goretex

Fa gong is fa qi? Do you have any takeaways from those discussions?

@Nuralshamal I've been contemplating this post for a while as I consider ancestor practices. Doing some research to see the Taoist versions of this, and I haven't found much besides lighting incense, burning joss paper, and making offerings. What are your thoughts on having ancestor worship as it relates to one's "cultural authenticity"? Do these practices work as well when one's ancestors may not have been Hindu? Another aspect is to what degree one already has a relationship with these deities and mantra work.

Some relevant posts re overtraining (which in addressing discuss loading to some degree):

In physical training and conditioning, there's established idea about loading and recovery and much of modern training revolves around these ideas. Intensity, repetitions, sets, weight, %, perceived effort, etc. These concepts can then be sequenced into periodization of different cycles of training (e.g. building endurance and work capacity -> strength -> power). In qigong, neidan, neigong discussion, there's a lot of focus on the periodization of phases of training and attainments, but I do not see much discussion about load and recovery. How should one think about the subtle body and its energetic capacity? Further, what defines one person's capacity for qigong training? There can be signs of "overtraining" or "overload" and also specific symptoms like various qi deviation, but how might we better tell well before that occurs through understanding loading and capacity better, understanding straining of one's energy centers or channels? As a starting point, my assumption is that energetic capacity can be first assessed based on one's overall system's health from a TCM perspective: organs and channels.

This isn't a direct answer as I don't know, but I think he used to post here as @sillybearhappyhoneyeater

I see little discussion of Mark Rasmus here. He seems to be popular for combining qigong with a Hermetics framework and filling in the "lack" of physical training in a Western tradition. He and his students also have some popularity in the taiji community as witnessed by one of the few threads being from @dwai here. With respect from senior members here including @freeform I also see him mentioned in a recent thread on Damo, so I thought he could use a dedicated thread. I do see that some of his practices seem to bypass a lot of the "classical" route. For example, there is much more emphasis on feeling "vital force" in the beginning stages and understanding different principles in his system. Whereas Damo does seem to warn more against relying on sensations. He also doesn't seem to have a big emphasis on LDT cultivation. He stresses using partner work for collaboratively building sense/qualities and trying to attune to these different frequencies (vital, astral, mental, akashic). Here's a helpful interview by a former student that doesn't follow the hermetics framework.