Where do I start?

[paulno]

Well, I guess in a sense I've "started" my path towards Daoism. I try to read the Tao Te Ching and I've been gobbling up posts hear like Pacman. I guess some ideas on next steps would be helpful. Right now I can't really afford formal TaiChi or Qigong classes. Nor do I really have the time.

 

I've thought about possibly doing my best to copy what I see on youtube and listening to more podcasts. Now I realize in a lot of senses its "my practice". But, a little nudge in the right direction could be very helpful. Thanks fam!

[Maddie]

What are you goals?

[thelerner]

Hmnn, maybe find a book, a form, and a teacher. Some of us here started out with the Healing Tao, google Michael Winn or Mantak Chia and look at their sites. (I like Michael Winn's work). We have some excellent teachers here, I've heard great things about Ya Mu and Santiago's KAP classes (I've taken KAP and recommend it), there are many other good teachers and proponents of tested systems here.

 

In the book section I think there is post of recommended books, there were probably a few here too, that you can find with the Search function.

 

Spend some time looking around, then commit. Having a live teacher is a big plus. Still people here have gotten results from diligent steady practice.

 

There is a Western trait to look in exotic places for strange practices. In doing so we miss paths that are already under our feet. If you have particular religion, you can take some time looking into its mystical practices. There is wealth in every tradition.

 

Michael

[paulno]

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

What are my goals? Well, I'd say mentally, physically, and spiritually more healthy. Overall, contentment would be great. I'm a very anxious person and would like to be calmer.

 

Lerner, I agree with what you say about ignoring our own traditions. I tried to incorporate some of my own tradition's more mystical side after some poking around. While some of it was interesting, I'd say its lacking for me personally. I have for some odd reason always been drawn to Eastern Thought. Really, can't explain why.

 

I'll definitely look into Winn and Chia. I'm also now looking for a form of meditation that suits me. Feel like I've tried 1000 kinds. But, I'm sure there's 1000 more I haven't.

Edited February 10, 2011 by paulno

[lifeforce]

There is a Western trait to look in exotic places for strange practices. In doing so we miss paths that are already under our feet. If you have particular religion, you can take some time looking into its mystical practices. There is wealth in every tradition.

 

Michael

 

I like this.

Most of us in the West have probably been brought up as Christians of some sort but have discarded it as we got older.

There is a lot of good stuff in the Gnostic Gospels for instance. Especially the Gospel of Thomas.

Osho did a wonderful commentary on this entitled 'The Mustard Seed'. It may be worth checking out if that is your thing.

Anything that causes us to look within is a worthwhile teaching. No need to limit yourself to any particular system or teacher though.

 

Good luck on your journey.

[joeblast]

Check out Steven Chang's book of Internal Exercises. Saw that at my local massage place and flipped through it while I was in the sauna the other day, lots of good exercises in there and I liked the presentation better than chia's...and you can probably find the book for 15 bucks to top it off

 

As far as meditation goes, YMAA Embryonic Breathing is a fantastic volume, fit for the shelf of anybody who meditates, imho. The classic translations in there are great and provide a great depth to the material!

[surfingbudda]

Well, I guess in a sense I've "started" my path towards Daoism. I try to read the Tao Te Ching and I've been gobbling up posts hear like Pacman. I guess some ideas on next steps would be helpful. Right now I can't really afford formal TaiChi or Qigong classes. Nor do I really have the time.

 

I've thought about possibly doing my best to copy what I see on youtube and listening to more podcasts. Now I realize in a lot of senses its "my practice". But, a little nudge in the right direction could be very helpful. Thanks fam!

 

My best advice would be to follow your heart, never do something just because everyone else says its THE only path, as everyone is unique, what is meant for one is not always meant for another. Go for what ever deep down feels the most right.

[Sahaj Nath]

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

What are my goals? Well, I'd say mentally, physically, and spiritually more healthy. Overall, contentment would be great. I'm a very anxious person and would like to be calmer.

 

Lerner, I agree with what you say about ignoring our own traditions. I tried to incorporate some of my own tradition's more mystical side after some poking around. While some of it was interesting, I'd say its lacking for me personally. I have for some odd reason always been drawn to Eastern Thought. Really, can't explain why.

 

I'll definitely look into Winn and Chia. I'm also now looking for a form of meditation that suits me. Feel like I've tried 1000 kinds. But, I'm sure there's 1000 more I haven't.

 

about meditation:

 

what exactly do you mean by "suits" you? if you're looking for a practice that doesn't eventually bore you or make you more anxious, then you've probably misunderstood the purpose and the process of meditation. you say you've tried lots. well what have you tried, and what was the problem with them?

 

i highlight this because this tends to be a major issue among beginners, so much so that they stay beginners for years until they figure it out, IF they figure it out. facing ones own neuroses is not a comfortable task, but that's exactly the work that is required to achieve the overall contentment you're looking for.

 

too many beginners feel themselves getting anxious and think something must be wrong. well yeah, something is wrong, and that's why you need to meditate, in order to face it, accept it, and release it, or, more accurately, allow it to release itself. with time, everything spontaneously arises and ultimately self-liberates.

 

i'm a huge fan of vipassana meditation because it's very easy to find good information on it, and there are lots of groups that practice it. tons of books and videos.

 

if you wanna feel a little more taoist in your practice, check out Relaxing Into Your Being by BK Frantzis.

Edited February 10, 2011 by Hundun

[Sloppy Zhang]

I highly suggest B.K. Frantzis' book "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body". An excellent book, packed with information on both taoist theory, but also on a very awesome set of practices which actually embody that theory. Those practices, if your goal is to truly master them, will be with you for a very long time, kick start the overall process, and prepare you for advanced meditations and practices which you might find from other people.

 

If you're in the mood, his other two books, "Relaxing Into Your Being" and "The Great Stillness" are also AWESOME. They contain a lot more theory than practice, but the theory they contain is VERY helpful in understanding the overall goals of his tradition of taoism, and gives you the context with which you can understand other things overall. The practices that he gives you are also very simple and straightforward as well.

 

After that, practice practice practice practice practice practice practice.

[joeblast]

excellent points hundun

 

I'll second BK's energy gates book, its where I discovered the concept of longevity breathing

[henro]

I would agree with what everyone here says, all great recommendations. If you sign up for Winn's newsletter you get the free Inner Smile book as well.

 

I would also stress the necessity of a live teacher. Find a way, forego some of the books to pay for lessons, fast once a week, get rid of the cellphone. If you can't afford it regularly find some workshops in your area. You might even look to community yoga classes that have a meditation concentration, they're usually cheaper than normal classes. Also, some buddhist and taoist teachers hold meditations for free or on a donation basis.

[paulno]

Hundun, my mind plays like a movie projector on loop daily. With all due respect, especially because of a condition that will remain unnamed, I face my anxieties more than most people could even imagine.

Even those who meditate.

 

Now I realize you have to work at meditation. Different forms I have tried... I've tried Zen, counting breaths, holding breaths, candle gazing, yantra gazing, Nichiren, other mantras, etc. While each have giving me "something". It doesn't seem to me like I'm there yet.

 

One thing I guess that came closest to the mark was visualization. Seems to be a good bit of that on the Daoist sites that I've seen so far. When doing the meditation I feel it more. Whether it be 15 mins, a week or months.

 

I'd like to thank everyone for their ideas and I'll get to Googling. I also hope I didn't make anyone uncomfortable talking about my personal life. I thought it only fair though because my responses and initial message were somewhat vague. Thanks for all your replies.

[Maddie]

Oh don't worry about talking about your personal life, most of us tend to do that on here quite a bit lol. You know you have already gotten quite a bit of good advice on here, and some good recommendations for Qigong forms. Something else I thought I might throw out there is that especially beginning, before you have had much of a chance to establish a regular practice of some sort and see the results, I think another worth while route to consider in addition to picking up a qigong practice is various forms of natural medicine. For such things as anxiety and such, acupuncture/pressure, flower essences, homeopathy, herbs, ect.... All of these I have used to great effect along with my qigong practice. I look at it this way, its hard to get meditative if you can't reach a basic level of mental peace in the first place. If you have any specific questions about how to go about treating a condition with these things feel free to post a question on here or send me a private message if you would feel more comfortable with that.

[Sahaj Nath]

Hundun, my mind plays like a movie projector on loop daily. With all due respect, especially because of a condition that will remain unnamed, I face my anxieties more than most people could even imagine.

Even those who meditate.

 

Now I realize you have to work at meditation. Different forms I have tried... I've tried Zen, counting breaths, holding breaths, candle gazing, yantra gazing, Nichiren, other mantras, etc. While each have giving me "something". It doesn't seem to me like I'm there yet.

 

One thing I guess that came closest to the mark was visualization. Seems to be a good bit of that on the Daoist sites that I've seen so far. When doing the meditation I feel it more. Whether it be 15 mins, a week or months.

 

I'd like to thank everyone for their ideas and I'll get to Googling. I also hope I didn't make anyone uncomfortable talking about my personal life. I thought it only fair though because my responses and initial message were somewhat vague. Thanks for all your replies.

 

dmattwads is right, you'd be surprised at how personal we get around here. so whatever you're comfortable with totally fine.

 

maybe a week or so ago there was a conversation started by a newcomer asking about the importance of visualization. i thought i'd leave you the link so you can read it and take from it what you will.

 

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/17272-is-visualization-important/

[Red Pheonix]

Well, I guess in a sense I've "started" my path towards Daoism. I try to read the Tao Te Ching and I've been gobbling up posts hear like Pacman. I guess some ideas on next steps would be helpful. Right now I can't really afford formal TaiChi or Qigong classes. Nor do I really have the time.

 

I've thought about possibly doing my best to copy what I see on youtube and listening to more podcasts. Now I realize in a lot of senses its "my practice". But, a little nudge in the right direction could be very helpful. Thanks fam!

 

You do live in the same area as myself so I'll let you know when we do classes/workshops out here. Master Zhang does classes when he's in town, half of these guys would cream their pants to be able to learn from a Long Men Pai lineage holder. I also do classes and am making arrangements with a new venue in Richardson if you're able to get out that way. My classes are much more general, we work on important fundamentals... I hope you enjoy posting *buahahahaha*; it's also a great group of loving people. I do teach meditation, but I teach people 'how' to meditate, not 'what'. Basically I break it down to physical relaxation, mental relaxation then meditating; I'll even use NLP in class to help students associate mental anchors with these states (allows you to instantly recall the state). Once you can do that, the next step is dealing with your emotions and starting to discover the desires and attachments that are holding your mind hostage... when you find those you can let them go and take your meditation to a deeper level. Mastering the simple things will yield more results than learning 1000 systems.

 

Looks like you got a looot of reading to do buddy

[Maddie]

From one thing you mentioned that your mind keeps playing loops, I'd say your spleen meridian is out of wack, as this is the primary indication of an out of balance spleen. Chinese medicine has several approaches to this, with acupuncture/pressure, and herbs. You also might want to try the spleen healing sounds and inner smile for this specific issue.

[XieJia]

Mastering the simple things will yield more results than learning 1000 systems.

 

 

Hi Paulno,

 

I would like to second what Red Pheonix said here. In the end I do think that out of these many systems will bear very much similar in principles. From my experience, I would recommend finding a teacher that you are happy studying with; getting the right foundation, I feel is quite important. If you have some time on your hand, I would also suggest taking up any kind of 'soft or internal' martial arts; like Taijichuan, Baguazhang or even Akido; in my humble opinion meditation and these fits in quite well. Hard martial arts can be fine too but it's all depends on the trainer. Hope that my perspective will be helpful to you in someway Paul.

 

Good luck man,

 

XieJia

[Gerard]

...I'm also now looking for a form of meditation that suits me. Feel like I've tried 1000 kinds. But, I'm sure there's 1000 more I haven't.

 

Try consciously following your breath, in and out, as it were liquid. See how it goes.

[de_paradise]

You do live in the same area as myself so I'll let you know when we do classes/workshops out here. Master Zhang does classes when he's in town, half of these guys would cream their pants to be able to learn from a Long Men Pai lineage holder. I also do classes and am making arrangements with a new venue in Richardson if you're able to get out that way. My classes are much more general, we work on important fundamentals... I hope you enjoy posting *buahahahaha*; it's also a great group of loving people. I do teach meditation, but I teach people 'how' to meditate, not 'what'. Basically I break it down to physical relaxation, mental relaxation then meditating; I'll even use NLP in class to help students associate mental anchors with these states (allows you to instantly recall the state). Once you can do that, the next step is dealing with your emotions and starting to discover the desires and attachments that are holding your mind hostage... when you find those you can let them go and take your meditation to a deeper level. Mastering the simple things will yield more results than learning 1000 systems.

 

Looks like you got a looot of reading to do buddy

 

This Zhang sounds like a lucky opportunity I wouldnt pass up if I lived nearby in TX. A flesh and blood high level teacher does wonders to inspire.

 

Many, if not all people have trouble getting the ball rolling when it comes to meditation. Often its better to start with a dynamic sort of meditation which involves the body, such as a taichi or Hatha or whatever is offered around your area yoga. There is also an Osho kundalini dynamic meditation mp3, where you just sit on the floor and rock with the music for 30 minutes or so. He created it because he knew modern people just couldnt sit down and meditate for very long. There is also Kunlun neigong, which is very easy compared to the focus type of meditation. Another way to fake-it-before you make it, is using a deep trance hypnosis mp3, like "Ultradepth Relaxation". Ive used all these methods to good results.