obtain the balance. Master Jiang when heals peoples is letting poisonous blood out and then is recharging the body with herbs to replenish both Yin and Yang. Same principles apply when you have excessive Yang or deficient Yin. People with deficient Yin need to replenish the Yin with Jing, from food and sleep. The cultivation of "Qi in dantian" is increasing the fire in intestines. For this to make work you need to have food in the intestines. Small intestine is Fire and large intestine si Metal. The Fire will melt the Metal and produce Water to nourish the Kidney and so on. Which means your large intestine should be full of Jing or Metal element in TCM or Earth element in Ayurveda. The Qi from the breath is like a wind that is increasing the intestinal fire. It is said that the lung are like two bellows that blows air into the fire. So Qi in both TCM and Ayurveda is the WIND - Air element. This is QiGong : blow your wind and increase the fire in Dantian. But then when your fire consumes all the substances down there what you do?

Well you know it's a thumb rule, not written in stone, depends on the particular situation and specific energetic configuration. The rule is to let the body recover after jing loss. I can reccomend you some Chinese herbs that are good with replenishing Kidney and Liver: He Show Wu (Polygonum Multiflori or Fo-Ti) and Goji berries (Gouqi - Lycium barbarum).

You can do some volunteering, by doing this you pay forward for what is about to come. And make a wish when you do that, and it will come true.

I was feeling the same when I was unemployed. It will come to pass. Just think about it, we really feel good when we are employed (used), but because we think we worth something. Just enjoy the freedom you have while it lasts.