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Hey Bums I have a question about Taiji levels of progression. I've been practice taiji form everyday sinking qi to my dantian for couple of years and still practicing stillness moving meditation (dantian). Couple days ago, My dantian and Meridian Channels transform my being. Now my Meridian channels feels like STEEL. I feel my Yin Channels powerful steel like feeling. I easy ward off or push any opponents easily its not every funny. Every times I practice taiji (yang), This Steel like meridian channels getting stronger and this why I'm here. Can anyone tell me the stages of my progression with my Taiji Tai chi? I'm going to reach out to Master Clear tai chi and Master Jesse tsao about it b/c I've been in the past train with them. Will update about they say about it. I hope this will HELP others in the future. Thank you

I'm curious to hear about some people's understanding of progression in meditation. As an analogy, I'm an amateur computer programmer. I have spent a lot of time teaching myself from various sources. I also recently took a MOOC (massive open online course) in programming. The course was very well designed with a clear structure and progression from complete basics to more complex material. This was very useful for a couple of reasons. One is that in “submitting” to an externally imposed structure, I was encouraged to look at material that might either not have occurred to me to look at, or been too difficult or to easy. So an external structure can help to reduce the “Swiss cheese” phenomenon, which is a major pitfall in self-education. It also builds on basic skills with clear sense of direction and development. I have not come across many meditation teachers or traditions where this kind of clear progression is used or emphasised. It’s often been something of a “buffet” of various techniques which I can try and use as I see fit, with no clear signposts as to when and how to develop my practice. While I really value this kind of experimentation and empirical research, and believe that it is actually indispensable for empowerment and maturity as a practitioner, nonetheless I also believe that external structures for progression are extremely important. It would perhaps be foolish and conceited of me to imagine that I can educate myself in any subject better than teachers who have learned it thoroughly with the support of a tradition, and who have designed a curriculum based on years of experience of teaching and practicing. I’m also aware that practice often is circular, and so called “beginner’s” practices can also be used further down the road as “advanced” practices. I’ve been told d that a certain very simple Dzogchen practice is all that is needed for complete enlightenment, but that many people aren’t happy with simplicity, and so there are more complex practices to satisfy them. I feel that at my particular stage of my meditation journey, it would be good to undertake some kind of meditation equivalent of a MOOC with a really good “spiritual university,” to make sure my foundation is solid and help me on my way. I’d particularly like to hear any thoughts on this from a Theravada, Mahayana, Bon, Hindu or Taoist perspective.