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Write something that makes everyone go 🤦‍♂️ ‘oh boy’!

People are complex and multilayered. Many of us are very good at some things, abysmal at others -- I know I am. So a lapse in one dimension doesn´t imply universal lapses in all dimensions. Case in point: teachers. How many of us have had or known teachers, even spiritual teachers, who are very good at what they teach but fall short in some areas? Tai chi teachers who are also obese. Meditation instructors who smoke cigarettes or watch porn. Demanding all around perfection is a trap.

I can't think of anything except cite an instance of someone facepalming in real life. Or semi-real, i.e. online. I just remembered how Brian (RIP) facepalmed to my mentioning this song, Margaritaville. "Please! No Jimmy Buffett!" It stuck in my memory because I had no idea who Jimmy Buffett was, but I had heard of there being this billionaire, Buffett, vague on his first name though. So in my mind I conflated the two and imagined that this guy was not only a business mogul but also a singer, and briefly marveled at his versatility. It's a good thing I didn't post something to that effect or there would be no end to facepalms in response. What I wanted to write but didn't was, "what's wrong with being a singer AND a billionaire?" (Now that there's Taylor Swift I know exactly what... Triple facepalm...)

For those interested in trying this Neigong system, here is some of my personal experience with it. I attended the three-day TTP-31 workshop taught by Sifu Terry on Zoom. I am a total beginner to this system. I recently started practicing Flying Phoenix Qigong and felt great. Sifu Terry mentioned that TTP-31 could help progress in FP Qigong, and that the two systems work well together. That's why I decided to try the TTP-31 workshop. TTP-31 is the entry-level practice of the entire system. I think it strengthens the body and mind, preparing you for the next level of training. Overall, I really enjoy the training. I felt great after the workshop and I will continue practicing it. Below are some of the pros and cons I experienced after the workshop: Pros: The TTP-31 is easy to follow and not very demanding. Most people can do it. I feel more awake, and have increased energy and Chi flow. I also feel less hungry. I'm not sure if that’s good or bad, but at least I save money on groceries. So I count it as a plus. Cons: It's time-consuming and probably not suitable for people with many responsibilities. (it takes more than two hours to finish the whole set, though you can do a shorter version that takes about half an hour), and there are only text handouts available for studying after class. Without images, it’s difficult to remember all the movements. I think that's because the Grand Master did not allow any videos or pictures. Again, I am a total beginner. These are just my limited experiences. Ah, I forgot to mention one of the most important parts of the workshop: The teacher! Sifu Terry is an awesome teacher. I had a great time learning from him. I hope everyone finds their path and achieves their goals one day.

Woah, thanks for the detailed advice! Really helpful stuff! I was tempted into doing the Mao Shan initiation described in his book, "Practical Chinese Magic", but now I am wary of attracting weird beings to my home. A shame, because I am attracted to the more esoteric parts of daoism, the so called "mastery traditions" or "red-hat daoism". My goals are not only cultivation, but the more religious/magical side of daoism as well. Unfortunately here in my country only exists one tradition "Kunlun of the Nine Dragons", which I never heard of. They call themselves fangshi. But its true, westerners who ventures into any traditional cult almost always have a huge ego. It happens with white people getting initiated into ATRs, they are very prideful and seem like they know better than natives. Weird stuff. Anyway, I appreciate it sharing the info. I will take what's useful from him and look for something else.

Obsessive neat freaks are often people who feel dirty inside. Health nuts are often the sickest people trying to fix themselves... great if they stop right there and don't try to fix everybody else. Militant anti-smoking is an induced hallucination*. My first reaction to perfectionists is compassion (it's nearly always of traumatic origins...) -- unless they're in my hair. In which case my second reaction: mild compassionate contempt. And if they don't let me be at this point, then the third one: all bets are off. There's taoist practices that are about "perfection, nondecay, immortality," but they are just that -- practices with a lofty personal goal, not an invitation to holier-than-thou stances, moral judgment of whoever appears to fall short, or any of that self-aggrandizing BS. *

liminal_luke, you might like this: One Way or Another (from my blog, at zenmudra.com/zazen-notes) An excerpt: If a person can exhibit a mindfulness like Gautama’s without having become enlightened, and can have “seen by means of wisdom” without having completely destroyed the cankers, then how can one know who to trust as a teacher? Gautama’s advice was to go by the words of the teacher rather than any claim to authority, to compare the instructions of a teacher to the sermons Gautama himself had given and to the rules of the order that Gautama himself had laid down (DN 16 PTS vol. ii pp 133-136). Nevertheless, activity solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness, the hallmark of the fourth concentration, has been conveyed by demonstration in some branches of Buddhism for millennia. The transmission of a central part of the teaching through such conveyance, and the certification of that transmission by the presiding teacher, is regarded by some schools as the only guarantee of the authenticity of a teacher. The teachers so authenticated have in many cases disappointed their students, when circumstances revealed that the teacher’s cankers had not been completely destroyed. Furthermore, some schools appear to have certified transmission without the conveyance that has kept the tradition alive, perhaps for the sake of the continuation of the school.

I used to make people go "oh boy" all the time, but then the mods did away with the Current Events section.

Any human can be subject to addiction, even those with deep spiritual insights and strong minds. Truth is, addictions stem from (lack of) genetic adaptation, from isolation, and loss of community. Labeling it as simply weak is a parochial and elitist view that treats addiction as criminal rather than the public health problem that it is. It's a very dysfunctional and counter-productive paradigm.

@Learner @Vajra Fist Thanks for chiming in and sharing your interest Great to hear from you both! Let me share in 3 points: 1) how to practice, 2) my experience, 3) conclusion 1) How to practice: The basic level is divided using the daoist trinity, Heaven, Earth, Man. There are 3 parts of each, i.e. 9 parts in total (3x3=9). The Human part consists of the techniques themselves, some main, some assisting, making it 6 techniques in total. The first one is a relaxation and visualisation exercise. The second is a visualisation and meditation exercise. The third is the sleeping technique itself (posture and mudra activating different points, as well as a two step meditation). The remaining 3 ones are qigong techniques to be done during the day to support (inner alchemy, open meridians, circulate qi, help with longevity, recover from ejaculation and protect the jing). The Earth part is about healing, group mind and ethical conduct. The Heavenly part is about states of consciousness and how to go to "the original state". 2) My experience: I was very positively suprised already with the first exercise, the relaxation and visualisation. It's super easy and simple, yet I feel like "I continued where I left off" in my cultivation progress realized with Zhongxian Wu's 3 year "jing dao" program. Where visualisation actually controls your body and becomes real. It's hard to explain and came as a big surprise, but at a certain point your mind and body become one. It sounds quite limp on paper, but in reality it's a huge surprise and weird unexpected shift in your practice. Hard to say what happens from here, but it's a new way of living and cultivating, a new reality where mind, matter and energy are the same, jing, q and shen unite, "mind and body as one". The first 2 weeks or so I found out I have a tension in my throat, my right eye and right side of my forehead, and no matter how much I intently relax it, the moment I stop relaxing it automatically tenses up again. Super weird. But from day to day you progress. Each part of your body comes under the control of your mind, you can relax at will. Further, the visualisation becomes real, felt and tangible and increases in power from day to day, week to week, month to month. Slowly but steadily. Some real "gong fu shit" each day is a drop of water in your vessel, a grain of rice in your sack, suddenly you have a whole sack of rice or a whole container filled with water, and you don't even know how it happened, as the daily progress was so miniscule, but suddenly a big shift happens. The second meditation is much slower to improve for me, but suddenly after 1 month, a slight "level up" in power came, so it's still progressing, albeit slower on a month to month basis instead of day to day. The sleeping itself, my God, the first 9-14 days were utter torture. I couldn't get comfortable, my neck, wrist and shoulders were killing me, became numb, tingled, lost sensation, joints hurt, it was unbearable. My sleep became worse, I started having creepy nightmares, I would wake up completely "wiped out" almost unable to get out of bed and function normally at work. It was hell. But suddenly after about 2 weeks a switch happened, my sleep and dreams became normal again, and my level of "feeling rested" also returned to normal again. Also the 2-step meditation done for the sleeping qigong itself happened faster and more powerfully, and more things started to take place of their own accord in my body. The qigong sets done during the day are also super duper basic, nothing spectacular in any way, shape or form, very comparable to what I've learnt from Zhongxian Wu, Chunyi Lin, ZYM, Jiang Yu Shan and so on. Very basic, very simple, yet you feel refreshed after, so it's doing something. In short, it works. 3) Conclusion So far so good. I feel like I've concluded John Dolic is a true master, and his sleeping qigong is authentic and from a real lineage. Where it can go, I have no clue. That's why I started this thread. It's been pretty tough to do daily, have seen some benefits and improvements, so it looks good, but really want to talk to someone about their long term experiences to see where it can go. Because on John Dolic's site it mentions controlling your dreams, travelling in your own and others' dreams, actual astral projection where you travel the universe out of body similar to a near death experience, seeing auras, opening your third eye, predicting the future, changing the future, healing, "genuine sleep" where your heart and breathing stops for hours on end and you only need 1-2 hours of sleep pr night to feel fully rested and much more bad ass superhuman feats, you can sleep and fast for weeks on end and much more. So kind of wanted to hear from someone if they've even touched on any of these incredible benefits after 1-5 years, and was also curious about what's in the "advanced level course" you can attend after 1 year of daily practice of the basic level.

Something strange: I dug a breadfruit tree out of the ground and replanted it. "Stimulate the body, to stimulate the mind."

Thanks for the detailed answer

Welcome to the forum, I am relatively new here also. Have met good people with much knowledge and compassion here. I hope to learn from you too. Tommy

QFT

Dear Dao Bums, I wanted to share this simple set of exercises: https://www.diamondbodypractice.com/videos It's from the Diamond Approach & Diamond Logos. An integration and further development of Buddhism, Sufism, Daoism, Hinduism and Psychology. I wasn't much impressed when I just briefly looked over the exercises, but I was curious so I decided to try it with my wife. I felt a kind of connection with the "field of the school" coming down and creating a space of "holding" as well as transmission throughout the exercises. I was quite intrigued, as it focuses on the center beneath the feet, the belly center, heart center, head center and the center above the head as well as the central channel linking them all together. It also encourages you to inquire into your experience, explore your body and soul mindfully. Now it's been just over a week, but my wife is feeling energy vibration in all centers as well as her hands doing the "aum" mantra movement, and I am quite impressed with the whole thing to be honest. So just wanted to put it out there and share it, hoping to benefit all living beings

Where´s Daniel when we need him?

Funny, I just did a facepalm before my last post in another thread. Here's one that might get a few, though maybe not everyone - the nature of reality is non-dual

"but I love her--it's my own damn fault."

I think Jiimmy Buffet did alright too, although he was no Warren Buffet. Jimmy had a real estate and restaurant thing going for a while, in Florida and around. You can read all about it, book a stay, even! https://www.jimmybuffett.com/

Yeah, 9 times out of 10, noble silence is the better path!

Hilarious. I love Kaufka's chart, who incidentally used to be one of my favorite authors, although I can't read German and dislike the idea of being violently stabbed in the back by some overzealous, clandestined debt collectors. My favorite short story of his is Before the Law, here. Might have some connection to free will. Like, quit thinking philosophically about everting and just walk through the f...ing door. What arbitrator of good and bad choices is there other than pain avoided or pleasure obtained. I eat the count chocula because of the ungodly pleasure it brings me, though I balance that with the condition of my teeth and its effects on my metabolism. Usually the scales tip towards the later, and I just eat some ground up cardboard. If free will is anything, thats it. Its the pain of not eating count chocula. BUT (and this is where I get crazy), I believe there is a deeper balance to be obtained which has nothing to do with pain or pleasure, although count chocula still plays a major part in it. "GOD" is an acronym which stands for "GOD Over Djinn"

And yet, American slavery was worse than most others, due to it treating slaves as livestock. I'm glad that you recognize my other points as true, though! 🤣🤣

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Ha, ha, I do that a lot. Let rip, then think better of it.

Thanks for your positive feedback, I appreciate it Yes, the esoteric and magical aspects are incredibly fascinating indeed, I really wished it would be "real", but I think it all comes down to the master. Ofc you need to practice diligently without fail, which is were 99% of students fail, but if you're one of the few who actually puts in the work, then what I've seen is that it all comes down to the master. If the master and lineage is real, everything just works. E.g. Master Wu, I was so suprised when I studied with him. No matter if it's calligraphy, drinking tea, playing music, healing, moving physical qigong forms, static standing qigong forms, seated, meditation, visualisation, IT JUST WORKS. I was exceptionally sceptical of healing and calligraphy, honestly I thought it was the most ridiculous I had ever heard: how can you generate energy from painting? But it just worked, it completely destroyed my mental paradigm and world view of spirituality. Similarly with SKY, this one dude on youtube claimed anyone's Kundalini could be awakened within seconds and raised to agnya chakra (third eye). I was like "come on, who are you kidding?" but all the rest of his content was pretty sound and well-informed, it was just this fantastical claim that stood out as implausible, whereas all else was really good. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and went to see the master in my country, and lo and behold, my life was forever changed! There's no way I would have penetrated into the world of energy without the touch of the SKY master and his transmission of energy, similarly with Master Wu; without his transmission of energy backed by an authentic lineage, I would never have reached anywhere. On the contrary, the first 3 years of my qigong journey actually killed my health. Why? Because the master was fake, the teaching was fake, the lineage was fake. So my own bitter experience has taught me that it all comes down to the master and lineage; if it's real and authentic, everything just works and long term diligent practice can help you achieve anything imaginable. But if it's not real and authentic, you're at best wasting your time, at worst destroying yourself. Btw, if you find real, authentic esoteric and magical daoism, shoot me a message, I would love to know more

You start please.

TaiChi teachers may not be cultivators. One of my teacher was quite fat. Being fat doesn't affect their knowledge and skill in using the force, but on endurance and having other health problems. While every kid can outrun them, their power has little usage. There was a survey on lifespan of more famous Taichi teachers. They don't live that long. But it is hard to say, because last 200 years China had been in deep turmoil. XingYi masters seem slightly better. Then you would look younger than your peers. Recently I learn of a new term, Obesity Paradox. It means slight underweight would do immense benefits to avoid many current days sicknesses. But when this kind of person is seriously ill, they have a slimmer chance than overweight people. So the ability to put on weight in a short time is useful.

Many nations are new ones. So it is quite a philosophical question whether new nations should be responsible for Karma of their previous location or to all wider states that ruled it. e.g. Croatia, should it be responsible for slavery in Yugoslavia, Ottoman, Hungary and Roman Empire? Should current day Japan and Germany be responsible for genocides when almost every living Japanese and Germans are born after 1945? If a new nation and a new human is bound by something that happens before the birth, so what is free will stands here? People and nation are born with so much burdens, guilt, hostility.... They are not free from the start, not to mention free will.

...wait, enslavement, rape, and genocide are moral to you? Literally even now, the prison system is using folks for forced labor, y'know. And let's not forget eugenics originated in America, that we continue to suppress the native Americans whose land we stole, and that our "peacekeeping" is effectively imperialism. I suppose we each have our "free will" as to what is morally right and wrong...

It isn't possible for me to read every post here... you just got lucky. I'd rather we ALL kept it civil and left out the insults. If someone is insulting you, please let me know.

Innnnnnn ..... hold ........ and ouuuuut . Now ..... did I say an untruth or anything he didn't declare himself first . If you are happy to let that go on here , then its your choice what this site turns out like , if so I shall ignore him and watch Daobums further degrade , if that is what you want . so its up to you now

The same with rents .... they put up shop rents ridiculously , in the 'popular' near by town it has a result of continually recycling some businesses , open and go broke and close in 6 months .... what happened to all those people that went broke and lost their money and business ? Now living at the homeless camp ? That's greed on property owners part .... but the stranger thing is the less popular towns , those shop rents are not affordably so the business closes down and so does the shop - empty or abandoned . Does this free market of ours immediately drop the rent as supply and demand would seem to dictate ? Nope , rent stays up , no one rents it owner gets no money at all ... but they won't offer cheaper rent . So now some small town centers look 20 % abandoned with empty and boarded up shops while the owner looses money . WTF ? Its almost as if you pay for the privileged and experience of running a shop for a little while . That reminds me of 'intern directors ' ; I worked on a film in Melbourne and they do it a bit different 'down there ' , I never seen so many 3ADs ( third assistant directors , basically menials that run errands, hold and release crowds of extras from their 'holding pens' onto sets etc . I talked to some and they were enthusiastic and one said something about being an 'intern' . I had to ask . Apparently the company advertised film intern positions for trainee ship ...... " Are they paying you ?" Oh no, but I get training and experience on a film set and free lunch ! ... Wow ! getting another job as film director with that experience is like an actor claiming past experience as being there a dead body in a crime series or suffering incontinence in a tv commercial .... "Oh right ! You were that adult diaper woman with the urinary problem ! "

Easy there, friend. Let's take deep breath.

Yes, you bring up a good point. And, it is good to be reminded of something so simple and integral of practice. And yet, it affects me to the point of being an itch that I can not scratch. The person doing the practice will not be the person who experiences the truth of Buddha nature. So, polishing the roof tile will never become the mirror. Bringing the practice into your life and/or sitting will not bring enlightenment. Because one is trying to change one thing into something else. It will never happen. If it were not already a part of the person then it will not ever be. The truth is already there. Yeah, stink of Zen. I do not know enough Zen or Zen Buddhism to stink of it. But, I am like you, the learner. I listen and see for myself what is truth. Thanks for the reply.

No-one manipulates reality. It is just this moment, as it is, where you are. If you find that you have lost joy, and beauty, and life is stale you might be lost in nihilism. If you are a Buddhist practitioner I would suggest getting some training in bodhicitta ASAP. Seek out a teacher if you can, or an easy place to start might be with Norman Fischer's version of the Tibetan Lojong teachings, "Training in Compassion". Also worth a try, this deceptively simple "metta" training: Put on a smile and as go about your day in the world acknowledge each person you encounter and wish each being (or even objects you touch or use) happiness and freedom from suffering. See if you can be thankful for their presence. With this thought, send a warm kind light from the center of your chest in each encounter. Do this as often as possible and see how your life shifts. My sincere hopes for your re-realization of the beauty, loving kindness, and bliss of all appearances. _/\_

It is because Qigong is Qigong. A names was given to it is what one thinks it is. Given a name to it that makes one's new invention and write a book to make some money!

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Welcome!

I've gone through quite a change of heart throughout this thread to be honest. I've been practicing daily without fail since I started - it's been 2 years now. After 2 years of giving myself and my life, spending 30-120 minutes daily (sometimes longer( this is how I feel. My advice would be: 1) firstly start practicing daily without fail under a true, real, authentic lineage under a true master (for qigong some I would vouch for would be Zhongxian Wu (Master Wu), Chunyi Lin (Spring Forest Qigong), Lie He (Ling Gui), Lu Xia and for Kundalini awakening and chakra empowerments I can vouch for Simplified Kundalini Yoga or SKY, I know many masters in the system, there are some in almost every country, so simply approach the nearest to you). 2) if after doing this real cultivation, acquiring the power to meditate, feel your life force as vibration, and heal yourself and others, you DON'T feel satisfied and still feel drawn to the occult, meaning rituals, magic, talismans etc, then you can do Jason Read's MaoShan primarily just for fun, knowledge and curiosity, but like I said, be careful about associating directly with Jason in a personal way, and I would never advice anyone to do it as a standalone system "as a spiritual path". He doesn't call himself a master, he calls himself a student and primarily a translator, and I agree with him. I'm sure MaoShan exists as a real and genuine path, with true masters, true powers and real cultivation, but after 2 years of daily practice my own personal experience is that it was fun, interesting, I learnt new things, so it was great for knowledge and entertainment, and there is of course some energy to be had from some of the practices if you do it daily, correctly and for a long period, but if I compare it to 2 years of daily practice under Master Wu, or any of the others really, there is simply no comparison. If I could go back and speak with myself before starting, I would still tell myself to start, yet see it as fun and knowledge. Because I approached it with a very serious and dedicated mentality, discipline, my goal was to get initiated and take MaoShan as my path, but if I could go back I would tell myself no, don't do it. I personally needed to try it, I grew from it, meaning I realized many of the things I've done earlier are really precious, and that all these metaphysical things and powers are not had as easy as it's written by Jason Read. E.g. it says that after 1 year of daily golden light mantra practice you can use it for lucid dreaming and astral travel, didn't work. I did it for 8 months straight, every single night without fail, no results (after completing the prerequisite of 1 year obviously). Compare this to bön lucid dreaming practice, I got results in the very first month. Same with Buddhist lucid dreaming. It comes down to the power of the master and the direct transmission from him. Dr Nida Chenagtsang was my teacher for bön, and Tulku Lobsang Rinpoche for Buddhist lucid dreaming. Because they are themselves at a certain level, they transmit some of that to you, making it faster for you to get results (if you do indeed put in the work of daily practice without fail, which pretty much no-one does). @Alfigar, I don't know your cultivation background, but I would highly advise against any white/european guru in anything energy-related (pretty controversial statement, I know). I have only met 2 white/european masters in all my life I would say actually "got it". That's Steven Sadleir (in SKY) and John Dolic (who teaches many styles of qigong). Other than that, all other white/european masters in energy I've seen almost always end up with some weird thing. They make it in their own image somehow, instead of taking it in its true context, they convert it to something "they think" it is, instead of taking it "as it really is". I would recommend any of the masters I mentioned above. It's usually best to get someone from the culture this knowledge is coming from, as they take it "as is", it's normal, it's natural, they understand its true context. I'm personally mixed and 60% white, and absolutely adore white/european culture and thinking, and really value the emphasis on the mental as well as intelligence, but honestly, when it comes to energy practices from Tibet, China or India, it's a completely different context. If you really get it, okay great, no problem. I ofc feel I somewhat get it, but that's due to cultural similarity, as well as having been in a rural Indian village since the age of 4, literally taking it in with the mother's milk. And I can also vouch for Steven Sadleir and John Dolic, an american and a yugoslavian respectively. Sadleir had the great opportunity of spending a lot of time one on one with Vethathiri Maharishi (the founder of SKY), and he's a true master. He can transmit energy to hundreds and hundreds of students at the same time, lower the energy to the root chakra of hundreds with just a wave of his hand, he's legit. Similarly with John Dolic. I feel Yugoslavia is more grounded than northern Europe in general, so I feel like it was easier for him "to get it" when he went to China at 20 years old. He stayed there for almost 10 years, and got a chinese wife. He also had some real masters. I feel like he gets it too. But many of the famous and respected white/european people acting as gurus right now, God, sorry to say, I feel they're all super weird and in no way deserving of the guru worship and adoration they get. They have reached something in their cultivation (some of them), but they've still not "gotten it", like really gotten what it's all about. Maybe due to culture, maybe due to having had fake masters, what do I know, but they clearly just don't get what it's all really about in the end. Maybe just because they haven't reached it. God bless and guide us all to the right path just sharing my personal experience (bought from blood, sweat, tears, lifelong cultivation and many bitter experiences), take what you can use and leave the rest, think for yourself and follow your own soul, it's the best guide you can get.

I heard Tommy's story, as a Zen fable, where it wasn't the Buddha but a samurai who came upon the monks meditating and gave them the can't polish a rock into a mirror analogy. The book explained the samurai was wrong. Meditation is part of enlightenment but he was correct that it's not the only part. You shouldn't stink of Zen, it's a living practice not a sitting one, though sitting is a part of it. If you don't bring the practice into your life, sitting will not bring enlightenment. But sit daily and bring the insights and practice into everything you do. I forget his name, he was the founder of Aikido's nephew(or was it uncle?) also was of a mystical bend, never famous but an amazing martial artist. After giving a dharma talk a listener asked 'So we should strive for emptiness?' The man surprised the asker and audience by stating emphatically 'NO, not emptiness, you want Fullness. Awareness of everything and understand that emptiness is a part of the Fullness.' <I believe its from the book Pre-World War II Aikido Masters.> After like, ten years in Ki-Aikido being told 'keep One Point' ie a focus on the Hara, one is finally taught- When you're aware of everything you are also keeping One Point. A defused focus, clear mind, the ears- see, the feet-listen, the senses spread.. is a higher level of One Point, then a clear mind focused on one's center. Certainly more useful in a martial sense. It's also a whole world harder. Just keeping a quiet mind all day is very hard. Meditation has lots of benefits but achieving a quiet mind is much easier when you're just sitting (or just walking). From there you can focus on Hara or breath, and finally get the focus on the Fullness around you- the one that has your thoughts flowing like a river, your body sensations and the swirl of the 5 elements happening all around you. Rawn Clark has a fun but difficult guided meditation- Center of Stillness Meditation where you put your 7 senses (he includes thought & emotion as senses) into separate orbits around you. Not too far from Taoist practice of Sealing the Senses. It has you sitting in emptiness, like a planet aware of your senses orbiting, aware of the other peoples orbits and has you focus on the web of life connecting all. Worthwhile but not easy and even to bring into 'normal' life.

Stretching won't help Jing directly, but indirectly it creates overall well-beings that is beneficial to Jing, Chi, Shen. Jing is more from conservation.

Depends what you mean by 'jing'. I think you could say that ma bu (horse stance) practice develops the jing if you mean jing as the connected tissue network of the body. ma bu practice can develop a 'stretchy' sort of feeling in the body. Ma bu burns because it's painful :-)

A very useful social skill. I can use it e.g. to restrain myself when someone is rude to me, and just ignore it. But it also makes it possible for me to be cold and cruel. Everything can be used for good and evil.

@-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- knows lots about that. Hi Yoda. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome! 😊

Welcome to the board!

With some personality types you find them in every profession methinks, I've seen self-important assholes among plumbers, computer tech support on occasion, receptionists!! -- well, some DMV clerks, obviously cops, TSA!!! -- HOA ghouls, anyone with a smithereen of power over you or over anything you have the tough luck needing that they have the power to control. In higher positions there's more of them, and they're more vicious. According to Jordan Peterson, sociopaths comprise 4-5% of the general population but 10--15% of CEOs (the numbers are derived from both his primary research and general psychological data.) I'm sure in politics it's closer to 100%, well maybe 99% if I want to be generous.

How does one practice this qigong? Always been curious

I don't have any experience with this Qigong but I am interested in hearing your experience with this Qigong.

Indeed. I can often glimpse inner plane beings - confirmed in real time by some skilled friends. But when I imagine an image of Kwan Yin over my head, I then see a much greater range of beings that do not seem to interact with Earth humanity. How much more is there to see? Are there aspects of this universe that do not intersect with the inner planes on which humans exist? According to some accounts there are folds in this universe in which galaxies may be concealed - undiscovered by those that do not know the entrances All too hard? Easier to move on.