Barnaby

Hi there. From your symptoms, it sounds to me like you just burned yourself out. And now you need to build back what you lost. Eating healthily is good, so is getting to bed early and keeping a regular schedule. Basic breathing exercises will really help with anxiety/energy depletion. Such as I understand it, Damo’s Anchoring the Breath practice sounds like just the ticket. Do it daily, for half an hour if possible. I wouldn’t get too hung up about thinking about your energy fields, meridians etc. Just concentrate on doing yourself some good. And forget any kind of meditation practice for the moment. There’s one thing that’s more important than ANYTHING else: physical exercise. Seriously. You need to be getting yourself 30 to 60 minutes of real physical exercise every day. I don’t mean qi gong. I mean real physical exercise: walking, running, swimming, weights, martial arts training, hitting bags, whatever works for you… If you do that every day, combine it with your breathing practice, eat properly, go to bed early, get up early, and sleep well, you’re going to be feeling fine in no time. Hope that helps.

Welcome aboard. I've always been curious about the Bardon stuff. Looking forward to hearing more about it

This one

I'm with you on that these days, but not sure the Invincible Yang would have agreed

Really interesting. I wonder how much this applies to all age groups. So it's both, right? The teacher teaches and, if necessary, corrects. And the student has to put the work in on their own to progress.

I’d recommend finding a real life teacher who understands tai chi qualities and can give you corrections. In my experience, of the 3 big internals (along with xingyi and bagua), tai chi is the hardest to get right. ’Course, that doesn’t stop millions of people enjoying themselves getting it wrong…

The movement should start from the centre surely?

Yeah, I was more referring to the full consciousness of that, but it's not a fully-formed thought

Just reacting to stuff in real time and thinking out loud: If we could attain full consciousness that there is nothing special about us – that we are in fact exactly the same as any other being or object – in that we are all ephemeral manifestations of a fundamental energy which can never disappear, but which is instead continually transmuting into something different, would that not in itself be a form of immortality?

I'd appreciate the benefit of your experience... I've worked with a teacher who maintains that sitting cross-legged is no better than sitting in a chair. But increasingly, I come across other people who say the opposite. In your opinion, how important is cross-legged sitting (and developing the physical capacity to maintain it comfortably) for meditative and/or energy practice? Many thanks in advance

So true. And it's only when you finally manage to let go of that discipline and rigour – and just relax into it – that you integrate what the practice has accomplished. Word

I believe that qi also translates into English as "breath" or "air". If anxiety is one of your concerns, I wouldn't underestimate the positive benefits of basic breathing exercises. I'd also recommend starting out with a real-life teacher. Good luck!

I'm not here to diss people. And I can only speak from my own experience. Just be aware that there are people whose business is separating the gullible from their money, just as there are sharks in the ocean. If you're comfortably off with a big disposable income, check it all out and see what works for you. If you're not, and you have people who depend on you, I'd recommend thinking long and hard about who most deserves to see the fruit of your labour.

Buyer beware. The cost/benefits don’t add up for at least one on that list. I speak from experience.

Basic cross-legged would do me fine right now, let alone full lotus Well, longer sits are definitely part of the equation. But even sitting on a chair, I find that around the two-hour mark pain/discomfort always becomes an issue. Not the postural back pain I had at the beginning, just the sheer pressure of the body on the sit bones. My longer sits do tend to involve the observation of pain at some point...

Yep, me too...

Interesting. What about the Baopuzi? Circa 317, no?

Yep, fear of disappearance. The mind identifying with the incarnation. I finally got around to watching that Guru Viking interview with Damo Mitchell. Is what you say here in line with his "hacking" take on alchemy? That the power is necessary to drive a process of transformation that is ultimately spiritual in nature? I find being attentive to the crap thrown up by the mind to distract you during meditation quite helpful in this respect.

It feels like you're talking about aspects of attachment/non-attachment. Acceptance of change without needing to take it personally. Not attaching to new desires made possible by change. Yeah, I guess my question really is: what is that power for? On a more trivial level, it reminds me of how I lost interest in the martial arts. It started to feel like everyone was seeking mastery either as an antidote to fear and insecurity, or for the power that mastery would confer, or some combination of the two. You know, I see these videos of qi emissions (real? fake?), and it's just like: what's the point?

Could I ask what it is that you found so inspiring?

So what is is about? Genuine question

Right now, my meditation practice is mainly based around observing the breath. If I'm sitting cross-legged, at some point discomfort is going to start interfering with my concentration. Which could be an argument to sit on a chair instead... Or it could be an argument to sit cross-legged and learn to de-identify with the discomfort... That is the question

I get it. But I'm no longer learning with that teacher, hence my uncertainty

Agreed 100%

And not just Daoist, incidentally. I believe there are Shaolin Nei Gong systems too.