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Hello All, I stumbled on this forum on accident while looking for a follow along Qigong series. It was very easy to see that their is a wealth of information easily available on this forum, especially good info for a beginner like me. That being said is their anything you wish you had know when you registered on Daobums? Any tips on how the forum is organized or what to do to find the best info on what your searching for. Really anything you can tell me about this community would be welcome info.

Hi so for a quick background on myself, I came from a really abusive household they were also Religious and used it to control the children alot. Unfortunately I fell victim to it and joined the Religion for several years, I was told I was a bad person in my past life, needed to be punished, etc. I started hearing voices in my head ( not actual voices just intrusive thoughts) that told me I needed to fail and suffer in life, my life generally has been unfortunate up until this point. Now with Neigong and martial arts my mind got more clear and I've decided to leave, but the strange part is that I still get fear and panic which seems to cause blockages in my body. Anyone have experience with this? Reposted from Occult section (Hope mods don't ban I think this topic belongs here as well)

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 everyone, First, I want to say thank you. I have been reading through many forums trying to deepen my understanding and have benefited greatly from the conversations many of you have had within the different topics of the forum. Even though I have benefitted greatly I still have a lot to learn which is why I am now writing this post in order to ask for advice. As a background, I am a 26-year-old male from Ontario, Canada. My lifestyle hasn't always been the healthiest, but of late it has become healthier, though since getting a puppy it does make it difficult for me to leave the home outside of work for prolonged periods of time. At least that is the case for now. This makes it hard for me to pursue the idea of finding a master/teacher to study under. I am not even sure if there is a master from a good lineage near me and honestly I am not exactly sure how to go about finding that out. That being said I don't wish to just be waiting around. I want to start building a foundation now so that, karma willing, when I do find a teacher I will be in a place where they can begin to teach me. Thanks to Earl Grey I was pointed in the direction of Flying Phoenix, which seems like a perfect fit at least for now of a complete chi kung practice to follow in order to start building a foundation. I do have a couple of concerns though. Does it matter that I currently can't feel qi (chi)? Will practicing the methods from percentage breathing to forms allow me, over time, to start to feel qi and cultivate it to the basic level of mastery for Flying Phoenix? My next concern is about flexibility. Honestly, other than my spine, the rest of my body is quite inflexible. What should I do to increase my flexibility? I know that some of the poses in the FP (Flying Phoenix) meditations insist on them being done in half-lotus, however currently as I said my body is quite inflexible. What kind of recommendations would you give in order to increase one's flexibility? Are there certain poses that you have found which really help to release the body? I have a few books on increasing one's flexibility I have been starting to follow. I just wanted to know if any of you had insights gained through experience that you would be willing to share. Thirdly, foundation building is an important aspect of martial arts. So much so that I am told that the internal arts usually aren't given to the students for years until they have built the proper foundations within their bodies for their bodies to be able to endure those arts. My third question is what kind of exercises, forms, weight training should I do in order to get my body into a healthier and more optimal state? Are there certain exercises/forms/poses that I should be practicing? Finally, I have a question about the mind. Only building a foundation within my body will create an imbalance between my body and mind. I also wish to strengthen my mind. As such, I plan on reading 'Secret of the Golden Flower', the first five books by Carlos Castaneda and 'Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines' by W.Y. Evans-Wentz. I am wondering if there are any other resources that you would recommend I read as well. I understand that everyone leads busy lives and perhaps doesn't have much time to sit down and respond to each of my questions, or any of my questions for that matter. However, I would be grateful for any wisdom and insight which you would be willing to impart. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope to hear back from you soon.

Several years ago when I was in a relationship with a woman who claimed to be from puerto rico and I was experienced strange bodily sensations I went to this forum to seek counsel. After messaging him for help forum member named spotless told me that I had "a white mist floating in front of my stomach" and when I asked him to specify he said "Well, I thought you knew what that meant. Gotta go, see ya!" Now, a few years ago I found myself having strange bodily phenomena and a spiritual/energetic crises of some sort when I began a relationship with another woman, although her words and actions caused me to question the validity and authenticity of the relationship. I once again consulted spotless for advice, this time he told me to ask jeff. There has been a number of times I have encountered the name jeff in recent time. From seeking help from an acupuncturist named jeffery, which after the treatment I've found that my circulation is not what it was and I am unable to exercise with any regularity. Blood pools in my hands when I take relatively short walks about town, and I have veins showing in my right forearm constantly. Lost of memes with the name Jeffrey aswell, "my namea jeff". I received a dress shirt with the name geofferey bean on the tag. There is more. Also during the latest crises I asked another member for advice and he told me to try focusing on complex objects such as orange cross-sections, leaf veins and mountains. My entire conversation with the aforementioned member and spotless is missing from my inbox on this website. *On a possibly unrelated tangent. Why did the creator of lone man pai change the slogan of his practices to "blood and honey"? I have seen a pattern of bear imagery over the last few years, even on trips to places. Some of the bear and bee imagery seems self-referential and it doesn't feel good*

After several years of daily meditation and breathing practices, I have reached what feels like a very uncomfortable mid-point, where I can feel partially opened channels in my body, but am suffering all kinds of discomfort because they feel seriously twisted and contain some major blockages. Before anything opened up, my body consisted of many different abnormalities such as warped and twisted bones which no Western doctor has been able to explain. I can now see that all of these physical anomalies are situated in the places along the channels where I can feel blockages, so it seems that my irregular physique was like a living fossil of energetic problems. Firstly, I was wondering how common this kind of thing is. After baffling a sufficient number of doctors, I’ve now been asked to allow them to map my genome as they consider me such a curiosity. Clearly this isn’t something they encounter very often, but surely I’m not that unique as there’s an endless number of people complaining about blockages, twists and deviations on forums such as this. Am I just an extreme case? The second question I’m hoping those with more experience and wisdom than me can answer is whether the daily practices I do (mainly meditation, alternate nostril breathing, nine bottle breath, MCO visualisation) are helping or hindering me. I’m particularly worried it may be the latter because, as I say, I’ve reached a point where I’ve partially opened the channels and dissolved blockages, but it means I feel the existing twists and obstructions more keenly than ever before. Every time I succeed in “getting out of my own way” during meditation, so that energy starts moving on its own, I run up against these extreme physical barriers. It seems I have only two options: to push ahead with what I am doing, or stop altogether. Obviously stopping is the most sensible option, but I can feel the half-dissolved obstructions and half-straightened channels constantly in my daily life whether I’m trying to or not, so it’s very hard not to try to do something to deal with it. I’m suffering a great deal of discomfort all over my body, as well as frequent headaches and fatigue, so is this a sign of things opening up or of things going horribly wrong? Thanks for your help.

Hello guys, i'm glad to have found you and the clear criticism on the AYP system. It always felt something was missing. Recently I experienced a kundalini overload as result of storing too much energy in my brain during a tantric intercourse practice, it left full with energy but very very grumpy. Luckily there were a view qi-gong books in the bookshelf and doing the microcosmic breathing in a tree pose helped a lot. From this moment I stepped away from AYP and found you and i'm very happy to have found a forum were open discussions can be held without personal resentment . Please allow me to introduce myself and ask you for advice on finding a simple practice system. My name is Pieter-Bas Prins since the age of 12 I have been introduced to spiritual practices through the book "The Wisdom of the Enneagram" and experienced for the first time myself and the world through the "Witness state". After a while it felt like i could turn on/off the "Witness state" like a switch. However after half a year i totally forgot about spiritual practices again until much later. My mother introduced me to the lovely poetry of Rumi and the Sufi movement in The Netherlands which summer retreats will always hold dear memories in my heart as well as Vilayat Inayat Khan and the name he gave to me Chadash. After lower school I was not sure what to do in live after finally going to University to study Clinical Psychology and the master Developmental Psychology. It the moment there are four passions in my life: (1) the lovely 3 year relationship with my current girlfriend. (2) helping others achieve psychological autonomy, a passionate life and joy. (3) Promoting self-sustainable living, in the sense of generating ones own food, energy and reducing ones ecological food print, for reasons of living an autonomous life in every sense and to be aware of the whole cycle of life and the consequences of ones actions. (4) Bringing healing and joy to the people around me, currently taken the form of preparing tea ceremonies combined with delicacies and mindfulness practices. For the past 4 years I have been practicing according to the AYP system, with slight adjustments. I engaged in 3 hours of deep meditation and spinal breathing a day. I focused heavily on having a mindful state of mind throughout the whole day as to observe all occurring vibrations, emotions and thoughts objectively and to reformulate the opinions i have given them. Starting with the enjoyment of cold showers and enjoying the rain (very necessary in The Netherlands ). This led to the most profound experiences I have ever had in my life. Taking cold showers and walking in the rain became blissful experiences, it became very easy and natural to communicate with others through the hearth with love and empathy, i became filled with tremendous amounts of energy and loving feelings radiating from my hearth trough my whole body and finally I was able to enter "The witness state" again like turning a switch on/off. My live was filled with bliss and unrequited love for all things... Until I could not relate to the problems of my flat mates anymore. All struggles they complained about seemed meaningless, illusions that led to procrastination or barriers to prevent themselves from opening up to others. I could not enjoy playing video games, watching cinematic movies and only some tv-shows (without American drama). It all felt so unnatural and unrelatable, barriers and excuses that stop us from accepting reality, afraid... I stopped practicing (i'm very regretful until this day...). Half a year ago i started practicing again. Back from the start but with a great longing to what i once experienced.. I tremendously enjoyed being filled by love, bliss, perceiving the once negative stimulation in life cold, rain, etc. with joy and to drift away on blissful vibrations in deep meditation. Unrequited love is still there, not overwhelming hearth warming and ever present but a conscious choice. However i would like to learn a lot more about Chi and healing energies. However the Qi-gong books i posses are very complicated with a million different exercises. Do you know of a system with simply and clear instruction building up like the AYP system around a few basic, simple core practices added on with healing practices. That can be combined with concentration meditation to develop stillness, blissful vibrations and a mindfulness state of mind. Simplicity is key as I would like to further research these practices in Clinical and developmental psychology settings. The current mindfulness based therapies are only suitable for a very limited group of people and are plagued with a great number of drop-outs and unwillingness to participate in daily meditation at home for the course of the therapy but however show great benefits for those who do. Thank you so much for the time it took to read this and, in advance, for the advice you have given. Warm regards and bliss to you, Edit: I'll be trying "Cobra Breath, Kundalini practices!" by Seth Ananda for some time. Does anyone know of a sample healing or standing chi manipulation practice I could combine with this?

Anyone have knowledge of appropriate remedies for "chi sickness"? By that i am referring to when your completely burnt out energetically and your body is taking taking a significant amount of time to rewire itself.

Not sure who has experience in this field, but if one were to get a distribution deal for their feature film, how does that usually work? Is there a sum of money given up front? Let's say a film is put on Netflix, does Netflix pay the producers of the film to put the film on there? Would such a payment be a large up front payment or is it usually paid periodically?

I am just wondering if anybody works with specific lighting conditions, aromas/incense etc when meditating. Here in England, in December, it's all very dark and grey outside during the day. Not dark enough to warrant candles though, but with the curtains open, it's all a bit "miserable".

Hey been a while since I posted on here but I need some advise from my fellow Taos. I'm 18 now but I've know since my younger days about this plight that May or may not be effecting my family. Ima first generation Belizean-American, Belize is where my family has called home the last 100 - 200 years. We're good people humble noble etc other belizeans interact with us I don't know anyone with heated disdain or anything much like that.But the moment we do any thing that someone doesn't agree upon you know when we turn into the "bad guy" for various reasons, we can hear people snickering beezlebulb under there berths. Years ago I asked my g ma why was this, she said "oh justsomething that happened in ancient times" something like that no depth and changed the subject. Once I was 16 I moved high schools and I found qi gong as a God send if I ever felt less then myself and secluded it gave me the powerful feeling I needed and the will for integration. From a span a 6-8 months I went from meditating daily to weekly to monthly until I ceased maybe I fooled myself into stopping idk. Due to shit that's recently happened to me like a floating rib injury (preety bad) that I got the end of last year from getting up out of a chair, on slot of parking tickets other financial woes, sexual problems I've been having with the girl of my dreams that I have successfully been remedying with iron groin qi gong as of late and other more iotic reasons I took an oppritunity to see a phychic. She said I'm a bright person with good intentions and a very pure heart but there is always something trying to damper my glow. We spoke about my family then asked her to try to find out exactly what happened, she described ancient times to me like my g ma mentioned and a rain forest. She said a member of my family had kicked someone out of our tribe community etc for doing something dishonorable/hateful. Any way this hateful person used all his negative energy and casted a hex on my family member that excommunicated him from the community, because of his jealousy for certain ranks we had been holding there the hate was not too hard to provoke out of him. This is what I put together from what she told me anyway, but his hate was so raw and pure what ever he did became a generational curse on my family. I looked up symptoms and yea my g ma does have a 50 year old wound that heals then reopens again after sometime but this can be due to her diabetes. Also males in my family do have the tendency to die before their parents a lot nd the females in my family all had to have ceserians for their births my gma is the only one I know that had natural births. I just want to know what needs to be done to decypher this the proper way, I was looking at some possible ancestral work I could do on here maybe that is the best way to figure this out and desolve any or all blockages. I'm a music artist and creativity was feeling a bit closed off to me as of late, i want to resolve this because if doors are blocked to me I cannot attain the information from within them I need to change lives through art and Devine insite that spurs creativity. Thanks for reading all of this and giving a helpful response I know it's alot of info to take in. P.s my ancestors came to the new world on a slave ship they capsized that landed on st.Vincent island where they mixed with the natives there and created my race the garifunas, then we moved to Belize around 200 yrs later, phychic thinks the actual cursing happened there on st Vincent, sometime after their landing there. Pps.i have re introduced meditation back into my life and have no plans on letting it slip away again at all, it's probly the main reason I'm here asking all the right questions. Qi gong saves my life every time. Pss.Phychic said last time that it manifest or is a spirit and knows were attempting to remove it's work, my first tattoo was of the heart sutra mantra and I try to live daily by it's words transcendent wisdom and the power of love being known to the masses are some of what I would like to accomplish in life. I just wonder what it (spirit)maybe for words of pure light I have memorized and believe wholely to maybe cause a hindrance to it but not a complete dispersal. That is all thanks for the help in advance.

I found this document interesting, I thought it could be helpfull. This man has been one of the few disciples of Yang Chengfu. He talks about the best way to do the form, jing, and plenty of anecdotes about its master.