Narew

That's almost a good solution. Almost, because there's always this 1% of content which is worth reading. I don't feel the need to swear, if by that you mean vulgar words. I DO however have a problem with idiots. If by "quite succesful" you mean appealing to New Age idiots, then yes. I find it sad, but I agree. My previous post contains the reason why. But still, I think that new users should be warned this is a low quality New Age forum. Perhaps some kind of special disclaimer should be made about that, in order to warn them. Maybe a change of name, like to "New Age Bums"?

A big problem is that lots of users on this forum are New Age idiots and applying any kind of serious quality control would probably mean banning majority of the members.

I disagree - Zhan Zhuan is not that difficult. BTW I see user Steve already provided the link to Lam Kam-Chuen's book, which should really be enough.

Hello Dzibead 1. Yes, it's possible to learn Qi Gong without a teacher. 2. There are many kinds of Qi Gong and some could be quite danderous to learn without a teacher. What you have to do is to pick a simple, safe Qi Gong like Zhan Zhuang or 8 Pieces of Brocade. 3. Zhan Zhuang is reputed to help with high blood pressure. 4. I myself had good results fighting insomnia with not Qi Gong, but acupuncture.

That's a quite logical assumption and it might be true, but unfortunately even if they did, I don't think such knowledge is available today, or at least publically. For the meniscus, it can be regenerated using stem cells, but I don't know how experimental and costly such therapy would be. Still: http://stemcellarts.com/repair-knee-meniscus-tear-without-surgery/ What kind of Qi Gong did you use for the swelling and locking?

But are you asking specifically for some kind of Qi Gong, TCM, etc method? Or do scientific/Western medicine methods count as well? I don't know of any Qi Gong/TCM/etc method. I'm not an expert on that, but there are scientific/Western methods: For ligaments there is some kind of method using artificially introduced "scaffolds" which make it possible for the ligament to regenerate on their basis. For meniscus there is some kind of stem cell treatment.

And it's your "experience" and "background" that made you write the quite IGNORANT sentence below? "I suspect that part of the emphasis on the lower dan comes from the marial arts tradition, where both balance and internal power can be matters of life and death." Five decades of experience, and you have never heard the TCM view about importance of kidneys and how Lower Dan Tien is linked with them? Or is TCM "martial" in your opinion?

Like how exactly is it described in TCM in your opinion? Lower Dan Tien is linked with kidneys, which are considered the most important organ and the root of vitality in TCM.

I'm Polish and I generally dislike Russia, but I'm disguisted by the biased way the Western and Polish media present this conflict. In this conflict both sides - Russian and Ukrainian are lying, which is not really suprising. The sad thing is that Western and Polish are engaged in the propaganda aspect of this war, acting as pro-Ukrainian propaganda relays. German TV made a funny, but also very true satirical program about it, the link contains English subtitles: It's based on real cases of bias of Western media - like for example when Ukrainian Maidan/Kiev goverment supporter mob burned dozens of political opponents using Molotov coctails and blocked the firefighters from helping them, Western media put relatively little attention to it and phrased the whole thing like it was uncertain who burned whom alive.

Hello NeikungNamaste. I see that you are interested in Mo Pai - in that case you should be warned that there is lots of disinformation on that subject, with some people trying to make money on fake Mo Pai teachings, and others are saying baseless things just because they're cretins who like to get "creative" on the internet. In other words, "Caveat Emptor!", do not necessarily trust everything that is written.

I think that MPG is a person who has low tolerance for stupidity. A person who gets irritated when other people post nonsense. And why should he be punished, when nothing can be done with the initial nonsense of other people, which is the true problem? I don't think that that 99.9% people on this board are new age lunatics/nonsense writers, but I often get the impression that such people constitute a sizeable percentage of the users here. And this does irritate me, I can understand MPG in this regard.

Great that you'll getting acupuncture. BTW The minimum of 6 month is reasonable, but getting acupuncture once per week seems kind of strange. I had experiences with 3 different acupuncture doctors and they all made series of 10 sessions, with every session taking place every 2 or 3 days. Yes, I think so. I know it can be socially painful, but I really recommend dropping ANY alcohol. BTW I had liver problems and I never have been a heavy drinker either - I always drank less than most of my friends. No, I think that unlike alcohol, which you should cut completely, some sugar would be acceptable. Actually the sugar part is for spleen and you can eat some. But as far as alcohol is concerned - you should understand that while it is commonly consumded, on the biological level alcohol is not a normal food product, it's basically a toxin. Still, I think you should be able to consume some of it later, if you absolutely have to, but right now you need improvement, and that improvement will probably come MUCH FASTER if you won't undermine it with having "only one drink". Sure, they do. And my own grandfather was alcoholic, he sometimes slept drunk in the snow (!!!). And he reached 87! But that does not mean that getting drunk and falling asleep in the snow is advisable. And my grandfather died from liver cancer, so actually without the alcohol his life would probably be even longer. We are not created equal - for example, I eat almost everything, consume fried meats, cheese etc etc and my "bad cholesterol" (LDL) is BELOW NORM. It's simply genetics - my mother has the same tendency. But some people have problem with that and they should NOT think "oh, Narew eats everything and he's got low cholesterol, so I can do it too". I must say I disagree with DaoJones. I believe that the organs shape our reactions to experiences much more than the experiences shape our organs. And I've had experienced noticeable emotional and mental changes after needling the "mental" points like Yin Tang, Bai Hui, etc etc. Acupuncture or doing San Ti Shi every day. In my case, even 6 minutes (3 min each side) is enough to clear me of majority of problematic emotions. And since it's a static exercise, you can even do it in a toilet at workplace or somewhere. But then again I don't what would be the learning curve in your case for San Ti Shi.

First of all - what did the TCM doctor do for you? Did he give you herbs and most of all, ACUPUNCTURE? I also have/had liver-spleen problems and my experience is that acupuncture is crucial, while herbs are important, but on second place. Are you drinking ANY alcohol, ANY at all? Then stop it - even if it's "only one beer", which you are drinking for social reasons. It will not heal your liver in itself, but will make things better. Also, cut ANY intake of sugar, stop drinking ANY cold drinks or raw, that is uncooked foods. Sugar and cold drinks like coca cola are common knowledge, but I also mean raw fruits, fruit juices, salads and mineral water. Contrary to western dietary idiocy, these things are unhealthy, specifically unhealthy for spleen. Oh, and how much spicy food are you eating (liver)? Also, avoid dairy products (spleen). Lots of people sit before the computer with no significant problems. Don't quit the job, heal the organs with acupuncture and herbs. How much of this coffe is getting absorbed into your system? I'm not sure, but I think coffe is a double-edged sword in this case - I think it's helping the stagnation temporarily, but in the long-term it might be making the problem even worse. The same goes for ingested coffe. 1. LOTS OF ACUPUNCTURE. 2. Herbs. 3. Diet. I think that especially acupuncture is crucial here - in a certain way way, perhaps you shouldn't even try other things - they might have insufficient effect compared to the work put in and it could make you frustrated and worry more, which will make things even worse. Also, I had the experience that the Xing Yi Quan's Zhan Zhuang position of San Ti Shi had great effect on my emotional state when I had any kind of frustration/depression problems, even in severe moments - but in my experience that was not a permanent solution.

1. It's more about the teacher than about the art. And I'm not speaking in terms of philosophy, I'm speaking in practical terms. Learning internal arts is basically impossible without a teacher. And another problem is, it's not about finding somebody who CLAIMS he knows the internal art. AFAIK there are many scamers, especially in ther internal arts - people who know the external forms, but don't truly know the whole system. One thing you should check for is not only from who did the teacher learn from, but also HOW LONG was he taught. That's absolutely CRUCIAL. Why? Because it's a common practice to come to China for 2-3 weeks or so, train under an actual master, make photos with him and later say "I trained under master X!". Which is then technically true, but is bullshit for practical purposes. In other words, beware the McDojos/Bullshido "teachers". The same can be true with Asians - being Asian doesn't make anybody competent, there are instances of Chinese people finishing goverment modernized (non-authentic) Wu Shu sport schools and then teaching gullible idiots from the West. 2. As far as the arts themselves are concerned, XingYiQuan and YiQuan are both the simplest and probably most similiar to WingChun, so they would seem to be the better choice. 3. If you can't find a good teacher, than simply train some Zhan Zhuang, it would be better than training under incompetent teacher.

Thanks for admitting that these "weird shit" things can happen with Reiki. I do believe that people should be roughly informed about both good and bad possibilities. And as far as I've noticed there's a good deal of resistance among Reiki fans to admit that that there "weird shit" problems with Reiki are even possible. Actually, I wrote my first post in this thread not as a complaint, but as word of warning to unwary people, who do not know that involving themselves with Reiki can result in "invasion" by a spirit. I got a "possesion attempt" problem few hours after Reiki attunement and you claim it wasn't a problem caused by Reiki? In my opinion it's the blame shiting propaganda trick "It's not the fault of the product, it's the fault of the customer". The problem is, the Reiki community doesn't seem to inform the "customers" that these things can happen. The attitude seems to be "Reiki is a wonderful thing and it's 100% safe". Well, it's not 100% safe, if it can bring problems with invading spirits - and your denial of the fact doesn't make it any less true.

I already did explain that the problem could be described as a "possesion attempt" and that it happened few hours after a level 1 Reiki attunement. Is that "completely devoid of details"? Would a description of how horribly I felt during the ordeal make you happy? With that kind of attitude, no wonder that infighting occured here. Do you understand that you are putting in doubt my words about one of the most traumatic moments in my life? And how on Earth could I prove that I had a "posession attempt" problem after Reiki attunement, anyway? How does one prove that? Anyway, here's a message directed to the people thinking about becoming Reiki practicioners: 1) If you go to a level 1 Reiki attunment, you can get attacked by a spirit/something trying to possess you. 2) At least some Reiki practicioners seem to be either not very knowledgeable or not very honest about it, because they do not inform people about the possibility of #1 happening.

1. Yes, I'm new on this forum. But what about it? Do you suspect that I might be an old user, who created a duplicate account? I'm not. I came to this forum to speak about my health problem, browsed a number of random threads and it turned out one of these threads was about the thing I once had a tremendously negative experience with - so I wrote a post about it. 2. As for "representative of Reiki as a whole" - I don't claim that my case is representative. But it does show that such a problem can occur. And in my opinion the Reiki community should be more honest about it and actually inform people about the possibility of such complications.

Ok. To be precise, it was a level one attunement (initiation). As I wrote before, these were some of the worst, most traumatic hours of my life. And I feel discomfort when thinking about that time. That's why I do not wish to discuss these events in depth - because I do not want to relive them. I did experience a very traumatic problem which could be described as a "posession attempt". And I did experience it a few hours after the Reiki attunement. That's not a "claim", that's what has happened. As for the person who initiated me, I don't want to remember that person. I dimly recall there was some kind of Reiki diploma on the wall. And I think I did receive some kind of diploma also, but I threw it away. The event had taken place about 15-17 years ago.

And how do you know it's "misinformation and misinterpretation" and not genuine information based on cases like mine? In my opinion, the biggest misinformation comes from Reiki followers, who pretend that such problems do not occur and that Reiki is a wonderful thing, without any possible problems or dangers. And as I have experienced myself, there is a severe blank spot in that picture. If somebody would warn me, tell me what I could go through, I would never do the blasted Reiki attunement and I would keep away from it as far as possible. And perhaps that is exactly why the Reiki followers do not speak about it - if people would know about possibility of such problems, probably two-thirds (if not more) of potential Reiki initiates would run for the hills. And what does that prove? It proves that SOME people do Reiki and have no problems. It doesn't change the fact that SOME OTHER people do get problems. For example many people smoke a lot and never develop lung cancer. But it doesn't mean that smoking is harmless. I got "posession problem" only once in my life, FEW HOURS AFTER Reiki attunment. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I have to write something which many people will probably dislike, but I still have to write it. I had a TREMENDOUSLY negative experience with Reiki in the past. And by "tremendously negative", I do not mean that I simply found it non-working or something. I had a problem which could be described as posession, as weird as it might sound. I do not wish to go into details, but let me just say, that these were some of the WORST HOURS OF MY LIFE. Much of the discussion about things like Reiki usually goes around the topic of "does it work or does it not work?". I think a much more relevant question would be "Is it SAFE?". Judging by my experience, Reiki is obviously not a non-working inert method - there is real paranormal activity involved, but it's the sort of this paranormal activity which is in question. If you'll do a Google search about the dangers of Reiki and possibility of posession, then you'll find other negative opinions and words of caution. For example: http://blogboogie.co...anger-of-reiki/

I'm interested in things like meditation and Chi Kung, but I'm especially interested in anything which can help with insomnia/sleep disturbance.