A2345B

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Posts posted by A2345B

  1. Posted

    On 5/31/2021 at 10:45 PM, Iskote said:

     

    Hi A2345B. Don't worry about areas of tension too much. Over time you will start to feel more comfortable and relaxed and natural while standing. Relaxing doesn't mean becoming completely limp like a rag doll so that you start to collapse. Just relax as much as you can while standing naturally straight, with your knees bent a little bit and your toes facing forward. Feet are about shoulder width apart. As long as you are  in that general posture, you should be fine. Make sure the armpits are open a bit so as not to restrict circulation through the armpit area. The exact posture is not super critical. You will adjust your posture to be more comfortable over time as you get more used to standing that way. Don't over-do the standing time either. Just a few minutes for one session for the first while is good enough. All the best. 

     

    Edit: 

    In my view, wuji zhan zhuang embodies the principles outlined in the dao de jing without adding anything. 

    Thanks @iskote. Currently my standing time is 2 minutes. My body goes off balance once or twice. Ive noticed that if I tense any leg muscles willingly - my knees take a hit. I havent yet managed to "relax" into the posture but ill get there.

  2. Posted

    On 5/26/2021 at 9:17 PM, Iskote said:

     

    Wow, very expensive!  It must be really good. 

    Just kidding. :lol:

    Full time teachers want steady income coming in to pay all their bills so they can do their own full time personal practice and travelling to China, etc., without having to work for a living.  Is that ethical? :) 

     

    You don't need to learn a more 'complex' system like neidan to work on jing - qi - shen development. 

    In my view, you do need to be celibate to seriously start working on jing - qi - shen development. 

    If you are not celibate, you can still get benefits from qigong, tai chi, etc., but you will be limited in what can be achieved. 

    Wu ji zhan zhuang is a good simple practice which anyone can do at home to get started on this road. 

    You can potentially go a long way on your own if you practice diligently and correctly (relaxed and natural). 

    That's why I recommend it. It doesn't drain your bank account as well. :) 

     

    Here is something to consider. If you are celibate, and If you are able to continue a practice such as wu ji zhan zhuang every day without fail, and slowly over time build your daily standing time to at least an hour continuous per day without straining, say over six months or a year, by then you should already be quite aware of your qi developing and probably see some improvements to your health. However, many people will drop out of such a regular daily practice in just a few weeks or months, just not having the self discipline, or they get in a sexual relationship, or they find it too 'time consuming', although they have time to do other recreational activities. :lol:  

     

    Now compare to serious neidan practice where one should probably be doing practices for a minimum of three hours a day, every day, and probably longer than that every day as one progresses. Ask yourself if you have the self discipline and are able to make the daily time commitment to such a practice, and also remain celibate? 

     

    My suggestion to people interested in such practices is to start out with something like tai chi (definitely requires a good teacher to learn properly) or zhan zhuang, and see if you have the time and self discipline to practice every day, even for just a half hour or an hour every day over a year or two. If you can stick to that, then you can start to consider if you really can commit to even much more practice time each day. IMO, then, and only then, should you consider something like neidan which takes a much bigger commitment. If you are not celibate, I would suggest a person not even waste any time at all on considering neidan. Neidan is not for you.

    Qigong or tai chi can still give good health benefits for 'ordinary' people, so that would still be something to consider for your average person. 

     

     

     

     

     

    thanks @Iskote

     

    Ive started Wu ji zhan zhuang however it will take a little while before I get the posture correct. It looks easy but I guess my body tends to slouch over time. There are also areas of tension that refuse to relax as they help keep my body in that position.

     

     

     

  3. Posted

    7 hours ago, Creation said:

     

     

    Hi Anand,

     

    Lots of good questions here, reasonable questions for a thoughtful beginner trying to get his bearings to ask.  Intellectual knowledge is no substitute for practice, but a questioning and research can help you discern what is a good use of your time vs what isn't. 

     

    There are similarities between neidan and Kriya, but they are somewhat broad, the actual orientation of the practices is rather different.  For instance, they both want to fully open all the energy centers of the body and in particular all the centers in the spine and brain, but how they go about doing this and in what order is quite different. 

     

    Yes there are sets geared toward "feeling the qi", but to some extent one should distinguish between feeling effects of qi (feelings of warmth and tingles, etc) from feeling qi directly, which is fairly advanced.  Medically oriented sets will tend to create more sensations of qi on the surface of the skin, but neidan isn't working with this surface level qi so it doesn't actually consider such surface sensations important to cultivate.  So, your idea of "step 1" isn't quite right.  And as you say, work with jing is only a prerequisite for neidan, not for medical qigong sets.  Opening the channels also has different meanings in neidan vs medical qigong, again, it's the difference between working at the surface or deep inside.  Qi can be stored many places in the body, including the ren and du, but there is a sense in which the lower dantian can store the most and is the safest, and forms a foundation for storing it elsewhere. 

     

    I second forestofemptiness' list, those teachers are knowledgeable, authentic, and available to answer questions of online students.  If you are really interested in neidan, really do look into Damo Mitchell's stuff, even if you don't do his program, the material in his books is incredibly high quality, useful to have been exposed to.  If you want to start on standing, you might find that it becomes much more efficient if done according to Damo's rather detailed instructions. 

    Ive recently bought the "Comprehensive Guide to Daoist Neigong" - Im going through it. His Neidan training costs USD 40 per month which is something I can afford for the time being.

     

    Thank you all for your kind comments! Time to begin!

  4. Posted · Edited by A2345B

    21 minutes ago, Iskote said:

     

    Yes, it certainly can, but please read my comment above carefully, line by line, on how to properly practice.  

    I have distilled the practice down to the key essentials and requirements. 

    It doesn't get much more simple than that, but don't confuse simplicity with inferior. 

    It's all contained in that one practice. :) If people would only just relax their monkey minds and practice daily. 

    "If people would only relax their monkey minds and practice daily" - Thats a pretty BIG if. :lol:

    Ive heard that one hour of true meditation equals days of energy work.

    Someday Ill get there.

     

    I think ill start with 5 minutes of ZZ and then slowly expand.

  5. Posted

    On 5/22/2021 at 11:47 PM, Cleansox said:

    @forestofemptiness is right, if your goal is Nei Dan then starting from within an organisation that claim to teach it will be time efficient.

     

    Unfortunately, @Iskotehas a point as well. A long history of Nei Dan has left us with a wide array of practices, leading to different places.

    I hope you find a practice that leads you to where you want to go! 

    Thanks @Iskote  @Cleansox @forestofemptiness

     

    Im mainly looking for a system that allows me to feel chi - because I really dont have a frame of reference and I have heard conflicting terms defining it - and start cultivating chi.

     

    Is cultivating Jing a necessity for cultivating chi ? or is that only in Neidan ?

     

    I agree with @Iskote that neidan is a lifestyle and not a program than can be picked up - thats the general idea ive got so far from this forum and reviews and books i have read on neidan. All the cultivators I have heard about have a minimum of a decade of cultivation behind them.

     

    Will Zhan Zhuang open my channels ? Mainly the channels on the feet and hands ? Ive also heard a lot of good things about zhineng qigong but Ive read people saying there isnt much neidan cultivation in it, or it requires substantial work (more than others) to be put in before it shows results.

     

    Any ideas ?

     

    Im 40 years old. Im diabetic and I can start to feel my body slowing down - Im going to commit to whatever practice I pick up.

     

    Another question that I have is - Does the Qi get stored in the ren and du channels or in a dantien ? or is the dantien a transformer that transforms Jing to Qi to Shen ? OR have I read too many books and should stop now ? :huh:

     

     

    • Like 2

  8. Posted

    Hello All!

     

    Im a 40 year old from India. Im interested in neidan practices but I dont know anyone teaching this in India.

     

    Im thinking of following online courses.

     

    What are some good courses by which I can cultivate Jing, Qi and Shen ?

     

    Another question, does neidan have any parallels with Kriya Yoga ? Do they complement each other ?

     

    Regards,

     

    Anand