WallaMike

There aren't enough gigabites on this link for me to be able to describe all the roads and side roads I have taken to get to my present practice, which also morphs as it moves along. While the internet has helped me somewhat to sift the wheat from the chaff more quickly, one of my major barriers to getting to my present practice is that most every group, sect, form, etc. seems to indicate that theirs is "the best" or "highest" or "fastest". I realize the reasons this is done, but it still makes it harder than it should be. I also realize that my chaff may be someone else's wheat. Of course, I also had the usual issues of finding a good teacher from among those that either don't fit me or who are well meaning (or not so well meaning), but deluded about their abilities to teach. Some just outright lied to me to keep me in their program. I actually have a good "bullshit detector", but if I don't listen to it, it doesn't work. (Duh!) However, some teachers are quite intimidating and when I would bring up my concerns, they were so convincing about how "screwed up" I was, that I ended up ignoring the alarm...until it got so loud I couldn't. I thank God that eventually I listened to it and finally have ended up with a good local teacher. While I still supplement with DVD's and books from the internet for things my teacher doesn't do, I make sure that what I do doesn't interfere with what he does. I initially did Raja yoga and was a certified yoga teacher for several years. Then I got rid of an especially nutty teacher and turned to Buddhism and Taoism for my inspiration and path. This was quite a hard climb, as the literature and teachers in this area are legion and each path requires years of dedication to give it a good try. Given that I was living in Idaho and then rural Washington state, the only way to contact these teachers was via books or trips to their conferences or retreats. Very expensive and time consuming, given that each trip was only a toe dipping in the water for a week or two, then coming home and trying to do it one my own. I'll bet I read 1,000 books during this decade or so of trying to find what fit best for me and what was available in my area (Population 30,000). Around 1993, I first learned Soaring Crane Qigong from a teacher that came to visit my city, liked that, but wanted more, so ended up taking a number of BK Frantzis (mainly Taoist and Tai Chi orientation) classes each summer for 5-6 years. This was fun and interesting and Kumar really has "Big Chi" and lots of talent. His book on Opening the Energy Gates of the Body is still part of a daily dissolving routine I perform, plus the basis for being able to dissolve away excessive energy or emotion, etc. That's another story, but SFJane's story, another TaoBums contributor, is much better. However, around 2007, I got stuck and couldn't progress further, so road off in all directions at once, hoping to find the answer. I spent 3 months just searching the internet for something that would help me and read several dozen books during that time. One I read was Taijiquan: Through the Western Gate ( http://www.amazon.com/Taijiquan-Through-Western-Rick-Barrett/dp/1583941398/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282246653&sr=8-2 ) by Rick Barrett. Unfortunately Rick is on the wrong side of the continent for me. However, the author mentioned Master Liao and Peter Ralston as people that he respected, so I got number of Master Liao's DVD's and several of Peter's books and finally ended upon going to some of their seminars. Master Liao is in Chicago and is a Taoist teacher. He has outstanding DVD's, even if they are a bit pricy, plus the selection is intimidating. However, he does a lot of energy work and teaches tai chi in a qigong manner so that energy work and movement is a major part of it. This was exactly what I was looking for, so I learned his tai chi form, watched and performed many of his other DVD's and eventually was able to move a little energy around on my own. However, surprisingly, it was Peter Ralston's book, "Zen Body Being" that did the trick for me. His long discussion on "creating feeling" was what helped me more than anything else I had tried, but I also realize that this idea might go against some other teacher's teachings of just "letting it happen". However, for me, it made me realize that I had had contact with chi all along, I had just refused to acknowledge that was what it was, because it was so "ordinary". Once I recognized what it was and was able to start working with it, I made relatively rapid progress (for me). However, I just wish I had known about this earlier, as there is only so fast a person can go and so I have a number of years of intense work ahead of me. I don't mind that, as I'm just relieved I made this breakthrough. Perhaps unsurprisingly, about a year or so after I starting doing all this, I happened to meet this local tai chi teacher in Home Depot and mentioned I was interested in taking some classes from him. He actually suggested I work with someone else first, until I explained to him what all I was now doing. So, I started one month later and now one year later, I've progessed more in that time than in the last 5 years. Books are great, but teachers are so much better if you can find one that matches you and your needs. While my teacher is a very high level martial artist, and I'm not, his martial forms are energetically based and so he is one of the highest level energy workers I've been around, plus he's willing to do the things necessary to bring me up to speed. So, only time will tell how far I'm able to progress, but at this point I see that I'll have to put in a good 4-5 more years before I'm even a shadow of what my teacher can do. But it will be worth it and I think it within my capabilities and that's all I ask. PS: I've also actually had some very good advice from the Tao Bums group. Thanks!!

Hello Blasto: Have you seen this book: Living Design: The Daoist Way of Building at Amazon.com : http://www.amazon.com/Living-Design-Daoist-Way-Building/dp/0070429758/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282173547&sr=8-6 I though you might find it interesting. I got it a year or two ago and enjoyed its ideas. I just don't have the money/time/support to do something like it suggests...maybe someday. I would also like your opinion about www.integralcity.com . I am something of an "integral" buff, since being integral is wholistic and often is very similar to Taoist principles. Since you are interested in urban planning, this is definitely something that I think is sustainable, if done correctly, and so something else that may interest you. The reason I'm such an "integral" buff is that the philosophy tries to take into account multiple perspectives and work with people on their own levels, so that once something is done, it meets more needs than if something is done because someone with power said so. Hopefully this makes it more sustainable, since this way more people buy into the idea. This applies to building cities as well as running meetings. The reason I think "integral" philosophy is at least somewhat Taoist, is that it takes into consideration not just the human view point, but also that of the local fauna and flora and how they are affected, trying to look at the changes from their view point....but also that of people, businesses, etc. and tries to achieve some sort of holarchical balance. In other words, in some incarnations, integral philosophy is very nature, energetic, and spiritually oriented. An excellent book on this is "Integral Ecology" by Bjorn-Hargens. He's a professor type, but is also spiritually and psychologically developed, so the book is very eye opening and educational.

Yes, it's a very good thread. I think through practicing interior energy work, most of us can learn to create or improve our own happiness. It may seem a little like self-stimulation, but from my experience, it works and helps me to be much happier and less dependent upon external events for my "happiness". It is the "zaps" from the masters into our heart chakra, or whatever, that "lights" that particular area of our mind/brain, so that eventually we are able to do it ourselves. It's helped me to become a better person, too.

From a previous blog: "Yeah, but who controls their own emotional state? No one is... People are mislead by this idea that you can control your emotional state trough practices. I personally believe it is not the emotions your true self has control over, but rather the perceptions of ones mind. Your true self is a witness to the perceptions made by the mind, thus you can change them at anytime, and cultivate an knowing that you are in this world, yes... But the whole world is in your mind." My reply: That said, I think to a degree it is six of one and half a dozen of another. If a person is working at the subtle energy level, then they are most likely "controlling their emotions", if they are changing their perceptions, then perhaps they are working at the causal level (or a higher subtle level).

This was a different blog than I expected, since I was unable to identify much of a discussion of Taoist principles in it. Of course, Taoism means different things to different people and so I suppose it could be argued otherwise. However, in looking at America from my interpretation of certain basic aspects of Taoism, I would probably comment on balance and coming back to balance. America seems to be quite out of balance at this time, and I just don't mean its deficits. The culture seems to have changed to become more insular, rigid and intolerant. If being with the Tao means to "bend like the willow", not snap like the dry blade of grass, then we need to get back to the basics. Second, my interpretation is that Taoism at the highest level means being one with the Tao and thus following the dictates of the Tao. This is a very high level of development, of which perhaps only a handful of Americans (or any nation) could actually qualify. Perhaps if a high number of our politicians were more Taoist in outlook, things would look up. However, presently our system is such that to become a politician, it seems to self-select for certain, may I say, negative traits? Or third, I might say that from a non-dual Taoist point of view, it is all perfect as it is and so nothing has to be done. However, not being among those handful of enlightened Taoists in the US, I just muddle along as best as I'm able. I don't think the answer is in hyperbole or bashing other groups, or "being number 1". I think that the best way we can help America, or the world for that matter, is for as many of us as possible to become as enlightened and highly developed as we are able. When we reach that critical number of about 15% of the population, then we will be able to finally tap the creativity to solve these problems that presently seem so unsolvable. Was it Einstein who first said that you can't solve a problem at the level that the problem is created at? This is why these seemingly "logical" arguments of "decrease the deficit", "increase the stimulus","decrease our dependence on oil", etc, go no where, since they are rooted in the same mind set that is creating the problem. We've become afraid and competitive, two tendencies not compatible with optimum creative problem solving. Thus, I think if we loosened up our death grip on our ethnocentric "isms" and more of us looked inside to the stillness and emptiness of Tao, then perhaps out of emptiness and infinite potential could come the solutions to these immensely complicated problems. Well, that's my take on it; go figure.

I just went back under edit and deleted what I wrote for the duplicate article and put in: "Deleted duplicated copy" and so at least people know why there is this blank there...

Hello Everything: I went back and edited that my note was to you, not SF Jane, but also included SF Jane based upon some of her other blogs related to this topic. I also appreciated that you'd did not ding me on that error. I owe you one! WallaMike

Dear SF Jane: Clap, clap, clap!! That is the sound of my two hands clapping. Nothing mystical, but I assure you it was done standing and in complete respect for your story. I too have learned dissolving techniques from BK Frantzis and I too have used them to help with my emotions (see my reply to another blog of yours). However, while I've been dissolving these pesky molehills I keep tripping over, you've been doing techtonic plate level rearranging of mountains. Whew! Your story is very inspiring and also pleasantly shocking to me that you made a similar discovery, but much deeper, regarding how this dissolving technique can be used to help with emotions and emotional development. It supported my own theory that what I learned could also be learned by other people for their own development and so it isn't just idiosyncratic to myself. Yes!! I'm also a Ken Wilber fan, and so I use the word "development" in the sense he uses it. You might enjoy two of his books: "Integral Psychology" and "Integral Spirituality". If you're not familiar with Ken, he's someone who is enlightened in his own right, plus he lives with a form of chronic fatigue syndrome called Rett's Syndrome. His books (and a few others) were the catalyst for me to be able to actually use some of Kumar's techniques. After working with Kumar for 5 years, it took me a few more years of reading Wilber, working with Master Liao's tai chi and doing Peter Ralston's "Zen Body Being" before I was able to muster enough "juice" to be able to do interior work that really made a difference in me. It is like you say, drip, drip, drip. Slowly but surely, it comes. But a person has to stick to it, plus have the time and energy to do all this stuff. Since I've only had to deal with molehills, I've been able to work most of my life and so just done all my interior work in my spare time. However, I hear you regarding when you were in the throes of your transformation that you did not have a life. The only way I've made any progress, since I've worked full time, has been to also not have a life outside my job. I'm a very boring person. I just go home, read, meditate, do my tai chi and qigong, go to bed. My only vacations are going to classes like Kumar's Taoist Meditation class in California or Master Liao's class in Florida. But it is worth it and I'll bet you agree. I await your book. You have something to say that presently our medical science is almost totally missing and I wish there was a way to have them "see it". Plus you give hope to those who wonder if what they are doing actually works. As part of your creativity, you have a way with words, so perhaps you would consider at least publishing an eBook so that others may benefit from your experience. One of the parts that has taken me oh so long to "grok" was the little interior experiences, like what does it really felt like to "dissolve" something? Once I had an experience of it, I was able to pretty much make progess on my own rather rapidly, but before that, nothing. I remember meditating for over an hour every day for six months before and after Kumar's Taoist Meditation seminar (around 2005 or 6) and yet somehow I managed to miss the critical part of how to actually do it or have any kind of experience from it. This was the phase at which I was stuck for about 2 years, until I said: "Screw it, I'm just going to do something!" So, I just started pushing interior stuff around (using Kumar's "Energy Gates as a guide) and the rest, as they say, is history. I think I got lucky and perhaps I had someone looking over me. I also wouldn't advise anyone to try it alone, as in retrospect, I was working with some pretty serious stuff. Your blog said it way better than anything I could say. It can be very scary, not to mention dangerous. Based upon this, I thought that there ought to be some sort of a book or class on interior work that describes the baby steps to get concrete thinkers (like myself) and other similar folks going in this area, as it is excruciatingly important to our culture as a whole. Ken Wilber's books point out that psychological development is the key to reconciling the present battle between spirit and science, with terrorism being an example of what happens when psychological development is stunted at a level that is so ethnocentric it doesn't recognize others' right to live differently. But I somewhat diverge, except only to point out how important psychological development is to us, and then I curl back to point out that what you have achieved is psychological development at a conscious level such that I've never heard described before and yet in a way that even I can understand. Your story has potentially great value for many people and thus I encourage you to consider my suggestion of writing an eBook (or whatever) of your experiences, and in doing so, to describe your interior dissolving techniques so that the readers are able to use them. However, as I write this and recall your travails, I think that perhaps describing the techniques like I'm suggesting might best be written and/or explored with someone that would be able to put this into some sort of a programmatic form that would proceed in controlled stages with feedback along the way to obtain the best results. I'm sort of thinking aloud here, since I think your experience has great value for any number of people and so I would like to get it out to folks, but I'm trying to balance it with the reality of human nature. Anything you have to say about this would be appreciated and respected. I bow to you and your perseverence. WallaMike

Hello Everything (and indirectly SFJane): Doing Taioist practices for me has been mostly in the form of interior energy work. There is a lot of philosophy involved also, but it takes a certain amount of belief related to that and I'm way past that. Thus, while I like my philosophy to be consistent and complete, it if doesn't have a practical side, I'm out of here! I'm still doing Taoist work, so what does that say? Taoist work has a lot of practical aspects for me and one of the most important was helping me to regulate my emotions better; helping me to understand that I am not at the mercy of my emotions so that I could enjoy them without being overwhelmed. It's still a challenge, but getting easier. Basically I got stuck in my meditation, so turned to tai chi and qigong and ended up mostly with Taoist or Buddhist based teachers who did energy work. Once I got into it, it gave me direct proof that there was something to all this theory and Tao Te Ching and related literature. When I turn inside, there is this "stuff" that I can feel and experience and work with and Taoist tai chi and qigong gave me the tools to do so, but this took several months and years. But it was definitely worth it. So, to answer some of your questions, it's not a question of faith and it's really helped me to grow and develop. Working in this way has given me more happiness and when the sadness(or anger)comes, I realize it is all part of the pattern and that too will pass and even faster using my energy tools. It has also helped me in relationships, but perhaps not in the way you are asking. I'm not sure for me if love is a mutual sharing of happiness, but I could certainly see how a mutual sharing of happiness could create love. Love to me is more of an energetic phenomenon I experience, but is way bigger than myself, but I diverge. The way I've been helped in relationships has been to learn to know myself and to allow others to come or go in my life as it works out and being able to be ok with that. For some reason, I've had better and longer relationships when I don't try so hard. Perhaps there is some basis for not holding something too hard, but also not just letting them go too easily. There is a balance and Tao is all about balance. But sometimes to achieve balance, once has to go through a lot of imbalance, if that makes any sense. In other words, at times it's ok to be unbalanced, but realizing that it's not a permanent state and that it's ok and eventually balance will occur....followed by more imbalance, ad infinitum. Being able to sense and follow this pattern is part of working with the Tao, I think. Part of my perspective is based upon the Buddhist saying of: "Enlightenment doesn't mean that you can't enjoy ice cream. It means you are happy when you have ice cream, but you are also happy when you don't have any." I think the same relates to relationships, at least how I am wired. The more I try to just be happy on my own, the lower maintenance I become and the more people seem to want to be around me, without me trying so hard. Go figure. I recall in 12th grade, someone asked me what my goal in life was and I said: "To be happy." I recall their rather tart reply of: "Well, that's trite!" Little did either of us know how really hard it is to be truly happy. Working with Taoist tai chi and qigong has been very good for me and done more to bring me happiness than anything else I've done in a very long time. I can't wait until I get serious about it! (humor alert). Yours, WallaMike

Hello: Dr. Paul Lam also has a good Yang Short form DVD. http://www.amazon.com/Tai-Chi-Forms-Paul-Lam/dp/B000056HTI It is available at Amazon.com He's Australian, so has a nice accent that makes the form interesting to learn. Well done and professional also. WallaMike

Another way to look at tai chi is that there are several levels of practice. First, over weeks to months, you learn the bio-mechanics of the form. This is good mainly as a physical exercise. Second, months to years later, you learn how to move interior energy (Qi) while doing the forms. This is physically healthy and starting to get mystical in nature. Third, years to decades later, you learn how to let the energy move you. In this case "energy" can be interpreted as the Dao. This is mostly mystical, but is also ultimately healing in a Medicine Buddha sort of way. At this level, the tai chi martial artist knows that there is "no fight" because there is "no other." It is just a dance with various facets of oneself. And yes, some facets aren't very pretty. I guess that's part of the mystery for us mortals to philosophize about.

Dear Beoman: Regarding your comment: "if i breathe in deeply using my abdomen, i feel a hardness in my solar plexus", this is probably because with abdominal breathing the diaphragm lowers down as it contracts and that increases pressure in the solar plexus area (just below the bottom of the ribs). The diaphragm is a muscle that looks like an upside down pie plate or domed saucer that is attached to the bottom of your ribs and divides the lungs from the intestinal cavity. When you breath in, the pie plate flattens out and compresses the intestinal contents, which you feel often in the solar plexus or lower, depending upon what type of breathing you are doing, such as reverse or regular abdominal breathing. Regarding your question of "breathing with the tan tien", if I were you, I would ask for more clarification from the person who you got this from, as from my experience I was taught to breathe into, not with, the tan tien area. However, there several different definitions of the tan tien, as well as several ways to interpret how it works and where it actually is. Based upon what a person is meaning, it could make perfect sense to breath with the tan tien. However, I think you are already thinking along the lines that I would think, which is that they were telling you to expand and contract the tan tien or the tan tien area as your breath. This increases your awareness of the area and exercises it. A good first step. The tan tien area, from what I know, is that it is not a specific area that you can dissect out physically, but an area that you can definitely feel, move, and strengthen, once you get mentally connected to it. What you are doing seems to be one way of doing that. Last, you can get a deeper breath by expanding the chest. Mainly with abdominal breathing, the goal is to learn how to do it so as to allow air to go deeper into the bottom of the lungs and fill that part, with the chest expanding last, to fill up the mid and upper parts of the lungs. Abdominal breathing is often taught to help correct bad habits of breathing, as only doing chest breathing is very limited. BK Frantzis has a nice DVD on Taoist Breathing, if I recall the name of the DVD correctly, that you might look into. You can see it at: www.energyarts.com/.../Taoist-Breathing-for-Chi-Gung-and-Meditation-CD.html - Cached I hope this is helpful. WallaMike

Dear Laotzu21: While I would agree that part of the understanding issue is probably related to translating from Chinese to English, part of the issue is translating from "spiritual" to English or Chinese or whatever. The Dao De Ching notes that the Dao that can be described is not the Dao. However, I don't think it as hopeless as it sounds, as words in many cases can point a person in the right direction. I think part of what they were saying is that words are objective objects and the Dao is not an objective object. However, while it is impossible to express the Dao in words, it is possible to experience it. Once you experience parts of the Dao, the words make a lot more sense, but you also will realize that the words did not mean what you originally thought they did. I'm not making myself out as someone with great realizations or experiences, I've just been at this path for several decades and so have personally experienced a number of stages in my development where I can look back and have a much better idea of what an enlightened person was saying or writing about that was very differen than what I originally thought they were. Interestingly enough, when I would have these realizations, I would immediately rush out and tell all my friends and explain in my words what I thought was a more accurate description of what the person was saying. Unfortunately what comes out of my mouth to me sounds logical, but to my friends, it sounds just as undeciperable as the original statement. Experience is thus the difference. So, keep practicing! While part of the problem may be the Chinese to English translations, part is cultural in that this determines what meaning comes up when a particular word is used, and part is purely experiential and developmental. A good example is that of the question: What is qi? The books written by Chinese Masters read somewhat different than native English masters, but until I had my own person experience of qi, I was unable to discriminate truth from exaggeration from cultural interpretations from developmental issues from simple mis-understandings or mis-interpretations from deliberately being vague or secretive, etc. But with time and practice it becomes clearer. I hope this is helpful. WallaMike

OK, Mr. Yogi, please tell us a little about yourself. Are you a Gaelic Yogi? Do you go Taoist yoga? I started out as a yoga teacher, still meditate, but progressed to tai chi and more recently specific qigong forms. WallaMike

This is interesting to me, since this proclamation appears to be from a group that I'm also a member of, Integral Life and fan of Ken Wilber. The originators of the memorandum call themselves "Evolutionary Leaders" which is a call phrase of that group. Perhaps I'm wrong. However, what I thought was wrong with Integral Life is similar to what the "Martial Development" blogger was complaining about regarding this Gulf Proclamation. And in that aspect I also agree in part with him. However, I did sign the proclamation, since I haven't given up hope yet. On the other hand, the part I do feel somewhat hopeless about is that it will take not merely reputations and time to makes these changes, it will also take a lot of money. Money is something that most "spiritual" people still have a hard time with and so while their hearts are in the right place, they haven't yet been able to reconcile their spiritual stance with having money and power. Through non-dual practices I think this is easily reconciled, but I think it takes a long time for most people to do so. I've long been a fan of capitalism, but also a critic of how it is run by psychologically underdeveloped people. Once the more spiritually developed people get over their issues with money and power, the faster we will see changes that will help the planet. I like Taoism because it is both non-dual (in certain branches), but also a generally nature friendly philosophy. However, how many rich and powerful Taoists do you know these days? I wonder why that is so. I would like to see more community action by Taoist and other groups like Integral Life, but so far its lots of talk, lots of ego and chest thumping, and little action. In the past, I'm put my money and my time where my mouth is, but I've not seen anything come from it, so given my limits, I've decided to pull back and work more on myself, since at this point this is all I can see that I have any control over and sometimes I wonder about that. This move has been good for me, but I still get sad when I see how little is being done for our children. I just don't understand why enough people can't see what is going on and get together via the internet or whatever and do something, say similar to Moveon.com, but more middle of the road. On the other hand, I also realize that my lack of understanding about this is a reflection upon my own lack of development in some area, so I'm working on that. However, if the people who set up this Gulf Proclamation actually do get off their virtual butts, collect some money, start companies, get lobbyists, GET PRACTICAL, and do something other than bash the easily bashed oil companies (who can buy and sell all these people combined without affecting their bottom line), I'll be pleasantly surprised...and I'll be glad to help. But I won't hold my breath. WallaMike

Hello Heny: If you're already feeling some energy flowing up your spine, it sounds like you're already doing part of the microcosmic orbit. This is where the energy flows up the back of the body along the spine to the top of the head, then down the front to your groin area. From there, it just repeats, going back up to the top of the head and down to the groin, etc. This circulation of energy is frequently done standing, with the knees slightly bent and the hands held in front of the chest, tips of the fingers not touching, sort of like hugging a tree. The hands can be held lower down over the belly if that is more confortable. I tend to inhale as I bring the energy up my back and exhale down, but the reverse is also ok. Try standing 3-5 minutes and working up to 20 minutes a day. If nothing much is happening, just bring your awareness to your groin, then move your awareness slowly up your back to your head while inhaling, then down the front with exhaling. Once you get it going, it may feel like a wave of tingling, buzzing, or warmth moving in this oval shape up and down your body. This helps to loosen up and strength3n your body energy, as this pattern follows the governing and conception channels of your meridians. These are supposed to be reservoirs to help store energy, so this is usually the first place that people work on. Good luck, WallaMike

I joined the Tao Bums group today after searching exhaustively on the internet for anything that discussed qi or energy circulation during standing meditation, but could not find much. While doing my searching, I noted most of the discussions here on this forum were thoughtful, generally helpful, and rarely was there the bashing or dis-ing I see in most websites. So, I thought hey, why not join and see if these members could help me with this? I read a previous discussion in this forum where the member noted that just standing and being mindful or aware is all that is needed. While I understand this, it hasn't worked for me, since I get pain in my shoulder and trapezius muscles after a few minutes. This improved over a few months, but still nothing energetic going on. Unless I do something with my intent, I seem to be a person that unconsciously suppresses energy movement. Thus, the only way I've ever been able to do any qi work or get qi movement is though using my intent to move energy around. Last week, by doing some subtle movements (rocking slowly on and off the front of my feet/bubbling wellspring area), I was able to feel some energy moving up my legs and torso and this helped relieve some of my upper back and shoulder pain so I could stand a lot longer and I felt a lot better when done. I still felt better several days later, so I said, "Hey, I need to check into this more!" Based upon this, I've been searching for more information in books and DVD's about energy movement patterns during standing meditation, but no luck. I ordered Mantak Chia's DVD on standing meditation, since apparently he discusses the microcosmic orbit related to this, but I haven't gotten it yet. I also got Ken Cohen's DVD's on developing Qi, but this was mostly just a physical description. I haven't yet finished my Spring Forest Qigong Course I yet and I like what I see, but so far it seems to be a moving, not standing qigong. I've also read a number of recommended books, like The Way of Energy, Empty Force, Qigong Empowerment, etc, but still can't find but a sentence or two here and there about qi flow during standing meditation. I just bought the book on Dragonfly Qigong hoping that will help, as appareently he talks about energy flow along meridians in the book, but I'm not hopeful. So, does anyone have any other suggestions about where I might find this information? Thanks, WallaMike

Dear Trunk: A very interesting site. I especially liked the babe sitting on his leg while he was suspended between two chairs! I also like his ideas of stored trauma/fear in the tissues, sort of like Wilhelm Reich's ideas of armouring, cranial sacral somato-emotional releases, etc. We're talking in the same area here, just using different language so that people with different perspectives can better understand it. I'll read more and get back to you if I discover anything interesting! WallaMike

Hello Trunk: Thanks for the advice. I've looked into some standing qigong to supplement my standing and I think it will be very helpful. I also got an acupressure book and am learning the meridians so I can do a little self-treating. I do need to do more joint rotations before standing, getting too stiff, I think. I also think body weight squats will help. I try and do my tai chi before standing, including the "snake creeps down" form that does a deep squat and some others, but I probably need to do more. Yours, WallaMike

Amen to Stigweard's advice. Part of this also actually relates to Qigong, since most all people react positively to "big chi". We just call it charisma in the West. But whatever the name, it works. WallaMike

Hello devoid: Thanks for the details. I printed them off to use this weekend. My main qigong/tai chi teacher is gone for 6 weeks, which is why I'm setting up an extra program to do when I'm normally with him. Thus, I started my 100 days program last night of standing meditation, in addition to my regular nightly program. BTW, I thought I noted a question by you yesterday, but couldn't find it today. Please ignore this if it wasn't you. It concerned being bothered by your cell phone, etc. Since my background is in chemistry and physics, I have a little insight from that point of view. Bluetooth and other wireless equipment produce microwaves at about 2.4 Gigahertz. Your microwave oven produces microwaves at 2.45 Gigahertz and works through heating water. Since we are about 70% water, I suspect that that you're just picking upon this stimulus as your body becomes more sensitive to different frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum. Thus, if it bothers you to stand near your microwave oven, then that is why your cell phone also bothers you. I hope this helps.

Scotty: Thanks for the advice. Definitely I will keep my awareness within my belly, as I think my dantien is chronically very weak. One reason feeling energy is a big deal to me is that I think I tend to suppress those feelings and it's gotten me into a lot of physical problems. My father was a scientist and I was a hard core scientist, until "science" failed me. That's when I started doing spiritual and energy work and it's taken a very long time, but it's finally paying off. However, I think your idea that energy flow is restricted by the condition of the mind applies to me in spades. I think my mind is pretty restricted and so I've had to push myself to get things started, but I'm doing it gently and slowly so as not to over do it! It wasn't until I read and spent many many hours practicing the exercises in Peter Ralston's book, Zen Body Being that I ever felt anything that I would call qi. So, for me, the last 1 1/2 years have been a real Renaissance. But, I'm not getting any younger, so I want to keep moving forward. Thus, I think standing meditation is going to be the next major form I add to my practice, but I want to do it right. About 4 years ago, I spent 6 months getting ready for a meditation retreat, then spent another 6 months afterwards meditating 3 times a day, but nothing came out of it except discouragement and burnout. I even gave up drinking wine during time, since it affected my ability to meditate. It was awful! I'm finally recovering from my year of futility and recently have been more able to discipline myself without getting that hopeless feeling that I'm just pissing into the wind. The conversations so far on this website have been encouraging to me. Yours, WallaMike