GrandmasterP

Wise words Michael. Call the ambulance if one is needed. My point exactly. I was interested in your comment that... " The USA has a standardization certification for clinical qigong practitioners." Could you post a link to information on that please?

Guys I'm a trained nurse. I have worked in A&E. Leave trauma to the trauma teams for goodness sake, let them do their jobs and concentrate upon what you do best. QiGong is marvellous and works wonders especially in convalescence. Allopathic medicine. There is a place for both approaches but 'alternative' procedures that seek to deny life saving treatments are both irresponsible and potentially deadly. There are far too many self- certificated quack 'doctors' out there. Proceed with caution aiming for the best from both medical approaches as 'complementary' rather than 'alternative' medicine. QiGong physicians in the Chinese system undertake as much, sometimes more; training as do regular doctors. There are outfits here in the west that will 'qualify' someone as some sort of 'medical' practitioner or other in as few as 500 hours with neither outside regulation nor externally validated examination of what has been 'learnt'. Generously, that works out at 100-days of training. A Chinese QiGong doctor will have trained for some seven years and most of that on the wards gaining vast experience via many patients. Effectively some of these commercial 'schools' in the west print their own certificates and validate their own 'awards'. That cannot be healthy in any system and would not be tolerated in the academy. Quack medicine can be fatal. So can allopathic medicine, everyone dies in the long term either way. There is a world of difference between a Chinese QiGong hospital and some of the store front barber colleges masquerading as educational institutions here in the west. Caveat Emptor.

That's interesting. I wonder if this has anything to do with left brain/ right brain theory? You sound to be a left brain person from this post. I'm totally right brain according to the text book descriptions. Not sure that I completely buy into left and right brain theory in all cases. For example some recovered stroke victims don't change their approach after one half of their brain is knocked out by a stroke but in general terms maybe there is some left or right brain influence in how we choose to cultivate.

Everyone needs eight hours sleep a night, anything more during the day is a bonus. That said, as much as I'd like to do so; I can't nap in the day as a rule because I'm working. Now and again of a weekend after tea I'll doze off for up to an hour I do sometimes feel a bit muzzy headed when I wake up from a nap but that soon passes. Your body is your best teacher when it comes to taking rest. Do what it tells you to do.

Durham University paper on Trungpa's legacy here. http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Scandals%20in%20Western%20Buddhism.pdf

It was hypothetical Michael. Just hypothetical.

Would that they did Nikolai. Sadly, that's not the case. I'm simply the only Age UK QiGong teacher currently employed by the charity in this area.. The oldsters don't get to choose. They want free QiGong lessons- then it's me that they get. :-)

Study surely can enhance cultivation and , to me; biographies or autobiographies of experienced cultivators from all traditions and none make for more interesting reading that most other books. Those are all 'about' cultivation though they aren't cultivation itself hence I do think that 'for' cultivation actually 'doing' cultivation trumps book study about cultivation. Doing cultivation with a teacher beats all else 'in my book'. :-)

Ruby Wax has an excellent section on that 'brain chemistry/cultivation' interface in her new book Sane New World.... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sane-New-World-Taming-Mind/dp/1444755757/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400431473&sr=1-1&keywords=sane+new+world It's very interesting for sure.

I don't know if cultivation has anything to do with it or not. A very limited and entirely theoretical observation follows...... I bowl with seniors and I am a senior, I took delivery of my bus pass this month. I teach QiGong to Age UK seniors most of whom are older than I am and all of whom are retired, I'm still working. The QiGong cultivating seniors are friskier than the bowlers insofar as one can ever tell from getting to know people and listening to their stories. Our neuroscience chums would say that the cultivating seniors have more 'feel good and frisky' chemical in their brain than do the non cultivating people. I'm not so sure about the chemistry but what I see on a weekly basis is that.... Cultivating makes for friskier seniors.

Unitarians is possibly a good call buddy. There's sure to be a Unitarian church not too far away. It's pretty tough starting up a group from scratch anywhere and Unitarians may well have a meditation group,already established. Leicester Great Meeting Unitarians in the city near us has its own zen Sangha that meets once a week. The chief advantage of getting out lies in meeting other people with similar interests. You're unlikely to find many taoists and even if you did chances are they'd be Chinese and there'd be a huge cultural barrier. Besides that Taoism on here bears little resemblance to Taoism enacted on the ground. In Taiwan for example Taoist temples are a bit like Episcopalian churches in the USA. Full of people going through ritual 'motions' without giving much thought to what they are doing and very reluctant to discuss it. Hope you find a group to suit you, all good wishes for success.

Quite funny that this expensive research was undertaken at that 'nabobs' bastion of 'blue blood' privilege Princeton though. They could have just stood outside Walmart with a clipboard and asked a few regular folks. Same conclusions, far cheaper data capture. Wherever any of us live we are 'governed' by a self perpetuating political elite of whatever stamp. An elite furthermore that cares not a jot for anything beyond ensuring its own continuing power and privilege all paid for by the sweat of the taxpayers.

Cultivation that works is always a personal encounter, not a set of arguments,

A brief body scan should convince all but the masochists or narcissists amongst our number that humans are not designed for celibacy. Young men on here and elsewhere making a virtue out of necessity by laying claim to celibacy or 'retention' as some sort of 'good cultivation' are fooling no one but them-self and completely missing the point. Quite rightly, such fancies last just as far as, but never further than them finding a significant other. " Somebody needs a hug." could well be the celibate's mantra. There comes a time in life, soon enough; for reflective celibacy, that time is not when one is a young man.

You could indeed TI. You could indeed.

A Special Transmission Outside the Scriptures. Talk by Tenshin Reb Anderson here.... http://rebanderson.org/talks.html

Hey ho. Another glorious afternoon and yet again we lost away, 20-10 this time. Holding shot and five in the count I was and our skip came with the last wood of that end and knocked the jack clean over against five of theirs. Good company though and a beautifully kept green. Not many better way to spend an English summer afternoon than a match- game of lawn bowls.

Aye sound good but we all know what store our Tibetan et al chums invest in lineage transmission. For all Malcolm's erudition there's presumed to be magic in it. For example the same materials delivered via a non lineage teacher are deemed not to work. Ya gotta have the leathery little guy in an orange frock and silly hat doing it or it don't work.

The assumption is so unstated as not to exist Mark.The anonymous writer accepts teachers or no teachers and simply makes the point that teachers can serve a useful purpose. Departing from the quote for my own embroidery I add that it is 'easier' to stick to cultivation with a teacher and that a teacher who is there and present can differentiate instruction to suit individual student's needs. No book, DVD nor online course can do so. What the writer definitely claims is that there is no such thing as a quasi-magical 'transmission' from a teacher to a student and in doing so he issues a challenge, for any who may choose to reflect upon; our Tibetan ( for one example) Buddhist chums affirmations that transmission is a thing posited on the necessity of magical transmission from a somehow-power- imbued 'teacher'. We cultivate, teachers can facilitate more effective cultivation. Here's an bang up to date example from my own little world. An academic colleague designed an online and distance ' blended learning' degree module. Part time students who all work full time jobs could come home from work hit the computer and submit course work by email having watched 'webinar' lectures and, in theory; partake of group interaction via virtual common room/skype meeting-hubs to network with their peers. In practice that has not happened. It is tough to remain motivated to study after a day's work when surrounded at home and in one's own home by family and other distractions. Dinosaur that I am I have continued to invite working students into the university on any of three evenings a week between 6 and 9 pm where they can hear the same lecture at one of those three times to suit themselves, network with others who turn up and use the facilities. They get one hour contact with me as a group and then have access to me between 7 and 9 to discuss progress and iron out any wrinkles or just hit the computer and bang out their written course work. I'm there to field any questions and to chat. We all drink a lot of tea and work gets done in time for 'on time' and definitely up to standard. Thus far we have fifteen clear ' Distinctions' ( 95%+) and all who have completed are well above the national average and passing grade (70%) in our subject area. No one has submitted anything to achieve less than 80%, most are above. With an external final-examination board on June 25th my blended learning colleague has yet to receive one single completed piece of course work from his 'students' few of whom he has met in person since they first enrolled last September. I on the other have almost completed final marking in preparation for Internal Quality Assurance checks beginning next week. The confident learners completed last month, the 'next to confident' have completed during this past week so I now have time to focus on and with the five ( out of 74) hesitant learners who need my undivided time and attention next week and (hopefully not) into half term vac the week after next. Sometimes Mark, the old ways are the best ways and old fashioned teaching pays dividends. There is no magic to it beyond hard work and diligence on the part of each learner and present-facilitation of that laudable effort by their teacher.

Thanks Ken. :-) Not so sure there is a 'goal' as such in cultivation beyond getting it done every day. Seems to me, and maybe this is just me so I'm definitely not prescribing this for anyone else. If I cultivate towards a goal or an aim or for some outcome then that very 'desire' to get that benefit out of the cultivation somehow negates the cultivation. Odd times it has really come together for me has been when all that aspiration and wanting something dissolved and it was 'just' cultivation almost doing itself without ( in a way) me even being there. Can't describe it any better than that poor description. Mostly it can be a right ball-ache just getting out there and doing it every single morning but just now and again it falls into place.

Humility maybe.

Master Xuyun taught that... "The patriarch, Hanshan (1546-1623), once said, There are practitioners who get enlightened first and then start their cultivation, and those who practice first and then get enlightened. However, there are two kinds of enlightenment: insight through reason and insight through experience. If a person realizes Mind by following the teachings of the Buddha and the patriarchs, it is considered insight through reason. One with such an experience will only have a conceptual understanding. In all circumstances he will still be powerless. The mind of the practitioner and the environment are separate and do not reach totality. Therefore, his experience is an obstruction. It is called simulated Prajna and is not real practice. On the other hand, those who become enlightened through practice stick to their methods in a straightforward manner until they force themselves into a corner. suddenly their last conceptual thought disappears and they completely realize Mind. It is like seeing your father at a cross road there is no doubt. It is like drinking water: only the person drinking knows if it is warm or cold. There is no way to express it. This is real practice and enlightenment. Afterward, the practitioner will still have to deal with different mental states that arise in accordance with his experience. He will still have to get rid of strong karmic obstructions and wandering and emotional thoughts, leaving only pure Mind. This is enlightenment by experience."

Yep there was Elvis Rinpoche and Lama Sinatra. John ' Bon' Jovi is another , not forgetting.... Dalai Shama Lama Ding Dong. Tons of 'em really. :-)

I was brought up thee thouing. It is familial as per the French 'Tu'. Hence the old put down for someone presuming unwelcome familiarity by using 'thee- thou' in conversation to - " Thee thou them as thous thee!"

Agreed on that. It all boils down to politics yet again. Recipe for trouble is politics, all of it and it's seldom the politicians who are the ones suffering, it is ordinary working stiffs like these poor folks who were killed. Left to their own devices, in my experience; people tend to get on with each other.