Ya Mu

Very good! Both! I see you ARE serious. In regards to learning healing for others: If you feel in your heart that you know you should be a healer and want to learn the healing aspect of Taoist & Buddhist arts I suggest to investigate medical qigong. There are several good teachers in the USA. Send me a PM where you live and possibly I can give a recommendation. I have a program for medical qigong as well. Be aware that only a few of the people who post on forums study the art of medical qigong. In our program, a person can get observable results in helping others in a very short time and I would expect other medical qigong programs to do so as well. I know of no other healing art that compares with medical qigong from China with its rich developed history of use in the hospitals. There exist techniques to address dis-ease process and the accumulated results are astounding. Unfortunately it is not as well known an art as many of the self-cultivation techniques as it requires a person to learn and practice the self-cultivation techniques prior to being able to perform the medical qigong.

Going in a slightly different direct than other posts here, I would say best to simply start paying attention to the power in each moment. There are incredible amounts of things that happen that most people never see because they are too busy being busy to actually pay attention. It takes practice and should be enough to engage you for the next couple of years, and then for the rest of your life. Also, one thing I see is people thinking they need superpowers due to something they read. I see people chase these things and waste a good deal of energy in the chasing. Basically what I am saying is, enjoy and experience your life now and don't miss out on the wonderful experience of the stage of life you are in. This is a stage of your life that you never can re-coup, don't let it pass you by. Energetic practices require great dedication. You will have time later to experience these and your practice now of experiencing all of what is there, should you practice doing so, will ultimately put you to the fore of the class when you begin energetic practices. When it is time, you will be drawn towards a specific teaching due to your years of paying attention to the power inherent in each moment, of what is truly going on around you, of immersing yourself in totality of experience of that moment. In fact, you may find that you have been practicing a powerful gong-fu in itself. When you eat an orange EAT THE ORANGE, when you kiss another KISS THEM. When you walk on the beach WALK ON THE BEACH, when you laugh LAUGH. Hope this makes sense to you. Always follow your heart and don't let what anyone says on a forum be the influencing factor.

Yes, it is interesting that sometimes the most un-thought-of-beforehand places will yield some of the most amazing experiences with the Gift of the Tao movements. Although I much prefer doing the movements in nature, out-of-doors, where I am the only one around for miles, I have found that Tao doesn't discriminate and that these breakthroughs you mention are often in the most unexpected places.

You can do GOT I then immediately GOT II or you can do GOT I one day and GOT II the next day. But it is time you progressed to doing II.

If you have just a few sq feet then you compress the moves to fit your space. I have done the full sets in very small places. But eventually you will want a large outdoor area cause they can get really BIG. And I much prefer larger spaces which sure makes it tough for a venue for my workshops as I want everyone to have the ability to experience the full expression. But, heck, I have done the moves in elevators. Kinda weird, though, when you are halfway through a move and the door opens with someone standing there.

Your PM answered. I have used in the past Dr Shealy's device on acupoints. It is very relaxing and he does have a complete acupoint protocol. It did not interfere with my qigong one bit. Also I have had electro acupuncture done and it didn't interfere with my qigong either.

Perhaps the reason they didn't advise it is that is is difficult for a person to see exactly where their own imbalance is. This is why we would go to a doctor of Chinese medicine versus attempting self-acupuncture, as they can be objective whereas we will always be subjective with ourselves. That said, if the qigong system is powerful, I don't think a bit of using a home acupuncture pen is going to make that drastic a difference unless you are spending just a whole heck of amount of time hitting some arbitrary points - this could lead to significant imbalance.

Will ship this week! I believe you will enjoy this highly-energetic system.

Brian has the right of it. I would also suggest that, since Gift of the Tao gets BIG, especially when doing them outside, that it is good to have the eyes open to know where you stepping

I don't quite recall that move being in Gift of the Tao I or II We should remember a part is will, a part is intent, a part is energy. Use your will to not do anything that could be hazardous in any way. The system, as laid out, doesn't do what you describe. Yes, you were following energetics but you didn't engage will nor intent to stay within the energetics of Gift of Tao. Those spirals are already incorporated in our system in GOT II, but in a way to be utilized in harmony. I suggest doing more of the GOT II spirals to internalize the external energy patterns and not move like you did with the external pattern. Yes, I do similar shamanic oriented energetic pattern movements but they all have a specific purpose and utilize will to be in harmony with the energetics without moving in an extreme, possibly harmful to yourself pattern. Yes, the way to stay hydrated is to be hydrated when beginning practice. Certainly it effects the practice.

Just received a postcard announcing Qigong Teacher Training. Two (I assume) long, hard, difficult, sweat-inducing, instant illuminating, Qi inducing, decades - years - months - weeks - no, it is 2 DAYS and you, too can be a Qigong Teacher! Probably with a certificate. I don't guess I need to state my opinion of this. What is yours?

So far you have received two very good pieces of advise: "do what resonates with you. listen to your own inner voice as to what path to embark upon. just enter the path with sincerity and have some patience." and "an in person teacher would help miles above and beyond something from books/videos" I think to to get an idea of how the systems compare you would have to find not just one or two but several people who have practiced all 3 for a goodly period of time. I don't think there are many here who have done that. One of the keys in what you are asking is this: " I like to feel vibrations in my body and energy associated with qigong." Most people feel this in their very first session of Gift of the Tao as it is a direct energetics system. But as with any system the only way for any particular person to know is to try it for a period of time. If you would like to try our system I will make it really easy. Email me your address and I will send you the Gift of the Tao I DVD. Practice it daily for 30 days. If at the end of 30 days you like it and wish to continue the practice, then please pay me for the DVD. If you don't like it enough to continue the practice, don't be concerned with payment and either give the DVD to someone who will use it, throw in trash, or my 2nd favorite, use it as a beer coaster - but good beer only!

"Oral teachings do not undergo (intentional or inadvertent) distortion in transmission?" Not anymore than the written ones, which was my point - that you ignore the oral & practice traditions that make up the majority of Taoism because they don't fit into your tunnel vision view and are basing your conclusions ONLY on that narrow view. Others on here have quoted plenty of text that your rejection of what they posted demonstrates you are missing the point. I wasn't "criticizing you" but attempting to make you more aware of the vastness that Taoism is. One day, you may expand your horizons with an open mind and see what you are missing. Or not. Good luck with your research! It is a noble effort.

I think you are ignoring my main point, which as I have said is quite understandable given yours is a scholastic text oriented view. One of my points is that you are leaving out the majority of what Taoism actually is and utilizing a view based SOLELY on texts which are translations of translations by mostly non-practitioners of Taoist methodologies, many of which are far more divorced from the culture itself than the oral traditions from teachers living in China. If any scholar considered the energetic view, which can only be derived from the practices, I think they would have a completely different opinion. Do you really think that what was written down was only one original work by each author and that their source material didn't come from oral history and/or practices? If not, how is oral different than the written or considered to be less accurate? How about the opinion that the Tao Te Ching was written by one man who lived several centuries instead of being a collection of works by many that spanned more than one person's lifetime and itself included oral teachings? In fact, if the latter is more accurate, how could it not? If a practice worked 10,000 years ago and still works today but was modified slightly for increased efficiency, so what? It doesn't mean the practice isn't the true essence of 10,000 years ago. No one including me said that the practices hadn't evolved for efficiency, only that the oral tradition as well as the practices themselves demonstrated (to the practitioner) they were older than the 2,500 years you give - and of course a non-practitioner wouldn't nor couldn't see this. Truth is truth and illusion is illusion no matter what time period it came from so I think the whole point is moot except to make a point concerning the nature of history. Dropped, forgotten, oral only available to a few, versus written, distorted, re-written from another culture's perspective and/or changed for some particular divorced from truth purpose. An example below: George Washington was a true benevolent patriot when he refused an offered salary to be a general. True or false? If we believed written history books from our grade school years (at least mine) we would say true. And this is not 2500 years ago. In fact look at how distorted history books were in the 50's-80's speaking more from a current cultural, religious, and governmental control perspective than from any truth. How can anything written up to 2500 years ago be any different than subject to these same type distortions?

Bold mine. But this bears repeating. It is not just in the field of "reiki", although I have certainly met my share of these folk, but in this IMO stupidly coined term of "energy work". Energetics require a depth that is sorely lacking in far too many of these so called "energy work" studies. And now this has fallen over into the qigong field. Sad. ------------------------ Other: No, this was not Jeff's stuff but someone else. After laughing at it I immediately chunked it where it belongs - in the waste can. ------------------------ VA - requirements are that you meet an administrator that is willing to investigate. Just as in other hospital or western medicine settings if you meet a physician high up on the administrative ladder, things can happen. This is how I came about to teach a qigong survey course for several years at a Western Medical School both to graduating nurse practitioners and to 4th year medical students - knowing someone. Of course once this person died they ceased the program. In my local VA system, the head administrator teaches some type of (where they worship the guru) meditation and would not talk with anyone who wasn't in his religion. I would advise anyone wishing to get into the VA to try meeting with the program directors, may not get anywhere but just may reach the right person. Unfortunately the VA is just like many other government programs - full of bureaucratic red tape that hinders instead of helping.

It is relevant, not because they give you your "written what you take as "proof" - but because the practices themselves allow understanding of a personal nature. And of course, if one studies with a person deeply steeped in the culture, they pick up nuances that the text, which usually are translations of translations, cannot give to a person. This is where the oral tradition goes much further than the written one. And I would submit that instead of them being less accurate than the written ones, that they are more accurate especially considering that the texts, which are based on practices (or how do you think these fellows came about this knowledge except through observation through personal practice), were mostly translated by scholar non-practitioners. And consider the fact that the practices allow one to understand on their own without coloration by either text or oral, although I would allow that either can be helpful but oral more accurate as these were the things not written down. IMO NO teacher has ever written the full extent of their knowledge but many have passed it down to others oral and practice wise. But yes, IF IF IF IF one practices, they can come to these conclusions on their own and concepts like "wu wei" become self evident AND I would submit that the self-evident understanding differs quite much from a simple scholarly textual understanding. But I don't expect someone arguing from the point of view of having only read the texts to understand, which is the majority of scholars. Anyone should do both if they want to really understand Taoism. I have posted this on here before but my understanding started in the late 60's and by the early 70's I was one of those who THOUGHT they knew a great deal about Taoism and indeed referred to myself as a Taoist and even taught information from the classics to others, tossing around words like "wu wei" as if I really understood them. Which of course once the actual Taoist practices kicked in - as in a time period of doing them, I found that I was simply full of non-sense derived from a non-understanding of literal translations of translations which for the most part were not even steeped in the cultural experience from whence they came. I am not saying these texts hold no value but that the real understanding is much deeper than in the reading of them. Sometimes reading CAN trigger certain deeper memory or discovery that is unprecedented in one's journey. But it is the living of the thing itself that brings true understanding. The oral traditions I learned which also coincide with the practices has indeed convinced me that concepts/teachings/knowledge called Taoism is much older than 2500 years - MUCH older. I am not attempting to "prove" this but to explain about the difference in a knowledge set gained through practice and oral traditions. Trying to "prove" anything based only on that particular thing lacks depth - such as trying to "prove" that texts written since 2500 years ago (by referring to them) are the only and ultimate source and beginning of any particular knowledge, especially since those who actually studied oral and practice traditions have a different and expanded knowledge set.

Most scholars are because they have not practiced the practices nor have they heard the oral traditions. Understandable.

Of course there is also the oral history handed down from those who actually study Taoism through Master-Student oral and practice tradition, much of which predates these texts. But it would totally freak the scholars who don't know of the practices and they will correctly argue that there is no proof. And I say "correctly" because they are correct in the technical sense. But those who did learn the oral traditions would disagree. But I certainly can't argue about it - only show the concepts as something that can be experienced. My opinion, based on the above, is that there is absolutely no question that what is called Taoism predates the texts.

I know, what was I thinking? Seems like we met the exact same reiki people - what are the odds. OK, so I had this lady come to one of my workshops a long time ago and she introduced herself as a qigong master. I told her I was honored that she came - and I was, but not for the reason of her being a qigong master, but for the opportunity to help her. When I projected energy to her she looked at me and asked what the heck was this she was feeling. Turns out she took a week long (better than 2 days, I guess) course that made her a "master" but had never felt qi before. Well, hell, I do have several certificates and they (VA) won't even talk to me about qigong. But I agree that it is the personal training and not the certificate that is important. I have noticed this type of behavior as well. Sad. Do they think we won't notice?

Oh I don't think I disagree with you as essentially that IS what happens, the part of what you said " I can be consciously between waking and sleeping through adherence to my sense of location or I can be unconsciously between waking and sleeping..." is what I call "shifting" in our system. I have mentioned before I have proven this in a sleep lab where standing, eyes open, fully conscious the monitors showed I went through the first 3 stages of sleep - inside of 3 minutes. We can learn to do this, though, through the practice itself. When I project Qi in wai qi liao fa, I am in this state. However, this doesn't mean that the only way to accumulate and circulate qi is in that state, it just means that all is optimized, with higher efficiency. After all, most people never realize this "state" yet they continue to live - this living requires Qi to be gathered and circulate - otherwise we would be dead. It just is not enough Qi, for most people, to raise the energy body vibration for awareness shift. A kinda catch 22 which of course is resolved through proper qigong practice. In general, if ALL activity comes from Dan Tian, as TM says, we utilize a harmony (or create a harmony) of internal and external awareness. And this is a part of what is called "the alchemical process". A developed Dan Tian results in increased awareness.

Do you think one may want to consider natural peristalsis when choosing pressure and direction of an abdominal "qi massage"?

How about instead of "eating up more fuel" look at it as increasing the efficiency of the engine. It is also feeding the engine external energy for use in that transmutation. And I don't agree with that "consensus". You are trying to narrow down a complex process into one thing. It is much more. All the words describing this process are wrong in that each person finds out that the words only described an infinitely small aspect of the process. The cultivation itself is bigger than the limited words that attempt to describe it, so if a person gets hung up on the words with an intellectual limited meaning, the process can be inhibited. If the person approaches the process with an open mind there is infinite potential awaiting.

Thanks for posting that. My decades of owning and operating a pain clinic let me hear that "Bone popping", "Subluxation" and "Vertebrae out of place" nomenclature from my 500 or so x-chiropractic clients until I wanted to actually pop a bone in them. Not really, but it was annoying. Took a while to educate them, but I think the majority of people do believe that is what is happening.

Those of you who studied authentic Chinese Medicine may have heard of these "Little Treasures". Basically they are formulas, "cures", "folk" medicine, closely guarded secrets only shared with a few. They are usually handed down in a lineage but can be passed from a teacher to anyone and are many times family secrets. This topic came to mind as I am searching for my packed up notebook (somewhere) of "Little Treasures". A lot of these are really interesting but would not suit the western...mind... er, no, stomach, er... Anyway, some of them would seem quite bizarre to a western trained person yet sometimes make (western) pharmaceutical sense. It is highly unlikely that anyone who has some of these are able to share due to confidentiality but I thought it would be interesting to see if anyone can. I have never shared these in my workshops. If anyone can, it will be understood that they are not for treating any disease but shared from a historical viewpoint. If I can find my book I will try to share a sample. In the meantime???

Unfortunately, I think my notebook of "Little Treasures" is still packed up in a box somewhere from the last time I moved my pain clinic (or the time before that). Most of the treasures I could not have used in my clinic; these type of things, as I mentioned in the first post, would not be well received by the western audience. Brian, interesting historic remedy. I would say this qualifies as a "Little Treasure". Although I personally would probably not go to the trouble of getting the plant as I keep "Technu" on my shelf. Of course, if that wasn't available, I need to look up the jewel-weed plant and make sure I can recognize it although I think I would. A case of poison ivy sux.