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yes, the meditation is lying down before sleep. The meditation is accompanied by a high pitch sound in the ears (probably blood flow), a slight buzz in the head, a slight current in the front of the body (like a half MCO) and sometimes a stiffening of body parts. The stiffening part is the healing I think - according to Sifu Dunn. I don't think I can disregard the close down now; when the energy reserve is higher I think it will be more spontaneous like your practise. When I did dream yoga, I suggested to myself to remember my dreams and also recognizing when I was dreaming so I could have a lucid dream. However I didn't manage to have a lucid dream. I think it would work better to increase your mindfulness in the "waking" state and use it for dream yoga if you want.

The modern methods are rapid and accurate and owe a lot to the insights of meditation on the structure of consciousness; to me it seems far superior. You talk in an academic way, which is fine if you are a historian, but fixing yourself requires something else. I like shadow work, I have been on some retreats, and it was good stuff. But it's all indirect. Various process that affect what is happening inside, but indirectly. That's why they talk of dream interpretation, it's like trying to get evidence of what is going on inside from dreams ... because they have no actual tools to just go in. There is no real conversation between the subconscious and conscious because they don't have the tools for it in the Jung world.

Oh I forgot to mention this dream. I feel that it was in the higher realms. I was around people of indian descent. I found myself in a room with everything I ever needed. It was highly luxurious and quite spacious. I remember finding a pair of shoes I wanted and for some odd reason decided to steal them from this place. But before I tried to steal these shoes I was roaming around these mansion like rooms. I remember walking outside of these buildings that looked like apartments but when one entered they became utter mansions. Literally make-shift mansions. It was amazing. I remember sneaking out with these shoes into a dinning hall where there was a golden mermaid swimming about in a large pool side fountain and a bunch of indian men who I have never seen before eating at a big table laughing hysterically. I rememebr trying to leave this place, to only be told that I could stay and have whatever I wanted by my conscious was set on stealing these shoes and then the dream ended. I remember having another dream in this luxurious building where I was studying something, but have not been back since. Was it heaven... beats me

Neurosis / Enlightenment... Is one exclusive to the other? A question that is often bought to mind when studying prominent Occultists, Yogis, etc. more commonly from the ‘outside view’ yet, certainly at times, from the ‘inner view’ as well. This question was recently bought to light again while I was reading Gerald Suster’s book; ‘Crowley’s Apprentice – The Life and Ideas of Israel Regardie.’. p.90 ; “If neurosis could co-exist with the highest illumination, then Magic alone wasn’t enough. Psychoanalysis was perhaps an essential preliminary, even a necessary accompaniment. And if, on the other hand, neurosis and illumination were mutually exclusive, what on earth was one to make of Aleister Crowley?” [Aside: Not that I want to start up the debate about Crowley again! – well, not here. I ask that we at least agree that Crowley had some degree of illumination and at least some degree of neurosis. {Eg. On the first hand, I cite Crowley’s writings, system and tarot and on the other hand I quote Regardie (although there are numerous incidences) as his example demonstrates my point; Suster says when people visited Regardie and put Crowley down Regardie would demonstrate Crowley’s genius. On the other hand, if the person seemed unrealistically praising Crowley, Regardie would respond with a comment like, “Yes, yes, a shame though that the old boy couldn’t resist getting his women to shit on him as he lay on the floor.”.] Let’s go back a bit to the beginnings of when magic and modern psychology first met. I feel Regardie is the pioneer here – not the pioneer of the idea but a pioneer of applying a holistic practical blend of the two and using the result to help and treat himself and others. Regardie did extensive preliminary study before he took up the practice of magic. He encountered Crowley’s works and studied them and began putting them into practice. He then went to study directly under Crowley, but, ended up being his secretary. (Regardie was too shy or embarrassed to ask Crowley for magical instruction and appeared to wait for the ‘Master’ to approach him. Crowley assumed Regardie was practicing magic and meditating and would ask him a question if he got into difficulty. It appears there was no direct magicalcoaching.) Eventually there was a falling out, bought about by an outburst of Crowley neurosis (the defamatory and slanderous letter Crowley distributed about Regardie’s low-class and Jewish background). Later Regardie joined The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied and practiced there but also encountered the neurotic egos of the magicians involved in his group. http://www.amazon.com/What-Should-Know-About-Golden/dp/1561840645 He left the G.D. and concentrated on his own practices. Regardie then began studying psychoanalysis under Dr. E. Clegg and Dr. J.L. Bendit and trained in the Jungian system. Somehow Regardie avoided the trap and realized he himself had a neurosis and knew THAT had to be addressed BEFORE he could seriously and realisticly consider himself advanced in magic and illumination. One reason Suster gives for Regardie doing this is the primary Hermetic maxim; ‘KNOW THYSELF’, and that is also the purpose of psychoanalysis. [it appears Regardie had introverted problems where Crowley’s seemed somewhat the opposite]. Regardie underwent Freudian analysis and became a lay analyst. Then, when that was accomplished and understood, the 2nd principle could come – BE THYSELF. Regardie had noticed that in the schools of magic and enlightenment he observed many of the members and leaders had not addressed basic issues within their own selves from a psychological perspective, and in fact it can be observed that magical studies can actually accentuate these problems if the student does not achieve a preliminary balance. Freud had come up with some (then) radical notions; our conscious mind is only a small part of our selves, our motivations and our make up, what REALLY drives us, of which we are unaware, is our unconscious. Freud argued that we are really driven by instincts, just like animals are, and the strongest of these is sex, this drive Freud called the Libido. Freud also used dream analysis – the expression of the unconscious. Our uncoordinated instinctual desires Freud called the Id. These desires of the Id are repressed during our upbringing to mould us to whatever society we are in. This, in turn, creates a moralizing faculty Freud termed the Super-ego. The conscious mentation Freud called the Ego, which is continually trying to find balance and harmony between the Id and Super-ego. The Oedipus Complex, Freud said, was the result of infantile sexuality projected on to the mother and in later life the guilt from this became a type of castration complex (the Super-ego groping at ways to stop the Id expressing itself). This results later in life in masochistic tendencies in an attempt to relieve guilt and suffering by self punishment. (Or punishment and/or degradation at the hand of another.) Many have suggested that Crowley suffered from a similar neurosis [Apparently Regardie loved telling this joke; One Jewish woman says to another,” I have terrible news! My son – he’s just been to the psychiatrist and now he says my son has an Oedipus complex!” “Ach! Oedipus schmoedipus!” says the other one, “As long as he is a good Jewish boy and loves his mother.”] Now here we get to a crossroads and , I feel, an essential part in understanding the essence of Thelema (Crowley’smagical philosophy about the self and self expression and the purpose of individual incarnation) and how it can best be interpreted. Freud came to terms with the issue of Id / Super-ego by advocating sublimation, that is, he believed that the (dangerous?) energies of the Id and its desire to express its urges needed to be consciously directed to benefit society and be productive. Regardie had his doubts about this and, I believe, Crowley had virtually the opposite opinion. At this stage Regardie was still considering Crowley’s interpretation of how psychoanalysis slotted in with Thelema. “Professor Sigmund Freud and his school have, in recent years, discovered a part of this body of Truth, which has been taught for many centuries in the Sanctuaries of initiation. But failure to grasp the fullness of Truth, especially that implied in my Sixth Theorem (‘Every man and every woman is a star’) - and its corollaries, has led him and his followers into the error of admitting that the avowedly suicidal ‘Censor’ is the proper arbiter of conduct. Official psychoanalysis is therefore committed to upholding a fraud, although the foundation of the science was the observation of the disastrous effects on the individual of being false to his Unconscious Self, whose ‘writing on the wall’ in dream language is the record of the sum of the essential tendencies of the true nature of the individual. The result has been that psycho-analysts have misinterpreted life, and announced the absurdity that every human being is essentially an anti-social, criminal insane animal. It is evident that the errors of the Unconscious of which psycho-analysists complain are neither more nor less than the ‘original sin’ of the theologians whom they despise so heartily.” (Liber Abba). In some cases, and at certain times it appeared that Crowley related the expression of the True Will to the expression of the unconscious. (Without getting too deep into it here, examine the ideas behind his Thoth Tarot ‘Devil’ card.) But the True will implies more than following the unconscious and instinctual drives and forces, I believe there is an important link there but the issue is not as simple as one being the other. Crowley’s definitions of the True Will implied a specific incarnatory purpose or career, an expression of a specific individual genius and a learning and molding experience. The essential, to Crowley’s initiation system, at the beginning, is a structuralisation and formation of energies into their specific roles and places. The Expression of the True Will is not just blindly following your impulses or desires … or unconscious desires (desire being a conscious product of unconscious will), it is much more. This seems to be at the root of many peoples misunderstanding of the Thelemic concept of the True Will. Firstly, Crowley postulates ‘Every man and every woman is a star.’ That is their essential nature. When restrictions are removed the True Will shines forth. That’s one school of thought and relates to similar concepts such as put forward by Rousseau and those that advocated the theory that if you left man by himself his natural good qualities would emerge. The other school of thought was pretty much the opposite, acknowledging the power of the Id (or more correctly, the suppressed Id) they thought if you left man to himself he would revert back to an animal state. Their ideas were somewhat supported by scientific studies of feral children (small children bought up in the wild by wild animals. – But these studies have left out the social element, and man is a social animal, being a primate). Crowley’s ideas at some stage seemed to have played with the idea that the True Will was expressed by the unconscious desires and by following these one would get to the essence of the True Will, but he must have realized this was not enough, as evidenced by his other writings. Enacting his unconscious desires, not always in private company, seemed, for him, a way of dealing with his troubles … a type of therapy. Eventually one must realize that as well as the unconscious containing the root and drive of the True Will it also contains a whole lot of other stuff, depending on what type of upbringing we have had. And separating one from the other, in the depths of the unconscious is not an easy task (especially when science has shown that even things like memory can not often distinguish between real events, dreams and imaginings, laid down in the memory in the past). For Regardie, Freud’s lack of occult approach led him to delve into the ideas of Jung. Suster quotes James Webb; “Jung can be seen as the culminating point of the late 19th centaury occult revival. He put into a terminology to which those bought up on the new and exciting language of Freud could respond, the insights into the psyche which the occultists and mystics of all ages had once expressed intelligibly – but which had been veiled and to all intents and purposes lost by the development of a vocabulary of modern science that excluded the areas of experience of which they spoke …” Jung rejected Freud’s idea that the sex drive was THE primary force, he postulated 3 major drives; the will to live, the will to create (the sex drive), and the social or herd instinct. Later he added a fourth, the religious instinct, unique to humans which “… urges one to seek transcendental meaning in the data presented by life.” (Suster) Also Jung developed the idea of the Collective Unconscious, “…it is as old as humanity and contains our collective needs, fears and desires, it inspires all true art, and it is the realm of dreams and the repository of all the symbols of mankind.” (Suster). Now we are getting even closer to a magical world, here we have a concept like the Astral Plane, and contacting this plane had been done in Regardie’s system with exercises like ‘Scrying in the Spirit Vision’ to comprehend understand and adjust oneself within the ‘interior worlds’. Some Jungian therapy uses a very similar technique but Suster warns that they omit precautions against self-deception (apparently so did the G.D.?) Suster then goes on to describe certain parallels between magical and Jungian psychology. The idea of psychoanalysis is individuation, journey into the knowledge of the self and the Unconscious or underworld. The stages are, encountering the shadow or Id – The Dweller on the Threshold of Initiation (see the two figures either side of the Thoth Moon Trump), painful processes of self-realization and acceptance – Portal Grade, death of the illusory self and the ‘resurrection’ of a deeper individuality – The Adeptus Minor G.D. initiation (or any similar initiation). For Regardie all of this fair enough but what about the question of the Will? Freud saw it as one – the Libido, Jung saw it as four. Regardie saw many situations where these four could be at conflict, there had to be some overall moderating force. Also, in psycho-analysis where is the drive for a man to become MORE than he thought he could, to go beyond his previously foreseen potential. Magic seems good for that, but does it really create an absolutely stable base on its own?

Personally I have done ayahuasca a few times. It is NOT a short cut to enlightenment as people said, BUT it can be used as a powerful tool for healing. You can also utilize ayahuasca while practicing certain yogic techniques like using the Bardo Thodgol. I basically have used ayahuasca as a way to practice the art of consciously dying. I have used the elixir mainly to learn to navigate the bardo, so upon death I can go straight to the realm of clear light, perform rainbow body transference, or I can have more influence over my next incarnation. Learning about death and dying it integral to many shamanic practices including Bon shamanism of Tibet and vegetalismos of the Amazon. The death and rebirth process has been a rite of passage is MANY indigenous cultures around the world, and an integral teaching within the vajrayana cannon. Using the Bardo Thodol during ayahuasca can be usful if you are unable to remain in a state of mindfulness and you begin to fall into the ego game illusions of the mind. When that happens, reading the passages has been very useful in helping me to maintain my position within the realm of clear light. This is why practicing mindfulness is such an essential practice to learning about death, if you get caught up in the illusions you are unable to realize the state of clear light and attain rigpa. Yes the state is not permanent, but it's not suppose to be, it's a learning tool. It's not a short cut to enlightenment, it's simply a sadhana I find very useful. Taoists and Tibetans use the dark room to generate the same experience, nobody ever said it was a short cut to buddahood, but it is a useful learning tool none the less. If you're interested in learning about death and dying but don't have the time or money to go to a dark room? Try to learn everything about ayahuasca including where to purchase high quality ayahuasca and chacruna, get Timothy Leary's book The Psychedelic Experience, and a copy of the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. Adding dream yoga to this mix would be a very nice touch to learn more about death. Dream yoga is an absolute phenomenal practice to learn about death and rigpa. The ultimate goal of dream yoga is not all that different from ayahuasca, to transcend the dream state and observe pure conscious awareness. I suggest before you do something like ayahuasca you learn a thing or two about how to bless and consecrate the tea as well as the room. And also how to setup spiritual wards to prevent any intrusion of any negative spirits, jinn, or ghosts. It is essential to learn some form of psychic self defense before undertaking any kind of shamanic ritual, at lest that's what I recommend. On a side note.... I have not personally tried this as it is a more advanced technique, but I bet it would be very powerful to use ayahuasca during Chod since it's already a hybrid yogic/shamanic ritual any way. Using ayahuasca can be useful to help lift the veil during the evocation and make it much more "real." http://www.herbalandwellbeingsanctuary.com/ayahuasca_and_karma_cleansing_retreat.html

Hello Cat, Thanks for your comment. In answer to tour question, "Were you looking to find out about the spirit world, Dawg, or did it come and find you?" I first started going to the spirit world in "Lucid Dreams"... I would start dreaming, and realize I was asleep and dreaming, and I would then ignore my dream and walk away out of my dream, and find myself in the spirit world... Sometimes if I didn't want to go to the spirit world, and didn't like the dream, I would just lie down in my dream and go back to sleep... When I started meditating at least six hours a day at the Buddhist monastery, I reached one pointed-ness... and then I spent days and weeks at a time when I could see and walk off into the spirit world whenever I closed my eyes, no matter where I was... I could close my eyes in a dentist waiting room, a busy super market, riding in a car, standing on a busy street, and be in the spirit world... at night I could get in the bed close my eyes and walk off in the spirit world.. in the morning I would open my eyes and be in the physical world, then close my eyes and be in the spirit world, then open my eyes and be in the physical world, then close my eyes and be in the spirit world, etc... I am very grateful that I have seen so much of the spirit world and talked to spirits, because now to me, the spirit world is a very real and familiar place... Seeing it has removed all doubt from my mind, and given me a clarity of purpose that I didn't have before... I have no fear of death, because I know I can't die, even if I wanted to... And my only concern now is trying to reach enlightenment, or the highest heavenly realm that I can... I have also learned to love and appreciate our tacky old earth, warts and all, and to develop compassion for all my fellow earthlings (except mosquitoes, the ants in my kitchen, and cockroaches... I haven't managed that yet). Metta,

I was shown a big part of my shadow when I was 12 and dreamt of a crazy old man sitting in a chair staring out of a window, stroking a cat. I woke up from the dream and heard the words "he is me". This was a part of my shadow getting my attention very early in my life, and I have tried to bring it to light in its entirety from that day on. 'Tis a long bag we drag behind us indeed...

Quote from a seer "True happiness doesn't come from having a successful dream. True happiness comes from waking up from the dream."

I'll try.my work on this has been a mixture of methods.journaling,dream work,poetry,music,etc.it is a slow thing.i had a great shadow insight because of synchronycity..

Awesome story! I love those wisdom stories that are so true. Also bears in "circumpolar cultures" are sacred - I had a dream of a white bear against this old oak tree in the yard I grew up in. I went back to that place and the tree had recently been cut down! Another dream I had was of rainbows around this other old oak tree in our yard. So I think in the dream visionary shamanic state Nature is very fluid like that -- modern people dismiss these animal talking stories but qigong masters can talk to animals - I know because I got word of this about a qigong master I know. haha. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3zbTub91GY

I don't know, that because I received my path from my dream. I had a dream of seeing myself as one of the 3 brothers during the Han dynasty (the clothing gave away). Me or the character did some acrobatic moves similar to the movements of the the microcosmic orbit. I woke up and my kundalini energy began to rise. The rest was history. I live in America. I don't visit any Taoist temples. I am not affiliated with any religious schools. I have no teachers. Yeah, the path to the Tao came to me in my dream. http://thetaobums.com/topic/27489-new-here-tooand-have-many-questions/ I may have shorthanded my life a bit. Growing up in America as a Chinese American immigrant, I have internalized many of the racial and cultural racism histories. I was deeply moved by the injustice of the past maybe because I felt a lot of injustice growing up in Hong Kong. As an immigrant, I have my own cultural issues too. So, in my early childhood I was bombarded with all skandha of forms. You can't give get more skandha of forms in anywhere else but in America. Racial heritage and culture are defined by the color of your skin. You have the whole history to work it. I was slowly exhausting the skandha of forms until I was dealing with my own childhood, around 18 at that time.

These aren’t personal flaws. They’re just normal characteristics in most of the human population. But these shouldn’t be characteristics in a Qi Gong teacher. Just as a shaky hand shouldn’t be a characteristic of a heart surgeon. If you mean ‘awakened’ from a Daoist perspective (a Zhenren) - then no, he certainly doesn’t appear to have the qualities. But if you mean in some other more general way then maybe... You’re certainly right in that he’s ‘made it’ in his business life - making a good income doing what he enjoys - that’s most people’s dream. He can even just message his email list when he needs a new girlfriend! Definitely made it! He hasn’t succumbed to the creepy sex guru stuff as much as many other HT instructors have (at least to my knowledge)... so in my eyes he’s actually a great guy - just not a great Qigong teacher.

Have you ever piloted an airplane - in landing it is observation and reaction. You might think/dream earlier about where you are going to go and land and when - but once you are IN the landing - you are not thinking - you are observing and reacting. Speak to a quarterback - it is like swallowing - thought is not involved once the ball is snapped - its like a slow motion dance being watched in a moment. "Choice" does not imply thought - but trance allows assumption that choice is a thought based doing when it rarely is anything more than a trance based walking sleep based in the karmic inertia's.

As far as I know and what Sifu Terry talks about, we don't focus on chakras, meridians, jing, qi, or shen so much because FP qi is intelligent. It goes where it's needed and all is mind as Sifu Terry said above when quoting a fellow scholar. It's a system even TCM itself can't classify or explain how it works and was said at some point in the thread. The end goal of Flying Phoenix (as I have understood from my class with Sifu Terry) is to heal others as it's one of the most (if not the most powerful system) for healing since the energy will spontaneously leap off of you onto others. I can't speak for anyone's reactions, including Sifu Terry's, but I attribute Internet communication to be difficult on top of people with different language and emotional intelligence backgrounds trying to express without the nuances of tone and in context--on top of an already very esoteric subject matter, and there are very few qualified individuals with the authority to talk about this, and there are very few universalities amongst systems. So your tradition isn't necessarily going to give you as much help understanding FP in relation to what you've been taught the same way a basketball player can't go to a volleyball team and ask them to explain how their sport will help him improve his skill in basketball. What I can emphasize is that an appropriate way of asking your questions in the beginning was acceptable, but when quoting other sources and lineages in the manner you have can potentially be read as a challenge to the authority of the teacher and derails the focus since it is no longer about FP, but about dreams and Yuan qi, and as I and Sifu Terry are answering now, it's not relevant because FP makes no such distinctions to focus on chakras, dantians, meridians, or the like. However, if you are curious as to how it works for you as an individual, I highly recommend you get in touch with Eric Isen who can make a specific reading for you and your questions on how FP would affect your dream practice and on dantians and chakras. I'd like to now invite everyone to focus on Flying Phoenix. Thank you.

Hello, I decided to sign up because maybe it is the time I should seek some clarity about my life experiences. A bit of my background. I am in my lat 30s and lived in USA. When I was 18, I experienced the Chi energy or Kundalini energy rising after I woke up from a dream. I dream that I was a scholar warrior back in the Han dynasty. It seems like in the dream I was circulating the micro-cosmic orbit by jumping up from the bottom of a cliff. Did a twist in the mid air and landing on the ground...while my point of vision or focus was on my navel area. I saw 2 men in front of me. Then, I woke up and the Chi energy was engulfing me all over for 4s. I was HOT and on fire. Blue and whitish lighting intensified on my forehead. When I opened my eyes, I could still see the light. Later, I was told, I was seeing the color of the Chi energy. After this experience, I got interested in meditation, something simple and without any clear ideas what I was doing. However, I could reproduce the micro-comsic orbit within 5 to 10 minutes of meditation, for several weeks. And the Chi energy was always hot but with a very short duration. Before this experience, I went through a process of deep self reflection and analysis, while I was in college and majoring the wrong field. Back then, I have no ideas what was happening to me. I could consistently reproduce the experience until I transferred to another college. Obviously, my chakras were all open and obviously, as you guess it, I began to have dreams about my past life (I think). I left this college because my spiritual experiences as well as the emergence of my past life seemed to be in conflict with the college's academic agenda (another major life challenge I was facing). I left this college and transferred to another and finally got my degree, which I cared little about. At this point, I tried to put everything behind me and getting a job and to pay my bills. 3 years ago, I got laid off by the company I worked there for a long time. It has been in these 3 years I begin to study in meditation and to further examine what I was experiencing. And trying to understand the implication of my past life and my past life karma. Something I have been dealing with over 10 years. Only recently I have been reading up the works by William Bodri. I finally have some ideas about my own dharma. Up to the age of 18, I was practicing the Mahayana school of meditation, without knowing it. Although I didn't actively practicing meditation in the traditional sense, I was meditating either in my dreams or in my sleeps. After years of intense mental examination about my life (before I turned 18), I was awakened and initiated into my first samadhi. When the vision of my past life emerged, I was going into another stage of samadhi, which I think I am only now slowly coming to grasp the nature of it, after more than 10 years. Knowing what I know now about my life, I am finding it hard to set myself a new life's path. I am at lost at the moment because I feel that I know where I want to go but not sure how to get there. Sorry for writing up a very dense post.

Fellow ATS members... I like this message board since it is very focused in Chi and the Tao. I just have a very magnificent dream this early morning. In this dream, it was like it is telling me my whole life is about to change to something huge. The dream used a huge tall building to manifest the meaning. Then, the building was speaking to me. I just hold on and keep on meditating and cultivating. I am sure I would gain enough mind clarity soon. Yeah, once you have attained certain degree of enlightenment, you don't want to live in darkness and surrounded by people and society who are still living in the dark.

Just my two cents for @Antares (I am a new member of the forum and finding it fun to engage). I am no expert on Chinese medicine but I am currently a student at an Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and many of my classes focus on the fundamentals of TCM. "TCM" as a modality is only about 70 years old, codified by Mao Tse Tung after he formed The Peoples Republic of China... Before that, CCM (Classical Chinese Medicine) and any other healing traditions native to China were provincial and based on family lineage and many retained more of their shamanistic roots. All this is to say that it is quite possible that concepts like pre and post natal jing/qi have only recently been codified as foundational concepts in the medicine and were not necessarily on the minds of EVERY practitioner of Chinese medicine and/or Taoist yoga/alchemy throughout history. (Side note: many of the mores "Esoteric" elements of Chinese healing practices were erased from the TCM paradigm by Mao and his cohort.) Therefore it would be entirely feasible for a Taoist sage and master to codify a system of Qi Gong without putting any emphasis on pre/post natal qi or jing and still have that system be fully capable of deep healing. It is quite possible that someone like Feng Tao Teh could have been well aware of the ways in which qi and jing manifest and the effects that FPCK was having on qi and jing, but felt that the Qi Gong would not be made more or less powerful by including those concepts in his instruction. Similarly, many Buddhist masters (especially in the Therevadan system) are well aware of all of the energetic experiences that can be produced through meditation, but do not find dwelling on those experiences to be useful in the path to enlightenment, so they are simply left out of the formal teaching. Also, as far as dreaming, many (if not all) spiritual traditions consider dreams to be powerful tools on the path to enlightenment. Carl Jung knew this and he had studied and written about many eastern spiritual traditions as well as Kundalini Yoga. In Tibetan Buddhism there as an entire Yogic system dedicated to using lucid dreaming as a way of accelerating spiritual progress. You can check out a book by Andrew Holecek called Dream Yoga if you're interested. As stated above, just my opinion! No interested in conflict but fun to have a dialogue. Cheers

Just listening to this man Mercury Fire Blood Honey this morning. Whilst I appreciate his diligent cultivation and individualism, I would like to point out some "errors" in his reasoning. Just Energy : Part of the Whole We are not just part of the whole, we are individuating, we are becoming unique intelligences and unique energy beings. Anyone who prevents that and causes you to dissolve back in the world energy will kill you. However for a monkey to "wake up" he has to feel the universal energy first to open his horizons from monkey mind, in order to finally discover his own individualism. Hence it is said that once the Father is known, the Son is born. Just Energy : No It's More Complicated We are also not "just energy". We are energy transformation engines. In the same way the plant species of the planet are not "just lying there", they exist to transform sunlight through photosynthesiss .... we likewise as more advanced crops, are not "just here". We are transforming energy of many types, all our functions relate to this, they are developed to transform energy. And that includes intelligence, food, air, it is a transformation of energy. As engines we need to burn cleanly, and learn how to service ourselves, in order that we transform energy correctly as a part of the entire universe's project. So .... just feeling "more energy" is a very crude thing. Energy Warfare Vs Waking Up This man has an endless war with other energy beings. And his solution is beefing up, and then beefing up again. But how long will this go on for before you are exhausted ? And how can such a simple frail man like Ramana Maharshi live effortlessly with no beefing ? Clearly there is a different order of spirituality that leads to peace that requires no beefing up, at least not at the end. The answer is that the recognition of the true self is effortless and lifts you out of the crude world of energy wars. The end. Therefore the recognition of the true self must be transmitted on the first day and every day, as it is the answer. Of course you have to know how to do that. Subconscious Spirituality vs Real Spirituality In the Conscious world there are no crazy people, because they no longer struggle, they are in the kingdom of God. So where are the energy demons that this man talks of ? Where do they live ? They are in the Subconscious world, a half sleep half dream half awake nightmare. Humans are already in this world. You do not want to stay in this world, nor do you want to fight with the beings in this world, who are all one eyed. There are many hierarchies and powers and spells and magic blue firebird energies here. There are many beings of "power", with their little groups of subconscious one-eyed followers. It's like Marvel DC land. But in the end it is the land of terrible suffering. I advise you to leave asap. Energy Work's Purpose A sane use of energy work might be to preserve your life (but not too much), and to get to know yourself through flexing your energetic muscles. Beyond that you need to let go of it, and awaken to God, and surrender to God. The God, and there is only one. Then you will enter effortless truth-peace.

That is one type of dream , probably the main type, but I have experienced others ; some are like an epic huge motion picture ... more of an 'archetypal' influence ; that is, more about general subject that effect us all, somewhere in our mind. unconscious. being, but perhaps not consciously present or an experience of the day : some which seem communicative or 'psychic; , eg dreaming of someone for no reason, then you find out they ... either anything from , where dreaming about you or died that night , and other similar experiences . Some seem a reflection of our 'night life' , anything from unresolved 'nightmares' to 'night school' , 'communications' and related stuff . I have consciously imagined at night that I am visiting someone and then later, without any prompts, they told me they had dreamed about me on that night . Dreaming of DB members might be the first or even the last type ( night school' and ' student communication' ) ? " LET IT BE KNOWN that there exists, unknown to the great crowd, a very ancient Order of sages, whose object is the amelioration and spiritual evolution of mankind by means of conquering error and aiding men and women in their efforts of attaining the power of recognising the truth. This Order has existed already in the most remote times and it has manifested its activity secretly and openly in the world under different names and in various forms: ... To this "secret order" every wise and spiritually enlightened person belongs by right of his or her nature: because they all, even if they are personally unknown to each other, are one in their purpose and object and they all work under the guidance of the one light of truth. Into this Sacred Society no one can be admitted by another unless he has the power to enter it himself by virtue of his own interior illumination and the truths which he has learned by his own experience. ... "

I wanted to add that an effect of doing this breathing technique after about 3 months was that my dreams starting directly teaching me about my resistance. Often if I spent 40 minutes or more doing this that night while sleeping I would face what I think could best be described as adjustment. They are sort of a less intense version of the breathing I do while awake. The progression of the dream experience was first like being frozen in discomfort. After a few dozen times I learned not to react in fear and slowly gained more and more movement. As these experiences continued I became more lucid and aware that you control the scene changes in dream sequences because it is a mash of multiple realities. In general after one of these experiences which were uncomfortable in the beginning I would wake up extremely refreshed. Over time I believe another effect of doing this breathing exercise is simply higher quality sleep. I would think that the reason for this is because I am gaining experiences travelling between altered states by doing this exercise. Often when I experience an "adjustment" during sleep my senses are extremely dampened and there is sometimes an entity assisting me in gaining my wits while going through this. I have thought that my dreams are the initiatory and reflective state which enhances the positive insight and direct experience gained from doing the exercises. During an "adjustment" last night the entity assisting me mentioned a lot of different names for techniques that I never heard of. Because of this I do believe that I am receiving at least some form of guidance in my endeaver

Much empathy in reading this thread. I had a rather intense awakening some years back, shockwaves through all aspects of life. Body nearly shut down a couple times. Marriage was sent into spiraling seeming unrecoverable chaos. Life upheaval in full cyclone mode, basically. In the midst of this chaos... I woke from the fever dream that had become my foggy routine of robotic life. First thing, I revamped my physical health that started with an overhaul of foods and soaps/toothpastes/clothing detergents and a regular fasting regimen. Anything that went in, or on my body was scrutinized and chosen with care and a rather fierce love. This was very effective and while my general practitioner was staggered by the shift in my blood chemistry after only 90 days, looking back, I perceive the physical was preperatory work that only scratched the surface. Turned out the vast majority of my suffering was in another sphere. Lately, (last few years) I have realized that far more impacting to my overall health than what I put in my body as food, or on my body as soap, is my mental environment... what i choose to put in my mind and what i allow myself to ruminate upon have a far deeper reach and greater impact on my health than any fast food pellet ever did. When I got rid of broadcast television/cable/satellite, there was a powerful shift. And I'm fortunate my job requires no computer time, so I was also able to take half year media fasts free from all manner of digital/social media as well. The effects of these were staggeringly beneficial. I now regularly unplug from all media for weeks/months at a time. The resulting inner calm and peace is beyond words. Not diminishing the importance of healthy food and non-toxic topical soaps and clothing detergents/toothpastes, but sharing the pivotal beneficial work in my case, which seemed to stem from within, not without and was intangible.

Was it Tsoknyi Rinpoche ? I've been to a few of his seminars and he does discuss the Lung issue for foreigners a lot. It's basically speedy Qi. Qi that rises to the head, and often goes with frozen or tight shoulders. You could view the shoulders as the stop valve in a canal system, once all the Qi is in the canal of your head, it locks the whole thing there. So the first thing is to relax the shoulders, then let the Qi sink down to the lower Dantian. Why do Westerners have this issue ? We are aggressive in the way we practice. We practice with the mindset of a performer. We expect results. We attach to the outcome of our practice. We rush when we practice. We practice on a timer. Just one of these will limit the effectiveness of your practice. Focus on "how" you practice first. Even if you only have 10 minutes, before you start imagine that you just woke up from a million years slumber in a cave, and you also have another million years to practice. Relax your body from head to toe. Then say, "I don't care how well how I do these practices today, what results I'll gain from them, but I know one thing..... I want to relax with my practices today". It's about peace, not about perfection. It's about love, not performance. I know the above suggestions sound a bit weird, but Lung responds to these suggestions well. If you keep that speedy unruly Qi in the head while you practice, it will also reflect in your form, in fact it will amplify it. The Tibetan solution is to work with the central channel to extinguish Lung Qi at each chakra point. They call this "Tsa Lung" and this involves sometimes strenuous breath retention. This works well but feels like heavy medicine if you are used to the subtler Qigong. So you can choose your medicine. I suggest working on your perspectives and softening your approach to practice, as this where Westerners have a tendency towards imbalance. Qigong can help in some situations because it helps bring mind/body integration but you really need to look at how you do it, and honestly look at your mindset. Overly thinking about practices, which one you need, or in general seeing your problems as an equation to resolve will create Lung balances, what we call as "hard thoughts" in my tradition. Just let everything become more like a day-dream, relax your approach and shoulders, and let the Qi drop by itself.

Dear Earl Grey! (Nice nickname, just wonder is it cause you like this tea? I like Puerh). By no any means I wish it is regarded as any sort of arguing or disrespect. I personally respect any genuine practitioner and have no intention to criticize anyone on this thread. I had previous background in FPQ practice and I enjoyed it at that time. Recently I felt like I am missing something in my practice and I do not know why I recalled FPQ!!! I began reading this thread again and I really enjoyed just reading it. I like warm atmosphere of this thread. One night I did 1st standing med Monk Gazing the Moon and then I did first warm up exercise on vol. 2. SoI did only 2 meds! That night I had a very vivid dream and it still continues to be very vivid and next day I felt that even at day time my perception was more vivid. So I can feel how powerful FPQ . But I am not sure whether I need to experience these vivid dreams at all. That' where my query comes from!

This is very well put. I have always been particularly at ease with non-ordinary reality, and have great clarity when it comes to navigating it. I don't force it one way or other (turning it on or off is something I thing would take equally strenuous amounts of energy). What is greatly pleasant with FPCK, is seeing how my perceptions improve with no added work of my own. I am monitoring my mind, spirit and body during and after FPCK meditation knowing it is all I am doing that may induce changes. Having no other practice helps me learn in detail about the chi kung I am practising. This is the gentlest, easiest, simplest thing I have done for my growth hands down. And the least taxing energetically, I concur. I need neither to suppress nor strain my dream experience, I simply observe and take mental note. This counts also for the many states of consciousness in between, by the way. I am learning to know myself effortlessly. This trust and peace I have, I never knew I could access it. I guess you could say I am increasing in faith, both in the practice itself and in my spiritual life on its own.

She wants to be the martyr, it's like the pinnacle of her child-free life, her gift to the nation, to be a whipping girl for the unpopular brexit. Unfortunately as one can see from Christian history, being an uber victim is not quite the same thing as taking care of business, and can also be a comfortable little niche to lie in instead of dealing with hard cold facts, like negotiation strategy. Anyway, for the crowd it is convenient to blame it on her, and for parliament as well. Then all can return to their waking dream they call life.