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In my understanding, what you described is very clear description of A&P. I also had many moments of bliss without bright lights (what exactly manifests will not be the same every time). Anyway this experience isn't that uncommon. Anyway hope this helps, by Kenneth Folk (another dharma teacher who is one of Daniel's best friends) http://kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/The+Idiot%27s+Guide+to+Dharma+Diagnosis The Idiot’s Guide to Diagnosing the 16 Insight Knowledges One of the questions that yogis ask most often is “Where am I on the Theravada Progess of Insight map?” This is a legitimate question and there can be real benefit in knowing the answer. If you are able to align your own experience with the traditional descriptions of insight it helps you to have faith that this practice works, which in turn can motivate you to practice more. Furthermore, your teacher may suggest different practices depending on how far along you are in the process. Below is a simple guide, designed to be “idiot-proof.” It only includes the most obvious landmarks along the way. Familiarize yourself with these diagnostic criteria and use them to place yourself on the map. Case Study # 1: Report: “My meditation used to be good, but now there’s nothing but solid pain when I sit. I sometimes feel nauseous and I want to leave the retreat." Diagnosis: 3rd ñana, Knowledge of the Three Characteristics. “But I also have all kinds of cool insights about this and that.” Doesn’t matter. If you have persistent solid pain, you’re in the 3rd ñana. Case Study # 2: Report: “I had this incredible energy coursing through my body, tingled all over, saw white lights, and had unitive experiences.” Diagnosis: 4th ñana, Knowledge of the Arising and Passing Away of Phenomena. “But I had it while on drugs (or in a dream). I never even meditated.” Doesn’t matter. 4th ñana. Have a nice day. “But it was so real. I saw God. I know it was enlightenment.” No, it was the 4th ñana. Case Study # 3: Report: “At some time in the past, I had white lights, unitive experiences and delightful tingles. Now my meditation sucks and I hate everything.” Diagnosis: Dukkha ñanas 6-10, aka Dark Night of the Soul. “But I feel super enlightened.” Doesn’t matter. Dukkha ñanas. Thanks for asking. Case Study # 4: Report: I went through the 3rd, 4th, and dukkha ñanas (as described above) and now I feel fine every time I sit. Diagnosis: 11th ñana, Knowledge of Equanimity. “But I’m not having any insights.” Right. Knowledge of Equanimity. Case Study # 5: Report: I went through the 3rd, 4th, dukkha ñanas, and Equanimity ñana, (as described above), and then one day I was just sitting (or standing, or walking), there was a little blip, and I knew that something was different. It was as though a weight had lifted from me. I felt light and wanted to laugh for a couple of days. After that, my practice was noticeably different than anything that had gone before. Diagnosis: 14th and 15th ñana, Path and Fruition (1st Path). “But it was no big deal. More like an anticlimax. But it’s clear that some cycle was completed.” Exactly. Path and Fruition. Kenneth Folk 2009

Exactly why would any reasonable person want unbridled population growth? Marketing and business opportunities? Conservatives love that one. Fusion power may be just another wet dream that eats billions (USD). ralis

There is no relation to physicalism here. Physicalism is belief that the ultimate nature of everything is physical. However, let's say the ultimate nature of everything is psychological instead of physical, like in dreams. Do you think characters in my dreams can accurately gauge my state of mind? Absolutely not, unless that's part of the dream, which is very rare (in my case, it's so rare that it hasn't happened yet). How about the other way around? The same is also true the other way around. I don't know the state of anyone's mind in my dreams. Nor do I need to. I just need to know my own state, and that's more than enough. There is nothing else to know. Ego is nothing. Don't obsess on it too much. One thing I found was that I could leave myself behind, but not my family. Attachment to this world, as we know it, goes far beyond our personal ego. People waste so much time bashing the ego and considering it. Ego doesn't matter at all. It's neither here nor there. It doesn't help or harm anything for the most part. Ego has no role to play in spirituality, not a positive role and not a negative role either. The only important thing about ego is during mundane day to day life when you want to be accepted and respected, and when you feel someone else is seemingly too self-assured, you consider that to be egoism, since it may cause you to doubt yourself. If other people are not sure of themselves and stammer and stutter, that makes you feel good, because you feel confident next to someone who isn't confident at all. So when someone is assertive and opinionated, we feel threatened. In other words, seeing big egos in other people is an indication of having a fragile and a big ego oneself, and it's also an indication that you are busy with social jockeying. Spirituality, on the other hand, is not about social jockeying, and thus the sizes of egos just do not matter on the path. This is why, for example, ego is not mentioned even once in Chuang Tzu or Tao Te Ching or any other important document. The people who talk most about egos are modern people who are jockeying for a social position and not the ancient masters. And in Buddhism, any comparison of oneself and others, be it in favor of oneself, or in favor of the other, or neutral, all are frowned upon and all are called "conceit." So, for example, someone who thinks of oneself as lesser than others, is conceited in Buddhist understanding. So any comparison of oneself and others is conceit. This means any discussion of ego size, which necessarily must involve a comparison of some sort, is conceit from the Buddhist POV. So I don't know any tradition that really bashes the ego.

Oh My Goodness! What a subject for discussion! Yes, our dreams are just as real as our real world is (while we are dreaming). I think the phrase "while we are dreaming" is important. Our dreams come from our unconscious mind, in the most part. They are most often a collection of data that may or may not be associated. This will present wierd dreams. I think that there is a similarity between our dreams and our illusions and delusions. All are real to us but they are not necessarily real in the real world or real for anyone else. Yes, I have heard that we can control our dreaming. I have never tried it so I can speak to the concept. I rarely dream (that I am aware of) so dealing with dreams is not a problem for me. I think an important aspect of this subject is "what do we do with our dream memories upon waking?" I think that when we have dreams of negativity we have a subconscious problem that we have not yet dealt with. Perhaps our dreams are telling us that we have work to do? Peace & Love!

Why care which tradition it comes from? Just do what works and The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep is a great resource. I doubt there is much difference between traditions anyway in this area, all you need to do is maintain your awareness during sleep which will happen naturally if you meditate regularly.

Yes - all of those. But as you might be able to see, the bushmen don't hold the same posture, or get the same transmission - but they activate the same energy. It comes down to having that energy be activated. a,b,c and d are all ways of allowing the energy to be activated. In kunlun we don't want to do any contrived shaking - if you need some contrived movements to help you along, then loosen the spine and make small spirals with your waist as you hold the posture, keep your neck and head loose. The posture itself - having your legs up on the balls of your feet will start an automatic shaking of the legs - then you just let go and be patient and the rest of your body will follow. Regarding mixing practices - I know the mind loves to plan and perfect and improve-upon... but if you want to do this practice then leave the others alone for a while - and then if you still want to... after at least 2 months practice time, add other bits at a different time of the day and pay attention to how you feel. Regarding N/om - yes they often describe it as a needle or spike that gets hot when it activates... they say to store it in the belly. They also say that N/om can often come in from the top of the head, or in the belly, or in a dream, or from a song, or story or the earth. N/om from 'young maidens' is Drew's particular focus . Have a look around Keeney's site - check out some of the videos http://www.shakingmedicine.com/ Thanks for the Keeney interview link, Hundun.

Well ld4all.com is a great place to start learning lucid dreaming techniques. The forum has a lot of good tips, info, and suggestions for things you can try. The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep is a very good book that I picked up after it was brought up in a discussion here a little while ago. Very good book and has techniques to integrate with the chakras as well as some meditation exercises- it pretty much teaches you how to integrate lucid dreaming into whatever work you are presently doing.

As far as the power and intent of meditation with visualization... I'll just post some links and quotes. As far as mindfulness meditation like in Vipassana, it is suggested that one get acquainted with this quite early on and during the practices listed below. So really, one needs both Vipashyana and Visualization in Tantra. Generation Stage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Stage From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In Tantric Buddhism, the generation stage (T:kye rim; S:utpatti-krama) is the first phase of meditative Buddhist sādhana associated with the 'Father Tantra' (Wylie: pha-rgyud; pa-rgyud) class of anuttara-yoga-tantras of the Sarmapa or associated with what is known as Mahayoga Tantras by the Nyingmapa. An example of a 'Father Tantra' is the Guhyasamāja Tantra. The generation stage engages creative imagination or visualization as an upaya or skillful means of personal transformation through which the practitioner (sadhaka) either visualizes a meditational deity (yidam) or refuge tree before themselves in front generation, or as themselves in self generation, to engender an alteration to their perception and/or experience of the appearance aspect of reality.[1] The complement of the generation/development/creation stage is the completion stage (T:dzog rim; S:saṃpanna-krama). Front generation Front generation is a form of meditative visualization employed in Tantric Buddhism in which the yidam is visualized as being present in the sky facing the practitioner as opposed to the self-identification that occurs in self generation. According to the Vajrayana tradition, this approach is considered less advanced, hence safer for the sadhaka, and is engaged more for the rites of propitiation and worship.[2] Self generation Self generation is a form of meditative visualization employed in Tantric Buddhism in which the yidam is invoked and then merged with the sadhaka as an upaya of self-transformation. This is as opposed to the method of front generation. According to the Vajrayana tradition, self generation is held to be more advanced and accompanied by a degree of spiritual risk from the siddhi (mental powers) it may rapidly yield. ...................And the all important completion stage: Completion stage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Completion_Stage The completion stage (Tibetan:dzog rim; Sanskrit:saṃpanna-krama) is one of the two stages of Anuttarayoga Tantra. Completion stage may also be translated as perfection stage or fulfillment mode. The other stage of Anuttarayoga Tantra, which generally precedes the completion stage, is the generation stage (Tibetan:kye rim; Sanskrit:utpatti-krama). The completion stage is the second phase of the Vajrayana Buddhist sadhana, or practice texts, associated with the Anuttarayoga Tantra, which in Dzogchen correspond to the Inner Tantras: Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Ati Yoga. Although completion stage appears in the Anuttarayoga Tantra in general, it is especially associated with the Mother Tantras such as the Hevajra Tantra. Completion stage practices are therefore associated with the development of a Vajra Body, through practices that purify the movement of lung in the subtle body. Definition The Dharma Dictionary defines the 'Completion Stage' as follows: One of the two aspects of Vajrayana Practice. The meaning and depth of this principle changes while ascending through the three outer sections and the three inner sections of Tantra. For instance, the completion stage defined as the dissolving of the visualization of a deity corresponds to Mahayoga; the "Completion stage with marks" based on yogic practices such as tummo corresponds to Anu Yoga: and the "Completion stage without marks" is the practice of Ati Yoga.[1] The completion stage engages creative imagination or visualization and emphasizes the voidness aspect of reality as a skillful means of personal transformation. The completion stage employs the "mystic vortices" of the body, the cakra, the subtle energy of the subtle body, the five pranas or vāyu, together with the channels, the nadi through which the energy flows in order to generate the 'great bliss' (Tibetan: Dem Chog or bde-mchog; Sanskrit: Maha-sukha) associated with bodhi or enlightenment.[2] Dowman (1984: unpaginated), in elucidating the spiritual disciplines of the Mahasiddhas, links the completion stage with the Two Truths, voidness, along with a suite of advanced Mahamudra sadhana and other practices that are related to the Six Yogas of Naropa such as tummo: Fulfillment meditation includes "higher" techniques of meditation, which result in understanding of ultimate truth. But since relative and ultimate truth are two sides of the same coin, creative and fulfillment stages both lead to the same goal. Fundamentally, fulfillment meditation techniques entail the perception of emptiness in form, or the dissolution of form into emptiness: the dissolution of the creative stage vision into emptiness is technically a fulfillment stage practice. Examples of fulfillment mode yogas are dream yoga, the yoga of the mystic heat, Mahamudra meditation, the yoga of the apparitional body, the yoga of resurrection, clear light meditation, and the yoga of uniting skillful means [upaya] and perfect insight [prajna] to create the seed-essence of pure pleasure.[3] "Seed-essence" is a rendering of tigle and changchubsem = 'seed-essence' = yang life-force = white bodhicitta. Seed-essence (Sanskrit: bija-tattva) is cognate with bindu (Sanskrit) and gankyil (Tibetan). Dowman (1984: unpaginated) further maps the instrumentation[4] of "fulfillment meditation" in relation to the Mahamudra kundalini raising of the 'phowa of Great Transference' ("ultimate liberation") through the cranial fontanelle at the 'Bardo of Death' and a subsidiary preparatory sexual yoga: The system of visualization vital in fulfillment meditation is that of the subtle body. This imaginary subtle body consists of psychic nerves - nadi, their focal points or energy centers - cakras; the energy that runs in the nerves - prana; and the essence of prana, known as "seed-essence" or bindu. A central channel, or nerve, runs from the sexual center to the fontanelle, and the left, rasana, and right, lalana, channels run parallel joining the central channel, the avadhuti, at the gut center. Converging from all parts of the body like physical veins, subsidiary nerves enter the central channel at the five focal points of psychic energy - the sexual, gut, heart, throat and head centers. Visualization of this system allows the yogin to manipulate the energies relating to the various centers for different mundane purposes, but the highest aim is to inject all energy into the central channel and up to the head center where ultimate liberation is achieved. The key to this system relates right and left channels to skillful means (male) and perfect insight (female) respectively, and the central channel to their union - Mahamudra. In an important sexual yoga, with or without a sexual partner, red and white seed-essence, bodhicittas, are mixed in the sexual center to rise up the central channel as kundalini. This is the yoga of uniting pure pleasure and emptiness.[3] Dalton (2003: unpaginated) states that: The perfection stage practices are often divided into those without signs (mtshan med) and those with signs (mtshan bcas). The former refer to practices in which the enlightened view is accomplished instantaneously, without any effort, “like a fish leaping out of the water.” The latter – the practices with signs – are generally the perfection stage practices known collectively as “channels and winds” (rtsa lung). Here, the practitioner works with a system of channels within one’s body, through which are moving the “winds” – subtle energies closely related to one’s mind. [5] Berzin (2008: unpaginated) frames the energetic process of the completion stage and in so doing, mentions the Clear Light, the Illusory Body, and the Rupakaya: On the complete stage, we cause the energy-winds (rlung, Skt. prana) to enter, abide, and dissolve in the central channel. This enables us to access the subtlest level of mental activity (clear light, ‘ od-gsal) and use it for the nonconceptual cognition of voidness – the immediate cause for the omniscient mind of a Buddha. We use the subtlest level of energy-wind, which supports clear light mental activity, to arise in the form of an illusory body (sgyu-lus) as the immediate cause for the network of form bodies (Skt. rupakaya) of a Buddha.

I do not associate any of the 5 elements with the color pink - as simple as that Why, because I associate the five elements with white (metal/lungs), blue/black (water/kidneys), green (wood(liver), red (fire/heart) and finally yellow (earth/spleen). Are you sure you're actually looking for one of the 5 elements? (rather than perhaps a chakra, something you saw during meditation, in a dream, etc.)

Hey check out Michele Feynman -- she went to Tuva to fulfill her dad's dream -- throat singing shamanism http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/08/090811_world_stories_bombs_stamps_throat_singers.shtml

the every man's dream bright stars before summer dawn mountains dark and blue illusions shattered bright stars before summer dawn mountains dark and blue (thanks, Cow Tao, for keeping me straight. I was at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center yesterday for a one-day sitting, and when I walked down the road at 4:30am, the sky was just lightening- I'm cheating, but both are true!)

Maintaining a Dream Diary will help you remember your dreams better. It is a necessary step in Lucid Dreaming (or Dream Yoga)... When I was practicing Lucid Dreaming, remembering my dreams was a big issue (I was following Carlos Castaneda's Dream incubation techniques at that time)...maintaining the dream journal helped. It also helped in setting up the dreaming (before going to bed) and incubation process itself. The kind of dreams I had were mainly three types -- 1) Dreams of flying 2) Symbolic dreams: Eg: being surrounded by tigers (being stalked by tigers), with one specific white tiger taking sound interest in me. I think it was my Tai Chi master, who has a very strong interest in tigers, especially white tigers. As it turns out, I met him about an year after that...and it also turns out that his spirit guide is a White Tiger (which I learned many years later). 3) Teachings: I have had dreams in which I have been taught Tai Chi/Chi Gung movements by an Old Taoist Master (don't know who -- but it was for certain a Taoist Master...old Chinese man, with taoist garbs, white hair (with the taoist top-knot) and beard... I have had conversations with Sadhus (Hindu hermits) in great detail and have been given Mantras and mudras in the process. All of these helped me get over a very difficult time in my life and also solidify my practice and interest in esoteric practices.

Hm you get a full grasp of how the dream may come to be.. Not the story, more like.. One dream may actually repeat over and over in sequences before its actually fully experienced. When you read over your dreams and began to recognize them for what they are, aswell as remember them you'll begin to learn while still in them... Also found it cool your in florida, I'll be there in 3 days

I'm almost finsihed reading Dreamscape and have also been recording my dreams for the last couple of days. -Was wondering if anyone who records dreams would be willing to share their experiences and the benefits that they recieved from recording and interpreting their dreams?

Heck, I wanted to rejoin this conversation but so many posts have flown by I don't know where to start. So just a couple of quick points: Marblehead : feel free to respond to anything said to me by the way. The thing about the Big Bang - and I think this is worth saying because its important about origins - people think of empty space and then a big explosion like a billion supernovas or something similar - this is completely wrong. There was no space or time before the Big Bang - both space and sequential time as we experience it came into being with the Big Bang. This is difficult to think about because it runs counter to our experience of the everyday world - but love it or hate it that is the theory (a theory I might add which is supported by all empirical observations so its not just some mad scientists dream. The consequence of this is that when you think of the origin ... then you have to think f the beginning of time itself and not just a very large number of years. The same goes with space ... space itself is expanding as a result of the Big Bang not just things expanding in space. When we talk about beginingless time then perhaps we could say all the time there ever has been since there was time at all (if you see what I mean). Vaj, Can I call you Vaj? or perhaps the diminutive Vajinho (but that starts to sound vaguely anatomical LOL) - I don't think I am confusing Tao with my Buddhist influenced mind (whatever that is) - I think that people write and speak about the Tao in a lot of ways because that is possible. Sometimes this may sound like some kind of irreducible underlying cause or whatever - but sometimes it doesn't. What Taoism or certainly philosophical Taoism brings (to me) is a great and profound wisdom about the world and ourselves what I might call a sagacity. This wisdom is not fooled into thinking it is something it is not. If you try to pin it down to something like an ontological essence then you will get very quickly confused. That is because while such an idea might be encompassed by the Tao it is not the Tao (or an adequate definition of it).

the every man's dream coming and going alight airs of ecstasies

but the fruits are sweet.. and tempting are the delights.. the every man's dream..

I found this book reccomended at the end of Path Notes and so far (i'm about halfway through) it's a been a very interesting and well written read. -Based on the feeling i get from the authors words it would seem that he is quite down to earth (so to speak ) and a legit source of information. -In a nutshell it's about dreamwork, exploring the dreamscape and interpreting ones dreams. Recorded my first dream yesterday morning. -See you on the other side fellas.

Do it, it's only about 7 minutes. I thought it was pretty awesome, felt like i was in a dream : ) Enjoy!

lmaoo. John Who? Never heard of him on any qi gong forums. Perhaps this video is a great blessing unto him as surely he will gain popularity and enlarge his school and pupil base! new age shamanistic tools galore! Be creative! We are the One living spirit, we are evolving love-life, and love life! Know no boundaries! CowTao speaks great truth as well, folks. As I mentioned the "mountain" in my previous post, CowTao is speaking of the peak. Quite high and afar from the typical folk, almost unfathomable, conceptually discouraging to some, but true enlightenment in that one forgets all silly ideas, enlightenment/ignorance doesn't exist, there is only the Tao. When one reaches the top, he is detached, forgotten of, ever forgetting, ever detaching from being detached, forgetting of being forgotten of, forgetting to forget, forgetting to forgetting..... emptiness. But oh, the folly of language, and our ego-self! Forget about who I am, it is true that "I am." but who am I? A creator! And many create and embrace the comfortable illusion, a dream in a dream, living in the shadows of reality! Who am I not! Everything and Nothing! And you can't take your new car with you, only your chi! You yourself are nothing but a vehicle! Woe to worship material deities. Oh, this monkey has been fun! A very fun ride, what a grand experience, life on our mother earth! Complicated at times, but fun! Oh, the things people do with their time! Regret is only real when it's regret of missed life-love. Soon I'll dream of a butterfly, and the sleeping monkey man will think I'm in his dream, but he's in mine! But I'll love not knowing if I am the butterfly, the monkey man, or the celestial light refracting on a drop of morning dew on a fresh, beautiful blade of grass! Or it all! Or Nothing! Is there a difference?! 1. How I wish I could comprehend the infinite vastness of One! Speaking of one, the fathomability of zero before One is even more elusive! But Zero and One co-exist as Absolution! YIN AND YANG! LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (^ awesome show too btw!) Evince the plainness of undyed silk, Embrace the simplicity of the unhewn log; Lessen selfishness, Diminish desires; Abolish learning The Light, the Truth grows inside you, it only get's stronger! The ego only gets stronger to battle the truth! Shamans use powerful tools; the sacred mushroom beholds many timeless secrets, purist Taoists see no rush! Let us see no reason to ever deny a smile. Now float down the river! NOW! Don't clutch onto anything, don't be afraid, there's nothing to be afraid of, there is only the great Tao and infinite love! Float down the river, it's beauty is forever, and you will know it! Everything else is illusion rooted from the ego-self! Love life! Love attracts love! All the energy you send out eventually comes back to you! Negative or positive; live in love! Do not be afraid of the seeming challenges, do not think that enlightened beings are above reminiscing on the love-nostalgia of life! Early life vacations, relationships, Feel the love of the memories! You can literally feel the love manifested from the time because consciousness, love, the Taoist transcends the concepts of space and time! Peace and love all!

Yeah flying dreams are great fun. I've been also having them more frequently lately. I got that from Bodri and Nan's EXCELLENT book "Measuring Meditation" available on http://meditationexpert.com -- there's a chapter excerpt there for free.... So the flying dream is from chi in the brain -- also most of the light experiences -- seeing light while meditating is just chi in the brain -- or the "wind" sensations. Master Nan, Huai-chin says that the full lotus shows the body channels are open -- you have to make sure the body channels are open before the third eye opens up. So I rely on the full lotus for my meditation -- and then combine that with fasting for better results. But at first the "small universe" is the foundation of the practice -- you can get a 1/2 hour small universe practice c.d. for just $11 from http://springforestqigong.com -- I only mention it because several people on taobums have corroborated that this c.d. is particularly excellent for doing the "microcosmic orbit" or "small universe" practice. There's also an hour c.d. that's just the small universe. So flying dreams means you're sublimating your jing or electrochemical energy into chi and that's an excellent first step in the practice. Then when you start having precognitive dreams it means the chi energy is turning into shen as the yin spirit body -- and during sleep there are spacetime travels. This is part of the "astral tube" experience -- and not REAL astral travel which is actually an advanced yoga practice. In fact in "real" meditation you can not put it into words -- as Master Nan, Huai-chin states. People see stars during the day -- the light is dark blue but very bright and intense (not just the blue or violet light seen while chi is in the brain). I never reached the real Emptiness level of nirvikalpa samadhi -- except just for a little bit -- but then I also received the laser-love or shen transmissions from Chunyi Lin. So if there's an energy master who can do the shen laser transmissions (which is very rare) then you are getting energy straight from the nondual realm and this is the way to open up the third eye straight from the upper tan tien emptiness meditation. Gurdjieff calls that the Number 4 person -- who has a "permanent center of gravity" in the center of the brain -- but to reach the Number 5 person for real astral travel is actually very difficult and very few achieve that state of a real qigong master. Jim Nance did achieve that fully open third eye state for real astral travel with the supervision of Chunyi Lin. That's how the lineage is carried on with a teacher having one student who is supervised so that the third eye is fully opened. I just sit in full lotus several hours a day but only in hour or half hour segments -- and while I'm doing that as the energy builds up from my lower body then my pineal gland "flexes" and the vagus nerve and carotid artery pulsate on my neck. Then the energy as chi and shen is transmitted out of my third eye into people around me who need the energy. But to do this as the "macrocosmic orbit" you have to keep your body extremely pure -- this is why qigong masters are on the "modified bigu" diet which means fasting one day a week and then eating one little veggie meal a day. That also means relying on external sources to maintain your jing energy -- and that's where the real secrets of yoga and qigong are held -- where the taboos are, etc. Otherwise you have to rely on food which is an impure source of jing energy that then has to be converted to chi -- but to convert food to chi means you also have to leach the toxins from your brain and body. So this is why the "Taoist Yoga" book states that the diet should be NO SALT because even salt is a poison. Anyway Master Nan, Huai-chin states that the spiritual and the material realms do not mix -- so to be able to integrate the two is a very tricky proposition.

Effilang I recommend the book "Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality" translated by Charles Luk for the details on how the small universe opens up the central channel. The question you ask is a key question -- as Master Nan, Huai-chin and Bill Bodri emphasize -- what happens is that as the central channel opens for true kundalini then the practitioner falls back into worldliness. This is because the esoteric yoga visualization practices of the small universe and other tantra exercises do not rely on the emptiness as the foundation for the practice. So to continue into the advanced stages of the practice of the small universe visualization it's important to have a master who is supervising the guidance of the energy. Otherwise the emptiness remains the foundation and only true guide for the practice -- or as a left-brain focus it's the source of the I-thought that is listened to and the I-thought is emptied out as a Koan. So this is also called the "cessation and contemplation" practice in Buddhism. As for the "true" lower tan tien versus the false -- Master Nan, Huai-chin and Bodri also discuss this problem -- with the "false" being just the "wind" chi as the skanda of sensations. Master Yan Xin also states to not rely on your feelings in the meditation -- same thing. So in true meditation you actually have to first reach nirvikalpa samadhi -- as Vivekananda also emphasizes. Nirvikalpa samadhi, called the Emptiness in Taoism, is actually an advanced stage of meditation. At this stage it's like the body is in deep sleep -- because you don't feel it -- but, on the contrary, it's because the body is so filled up with electromagnetic chi energy that all the channels are open. At this stage you are doing astral travel but at the same time it's not "you" doing the astral travel since it's the emptiness as pure consciousness which guides the astral travel. The full lotus is considered the best way to keep this advanced stage of practice rooted so that there is a continual cycling of the energy -- a recharging of the electrochemical jing energy from external sources into the internal and an external transmission of the chi and shen energy for doing healing and spirit transformation. So the body is an empty vortex vessel for alchemical transformation -- like a tornado or a galaxy. The real energy masters though are able to use their left-brain intention or yi (as Yang Jwing Ming emphasizes) to store the chi and shen in the lower tan tien. As Bodri and Nan state it actually takes a great amount of stored up jing to create the chi and then enough stored up chi to create the shen. So real meditation is only when enough chi is stored in the lower tan tien to create enough shen for astral travel. There is also a less intense form of third eye energy called the "astral tube" which is the yin spirit body but not as developed. The more the yin spirit body is stored up and developed then a yang physical body can be created -- from the increased jing energy that is converted from the shen. So that's why in alchemy it's stated that it begins and ends with jing energy. I was just starting to access real meditation but before that happens a person also gets the spiritual powers of telekinesis, telepathy, precognition and healing energy. So since I was not in an isolated area and since I was taught healing then I used those powers. But when you use the powers it creates more energy imbalance which then has to be re-purified and built up again to further increase the powers. Also the energy at this stage is dangerous unless supervised by an energy master. So Chunyi Lin said that it's important not to get too overexcited (the heart energy gets very strong) or too afraid (the kidney energy gets very strong). He said at that advanced stage I should have called him on the phone and also at that advanced stage a person wants to be practicing out in Nature where the energy is more pure. As Master Ni, Hua-ching states "ghost pollution" is a real issue in the city. So you can also see ghosts at that stage in the practice when you've increased your chi enough to create shen. The shen is a spacetime vortex itself -- the biophoton or laser-love energy is quantum while spacetime is gravity and these two are opposites with spacetime as the period of the quantum frequency -- and the "phase" is the yi or intention that shifts the two together. Chunyi Lin says that the book "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot is an accurate description of what it's like for an energy master -- so that, again, with the focus on emptiness which is FORMLESS, then external and internal reality are interwoven as a holograph. Yeah so the heart chakra is the central pivot as the SOUL energy which combines the external and internal reality with the lower tan tien as internal reality and the upper tan tien as external reality. The OHM from the heart chakra SINGS US into existence -- it's called "OMkara" http://srijagannatha.com/omkara.html That's the level of the "rainbow body" -- the Level 4 meditation in http://springforestqigong.com -- I also accessed this using the ayahuasca with the full lotus practice. So anyway for me what happened is that Chunyi Lin then transmitted energy to my third eye before my energy channels had closed up from my own training based on the "Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality" book. After Chunyi Lin touched my forehead then the center of my brain was permanently magnetized with bliss. Now I can "flex" my pineal gland but that is still relying on the vagus nerve channels -- the "ida" and "pingala" -- the jing energy creates heat from the electrochemical energy and the left brain first is opened up through the internal orgasmic climaxes. So the blockages clear out and the left brain fills with chi energy. Master Nan, Huai-chin and Bodri state this is why Buddha taught that the big left toe is important to focus on. As the chi channels first open then you feel the energy point on the big left toe!! haha. Anyway then the right brain chi opens up and then after that the central channel starts to open up. So then the first level of samadhi of bliss is achieved where the heart chakra opens up and the heart chakra then opens up the third eye. After that central channel starts to open up then there is more of a holographic interaction between external and internal reality -- so that being awake is also like a dream and dreams then become precognitive and while being awake there is the external transmissions through the pineal gland. Transmissions while awake for me are mainly from the jing energy which is the etheric body while the astral body is the chi and shen. So a "chi" transmission is a combination of jing, chi and shen and the more advanced the energy level the more the transmission is shen energy which then finally becomes jing again as another physical body. At night if you have flying dreams, as Nan and Bodri state, that means the chi energy is built up in the brain -- from having converted it from the jing energy. While dreams that are precognitive are from the astral body as the yin energy -- which means there's been conversion of chi into shen. So the energy is always transforming from the emptiness which is always-already -- we exist within the emptiness -- which is the eternal transformation, creation and destruction of matter from light out of spacetime transformation. The process is impersonal but since it happens through the heart chakra then the love emotion with also the compassion of heart break has to become more and more stronger as the energy increases. What happens is that the lung energy as sadness turns to courage and then to compassion with the heart as love -- as the breathing slows down and as the chi increases the body converts to breathing through the chi energy. So the centers of the hands and feet pulsate with chi energy and the top of the head pulsates with chi energy as well as the perineum. At that point is when the "cessation of achievement" arrives -- which is the natural fasting as energy feasting -- so in the book "Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality" this is described in detail. You can convert the chi back into water through electrolysis and also create nutrients through the chi as well -- but converting the jing into chi is dangerous again, as if your jing energy gets taken away by others then it can be very damaging. This is when the energy is directly dealing with the shen realm of spirits and you're doing spirit exorcism of others -- and since modern people are possessed by spirits this is dangerous. So Chunyi Lin does spirit exorcism of places and people as well. As the process continues the chi, if successfully stored in the lower tan tien, is converted more and more into shen energy for opening up the third eye. So the more you can store the chi to create shen the more you can open up the third eye -- and if this process is stabilized then the third eye is "fully opened." But this stage of fully opening the third eye is very very rare yet after it is achieved then real shen-based astral travel can be conducted for real long distance healing. As Jim Nance states when he does long distance energy healing -- he's really THERE. The shen vision state is MORE REAL than being "awake." More vivid, more lucid -- direct perception, etc. Also the shen transmission through the third eye feels like a laser when it's done to you and then you see light and experience amazing bliss as real love. Still the love energy as the heart chakra remains the pivot as the soul energy -- as Chunyi Lin says the love energy is always there even if we are not aware of it.

I have heard it is the body's defense mechanism that limits the its movements to twitches and movement of the eyes in deep sleep and dream. Sleep walking would be an example of that mechanism breking down. It is the body's wisdom. Bill

Endless experiences, including what you just said... deep calming and "WOW" energy stuff. Sometimes I repeat "Om Mani Padme Hum" while in the dream state in layers very fast. Sometimes filled with light. Sometimes I would see mantras in my dreams done in graffiti lettering. LOL! I used to do graffiti as a youth. I have lots of experiences of mantra, energy and visions through mantra. It's very good to give oneself over to awakened mantra. Yes... always! Due to going deep into mantra one can always call on it's power at any time in life. Mantras are reflective of the meaning. You focus on the meaning during repetition and you have it blessed by an awakened person in a particular lineage and it will carry that beings intention and you will feel it if you really connect to the lineage through your good karmas. You can always make good karmas through focus, even if you don't feel it at first, but you give yourself over to it understanding that you will feel something good eventually through focus. You always get what you focus on. Mantras hone the mind, bring it into focus on a particular intention. There are plenty of mundane mantras, both positive and negative that people repeat deep within and you will find these out through repeating a mantra blessed by awakened lineage. Through this your own subconscious blocks will come to your awareness. Yup! Yes, more to them like seeds of power and connection to deities... yes, yes. Very much so. Om Ah Hum Vajraguru Padma Siddhi Hum!

It's OK to be crazy. Don't worry too much. I also think dreams come true for people who are slightly crazy. If your mind is too sane, it means it is too rigid and too inflexible for dreaming. You need to be flexible, loose to dream well. That's why I say being a little crazy is good. But sometimes you have to be completely crazy. Not even just a little, but a lot. And that's OK too. Try to relax and pay attention in a relaxed manner. Don't worry too much about sanity or what's proper. Try to enjoy your life as it is.