Dao-of-Poo Posted September 17, 2021 Hello everyone! Very excited to be here with you all. Not sure what to say here, so I’ll just give you a sense of who I am and what brought me here. I’ve been a seeker on the Path for about 12 years now, coming from a pretty ordinary suburban Christian upbringing in a metropolitan area, and then gravitating towards Zen Buddhism and yoga as a young adult. I am autistic, and as such I am strongly rooted in the nonverbal world - I have had a lifelong struggle with language, and even a simple introductory post like this takes more effort than you can imagine. The emphasis on direct experience over rhetoric is what attracted me to the teachings of Zen Buddhism in the first place. However, after a decade of practicing on and off, I’ve come to the conclusion that the actual practice of Zen seated meditation doesn’t really work with my neurotype. I learned a lot through the practice, but it never really clicked for me and I always struggled with it. Yoga has worked well for me, but also missed the mark in some way that’s hard to describe. Earlier this year, I had a profound energetic experience, out of nowhere, that completely changed my trajectory on the Path and made me pivot hard towards Daoism. I was lucky enough to have found a Taiji teacher in my area who is also a doctor of Chinese medicine, and having described my experience to him, he believes that I experienced a major Qi deviation, aka Dragon sickness. He took me in as a patient, and has helped me to work through this experience. I started studying Taiji and Qigong with him, and I can only say that it feels like something is finally clicking. These are the practices for me - it feels “right” in a way that I can’t describe, and the more I practice, the more this feeling deepens. I feel that I have finally “come home” - it’s the practice that I’ve been seeking for over a decade now. I am now 100% committed and I practice diligently every day. I discovered this forum and found that this is the right place for me to be so that I can deepen my practice, and I’m excited to learn from you all. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this community! Cheers, Poo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ilumairen Posted October 1, 2021 Welcome to the bums, Dao-of-Pooh, Hope you enjoy your stay. warm regards, ilu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
