Victor

Hey there, it's been some time since the last post. Anyway I'd like to share my little experience (still ongoing) About a month ago I've been feeling some pain from an upper left molar when biting, and went to a dentist after something like 8 years (I'm 27 years old now). Turns out there is a deep cavity. The dentist recommended a standard treatment (cleaning of cavity, if necessary devitalization of the tooth and resin filling). Before following the standard treatment I wanted to test if the tooth could self heal. My idea of healing was to halt the cavity development and stop pain. Three weeks ago, after reading "Cure Tooth Decay" from Ramiel Nagel (book that someone posted in the discussion previously, thanks!) I adjusted my diet by drastically reducing sugar intake and carbohydrates, however not to complete avoidance as suggested from the author (which honestly feels a bit too drastic to me, as a southern Italian ). Other relevant (?) changes I did were switching from standard toothpaste to a no-fluoride, no-glycerin toothpaste, almost eliminating coffee (one or two cups of espresso per week), starting daily oil pulling and brushing my teeth with a licorice stick ("Meswak" practice as someone else suggested previously in the discussion) beside using with a traditional toothbrush twice a day. For now the situation is pretty static but I still feel pain and some swelling. If it persists I will just accept the impermanence of my teeth and go on with the allopatic treatment. Another interesting note, for the last two/three years I've been following (let's say 75% of the time) Daniel Reid dietary advices from The Tao of Health and Longevity. However, there were some contrasting indications between this book and the one from Ramiel Nagel. It is true that both advice extreme caution when eating grains and/or sugar. Good luck with your teeth everyone!

Very interesting topic. Cook's ideas are very similar to this guy's idea (The title is a bit of a clickbait but Jaron Lanoer has some very good points, besides being extremely prominent in the field)

Could meal timing also be related to body type, as diet is (probably?)? Anyway nice thread, searching and experimenting with diet is one of the most interesting things that can be done! It's fun for the body and the mind Have a nice evening

Hey people, it's been a while since my last visit on this forum. @escott I completely agree that sometimes we, (I mean we as engineers) tend to always look for a new technique/shiny new thing. I thought a lot about this, and basically I've decided to restrict all I do to basic things, each and every day for what has been a year now. So it's 'meditation' along 'the presence process' instructions, followed by 8 pieces of brocade and zhan zhuang, along the instructions from 'the way of energy'. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not writing to compare routines or anything like that, but I would like to have a discussion about the need to have a teacher in these disciplines. Is being 'self-taught' only delusion and laziness? I hope we can get an interesting discussion about this! Anyway, a nice evening to everyone

Can you suggest me any good sources about dumbell training? I'm quite familiar with calisthenics training and in general resistance training for strenght, but dumbells and bodybuilding style training (I suppose the aim here is shifted more toward mass and definition rather than strenght) are new to me; since I'm interested in learning about it, if you can suggest some good book I'll read it. I know that learning from a competent person is ok and sometimes much better, but generally I do not trust very much commercial gym instructors (especially here in Italy)

@alleniverson Hi! I can link a video and a pdf going around the internet, but I suggest you to search someone who can give one to one lessons (in person or via skype ecc.) here is the video https://www.qi.org/fragrant/frag1.PDF and here's the PDF http://www.qigongchinesehealth.com/fragrant_qigong here there are others informations and the contact of a Master of this form These are the first level, in the same places you can find the second level as well! Have a good evening

@Sora thank you very much for your experience, it was really useful and confirmed me the best way to follow while practicing Qigong. When starting, I choosed only the 8 pieces of brocades and Xiang Gong as they are regarded as the safest and most simple. Since I've found a Tai Chi master near my house, I will go to him to learn; my main interest is in learning Zhan Zhuang as it seems to have all I'm searching now in Qigong. I was really fearful of experiencing Qigong deviatons so I'm avoiding to try these exercises alone; Reading about how the issuses you had also affected the family, I would like to talk about the acceptance of family and generally of all people of Qigong. As for now, my health problems are really minor and I think that they will disappear as my practice progresses; instead, as my family has some quite old members (grandma and grandfather being over 80, my father beign 65 and so on), they are experiencing some aches and pains due to age and a life of manual labor. I would really like them to practice and learn Qigong, even the most simple ones like Xiang Gong. But I think that they would never believe and let alone practice constantly, because they've grown up in a really closed Italian culture and do not believe in any of this. My idea was to show it to them and then start a sort of 'challenge', like 'do it for three months diligently and if you do not feel any better stop', but they are really closed and stubborn, so I do not think they'll do it. If any of you had some issues on this theme, I would really like to hear more. Instinctively I think that standing meditation, if presented like a western exercise of breathing and relaxation could be easily accepted, but just mentioning Qi energy and channels to my family really makes me laugh internally for the possibile reaction @sl23 I will check that book, thank you very much. (As a note, when I train I use some basic yoga postures as stretches, and they really feel good after a good workout)

I really appreciate your advice. As for the Xiang Gong, I received advice from more expert practioners and I exactly know wich way I should follow to deepen its practice. However, in five months of continuos practice I had some good results, but I did not manage to solve a problem that I believe arises from muscular and mental tension. So I tought about giving zhan zhuang a try, and also starting tai chi lessons in a dojo near my house; since Xiang Gong can't be mixed, I'll have to drop it. It's not that I don't like that, but I feel that my mind and body need something more still and calm. I hope this is not just a desire for entertainment and change, but a legitimate direction. @Sora if I may ask, how did you bring chaos to your family by practicing QiGong?😶 And again thank you for your time😁 @rideforever as usual your advice is very good. I'm now reading the Way of Energy from Lam Chen for ZZ, but I hope that when I'll start the Tai Chi lessons the Master will help me in studying this.

Hey I just have a little (and probably silly) question. Since I'm completing my short journey with fragrant qigong, I strongly feel the urge to do just zhan zhuang and the 8 pieces of brocade, just concentrating myself on the basis. So I ask to more seasoned practioners: -Is standing meditation and 8 pieces of brocade enough to help healing, physical health and some degree of mental and spiritual development or not? -I heard about finding a particular set/form that resonates with oneself. How do I understand if it's just my mind searching change or the form not resonating with me? Is it natural to change forms during time or it's just a way to never progress? Thank you all, have a good day

Thanks for the advice, I won't stop the fragrant until reaching six months of continuous practice, I was just reporting this observation though!😁 Fun fact for the dentist: six months ago my dentist gave me an x-ray of the jaw and found a "hole" in the bone, an area of demineralization. Since I've never had problem with that, he decided not to attemp anything, but just to periodically check it. magic happened and one month ago we discovered that it almost totally disappeared. I don't know if it's the qigong, but this happened and I never took any medication about that. 😂 (the video was hilarious also😂)

That's surely the most important thing in every practice Jokes aside, this morning while doing my daily fragrant practice I had an unknown feeling: I started to fiercely hate my practice, and thinking it was wasted time and so on, and wanted to stop and try other styles. This is very odd for me as I usually enjoy practice very much. What do you think it could be? Personally, I tought it was something similar to self-sabotaging of the mind or thinks like that, but I really am a total beginner. I will continue my practice, but this thing really surprised me. Again, thanks to anybody sharing their knowledge, have a good day

I'll try to revive this old topic starting by this quote. Which form do you think has the most health benefits? I'm also very interested in forms that help focus and in general changes and improves the thinking and creative processes, both by helping insights and quieting the mind. So if someone has experience of that I'm ready to hear. Sorry if I approach QiGong as a begineer would, but that is what I am for now

Thank you for your contribuitions to this discussion! I think I'll try some of those practices I was also wondering what's your opinion on yoga? I'm asking because there is a teacher near my house (even though I don't know if he's legit in a traditional sense). I whish you a pleasant evening

Ok, since I completed 100 days of fragrant qigong (109 more exactly), I would like to share with you my experience and of course ask some questions. Maybe this is not the right discussion but I do think that I'm too much a beginner to have a personal experience diary like the ones that are on the forum. So here we go: 109 days of continuos Fragrant practice, with my best possibile attention to practice details and physical execution. I practised 2 times a day, sometimes one due to circumstances, but the principle has been to never let 24 hours pass without practice. I did the first level, 54 repetition of each exercise. Regarding the health problem that I had, I do feel that is slowly changing. I must say it partially resolved, even if the evolution was and still is almost unnoticeable. Regarding general health, I do have some observations, that are probably obvious to the seasoned pratictioner but surprised me: -Better flexibility, more strenght and need to move and workout. -Better mental clarity, I do concentrate more easily and do not feel the need do to more activities at one time. -Decreased appetite and slightly better sleep, but frequent (almost every night) and absolutely crazy dreams, ranging from street fights to fantasy settings to absolutely crazy sexual fanstasies. -This one is really strange: I do think my senses sharpened a bit. The more affected is sight: I've always had excellent sight, but now I can read and study for long hours without signs of fatigue, I've completely lost light sensibility and notice details that are very far or very close. Also my hearing got finer, and my tinnitus lessened from a 10 to a 4. -I feel emotionally more stable, but at the same time feel the need for emotional exploration; I had some periods of strange ups and downs and really aggressive and immotivate outburts; they felt really strange as I've always been a cool and calm person; those moments were mostly triggered by close proximity with family members, so I'm starting to understand what is the 'emotional purging' I've red here on the forum and been told about. -My general view on life shifted and keeps shifting. I've become more assertive, kind, scientific in my way of thinking and interested in phylosophical and even spiritual matters. I also observed that I go through period of general grumpiness and need to be alone, but they last usually only one or two days, and then I go back to the above description. Observation during the practice: Since the end of the first month, almost every time I finsh my practice I experience very enjoable chills, and feelings of something reaching my head running along the spine; Also, during the stillness meditation part of the practice I often go through visions of colours, light and strange body feelings. I sometime get really sexually excited, but for what I've red on the forum all the above are normal. The only thing that worried me a bit was the feeling of pressure on the head during the second month, that is now gone. To be sintetic, I'm enjoying very much the practice, and it's become the most important thing of my day. I do think I will complete the six months required by the Master and try the second level, since I'm very curious about it. It seem to have impacted health positively also. Now the questions: 1)This Qigong is not really demanding on a physical point of view, and carries some obligation like not practicing with other systems. I would like to experiment a routine with more strenuos forms (also more 'punishing' on a mental/spiritual level) and stillness meditation, like zhan zhuang or chakra meditation (would like to learn more about this one for sure). Which forms do you think are suitable for a beginner? 2)This is more a general question, and I hope it will begin a large discussion: does every form of energy work lead to the same goal, with different routes, or are they set to achieve different things? Not that there is a goal at all to be achieved, but do you think that a way equals another, provided it works for the practioner? Thanks to anyone reading and helping me in the early steps. I really hope to start a profound discussion and help someone with my little experience.

Hi Aleks, as usual I suggest to learn from an experienced master. However, to my knowledge and from the sources I've got, the pratice of Fragrant Qigong brings with it some strict rules. You can read them on the documents that I'll link below. For some of them, like avoiding to practice near meals or during thunderstorms, I can personally say that they are of great importance, since I've experienced adverse effects from my mispractice. Some of them were persistens headache, choking, choughing and similar things. They cleared up after some time, but I do think they are a clear indicator of error in the practice. http://www.qigongchinesehealth.com/chi-qigong This is the website of Master Dolic, in which some informations are avialable. Below I attached the documents I was talking about. There are some knowledgeable people on this forum, if you scan it wth the search function maybe you'll find them. I wish the best luck to you and to your cultivation frag1.PDF Dont's_in_fqg.pdf