Dainin

Based on what my yoga teachers have told in the past about using a headstand bench, it's probably a good idea to gradually build up the time you spend inverted. There may be a possibility of eye problems from too much pressure.

The bouncing and shaking movements for dispersing stagnation seem to be pretty widespread. Jerry Alan Johnson does a few of them in his qigong video. There's also a psychologist, Bradford Keeny, who's done a lot of cross-cultural comparsions of these movements. He has a book called "Shaking Medicine" (I think) that I haven't read yet, but plan to eventually. Good luck!

I've seen this concept appear across a number of different cultures, which leads me to think that there is some validity to it. I've seen it mentioned in R.W. Smith's book Chinese Boxing and Jay Gluck's book Zen Combat. The 3HO Kundalini Yoga people are into cold showers too.

Some people choose the bucket of cold water all at once, others a gradual cooling down of the shower. Still others alternate between hot and cold. I find the last approach is most appealing to me personally.

This seems like something that could be experimentally tested pretty easily

Thanks, will do.

 

By the way, what is KAP?

This the Kundalini Awakening Process, originally developed by the late Dr. Glenn Morris, now taught by his students Santiago Dobles (Vajrasattva) and Tao Semko.

Welcome Nate,

Check out a thread in the main forum from June 22nd entitled "Burning Palm System" by Spirit Ape. It sounds like it may be relevant to your interests.

Regarding the Mantak Chia system, I think most of the complaints about his approach involve the sexual methods. I haven't heard too many negative comments about the MCO. It would probably make sense to learn the Inner Smile first. The KAP system that you'll read about on here makes good use of both of these practices.

Hry guys on there are two forms the first and second level. Some of the second level forms focus more on the legs and hurt my knees,some dont. Do you think its okay to take out the moves That i am okay with and ignore the other ones and just add the moves from the second form to the first one to make a longer form? Or do you think that would cause something energetcally?

Hi Ramon, there is a forum dedicated to the Shibashi forms where you could ask questions about this:

Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi Forum

Sifu Cheung does note that the second level is more physically challenging, and suggests doing the first level as a warm up, or doing some other warm up exercises. It was designed to bring more energy to the lower body in comparison with the first level. I hope he will do another workshop on the second level next year.

Now I need your help , I want to open my third eye.

There is a free e-book available on this topic by Dr. Samuel Sagan:

Awakening the Third Eye

I haven't tried the method myself, so I can't comment on its effectiveness, but hopefully it will

give you some useful tips. Good luck!

But I am in need of guidance because I've been running into serious walls during meditation lately while pondering over all this emptiness business.

If you are pondering, you are not meditating.

Sorry to hear about your yoga mishap, what a nightmare! This might be too obvious to mention, but there are lots of non-dairy, vegetarian milks available in health food stores, and now even supermarkets, including rice milk, soy milk, almond milk and hemp milk. They are all lactose-free, and as an added advantage, don't contain carcinogenic bovine growth hormones, steroids, antibiotics, and other extra crap that we get in milk here in the U.S. Although I did see an article recently that stated many brands of soy milk have a chemical called hexane in them. One brand they mentioned that does not was Eden (there were a few more that I don't remember). Personally, I find the product called "Rice Dream" to be quite tasty.

Michael is right about Mantak Chia. I have some audio tapes of him, and he keeps burping constantly. It gets pretty annoying actually.

Bruce Lee?

Thoughts?

"Don't think, feel"

It's being made into a movie with an impressive cast:

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Should be interesting and/or funny!

I enjoyed the book too. The author is pretty skeptical (although not entirely), and has

a good, cynical sense of humor. He also has an earlier book Them: Adventures with Extremists

that looked at conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and Art Bell, in a similar vein.

 

Is the condensed form required only for those who cannot spend enough time doing levels 1 and 2? Though this is what someone told me, that does not seem to be what Sifu Ou writes on his website. Do you notice a significant increase in energy from levels 1/2 to 3? ...

 

I noticed earlier that you practice(d) Xiang Gong. Did you practice the two forms (Xiang Gong and Pangu Shengong) together? While Sifu Ou does not seem to restrict the practitioner from practicing other forms (when I once talked to him and asked him this question, all he said was that one would not feel the need for other practices), Tian Ruisheng does instruct one not to practice other forms while practicing Fragrance Qigong.

The energy in level 3 feels stronger to me, and is generated in 1/3 the time. Sifu Ou did caution people not to stop practicing the other levels after learning it though. I do practice the Xiang Gong and Pan Gu together often, and have had no ill effects. I was not aware of Master Tian stating not to practice it with other forms. If I was going to hypothetically be limited to one practice, the Pan Gu Shengong would be my choice (well after zazen anyway). I just happen to enjoy rotating a few practices. Good luck and good health!

There were some people on here a few years ago that were into a practice called Focusing that was supposed to be useful for this purpose as well. I was just reminded of it in the bookstore a few days ago, when I saw and bought a book about it: The Power of Focusing: A Practical Guide to Emotional Self-Healing I haven't read it yet, so I can't make any comments about the practice at this time. Perhaps someone here can...

Dainin,

 

Do you still practice Pan Gu Shengong? I have been practicing the moving form for a few years now and do the non-moving form much more often. What is interesting here is that Sifu associates Sun with the left channel and Moon with the right, as opposed to the yoga tradition which does the exact opposite.

 

I have really not been strict with visualization but stick mostly to the movements alone. I have found this Qigong to be generating more energy in less time and with really simple movements. I am not too sure on the "channelling" controversy associated with this form (like Falun) but I have not had any negative effects so far. I am considering doing the third level, but that needs to be learnt from Sifu Ou personally.

 

I happened to watch Jeff's level 1 and 2 DVDs a few days ago and his form didn't seem to do much for me. In fact, if anything did work, it was simply the spirals.

Hi SV1, yes I do practice it on an ongoing basis (I keep a practice log in the Tao Lounge), mostly the moving and the advanced (aka condensed) form. I should do the non-moving form more often, but I have a regular sitting practice already. It's on my to do list, along with a bunch of other stuff! I learned all the levels from Master Ou a few years ago, while enrolled in a medical qigong program at the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture, including the 3 forms, healing skills and instructor training. It was the primary method the practioners used to generate qi. I would definitely recommend attending some of Master Ou's classes if you have a chance. I'm not a big fan of the channeling concept either, but I can't deny what I feel when I do the practices! If anyone reading this is interested in checking it out, the web site is: Pan Gu Shengong

I also noticed that "sun and moon combined" has a similar meaning to hatha yoga, hatha being sun and moon, and yoga being union. Not sure about the left and right channels, although I think in some models they cross over and switch sides at the location of the chakras. Regarding the Jeff Primack stuff, I agree about the spirals, and I found the "pressing on qi" notion useful too. His 4 day workshop is worth attending for fun, and is quite inexpensive considering.

Mak Tin Si...according to his signature file!

Do a Conspiracy Really Exist?

No, everything is under control!

The Ethiopian bread is okay, but it's the various dishes that go on top of it that are really good! The bread soaks up the sauces. For those who've never been to an Ethiopian restaurant, there are no utensils, you pick up the food with the bread. I wish there was one closer to where I live! Persian food is really good too...

I forgot that I had this one: Self-Massage Along Meridians and Acupoints by Wang Chuangui. I found it at Barnes & Noble strangely enough, as it was published in China (Foreign Languages Press Beijing, 2002). It includes sections on methods, healthcare and therapeutics. The translated text is good. The price on this link is a lot less than I paid for it.

When I googled this title, I also found this dvd: Practical Healthcare Self-Massage Along Meridians and Acupoints. I don't know if the author of the above book had anything to do with this. It's part of a whole series that appears to cover some interesting stuff: head and foot massage, cupping, guasha, etc.

"Walking on water wasn't built in a day" -- Jack Kerouac's comment to Timothy Leary regarding this. (Of course Kerouac drank himself to death instead...)

I just saw him in an episode of a new tv show called "Mental" (about a psychiatric hospital). It was kind of eerie, as his character was in a catatonic state and had no lines of dialogue. In one scene, portraying what was going on in his mind, it looked like he was floating in the afterlife, reaching out towards his daughter...strange. Other than that, I wasn't too impressed with the show. It was almost a total copy of "House MD", except in a psych hospital.

A master is someone invulnerable, so we can even shit a big pile of poop on the master's head and that's OK too. At least, isn't it what we think masters are? On the other hand, if masters are vulnerable, fragile and fallible just like you, then how are you different from a master? Why not call yourself a master too? If the master has more compassion, then are you saying you are a bit of a dick right now? Really?

I think in this instance you would be master baiting!

Hello Mewtwo. Yes, I am also interested in the borderlands between yoga and the martial arts, and have two books on it:

When the Body Becomes All Eyes: Paradigms, Discourses and Practices of Power in Kalarippayattu, a South Indian Martial Art by Phillip B. Zarrilli

This is the most comprehensive book I've seen on it. It's more of an academic study than a how-to. He was a theatre professor in Wisconsin, but now lives in Wales.

Kalarippayat: India's Ancient Martial Art by D.H. Luijendijk

This one shows more of the techniques, but less background. The author has another longer book on the subject that I have not bought yet: Kalarippayat

He also has an interesting book on the Persian mind-body practice of Zoor Khane which is like a bodyweight exercise workout done to the beat of a drum and recitation of sacred poetry. I've written reviews of these books on Amazon.com if you want more info.

There is another good book on Kalarippayatt published in India, I think the author's name was Balakrishnan, but I don't have the info handy. Hope this helps...

I don't think anyone has ever lived in any moment other than now. Nor has anyone has ever been any place other than here.

Hey guys is it possible to string together a bunch of qi gung exercises from different sources sytems and practice as your own set?

From my perspective, I string together different sets, but do the exercises in the sets in the same order I learned them. I do the sets in different order, but keep the integrity of the individual set as I learned it. I also try to avoid systems that tell you not to mix their sets with other peoples. This isn't to say that that is not a valid approach. I just like to keep some variety in my practice.

That being said, if you want to try a "mashup", why not try it and see how it feels. If it doesn't feel right, stop! It might be better to combine movements that are supposed to have a similar purpose or effect. It would probably be good to have more advanced knowledge of TCM and/or anatomy to create a mix that works well. Otherwise there may have to be some trial and error. It would be a good idea to record what movements you are doing, and what your reaction is to them. Just my opinion. Have fun!