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I am interested in getting back in touch with my sense of child-like wonder of the world that I experienced when very young, as I believe it would give me greater appreciation of the arts and music. Can cultivating chi help with this? Thanks

Hey dudes, I've read enough frustrating threads where there are big misunderstandings because people use old cryptic terms like "jing", "shen", "yin", "yang", "yuan chi", "immortality" and so on. In different schools and lineagues there are different understandings of these terms which eventually lead to strong misunderstandings and this prevents a mutual understanding and a fruitful discussion that could further a deeper understanding of the truth that lies behind the goals and methods of those old traditions which are occupied with achieving "immortality". Some guys even just want to mesmerise other people by indulging in cryptic terms and statements, which only prevents any progress at all. Therefore I want to "cut the crap" in this thread and want to try to analyse with you guys/gals the goals of and the methods that lead to immortality of the different traditions from a modern pov, in modern terms and with logical understanding to carve out the similaries of these different traditions to be able to conclude a synthesis which explains logical in modern terms what immortality is and how it can be achieved. ("Cryptic" terms can be used in this discussion, but please make sure to explain them appropriately, so everyone can understand what you mean! This thread is thought to lead to further and deepen understanding, not to spread mysticism!) Let me try first: 1) What does the traditions mean with "immortality"? Immortality means the survival of the conscious functioning personality forever and beyond bodily death. So this seems not to be a given in the theories of these traditions compared to the theories in the abrahamic religions for example! This goal means either that the personality survives in some sort of stable personal energy field that will "hold it together" or that the person's body doesn't die or that the person even transform its body into energy and includes this energy to create "a stable energy field". Other traditions claim that the conscious personality could "endure" when it fuses with a greater energy energy field that permeates the universe ("tao"). 3) What happens to people who don't achieve that goal? Their conscious personalities cease to exist, one way or another. This is the end result of a life-long leaking out or wearing down of the person's energy and usually happens at the point of bodily death. Some traditions claim that the conscious personality simply goes out like a flame (which could be compared to the dominating opinion of modern science) or that their energy scatters completely and therefore their structure get's destroyed, others claim that they get born again as other persons or animals with a wiped out memory. Other traditions claim that only a "downgraded" version of the personality survives death as a "ghost" who is very limited in its cognitive functions. 2) Why and how do the traditional methods actually work or are supposed to work? The "energy" of a person is thought to be limited and to leak out via sexual activities, mind activities and simply all activities in life. Therefore the traditions have developed their theories of how to stop the leaking out (via methods of "consolitation" of energy) and of how to refill or restore the stock of energy a person has to the level of a newborn or even beyond. "Consolitation" of energy would mean for example to store energy in a closed room (like "tantien") or to fuse different volatile energies which tend to "evaporize" or "leak out" to a more stable energy ("the fusion of shen and jing", "kan & li") or to a primal precurser source energy of these energies. "Refilling" or "restoring" energy can include "reversing" the energy flow from out to in to bring in outside energies into the personal energy field or by the transfering of matter into energy and infusing it into the personal energy field or stock. Please share your own insights and opinions! The more these are thought through and explained in modern terms, the more helpful and understandable these will be for the other participants of the thread!

Hi everyone, I am heavily involved with Chi on many levels and am from a lineage of a Japanese Shaolin Chi Grand Master although British...lol...just shows how Chi works! I have had supernatural and paranormal experiences from the age of 4 and have spent many years on my spiritual search before I found what was right for me. I am not a Martial Artist but my husband is and a Chi Master who was told of me by his Japanese Master years before we met. I was introduced to Chi by him and it went from there. There are many choices and facets to Chi, I do know that the more you get to know the more you realize just how much you don't know!! Do hope to have many interesting discussions with you all and look forward to meeting you all.

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I couldn't find a thread about it (maybe I just missed it). Anyway, In my studying, what little bit I've learned of qi/chi/prana/etc. is that it is the life force that runs throughout the universe (or something similar), kind of like the gas for the cosmos. It can be used and abused in multiple ways. Traditional Chinese Medicine (and I suppose Ayurveda too) focus on cleaning/clearing the Qi pathways to prevent/cure sickness. However, I've found little positive evidence backing up TCM. In that light, here's the question: Is Qi a real thing in the sense that it is wholely contained in itself and perhaps misunderstood, or is it more of a metaphor for the multiple body systems working together to make the results of Qi? Is it something else entirely? At this point, I am more inclined to think of it as a useful metaphor, like the concept of an electron or gravity, but I'm interested in what other, more experienced Taoists/others have to say.

Please dont dismiss this question as some cheesy, lame girls pick-up interest or locker-room talk, iam happy living with my girlfriend for several years now and also have broad interest in eastern body cultivating excercises and iam just describing EXTERNAL SYMPTOMS of something i believe is of greater importance going on inside the body (a natural order of things) that iam curious about - i assume it has something to do with sexuality and who knows more about sexuality than eastern philosphies... I notice this "weird" thing for several years now. Iam an average looking guy 193cm high, 30 years of age, normal physique (not athletic by any means). Normaly through out the day i dont get any significant eye-contact from girls other than typical cassual by-passing looks in public transport, shopping malls, etc... nothing significant or intentional from girls towards me... iam just an invisible average joe to unknown women... but whenever i ejaculate (masturbation or sex with my gf) the next day i feel like somebody exchanged my face for brad pitt - what iam describing next can easily happen within single day... girls going in opposite direction on street hold looong eye-contact starting from far distance and keep on looking as they walk past me, when sitting in metro some girls cant help looking away and than back at me and than away and after a while back at me - several times, sometimes across the whole metro vagon - sometimes i must almost escape from the metro its almost unconfortable... (iam not the kind of guy who is like a fish in a water flirting with girls), but there is more... occasionally some girl park a totaly zoned-out "dear cought in head light" frozen stare at me until she realises and looks away... the weirdest example must be when i pass by on long metro escalators (slowly going up) and there is a girl going opposite direction (down) which doesnt see me at all - she is looking away but suddenly she almost twitch her head around and looks directly at me and stares for a while - almost as an animal catching a sniff of pray in a wind - he twitches his head in the incoming direction and hypnotise the prey... this happend to me few times already and only on days after ejaculation (24 hours)... i also get these "electrical" looks, where we meet in same shopping mall with particular girl several times during 1 hour (she is shopping around, iam shopping around so we pass by, here and there) and each and every time she looks at me for looong time - after about 5th "loong and electrifing" look across the ailes within few minutes we both start to laugh... the previous examples can all accumulate within 1 day when i cruise the city - its like waking up in a crazy hollywood film for 24 hours - i turn from regular joe to playgirl model, just for 1 day how do i know this is not placebo ? because after about 24 hours its gone TOTALLY - no matter what i do the following days (stand on my head) girls just dont see me - iam invisible regular joe again... this can go for week or more (sometimes i have sex but dont ejaculate), until i ejaculate again - BANG ive got 24 hours in the "spotlight", regular as a clockwork... the difference is so striking (normal days vs. 1 day after ejaculation) and so perfectly time-constrained it cant be coincidence or placebo... Before you condemn this text as pubescent locker-room talk - try to imagine yourself in this "unwanted" or unplaned situtation - i love my girlfriend and have no intention to cheat on her but every time i ejaculate (masturbation or sex) for 24 hours ONLY i wake up in this other reality where beautifull girls really do give me signs of favour and price - its a textbook example of potence and i believe it all comes back into a circle of sexuality, health, life vigour and energy - its just fantastic feeling for a man no matter if you have a loving and stable relationship or not. But after 24h you crash back on earth. I dont know many man who honestly wouldnt want to investigate whats behind this sudden fluctuation if sexual potence.

Here is a page with video teachings by Michael Tse covering a wide range of topics including Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Qigong, Meditation, and Taoism Tse Qigong Centre videos- http://www.qimagazine.com/video.html

National Geographic documentary "Wu Dang Temple Monks"-

A part of a BBC investigative series about religion. Here the religious and spiritual systems of China are examined including the principles and practice of Taoism- [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IExz9U3tmUk[/media ] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v5izH7v3_U[/media ]