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A few questions to get the juices flowing and a bit of inspiration if you want to jump on this thread. The more the merrier. What does your weekly training cycle look like? Do you practice everyday? Do you practice after certain activities? Do you practice before certain activities? Why? When do you practice, morning , noon , night, how does this fit why does it work for you? What is the wisdom in your routine, can you share any tricks, tips, insights etc that you have gathered over the years? Do’s Donts, Tips for beginners? Or more intermediates? Or any other little tweaks ? or profound, that spring to mind about your daily/weekly (even monthly or yearly )practice routine, Either now? Or over the years previous? Or maybe even what you are planning to do?

Dear Dao Bums, Has anyone here on the forum done SFQ level 5? I remember looking at it many years ago, where it boasted of secrets of connecting with ancestors, prolonging life, increasing jing and longevity, supercharging lower dan tien and kidneys for vitality, rainbow energy bone marrow cleansing, opening all spiritual senses and much more. In the commercial films from the retreat people were meditating in front of a large lake, with Chunyi Lin empowering each one-by-one using sword finger to their 3rd eye. When I look at the official page today, it's much more modest in its claims; now it's called "beyond qi" and talks about "advanced qigong", "advanced tian mu", "opening spiritual senses", "increasing healing power". However, I still would love to go for a sense of completion, having done SFQ level 1-4, and having used his qigong and meditation for many 49 day cycles, having had several very expensive one-on-one sessions with him, as well as healed maybe 20-25 people using his system. I always get a deep sense of personal satisfaction and delight when completing something, and taking level 5 would give me that. Further, it would of course also be super interesting to sample and experience first hand the "qi menu" offered (the tian mu and spiritual senses methods). So, looking for experiences here; anyone ever attended? If yes, what was your experience? God bless you

Hello, I started meditation in 2018. Because I want too hard from the start I had 3 instances of ego death.I stopped them with pills but they made everything worse.Does anyone know any teacher that can help me overcome the anxiety and fear that comes with ego death ?

PREFACE Vijnanabhairava is a very ancient book on Yoga. It closely follows the basic principles of Saivagama. It contains 112 types of yoga. There is hardly any other book on yoga which has described so many ways of approach to Central Reality that is present in each man as his essential Self. It is both extensive, and intensive in the treatment of the subject of yoga. An English translation of this excellent work is being provided for the first time. The text that has been adopted is mainly the one that is published in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies. At a few places, however, slightly different readings yielding better sense have been incorporated as suggested by Svami Laksmana Joo. Each verse of the Sanskrit text has been printed in both Devanigari and Roman script. This is followed by an English translation and a number of expository notes which will go a long way in elucidating the main idea of the verse. A long Introduction explaining the basic principles of the yogas described in the text has been provided in the beginning. A glossary of technical terms has also been added at the end. Since the yogas recommended in the book are based on the tenets of the non-dualistic Saiva Philosophy, the reader will do well to read the author's Introductory Portion of either the Pratyabhijnahridayam or the Siva-sutras before taking up the study of the present book. I express my sincerest gratitude to Svami Laksmana Joo who has kindly taught this book to me word by word. My thanks are also due to Shri Dinanath Ganj who has kindly helped me in the preparation of the index to important Sanskrit words and the alphabetical index to the verses. Varanasi I. VI. 79 JAIDEVA SINGH

I used to do Naam Japa in the past recently this practice has become unacceptable to my mind. I can't find it logical. Though I have experienced it's mind purifying benefits yet it doesn't satisfy my logical mind. Is there any way I can do something other than Naam japa for mind purification. Let's say I take a word kindness and recite it every day with bhava and feelings. Won't it generate the same benefits as doing Naam japa. Will doing Naam japa provide any additional benefits than this self invented exercise of reciting the name of a quality?I understand that one-pointedness is the main goal of mantra or Naam japa but I want to achieve this without using any name of God. It would be great if you include reference to any guru who has touched this topic.

I've been studying some of Tom Bisio's Ba Gua and meditation materials. I've also studied with Bruce Frantzis. There seems to be quite a bit of crossover. For example, the use of the kwa, sinking chi, and dissolving blockages. Some of https://www.internalartsinternational.com/free/daoist-meditation-lesson-six-theory-dissolving-clearing-blockages/ sounds a lot like what Bruce teaches in dissolving meditation. This is very interesting to me, as over the years, I've really wanted some cross-references for Bruce's teachings, and I've found almost none. But with Tom Bisio, there appears to be some "corroboration." The question is, for me - is the overlap in material due to a shared common source, or did one of these teachers learn (some of) the material from the other, without explicitly stating this?

I know that our efforts all come to nothing. Analyze life, tear its trappings off, lay it bare with thought, with logic, with philosophy, and its emptiness is revealed as a bottomless pit; its nothingness frankly confesses to nothingness, and Despair comes to perch in the soulI know the end of us all is nothing, I know that at the end of Time, the reward of our toil will be nothing — and again nothing. I know that all our handiwork and all our ideas will be destroyed. I know that not even ash will be left from the fires that consume us. I know that our ideals, even those we achieve, will vanish in the eternal darkness of oblivion and final non-being. There is no hope, none, in my heart. I know, No promise, none, can I make to myself and to others. No recompense can I expect for my labors. No fruit will be born of my thoughts. I know the time — eternal seducer of all men, eternal cause of all effects — offers me nothing but the blank prospect of annihilation. So, my dignity is broken and weak, in recognition of my impending defeat.The man who is alone, who stands on his own feet, who is stripped bare, who asks for nothing and wants nothing, who has reached the apex of disinterested­ness not through blind renunciation but through ex­cess of clear vision, turns to the world which stretches out before him as a burned prairie, as a devastated city — a world in which no churches, asylums, refuges, ideals, are left — and says: «Though you promise me nothing I am still with you, I am still an atom of your energies, my work is part of your work; I am your companion and your mirror as you march on your merciless way. But I owe nothing to any one. I would be responsible to freedom alone.

I am getting extreme heat during meditation in the evening. I am not getting heat during morning meditation why?

Dear Dao Bums, Here's my experience with Tulku Lobsang (known for doing Tummo in -5 degrees celsius on "Story of God With Morgan Freeman" on NGC). I'll share in 4 parts: 1) Intro and Background 2) Medicine Buddha 3) Dream Yoga 4) Wrap Up - To Be Continued 1) Intro and Background I heard about Tummo when I was a child from my dad. He learnt about yoga on a hippie island camp full of naked women burning bras when he was a child, forced to go with my hippie grandmother in the 60s. He had a life changing experience as a child with yoga and mantras, while on this naked women camp. So in his late teens when small yoga and meditation workshops started in the West, he started attending. Buddhism was super famous in my country on the spiritual scene, as it still is in much of Europe with the New Age crowd I would say. While I grew up, my dad told me of naked monks in the snow-clad Himalayas drying wet sheets with their body temperature through magical yoga practices. So now the family saga continues; as an adult, I've also pursued further what my dad exposed me to as a child. This time, I saw Tulku Lobsang with Morgan Freeman. Being able to be comfortable in a t-shirt in -5 degrees on television I took as a "good enough" show of Tummo skill, that maybe I could finally pursue this magical practice myself. However, I still had some doubts. So, when I saw he was coming to my country, I decided to go check him out. If he "checked out" I would be willing to give it a go and fork over my hard earned cash to flight, hotel and the Tummo workshop (when the time comes). With the intro out of the way, let me share how it went! The first day he taught Medicine Buddha. The following 2 days it was one long workshop on Dream Yoga. 2) Medicine Buddha He gave us the mantra and we all chanted together for maybe 5-15 minutes. Then he instructed us step-by-step in the visualisation. After having stabilised the visualisation, we resumed chanting together (we were maybe 20-30 people). During his transmission, I felt a special kind of energy coming into my head center. I felt like it made it easier for me to visualise. I also felt the energy from each of the lights we visualised in all of my body, and felt pleasantly relaxed. Since this day, I've been doing a minimum of 108 reps of the mantra and then the visualisation meditation procedure he explained. Already on the second day of the practice, it's like the energy had increased in power. Now it's growing day by day with my daily practice. So far so good! He's definitely legit. 3) Dream Yoga My dad took me to a dream yoga weekend workshop when I was about 18-19 years old with a Rinpoche visiting my country. I thought the whole idea of lucid dreams and using them for spiritual practice was extremely fascinating, and even at that young age I practiced quite consistently for about 3 months (while also reading his book). However, I had no results whatsoever. Then again when I was in my mid 20s, I picked up the book again and decided to give it a go. I practiced again for about 2 months, but zero results. In my late 20s, I again read yet another book by a tibetan teacher on dream yoga. I tried it again. No results after 1 month. All of the above practices were the usual "visualise a red drop in your throat chakra, surrounded by a white lotus flower with 4 leaves". In this book there was also a tibetan letter on each leaf, and you said them one by one as a kind of mantra for a while, then proceeded to only visualise until falling asleep. However, at the end of this particular book was also a shamanistic bön practice for lucid dreaming. After 1 month of failing with the vajrayana buddhist practice, I tried the shamanic practice. After about 7-14 days, it happened! I was super excited. Then it would happen every single day like clockwork for about a week. However, with each day I felt like I got more and more tired. Like I used up energy while sleeping, instead of regaining it. I remembered a warning from a daoist qigong teacher who had (as usually) dissed buddhist practices, especially their dream practices. He said "night is for sleeping and resting, that's what nature intended". So I thought maybe my bön lucid dreaming practice was sapping my energy and discontinued it. Lo and behold, now I'm in my early 30s, and I was faced with yet another tibetan vajrayana buddhist practice of visualising a red drop in my throat. "Here we go again!" I found myself thinking, however I still had an open mind during the workshop. During the workshop I felt Tulku Lobsang transmitted different states as well as different energies. I also found him to be extremely grounded in Being, never losing connection to himself, even if some of the people were weird or asked weird questions etc. He remained in Being, very relaxed, very present and extremely grounded and Embodied. I was quite impressed! However, no succes with lucid dreaming, neither during the nights between the workshop days, nor during the workshops when we actually slept for 10-30 minutes under his guidance and blessing. I really felt he transmitted a lot of energy during these sleeping sessions on the workshop, but still no lucid dreams. However, now after the workshop, I have actually had 3-4 lucid dreams so far using the typical tibetan buddhist vajrayana practice with the red drop! Something that's never worked for me, even though I've tried it on/off since I was 19. So that also tells me that his transmission is legit! 4) Wrap Up - To Be Continued So to wrap up, Tulku Lobsang is legit! He's extremely grounded in Being, in Presence and in his body, and he really does transmit states and energies. There's no more doubt in my mind - I will glady fork over my time and cash to learn Tummo from him when the time comes

Hi, I am narayana I am from India. I am interested in Taoist meditation. Nice to meet you all.

Dear Dao Bums, I would love to hear your story and experience of serious, long term, daily standing practice The pros, the cons, was it worth while, what did standing do to you / for you? Physically, energetically and spiritually. In order to kick of this exchange of personal, lived experience, I will also share my own experiences. However, please refrain from sharing theories, opinions, views of different schools, your viewpoints, these are all interesting of course, but I would like to keep this thread completely clean of that, and instead solely focus on lived, personal experiences. The end goal is to collect actual "data" on standing from real people, and see which patterns emerge over time, with more and more people sharing their stories. My Own Experiences So Far, 4 parts 1) 2017, First Encounter With Standing I first heard about the idea of long, static, standing meditation in 2017 from Lam Kam Chuen's book "Way of Energy". One evening during my deployment to Africa with the UN, I couldn't fall asleep. I thought to myself "okay, let me try this standing thing". I stood up and did my best, and managed to stand for what felt "like a really long time", realistically it was probably between 10 and 40 minutes. My experience was that each time it felt like "it's impossible to stand any longer, my shoulders are burning too much, my legs are too tense" or whichever physical thing was annoying me, I used my willpower to keep standing anyway. Each time I managed to "hold on", it was as if a kind of breakthrough happened, and the physical tension was relieved by a surge of energy. This happened maybe 5-10 times, and each time I felt energy surging in my body. When I finally finished and laid down to sleep in my tent (yes, it was a primitive army camp), I had the best and deepest sleep since maybe my teenage years. When I woke up in the morning and felt so incredibly refreshed, I made a mental note to myself "I must remember this standing meditation, there is really something here, some day I will explore it further". 2) 2018, standing as a supplement to lovemaking In 2018 as part of a daoist lovemaking and sex qigong retreat in Asia, there were some general qigong exercises taught to supplement the sexual exercises. There were 2-3 moving exercises which took about 5-10 minutes, and the other part was 4 standing, static exercises, each held for 5 minutes, totaling 20 minutes. When I tried these 20 minutes of standing, the instruction was not to blink at all during the whole time if possible, but if the eyes started watering, you could blink. To be honest I didn't experience anything at all, other than it felt kind of weird to just stand still and stare. Every 5 minutes you switched position, which was a huge relief on the shoulders. At this point I made a mental note to myself not to explore standing any further, as I didn't feel like it did anything for me. 3) 2022, 1 hour squatting monkey standing challenge I heard that the fastest way to build the lower dan tien and open the microcosmic orbit was through 1 hour standing squatting monkey. I decided to give it a go. It took me about 1 month to work up to standing for 60 minutes. What I experienced progressively during that 1 month while practicing was that I would get warm, start sweating, I would feel qi surging through my body, I would feel warmth in my lower dan tien, I would feel vibration in my microcosmic orbit, and towards the end I started seeing a light between my eyebrows. So I felt a lot of stuff going on energetically and spiritually. However, the posture didn't feel healthy to me at all. It felt like I was training my body to be slouched over because of the way you're standing, and the shoulders are slightly forward too. Instead of putting my physical body into alignment, I felt like I was training it to be out of alignment. In the end my conclusion was that I would revisit the practice in the future if I ever became desperate to work on my third eye, but for now I would discontinue the practice, simply because it didn't feel good for my physical body. I felt other practices I knew were faster, easier and just felt better physically. 4) 2023, 100 days standing like a pillar challenge This is the most recent, and is in progress. This is also what prompted me to start this thread, simply because I would love to hear your experiences. I'm about 31 days in as of today, and have had some quite interesting experiences. The first 25 days were progressively getting more and more hellish. It felt like my body simply was not designed to stand. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get my body into proper alignment, and especially my shoulders were killing me, no matter what I did. I searched online (including on this forum), and read everything I could about standing. I actually felt like there was not too much quality information out there; most was people either bashing it as a waste of time or downright dangerous, or people praising it like the holy grail. That's also why I wanted to make this post, I want personal, lived experiences, not people ideologizing. I want us all to share our own experiences to over time build potentially build empirical evidence. The only reason I didn't quit, in spite of me feeling like I was going through meaningless suffering daily, was that I found a facebook group called "1000 hours of standing". I joined the group and started reading. Someone had made the general rule "10 hours of standing will give results, 100 will give good results, 1000 will give best results". However, I would say I found the majority in that group saying that long standing is meaningless and just creates more tension in the body, or even worse, injuries. At that point I had accumulated almost 9 hours of total standing time, and I wanted to quit. That 10 hour rule motivated me to try a bit more. Lo and behold, a day or two after reading that post, something happened during my standing. Suddenly I felt my left hip "pop open" is the best way to describe it. It was as if there had been some kind of tension in there, preventing my hips from "hanging", and thereby preventing my lower and upper body from being connected and aligned. That same day, just towards the end of my standing (about 40 minutes), my right hip popped open. I was shocked! It was as if my body had been multiple different compartments of tensions, and with this hip opening (thanks only to time and gravity, it was completely outside of my own volition to do), it felt like my entire body became one, connected, physical whole. The last 4-5 days or so have been shocking to say the least. The hips both now "fall" open by themselves after about 5-10 minutes of standing, my whole body falls into alignment, and I can just stand and stand completely effortlessly. Everything has fallen into place. I stood 60 minutes yesterday, completely effortlessly! I am shocked. So I have something physical to show for it, at least for my self. Before I started, I just couldn't stand no matter what I did, it was literal self-torture. However, now my physical body feels more and more like one integrated and well-aligned unit, making it possible for me to effortlessly stand. I am yet to see what will happen from here energetically and spiritually, but I can see now how standing lends itself to meditation. The body clicks into position, and I can completely focus on simply meditating. I also feel very grounded after standing. But there are still about 70 days to go, so I will just have to wait and see what will happen (if anything). However, I would love to hear your experiences from long term, daily standing The good, the bad, the ugly, everything, just your personal lived experience. If standing cured your cancer, I want to know about it. If standing killed your grandma, I want to know about it. Look forward to hear from you! All the best

Apparently, nobody believes that they can live for more than 100-200 years by practicing internal alchemy. They also do not believe that they can eventually jump over a house or split a mountain in half by practicing martial arts together with internal alchemy. My questions are; why do you/they practice internal alchemy? What is your/their final purpose with doing so? - A sleepy and curious bluejay

Umm...How do I say this, without coming across as a crazy person? After meditating, recently, I've noticed something a bit weird. Well, actually this started a couple of weeks ago I think, or maybe longer, but I didn't really think anything of it. Umm, after meditating, the world seems devoid of all color. Everything is in black and white. After a few moments, it seems to return to normal, fading back into color. This started at least a couple of weeks ago. The past couple of days, the same has happened, but in addition, I see one, singular color. The first time this happened, everything was coated in a layer of green, like I was looking through a tinted lens. The most recent time, I saw something very different. Instead of a sort of veil, I saw a very bright and vivid flash of red that bloomed across my vision, which seemed to be coming from a specific direction. It came from downwards, or maybe inwards. I'm not sure. It only happens after meditation, and I don't experience a headache or any vision problems outside of that, so...Again, I didn't really think anything of it. I just thought, "Huh! That was odd." And I continue on with my day...hahaha. It wasn't until later that I remembered I am sort of a part of an online community that, well, meditates a lot. Maybe they would have similar experiences. Umm...I am probably going to continue to not think much of it at all, as I do not want to apply my own meaning or interpretation to something I don't fully understand the cause of, physical, spiritual, or otherwise. But, I am mildly curious what others would have to say about it.

Dear Dao Bums, Where do you get your herbs in the European Union? In my country I get K'an Herbs and their other department Mycoherb from a local TCM company. Sometimes I also get already formulated herbs from Pine Mountain, Seven Forests & White Tiger from a Dutch TCM company that I know through local TCM connections. However, when I want to buy raw, single herbs, I need to get them from German or British Amazon, or sometimes I'm lucky and find them in specialised teastores or bazaar-like shops in the big cities where I live. However, lately I'm looking for american ginseng & dendrobium, and no matter where I search, I can only find them being shipped from outside of EU (e.g. USA or China). The problem with getting them from the US or China is that the delivery will be more than 1 month, and when you finally receive it, you have to pay extra tolls because it's from outside the EU. So I'm desperately searching for a place in the EU, because then delivery is usually within 7 days, and trade within EU is toll-free. Do you have any good places within the EU to get raw single herbs?

Hello. I wanted to get some opinions from the fine folks around here on this phenomenon and how it is viewed from different traditions. This is something I've experienced for several years now especially when I'm living a bit more in a harmonious way, mentally and physically it will certainly manifest more often. I'm aware it is a universal phenomena between both Eastern and Western traditions. I assume in the Daoist arts it's focused more on the Lower Dantian, while in some Western systems it's about filling up the Solar plexus with energy which also covers that same general area and function of being a storage space for massive amounts of energy. But I'd like some more professional or just interesting opinions on what this is and what it is actually doing. It is a bit esoteric I suppose, but a very real physical sensation.

THE GIFT OF LIGHT ....................................... A daily meditation session offering free healing and energy attunement to help clear blockages, dissolve resistance and align you with the subtle vibrational energies of the higher realms. Xuan Daoji is an ordained priest, Daoshi 道仕, in the ancient tradition of the Xiao Yao School of Daoist Spiritual Cultivation. In this scheduled one hour guided meditation, you will be energetically empowered to receive a vibrational attunement in the frequency of our lineage with the purpose of guiding your consciousness into a state of calm and peace. The transmission will help to facilitate an energetic re-balancing of your physical and subtle bodies and bring you into alignment with your encoded blueprints for optimal functional health and spiritual awareness. For those practising internal alchemy and the esoteric spiritual arts; this daily transmission will assist you in cultivating your subtle energy to stimulate the delicate process of internal transformation by infusing the volume of your body with a refined Shen energy through the Shang Dan Tian. This light will step down into Qi in the Chong Dan Tian and then settle into the Xia Dan Tian to facillitate the transmutation of Jing into the frequency required to activate the Du and Ren meridians for the refinement of high vibrational energy through the Xiao Zhou Tian (Microcosmic Orbit). INSTRUCTIONS: ................................ After you join the room. Take a comfortable seated meditation position with your back naturally straight and set a gentle intention to reach out to me with your heart and mind. This will establish a consensual resonance between us and allow me to elevate your vibration, attend to any areas that are out of balance and imbue your subtle energy with transformational light. When the countdown timer hits 1:00:00. Put your hands in a prayer position against your chest for a minute, then relax and allow your body to react spontaneously to the session, permitting the energy to go where it is needed and to flow through you to release stagnation and dissolve resistance. You may experience sensations of heat, cold, tingling, shaking, vibrations, visible lights or glowing, see images, re-live old experiences from a different perspective, or experience cathartic releases of emotions. Whatever you need to heal and fortify your being; you will receive. Many blessings, Tai Shang Bao Yu. ..................................................................... TO JOIN THE MEDITATION ROOM: - Download Insight Timer: https://insig.ht/0igdjKasKEb - You can use the FREE version, no need to subscribe to plus. - Everyday from 11PM UK time. Duration: 1 hour TESTIMONIAL 1: "I strongly advise you to participate in @Xuan's daily meditation. It's a fantastic opportunity to let go of what no longer serves you and reconnect with your authentic self. I've been participating for the last three nights and am amazed at how much my days have improved. The first night, I had a powerful bodily experience in which I felt blocked energy begin to flow through my body. My body was shaking as a cold sensation flowed through it. On the second night, I was led through many former events when I felt a lot of fear and clarified why I felt that way because of the meaning that I assigned to what happened. Last night, I found the strength to forgive and let go of all the resentment I had been carrying for a long time. My everyday mindset improved significantly and I was able to go through stressful events while remaining present in my body rather than running away from what I was feeling. During these days, waves of love poured over me, and I felt at peace doing my regular tasks. I was present, which helped me to trust that I am unconditionally supported by the creation and that my life is unfolding just as it should. I used to have a lot of resistance during the day because I kept arguing that I couldn't let go of control for a long time, but since I started meditating with Xuan, I've been able to let go and appreciate every part of my days. I had the idea that everything happens at the right moment and that I will not miss anything; that I am where I am for a reason and that it is exactly where I need to be. I was also able to give and accept love, joy, and compassion, as well as detach myself from my old beliefs and trust I have exactly what I need. For a long time, I felt at my core that I was so insignificant and had so little control over what was going on in my life. With Xuan's guidance and support, I was able to connect the dots and begin relaxing by realising I had the freedom to choose what I preferred. I am a Reiki master in multiple systems and have been working with healing energy for a long time, but the Xiao Yao schools cultivation is uniquely different. Thank you, Xuan for all your hard work and for allowing us to benefit from it." TESTIMONIAL 2: " Hi Elizabeth. The energy feels really different. Reiki energy has always felt hot for me, but when Xuan connects to me, I feel a flow of strong cold energy, not heat. Another thing that is different is that Reiki energy tends to make me feel energised, it charges me, but in a general, non-specific way, if that makes sense. On the other hand when im in the meditation room with Xuan, i feel the energy is doing specific things in my body, focusing on problem areas im aware of and i can feel it clearing blockages. It's like it has intelligence or consciousness of its own. Reiki also tends to leave me a little tense afterwards, but with this I have a persistent feeling of peace and emotional stability afterwards. Also a significant sense of detachment from my emotions, almost like im watching things from a distance rather than identifying completely with them." TESTIMONIAL 3: "Quite an interesting experience. I initially started off before reading the instructions and did my usual seated stillness with hands in dyana mudra position. I found that I could breathe much slower than usual and was able to concentrate better. After around 20 minutes I had to adjust my seating position and saw the instructions to properly connect with Xuan. I put my hands in the relevant position and did the intention. Soon after that it felt like a jacuzzi in my head, an effect I sometimes experience from qigong, accompanied by images of outer space. Throughout the meditation I didn’t see much except blue, most of physical affects were being able to breathe much deeper and much slower than usual, and I felt some energy around my shoulder blades. Towards the end I had to adjust my seating position again, re did the connecting process and experienced the same effect which was quite interesting. Looking forward to join again and highly recommend everyone tries a session!" TESTIMONIAL 4: "I had an extraordinary experience yesterday when I started a group meditation session. First of all, just before starting meditation I felt a very strong energy resonance from my heart chakra, then after starting meditation I immediately entered a deep meditation state and felt the energy from the heart chakra spread to the third eye chakra and sacral chakra. This lasted for 1 hour and after finishing I felt very peaceful and felt like all the energy blockages in my body were all cleared. After meditation I feel very energized all day. On the second day today, I immediately felt peaceful when I started meditating, although the sensation was not as intense as the first day (maybe because on the first day there was clearing of energy blockages in my body) but I felt peaceful throughout the meditation. That is my testimony from following the daily meditation session for 2 days. Lu." TESTIMONIAL 5: "Hi Xuan, it's me Lu. I am grateful to you because since attending this group meditation session for almost a month I have experienced a very significant change in myself, it feels like I was reborn into a different person. I felt very calm, balanced and filled with love. My Lian Gong process also feels deeper and I feel that my Gong Li has improved a lot since attending this meditation session. I hope that more people can benefit from these group meditation sessions. Once again thank you very much Xuan 🙏" TESTIMONIAL 6 "I had a tremendous experience yesterday during your mediation session. It is very hard to put into words, but after several minutes, my hands wished to move independently and if I moved them back to the original position they would then proceed back to where they wanted to go. After rising and falling they rotated over both knees for a very long time, so much so that I began to think I would be doing it for an hour. Next my body did circular movements, in both directions, then my spine did forward and back motions. I then did a movement that made me feel the movement of my ribs and my internal organs felt massaged. Lastly my neck was stretched upwards and I felt a heavy pressure that pushed me backwards until I was leaning completely backwards. At any stage when I moved against the direction my body wanted to go, I was then again slowly led back. I stayed in the backwards position for quite some time. Despite being cognitively there I did not realise the session had finished. I was then pushed forward at a much greater speed and then felt a release. I should add that I was conscious, that my breath was much deeper and lower and felt guided throughout. I have never had an experience like it and went in not expecting it. I felt a great feeling of relaxation and peacefulness, and immediately went to sleep. This morning I feel that I have had a work out and feel stretched especially internally. My mind has clarity and peacefulness Guy"

Good morning, I'm Mike from USA and happy to be here. I'd like to learn more about qi gong and bigu.

This is my first topic, so if I've made a mistake on where to put this, my apologies. I meditate to relieve stress and to try to clear my head, because I have difficulty with an inner dialogue. My thoughts are so constant and noisy, I am incapable of singling them out. Meditation has helped me greatly with this. However, lately, when I go out in the morning to meditate, I've had more and more difficulty in "coming out of it." Even loud noises don't seem to snap me back to reality. When I do finally lose my focus, (or lack-there-of?) I find myself really disoriented and confused. It takes me a moment to remember where I am, and it's hard to shake off the haziness. Even more, I'm surprised to find I've lost more and more time. This morning, I lost an extra hour to it. While the moment is very nice, and I feel very relaxed afterwards, I do have daily work to do, if even not on a strict schedule. I find both the disorientation and loss of time a bit troublesome. I wonder if maybe I am doing something wrong in the process itself, or if I am simply at fault for being unable to balance these things.

Hello again everyone! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day today. I wanted to ask around today to see if anyone had any favorite places, music/sounds, smells, techniques, etc. for meditating. More specifically I'd like recommendations for meditation that will help me build up humility, ridding myself of the illusion of control, and generally being still and thinking on the sections of the Tao Te Ching (as I've been going back over the audiobook to take notes). I'm sorry if this isn't the proper place to ask this question but I'm still finding my way around the forum and haven't interacted with many forums before this one. Have a great day everyone <3

I heard this from someone but I don't know anything else about this. Sometimes I lack energy or am sick and want or need something to lean on to meditate. If it's true, does it have to do with how the energy/qi interacts with the thing/wall we're leaning on and is this an issue only in deep or advanced meditation, or simply at any stage? Also, any sources on this if possible? I appreciate any help on this. 🙏

Hi all, My name is Jon. I am currently a participating member of society. I work a job, pay my bills, eat nice food, and enjoy a plethora of other modern delights and conveniences. However, I am not satisfied with this. I want to be free to pursue meditation. I want a simple roof over my head with clean running water and one, nutritious meal a day. It has been a challenge figuring out the practicalities of this but I am determined to make it happen one way or another. I come to this community to find fellow seekers that desire the freedom to practice their Daoist arts all day, every day. -Jon

An article by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev on being stoned and alert at the same time, without using any chemicals or drugs or other intoxicants. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/you-can-be-stoned-and-alert-at-the-same-time/

I've been involved with mediation for many years. Initially I was involved with Buddhist meditation but then I got involved with Taoist meditation through the teachings of Bruce Frantzis. Bruce often mentioned Dzogchen with high regard, so when Lama Lena (a highly esteemed Dzogchen teacher) came to teach for several years in a row very near to my home, I went along. I also came across Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (a Bon Dzogchen teacher) mainly through his online content, although I did travel to see him once. I have some curiosity concerning two apparently different categories of meditation practice. With Inner Dissolving (Taoist meditation from Bruce Frantzis), and Dzogchen both from Lama Lena and Tenzin Rinpoche, there is a notion of "progression" in the sense that we have obscurations/blockages/"pagchas"(like neuroses in Tibetan), and that through practice over time we can resolve these to move closer towards "enlightenment"/clarity/healing etc... In all these traditions, there is the possibility of using an agenda to work with specific issues in our lives, with a view to dissolving/resolving them at some root energetic level. This makes sense to me, and gives some kind of sense of structure/progression to my practice. I am aware that there are certain paradoxes that come from the idea/reality that we are "already there" (non-duality teachings etc.), and yet there is a firm understanding from the teachers I follow that we do actually need to meditate to attain(?) the fruits of meditation. Like the last lesson of Marpa to Milrepa - to show the callouses on his arse to emphasize the need for practice! In other traditions I've come across, such as the teachings of the FWBO (whatever they are now know as), Zen, Mindfulness etc. there seems to be a conspicuously different attitude towards "progress". You do the practice, whether it's mindfulness of breathing or body scanning or even working with emotions by "simply being" with them - but there is no sense in the practices I have come across of working with specific issues/blockages and resolving them at a root or energetic(?) level. It's more like "here we are again looking at our minds and sensations...." with no particular sense of direction or need to attain/achieve anything. I know that the need to achieve anything is seen as a hindrance in both categories of practice, but this is in some ways something of a contradiction. While of course grasping will not lead to freedom, nonetheless there is an implicit intention to get somewhere/something, in the very decision to become involved in meditation in the first place. So these are some of the observations and thoughts I'm having around my practice at the moment. Partly wondering which practices to emphasize to help me navigate a chronic illness, and also wondering about the notion of progress and achievement in relation to meditation. Very curious to hear your thoughts on all this.

Dear Dao Bums, In the spirit of sharing, what are your personal greatest hits? My personal top 3 is: 1) Simplified Kundalini Yoga (Vethathiri Maharishi), 2) Talisman qigong (Zhongxian Wu), 3) Sri Vidya (Amritananda / Devipuram). A little bit about each: 1) Simplified Kundalini Yoga (Vethathiri Maharishi) In this system your chakras are opened and empowered by a master one by one, allowing you to tangibly feel the pulsating vibration of energy in each chakra. It takes all the guesswork away, you don't need to rely on outer feedback anymore, you can yourself feel how strong your chakras are. Meditating on each chakra provides specific benefits. It's a complete system for increasing and transmuting sexual energy (kaya kalpa), building health through physical exercises (asanas, pranayama, massage and acupressure), building energy through meditation allowing you to achieve peace of mind and enlightenment, introspection for improving your moral character and getting rid of negative karmic imprints (vasanas/samskaras) and finally philosophical explanations for God, the universe, evolution, astrology etc. Beside the chakra meditations (7 inside the body, 2 outside, 9 in total), there are numerous other meditations which give unique benefits: Panchendriya (5 senses): this strengthens your 5 senses even until old age, and further gives your mind control of the senses. Panchabhuta Navagraha (5 elements and 9 planets): harmonize with universal forces and energies, cultivate energy, improve your destiny. Nityananda (meditating on the energy pervading all over the body): gives ecstatic pleasure and strengthens energy all over your body. Divine State Meditation: helps you to again and again understand and feel the oneness between you, the universe and all living beings. Lamp Gazing: improving eyesight, purifying and energizing your soul, mind, brain and energy, and over time can give supernatural skills. Mirror gazing: one of the most powerful meditations, increasing energy in your body manifold very quickly. Over time can also give supernatural skills. Above is a general description of the system, let me share my personal journey and breakthroughs along the way. 1st breakthrough: when I got the first initiation, I felt a little something between my eyebrows, but not very noticeable. However, when I meditated that night, my God, it was insane. The vibration was so strong and powerful, my mind became completely still, and I just sat in complete peace. 2nd breakthrough: when I got the third initation, sahasrara chakra, I was blown away. When I meditated on the vibration in the crown chakra, I felt the same orgasmic pleasure as just before ejaculating. However, instead of being in the prostate area, and ending after a few seconds, the orgasmic ecstasy just stays in your crown chakra and brain during the whole meditation. At this point... I increased my meditation time a lot 3rd breakthrough: when I got my dwadasangham chakra (12 fingers above the head) opened, after about 1-2 weeks of meditation, one day I felt it REALLY open. Immediately, I was flooded with information. Questions and doubts about life, the universe, things that had happened to me, answers just flooded my consciousness. And whenever I thought of a question, the answer immediately came. I felt at one with God. This also made me meditate much longer, because it was just so interesting. After some weeks, I had no more questions, so I just sat in complete peace and oneness. Nowadays, whenever something is going on in my life, I sit and meditate, and I will understand what's going on and why. 4th breakthrough: lamp gazing. I got SO much more energy after starting lamp gazing. It probably increased my energy levels 5 times or so. 5th breakthrough: when all chakras were opened, I realized just how weak my navel chakra had been. I got so much more energy and much better digestion when I could finally meditate on my navel chakra. 6th breakthrough: mirror gazing. This exercise is insane. My energy must have increased by 10 fold or more when I started doing it. To this day, I can't understand why it is SO powerful, but it increases my energy so much. I rarely ever fall sick, and I am always full of energy now. 7th breakthrough: becoming a master and initiating others. You simply do mirror gazing and meditation on the morning you give initiations to boost your own energy. Just before giving initiation, you say a prayer to God and Vethathiri. Every single time, energy just floods into your system, empowering either your hands or eyes, depending on which initiation you're about to give. It's truly magnificent. I can only imagine how powerful Vethathiri had been while still alive in the body, seeing that such strong energy still comes, simply because of his sankalpa to help as many as possible through SKY. 2) Talisman qigong (Zhongxian Wu) I was doing a 3 day workshop on his cosmic orbit qigong, which I really enjoyed. Due to a ticket sale, I would stay 3 more days after the workshop before flying home. Because Master Wu also stayed some days after the workshop, he decided to offer a one day workshop on "calligraphy healing qigong" for just 25 euros. I was so sceptical and there was no way I believed "painting" could be used as a way of healing. However, I was there for 3 days with nothing to day, and 25 euros was nothing, so I decided to try out the workshop. I came there just to pass time, expecting nothing. However, when we did the mantras, mudras and visualisation, I really felt energy come into my body. Then he asked us to practice healing on each other, and I just didn't believe it to be possible. To my great surprise, it worked! The lady I worked on could really feel my energy and that of the talisman inside her body. I was so surprised. I thought it was probably because I had already been meditating daily for 4 years. But there was no way that this elderly lady with no spiritual background could perform healing on me, she had no training, nor any energy to give. Even when she used the talisman to heal me, I really felt the energy from the talisman coming into my body! I was so surprised. It was not that powerful, but it still worked. I was blown away. Master Wu told us to go back home and practice daily for 49 days, then we would have access to this talisman's healing energy. We could use it on ourselves and others, or even to paint a talisman on paper to use for improving fengshui in the home. I went back home to practice, still not really believing it could be possible. I saw everything through the lens of hinduism: healing I considered a kind of siddhi, and acquiring siddhi is extremely difficult. At that point, I had done years and years of daily mala japa (chanting with prayer beads) of a mantra, completing many purascharans, and it had been quite difficult. And that was just to purify myself, come closer to God and prepare myself for higher sadhana (spiritual practice), including other sadhanas that could produce siddhis or supernatural powers. When I got back home and started practicing, I would do the talisman healing on myself, and I felt that it worked. About 10 days into my 49 day practice, my parents heard about my 49 day project. From that day, they asked me to call them every day when I was practicing, and they asked me to help heal different issues. Also as remote healing (something I didn't even believe in at the time). No matter what I did, it just worked! It worked every single time. They would call me after the healing and tell me everything they had experienced during the remote healing. About 21 days into my 49 days, random friends of my parents would call me and ask for healing. So during my 49 days, I hadn't even finished the 49 days, still the talisman energy was helping me to heal myself, siblings, parents, friends of my parents, and also a few strangers. This experience completely exploded my worldview at the time, and that's why I decided to keep training with Master Wu. I've since then learnt the talismans for all 5 elements (White Tiger, Green Dragon, Red Bird, Mystical Warrior and Mother of the Big Dipper). Mystical Warrior is northern water energy, Mother of the Big Dipper is central, earth energy. I actually spent all my money, and even lend from my grandmother, to travel and learn these talismans (at the time I was still studying, so I had low funds). I spend as little as possible on food and hotel when I was there, so I could pay everything back to her when I got back I still use it for myself, and sometimes if others ask for healings. I also use it to bless what I eat and drink sometimes. 3) Sri Vidya (Amritananda / Devipuram) This is a formerly secret system of Hindu Goddess Worship, which Amritananda has decided to share openly with the world. All Goddess worship can provide great supernatural powers, and the energies also have a great effect on our wordly life, e.g. increasing money and succes, healing etc. I never really cared for hindu ritual worship, I felt it to just be an empty show, and a way of extracting money from the poor. Priests and astrologers convincing poor people they had bad karma and needed to pay huge sums of money for them to do rituals on their behalf. However, when I saw a picture of Bala Tripura Sundari, I felt strangely attracted towards it. These weird feelings prompted me to try and do the beginners module. In the end, if it didn't work, I could just stop after the first module. I got diksha (initiation) for the mantras for the root, sexual and navel chakras. Furthermore, I learnt several rituals for each chakra: tarpana (water ritual), puja (prayer ceremony) and homa/havan (fire ritual). I did it just to try it out. First I did a 41 days tarpana for the root chakra God Ganesha/Ganapati (elephant God). I actually felt energy coming into my root chakra and circulating in the 4 nadis of the root chakra. This suprised me a lot! Further, when I was about 38 days in, I got a call from someone, offering me a side hustle to earn more money. On the 44th day (I continued the ritual a few days extra, because there were a few days my wife didn't do it with me, so for her to also reach 41 days, we extendend it 3 days), I got another call, yet again with another side hustle opportunity. I was really surprised! Firstly, I actually felt the mantra opening and circulating energy in my root chakra and nadis. Secondly, I felt the ritual actually had an effect on my worldly life! This I felt to be the magic from movies, books, series etc, where a wizard does certain rituals to change his life and acquire powers. Therefore I continued with Sri Vidya, and it just keeps giving. I have been given mantras and rituals for the root, sexual, navel, heart and 3rd eye chakra, and I am in the process of completing them all (tarpanas I have completed for all, pujas I have 2 to go, havan I am currently in the process of finishing for all). After this, I will get the final and ultimate mantra for the crown chakra, as well as the ultimate ritual performed directly on the Sri Meru / Sri Yantra / Sri Chakra. This is supposed to be the ultimate, making it possible to acquire all worldly pleasures, all spiritual powers as well as complete enlightenment. Conclusion: My personal greatest hits are: 1) Simplified Kundalini Yoga (Vethathiri Maharishi), this taught me deep meditation. 2) Talisman qigong (Zhongxian Wu), this taught me healing. 3) Sri Vidya (Amritananda / Devipuram), this taught me rituals and mantras to assist my worldly and spiritual life. Question: What are your personal greatest hits on the spiritual path? You can include a small summary of the system, as well as your personal journey and breakthroughs God bless you!

Dear Dao Bums, I would like to ask about your experiences and/or opinions on this topic: "karma visible in our energy field". Let me share some of my stories: 1) Master Zhongxian Wu A fellow student of Master Wu shared something with me: when you visualise your liver as green, that day when you see your whole liver as completely green, that organ is fully healed. As long as there are spots of other colors or dark spots, there remain some potential problem in that organ. Similarly for heart and small intestine as red, lung and large intestine as white/grey/transparent, kidney and bladder as blue/black/purple, spleen stomach and pancreas as yellow, and liver and gallbladder as green. The black spots / spots of other colors are karmas (from ancestors, from yourself or from the universe) remaining in your body, potentially causing you to fall sick later. 2) Chunyi Lin As long as there is a channel that is not open, it means there is a wrong energy blocking it. 3) Danish Mystic Martinus Martinus states that all of our karmas are visible in our energy field or aura. So someone could be walking around with a car accident in the aura, and for the psychic this would be clearly visible. 4) Damo Mitchell In one of Damo Mitchells books (I think it's his big one "a comprehensive guide to daoist neigong"), he talks about supernatural powers. One of the powers is the ability to view the whole qi field around a person. This makes the practitioner capable of predicting a person's future, as it's all visible in the different layers of the energy field. 5) Native American in Peru A coworker of mine spent 1 year in South America in Peru, trying to learn Spanish. When she was visiting a mountain deep in a jungle, as she was descending, a native american approached her. He warned her, that he could see in her aura that some bads things were just about to happen to her, and that it would be quite difficult emotionally, but that after 1 year, things would improve. When she got back to her hotel, her boyfriend called her and broke up with her. The next day she got a call that one of her parents had fallen sick, and that an animal on her childhood farm she loved had died. Everything the man told her came true in the next year, and when she pulled through, suddenly everything improved drastically. 6) My own experience After having a very mentally disturbing nadi reading last week, I went to meditate. I am initiated into Sri Vidya, and sat down to say my daily mantras for each chakra (japa). As I was going through each chakra, I saw some different dark spots and shapes inside each chakra. I intuitively understood what they meant, and understood that it was karmas from past lifetimes. They could be exhausted by experiencing them, and some of them could also be resolved through the mantras and rituals of Sri Vidya. I was happy that there was only one chakra that had a lot of bad karma stored in it, the others were much easier to deal with. However, it's going to take 1-3 years of intense rituals and mantras to clean up the worst and most intense stuff. Conclusion In the end, karma is simply energy. We have sent out energy through our thoughts, words and deeds, and this energy is bound to return to us. However, we can to a certain extent mitigate these energies, by building up opposing energies of sufficient strength. One way to do this is through qigong (posture, breathing, mantra, mudra and visualisation). Another way is through action (being good, serving others, giving to charity, forgiving, helping others etc). It's also possible through deep meditation on each chakra coupled with introspection and improvement of character (as done in SKY). Sri Vidya also gives very simple yet powerful ways of building energy through mantras, mudras and rituals. Depending on how strong your negative karma is, you need to put more energy into trying to cancelling it out. But it all comes to down being able to somehow get access to see and understand what the karmas are before they actually hit you, so you have time to build up the energy to try to neutralize them. Of course, in the end, karma is simply an educational tool of God, so another way is to simply learn our lesson then the karmas get wiped clean (according to Danish Martinus). Question What are your viewpoints, experiences or stories about the idea that karma is tangibly present and visible in our energy fields? God bless you!