rsalazar

Hello Everyone, Thank you Sifu Terry, Sifu Garry, Fu Dog and all the rest for keeping this thread spinning - I have been spotty with my practice lately, you all have inspired me to get off my **se and redouble my efforts, time flies by too quickly. I also just wanted to chime in on a question Sifu Terry asked a while back on experiences with the FP flash meditations - when I first started my practice, I did the flash meds along with sets of the sitting exercises - I would also practice just the flash meds when I did not have a lot of time - In my experience, it seemed like I was feeling effects from the flash meditations despite just beginning my practice, I really noticed that I felt a lot less vulnerable to catching colds during the winters. Best, R

Hello Vortex, They both read me under different conditions - Robert Peng read me while doing an initial body scan right before treatment, he made very specific statements about 2 meridians, I laughed because he was right on point - The tenaga dalam teacher that read me was Pak Pohan's teacher, she read me over the phone within minutes, she said "I don't want to startle you, but . . . " then went on to give me the very same specific comments on the 2 meridians, she was right on target as well. It was a great experience and quite inspiring. PM me if you'd like more info. Cheers, R

Great discussion, so many great points Mike, you hit the nail right on the head. In my perspective, our natural drives have been skewed by a lot of popular media (we're immersed in information, whereas ancient man was immersed in nature), so noise covers a lot of signal. I think it is helpful to approach from the EFT angle at times as an adjunct, you only invest minutes throughout the day and if the diagnostic is wrong, no harm done. Here is an approach that, in my small experience, resulted in the dropping of this attachment over the course of about a week (it freed up gigabytes of memory BTW)- I did 3 rounds (about a minute) in the morning before practice, another 3 at night before practice Just follow along at 5:15 in the clip - it costs nothing except a minute of time - mileage may vary, but certainly worth a go for a week to see what happens. All the best luck in your practice. R

Hey Guys, Very cool observations, I see connections also with dry skin brushing, which some teachers also recommend as an adjunct to regular qigong practice. I may need to dust off my brush and hit the reset. R

In Robert Peng's book, he relates an interesting story of how his teacher encouraged him after a certain stage to meditate in graveyards and how these places have their own special energy that can be beneficial - his teacher gave him a mantra to concentrate on (it basically translates as "peace and calm", I paraphrase) and at one time he did encounter a negative energy which he described as trying to crawl up his back, but he kept concentrating on the mantra and focused heart-energy on it, after which it went away. Coming from another angle, Robert Svoboda relates his experiences meditating in graveyards in his book Aghora, not for the faint of heart. I have only attempted meditation once in an unusual place, a haunted restaurant after hours (I was curious about reports of odd sensations in this place). All was quiet at my end, I felt nothing. Other people with me would feel pressure, which I think was variable over time (they weren't meditating but walking around). Two other people nearby claimed to have seen a deck of cards moved (the only activity that night, the restaurant was the site of a brothel back in the 1800's). Cheers, R

Hello All, I just came back from Michael's seminar in Terre Haute, and I have to say it was a great experience for me. Michael packed in a lot of information in the 2 days I was there. On day one, Michael lit me up like a campfire within a minute of illustrating a point during his lecture. This was the second time I've had the privilege of having a palpable experience of chi projection. The heat that I experienced was as overt as the electrical shocks I got from Robert Peng. I felt a ball of heat at the base of my torso, then it felt like a tube of heat going up the middle of my body and into my neck and head. The sensation was most intense around my neck and then was harder to localize as it went up into my head. I was sweating quite a bit. Michael has impressive abilities. We spent a bit over an hour doing the sitting practice as he worked on adjusting us. We also did static standing practice, the Gift of Tao forms, as well as other goodies. It was also great meeting kenpomaster, snowmonki, and the rest of the group. Many thanks to Michael and all his students for making good medicine. Cheers, Rene'

I like the description of dynamic imbalance, great way to put things Here are two of my favorite capoeira videos: A beautiful Angola game Human helicopters in a Regional frenzy I've been in the game for about 12 years now, haven't been training as much since moving to Texas, not much capoeira in my neck of the woods - it's been a great way to train agility and give your body a diet of movement variation - It can get as spiritual as you like or things can remain very physical - The art at its foundation is very connected to the Afro-Brazilian spiritual traditions such as candomble and santeria - my first mestre was an apprentice to a medium in Santos that channeled Dr. Fritz - once, he and another apprentice were chastized by the spirit for having relations with women without protection, they were given and warning about certain requirements that needed to be made to work with him, he said he couldn't keep any secrets from this particular spirit. I would highly encourage you to seek out and visit schools - beware there are quite a few schools that are also quite violent, so take your time before deciding on one to attend. Best, R

Interesting read. Disturbing that only Jim, despite acknowledging Pak John's far more extensive contact and experience with spirits, has the wisdom and discernment to say that Liao is really a "demon" Really? Despite Jim's neigong attainments, he seems to oversimplify the spirit world to a King James sunday school filter, everything not God is "the devil" - Jim seems quite intent on forcing his biblically interpreted viewpoint on different cultures, way out of context - power and spiritual knowledge are not mutually inclusive - this also comes out again when he dismisses the whole pursuit of nirvana in isolation, saying hermits are not serving mankind at all. How does he know that perhaps some of them are not having any impact on society? He's at least talking about them, no? If Pak John is following the instructions of a "demon" and the specific path of power is from a "demon" then isn't Jim himself following a "demon" and doing black magic just by association? Interesting how he tries to reconcile this with his Christian beliefs. R

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Hey Joeblast, Grrrrrreat link, broth is beautiful stuff - It's the ideal food for the sick and recovering since it's basically an animal "extract" and all the goodies are quickly and easily absorbed - I'd also like to put in the good word for avocado, which has been found to contain several phytochemicals which seem to promote the growth of chondrocytes, which are the cells that actually produce cartilage in the joints, here is an example. Cheers, R Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2008 Jun;5(2):191-7. Metabolic effects of avocado/soy unsaponifiables on articular chondrocytes. Lippiello L, Nardo JV, Harlan R, Chiou T. Source Nutramax Laboratories Inc, Edgewood, MD 21040, USA. Abstract Avocado/soy unsaponifiable (ASU) components are reported to have a chondroprotective effect by virtue of anti-inflammatory and proanabolic effects on articular chondrocytes. The identity of the active component(s) remains unknown. In general, sterols, the major component of unsaponifiable plant material have been demonstrated to be anti-inflammatory in vitro and in animal models. These studies were designed to clarify whether the sterol content of ASU preparations were the primary contributors to biological activity in articular chondrocytes. ASU samples were analyzed by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and GC mass spectrometry. The sterol content was normalized between diverse samples prior to in vitro testing on bovine chondrocytes. Anabolic activity was monitored by uptake of 35-sulfate into proteoglycans and quantitation of labeled hydroxyproline and proline content after incubation with labeled proline. Anti-inflammatory activity was assayed by measuring reduction of interleukin-1 (IL-1)-induced synthesis of PGE2 and metalloproteases and release of label from tissue prelabeled with S-35.All ASU samples exerted a similar time-dependent up-regulation of 35-sulfate uptake in bovine cells reaching a maximum of greater than 100% after 72 h at sterol doses of 1-10 mug/ml. Non-collagenous protein (NCP) and collagen synthesis were similarly up-regulated. All ASU were equally effective in dose dependently inhibiting IL-1-induced MMP-3 activity (23-37%), labeled sulfate release (15-23%) and PGE2 synthesis (45-58%). Up-regulation of glycosaminoglycan and collagen synthesis and reduction of IL-1 effects in cartilage are consistent with chondroprotective activity. The similarity of activity of ASU from diverse sources when tested at equal sterol levels suggests sterols are important for biologic effects in articular chondrocytes.

Hey Cheya, Thanks for sharing your experience - I've been playing with baoding balls on and off over the years and they definitely have enhanced manual dexterity in general - have you noticed similar effects with solid steel balls? I personally love the solid ones, but I've never noticed sensations even when twirling them at high speeds, maybe I don't have enough juice Cheers, Rene'

Wow, very cool - whole-body listening and power - love the shoulder strikes - you might find similar training associated with guys like Chen Xiao Wang or his student Ren Guan Yi. Cheers, R

Hello Sifu Terry, Many thanks for the advice and I wish you all the best in your court case. Rene'

Hello Sifu Terry, I ended up sneezing right after completing the percentage breathing for one of the flash meditations - I figured I blew it (no pun intended) for that exercise, so I just did my 3 closing breaths to exit - I will rest a few minutes and resume the exercise again - Is this the correct way to go when there is a momentary interruption in any exercise? Thanks and I hope all is well, Rene'

Hi Cat, Yeah, it's a little scary whenever I hear stuff like this, but I have to remind myself that, as you said, both things are probably happening at the same time. Cheers, R

Hi Hundun, Good point, it would be pretty dangerous to put too much into books with regards to mysticism, it can lead to a lot of trouble Yep, JAJ's Essence of Internal Martial arts series is a treasure trove of info, a lot of good stuff. Clyman's presentation is definitely not for everyone for sure - yeah, it does seem like a lot of coffee is involved with his neigung Cheers, R

Hey Robmix, Yeah, good question, I really don't know the whole story behind his background - I'd love to visit Clyman at some point, I'd love to hear more from anyone that has visited him. R

JAJ seems to have a huge amount of knowledge, but some of his books, like the one on mudras, are *really* overpriced and totally devoid of overt instructional material- I ran into one of his students years ago who felt that JAJ was opening energetic doors with some students that they couldn't handle. Clyman has abilities and power, but his stuff is fairly expensive - a fellow I know (fairly large, over 200lbs) went to visit Clyman a few years back and got rocked when he asked for a power demo, he said he actually got lifted off the floor when he got punched, wish I could have witnessed this - Since Clyman is a disciple of Waysun Liao, so you might get some basic info by checking Liao's material. R

Hello Sifu Denney, One more question: If I plan on doing a session of Celestial nei gung, then do a medical qigong after, I still need to do the closing at the end of the CNG session before starting the other qigong, is this correct? Thanks, Rene'

Hello Sifu Denney, Very helpful, many thanks for the insights. I would guess it will also be beneficial to do quiet sitting/emptiness meditation after - Would CNG help clear the mind for this type of meditation? Best, Rene'

Hello Sifu Denney, Thanks for creating this discussion - One general question about Celestial Neigong practice: How long would you recommend separating this neigong from other energy practices? I am getting back into my regimen and I'm trying to practice CNG alongside with a purely medical qigong (nothing martial). Is it sufficient to do a session of CNG, go back to routine daily matters for an hour or two, then start with another qigong? I know some energies are incompatible and I respect all these differences, so any insight is greatly appreciated. All the best, Rene'

Hello MithShrike, How has the diet you've seen with the Yucatecs compare with that of tribes like the Tarahumara? I imagine corn is a big focus, but what about other foods such as chia and spirulina? I've been impressed with chia and spirulina in particular and I've been using these as snacks when I don't have time to eat a meal. Do the Yucatec use tonic herbs on a long-term basis like in Chinese medicine? Is dantian use taught with an emphasis on visualization? Thanks in advance, Rene'

Hello MithShrike, Thanks for the article, *very* cool stuff - with regards to the intense viz practice, does this entail exercises such at trataka (candle gazing) or does this school emphasize pure concentration practices to perfect visualization? Thanks in advance and all the best, Rene'

Hello Shen, This is a really good question which I believe was already addressed by Sifu Terry very early in this thread - go back through this whole thread for the full reply, I'm sure Sifu Terry will fill in any extra points later. Cheers, Rene'