Awen

Do you need a college or a practitioner? for a college you can try out the following https://www.atcm.co.uk/education/accreditation - though I'm not sure how they might help you and please also note that the university of middlesex doesn't appear to have a Chinese medicine programme anymore. For practitioner you could try out the Yuji clinic in London- https://www.yuji.co.uk Or our very own Qiway on the forum- https://www.qigonguk.com/contact-us Hope this helps

The following was a really interesting talk given by Bill Porter. Its longer than the above short clips but gives some context to the hermit lifestyle in China. Of note to this thread, he states at around 43 minutes that in one section of the Zhongnan mountains, he had noted around 200 hermits living in a particular area- whereas a few years later there were over 600. Then at the Q&A at 1.01.00, he makes the following very interesting comment: “When I wrote my book Road to Heaven, which was published in 1993…. It’s never sold more than a thousand copies a year here in the States. It came out in Chinese (language) about 8 or 9 years ago and it sold nearly 400,000 copies…. As I said earlier, in the same area where there were 200 hermits there is now 600 and the kind of people who are now hermits are very different… the kind of hermits that I met in 1989- highschool education was rare, but now college graduates are a dime a dozen amongst the monks. Because you are getting people who have finally had a chance to pursue the goals that we think are worth pursuing in our societies- and they are finding them lacking something, so they are all going off to the mountains.”

I came across a few related clips on youtube yesterday which I found extremely interesting- as they seem to suggest a revival amongst millennials of hermit traditions in the Zhongnan mountains. I had seen Amongst White Clouds before, so I was aware that there was a still-existing, historic hermit tradition in the region- but I thought it was a wholly buddhist phenomena and was also surprised to learn of a number of ostensibly quite young people in their midst. I suppose it is inevitable to find a trickle leaving society given the population levels and stresses of life in modern China. Nonetheless, from an outsider's perspective, its nice to learn of initiatives to pursue the Tao that are not the result of government tourist initiatives or created with a view to charging $10,000 for a weekend workshop (including certificate and t-shirt with course logo). anyway here are a few links for those inclined to view them:

A young gentleman that I have kept an enthusiastic eye on over the last few years is George Thompson and his teacher Master Gu. Very much Taoism-Lite, but his videos are uplifting, enjoyable and easily available for public viewing. His channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAGTpcuP8o9_sWzvDGfZYKA/featured Or a sample video:

The below link is to an interesting documentary about the practices of a small family lineage of rural Daoists, 6 hours west of Beijing, filmed by Dr Stephen Jones. The footage primarily demonstrates how they perform funerary rites and rituals from commencement to completion, interspersed with older footage of how things used to be, interviews and commentaries by the practitioners themselves. I personally thought that it was an interesting and worthwhile documentary so credit to Dr. Jones. Awen ps... The movie complements one of his other books which can be found here https://stephenjones.blog/the-book/ whilst his book "In Search of the Folk Daoists of North China" has now caught my attention.

Ive never seen any footage of Mr Murray moving. Does any exist?

Swami Loknath Tirth used to provide Shaktipat by letter around a century ago, Nowadays his lineage still provides distance Shaktipat, but through their website @ https://mahayoga.org

Jerry is certainly well respected. Welcome by the way!

Hi Heatrate, Welcome to the forum. re: kidney deficiency and jing build up, why don't you research the following: 1) Eddie Chong's DVD Pan Nam's Five Petal Plum QiGong- this is a kidney focused qigong routine that is supposed to work wonders. One Dao Bum says that it was tested as being the most powerful qigong system in existence based on testing with an energetic intuitive that regularly tests qigong forms for him. Note I say "supposed to"- I have not practised it, so can not confirm this. 2) Cistanche stem is a herb which is supposed to build jing incredibly quick- research it, you may just find its what you need. 3) Look up Sunn Yee Gong on this forum. This is a form/style of qigong taught by Sifu Garry Hearfield. Other forum users back in 2012/2013 related that they had experienced heightened libido from this practice and Sifu Hearfield confirmed that the practice builds up jing- however the website seems to be down and few people appear to have actually stuck with the practice 5 years down the road, so make of that what you will. Food for thought at the very least. Awen

Welcome Raindancer, Its wonderful to have you amongst the little community here. I have no doubt you will find this to be an enlightening place where you will naturally and organically discover a community and close circle of like-minded folk in due course. There are few places that I can think of, either in the physical or cyber worlds, that have been as enriching in my life as this forum. You're in for a treat! Awen

Welcome Jade, Im sure you'll find both like minded individuals and what you are looking for on this forum. Its a most enlightening place indeed! Enjoy Awen

I've heard great things about Xiang Qigong (aka Fragrant Qigong), however I must confess I've not practiced it. The practice is at around 5mins to 28 minutes on the below video.

Sifu Terry, I understand, subscribes to the concept of the unity of religions, so there is certainly no requirement to change one's beliefs in any particular direction. As regards the origin of the forms- if one were not to give credence to the possibility of the existence gods and goddesses, it surely would not have an impact on their conclusions re: the efficacy Flying Phoenix Qigong as a set of health and wellbeing promoting exercises? In this regard the words of Yogi Bhajan come to mind, namely that the lineage of a system/person/institution is less important than its legacy. As a parallel example, not everyone who practices Pangu Shengong is fully convinced of the origin ascribed to that particular system, however they often note very strong health improvements or heightened chi sensitivity, so they accept what they can and continue making real progress in the system.

It seems your trip to TDB was a brief one, but I hope not unenjoyable. id be interested to hear whether you have maintained a lurker presence, and whether it has helped you seem out the knowledge that you originally sought after.

Wonderful to see you here, Raven's Fire! I look forward to your input in the forums. Awen