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Hi all, greetings from Turkey. I want to practice for my health, piece of mind, and strength. There is unfortunately, no place that offers practice in my city whatsoever. So I will be doing it on my own but I am a bit clueless on the subject. Where do I start without falling into a rabbit hole? Thank you in advance guys.

Hi! Good day everyone! just got started with cultivating qi and have practiced for about 2 months now. Please, I need further guidance on how to progress.

Hi, this will be kind of an info dump about how i discovered internal alchemy and what I discovered so far. I feel as though I'm making fast progress, would love to hear from others here if I am on the path of the rabbit or turtle. I am self-taught in almost everything I do, I consider myself a good judge of false truths and universal truths. I trust my instincts, but I know it can be dangerous to mess with these energies without guidance, which is why I'm here. A) I've been meditating on and off since middle school (24 YO now) to try and deal with anxiety, depression and difficulty falling asleep at the time. over the recent year I've noticed something is missing from the practice which is why it didn't feel natural to meditate consistently. B ) Started training in powerlifting when i was 16. Came across the Valsalva maneuver for bracing the core and efficient lifting. This has lead me to learn that breathing into the abdomen has many benefits (leaning nervous system to rest & digest), also Elliott Hulse's video about "breath into your balls" further reinforced that idea. now i know this is anchoring the breath. I've made this a habit for a long time before discovering internal alchemy. C) I've noticed animal products made me feel heavy and lethargic, and had a negative effect on my training. so I've been vegan for over 2.5 years now and developed more awareness of how the things i put in my mouth affect my body. I overall have higher energy and a clearer mind thanks to this. D) when i broke off my last relationship, I've noticed i felt like a different person when i had a gf vs when single. In a good way. i knew it wasnt the girl specifically, and i never enjoyed casual sex much. By process of elimination, i deducted it was because i didn't watch porn or masturbated while in a relationship, that desire simply never came. That lead my down the rabbit hole of NoFap, which somewhat worked for about a year or two, but by the time COVID came around it felt extremely forced and detrimental to my mental health. I realized that NoFap is incomplete. after further research of the psychology of (porn) addiction and the emotional knots of that habit i've reached a more complete picture of the issue. excessively expelling sexual energy is a symptom, not the core issue. Now i know this is Taming the White Tiger. About 3 months ago, i've decided to research the subject again. by that time i had fully taken in the sensations of sexual energy rising and falling, and how powerful (and dangerous) that energy is. By simply typing "Sexual energy" into YT i came across a channel that talks about sexual energy and the MCO, which led me to Qigong and Internal alchemy. I learned about the MCO, the 3 treasures, the dantien and some more of the basic concepts. I started doing Shi Heng Yi's Baduanjin qigong routine a few times a week. Which helped me: 1. feel much more connected to my body, within 2-3 sessions ive noticed a lot of stored tension in my shoulders, hands and head. 2. Meditate more easily. I became aware that i couldn't meditate a lot because it felt like too much energy is floating to the head. Thanks to the anchor to the body, meditation doesn't feel like suffering. 3. cultivate more of the non-action mindset. I'm insisting on NOT imagining Qi and simply doing the practice, and noticing the effects in my body naturally. During heavy training sessions i would listen to metal music in order to hype myself for the lift. for the past to month or two that desire did not arise. Syncing the breath and closing the magpie bridge during qigong made me realize how powerful my body can feel without external stimuli. So using the same methods in my training, i can focus on my body, gather and use immense amounts of force with a tranquil mind, ultimately making my training feel easier and energy refining rather than energy draining. 4. slowly feel the effects of the dantien and MCO. After a Saturday of going to the beach alone and an evening of meeting with a friend and smoking weed, I've had a realization on the drive back home. I started to remember the habit of the tongue positions and reminded myself to do it. suddenly i felt a click, almost like my mind was sharper the second my tongue and the roof of my mouth connected. Also i swear i could almost feel a flow, like it was almost very easy to see the breath and rhythm of the universe in that moment. perhaps it was an illusion, however it felt very real. The feeling carried over to my everyday even when i was sober, then faded and sometimes comes back just a little bit now and again. To reiterate, I've been practicing internal alchemy for only about 3 months, and already feel significant benefits. The absolute basics of the practice were already known to me (see A-D) and I haven't been grasping or forcing (as far as I'm aware). I really hope this is real progress and not an illusion. Please share you opinion or thoughts Besides that, is there something else i should do besides meditation and qigong to build a strong foundation? I still struggle with the White Tiger sometimes, however it is easier now than it has ever been. Should i read a book on qi/neigong? (all info so far was learned on the internet) OR should i hold off on learning about higher concepts for now until I've laid a strong foundation?

Hello All! Im a 40 year old from India. Im interested in neidan practices but I dont know anyone teaching this in India. Im thinking of following online courses. What are some good courses by which I can cultivate Jing, Qi and Shen ? Another question, does neidan have any parallels with Kriya Yoga ? Do they complement each other ? Regards, Anand

Hello people !!

I have been digging through for cultivation and I found this forum. I want to cultivate properly. Please enlighten this lowly mortalx(

Hello my name is maske and I'm a young man who is interested in cultivation i have always loved the feeling of meditation and just finding your own spiritual self. And I really love the idea that a human having the ability to use QI wich excites me because I always had a feeling that the human race has more potential and now that I have found out about this feels like the best thing that has happened in my life. But I don't really know how to start what do I do? Or am I doing it right sometimes I feel warmth in my hands and I once listened to monk music once and and closed my eyes while listening very closely to every single sound and I felt my soul being outside my body I felt it over my left shoulder but the second I noticed I went back into my body those were the only things that gave me hope to keep going but know I want to really know i want to do this. It's my dream to become good at cultivation and I want to learn more about daoism. And so I want to ask you all as my seniors if they could share or even show me how to cultivate. Thanks

Hello all, I am Adrian, 48, (male) Auckland NZ. I've had a long association and interest in Daoist texts and philosophy after my aunt left the Dao te Ching in my house when I was a kid and I found it had a very strong feeling of familiarity and complete 'rightness' for me. I bumped into the Mo Pai thing with the Magus of Java text a few years ago about Jonny Chang, got interested, contacted Jim (now passed) and practiced it for about a year. I think I may have done myself some harm doing this without close supervision - but I stopped because I felt I was doing it from the wrong motivations anyway. In any case then I read a few of Shifu Lin's short works on Mo Pai and Sexual Alchemy. All this makes sense to me but I think I need to find a legit teacher to at least have some more conversations with as I'm not sure I'm ready or have time for hard core Mo Pai life commitment! Also I have a sense of uncertainty about Shifu Lin as some older threads on this site bear out. So does anyone have any advice for me about where to start a conversation with an experienced Daoist practitioner, not necessarily Mo Pai or even Nei Kung, ideally anyone NZ/Auckland based but with reasonable english!! I'm not much of a fan of just doing mysterious unexplained practices AKA "jacket on, jacket off"! Cheers, Adrian

Good day guys. Jun Yu Xian again for another beginner's inquery. Please suggest a diet that could help me in cultivation and also would help me make my body fit. Note that I am not neglecting workout. I just want to want to eat something healthy.

Hi everyone, lm so new here and actually dont know how to use this forum. My friend said just write your question than they ll replay you first l need a treatment l have a blockage in my head one master said its low energy assests and think that ho tien masters could take it out does any one had the some problem and suggest me any good masters to do it? Thank you Vildan S.

Hello, I was looking to encorporate a QiGong routine in my daily life primarily in order to increase my energy throughout the day and relax at night (after MMA|weight training). I have found two systems: Zhan Zhuang https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH_ecCMHqqpBazYiUv3Sg8Q and Flying Phoenix routines by Terry Dunn. What do you think about the two systems that i have converged. Are there some other systems that i need to check out? I am relatively new to the QiGong if you except my Wing Chun training which lasted for about a year. Also i do heavy weight lifting throughout the week so i wouldn't want my QiGong to interfere with my training (that's why i was a bit skeptical about Zhan Zhuang) Thanks

Or, in English "Peace be with you." I'm new to these forums, and I'm also very new to this "Tao" thing as well. I'm so new to it that beyond still trying to understand what some of the poems mean in the Tao Te Ching I have no idea what to do or where to go. I have a feeling that is almost a good thing though, as long as I'm mindful of it and the possibilities that could arise. A little background on me: I'm an American woman in her mid 20's. Engaged, marrying next year to a Muslim husband. Big time gamer, geek, nerd (w/e you want to call it these days). Lifelong seeker. Since I could form the word "God" I've probably been seeking some kind of higher calling or purpose. Attended a Christian elementary school that pretty much killed every possible chance of me ever being a Christian. Studied(ing) Islam beginning in my late teens. Began wearing the hijab, dressing modestly, praying, sometimes fasting, etc. I've also worked in nightlife and been a model. I left those lifestyles behind after a few short years because I felt they offered me nothing in the way of progress as a soul, just a lot of materialistic and carnal noise. I studied philosophy in college. (Surprise!) In my very, very, very brief studies of this path I have seen the phrase on a few blogs, "You don't become a Taoist, you just realize you are one.", or something to that effect. I guess that's where I stand on the precipice of. I've come to admit some very harsh truths to myself about what I believe about the nature of God and the nature of, well, nature, and our relationship to it. I guess mainstream society and my Islamic disposition made it easy to push these things down, but I've had enough. I'm tired of tossing and turning in bed and living with mental discomfort about my beliefs. It's stifling. I'm not going to go into explicit detail about every single thing, but I'd be happy to talk more about it if someone wants to know more. Overall, I'm just hear to learn and hear people's opinions. I learned a lot about Islam that way and I felt it worked pretty well for me. Just listening and asking questions and talking with others. After all, this site if "conversations on the way" right? hehe I like it! Anyways, I'm open to any and all recommended reading and other suggestions about supplementing my study of this path. On the surface it resonates with me a lot, on a very basic level just as someone or something that exists. Really, I'd love any basic guidance for a neophyte seeker. I'll close with a verse from the Qur'an that stirred the first inkling of the Tao in me: "And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing." - Qur'an 2:115

Hey, Long story, short. Tried 8 brochades randomly on youtube. And had strong calming, and centering effects straight away. After lurking on this forum, i narrowed it down to Ken Cohens, and Spring Forest Qigong as a next step. (SPQ had way too strong effect on my body and emotions, so im waiting a bit after some scary moments ) I've had eczema and candida albicans issues since i was 2 years old which only got worse in time to severe social anxiety and neurosis, bells palsy (losing contact with half of my face), clogged sinuses and digestion issues. This stacked with a imbalanced family dynamic and some dark clouds, made my life feel worthless. I am now about 3 months in of cultivation and practice everyday (Two 30 min sessions), and i have never been healthier, or remembering feeling better. After about a week in my practice, my body didnt want meat, so ive been a 'vegetarian' since then round about 2-3 months in.. This happened very naturally, and was effortless. Have had a spiritual/occult inclination since i was a kid, and since then (now 28) ive tried Yogic/Buddhist practices, which did nothing for me compared to the Taoist systems, which i find deeply mystical and practical to say the least. Never had results like these. Love it that this forum exists, and reading posts from people with experience both negative and positive. Cheers

Hello, friends. I suppose I'm here because I feel like self-improvement is to be found in TCM, Qi Gong, and/or Tai Chi. The only problem is that I'm a complete virgin on all three subjects, with virtually no knowledge of even their basics. I'd appreicate any sort of advice and pointers you guys might have for me, and am totally open to answering any questions. Thanks!

Hi everybody, I am a 26 year old male looking for advice on solo practices on sexual transmutation and cultivation. My motivation for doing it is for enhancing mental faculties, creativity and concentration. I am clueless and don't know where to start. A few years ago I came across qi gong but was told that qi gong shouldn't be done alone but under the supervision of a teacher, so I didn't look into qi gong any further cause there are no teachers in my city. Looking forward to learning from you guys.

Hello everyone, I'm Zyril, a 23 year old engineering student, currently residing in a cold northern country. I've always been fascinated by eastern philosophy, and I have read quite many books on the topic though only a few of them were of the practical sort, i.e. Qigong Teachings of a Taoist Immortal: The Eight Essential Exercises of Master Li Ching-yun http://www.amazon.co...l/dp/0892819456 and The Inner Structure of Tai Chi: Mastering the Classic Forms of Tai Chi Chi Kung http://www.amazon.co...g/dp/1594770581 I now realize that I have alot of questions, and perhaps some of you may be able to help me out and point me in the correct direction. 1. I have for some time now wanted to "go practical" when it comes to my spiritual side, and I am very curious on both tai-chi chuan and qigong. My problem is that I have clue on how to start nor where to start. I've looked up a school near me where I can try out both arts, and I will do so. But how do I know what is best for me, or what it is that I want to do? 2. I am a fit guy, I eat right, I sleep well and I feel healthy in most ways I can think of. I have since about half a year back tried to spend each night meditating for some time, though I cannot say that I progressed very far. In the beginning, I couldn't sit still for more than ten minutes, because my middle back below my shoulder blades would start to hurt. Now, I can sit down and relax for about 30 minutes, before I feel like I'm slowly becoming more restless and contraproductive in the meditation. I write meditation, though I do not believe that I actually have entered a meditative state any of the times that I have done it. I do feel more relaxed and at ease though, so I guess that I am getting something good out of it. I have also read, and I know that this most likely is just opinions from people, that by not ejaculating I can reach a meditative state easier than when ejaculating from now and then. Lately, I have been experimenting with this in the way that whenever I have felt aroused, I have instead tried to meditate, and it has helped me to regain control of my mind and my body. Is there any truth in this? I feel like I am benefiting by doing it this way, so maybe it is how I should do? This turned into a lot of text, so I won't write more right now but instead wait for some replies. Perhaps I need to be clearer on some points. Yours faithfully, Z

Here Owen Cook gives a video blog talk about meditation, focusing on the practical aspects