Seatle185

I found out about the existance of the energetic practices of taoism a long time ago here. Before that i had only known about philosophy. Back then there wasnt nearly as many resources as today so stumbling onto this place opened my eyes a bit. Iv also drawn alot of inspiration from some of the more advanced people that share here. At first this path can actually be very discouraging because some of the stuff is hard to beleive and even harder to attain. It was good to see that ordinary people like me were actually seeing these results that are talked about.. Iv learned of some good authors and teachers here too. but i dont come here to study or take techniques and try to apply them directly to practice. I actually tried to do that here and with books for years with no success. I started seeing progress when i started up with live teaching. But again this place is a great inspiration with great people and help me stay motivated during times of self doubt. Thanks everyone

Hello again friend, yes i am a fan of puerh too! I dont drink it nearly as much as high mt oolongs, but i keep it on hand. Its great for digestion and yes there are so many different factors in this special type. I drink it the most during the colder seasons. Some people dont really care for the shou puerhs but honestly those have been my favorite ones, but i do like the sheng too. From what i understand the king of puerh teas are the naturally aged ones that were kept for 50 + years. Unfortunately i havent had the chance to try them, they are harder to find than the fast fermented and alot more expensive ! My first raw puerh brick i bought i have kept for a few years now and break off a peice every now and then and you can tell the difference that age will bring. Yes definately a great tea! I also love how with some of these you can get a good 8+ brews from them.

Exactly what i was hoping to find thank you so much!!

Thank you steve. I have read the book and was very interested, would love to tune into this. Is there any way to access this without a facebook?

Well you might be happy to know that many good taiji classes will have elements of nei gong, and the external excercise you seek, some even nei dan. Like others have said there might not be need for more than one teacher. I personally found it pretty hard to find a teacher who only teaches nei gong by itself in my area. But i do beleive the good internal martial arts teacher will have a great curriculum for nei gong. Good luck in your journey. Also im not very familiar with your area but i would seek out groups of pratitioners and then ask them recomendations and where they are learning from, as sometimes there are great teachers in your area without a web presence.

Im wondering where they are digging up these "fighters" . It seems like theyre picking the worst possible candidates to represent these arts haha and doubtful they have studied or trained realistically. . It does almost seem like propoganda haha. Theyve tried to extinguish these arts for so long, what a great way to get rid of them once and for all. Then again most people i know who study IMA arent only doing it for fighting, at first they were drawn into it because of the martial side but stayed after seeing how deep it actually goes. And i think thats the way its been for a long time. People would come to deepen their martial abilities but learned theres alot more to it than just that. but i think alot of the younger generations will look at filmed fights like that and think its completely useless and won't want to bother with it at all leading to them dissapearing with no new people to keep passing them on to future generations :/..hopefully not though If you take out the martial art from internal martial arts then it would be just another qigong system. Which would still be beneficial, but it would take away from the complete approach that ima's offer in my opinion. I know alot of serious practitioners see these videos and dont put much stock into them, but non practitioners see it and unfortunately conclude the entire system is useless weather practiced for health, or fighting, or spirituality.

My house and car doors are always locked, even when im at home haha. I think sometimes that has to do with introverts. Introverts like their time alone and usually dont want to be disturbed or suprised during that time. Thats how i am at least. Although i have randomly showed up before without warning. Some friends are ok with it, others hinted i should call first (and knock first). I struggle with knowing the etiquette on this too as i guess its different for many people. Sometimes they arent home. Sometimes you walk into the wrong appartment and people really get mad.

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Most people where i am from will say these practices are evil, they also said monster energy drinks, pokemon, harry potter, lord of the rings... pretty much anything popular or ever invented by someone who wasnt christian is evil and will lead to damnation.... most of these types are nut cases in my opinion and i was raised by them at home, at school, and church, i was constantly around these types and most of the real strong christian types became the worst humans haha.. well you have to think, while alot of the eastern religions focus alot on self cultivation, self improvement, and self realization, the christians (that i know in my specefic area) have a view that all you have to do is accept Christ in your heart and your saved and after that sin as much as you want just ask for forgiveness or you dont even really have to do that just say your a beleiver and automatically your saved. That is how we were taught, so its not suprising to me they do all this without any guilt or shame and without the slightest intention to change. But they will judge you extremely harsh if you do the same as them.. Personally i do resonate with the teachings of Christ, to me they arent a whole lot different than the other eastern texts. But the community im from has basterdized everything. And i think king james re wrote the bible. Ok why is a king re writing it? To control the people is the first thing that comes to my mind.. even still there are valuable gems in the new testament we can learn from. But realize most of these priests who are given authority to teach the people of the church often dont have the slightest clue. My suggestion is to learn hebrew if you really want to study. Not only study but make effort to assimilate it in every day life, this is where many of them fail miserably. While Christs view resonates with me, christianity in general doesnt. They have been always extremely judgemental of all other religions, alot of them are liars and hypocrites, murderers, and very closed minded and closed spirited people. Now as to why people see Christ in these NdE well i would have to say your mind interprets what it sees based on conditioning one way or the other. Even someone who is athiest can see a being of pure light and interpret it as Jesus because that is what society has told him is THE being of light, even if he denied it his whole life he was still aware of what his society beleived about spirituality. I would say someone who grew up in a different environment and saw the exact same thing would interpret it as somthing different completely. Maybe someone who has transcended their aquired conditioning will just see pure light? I dont think most of the common practices talked Bout here will lead to demon infestation, but there are practices that purposely do this, or there are happenings when you become more aware of things that were there all along, doesnt mean the practice did it to you, the practice opened your eyes to seeing it. Just thought id share my opinion here

Thats cool i used to write lyrics and songs myself but never preformed them in front of a audience of more then a few people. I guess in town im known for my different art work. Either out of wood or canvas and acrylic hung around town.. and am known for my weird nature .. haha

Thank you, yes this is what i feel most of the masters are like. They dont feel they need to prove themselves. And after he puts the guy down he doesnt jump on him and start hitting his head.. he offers his hand to help him up!

Yes i aggree. I think he is one of many taiji masters today who presumes upon his power. Some guys have never been into a actual fight but think because theyve done the form everyday for years diligently and practice push hands they can dominate anyone with ease. Not saying these practices arent important but most classes arent focused on the fighting as much. Nothing wrong with it but dont challenge a guy whos spent almost all his life sparring and fighting if you havent sparred yourself. I do beleive the internal arts can give you an advantage if trained right. Taiji is one of those that is thought to take a relatively long amount of time compared to others before you should even think about using it in a real fight. Taiji doesnt leave the door til ten years... this video is a good wake up call to taiji practitioners/teachers in my opinion. It really helps humble yourself and can upgrade your practice if your a practitioner. I havent heard of thunder taiji either. I wonder what it is

Yes! When i first saw his videos i couldnt beleive how deep he was going into it. 1.5 - 2 hour videos on the system and plenty of them. I can tell his main objective is to get the system out there and known. he isnt like some who might charge you to watch this kind of stuff. Haha. So yah the more i look into the xeipeiqi system the more it seems like a bottomless pit of knowledge. Might train with one of the local groups one day, thats cool that theyre doing that.

Great stuff. Love andrew nugent-heads free material.

Yes, i never could understand how people sleep so easy. For me it always seemed to require effort. its like i had to find that tiny razors edge between effort and no effort if that makes sense. If i didnt put forth any effort my mind would just start jumping all over the place and with too much effort i would still be over stimulated.. and what i would hate is when i feel like im finally drifting off to sleep - i used to get excited that im finally falling asleep but that excitement would jolt me back awake . I feel like i have so much on my plate i never want to go to sleep thats one of my problems. I always am thinking about responsibilities i have to take care of the next day or week. So having a nice relaxing ritual before bed helps. After a while your body and mind become accustomed to it and when you start doing it you are preparing for sleep. Iv found its good to go over what you have planned a few hours before bed so you dont lay in bed worrying about it. Feng shui wise i have read the bedroom should not be the place you do stimulating activities, it is a room for rest and rejuvination. So the t.v. and computer and other electronics shouldnt be kept there. Of course this is the most ideal, but i cant follow it in my present living situation. But in my old apartment i followed this and always seemed to have an easy time going to sleep... but as i have said in my first post here, going through the motions of the yoga nidra relaxation always works, it sort of distracts my mind away from worrying or thinking too much and puts it on relaxing and just being present and sleep usually sneaks up on me in a few minutes before i even finish the routine. I do hope it helps. Insomnia is very frusterating.

People often seek instant gratification in these practices which isnt the point. Having powers isnt the point either. For true internal development you need to spend decades of dedicated practice. 300 for 20 minutes doesnt appeal to me, even if he gave out magical powers and enlightenment, it is still up to the student to do the work to maintain it, but if the student doesnt put in the work to get there they dont know how to maintain it and take it for granted.Iv studied with a great teacher who only charged 60 a month! And he is the type that beleives the best teachers only nudge the student in the right direction, they dont solve all the students problems for them. So i agree with most the others here it is a bit too high of a price and i wouldnt pay it myself

I used to struggle with insomnia too. I would just let my mind go wild and it would start jumping all over the place and some of the thoughts would cause anxiety and at that point might as well get up because i wont be sleeping that night haha.. trying not to think of anything would cause me stress and so would focusing on my breath. One thing that helped was binaural beats for sleep just get some comfortable headphones because you will likely be sleeping in them most of the night. One other thing i do now without headphones is "yoga nidra" there are videos on youtube you just listen to and follow along, you are going through and feeling different parts of the body and relaxing them then there are other techniques that follow to get you even more into that state. I was doing it for so long i can remember the order and just do it mentally and most nights fall asleep within minutes .. the problem i always had is if i was "trying" to fall asleep i never could so i had to find ways to do it without thinking about it too much.. anyways this worked for me good, hope it can benefit you too

Wow that was a trip. Haha my favorite would have to be "666 is the double edge sword or word keeping us from Eden or eating of the tree of life which is xbox 360." Its just like... what? Xbox 360 is the tree of life? Hahaha. So yes in a christian dominant culture we are raised to think this number has evil qualities and to be scared anytime you see it! But what is it really? Are we scared of it because of our socialization or does it have inherit qualities. A friend of mine actually has a few "horror" stories related to it. Speaking of uncanny coincidences he happened to be stuck in a town one night after his truck broke down and he was staying in a motel. Well he had a walk around the town and went into a bar and called me later that night sounding a little freaked out. He said he felt like he was stuck in some sort of purgatory town where no one leaves and everyone in the town seemed asleep to their condition. He was feeling like some sort of evil or negativity was in the town and following him around. Later that night he said he was taking a shower and just randomly looked up at the ceiling and saw 666 in red, which freaked him out even more. So some people swear that it is an omen and some swear its a sign of good fortune. Personally iv never had anything bad happen to me when i see it, i just think its some sort of sign. Maybe something telling me i should quit my job? Haha i dont know

Like others have mentioned, I also see numbers in triplets mostly at work doing paper work. 95 percent of the time it is 666. At first i kept dismissing it as a coincidence but after noticing it on every job i start to wonder. Usually people would see this as some kind of bad omen but I have heard in numerology this is actually a sign of abundance and luck? Maybe others here will have a better explanation. Haha i'm really not sure I just have a feeling it is not random coincidence!

I love hearing these stories from everyone! Today it was interesting for me. i was randomly thinking about green eggs and ham, i dont know why it just kept popping up in my mind throughout the day and planned to look them up next time i was at the computer. later when i got home i was looking through a recipe book on chinese soups and one of the ingredients for this particular one was "thousand year eggs". I've never heard of them so i looked them up and online it said the eggs are put through a special process and the final product is an egg white that turns black and the yolk turns GREEN.. haha I also have a extremely close connection to one of my friends and sometimes he will call and i will already know what subjects he intends to bring up or vice versa. I think we just have such a close bond now that when one of us has a strong thought/experience the other also feels it on a very subtle level. Iv always found it interesting how some friends you can hang out with for decades and be close but there are people that come into your life that can make you feel an even closer bond within a few days like you have already known them your whole life.

Hello everyone I have been trying to figure out where i might want to travel to this year for my time off from work and i was thinking i would ask if anyone had recomendations. I love hiking in the mountains and special places secluded in forests and the past year i was able to hike in ruidoso new mexico, and a few different locations in colorado. I would love to hear your favorite places to go. Thank you!

Thanks gerard, No i havent heard of that mountain but it looks great. Im familiar with summitpost too, iv used it to find the more popular peaks but even better the peaks that arent well known to many! And thank you to all that answered, alot of people have mentioned places in california so i am leaning towards there and since i would be driving from texas i could definately stop for a few days in arizona to visit sedona and some other places i was interested in there.

I thought about going to sedona i have heard nothing but good things about it and is relatively close. Everyone told me arizona is "boring" driving through but i loved every minute of it, i thought the desert was beautiful. So it would be a great choice Qicat - Shasta does intrigue me. I do hope to visit sometime. Do you think its the kind of place i can go to alone or should i consider a guide? Thanks! I havent had the chance to explore in California much, but a friend of mine lives in humbolt now and said I would love wandering through their forests.

Yueya, thanks for posting, i have read his article in the scholar sage collection of articles many times. It really helped me gain a little deeper understanding of chinese food medicine. And there are a few other articles that talk about it too. Iv also found this book to be a good resource https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0986798800/ref=aw_wl_ov_dp_1_1?colid=3SIS88N0M8S3U&coliid=INU9C7N2TQVDG

No problem the wang peisheng book was the only book my teacher ever recommended as a beginner, he also gave me a dvd of himself going over the form. I only used them to go over moves we had covered in class to refresh my memory because as a beginner i wanted to practice all the time at home but would forget certain details so in that situation a dvd did help me but i agree it is most useful to use just as a supplement to your class. It wasnt until much later when my teacher encouraged me to branch out a little and try studying some material or take classes from masters of other taiji styles to try better understand the essence of the art and how even though some styles can look vastly different they all should follow some basic principles and achieve similar goals. He wants us to stay critical of ourselves and our practice and humble and open minded so none of us fall into the "my style is way better than your style" trap that some practitioners fall into. This way we can make use of some of the great practices that our teacher may be lacking in.