Leaderboard

Sri Matre Namaha and Namo Amitabha Buddhaya, Hello everyone, Just passing through. I was informed of a few deaths and saw that I was mentioned a number of times since my departure for a couple years. I was reminded of my mortality many times in my pilgrimage the last year, and immediately after while repairing relationships since then after some shifts. Here I am sharing a few insights I wanted to share that re-contextualizes past conflicts here and has vastly improved my life. 1. I was diagnosed last year shortly after turning 41 that I have Autism and ADHD--otherwise known as AuDHD. This means I am tone deaf and sound a lot angrier or more argumentative than I need to be without realizing how it would be perceived by others. My info dumping is a feature of neurodivergence, and this can be seen as being disingenuous by others, even if I and many people like me believe that clarity will help free people from wrongful assumptions and mischaracterizing my intentions. My hyperreactivity also comes from rejection sensitivity dysphoria, or RSD, a feature of ADHD. Many times I would perceive some remarks from people as a personal attack and overreact. It is better to assume good intentions and take the loss before getting into an argument since nobody wins. 2. Cultivation absolutely affects my condition for better or for worse. The right cultivation with qi, diet, and spiritual balance (separate from energy work) can moderate the physiological and neurological differences in my body. The wrong cultivation can make them worse, especially when bringing excess energy to my head. It is not my business if people want to do practices that can harm them, as they are not my students and I am not an expert, I am just a specialist at best. I don't get paid to argue and I don't teach for free. 3. Anyone and everyone can eventually be better when we yield that responsibility back to them and God/Dao/the Universe I lost many friends, including TDB member Nature Beeing or Beeing Nature, also known as Natursein on YouTube, who passed several months ago of Liver Cirrhosis around April or May as his partner informed me via WhatsApp. Some of those relationships were healed just before these people died, and some never got that resolution. As I can't wait for others to come around, it is on me to work on myself and be better instead of waiting for them to come around as a prerequisite to improving myself or reconciling. 4. Neurodivergence does make me more sensitive to energy and spirits Before my diagnosis, I noticed things in nature that I didn’t realize others couldn’t perceive. After my diagnosis, my therapist told me it’s common for us to see things and because I see better when relaxed and peaceful while when stressed I don’t perceive anything easily, I realized neurodivergence is a unique operating system, As such, I read oracles better, can notice energy quickly, and as there are several levels of third eye opening, I can sense the other side a bit better, but still need more refinement since it could be a lot more given the new responsibilities given to me by new teachers whom I have met. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I will stay around for a week or so to answer any questions if people had any related to my practices or me. Otherwise, you can visit my new site at innerexpeditions.squarespace.com. Thank you everyone. Sri Matre Namaha and Namo Amitabha Buddhaya.

Saw this, and it felt a bit like gatekeeping. It's the most powerful form of qigong out there, and is not locked behind an academy paywall and a guru-like teacher. I switched now to just standing and nothing else on energetics. 40mins in ball holding pose, as recommended in Marc Cohen's book Inside Zhan Zhuang. My body becomes more supple, looser as the time progresses, not harder or stiffer. An important part of that is body scanning and allowing knots of tension to release. There are experiences when tension and hardness suddenly dissolve, after which the body feels light and soft. I would advise trying it for yourself. If you feel stiffer and more stuck, as Damo intimates, then switch to wuji or moving forms. But don't take his word as gospel, without trying for yourself.

Edit: just for clarification, this is an extract from Inside Zhan Zhuang by Mark Cohen. Apologies to the author, but he's probably able to better express the point than me. On a personal level, I'm also opposed to black and white, absolutist positions on this subject. Maybe zhan zhuang is inappropriate for some beginners, and less so for others. Maybe wuji is better for some beginners, maybe less so for others. The importance is listening to your own body and responding appropriately. And always exercise critical thinking when it comes to Internet authorities.

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. I feel your love and support and value your friendship.

This question is quite unanswerable. Whether 2 systems are compatible can only be answered by the teachers of the 2 systems. But seldom does a teacher happen to know another system in depth. In the old days when the very original system has been taught, undiluted and unadulterated for centuries. Then another teacher may have sufficient knowledge on that system. But these days many system are recent inventions, or significantly altered, then outsiders would have no idea on what is going on.

Thread locked. I'm sorry but we no longer allow political subjects to be discussed here.

Interesting conversation (I'm sure we've all discussed this many times on this board). FWIW, we should never do just standing. Standing should be complemented by moving. So in the context of Taijiquan, if we stand (beginners should not stand for more than 5-10 minutes and slowly build up standing time) - it builds power, we should also practice a moving form to circulate the power. If people only stand, they can end up damaging their kidneys or other health problems. Another thing about standing, imho, is that the mental state is very important - one must be "sung" in the mind as well as the body.

As far as I understand, to get into Master Wang's retreat now, the process is as follows: You need to attend one of the basic seminars with one of his students, Nathan is one of them, and learn the basic skills there, mastering sitting for three hours. After that, they'll tell you where Master Wang's next retreat is. Master Wang no longer holds retreats for beginners, so there's no real public information. You need to keep in touch with someone who knows Master Wang personally, and then you can find out the next date. And most likely, there won't be any more public beginner retreats. Another option is to go to Dalian, where Master Wang lives, stay there for a while, and then you can attend a retreat; he regularly holds retreats there for advanced students.

I am still here arguing with some old timers. Arguing with the same old things. I hope I'll never win. If I do, then, there is nothing to do here anymore.

'' ... So then the wife said ; 'What are you going to do today ?' I said ; 'Nothing.' She said ; ' You did that yesterday .' I said ; ' I ain't finished yet .' ''

A Bastet case, I have become reading sonnets, having fun The port is good, so they declare in Portugal, some cat is there who sweeps a tail across the rug and makes a toy of some poor bug photo Jon Bodsworth

Cool cats rarely follow rules, or get good grades in public schools. They cultivate an air of mystery, not for them the one two three. So Apech´s drinking wine in Portugal, and not concerned with us at all. Let alone the great cat Bastet, who surely deserves her own sonnet. meow

He's done a lot of Egyptian study yet never talks of Bastet, buddy. What kind of cool white cat is that?

Not my brother, a friend. And in reality he´s a sweet guy and I don´t wish him any harm. Just someone who got caught up, as so many of us do, in a particular mind loop. For brother Apech He´s a cool white cat, who knows where it´s at. He´s done lots of Egyptian study, I´m lucky he´s my buddy.

Your experience does not contradict my statement. The thing is, there's no such generic thing as "scientists." I also have a master's (so what) and am a descendant of four generations of Ph.D.s, two of which achieved truly great things in (of all things) agricultural sciences whose positive impact lasts till today. (No, not pesticides or genetic modifications, nothing of the sort. Real agricultural science as it used to exist before all that jazz.) You may want to re-read what I wrote with this idea in mind: "scientists" and "science" is a profoundly ephemeral concept. Smoke and mirrors that may hide anyone and anything. That's the generic everyday use (or rather glaringly wrongful misuse) of the term "science," which (as @zerostao pointed out in the statement I was expounding on) is absolutely equal to a belief system. We are trained to believe statements we are told originate from "Science." "Trust the Science" absolutely equals "In God We Trust" -- it's a statement of belief plus a commandment. Real science has nothing to do with statements of belief and commandments. And real scientists... the system is set up to produce very few of those -- and disown, discredit, persecute them if they fail to toe the indoctrinators' line. But enough tangent.

Even if an ant eats a bald eagle, it will never achieve the greatness of a street pigeon

It doesn't matter if someone believes or not; if there is functionality. No autopsy will find a mco in a cadaver. The cadaver is dead and no longer an active energy vessel. There are results from running mco. That, idk how many practitioners over the years, spanning generations, generally agree upon. Mco is not a physical structure it is a dynamic energy pathway. Once again, the "scientific" view is exposed by its limitations by disregarding the subjective and only relying on the objective. Edit/ I said it before and it remains true that science itself, is a belief systen

I don’t really have a belief in qi. I do have a daily physical interaction with it like I have an interaction with my coffee table in my living room. To say I have a belief in qi would be like saying I have a belief in my coffee table. Its physical existence is self evident through my direct experience making whether I have a belief in it irrelevant. .The difference is I work on my connection with qi whereas I take my coffee table for granted and don’t give it much attention. . Because I work on that experience with qi the experience deepens and changes. I don’t have much expectation for specific outcomes but I am pleasantly surprised when i see changes or the experience deepens. Regardless I find it a pleasant challenge to work with. I am told it can take you quite far in connecting with spirit or the divine or whatever you want to call it. Rather than believing in this I think it is healthier to just keep going and to continue to observe what arises and be grateful for the experience.

Substance literally means what stands under ... so for instance the substance of a table might be wood. So the wood is more 'basic' or underlying in the sense that if there were no wood there would be no table (provided it is a wooden one). In the case of internal alchemy the substance(s) are what lies behind appearance. The deeper you go the more 'real' you get ... in the sense of being without dependence on anything beneath. I think the question 'is the MCO real' is the wrong one. It would be better to ask 'does it work?' or 'what does it do?' or perhaps 'how do you make it work' but this question gives rise to the general question 'can you make it work or does it just happen'. Most if not all energy exercises/techniques or practices simply replicate intentionally things that happen naturally. So a certain breathing practice if done with conscious will simply replicates something that would arise naturally if the circumstances arise. For instance vase breathing, abdominal breathing, embryonic breathing and so on are all like this (in my experience). I would put the MCO in the same category. The danger in practicing without first achieving deep meditational states is that you replace the genuine cycling of energy with an imagined substitute which does not and cannot hit the spot so to speak. But equally you have to gain some familiarity with the subtle body and its workings in order to progress and so as you absorb intellectually the principles of the working of the subtle body this in itself stimulates it into action.

Once again, a big thanks to all of you. Met him today, and I do suspect that the well wishes of the wizard bums made a difference in him, truly.

When I first got into running, I read a great book called Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. One assertion the book made is that we are hairless due to natural selection. Our lack of hair and ability to sweat gives us a distinct advantage in hunting over hairy, four legged animals that are much faster. They can run faster but can only lower their temperature through panting so they are forced to periodically stop and rest or they overheat. Humans, on the other hand, can lower temperature through sweating so it is possible for us to keep running for hours, even days, without stopping. As long as we can keep the faster animal in our sight, we will eventually catch them. McDougall postulates this is one reason we have come to dominate other species. The book goes into some interesting territory, including the Raramuri people of Mexico who are amazing runners. One just won an ultra-marathon, in fact, running in traditional sandals and a long skirt with no formal training. Before running the ultra, she walked 14 hours just to get there. https://www.onlygoodnewsdaily.com/post/indigenous-runner-wins-canyon-ultramarathon

Hi everyone! Been practicing Qi Gong on and off for a little over 5 years but first came across it more than 13 years ago via books - very excited to learn from this forum and connect with like-minded individuals

In order to perfect your meditation it is very important to not stop thinking.

I support that right and will fight against the suppression of cast iron cookware .... once it 'gets out ' * they will , no doubt, try to suppress it and replace it with new super dooper high tech inferior crappy products with in built problems . * its long lasting, sturdy , can go on a heating element , in an oven or on a fire , one can use it to have an 'oven' on a fire, when 'cured' and treated properly it is entirely 'non- stick ' - which will also make it rust proof , its thick and holds the heat well for better cooking ... and of course , packs a much more solid whallop than a light aluminium one . This fry pan comes with a picture of itself on the label , so you will know what it is

Looks delicious. I´m of the opinion that anything topped with broiled cheese is delicious -- but that´s not an unpopular opinion.

I will let those more learned than me answer about hun and po - but the search function on here has always been weak and sometimes it’s better to use google to search - something like ‘the DaoBums hun and po’ might work.

Thank you Steve, and condolences for your recent loss as well. Thank you for your vote of confidence. As I am a professional and have changed a bit the last couple years, I would rather not get into offering my opinion on forums as much as possible unless asked because it has led to too many arguments, misunderstandings, and if not my own prior volatility, other people reading it as hostility despite my intentions to be restrained due to my tone being too robotic or my attempts at sarcasm seeming rude. People who do want my opinion can ask me or just go to my page linked above. Such is a reminder that we are not unnoticed especially in our absence! Hello, old friend! I sent an email to you earlier this year and am glad I got to hear from you during this brief visit. Glad your health is better too.

Watch out for nutrition science: ... The stand out example for me is nutrition science. A lot of the big, obvious effects have been picked through and now so much of it is simmering in noise with strong incentives to find various different things by getting significance. Alcohol/chocolate/coffee does, doesn’t, does, doesn’t, does, doesn’t cause increased mortality. I don’t know how we could expect that discipline to turn around. There is good work being done there here and there, but so much of it is GIGO. I have a paper in the works trying to sort out how we can know if a field is producing knowledge or just chasing ghosts . . . (Joe Bak-Coleman, collective behavior scientist at the University of Washington) ... Regarding nutrition science: yeah, this is another field where there’s endless crap being hyped. Also related areas in health science such as that stupid cold-shower study or all the crappy sleep research. I don’t have any sense of an escape route for all this. On one hand, nutrition, health behavior, exercise, sleep, etc., are hugely important and worth scientific study. On the other hand, these fields are so rotten, with really incompetent or unethical people deeply embedded within the system of academic publication and news media promotion, that sometimes it just seems entirely hopeless. (blog "Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science", today's entry by Andrew Gelman, professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University)

Science is fascinating, so I can´t fault those who make it´s study their life´s work, though there are certainly ethical landmines to be navigated -- and some navigate them with more humility and grace than others. But I like to think there´s a special place in some unfathomable lower realm for those who know nothing of science themselves but proudly declare "I believe in science" in an attempt to coerce relatives and friends to make a given behavioral choice. Not that I´m bitter or anything.

Not strictly relevant but I managed to reduce my intra- ocular pressure from 21 to 16 by palming, acupressure and massaging round the eye sockets.

I think that the there are levels of working with the MCO, and the extraordinary vessels as an integral dynamic. My impression is that we have a surface understanding of “dan tian” and “extraordinary vessels”, that there are layers and we should continue to excavate.

Likewise, I hold respect for you. And find value in your post If my posture, breathing, circulation, immune system, nervous system, and calmness, have benefitted from hallucinations, that is still winning.

@steve Hope you deal well with the temporary absence of your father's presence

she said female cats are normally closer to Tao than often warring tom cats.

@steve My condolences to you and your family. Sending you love and best wishes.

It comes from wuji (tao-in-stillness) transforming into taiji (tao-in-motion) also going by Xiantian and Houtian. Yang floats upward, yin sinks downward. That's the beginning of heaven and earth. "In the heaven images arise, on earth they take shape," as the Ta Chuan explains it. (Unlike in all hierarchical systems, it's not "heaven first, earth later," it's a mutually dependent and simultaneous process.) And then every step of the way the pattern gets refined/complicated -- up to 64 steps times five times eight and their ten thousand combinations... and that's the outer border of a meaningful pattern. Beyond it lies Hundun, where there's no pattern. Chaos. Plenty of information, no meaning.

You don't need to believe in anything. It is something that you experience first hand or you don't. The vast majority of people never experience it, but a significant number who engage in certain practices or even go on meditation retreats do. We can relate those experiences to specific concepts and world views, but it is unnecessary. But it certainly not a belief any more than it is a belief that fire feels hot.

Oh deary dear. Was it Richard Feynman who said if you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics. What chance does a shiatsu person stand and why would they think they are incorporating it into their practice.

Also, our distorted mental habits that keep pulling us away into other things, and often interferes in various ways. Tseng Lao-weng quote is interesting because this seems like a different approach than the narrower views often bandied about.

Anemoia. From The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, by John Koenig, comes a word the language badly needed but never had until 2021. It's the feeling of nostalgia for a time you've never known. A wistful longing for an idealized past that exists only in imagination or secondhand accounts. When I first came to the US, to New York specifically, it was a different city from what it is today, and far as I'm concerned, a better one. But back then my older female co-workers, native New Yorkers, would often tell me about New York they used to know in their childhood and youth, and it was nothing like the city I was witnessing... it sounded like a dream, an urban fairy land. On more than one occasion they actually shed a tear telling me about that lost city. And they gave me anemoia. That's just one example. I'm massively afflicted by that feeling for many purposes. Some of it overlaps with nostalgia for the worlds (sic) I knew in this life, some must be genetic memory, and some -- possibly -- memories of past lives. I wonder how widespread this anemoia thing is.

The irony here is amazing

I mean individually. What was the spark that started your journey

Hey everyone, Just wanted to give a somewhat dissapointing update. I managed to work my way in, it was hard, it took 8 years, but through networking with all the official and unofficial masters, volunteers, my friends, people I met while in the temple, I finally managed to find a rogue SKY master who's no longer official who agreed to teach me astral travel. As you can imagine I was over the moon, I have after all been searching for this skill for 10 years, and have tried A LOT of methods. However when I was in the temple grounds with this rogue master, I was so at peace. It felt so normal and natural. Even though he's left the organisation, he exudes deep vibes of a sense of discipline, gratitude as well as the awe of the holiness and sanctity of Vethathiri Maharishi's teachings. It was a very religious feeling, in a positive way. During my stay he taught me several discontinued SKY meditations, so was happy to learn all of these things. When the morning came and we had to get up at 4 to do the astral travel, I was very much at ease, despite ofc being tired from jet lag as well as getting up at 4 Indian Time The meditation was much, much simpler than I had imagined. Just like I had heard, you meditate on a particular chakra the night before, blessed by the master. Then you go to bed and fall asleep while meditating with the masters blessing and prayer on that chakra. When you wake up you go to the temple, lie down flat, relax your whole body, then you do the meditation itself, which is super simple. You start with the well known SKY chakra meditation, then you visualise step-wise certain things. Out of the 6-7 steps, at the 4th step I was SURE I was leaving my body. From one moment to the next, the sensation of my physical body completely disappeared, my breathing also stopped, yet it felt very normal and natural, I felt at ease. I felt "ok, now my soul will soar". However for some reason I didn't get the full seperation, so instead I kept going with the step by step visualisation as guided by the master lying next do me (we were both covered by white sheets/blankets). Then we finished the visualisation and "visualised coming back". The moment I visualised my spirit coming back I felt a huge burst of energy all over. It was as if my whole aura or energy field had been somewhat small because of tiredness, lack of sleep, jetlag etc, hence I was a bit tired. But after the meditation (we visualised going to certain places to get energy), when I visualised returning, it was "real", meaning the energy we had collected came into my body. So my whole energybody / aura / field expanded and I felt so refreshed. The master told me that there's a specific 108 day long practice to go through first, which will ensure you have the power and energy to actually seperate that I should now go home and do on my own. And the visualisation is a kind of practice, but suddenly one day it will really happen, and you will really fully seperate and fly around. I was 100% convinced I would get it when I returned home to my country with the 108 day practice, as the practice under the master's guidance was so powerful, I really, truly deeply felt "ok, this is it". Now I've been home for more than 4-5 months and I did the practice, but I unfortunately still didn't get it. So am somewhat disappointed, yet also feeling satisfied "that I gave it my all". I went to the end of the Earth, I spoke to 100s of people, networked, travelled, spent money and time, took off work, I did all in my power "to get it". I got something, but still kind of "failed" at my main mission, unfortunately. I've spoken with several of the other SKY masters now, revealing I learnt the secret technique, without revealing from whom (as that would create political havoc and negatively impact the rogue master), and they shared their own experiences of astral travel and simply advised me: "it's not the technique, it's just 2 things: 1) be fully relaxed with your physical body, 2) completely shift your attention to your energybody". When you do this, you automatically pop out one day. So right now my plan is to simply keep practicing, 1 hour pr day Master Wu's qigong (the best I ever did), and 1 hour pr day SKY meditation. Then hopefully 1 day it will happen on it's own. My last hope is some of the tantric, magical daoist and sleeping qigong programs I'm sometimes doing particularly for astral travel will one day work, but so far I've done 3 tantric methods (some for 41 days, some for 90 days, and some for 100 days), I didn't succeed. Then I did daoist ways (mantra, mudra, talisman, meditation and connecting with particular spirits), some again for 49 days, some 100, and one method I really believed in I did for about 9 months straight every single night. I also failed. Sleeping qigong I've been doing for about 6 months, where 2 of the meditations can cause soul travel, but so far nothing. Will keep going. Anyway, just wanted to give you all an update, several people have privately messaged me asking about the results of my India trip and astral travel adventures/searches, so just wanted to share for all to see.

I think whether censorship is a form of violence depends on the situation. It can be, but it can also be argued a lack of censorship can be a form of violence. Many places intended to be safe (especially online), for example, can become unsafe very quickly if people who want to spread hate or express toxic views infiltrate those spaces and are not booted promptly. Go to literally any forum online intended for women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, etc - sadly it is a very common problem. But the world is a big place, if those are someone's views, without a doubt there are more appropriate places for that person to express those views without consequence. Everything needs balance between what it is intended for and the diverse views of individuals, and the right balance can be a bit of time to workout because it can be different in every space.

Still enjoying these meditations after 16 years of practice 😊

Just curious, have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you care so much how other people practice?

Is it true Nungali, did you abandon your trusty row boat for one of these new fangled devices? (and that you can invoke the wind via the Wind god if need be to keep up propulsion?)

‘good morning it is nice to meet you’ = vai-te embora filho de puta.

The Dutch word for witch is ‘heks’. Oh, Google ‘etymology heks’: likely from the word “heka”.

I also got a reading from Eric about some health issues I was having. He struck me as a nice guy, well-intentioned, and knowledgable about ayurveda and the body in general. I will say, however, that his psychic take on what was going on for me did not match up with diagnostic lab work I received a few days after my reading.