Introduction

[心神 ~]

I've been learning about Taoism and the internal arts for about two years now. I've absorbed a lot of information from various sources, and I'm ready to develop a more disciplined, consistent practice. I'm here because I'm interested in learning from people on a similar path.

 

My current reading list:

- Nei Gong for Women by Damo Mitchell, Roni Edlund
-Taoist Yoga for Women by Oleg Tcherne, Elena Lazaro
- Cultivating Stillness by Eva Wong
- Opening the Dragon Gate by Kaigui Chen, Sunchao Zheng, Thomas Cleary

 

Any reading suggestions are welcome. I appreciate the presence of this community, and I'm grateful for the lessons that lie ahead.

 

Shen

[stirling]

Welcome to the board!

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

Welcome! I have a big reading list here:

 

Here is a more condensed and probably better list from my teacher:

 

http://www.taichimania.com/readinglist.html

 

 

Edited October 4 by -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-

[心神 ~]

Thank you both! 

 

And thank you so much for the book list, this is sure to keep me busy for a while.

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

15 minutes ago, 心神 ~ said:

Thank you both! 

 

And thank you so much for the book list, this is sure to keep me busy for a while.

Keep in mind that a lot of theory books will say things that contradict each other. Best thing to do really is not to read but find a good teacher and follow what they teach. Reading books like Opening the Dragon Gate is fine, but too much theory will muddle your mind. 

 

Then after a while you can read the theory books and see what you have actually experienced and what you haven’t to see which ones are legit.

[心神 ~]

8 minutes ago, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

Keep in mind that a lot of theory books will say things that contradict each other. Best thing to do really is not to read but find a good teacher and follow what they teach. Reading books like Opening the Dragon Gate is fine, but too much theory will muddle your mind. 

 

Then after a while you can read the theory books and see what you have actually experienced and what you haven’t to see which ones are legit.

 

That's a really helpful perspective. I'm hoping that finding a teacher is something I'm ready for.

 

Thelerner (sp?) said in an old post to "look for the teacher's advanced students, because they are what you're mostly to become."

 

This forum seems to have plenty of advanced students. So I guess my idea was to observe, ask questions, and start to figure out which teachers to trust.

 

Do you have any suggestions in that regard, identifying reputable teachers?

 

 

[Gerard]

Hello and welcome.

 

My advice:

 

1. No books

2. Find a martial artist teacher not a bookworm teacher. The following is a place where you can find one or alternatively try to look around in your local area. There must be a park where IMA classes are taught.

 

https://rumsoakedfist.org/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=1f86d607996942b0f1c55060758229b7

 

There are also charlatans disguised as teachers of these arts so you need to weed them out until you find a legit one. So when the principle of "when the student is ready, the teacher will show up" is quite accurate.

 

Good luck.

Edited October 4 by Gerard

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

14 hours ago, 心神 ~ said:

 

That's a really helpful perspective. I'm hoping that finding a teacher is something I'm ready for.

 

Thelerner (sp?) said in an old post to "look for the teacher's advanced students, because they are what you're mostly to become."

 

This forum seems to have plenty of advanced students. So I guess my idea was to observe, ask questions, and start to figure out which teachers to trust.

 

Do you have any suggestions in that regard, identifying reputable teachers?

 

 

My qigong teacher is Sifu Terry Dunn from Flying Phoenix and Tao Tan Pai, and my neigong teacher is Rudi from Authentic Neigong, you can search through this forum for information about these practices. Can message me about them too if you want to know more!

[心神 ~]

11 hours ago, Gerard said:

Find a martial artist teacher not a bookworm teacher. The following is a place where you can find one or alternatively try to look around in your local area. There must be a park where IMA classes are taught.

 

There are also charlatans disguised as teachers of these arts so you need to weed them out until you find a legit one. So when the principle of "when the student is ready, the teacher will show up" is quite accurate.

 

Good luck.

 

Thank you for the advice! I'm looking through the forum now. I live in an isolated area, so I the chances of finding an in-person teacher is low, for now. And I understand that online teaching is not an ideal replacement.

 

It's tough to not have access to a teacher, but still desire progress and knowledge toward what feels like such an essential pursuit. I don't want to consume information aimlessly or in excess, but I also want to balance receiving too much information versus receiving no information.

 

Hopefully joining this forum is the catalyst I need. 

 

"When the student is ready, the teacher will show up." I included this in the draft of my previous message, and it feels as though you have responded to my inner thought. Thanks again for the guidance.

[心神 ~]

12 minutes ago, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

My qigong teacher is Sifu Terry Dunn from Flying Phoenix and Tao Tan Pai, and my neigong teacher is Rudi from Authentic Neigong, you can search through this forum for information about these practices. Can message me about them too if you want to know more!

 

Thank you so much. I will read about them and I'm sure I'll have follow up questions. Maybe my first question(s):

 

Why did you choose these schools?

Why did you choose these teachers?

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

1 hour ago, 心神 ~ said:

 

Thank you for the advice! I'm looking through the forum now. I live in an isolated area, so I the chances of finding an in-person teacher is low, for now. And I understand that online teaching is not an ideal replacement.

 

 

Nothing wrong with online teaching. A good teacher on zoom is better than a bad teacher in person.

 

1 hour ago, 心神 ~ said:

 

Thank you so much. I will read about them and I'm sure I'll have follow up questions. Maybe my first question(s):

 

Why did you choose these schools?

Why did you choose these teachers?

I chose these schools and teachers because they focus more on health and healing rather than martial arts.

 

Also because I was living in Romania at the time where there wouldn’t be anyone in person I could learn from, I decided to learn from

them since it was online.

[心神 ~]

35 minutes ago, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

Nothing wrong with online teaching. A good teacher on zoom is better than a bad teacher in person.

 

Okay, that's encouraging. In that event, I'm leaning toward Lotus Nei Gong International with Damo Mitchell / Roni Edlund.

 

I found the book they wrote to be incredibly helpful, and the school offers a program that supports women's specific practice in addition to the standard program.

 

I've noticed Damo Mitchell's name pop up in a few threads, and the mentions seemed relatively positive. Are you familiar with his teachings / approach / reputation?

 

Edit: A little more reading and I see opinions on the forum are kind of split. 🤔

Edited October 5 by 心神 ~

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

2 hours ago, 心神 ~ said:

 

Okay, that's encouraging. In that event, I'm leaning toward Lotus Nei Gong International with Damo Mitchell / Roni Edlund.

 

I found the book they wrote to be incredibly helpful, and the school offers a program that supports women's specific practice in addition to the standard program.

 

I've noticed Damo Mitchell's name pop up in a few threads, and the mentions seemed relatively positive. Are you familiar with his teachings / approach / reputation?

 

Edit: A little more reading and I see opinions on the forum are kind of split. 🤔

Yea I personally wouldn’t learn from him because I’ve seen the syllabus and it there are way too many practices. Neigong should ideally be as simple as possible if the goal is first to accumulate qi in the lower dantien and activate it. 

[Master Logray]

I think online teaching is acceptable for theories, sitting and standing meditation and majority of qigong.   But martial arts is another matter.   How do a person learn fighting when he is totally alone?  Who can rectify his movements and stances?   At best people just learn a form of dance.  

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

Oh yea I just noticed your profile picture. You might like Flying Phoenix as it’s linked to Guan Yin

[ChiDragon]

On 10/4/2024 at 11:40 AM, 心神 ~ said:

I've been learning about Taoism and the internal arts for about two years now. I've absorbed a lot of information from various sources, and I'm ready to develop a more disciplined, consistent practice. I'm here because I'm interested in learning from people on a similar path.

心神，Welcome to TDB! Learning from various sources with an open mind is the way to go. Thank you for staying and participate in the discussions.

[心神 ~]

@-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-

 

The DVD format is a small obstacle. I can purchase a DVD player, though. The zoom classes that begin in October, do you know what they might cost?

[心神 ~]

22 hours ago, Master Logray said:

I think online teaching is acceptable for theories, sitting and standing meditation and majority of qigong.   But martial arts is another matter.   How do a person learn fighting when he is totally alone?  Who can rectify his movements and stances?   At best people just learn a form of dance.  

 

Yes, I would absolutely prefer in person training for the corrections that can't be made otherwise. 

 

[心神 ~]

@ChiDragon

 

Thank you! I'm grateful to be here, and I hope in addition to learning from everyone, that I can one day add value to the discussions.

[ChiDragon]

1 hour ago, 心神 ~ said:

@ChiDragon

 

Thank you! I'm grateful to be here, and I hope in addition to learning from everyone, that I can one day add value to the discussions.

 心神，Spirit of the heart(心之靈), you are all hearted. Nice nickname, BTW

Edited October 6 by ChiDragon

[Tommy]

Welcome to the forum,

This is a nice place for asking questions as everyone seems to have an opinion. They're not always on the same page. But, they do want to be helpful. Good luck to you.

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

2 hours ago, 心神 ~ said:

@-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-

 

The DVD format is a small obstacle. I can purchase a DVD player, though. The zoom classes that begin in October, do you know what they might cost?

For the beginner class it would be $50.

 

You can find out more details from the newsletter:

 

https://terencedunn.substack.com/

[Neirong]

On 05.10.2024 at 7:03 PM, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

Yea I personally wouldn’t learn from him because I’ve seen the syllabus and it there are way too many practices. Neigong should ideally be as simple as possible if the goal is first to accumulate qi in the lower dantien and activate it. 

 

Some systems on purpose include bloat/filler practices for the sake of making it a quagmire to go through and waste time. As if the life is not already short enough.

 

They would also lack some credible elements of a functional school, such as access to teacher feedback, examinations and tests, observable progress, and benefits. While siddhi may take time to develop, if you do not feel any observable benefits in day-to-day life within 3-6 months of practice, I would not bother or recommend such training. If it does not work for a person, better find another training/teaching.

 

Flaws of the teaching can all be covered by a cult figure, a collective delusion that they are doing something meaningful and worthwhile. While all they are doing is waving hands around. At that point people develop placebo effect sensations, that practice benefits them in unknown way.

So, if you see a cult figure, better avoid.

 

On 05.10.2024 at 7:24 PM, Master Logray said:

But martial arts is another matter.   How do a person learn fighting when he is totally alone?  Who can rectify his movements and stances?  

It is even better if your teacher or someone who spars with him participates on a competitive level and has a known rank in martial arts. Then you could avoid delusions.

 

Most online MA teaching is an info-business scam.

[forestofclarity]

On 10/5/2024 at 7:13 AM, 心神 ~ said:

Edit: A little more reading and I see opinions on the forum are kind of split. 🤔

 

Opinions on this forum are split about most things, and have been for the past 17 years or so I've been on here. I would highly recommend forming your own opinions.  

 

 

 

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

4 hours ago, forestofclarity said:

 

Opinions on this forum are split about most things, and have been for the past 17 years or so I've been on here.

 

 

I disagree with this