Sahaj Nath

Thanks Trunk. i'm watching it right now. do you know if this guy is related to Mark Griffin's teacher by same name? EDIT: wow, i thought he looked too old to be Kalu Rinpoche's reincarnation. guess not. really good themes in this talk.

hmm... "tongue tip touching the roof of the mouth" sounds really uncomfortable to me almost like you could be at risk of swallowing your tongue. it should be a natural placing of the tongue on the upper palate behind the teeth. it should feel natural, not forced. once energy is really flowing in your body, you'll understand and appreciate the importance of tongue placement. most people who practice without a skilled teacher aren't moving enough energy in the beginning to notice a difference. but once you've got some real flow generated in the body, you'll find yourself prone to headaches and head congestion as a result of practice. the tongue will allow all of that stuck energy in the head to flow down the front channel (Ren Mai).

there's some REALLY GOOD advice in this thread! and steve's response to you is really good as well. i'm just writing to offer a little bit of clarity on the point. when the qua is in the proper position, it actually UNCURVES the lower back, but it can feel a little like bowing out in the beginning. not in any extreme way, though. i usually tell students something like "open up the qua & shift the pelvis so there's no duck butt." just to keep it light. the upper portion of your back is rounded when your shoulders are relaxed and you allow the chest to sink in a bit so that the scapulas can separate. again, nothing extreme. but the image in your mind didn't seem to account for this type of rounding. so i thought this might help you to imagine more possibility.

this website has truly changed my life. the people i have met, the discussions i've had, the teachers i've found, and the books/videos i've acquired have all been worth a LOT MORE than the lifetime membership fee. it just really struck me the other night when i saw that zerostao had TTB listed among their top 5 teachers. i sought out Mark Griffin of Hard Light because of this site. (thanks, Trunk!) i received transmission from Max because of this site. (which flowered into a thing of beauty) i found Sifu Jenny Lamb because of this site. i've discovered the power of the ecstatic, and not just the contemplative, thanks to this site. i made friends with Seth Ananda because of this site! and lots, LOTS more. i've met people in-person, i've had intimate discussions with people through email and phone, and i've picked up some amazing insights over the years from SO many different people. those of us who have been here a while and those of us who know we have benefited significantly from this site should really consider supporting it with a paid subscription. in my case, it's been long overdue. TTB, you have my deepest gratitude.

it was great meeting you yesterday, bro. it's always inspiring to work with someone who learns so quickly and who joyfully puts in the work. i sometimes wish everyone could be a little more like you. thanks for the shout out, but watch how you talk about me; folks might get the impression that i'm approachable in real life! catch up with you soon.

"a" god? no. the quote is from a Swami of Kashmir Shaivism. GOD as sigularity cannot be seen or related to as an object, but language is imperfect. it's more a term of convenience in this context. otherwise, it just gets too easy to get lost in semantic debates and then the message gets lost. Nathaji is a public servant; he avoids that kind of hair splitting whenever possible. the statement was not intended to establish esoteric theory; it was merely an eloquent reminder of the importance of letting go.

this website has truly changed my life. the people i have met, the discussions i've had, the teachers i've found, and the books/videos i've acquired have all been worth a LOT MORE than the lifetime membership fee. it just really struck me the other night when i saw that zerostao had TTB listed among their top 5 teachers. i sought out Mark Griffin of Hard Light because of this site. (thanks, Trunk!) i received transmission from Max because of this site. i found Sifu Jenny Lamb because of this site. i made friends with Seth Ananda because of this site! and lots, LOTS more. i've met people in-person, i've had intimate discussions with people through email and phone, and i've picked up some amazing insights over the years from SO many different people. those of us who have been here a while and those of us who know we have benefited significantly from this site should really consider supporting it with a paid subscription. in my case, it's been long overdue. TTB, you have my deepest gratitude.

sorry i'm a bit late to the discussion. so... are you really super-interested in tai chi chuan, or are you actually just looking for really good practices that ground the K? sounds to me like your topic is a little too limited by focusing only on tai chi if what you're actually seeking are methods of K management. i would have read the thread earlier had it been titled with some reference to Kundalini. there are a lot of practices that are a lot easier than tai chi chuan AND a lot more effective at managing the K, but i'm a big fan of tai chi chuan as well. so it really depends on what you're really looking for. you're gonna have to answer that. YES. this is true. this isn't necessarily true for most people, but i find that it's only because most people aren't dealing with the same levels of intensity. as a matter of caution, i won't work with a student who is not willing to entertain the possibility that they might need to eat meat in order to manage their process. i do my best to keep it smooth and gradual, and i even take the sharp, punctuated stuff into myself to smooth them out (like a lot of teachers do for their students), but sometimes a breakthrough can be so dramatic that you really need a dense protein to get you through the day. if you have a job and other obligations it can really be essential, ESPECIALLY if you don't have the guidance of a teacher. OR you need enough free time and support in your life to make it through to the other side of a psychotic episode. trust me, it can get REAL. indeed. but keep in mind, my friend: you were fortunate enough to receive the Grace of a Guru. Shaktipat transmission has a MUCH better track record for easy management and steady progression than any other means that i know of. if wakeupneo wasn't initiated by a competent teacher or a master backed by a lineage, he could be dealing with levels of crazy that you never had to endure. wakeupneo, more important than techniques and practice regimens, you should probably find yourself a teacher. if you want, you can send me a PM and we can talk about things you can do on your own. for some people, it's doable to go solo, but not for most people. i can help you with tools and information, but a good teacher can ground you just by being in their presence. it's tricky on your own, but there's really no down side to having a teacher. this is a very lovely practice, but it doesn't really do anything when the Big K is raging. it's a great practice to cultivate when you're NOT in emergency, however. Tonglen can actually be dangerous when the K is really active. i wouldn't go near it in wakeupneo's case. not without a really skilled teacher, although i doubt a really skilled teacher would recommend that practice, given the situation. a wild Kundalini state is not a time to pick up a practice where you breathe in the suffering of others, no matter how well-intentioned.

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Tai Chi Chuan is often taught as a form of qigong, but that doesn't make qigong a form of Tai Chi Chuan. qigong is a MUCH broader term and encompasses everything from the highly ordered and regimented forms, such as tai chi chuan or wild goose, to crazier spontaneous practices, and everything in between. also, there are actually 6 channels in the fingers. the pinky houses both the heart and the small intestine channel. just a heads up.

how is your breathing? the most important thing i've ever done for my immune system was master the complete breath of yoga. more than diet, exercise, or anything else, breathing is the foundation upon which everything else we do is dependent. Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka is available for free online. http://www.shout.net/~jmh/clinic/science_of_breath/ i believe the author was some western practitioner using a pen name, but it doesn't matter. the book is really accurate for explaining the physiological AND the esoteric theories of the breath. it was written back before 1905, so you've gotta take some of his cultural context with a grain of salt. but after learning the complete breath at a young age, i became immune to almost every illness that came around. today, on average, i get sick once every 3 years or so, and it's usually a fever with a little bit of phlegm. nothing more. i regularly treat sick & contagious people, so for me the book has been priceless. there are a lot of breathing techniques out there. this is the one i swear by, more than any other. this, and body breathing, which is also in the book. it only took a month or two for it to become automatic. it's a really short book with really accurate information and clear instructions, PLUS it's free. kinda hard to beat that. i don't know what kind of qigong you're doing, so i can't really comment on that. but i will agree with Ya Mu and say make sure you're not overdoing it with the kung fu or any other strenuous exercise you might be doing. give it a try. nothing to lose except a little reading time. hope this is helpful.

i try to explain that i get where you and others are coming from. i do. and it's okay if you don't get me. i AM distasteful. i AM disrespectful. i am EXTREMELY irreverent towards most things. i transgress traditional laws, and i break taboos. i say inappropriate things at social gatherings when everyone else would prefer to pretend. i do all of that. i'm no saint. my studies and my own path have shown me that most of the saints weren't even saints. i must have stated that at least 10 different times over the years. whether you believe it or not, healing power comes in exactly THIS package, no matter how ugly or incomprehensible that might be to you. i have no use for posturing with a false personality in order to make you believe ANYTHING. i don't feign piety. i don't even believe in it, not in a conventional sense, anyway. when i give everything that i have, it's real. when i surrender with a fierceness that annihilates my localized sense of self, it's real. and my day-to-day participation in social norms has nothing at all to do with it. i'm sure if i played by those rules i could do an amazing job of convincing others that i'm something more like what they've read and fantasized about. something other than what i am. i'm sure i could get lots of followers or friends that way. you may not like it, but i know that you get it. in my world, it's not about social behaviors making one worthy. there IS NO worthy. there is Karma, there is Will, and there is Grace. you don't earn Grace. you don't collect merit badges by acting out a character. that's kind of what makes the whole thing a mystery, you know? Bagawan Nityananda occasionally referred to white guys as sister fuckers. some days he threw cocoanuts at them. it wasn't some "crazy wisdom" blessing that they were luckily recieving, although most of the idiots probably interpreted it that way. he was a racist, straight up. but he was also a walking miracle and a God-send to those he touched. this is MY life. MY path. no one else walks it. no one else determines its value OR its virtue. when my Elders guide me to a different way of being in the world, i will submit. that's really all i care to say about it. take from that what you will. or not.

best. post. EVER!!!! :lol:

in some cases, i agree. but as a person with friends who have cancer, i don't think Jetsun needs med school. i think he needs a good doctor.

Cancer is sort of my "pet disease" in healing work. if you have friends who are open to practices like qigong, i would make 2 recommendations off the top of my head: Guigen Qigong and Shaolin Wahnam's "flowing breeze, swaying willow" practice. Jerry Alan Johnson has some newer volumes that are greatly expanded. i don't have the book in your link, but i do have his 5 newer volumes that are 500-600 pages each. Volume 5 is An Energetic Approach to Oncology. i also have his 6-month cancer seminar on DVD that he offers on his site: http://www.qigongmedicine.com/catalog.php?act=view_prod_info&id_prod=22170&i=&l=&sid=50d17f3d84d0e37143535fa16fb285df it's a WHOLE LOT of studying. very comprehensive, and in compliance with the medical standards of the Chinese hospitals. there are lots of theory, exercises and protocols. i study everything i can get my hands on, just about. but for your situation that's not the best direction, IMO. your money would be better spent attending one of Ya Mu's workshops, maybe even taking some of your friends with you. you need simple and powerful. your friends don't need to be stressing out trying to digest that much material. Jerry Alan Johnson is very, VERY thorough. the volume of information is like taking graduate level courses. so i wouldn't go that route. Guigen Qigong takes a little bit of practice, but it's easy to learn. Simon Blow of Australia has a great DVD that teaches it at a really good price. he moves SUPER-SLOW, which is a little too slow for the layperson, in my opinion, but otherwise it's a great video. and he performs it in mirror image so you don't have to flip the exercises around in your mind. you can just follow the video. the Shaolin Wahnam practice is so simple that you can start practicing it from the 2 posts i made in in this thread: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/20719-depression-kills-qigong-saves/ those are two practices worth engaging on your own, relatively simple and effective. but you still could use a power source. a teacher with some juice. they will likely have other methods to teach you, and some of them might be methods that are only safe with the guidance of the teacher, but either way, a good power source makes a difference. Ya Mu could really get you going with an effective, powerful practice, some healing therapy sessions for your friends, AND some transmission of that juice, and you won't have to become a scholar first. it just makes sense. not everyone can recover. the Will of Heaven will ultimately have its way. but for those who can recover, this is what i'd suggest.

11) Ken Cohen's system 12) Roger Jahnke's system 13) Effie Chow's Chow qigong (i LOVE that woman!) 14) Duan Zhi Liang's Wuji Hundun Qigong 15) Yang, Jwing-Ming's tui na & qi nei tsang 16) Robert Peng's system 17) Wong's Shaolin Wahnam 18) Bing Yeyoung's system 19) Shou-Yu Liang's system ...damnit. now i go blank. i wanted to hit the 20 mark, but... OH! 20) Gary Clyman's system 21) Suzanne Friedman's system (she was a student of Jerry Alan Johnson and is currently a disciple of Bing Yeyoung) 22) Sifu Jenny Lamb's system 23) Sifu Lin Ai Wei. he doesn't post here anymore, but he heals and trains healers ALL of these are public, mostly mainstream teachers (expect maybe Jenny and Lin) that teach healing techniques and have produced healers. there are lots more.

there's not one statement here that is accurate. there are a TON of styles that teach healing. reiki wasn't taken from qigong. the latest evidence i've studied points to Japanese Shinto, Pure Land Buddhist, and Indian Hindu/Tantric influences. just got a new book on the symbols and origin a few days ago titled The Big Book of Reiki Symbols. it's over 600 pages long, so i might not get to it for a couple of weeks. but nothing above is accurate. but it's declared as truth. again, totally inaccurate. the Wild Goose training is designed to open up all of your meridians, WITHOUT any intention of projection or gathering necessary. that's what makes it so unique. the mind embraces emptiness, and the movements themselves induce flow and orbit. but some of this could just be language barrier, so whatevs. but "when you open them, you can heat stuff or boil water" is just plain wrong. opening the lao gong points don't give you that ability; deep cultivation of the person's core is necessary for that, and even then, very few (if any) will ever achieve the ability to boil water, no matter how long they train. i believe this to be empirically obvious. this is an area that can give way to a lot of splitting hairs, so i can concede this as being more correct than not. inaccurate, untrue, and irresponsible. Seth highlighted this pattern. the notion of opening the lao gong points (or hand chakras) as the key to high-level power is now being reinforced as a statement of fact. anything built on that assumption is necessarily incorrect. Grandmaster Yang taught that the exercises themselves would be your teacher. what you're criticizing here is actually the very thing that makes the Wild Goose system so great. you learn through direct experience, and you approach it as an empty vessel and willing student, NOT as a practitioner who's looking to acquire abilities. this makes me wonder if you ever actually studied the system at all. your meditation practice and openness will provide you with all the insight necessary in terms of use. are you kidding me? you mastered wild goose in 3 years? you don't even understand it's most basic principles. plus, you seem to have had some rather negative side-effects from doing it your way. no. Wild Goose gets you straight into feeling your body. sensitivity to qi comes in time, just like with most other forms. in wild goose you manipulate your qi by manipulating your body, but your mind remains in the position of witness, not actor. this is an important distinction that sets Wild Goose apart from so many other styles. in time you will very naturally discover that energy follows thought, and wherever your awareness goes, the qi will increase. but it's a natural discovery arising out of right practice. inaccurate, for what should be obvious reasons by now. WG-1 is not about just opening the hand chakras. level one is primarily about acquiring harmony with breath and movement, physical flexibility and openness, stimulating blood flow, and "listening" to the expressions of energy in your body. the hand chakras are not even given special attention. it stands alone as a complete body nourishing qigong. WG-2 deepens WG-1, plus adds additional focus on awakening the lower and upper dan tiens. WG-3 is Kunlun Bagua. it's not a part of the martial art Bagua Zhang. its main emphasis is recognition and harmonization of our yin and yang aspects. and meridian tapping is common in many systems. the opinion parts aside, the part in bold is an overly simplistic claim that doesn't even make much sense on it's own. it's just asserted as a statement of fact. again, inaccurate, wrong, and irresponsible. there are 72 forms/levels of the wild goose system. 11 are taught publicly. maybe 12. 9 are just the ones available on video, and those videos are from Dr. Bingkun Hu, who lives in the Bay Area not far from here. Dr Hu is not my master per se, but i like and respect him a great deal. his form is not the best, but its more than good enough, and his understanding of the principles are right-on. he has students with better form than he has, because he's a good teacher. my movement is a bit more fluid than his, even though he's the one who taught me. probably my yang style influence. the politics about who is worthy to teach the west has nothing to do with Dr. Hu's knowledge or skill, and everything to do with a certain teacher in Europe who basically wants to claim ownership of the entire system. it's a business beef. so there you have it. a substantial target. promise i won't cry.

to me, Seth hit the nail on the head. and it's not about being mean or rude or anything like that. i personally think seth's analysis is self-evident, but other people don't necessarily think the way that we do. still, when so much questionable material and conjecture gets asserted as concrete fact, it's gonna get called out. HOW it's called out is what seems to bother mjjbecker the most, and i get that. as a result i hold my tongue more often than not around here. i tried to be really clear, but you're just choosing not to get it. you have some beliefs about how people should conduct themselves and what it takes to do so. i don't share those beliefs, but you refuse to acknowledge that we disagree mostly on principle. Scotty and i aren't always on the same side of things, but he gets it. i'm starting to think that most folks around here get it. some are fine with it, and some are not. so i'm just gonna keep doing me. it's not personal, but i'm not apologizing anymore. i don't ask for your high-five, nor would i appreciate it. YOU'RE the one who's overly concerned about who's being emotionally supportive, not me. the POINT was that you've never expressed any opinion about anything i've written. and in case it's not clear, you could even say something like "where the hell did you get that from?" and i would be fine with it. to me, that would be legit criticism if you thought something i said was bogus. i don't wilt from criticism. i support and defend my position, and that's not a contradiction. first, you don't get to question my generosity, because you don't know how much i work and how much i give in my life. the fact that i chose not to work with you simply means that i don't think we're a good fit. i was straight with you. not insulting or unkind. you thought i was too quick to judge you, and i said that's fair, i could be wrong. but you gave me no reason to reconsider my assessment. so rather than fight with you about your approach to the energy arts, i simply chose to disengage. PLEASE feel free to post our PM exchanges if you think they support you, and then we can see what's what. i don't air PM's because too many people send me sensitive info. but i don't have anything to hide, ESPECIALLY with respect to our limited engagement. okay, enough about all that. let me just address the OP directly:

what i posted was a much nicer criticism than what i had written at first. you want me to show discretion; i say that i did. i'm just not you. i don't work the way that you do. and i'm never going to. btw, you DO that you've never once left a comment engaging with anything i have EVER written here, right? i mean, with the exception of a few back-and-forths about what a jerk i am, you've never once commented on any of my substantive posts. so when you talk about my wealth of experience and "interesting" posts & information, it just reads like polite condescension to me. yes, it's clear that English is not the OP's native tongue. and have i ever even once criticized an individual for struggling with the language around here? NEVER. and i wouldn't. i apply a little effort, read closely, and do my best to ascertain the intended meaning, just like everybody else. i didn't want to re-write virtually everything in the post. i didn't have the time to do it earlier, anyway. so i didn't. my response was "quick & dirty," but it was also true, which is what matters most to me. my intention was to discredit it, which was faster and easier than responding to YOU right now. i don't see anything wrong AT ALL with discrediting what was written above. you say that i don't like to be slated, but that depends on your meaning. i don't like my character to be attacked based on misjudgments about either who i am or what MY intentions are. pretty much all other criticism is welcome. i enjoy and appreciate topical debate and criticism. i value knowledge and accuracy FAR MORE than sensitivity and politeness. i even enjoyed my disputes with YOU in the past. you made some well-reasoned arguments that i very much appreciated. still, i'm just not wired how you are. and i've said this all before. you've made it clear in the past that you don't like how i communicate. and i'm a lot more quiet around here these days. but i'm still me. so if this is what you've gotta do whenever i say something you don't like, then whatever. i've never once received so much as a warning from a moderator. ever. and i think that's because i'm not in the habit of attacking people in a personal way, even thought sometimes people feel attacked. i attack people's claims and arguments. the actual people making them are of little relevance to me. i hate to reference Myers-Briggs here, but i'm a quintessential INTP. the essays about that personality type are SCARY-ACCURATE in describing me. it's very different from how you operate, but it's not a defect. i only get warm fuzzies when there's an intellectual meeting of the minds. now, if i were to go line-by-line through the original post, you would have a problem with that, too. because i wouldn't write it in YOUR voice. i would write it in MINE. and at the time of my comment, i didn't have the time to do it justice anyway. now i do. but i'm not very inclined at this point in a nutshell, i'm sick of apologizing to you for who i am. i'm really quiet around here because i don't wish to rub people like you the wrong way. but if you insist on watchdogging me anyway (and that's what you do, because you've never once communicated with me otherwise), i must insist on expressing myself more often. we might be better off putting each other on ignore.

incredible. almost every single statement in the original post is either grossly inaccurate or completely wrong. i mean, WOW. somebody had to say it. you don't seem to have any idea what you are talking about.

i hear everything you're saying here, but i don't think you read my responses very closely. you're asking questions that i answered in the link. have i gone through similar difficulties? YES, AND THEN SOME! go back and read that page. Creation was talking about a dream, but i was talking about real life events and real spiritual practice. so yeah, first, go back and re-read that page. i'll make it even easier this time. Creation's post, which includes a quote of my original comment: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/17753-seth-ananda-please-teach-me-about-kundalini/page__view__findpost__p__305139 THEN read my response, which basically answers everything you've stated here: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/17753-seth-ananda-please-teach-me-about-kundalini/page__view__findpost__p__305158 FIRST, something that people don't say enough around here: maybe these types of practices aren't for you. maybe it's time to move on. it's not for everybody. SECOND, it's not about eliminating the fear; it's about accepting it. as i said in the link above, what i mean by saying i'm fearless is that i'm not afraid to feel afraid. and THIRD, if you don't have a teacher to help guide you through your practices, you could get yourself into a lot of psychological trouble. so again, you might want to think about moving on. i don't know what you practice, and it would help if you'd share with us what exactly you do. but there is no virtue in continuing with practices that lead somewhere that you already know you're not ready to handle. that's how psychosis happens. know your limits. and figure out what's important to you in life, because even if you succeed at overcoming this barrier of yours, it may come at a price.

the broadest and vaguest term you could have used is "spirituality." that leaves us with no real understanding of what you are actually doing or talking about. we have to guess and make approximations. my best guess is that you're exploring meditations that have given you a taste of emptiness. no need to repeat everything here, so i'll just offer a link: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/17753-seth-ananda-please-teach-me-about-kundalini/page__view__findpost__p__305139 first read Creation's post and my quote within it. then read my response a few posts down. it's not a whole lot of reading, but i was addressing the very feelings you're expressing here. if you're doing some real traveling down the rabbit hole, it's to be expected. hope it helps. feel free to ask questions.