Sonhoffman

I feel the shamanist side of this practice is most strongly expressed in the standing S-M outdoors, where one can grow more sensitive to heaven and earth Qi and the way they "play". Spiraling heaviness alternates with soaring lightness, one is rooted in the other. 

Awesome!

 

Remember that the practices complement each other. Sitting, standing, GOT, etc.

Right now my favorite is doing standing S-M out in the sunny yard, moving about freely across the lawn. Sort of like a dodgy clumsy tai chi dance sometimes, led by more or less flowing hand gestures, then when the intensity rises, some shaking and grooving of the hips. Time flies when doing this, an hour can be a pretty short time, and it's also giving something to the neighbors to marvel (or shake their heads) at!

thanks bud

You're welcome ! And good luck, have fun, whichever road you choose

I would suggest you find out about Stillness-Movement, make a search on the forum. It's gentle and powerful, a complete and balanced lineage system, with no self-torture involved.

After a three-year-or-so hiatus I am back into Stillness-Movement, only now it feels like I'm REALLY in it for the first time. I guess I've always been a late bloomer at everything, but it's as if the workshop I organized and attended in 2012 has really begun to kick in just lately. 

I now get grabbed by the vibration throughout the day and begin nodding and circling along without even thinking. The energy is doing its thing constantly and all I have to do is the 1 hour sitting a day to keep it going strong, or as it seems, ever stronger.. Of course I do some GOT now and then as a supplement, but the sitting is what's really happening for me at the moment. This is the opposite of the situation in 2012, when sitting often felt like a bore and a chore. 

I bet most seasoned practicioners can't even recall all the funny or strange "co-incindences" that have happened since they took this path. It's just something that comes along with it.

It's also funny how when you're tuned out of these vibrations, you get easily lost into mundane thinking, and stop regarding the higher levels as important, or even existing. After re-starting this practice a month or so ago, my view was turned upside down in just a couple of days, and the LIGHTer side is definitely up 

Highly recommended, and please do give it the time & effort it requires!

I think you're right not to act on it if it's not really in your interest. Energetics happen.

I do feel I have a lot of sexual blockages, and perhaps with relationships, and being grounded in the world and sometimes passion. So Perhaps this is why Im having difficulties here, If I rest in lower dan tien, this should help this stuff clear right?

 

I can see what you are saying about being balanced, I already feel that it is difficult to live in the world and Im 22, so if I was even more unbalanced this would be difficult.

I'm sure many other over 30-year olds will agree that being 22, or twenty-anything, can be a most challenging age.

Don't expect energy work to be the key to better relationships. You will need more experience with relationships and to work with your own attitudes and mental knots in order to thrive in the world. A decent amount of daily Qigong will support that process but focusing on that too much could only make you feel more of an "outsider".

Also you could consider learning meditation/Qigong from a teacher. Then there would be no confusion about "where to concentrate during meditation".

edit: I realise this sounds like granpa talking and I probably wouldn't have liked this kind of advice myself when I was your age

Lately I've been doing Gift of the Tao moves with my girlfriend who is not really interested in energetics but likes to do them to loosen up/relax and develop balance. She's into ballet and has her own ballerina way of doing the moves. She even wears those ballet shoes sometimes.

Can s-m help resolve inner conflicts and help integrate yourself? I was considering doing the distance class but i'm a bit worried that if you add a load of extra energy to conflicted body you might just be adding extra energy to a place which needs calm more than extra energy. I was reading Wong Kiew Kit recently say that there are even dangers to doing Zhan Zhuang if you add a load of extra energy to a nervous system which isn't prepared for it, it can cause damage, and I get the impression s-m introduces a lot more energy than Zhan Zhuang.

I think it was Einstein who said it's not possible to solve a problem at the level it was created at.

Stillness-Movement deals with a specific energy, here we talk about "higher levels" or "heavenly vibrations". Calmness is indeed what it is about. Of course to get definitive answers you need to let Michael know your precise situation but as far as I can tell it's one of the most gentle and least "forced" systems out there.

Yes we all feel this sometimes more than other times. The mind/brain is ALWAYS attempting to tell us it is who we are. This is what you are terming your small self. We can consciously know our true eternal selves but that doesn't mean we are not being attempted hijack at any time. The key is to make the "small self" the slave of the true self; this gets into our own personal concepts of things such as wu wei (link to my definition) and is much easier said than done.

 

So many things, when we discuss them with words, start losing their meaning. I think there are many reasons we need to go through the process of humanity and having a body. It was only in the last 15 years or so that I have proven to myself one of my earlier theories, one very important reason; there is one particular thing that cannot be done while in Spirit. It has to do with our previous lives. We lose, through various interactions and deeds, parts of our energy. This energy can only be recouped while in body. Yes, I know this sounds weird. At first I did not wish to believe it. The proof comes from doing the specific neigong exercise I developed for this: The Sequential Energy Center Activation, Balancing, & Dimensional Expansion exercise. One aspect of this exercise is that when we jump through the astral layers into clear pure high vibration Light, we then have the opportunity to call back to us these energetics. We can because we have, for a brief period, transcended the "time" thing, and because we are in a vibrational level where our intent and energetics are pure and uncontaminated.

 

Folks here asking me to expand on this need to remember I am speaking from the point of view of the system and tradition I practice. I do know that quite a lot of folks that post here like to jump around and add whatever to their practice. I am referring to the Stillness-Movement system which has different conclusions, abilities, benefits than other systems. So, if one is not in this system, I CAN"T speak too much more of this. I posted on this thread because I saw a practitioner had reached a specific level within this system and I consider it an awesome and needed thing he has done.

 

The Stillness-Movement Dream Neigong is a part of the Stillness-Movement sleeping Neigong which is a part of the Stillness-Movement Sitting Neigong. It takes students of this system anywhere from 3 months to 15 years to begin this dreamtime interaction; those who embrace the system sooner rather than later.

 

This interaction is not anywhere close to what is referred in the books as lucid dreaming and is a total different thing. Most interaction of these type of things are on the astral level which is not at all what I am referring to.

Thank you for this elaboration and also for the support.

For those interested, I have been doing Gift of the Tao movements and Stillness-Movement Neigong for a couple of years and consider myself by no means a "good student", meaning I tend to lose sight of the practice more often than I would like to and generally haven't been able to put in all the gongfu I think this system deserves. Anyway it's good to know that progress is taking place. Only makes me wonder how fast I would progress with consistent 1-2 hours daily practice.

This morning I woke up and my first thought was "Man, I've been far away". I recall some dreams of being in a foreign country but it was unclear what this country was.

Then I went online and saw a message from a Facebook friend I've never met.

He said I visited him in Costa Rica last night, asked if I could smoke weed at his place and then gave him a hug telling him "It will be alright".

This guy is sick with cancer.

Right now as I write this I'm watching Twin Peaks and the Blackfoot Indian guy is talking about wandering dream souls.... Look at that.

It's as if the Higher Levels were 36 000 bit information and we only receive 36... Or something.

Happy 2013 everyone!

Oh goodie! This ought to give my slouched-down practice a perk-up!

I also have come down with a minor cold.

 

2012: The Minor Cold Awakens! Run for Your Lives!

I believe my cold was stress release related. I felt the first symptoms on my last workday. Could be my great work ethics at play.

I have felt a shift though. Although I've felt mostly stress, flu and Christmas stress. Maybe shift away from that now.

I try to do 45-60 minutes of Stillness-Movement a day, but all too often end up skipping days because of whatever reason. Rich social life and my general laziness aren't helping.

In the summertime it's more Gift of the Tao, in the winter only now and then.

I suppose for a person like me the trick is to stay sticky and not give up altogether

Eugene,

you could go see Alex Wong who lives in Surrey, London. I went to see him when the London S-M class was cancelled and his vibration seemed high and strong. His system is not the most usual type but it involves movement caused by energy.

Keep in mind, though, that I'm not a high level practicioner so I only talk about him from my humble point of view.

His webpage:

http://www.selfhealing.org.uk

A qiant Qihuhahuahuahua.

I'm not an expert.

 

But I don't think it's a good sign. You're not grounded. You may want to stop practice for a while.

You know when you go down in an elevator or drive down a steep hill how you get that crazy feeling in your lower stomach?

 

Not sure if anyone else gets this effect but since doing stillness-movement the above mentioned sensation has skyrocketed in intensity -- I seriously have to try hard to act as though nothing is happening when in an elevator with others, haha.

 

Do you guys think it is just increased sensitivity due to focusing on that general area so much or what?

 

Strange issue I know -- just curious...

Maybe just go on an elevator alone and let go for a moment?

edit: NOT agreeing on the "stop practice" advice.

Myself I have to sometimes hold back Stillness-Movement when in company in order not to confuse people. I guess I'm just too polite.

I went to an osteopath the other day for a posture check and he was marveling at the great mobility of my spine and joints. I showd him some of the movements from Gift of the Tao and he was convinced they were helping me. I think the purely physical aspect of these movements alone -wide, circling, sweeping- makes them good for you. Then of course there's the spiralling whirling mystery involved.

So just posting how things have been for me with SM lately.

 

Almost every time I practice now, I'll do the movements, close my eyes, then space and time disappear. I'll set the alarm for an hours worth of practice and I'll come to with the alarm going of. Just a general sense of timelessness.

 

Or my fiance will ask me a question, and I'll think I've opened my eyes, looking around, when I've still got my eyes closed. It's like everything occurs so vivid in my minds eye that I'm looking at.

 

Generally feels great, sometimes bliss, usually heat, but for the most part timelessness and energy moving.

 

Regardless, practice seems like it is moving along really well, and majorly excited to be going to the November seminar.

 

John

Wow! I sure would like to experience this kind of timelessness, never yet had this with any practice, including this one. But good things come to those who wait, not to mention those who invest time & effort.

I see! Thanks for the response! That leads me into another question...I know the answer is "yes" with other systems (like Kunlun), but is there such a thing as too much practice with Stillness-Movement?

If you practice more than 24 hours a day or more than 7 days a week it could bring time-warp related problems, then again we're dealing with non-linear here.

 

Thank you for being an amazing host and for all your work making this event happen. It was a great pleasure to finally meet you in person.

 

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An incredible experience and honor meeting up with such a culturally diverse group of people. Final attendance were people from England, Scotland, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, Russia, Romania, Norway and USA - all extremely nice folks.

Thanks to all for taking the time & effort to learn these true neigong forms. Practice is the key.

It was great fun to be building this event! Most of the time it didn't even feel like work.. But a word of caution to those who consider arranging this kind of happening.. It does take some gong fu!

And likewise Michael, it was great to have you visiting, along with all these international attendees. All the feedback I've had so far has been positive. I do hope all the folks who came to the workshop keep up the practice and embrace the system.

Hopefully see you guys soon in another workshop!

Hah. You are no teacher and I am certainly no student. My only motive is to discredit you. Which you surely deserve. I don't care about anything that happened between you and I, you just have unethical practices and ways and they disgust me.

*shakes head in disbelief*

No. You are incorrect. I DO study medical qi gong. I simply do not study from one particular person and I have healed many without ANY formal instruction and my patients have remained healthy as a result as have I.

Your arrogance and pride results in your greedy attempt to degrade me in front of others to provide dominance and power amongst your peers. I simply must see the words on how to do this and I will know the method. I'm not novice and I ask for no respect, I only ask for my question to be answered how it was asked. Not a workaround and irrelevance and arrogance.

I require not your teaching. I simply requested assistance in a technique. That is one technique of MANY and instead of a generous description you belittle me by the so-often-heard "get a teacher" and wave of a hand. Truly, you are much less experienced than you think you are.

I came to you as a fellow healer and now I out you to be a hoarder of power and everything you do on these forums is only for undeserved respect and pride.

Seeker,

Please don't continue in this confrontative manner, you are only making yourself sound like the arrogant novice that you claim not to be.

Black espresso coffee seems to go quite well with strong black porter. They kind of create this synergy of relaxation and stimulation. But watch it, these are dangerous waters!