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I had a crazy experience yesterday. After taking Sifu Terry's Saturday class, I went to eat some lentil soup. Mid-sip, around 30min after doing the qigong, I suddenly felt a rush of energy to my head. I could see a blue aura in everything, along with a depth that is hard to put into words. It was like I could perceive a large amount of space in between things. It was especially pronounced when I looked down at my arm, and outside at the trees. Time seemed to slow down too -- it was like I could perceive the space between things, as well as the space between moments. The peak lasted around 30 min, and the afterglow lasted the rest of the day. Everything was heightened, I was happy the whole day, and music especially sounded good. Now I recall a thought I had before: "Flying Phoenix eliminates the need to do drugs". The time dilation and altered state of consciousness were similar to being high on weed, but without any detriment to my health or my intelligence (the opposite, in fact). I'd felt similar experiences last year, but I don't remember them being anywhere this strong, and it'd been a long time since I felt anything like this. I think I'd gotten used to the energy, and also stressed out from work. Either way, this was probably my most "wow" experience so far on Flying Phoenix. And a good reminder to relax and slow down sometimes (and to keep practicing).

Just found out the Ukrainian Russian I was trying to talk to is from Baku, Azerbaijan !

Any martial artist worth a damn does. Technically speaking, technique can allow you to outfight someone physically superior, but you're gonna want any edge you can get in a fight and technique alone will only take ya so far. Depends on the primary strategy you use, your bodytype, your age, your gender, and a number of other factors. The way I was taught is to assume whoever you're fighting is more skilled than you, armed to the teeth, and willing to die to take you down. Naturally, that usually isn't the case, but if you assume they have knives and/or guns then that changes how you train and how you fight.

Mod action: thread locked as it was heading into political territory.

Yes, let us celebrate as only the mystery schools of Alexandria knew how. Cucumber sandwiches cut into Gnostic triangles and served on the best china. With a pot of tea shared between us. Perhaps a few biscuits or scones with cream and jam. While we speak in Pythagorean verse and draw signs in the air with our forefingers. And curse the demiurge and the fallen star of Lucifer. Then summon a sweeter muse that arrives on a gentle breeze and shakes the hibiscus bloom.

We have a family of Ukrainian Russian speakers in the village. Everyday I try to say something in Russian to them ( cos they don’t speak the local lingo). Privet, kak dela? Is getting bit old now- so what are some easy phrases/ normal pleasantries one might say in Russian. oh and please transliterate from Cyrillic cos I can’t read that 😎 thanks

Hi everyone, Long time lurker, first time poster By way of introduction, I am a lifetime student of magic, studying and practising a range of western and eastern systems, from shamanic through to Goetia, Enochian, Egyptian, Sumerian, thai occultism, Tibetan Buddhism… I practiced some martial arts in my youth - Taekwondo, Pai Lum - White Dragon kung fu, kickboxing, and Wing Chun and weight lifting. Then work became all encompassing for many years, with the benefit of this enabling me to modestly retire a couple of years ago and focus on my interests rather than giving everything to the job. I love hiking in the nearby hills with my wife and pups, gardening, crafting, and the culinary arts. I have been slowly learning I Ching and studying and practising what I can of the available translated Maoshan magic, which led me to the very helpful thread here on Jason Read's Maoshan magic system (bullet dodged, thanks for that!). I have been learning 8 Standing Brocades and Shibashi via YouTube and this got me hooked quickly. I came across Sifu Terry Dunn's Flying Phoenix Qigong sub forum here, and am excited to get underway with it. I have just ordered his DVDs, including his Tai Chi system, and am working my way through the sub-forum to build a supplementary guide for me to refer to as I commence the practice (there are over 200 pages of posts to get through!). I look forward to getting to know you all and participating in the forum where I can.

Ah, a lurcher. Welcome to the forum. @-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-

I didn't even remember this thread! It was a trip to see this brought back! My spiritual journey started with Eckhart Tolle via A New Earth and the Power of Now. I have re-visited Tolle a little bit in recent years. It was quite shocking to read and re-visit these years of my life. One of the traps I was in back then was not taking certain aspects of my mental-psycho-social life as self, and thinking that was nonself... and then re-ifying my "pain-body" formed around loss, relationships, etc. Big thanks to (formerly) Steve, Stirling, and all of the other good folks who offered me words of wisdom and direct encouragement. It meant a lot to me. Best wishes to you all.

Hello everyone, If I understand correctly, this forum is permissive of sharing articles/essays written by oneself, as long the permission is not misused. I was born with a certain spiritual giftedness, allowing me to be in touch with my former lifetimes — including Taoist lifetimes. I searched the Taoist dimensions of my soul, and wrote an interpretative essay on the notion of Taoist immortality. The essay explains that an evolutionary pursuit toward homeostasis is the most fundamental identity of nature, and one sensitive to these evolutionary forces will be defined accordingly. Should you feel benefited, the essay resides here: We Called It Immortality. Kindly yours, Immortality

To me that is similar to JK's refusal to accept the designation of world teacher. He was always guiding his followers to look inward, not to him but towards something new, something unknown. At least that's what I took from his teachings. Yes, he was given all kinds of names and titles. Did he ask for them or create them for himself? Just like the Order of the Star wanted to call JK the World Teacher, JC's cult had other ideas for him and continue to use and abuse his name for their own ends. It puts me in mind of a beautiful parable from Anthony Demello - For me his teachings were always very open, no conclusions, only guiding people to find their own way through self-inquiry. Up through his last teachings, I found him to be very consistent but certainly not everyone's cup of tea. YMMV

Its very important for self defense . No matter how much training you do , if people have been 'allowing' your technique in practice ... it might not work in a real situation . Especially so in defense against weapons , like a knife . Yeah, do this, do that, move here and there , it's all 'interesting dynamics' in training . In a real situation ..... grab a chair or something similar you can put between you and the knife . That was the worst thing my past 'instructor' would do ( I had to get out of there , he was really crap at some stuff and taught people crazy and dangerous stuff 'theory ' that never got tested ..... until I came along . Thank goodness for him we only ever trained with a rubber or wooden knife ! He eventually dropped a few of his taught techniques after those lessons . - a 'knife guy' will not thrust and leave his arm out there after you 'block' it and wait for the rest of some fancy technique . he will instantly draw the thrust back and slice your arm open with the blade on the way back besides , how ya gonna 'block ' this : .

I can agree with you in theory , but in reading what you wrote , I 'didnt get it' , I guess my life back then was a totally different dynamic . But it worked out well . Sometimes we ( my friends the same age ) wonder; " Hey, how did we we meet up and do stuff back then ? Go out, meet at houses , or at the beach or for some outing and not having phones or such 'info tech' about things ,. Well, we did , and it all seemed to work fine . We chose a product because it was in fashion or we liked it . How did we know if it was 'in fashion' or not without info social media etc etc . Well, we did , somehow . We also got to look at it , handle it , talk to anyone that had one , read consumer reports on it ... not read online BS about it and have to buy it without even looking at it first ... okay ... without looking at it in reality first . Not having a range of world wide choices didn't seem to matter . Choose a school ? You would go to the local one . A choice within that ... well, you would use your brain ( that thing in your head that is supposed to be working things out for you ! ) , talk to others , OBSERVE the school, the children, look at their results . How to choose a place to live ? You would look in the local paper 'to rent ' and circle the best looking 5 or 6 , go to the estate agents , go look at the houses or flats and choose the best one . Now, with all the info available , even if you could find ANYTHING to rent and even if you could afford the crazy rent amount , you might find yourself in a melee of applicants , some willing to bribe and offer more than the required rent to secure it ... virtually a 'rent auction ' . How is this better ? I don't get it . or for moves afar , maybe your friends , or gossip or some one wrote ... wait for it ... a letter ! " Hey guys . come up to Cains , ATM you can sleep on the beach , eat wild food, and go surfing all day ! " If it ALL needed a 'lot of information ' how did it work before without modern info overload ? Are you saying it didn't work , or it didn't work well ? Or what ? if it didn't work well .... ... I had a pretty good time . It worked well for me . I am wondering if you lived through those times and either , had a bad experience with 'information' or are just assuming stuff from a modern perspective ? Besides , a lot of the 'social' info out there is crap and mindless and even the good stuff is near info overload . Like going into a restaurant that has 212 items on the menu . The importance of extra information may not even be directed towards those that need it most . ; like most things , those that got it get more , while those that don't got it get less so the 'poor' rich people that need it more can get the others share too. .

Things are still developing here . Locally I have never seen so many road works, improvements, new bridges ... where the money coming from all of a sudden ? ! A decade ago I had friends staying here from California . I met them in Sydney and we drove up here , up the east coast . After driving for a bit one of them ; " Hey .... when did we turn off the freeway ? " Me: " We didn't , we are still on it . They just haven't got around to modernizing this bit yet ." " What ! This is the main highway between the two major capital cities on your east coast ?" "Yep ." " With all the transport, trucks, and everything using it ?" " Yep ." File:Old Pacific Highway.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Its just about all done now and modernized . My local city Coffs Harbour has been the last to get a 'motorway bypass' . That was because the Great Dividing Range nearly touches the coast here , a difficult re-route , had to make a few tunnels . All this time , in the middle of this small city , all the north south traffic of the east coast gets funneled down the main street ! here is our new fancy 'American plan ' ; Noting your comment about size , look at western Australia ... its VAST , driving through there is like going into some trance state . Sleeping out there is even more rad . But distances like that , the road is NOT like a freeway or motorway at all , and often under bad repair , and distance requires high speed limits , and ya got trucks and road trains and sometimes very high winds . Having one of them pass you in a light high camper van , it was certainly an 'adventure' .

I support this. Back in the old days I don't know anything, choosing a product, choosing a school, choosing a subject, choosing a career, choosing a place to live - all these need a lot of information which were just not available. Only the highly knowledgeable ones keep newspaper clippings. And many didn't have access to newspaper at all. Without information, there were no real opportunities. Leap frogging was only possible by luck.

Who is the teacher and what is the organization? Where will it be held? So there is a cost involved. I guess i'm curious too why "US citizens" are being targeted. Surely a "meditation retreat" would welcome participants from anywhere? the other question i have is why the secrecy or need for "message directly." People share resources and teachers freely on this site. it raises a few flags for me, along the lines of:

hi, how are you? I recommend you start working with a neural network. It's a piece of cake for it to solve this problem.

It struck me that he was not talking about 'being aware ' but ' being awareness ' .

Oh how I would of loved to have quiet intellectual conversations in kitchens while enjoying tea with homemade preserves! I was born in the wrong place and time. Instead, I´m sitting here by myself while people half a world away threaten to out me (inaccurately) as "liking Trump."

I don't know what Montreal is up to these days, but a long time ago when I was there it looked like it was trying to strike a balance between New York and Paris -- the Paris part came from a homeless bum who asked me for a couple of dollars "for a cup of coffee." In French.

You need the right tie . Forget everything else just get a VanHeusen tie .... and make sure you wear it to bed . ( would that ^ get me banned at reddit ? ) .

/\ We have a whole series of jokes based on interpreting what one hears in a "lik lik" known language. Goes both ways, by the way -- e.g. we use "bread of sieve cable" to mean "bred sivoy kobyly" -- an idiom meaning "delirious bullshit," literally "the ravings of a grey mare." The latest example from my just-concluded trip to Greece. Me and my friends were sipping espressos in a cafe in Corfu Town, and at the next table some young Greek guys were having a very lively conversation. In the course of which one of them jumped to his feet and exclaimed, with great feeling and energy, what sounded like "Shabliaka ty moliaka!" to my ear. Now I don't know about other people's ears but to mine it was simply delightful. In Russian it could have been a yet unknown curse, but also words of endearment, or a nickname for a friend, or a dire warning -- watch out, I'm about to kick your ass! Could be anything but due to the manner of delivery I was convinced it wasn't something boring. So later I tried to pick AI's brain to decipher it. What Greek expression, in a context I described to it, could it have been, and what could it mean? After a brainstorming session we zeroed in on "Ti blaxia, ti malakia" -- which is the Greek for "what nonsense, what stupidity!" Perfect. I still haven't decided which version I like better, the real one or the misheard one, but I'm tempted to start using one of them, or maybe both.

No, that's how "o" in an unstressed syllable is pronounced -- like a semi-swallowed "a." English speakers often have trouble with it when they learn the language -- they pronounce it too distinctly like an "o" everywhere. E.g. the word "horosho" (good or well or OK) which Anthony Burgess phonetized as "horror show" in "A Clockwork Orange" is a typical example -- but it's actually pronounced "harashO" since only the last of the three Os is under stress. Note (putting on my Henry Higgins top hat): there's regional dialects in some parts of Russia where o is indeed pronounced as o in an unstressed position, and a special verb in the language that specifically refers to this way of speaking -- Okat'. Then there's the Moscow accent and a word for that -- Akat' -- characterized by exaggerated a's where unstressed o's are encountered. While standard Russian, like I said, often semi-swallows them, a bit like the English schwa /ə/.)

They say what sounds like zharka for hot … is that a regional accent?

It's perfectly fine to do it the English way -- i.e. drop statements about the weather. SeVOdnya ZHARko -- it's hot today. KhoROshaya poGOda -- the weather is nice. BUdet dozhd' -- it's going to rain. Or you could get curious (the American way): OtKUda vy? -- Where are you from? Iz kaKOvo GOroda? -- From what city? Vam zdes' NRAvitsya? -- Do you like it here? Actually, if you give me a sample list of things you would say to a neighbor who does speak the language, I can try to come up with a Russian situational equivalent.

I know this is an older thread, but what comes to mind for me in reading this thread (and the many wonderful posts in it): Reading the book Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, and listening to his videos on you tube. For me he provides the most compassionate, practical, and humorous perspective on how to live this in our daily life. The way he describes "the pain body" is brilliant and effective in my experience. Particularly when someone is going through the dark places and feeling overwhelmed. He can make the most serious issues very funny and that is marvelous. Also on you tube there are dozens of free videos hearing him speak and present. They are hilarious and illuminating and effective and healing. When i was bedridden and despairing and too overwhelmed or scattered to even pick up a book i spent hours listening to his videos and they made a huge difference. His Zen stories still have me burst out laughing even after hearing them dozens of times.