First experience of Mantak Chia at Tao Gardens

[DrMu]

Hey Guys

 

Thanks for setting up his site and sorry for. It posting earlier.

 

Being bipolar sucks for anyone wishing to pursue a spiritual path. I am prohibited from attending a Goenka Vipassana retreat. The Tantric Yoga course I attended last year gave me such a blissful experience that I feel compelled to pursue an energy-based approach, however, it catapulted  me into a manic state that almost landed me in prison. (Yes I kept taking my meds)

 

Hence here I am at Tao Gardens after week 1 of the Innner Alchemy summer retreat believing that the Taoist path would be safe for me than the Tantric one.

 

Before arriving I have been practising the inner smile and six healing sounds. My long term aim was to eventually attend the Dark Room retreats and experience DMT/Fusion (not sure what Fusion means at this stage). Short term I wanted to accelerate my progress in developing the micro cosmic orbit.

 

Master Chia comes across as a rambling old man who cannot stay focused on a train of thought and continually mixes up the thymus and the thalamus. I have learned some techniques from him which are not in his books but mostly the experience has been frustrating. There are 40+ participants, MC is explaining/demonstrating/story-telling from the stage, randomly replaced by a UHT instructor. There are only 2 volunteer instructors assisting and they have hardly ever checked our performance of the forms on an individual basis.

 

His books all carry the warning: “Readers should not undertake the practice without receiving per- sonal transmission and training from a certified instructor of the Universal Tao, since certain of these practices, if done improperly, may cause injury or result in health problems.”

 

I have spent a fair amount of money to be here and I have a week to go. I do not feel I have received much greater “transmission” than would have achieved watching a YouTube video, although MC did step down from the stage once to check our sacrum wiggling and once to tap us on the head. 

 

i expressed my concerns to a UHT instructor who told me that I would have to wait 10 years for initiation.

 

Any advice?

 

 

[Fa Xin]

Hello, DrMu, and welcome.

 

Your membership is approved and we're happy you found your way to us. We look forward to accompanying you on some of the way that you still have to go.

 

Please take the time to read the post pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum Terms and Rules.   This covers all you need to know when getting started.

 

For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day.

 

Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you,

 

Fa Xin and the TDB team

 

Welcome DrMu,

 

Thanks for posting your experience with Chia. I would say you already know what to do, it’s just a matter of cutting your losses. It’s very hard to learn things from someone whom you have doubts. Hope the forum helps you on your way. Enjoy.

 

You are welcome to jump right in to the ongoing discussions, revive an older thread, start a new thread of your own, or start a discussion in the "Newcomer Corner" sub-forum to expand on your introduction or ask general questions to help you get started.

 

May you enjoy your time here.

 

Fa Xin

[thelerner]

I never went into a seminar with too much enthusiasm or high hopes.  They all tend to advertise miracles and produce less.  Thus I haven't gone to one in a decade or so.  Yet, I don't regret the ones I've been to.  If I pick up a technique or two, its worth it.  Meditating with some higher level people is worth it.. soaking up some wah. 

 

Also, when the student has a totally bad time, they need to accept some of the blame for it.   Teaching is a two way street.  

 

I hope the rest of the seminar, if you're still there, goes better for you.   A problem I found with Healing Tao is they focused on so many techniques, when to me, going deep is better then going wide. 

 

What I'm working on these days in my meditation is 'no intention'.. a paradigm change from the past. 

[escott]

If you're interested in Vipassana I suggest you get the book 'The Mind Illuminated'. It explains everything and you can go at your own pace. I think it will really help you. I'm sorry you're disappointed in your seminar. I recently attended a seminar of a different lineage. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with it either, but I did learn some things. Ultimately, it's up to you, and nobody else, to do the work. Just try to take away as much as you can.

[Fa Xin]

58 minutes ago, escott said:

If you're interested in Vipassana I suggest you get the book 'The Mind Illuminated'. It explains everything and you can go at your own pace. I think it will really help you. I'm sorry you're disappointed in your seminar. I recently attended a seminar of a different lineage. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with it either, but I did learn some things. Ultimately, it's up to you, and nobody else, to do the work. Just try to take away as much as you can.

 

Yes I think this is a good point. 

 

The 10 day retreats will turn you down if you have some potential health issues. I think 10 days straight for anyone who’s not a regular meditator is a lot to handle, regardless of health issues. 

[Phantalor]

Just from Meditation experiences, i would recommend you to Look into the book of Marc Cohen about Standing Meditation, it is a good start and also provides some Insight into techniques that Work against what you experienced. As in some practises people tend to await fast results which will lead to imbalance and overwhelming Energy in the wrong focal Points, which May lead to mental instabilities.

[rideforever]

The Goenka schools are in my opinion quite violent in their approach and attract people with unloving hearts.   In the UK there is the IMC International Meditation Centre which teaches Vipassana in a better way, but from a neighbouring tradition to Goenka ... it's a good place.   Also the recordings of Goenka's 10 day lectures are available online and you can listen to them; I enjoyed them but the school that is set up in his name I did not enjoy.

 

With Mantak Chia, I studied Michael Winn a lot .... anyway Chia has extended and extended the practices so that they are very over-convoluted, and I have found that sticking to the core basics and going deeply into them is better.  Better to learn one thing well than several unhappily.

 

Bipolar type things, I think can be well addressed with practices around connecting to your inner child, who is often ractive and fragmented, and I personally do "Inner Bonding".