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Huge topic. But I get asked this all the time from patients, students, etc. What system should I study for personal growth? Here is my two cents from 30 plus years of professional practice and personal study. This will be a thread that I attend to in between patient load at work. Pardon if my reply is slow at times. Sol

Good morning, It's not morning here, but I like to open letters this way. I guess my journey started shortly after I started training in the martial arts while still in college. One of the black belt instructors was also into Yoga, and occasionally would spend an entire class on how to meditate/breathe. She taught us how to not only sit quietly for a few minutes during meditation, but to breathe from our hara and "empty our cups" before and after class. My first art was Isshinryu Karate, and my dojo had a "library," where I read everything. I read technique books on karate, aiki, & kung fu, which led me to taking a Tai Chi course. As I found myself drawn to the more philosophical books in the library, like Zen in the Martial Arts, I decided to take a course in Eastern Philosophy. Two of the books we studied were Tao Te Ching and The Way of Chuang Tzu. It was during a conversation with my professor he said, "You know, you're very Taoist in how you approach life..." or something similar. Ever since, if any one asked what I was, my reply was Taoist. Although, besides martial arts, and occasional mediation, I've always felt I was kind of lying. Not sure reading Tao of Pooh and one class makes one a Taoist. ANYWAY... That was over 20 years ago and for many years I connected meditation and my life philosophy with my martial arts study. BUT I'm older and have moved and I'm saddened that most martial arts schools now, are not non-profits. They do not promote meditation, some even forbid it, for fear it hurts the practitioners’ religious beliefs. It seems all the things I loved about the martial arts have been stripped. Missing are not only the altars, and seated meditation before and after class, but instead there is more emphasis on external than internal strength, no balance in my opinion. One of the last schools I attended, I stopped the instructor to explain, "You do realize what you are teaching is illegal? You cannot just keep pummeling someone, just because he swung at you at once." I was taught the real way to win a fight was by avoiding it, or at least leaving as soon as possible, not... Sorry, I'm digressing. I'm here because, I've given up on finding a martial arts school, or like minded people in those schools and meetup groups, but I would still like to practice meditation, or rather I need to begin practicing again, and get more in touch with the things I believe in and possibly learn more about meditation and whatever the Taoist version of chakra meditation would be. I apologize my knowledge is sporadic/incorrect and pulls from Yoga, Zen and half a dozen martial arts (Chinese, Japanese and even a slight dabble in Indonesians arts). Although, I do miss the physical aspect, my now, ahem, over 40 body, may be happy (got pretty banged up in my last attempted at Aikido). I feel like a white belt Taoist, or Daoist? I have worn white many times and don't mind, but hope here in The Dao Bums I can at least learn how to put on my gi, so to speak. I kind of like what bbdoll in her first post so I'm going to pilfer, although these change almost daily. Favorite movie: Paul (with Simon Pegg) Favorite song: Well You Needn't (Thelonious Monk) tied with Where is my Mind (Pixies) Favorite book: Kill Baxter by Charlie Human Sorry so long & thank you for reading, Oddsox