jeshopk Posted December 31, 2009 (edited) Hi everyone, I have looked on the forums for a while now, and I think it would be a great place to hear about personal practices. My own personal experience was that during a hard time in my life I decided I needed to shed some ego in order to handle the judgements of others, but the judgements of others were so crushing without that hard shell to protect me, I didn't know how to protect myself from my thoughts. I knew I wanted to find a way to escape the suffering of self judgements that resulted from others judging me too harshly, and so I delved into The Book of Five Rings, which helped by suggesting to "get into sickness to get out of sickness". From there, I searched for more Eastern philosophies, and I finally discovered the Tao te Ching, which I could accept more readily than any Buddhist/Zen texts and so on. The first reading of the tao Te Ching had such a profound effect on me, that I was able to let go of a lot of self destructive thoughts right away. Â In western thought, we are often taught to fall in line with group thought. Reading the Tao let me know it was ok to dismiss the judgements of others and follow a natural morality of compassion, something which I had done except for instances where I was directly confronted with judgement. Instead of beating myself up when people judged me, I felt that I could dismiss or accept their critique without depending on it for a feeling of self worth. Â The night I read the Tao, I felt a bit odd, having been an atheist all my life, that I was buying into something quasi spiritual. At that moment, I remembered the beginning, that the Tao that can be named is not tao. I was able to let go of my own dogmas and compartmentalizing. Â At this moment, I felt a *ping* sensation on the top of my head. Electrical impulses flowed down from my crown to my temples, neck and chest. Electricity danced on my forehead. I was stunned, and have been learning the mysterious ways of Qi since the year 2000, when this started. Â Happy New Year Jesse Edited December 31, 2009 by jeshopk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted January 1, 2010 (edited) Hi Jesse, Â Welcome! Â May you enjoy your time here. Â Sounds like you have found a path to walk a while along your journey. Â Peace & Love! Edited January 1, 2010 by Marblehead Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voidisyinyang Posted January 8, 2010 Awesome report back! Thanks for sharing:  http://www.springforestqigong.com/testimonials.htm  Hi everyone, I have looked on the forums for a while now, and I think it would be a great place to hear about personal practices. My own personal experience was that during a hard time in my life I decided I needed to shed some ego in order to handle the judgements of others, but the judgements of others were so crushing without that hard shell to protect me, I didn't know how to protect myself from my thoughts. I knew I wanted to find a way to escape the suffering of self judgements that resulted from others judging me too harshly, and so I delved into The Book of Five Rings, which helped by suggesting to "get into sickness to get out of sickness". From there, I searched for more Eastern philosophies, and I finally discovered the Tao te Ching, which I could accept more readily than any Buddhist/Zen texts and so on. The first reading of the tao Te Ching had such a profound effect on me, that I was able to let go of a lot of self destructive thoughts right away.  In western thought, we are often taught to fall in line with group thought. Reading the Tao let me know it was ok to dismiss the judgements of others and follow a natural morality of compassion, something which I had done except for instances where I was directly confronted with judgement. Instead of beating myself up when people judged me, I felt that I could dismiss or accept their critique without depending on it for a feeling of self worth.  The night I read the Tao, I felt a bit odd, having been an atheist all my life, that I was buying into something quasi spiritual. At that moment, I remembered the beginning, that the Tao that can be named is not tao. I was able to let go of my own dogmas and compartmentalizing.  At this moment, I felt a *ping* sensation on the top of my head. Electrical impulses flowed down from my crown to my temples, neck and chest. Electricity danced on my forehead. I was stunned, and have been learning the mysterious ways of Qi since the year 2000, when this started.  Happy New Year Jesse Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
