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That's a tough question. But what Everything points out is really true. Taiji is really a qigong ... But not exclusively a qigong. After practicing taiji for a number of years, I took up a qigong practice and it greatly helped my taiji. And I suppose the reverse is true ... taiji can really benefit qigong. As a general recommendation, I would suggest taiji over qigong for a couple of reasons. First, taiji is not only about developing energy, which it does very well, but also about maintaining energy connection while moving. In addition, taiji also develops your ability to sense/receive energy, as well as direct energy. It involves developing intent. These things are true iff you can find a good traditional instructor. A side affect of a good taiji class can be a social one. Many taiji groups are little communities with a family like composition. They are usually a mixed group with practitioners of different levels of ability. Cooperation and support from the group can be a very happy and health encouraging thing. Of course, I am clearly speaking from a taiji bias. So, take it with a grain of salt. That said, you are probably more likely to find a taiji group than a qigong group. Either way, it is really important to have hands on instruction to guide and correct your gongfu.

The Bible shows us that when animals behave strangely, we should take into consideration that they may be reacting to something invisible. What do you think of this story? Have you heard or experienced other accounts of animals doing mysterious things, especially to protect their human from something unusual? Even if you don't believe in angels and other such creatures, I have another guess. Was his animal somehow picking up on subconscious cues from Balaam, who in his heart did not really want to go with these people? (The rest of the story is about the king trying to get Balaam to use his magic for military purposes.)

For it to develop health then you would have to do it regularly, and so you should find something you would actually do and would like to do. And there are many things called qigong or taichi out there. Some just lead to health, others leads to the Tao/spirituality.

I always chuckle at quibbling over what master's words really were and what they mean, instead of reading things borne of direct experience

"When names and forms Are put away, When all judgment ceases, What remains is called The True. It appears like a mirror In which the Infinite Is reflected. It looks back at each Who gaze upon It." "Great effort is required to see that Clear sight is not The result of effort. Overlooking what is obvious is The common obstacle. To see what has been Shining in plain view is The simple remedy." "The present moment resides Between imagination and stupor. When both are rejected, It shines like a lamp in A room with ten thousand mirrors." ~Wu Hsin

Hey guys I've been an armchair cultivator(if there ever was such a thing ) for a couple of years now and am finally ready to stop intellectually shopping around and develop my own path. I'm signing up to share experiences, resources and learn together. My style has been to start with the subtlest teachings and then reintegrate back into the physical. I've spent the last 5 years meditating, screwing with psychedelics, studying buddhism and cross-referencing any other tradition or new age recapitulation that speaks on awakening and enlightenment. I've gotten some level of attainment in that respect having solely focused on debugging the perceptual matrix of the acquired mind but having not paid mind to grounding, moderation, integration, breaks, and self-care I find myself in the midst of a recovery from emotional and physical burnout. I've got space, emptiness and am sated from truth seeking but lack the juice and vitality to be of effective service. I'm excited to delve into a more embodiment-focused leg of my journey and hope my original intuition of vastly accelerated progress based on awakening from the get-go ends up paying off. If not then I will have much sweet advice to give from the many mistakes and wrong-turns I'll inevitably uncover on a path based in humility, transparency and authenticity. If I find my intuitions are confirmed then perhaps the new age is more formless than the more restricted forms and interpretations of the past may have anticipated and we may actually be in the midst of a global awakening on many levels. For clarity sake I think all progress is dependent on the quality of ones awareness which is naturally formless but is bound to the direction of perception it doesn't recognize as none other than itself in-form. In absence of the heavy influence of unrefined perception there is a convergence of the fantastical, radical, atemporal, acausal, infinite and eternal. A well developed foundation of a human life which can integrate these paradoxes well is our goal in order to effectively channel the limitless power we cut ourselves off from until we are ready to handle it in the midst of creation. I seem to have unlocked seamless access to the paradoxical layers of "reality" and am looking to integrate it with the practices and progressions of the gradual paths to see what happens. Rather than a point where no more need be learned I found the joy of experience itself is in the continuous learning and it appears that no matter how often reality awakens to itself its still what it is. Enlightenment is our creation-side name for the eternal and ever present. Creation dances through periods of clear reflection+recognition of that side of the coin and periods of complete disregard for its origin. When something in creation clearly reflects this a ground-reversal occurs and that portion of creation reflects that enlightenment was always the status quo and that creation always does this dance. The enlightenment is not an end because it is endless, creation continues as it does because its function is to do as it does relative to the experience of points of observation generated from the field of eternity. I find awakening to the nature of reality is becoming far more common and ridiculously more accessible than fundamentalists dare consider. I find that with easier access to this as a collective, collective development is also vastly accelerated. This will manifest as that which was said to have taken years or life times to be accessible in months, weeks or even minutes with the right pointers. I found this to be so with pointers to genuine awakening and imagine it to be so with anything else as well. I've always been a bit of a dreamer, my imagination has been vast, and sometimes I've been quite ungrounded. At the same time a portion of me has always adhered to strict reason and objectivity and I maintain a loosely held model of life drawing from just about every dimension of wisdom teachings available in the modern age founded upon an authentic devotion to the illusion of the spiritual path. I'm excited to see whether what I've expressed here is a sign of more immaturity yet to be recognized and re-integrated or the prelude to the confirmation of my life's work thusfar. Either way, I'm enjoying the way <3

here is the thing ; If it was a dog, and the man was hunting, he would follow any and every hint the dog gave of their ' ESP ' . One night, the possom wasnt going to let me inside ; I came home late, walked down the path and he was on the roof, over the door growling. I was " What's with you ? " and he growled more . (Mind you, we usually have a very friendly relationship - not this night ! ). Being tired , I just wanted to go to bed, so I kept going, he leaned out over the roof, more growling. " Hey Dude ! I LIVE here, back off ! " and went to walk under him and he leaned over and starts swiping at me with his claws and making a horrible racket . Only time its ever happened . " Okay... okay ! I go up the back yard and sleep in the caravan ! " - which I did . Dont know what that was about ..... - never happened before or since . ... but I was going to take his 'advise' .

~ MAITREYA ~ If what appears to be apprehended by the senses does not exist by its very own essence apart from that which apprehends it, then what appears to be the apprehender does not self-exist either. The reason, here, is that the apprehender exists or arises as one who apprehends, only in relation to the apprehended, not in isolation. Therefore, pristine awareness is devoid of both apprehender and apprehended, in all their various forms. Free from subject and object, by its very own nature awareness is a mere indescribable luminosity.

Great story! Thanks for sharing. My view of the story is sometimes the universe or, in this case God, has other plans for us. There will be subtle cues that try to steer us in the right direction... sometimes we can pick up on those cues and other times not. If Balaam was more sensitive to such things, perhaps he would have listened to his old friend the donkey. But his ego got in the way ("make me look like a fool") The angel tells him "You are stubbornly resisting me" How could he resist that which he does not see? I think it has more to do with resisting God (the universe's plan) and following your Ego.

Where the content appears crude and loud, often it dampens interest regardless if you were Jesus or Vishnu incarnate.

Humphrey Bogart looks around the lounge from his piano, at 2 am on a Sunday night, his cigarette is almost done. He sees the rain thru the opening front door as he thinks about his buddy that he lost in North Africa. A beautifully sad, drenched woman enters, her limp, soaked hat folded to the sides of her head. You can tell that she has been walking and crying in the rain for a long time. She sees him, he sees her, he motions to his sax player and this song plays and they don't say a word.

This quote probably applies to all the people that believe in the Russian Collusion hoax. By the way, whatever happened to that story? It sort of fell off the radar. Wasn't Mueller looking into that or something? I can't keep straight all the left's conspiracy theories.

The lower dantien is the heart of the root of the tree - from there upward the energies expand. The foundation from there is less confusing and progress is much faster. "focusing on developing"? this assumes you have an idea upon what you are focusing and developing - this is a fools parade into a labyrinth - but the word alone - heart - it is like a siren calling. What could possibly go wrong? The bedrock of the LDT is in the fire and quiet - the steady earth energies and the pure energies. One is not apt to lose oneself in false love and false compassion and concocted oneness. The rest will unfold as will happen - the proud doer will thrive in focusing and developing anywhere - simply breath into the root and happen from there. A strong root will be needed for the rest to fall away - for the rest to face falseness and idealistic child's play and indulgence in ones praise of ones good intentions. The lower dantien does not have this - it is simple and yet a thousand times more powerful in healing us and dissolving our habituations than heart and head combined - it is what allows heart and head so much leeway in monkey world and the constant beatings that they subject the bodies to. Own the LDT and the path is clear and you are ready for the winds and the tides. Man/Woman stand like mountains here.

Yeah, Peng clearly knows what he’s talking about. His ‘electric shock’ skill is a classic result of high level YJJ skill. There is no actual YJJ ‘form’, just a range of qualities and principles that can be applied to most ‘internal’ forms. It’s the ‘engine’ of internal movement... later it’s also a method of clearing channels and generating very powerful Qi. However - instructions to use muscles or tension is a common way to ‘hide’ the true engine. When masters use YJJ principles, it often looks like intense muscular effort. It’s not. It’s the intense Qi pressure moving through the Jing Jin. It’s a very uncomfortable practice. If he still has any connection with his teachers or his original school, he would be condemned if he released the real information in such a public format. But I might be wrong - I’ve not done his course - just heard about some of what he teaches. Visualisation and use of force, tension or muscles is the usual giveaway - so judge for yourselves. The Qi generated with authentic YJJ is very ‘thick’ and ‘dense’ - when it’s projected it can be very intense for the recipient - often felt as strong electric shocks moving through the body or painful lines of compression/compaction. Treating this way is really dangerous for both patient and practitioner. The training can be damaging if done incorrectly too... most of the YJJ sets on YouTube are fine though - they’re useful stretching routines, but not the real stuff.

For the sake of expressing the qualities of the view (through simile) to aspirants, for pointing towards and recognition purposes. The loving mother (a "universally recognizable" symbol) holding the son expresses warmth (compassion) while the son expresses awareness. They are not seperate "levels" (or "degrees") but inseparable qualities. Yes, this is an old post, in an old (and at times contentious) thread, written by a member who hasn't been active in a very long time...

There are so many layers of wrong wrapped up in this one sentence. The short story is if you want to "win" is to elevate your frame high enough that this woman cuts the games and devotes herself to you. The longer story is if you were to do this you'd most likely lose attraction for her because you'd be able to see the games she is playing.

Come, investigate loneliness! a solitary leaf clings to the Kiri tree ― Matsuo Basho (1644-1694

It's the nature of the left to wriggle into every nook and cranny and attempt to corrupt. Media, politics, government, education, and science wasn't enough. The left is like water. They'll find a way in. Even into a Trump Talk thread. And it all goes back to the Garden of Eden when the left slithered in and corrupted man.

I think we need more background rather than RM editorializing insurance implications. my guess would be saving money in long run by leaving DC. I grew near DC. Left and never looked back

In a video, Robert said that Yi Jin Jing is a classical qigong style, much as ballet is a classical dance style. He said that many dancers start out with ballet training as a base, even if they then go on to practice other dance styles. Similarly, Yi Jin Jing provides a foundation from which cultivators can branch out in a number of other directions. i think It´s intended as a beginning point rather than an end point.

A snake in a bamboo can only go one way. Sigh

Good advice. I do both, sometimes I’ll be feeling more Tai chi and other times a quick 5 min qigong.

lol gutting science gasp omg its decentralization away from washington! that's horrible! (lol) there's a few depts that is happening to....so what's the complaint with doing it with the dept of interior? right, mr madcow cant get on tv and tell people "they're anti science!" lmao its too bad you dont ever try to vet the information you consume... I cant wait to see how madcow's show evolves over the next 6-8 months prof @ cornell U (there's republicans that do this also)

Well, I know it may sound cheesy. But whenever a question contains the word "or" just replace the word "or" with the word "and". Then when you have done that, consider it. And then replace the word "and" with the word "is". And there you got your answer. Always works for me. Maybe it's some kind of universal permission slip by which we more fully allow ourselves to be our own evermore greater realisation of all that we truely are being and becoming of evermore. So take the best of both worlds, which work for you, and then you will improve your relationship to both, as you will become the greater relationship to both and also of both. Kind of like a triad. Where on top you have Toni. Bottom left qigong and bottom right taichi. Then take the relationship between the three as a line between the three. And you got yourself a triangle. Then consider that these relationship lines, can also develop a relationship with eachother. Which is an inverted triangle, within the greater triangle. So now you got yourself a tri-force. And this is how you allow yourself as a consciousness to allow your very own evermore greater realisation of all that you truely are the evermore greater being and becoming of evermore. I'm now gonna attempt to make a tri-force. And I hope I will succeed. But most often, I always fail. So here goes nothing. I hope it looks like something at the very least, on your screen. Toni /\ /__\ /\ /\ / \/ \ Qigong ----------------- Taichi It is way to elongated and out of shape, but it will do for now. There's always room for improvement. Right? So your relationship with both, will relate to one another, and thereby create a third relationship, between qigon and taichi itself, by virtue of its ability to reflects it's relationship of the relationship between your relationship with both... If that makes sense... Kind of sounds like inception...

hey Joe where'd you get that "direct experience"? My point earlier was that my training manual emphasizes that holding breath AFTER EXHALE activates the vagus nerve. So now I've proven that indeed Master Nan, Huai-chin emphasizes holding the breath AFTER EXHALE. The person challenging me also claimed that Wim Hof does not hold the breath AFTER EXHALE. In my experience he DOES teach to hold the breath AFTER EXHALE. Now - we can defer to my training manual for references - from science. I'm talking about discovery the general "principles" that make this stuff work. Not some hazy personal experiences that you had in your closet or something - or even what some misty-eyed hoary great master said in the days of ole. No I'm talking about modern human biological psychophysiological GENERAL PRINCIPLES that are cross-cultural. So if my hypothesis is correct then I should be able to find science that corroborates my claim - and I do as the above quote shows. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6189422/ For those out of the loop - VN is Vagus Nerve and PNS is Parasympathetic Nervous system. therefore - Crosscultural and scientific and yet - meditation! oops. And by the way - if people want to use my click choice options on this site as their personal excuse to ignore the content of the post - then I do not hold that against them ANYMORE than I hold it against someone for choosing to ignore the content of my posts that use "normal" font sizes and colors, etc. thanks for your understanding in this matter.

Are we practising swimming underwater? we live in the air of pure energy 90% of our energy comes from breathing otherwise there would be nothing left to eat on earth. Breathing should be pumped by the abdomen slow, long. smooth transitions in and out just like the yin yang symbol. . If your ears can hear your breathing it is being done wrong. I advocate the 9 ways of breathing each has a purpose but retention is a bad word no matter how we put the word retention in a sentence.

I find it not surprising that Master Nan contradicts himself on certain points (sleep deprivation) , but apparently - and entirely based on the blogpost that drew quoted- it may be that he placed a special emphasis on practicing brief unforced breath retention after the exhalation. I'm pretty sure that this method isn't described in the anapanasati Sutta.

I mean exactly what I say, no more and no less.

@ Drew Whats with the large fonts? Reminds me of a Chinese saying, "Using big rock to smash tiny crab." Very loud, very abrasive, it appears. Certainly does not reflect well for a long-time follower of Master Nan's teachings. Also brings up doubt as to whether you have an experiential understanding of authentic samadhi, or merely compensating for a lack of proper experience, hence the need for exaggerated emphasis. Its a curious thing alright.

just joined & still figuring out the site - for now, simply the best way to post to the site, lol. all about "that book", the tao and tai chi push hands. pleased to be here !

Well in the absence of anybody else's comments, I would just say that there are many things that people are doing, and you can read on the forum or investigate on youtube and so on, with regards to subtle energies qigong and magnetism and so on ... and perhaps you can look around and think about what you would like to try and narrow it down a bit, and then perhaps some members here might have some experience in that area.

Interesting how things worked out.... That was then, this is now...China will do whats in her best interest to do.. The policy as been relaxed as far as I know... Knew a couple of people who manged to get around it..as people do concerning policies.

Wow. I think I’ve found a post where I actually *partly* agree with you! I think that most of your assessments of the Dems are off, but we do share some overlapping criticisms of the left. I do think *some* of the Dems are going too far left with some of their approaches to health care and student debt reduction. Not politically viable in this country and only weakens their cause, easy to mischaracterize, is political suicide. I think that the Dems want sensible immigration reform, that doesn’t fit into a simple chant (“build the wall”). I think that the “open border” is a false criticism of Dems. I do think that the Dems should focus more on the economy (Obama did *very* well in rescuing the economy) and campaign finance reform (and some other areas of concern re: cleaning up politics, such as gerrymandering, etc). The earth’s ecosystems are being destroyed from every angle and means. We’re headed towards global environmental dystopia for all foreseeable future generations. The GOP uniformly ignores the problems and speeds the destruction. Dems respect science and want to do many things about it. Unfortunately, the current GOP has followed their leader into an asylum. It’s not the GOP anymore; it’s just a cult, plain and simple. Turns out that a lot of people respond at the level of the National Enquirer, and that’s where djt lives. ... and so it goes. And the masses have not sufficiently learned from history maybe the most elementary lesson: avoid having an egomaniac with violent tendencies run a powerful country. P.s. And what we REALLY need are two (or more) healthy functional parties that can agree on basic facts, communicate and compromise for the better of the whole. We are FAR from a healthy democracy, both in terms of politicians and the national populace.

That's what really chaps the left's hide.

Hey guys is this the tweet everyone has been going crazy about this week? It seems a lot more nationalist than racist. Taken in the context of the entire point being made, the famous "go back ... came from" verbiage seems at least slightly less offensive than the feeding frenzy has made it out to be, the full blown iconic racist anthem (a la Gary Clark Jr's recent hit "This Land" rightfully laments). Heck, he even said they should "come back" in the very next sentence! Fake news making sure to leave that out. I really doubt that the degenerates that started the unfortunate chant during the NC rally last night had any idea what this even says.

Your interpretations continue to be rather colorful, inaccurate hyperbole. Exactly where is the 'resoundingly sing the glories' part ? This may be the problem when one only views one side of a coin without seeing the other side and the environment the coin sits in. Is the coin in your pocket, on a sidewalk, on a road, in a machine. If one cannot see the entire breath of the context, then one is picking and choosing the discrete observations they have. This has been repeatedly pointed out but seemingly ignored. Maybe I'll put it this way: One reason that some ignore Trump [let's say the history, tweets, slurs, missteps, shoddy cabinet] is because that is a very small piece of the entire context of what is going on. Those in outrage mode only see this above and can't see the rest; this is the morality of his person. Those with strong opinions on Trump as slurring racist stuff realize it is maybe going around with others but due to his position he should not while others are ok; this is the morality of his position. Those who dislike his decision making are not used to a different tact and can't accept someone doing something they would not do; this is the morality of his power. Those who can see both sides, see the historical context of defying the person, position, and power see it began in 2016 and has only grown stronger. There is actually no real basis for it except emotional instability, from what i can see. Because nobody in their right mind would get emotional over something someone tweets, slurs, or does just because he is a big mouth, business conniving New Yorker. To get emotional over one person and not see the Millions in meltdown in their defiance is to ignore the greater context. Add in career politicians + Intelligence who purposely (and secretly) attempt to stop an administration. Add in a previous administration who appears to have played a role in looking into an opposing candidate (that is watergate). Add in making up Russian collusion, setting up campaign staff using international friendlies and claiming crimes that are completely shown false after 2 years (I won't mention the money wasted). Add in, Diane Feinstein had a chinese spy as a driver for 20 years; they immediately went to her when they found out. Why didn't they go to Trump when they first suspected staff as 'possibly' working with Russia? There is a civil and political hoax and hoodwink that went contagious to the masses in an attempt by one administration/career politicans/intelligence to try and effect another opposing candidacy... This seems to have much more plausibility than Russian Collusion because we KNOW several facts. There is a basis for suspecting foul play. Please explain where was the basis for foul play in Russian Collusion? All this context is still not complete... There could be so much more detail added in. So, in the midst of all this... one guy is the focus and problem ? Now that is a funny way to be neutral. For the record: I'm not picking on anyone here... but I think the big picture is mostly lost on the most. So... if we want to play, pin the tail on the donkey/ass... we can do that the rest of our lives. Let's pin it on Trump and then work our way through the house, senate, politicians, and intelligence community. We'll need several years to do it. And in the end realize: They are all pretty much doing the same thing...

@alchemystical I saw your post some while back and it’s been knockin’round my head since and I’m here to make the voices stop!!! I guess what resonates with me is that - especially now - human beings are a mess (really from any angle, from where ever you’re standing), and surprisingly so. I’ve been kicking around the internal arts scene for some decades and you’d think I’d understand people enough so I wouldn’t be surprised over and over and over. And I’ve a few friends (from various orientations of serious internal looking) who are older than me and better students that I am, and *they*’re surprised. And I guess my question is, “why are we so surprised, over n’ over?”. What false presumptions about the human condition do we hold, that get knocked over time and time again by actual events? What understandings are we lacking? One presumption I’ve found in my own psychology that, “generally, people are good”. Whether true or not (and certainly it is flawed, naive and true), it doesn’t prompt much ongoing discernment as “functionality”. And god knows we’re all flawed and improving at our core levels in the areas we’re not-so-good-at: veeeerrry long term slow work. A friend of mine had a hard knocks interpretation of Buddha’s first noble truth, “life is suffering”, saying that there’s not a solution to it, that’s the fact of it, and to just be able to get through it. Books come to mind: P.D.Ouspensky’s “The Fourth Way” Any of the non-fiction books of essays by Wendell Berry. Someone here on the board, a long time back, mentioned that when they were in college deciding on a major and considering psychology vs sociology and checked out all the professors from each discipline and found that the sociologists were all depressed. Anyway, those are some rambling thoughts, relevance questionable. cheers, Trunk

Always nice to hear some jazz, whether it is Sunday or not.

This rings very true, from my experience and is a wonderful description of the mechanics of true centered meditation. Embodied, and integrated. The energy is no longer floating (the key point), and the central channel helps for that. Another way to say what you wrote is the entire body becomes the lower Dantian. For me, I first tap into the lower Dantian, then this opens up a void where I can access the central channel. Then I just rest in that space from the center of the head to the LDT. I'm not sure I would say I box my awareness into that space, but I reside there. The way I was taught is to merge my awareness with the wholeness of my body, evenly. That's why the phrasing "location of awareness" is a bit strong to me. We keep our awareness open, diffuse, and let it trickle down from the head to merge with the body, evenly, by itself. Practically when I enter the central channel, I feel a kind of mist inside, or a steam of Qi, something buoyant that is radiating from the central channel and removing blockages as it expands to the rest of the body. Then I stay focused on the sense of wholeness in the body. This is what Master Ni Hua Ching refers to as "natural meditation". In his book Spring Thunder, the describes it as merging your "pure form" with your physical body. It does feel like we have an inner self in the body - to me it kind of feels like the central channel with limbs and a head, if that makes sense, haha.... So the way I view this is the "mechanics" part is residing along the axis, but the flowering of the meditation is the integration of awareness and body that ensues, naturally, without manipulation or engineering, as the Qi and awareness come down and diffuses naturally and evenly. You have a great Master and it's incredible you can benefit from almost 1 on 1 instruction with him. It's also wonderful what he said about you...

On solo piano ... No secret I like jazz ... but especially piano jazz. And there is none better than Bill Evans. I offer this in response to rideforever's post. There is not a familiar tune in this piece and I chose it so that the chords and modals could speak for themselves without recalling a particular melody. Bill Evans is worth investigating.

I am not familiar with that book, but I appreciate his writing style and found his book Energy Work to contain strong and effective methods. Particularly in my home it became very useful for my wife in developing kinetic forms of visualizing energy. My wife is an Aphantasiac and does not think in visual terms... ever. She forms no mental images in her thought process, nor in dreaming, so the typical approach to visualizing is lost on her. I really appreciate his simple, direct language in sharing ideas and still use several of his practices regularly on blockages to strong effect. He's got his finger on the pulse in my experience. Good stuff.

Eva Wong knows her stuff. Maybe reverse breathing is good for something. My comments were based on Taoist philosophy, and it doesn't take much to understand the Tao fully enough to apply it to this. One would assume that Taoist practices should align with Taoist philosophy, and purely Taoist practices, which are very rare and also much more powerful, do align with the philosophy. If they don't it's because they've been infected by other traditions, and all the huffing and puffing and straining comes from Buddhism. Taoists are supposed to do what's natural, and reverse breathing isn't natural, no excuses! It's also a hard style or a forced style, and that which is hard dies young. There may be other principles that apply to this but I can't think of them at the moment. There are some ways of creating some pressure which are soft, not hard, and they are also natural, a simple by product of doing something else in a natural manner. These methods do conform to Taoist philosophy and they lead to longevity, chi power, and spiritual growth ... and maybe even immortality =)

Reverse breathing itself is 'incorrect', so it doesn't really matter how you slice it. What do you expect to get from reverse breathing besides stress, tension, and beating others in the rat race to the slaughterhouse? Super powers? Bliss? Longevity? Spiritual growth?

If you are a woman, then it is partly true : Using middle dantian ( refer not to the heart) as a starting point, and it initializes something from lower dantian . Otherwise it is doubtful .

"Almost every practice is a method to develop, not to understand. In Dzogchen the principle is that there is nothing more to understand." - from the Nail of Innate Awareness Emerging from Within - The Twenty-One Nails: Oral Commentaries by Lopon Tenzin Namdak and Tenzin Wangyal RInpoche

Im not sure i agree that rigpa is the single most important term in the Dzogchen teachings. Its vitalness is revealed gradually thru the 6 paths of building up, applying, seeing, accustoming, last phase, and finally no further training. So someone on the path of building up would not/need not (theoretically) be as familiar with rigpa as say one who is on the seeing path, and as one moves ahead, the meaning and nature of rigpa begins to crystallise, until finally, at the maturation of the phase of no further training, even the subtlest habitual separative tendencies are all dissolved, and rigpa becomes inseparable from sem. At that point the realiser simply rest as is, not even the thought "Oh, Im now resting in rigpa" arises. And the need to continue to look inwards to watch for distractions becomes unnecessary, because at that point the selfless nature of mind no longer fluctuates between sem and rigpa. End of duality.

Realization is togpa (skt. adigam) Rigpa is non-conceptual knowing, or sometimes equated to wisdom awareness (skt. vidya) In Dzogchen, Rigpa has a more direct meaning: The innermost nature of mind.

According to the Dalai Lama rigpa is not that simple: "The most difficult task is to differentiate between ordinary mind and rigpa. It is easy enough to talk about it. You can say, for example, that rigpa has never been confused, while ordinary mind has fallen under the influence of concepts and is mired in confusion. But to be introduced to the direct experience of the essence of rigpa is far from being easy. And so Dodrupchen says that although your arrogance might be such that you assume you are meditating on the ultimate meaning of rigpa, there is a danger that 'you could end up meditating on the clear, empty qualities of your ordinary mind, which even non-Buddhists are capable of doing.' He is warning us to be careful." Taken from Dzogchen by H.H. The Dalai Lama p 49

Mahamudra teaches that the enlightened mind (dharmakaya) and the ordinary mind are not different - although this is meant in a subtle sense and not the simplistic sense of 'oh they're just the same thing'. Jax's video is actually quite good as an explanation. There's a tendency to mystify these things and he is taking it back to a very simple direct approach - which is appropriate. Where I would vary with the interpretation that you don't need the gradual training is that although this is true in an absolute sense - when the experience of the dharmakaya ripens it is not dependent on having done anything like a method to get there. Nevertheless we all know from our own perspective that the helpful aspects of the dharma - the guidance on conduct, the way to develop bodhicitta and so on are what we need - and this is the reason even great Dzogchen teachers like Norbu still talk about the rest of the path - as in his video Introduction to Dzogchen where he starts by talking about the 4 Noble Truths. However rigpa - the natural state - is not dependent on these things as causes and conditions of realisation other wise it would be just another conditioned experience. So you takes your choice - whether to follow the way taught by 99% of teachers which is both gradual and sudden together - or alternatively chuck the gradual part and just sit. Its up to you! It is also a waste of time critiquing other practitioners to see if their practice is wrong or right - let them get on with it and do your own thing. My thoughts only of course.

Hi! I've been practising primarily Chinese meditations for martial arts for a number of years. Last week I had an energetic experience that I shared on another forum, looking for people to discuss and share like experiences with, and another member was kind enough to direct me to this forum, which looks like a more appropriate avenue to be having open discussions on this sort of topic with. I'm looking forward to sharing and learning with other members. Dave