Sahaj Nath

*bows* well put, brother.

hey vaj, i REALLY want that sound track. what's the album?

yeah. stick with it and eventually you will be able to relax. if it takes practice, then it takes practice. yin and yang are relative terms and are therefore context specific. BUT, as a general rule, the in breath is generally considered yin, and the out breath is yang. the more you relax into your body, the more you will realize that naturally. don't be in a rush. bounce and shake for a good 10 minutes before your sit down for the practice. dropping post and trembling horse, if you're familiar with those exercises. if not, just make it look like a native indian dance. have some fun with it. it'll loosen you up. if you have a tendency to latch on too much and make it an effort, nows the time to break that habit. lucky for you that you know what the task is. put in the time. things are only difficult until they're not anymore. you've probably been a shallow breather for the better part of your life. seems to be sort of a quiet desperation in the mind needing to do something so badly that it can't even passively follow the breath. layers of tension that you're probably not even aware of yet. you need a seated practice. it one of the best things you can do for yourself. stick with it. it may even get frustrating and aggravating at times, but stick with it. the nervous system will eventually ease up and relax. and release. and that alone can be blissful.

of course. when the people WANT to change their lives for the better. i've also had HORRIBLE experiences trying to change people who don't want to change. no parent likes to be judged by their child. no parent likes to be policed by their child. and few people ever make positive, life-long changes based on those two influences. HELPING people change is different from changing people. how old are you? and as a person who sees their parents as "brainwashed," are you in the best position to assist them in a meaningful way? as people who have taken care of you and supported you and nurtured you and educated you and protected you and a whole host of other things you probably won't realize for another 20 years, maybe they've earned the right to their imperfections. i'm overweight. i don't always eat the "right" things. but i can also get up from this computer and run two miles and not even be winded when i'm done. i'm a bad dresser. some days i look downright ghetto. but i can also affect tumors and cysts and cancer cells, and awaken the energy in others, with the force that i emit. an argument can be made that those who would assume otherwise about me because of my appearance are themselves "brainwashed." be the change you wish to see. and continue to accept them and embrace them either way. for whatever it's worth.

actually, i think you might be counteracting some of the practice if you keep trying to "do" something with your mind. especially if you're trying to guide energy up the spine or something of that sort. you can just pay attention to your breath, but other than that you should make no assumptions about what will or should happen. don't try to control the unfolding of the process. let it do whatever it does. it just might surprise you. everyone is tempted to "do" something extra when they approach practices that call for non-action. the best thing you can "do" is "get out of the way" of the natural unfolding. that's my take, anyway.

look at the attitudes on this board of the people who love the practice the most. fun-loving, almost care-free and kid-like. they have a lot of fun and they are open to anything being possible. if you can approach the seminar with that kind of sensibility, you'll get the most out of it. look to have a good time, and bring your sense of humor with you. if you feel like that's just not who you are or who you want to be, you might be disappointed. *hint* maybe one day as mantra and i begin to find common ground i'll even put in a few good words for the kunlun crew.

in a nutshell, i teach qigong, meditation, and philosophy. i also do a lot of personal counseling and life coaching. also teach healing, but i don't think i'm very good at that because the healing work i do isn't a step-by-step process. i can teach students how to listen and how to see, and i can even show them some basic techniques, but to really be effective takes more than technique. my workshops revolve around the authenticity of spiritual practice as more than the mere adoption and practice of beliefs. one of my favorite lectures is on meditation as a means of unplugging from cultural hypnosis. makes a strong impact, particularly on college crowds. i hope to gain sponsorship so that i can offer free medical qigong workshops in some of the poor neighborhoods in my area. some day i want to have a center, but for now i think i'm doing pretty okay.

healer and teacher. people pay what they can, and i never turn anyone away for monetary reasons. i do a few workshops from time to time, but mostly i work from home. it allows me to spend LOTS of time alone, which is more valuable to me than a high paying job.

i totally agree. there are no words to express how grateful i am for not having to get one of those "real" jobs.

bullshit. don't buy it. you're 22 years old. don't judge yourself for draining those nuts at every opportunity. LOL! i can't believe i just wrote that! you just need to find the right practices. remember, some people are blown into enlightenment with no spiritual training whatsoever. so you KNOW they are not celibate. other people dedicate their lives, and they never get there. your quality of self that you bring to your journey is far more important than the path you choose. all roads lead home. because you're already there. Glenn Morris was jerking off when his Kundalini erupted. do you think he was practicing celibacy? Nope. just know what you want, and fucking mean it, bro. a transmission will help. if you can't find someone to give you one, i'll give you one myself the next time i'm in your area. but don't ever think the gates are closed to you. EVER. they're only closed if you close your mind.

there IS an "I" to know. this world is here, too. you write as if you've been wrestling with deep spiritual concepts. but it's NOT a concept. it's SO much simpler and closer to you than that. try to believe that you cannot do wrong. just try it. and choose happiness.

exactly what i was thinking. perhaps there is sometimes a connection with balding and the kidneys/jing in the body, but i see no consistency in that correlation whatsoever. i mean, shouldn't everyone on dialysis be bald or something? has NO ONE ever trained with a master who was bald and yet still very healthy and very much a bad-ass? Jerry Alan Johnson comes to mind. i thought he looked kind of funny in the 90's when he was totally bald on top, yet had all this hair on the sides and in the back. i always wondered why he didn't follow in the trend of the 90's by cutting it all off. then later he did. but not because it was in style. perhaps the more important work that needs to be done in on the psychological conditioning that elevates a matter like balding to an issue worthy of research and experimentation among spiritual folk. it just seems like a waste to me.

i've been teaching qigong for a few years now, and the only time i ever reverse breathe is when it arises naturally. a good friend of mine swears by it, but choosing not to do it won't prevent you from developing. it may slow your energetic breakthrough progress a little bit (unless, of course, you know some other powerful techniques), but not necessarily. it sounds to me like maybe you're just trying too hard. you just need some practice with reverse breathing. it can feel very good and at times even more relaxing than normal abdominal breathing. when you reverse breathe you're naturally massaging the internal organs with the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles. you're also expanding your lower back, which can cleanse and release vast amounts of energy. depending on your personal goals with your practice, reverse breathing could prove to be just the ticket. it's not my thing, but that's not because it's uncomfortable. take the time to learn to do it correctly, THEN decide what you think about it. but in the meantime, take emily's advice.

Mantra, reading what you have written over these past 2 days has made me feel as i've misjudged you. your advice and your perspective have been really sound. you really are guiding people in good spirit. i can't help but acknowledge and respect that. i do have a question, though. and it's NOT an attack. seriously. i agree with everything you've written that i just quoted above. but why doesn't this hold true also for the 7402 masters? why isn't that also considered "extra?" illusions can create fear as well as desire. i'm thinking now of the concept of 'kill the buddha.' the experience of positive beings can be even more or a distraction than negative ones, no?

WYG, i think you should make this a separate thread. you may get some interesting responses. not everyone is going to click on this thread, so your chances of getting more responses are better if you post it as its own discussion topic. give a cool title, too!

greetings, neo. we all carry trauma in our nervous system, and sometimes clearing out that baggage requires going through the discomfort of being startled or frightened. sometimes phenomenon like you experienced is triggered precisely to elicit the fight or flight response that you felt. i agree with taomeow about not denying the existence of spirits, but i want to temper that by saying don't be so quick to draw conclusions about what you experienced. indeed you are asking questions because you realize some of what you don't know about that event, but there is still much that you are presuming. how do you know if the entity was there to help? well, let's back up and ask first, how do you know that is was, in fact, an entity? the spirit world is far more complex and nuanced than most people understand, and so is our own being. so jumping to the conclusion that it was either a spirit guide (which can itself be a GROSS oversimplification of an advanced being) or some other visitor is presumptuous. what do you want out of your practice? what are you looking for? and how important is it to you? i think these are important questions, especially given that you're 17. you could be a real spiritual seeker, or someone who just wants to dabble and play around with some cool spiritual stuff, or someone who's more focused on evolving the body with energy practices, or something else entirely. any answer is fine so long as it's honest, but i think knowing where you are impacts how best to proceed as such phenomena begin to arise in your practice. spiritual practice is not, and was never meant to be, a never ending vacation. sometimes there is pain to be reckoned with. sometimes fear. sometimes delusion. and a host of other things. i can offer many suggestion, as can many others in this forum. but it really depends on where you really are and what you're looking for out of your practice. i wouldn't be so quick to banish or protect or do any of that stuff. it's all presumptuous right now. courage and trust are built through trial, and the psyche can be a tricky thing. so don't be too quick to deny yourself an opportunity to grow. i guess that's about all i can say without knowing more about you.

i would make the same argument about the notion of connecting with spirits in ones practice. often we can be dealing with manifestations of our own (or disowned) psyche, and we are quick to attribute it to a more supernatural phenomenon. what i have found is that much of the intense stuff tends to be my own brain and heart mixing with high influxes of qi, and that its actually the more subtle phenomena that truly connect me to other beings. btw, glad you're back, WYG!

i do. more than you know. sorry if you find me grotesque.

hmm. fair enough, Sean. i guess i can understand that.

wasn't hard to see the set up for THAT cheap shot. for the record, i have no weakness in my stance training. i stand for at least an hour just about every day. i have a couple of students who lurk periodically on this board who can attest to that. my weakness was in my shoulder, and i wasn't about to damage it further to prove that i "had heart" or however you put it a couple of posts ago. fact is i hurt my shoulder during a breaking demo, and though it's a lot better, it's still not 100%. you obviously don't remember that when he told everyone to take a break i remained in the stance and went even deeper as i shifted into the "embracing tree" pose. that was when he began to tell folks what my hand positioning was used for, which was inaccurate. the damage to my shoulder was something i'd expected Max to be able to perceive with his "wisdom eye" as per your claim, but that didn't pan out in our private session when he scanned me. nor did his perception of my missing gall bladder or scarred intestines from where i took a knife, nor my level of energetic attainment or the lineage of my energy. just that i have wind energy and something about Sirius, which incidentally ALL dark-skinned people seem to have a connection with via the Dogon tribe. didn't take much a wisdom eye for that insight. to be fair, i continued to practice the 5 element postures and it was instrumental in helping to rehabilitate my shoulder. but standing for an hour is NO measure of perseverence. it's something every experienced cultivator should be able to do. like anything else, it gets easier with time. i don't even sweat when i do it unless i yang breathe with an intent to cleanse. nothing special. it's just a matter of logging the practice time. and there's nothing at all wrong with any student starting with 5 minutes of standing and steadily building up to that hour. your supposed measuring stick of standing for an hour as a test of one's heart, without appropriate preparation, can actually be damaging. all i ever wanted from you guys was honesty. i went to that workshop with absolute sincerity. the problem was that i didn't go there for the Spontaneous Adjustment Qigong practice, as i told you then. i was there primarily for the wisdom of a fellow healer who was further along the path than i was. he gave me his vague working knowledge of the 5-element theory, which i obviously already had.

finally, some honesty about the practice is out there. you two rock! Spontaneous Adjustment Qigong. and it has NOTHING AT ALL to do with the kunlun school. Marketing this practice as the holy grail and the quickest path to enlightenment is downright unethical. i hope people will sober up. by all means continue to enjoy the practice, but sober up about Max and Mantra and the Lineage and the lies. but i already know that many will still cling to the fairy tales and are probably aching for Mantra to reply with some explanation that soothe away the discomfort they're feeling about possibly having been duped. it happened 8 months ago after the SF workshop. EDIT: looks like that already happened. well, you people are adults. you'll decide for yourselves what you want to believe. as always.

you DO realize that Universal Life Force energy is EXACTLY THE DEFINITION OF REIKI, right? personally, i'd rather concede that it was a form of qi. but regardless, this is maybe one of the most honest and modest posts i've read from you so far. perhaps only strategically modest, and the whole "nobody invented this practice nor can anyone claim to be a master of it" statement is a little silly given all the credentials claimed by the one authority who's teaching it and all the 7402 ascended elders of the lineage who seem to have a rightful claim to mastery, especially if they're teaching practitioners from their spirit dimension, but whatevs. i say continue to promote and teach the practice, so long as there are people who are starving for it. i just wish there was more honest straight talk and less make-believe and sensationalism. it's a good enough practice to catch on by its own merits. it's sad that you guys don't trust that.

but Cam, it IS a type of energy that *I* have been familiar with. and no master i've ever known would say it's not a type of qi. in all honesty, i haven't been practicing for 10 straight years, though i've been in touch with various energies since childhood. BUT, i'm willing to bet that i've done more homework, more intense study, more experimentation, than most of the people on this board. the *quality* of my inquiry has been solid. it's not a matter of "positive experience." that's perhaps the grand fallacy of the whole debate. i stated from my very first criticism that i think the technique is effective. but it's as if i told you that i was trained by aliens from the star system Sirius, and as proof i taught you the "Sirius Technique" and it blew your mind with a unique experience. it wouldn't prove my claim in the slightest. there have been blatant lies that have been overlooked because people think the practice works, but the efficacy of the practice DOESN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO WITH WHETHER OR NOT LIES ARE BEING PEDDLED. Plus, none of the experiences shared have much to do with enlightenment. it's supposed to be the quickest path, remember? that claim is already empirically counter-factual. the fact that people still enjoy the practice is irrelevant. as i said all those months ago, i didn't go to the workshop for the practice. i went to seek Max's counsel. and it was painfully disappointing. but since that time i HAVE tried the practice. i practiced for 30 days straight and had sessions that exceeded 3 hours. i had some intense experiences and i enjoyed it quite a bit, but there was nothing i hadn't experienced before. Max's transmission was more profound than i had initially acknowledged, but it wasn't even on par with my first qigong master. it makes me wonder about the cultivation background of all of these people who are so taken with kunlun. either i've been extremely blessed, or these folks really didn't know how to seek. i realize that's kind of a jerk thing to say, but i'm not trying to be insulting. i don't fault anyone for finding what they were missing, but i DO fault them for blindly embracing all the crap that came along with the package. i threw down with Mantra 7 months ago, and in the end he resorted to insults and personal attacks, without AT ALL dealing with the discrepancies i outlined. anyone can go back and read the threads. he'll never concede to wrongdoing because he can't afford to. he's too invested in this venture. *perception* is more important than the truth. and i don't blame Max for that as much as i blame Mantra. and it blows my mind that he can give the kinds of responses that he gives to people's questions, and people gobble it all up uncritically because they perceive him as an authority. that, and because they really want to believe. i've even seen YOU fall into this, even with your 10 years of experience. 10 years is more than enough time to become a master yourself, if your practice is good. whatever. i'm FULLY AWARE that i'm wasting my time writing all this. but i think genuine self-honesty is on my side in this matter. you have a point, bindo. but it just seems like a pretty weak 'final straw.'

really??? FOR THAT??? wow, that's pretty foul. he didn't name call like he has in the past. he didn't swear or say anything vulgar like he has in the past, either. and personally, I HAPPEN TO THINK HE'S PROBABLY RIGHT! AND I *HAVE* GONE TO A WORKSHOP! the practices have taken some people places they had never been before, and i respect Max's work for that. but NONE of the bogus claims are substantiated by this! qi basically means energy, but somehow the kunlun energy isn't qi? COMPLETELY BOGUS! it's a marketing tactic to create a false uniqueness, and it LEGITIMATELY CALLS INTO QUESTION THE CREDIBILITY OF EVERYTHING that has to be taken on faith. i guess you can can suspend me too if you like, but i think you made a bad call on this one. he may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but he should be able to say what he said.

this thread is acting as a really powerful mirror for me. lots of abuse growing up. lots of scars that i carry still. and for all of my growth and transformation, it still bothers me to read so much about how wonderful and spiritually beneficial having a family can be. it strikes me as utterly shallow and illusory. i even feel a little bit of anger stirred up. and now i can only smile at my own absurdity. the love of my life died 5 years ago, shortly after i came to realize the meaning of Surrender. in the 3.5 years that we had together, i wasn't a very good partner. all of the criticism i throw around on this site pales in comparison to the biting criticism i would spew back then. breaking things down and exposing the flaws & inconsistencies & unspoken implications was what saved my sanity growing up. it's also what kept me alone for a good chunk of my life. i just don't see the job, wife, family stuff ever being a value of mine in the future. and i'm in my 30's. even though i remember what it was like to be in love and to believe that i would spend the rest of my life with someone, i feel as if my highest calling involves being alone. i have never met anyone who speaks my language, not even when i was in love. i was accepted, but not understood. and the kind of woman who could truly understand me would not likely make for a good partnership. i don't know. part of the reason this thread disturbs me is because i feel judged for the way that i live. and part of the reason i feel that way is because i judge myself for it, as if i should want the wife and kids and good-paying job if i'm a healthy person. but i don't. i value my freedom above all the rest of it. i feel better able to serve my students and friends and clients because of the life that i lead. and i like that there are times when i need to leave the world and will spend weeks or months in seclusion somewhere as i travel deeper inward. even if that part of me was born out of a broken youth, i still like it. i feel more complete when i'm alone. or maybe it's just a convenient belief system to protect me from future pain. i may not be in the best position to discern which one it is. you know, sometimes it just might take the building and nurturing of a family to discover that you've always been complete.