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  1. Dear Dao Bums, I'll do this in 4 parts: Intro Practices and personal experiences Conclusion on practice Questions for you Intro Last night I finally managed 3 lucid dreams in a row!!! I am over the moon I've been wanting to lucid dream since I was a teenager. I've gone to several tibetan buddhist workshops with renowned dream yoga lamas, read more than 3 books, watched countless interviews and read countless accounts online. Furthermore, I've been practicing daoist sleeping qigong for more than 4 years (not daily, but in practice cycles). I never felt I got anything from it! It only disturbed my sleep! I had 2 lucid dreams as a teenager. I knew I was dreaming, I knew it was all a dream, yet I could neither control myself nor the dream. This was with buddhist dream yoga and "western scientific" lucid dream (setting an intention, getting up during the night to reset intention etc). In my twenties I managed 3 lucid dreams, when I started to seriously meditate and dream journal. It was simply a byproduct. Here I could not control the environment, but I knew I was dreaming, and I could control myself. For the past 2 weeks I remembered my almost life long desire to lucid dream, and decided to give it a go again Practices and personal experiences What I've been doing buddhist wise is the purification breathing before sleep, visualising a red flower in the throat chakra, chanting the syllables of each petal and also visualising them (Om Ah Nu Ta Ra). None of it gave me anything. Daoist sleeping qigong, I learnt from master Wu. There are 2 sleeping positions, flat on the back with a mudra on your navel, and on your side with one hand on the navel and the other holding a mudra on your ear. You then visualise certain things. No matter how much I tried it, it has only been about 5 or 6 times I felt better sleep from it. All the other times, it simply feels like a qigong. You can feel the qi and blood circulating in your body. There was only 2 times in a particular retreat, where he shared 2 new visualisations he never shared before, that on the first night with the first visualisation, something really happened, and the second night with the second visualisation, I got really deep and restful sleep immediately. However, after I got back home and continued the practice, it didn't have the same effect. Lastly, the past 2 weeks, I gave it a go again with tibetan buddhist practices.... And last night it paid off!! The game changer for me was a bön method from Dr Nida Chenagtsang (I got it from his book "tibetan art of dream analysis"). It's a 5 step visualisation before sleep. This was what allowed me to finally experience lucid dreaming! And it was awesome! I was aware I was dreaming, I could control myself and the environment. It was super dope Conclusion on practice I feel there are 3 things which led to me finally experience lucid dreaming: 1) pure and open channels and energy centers (after 9 years of daily meditation and 7 years of daily qigong, now adding 14 days of daily tibetan practice, finally opened my channels and centers sufficiently) 2) sufficiently strong energy (I could actually feel that in the 3rd dream, the environment was a bit less responsive to my desired changes, I think the reason is that it actually takes some energy to control the dream) 3) I finally accumulated sufficient good karma (never hurt yourself or others, physically or mentally, help alleviate the suffering of others when you can, love and forgive) The tibetan practices I did for the last 14 days were: 9 purification breaths, breath holding meditation from the first steps of karma mudra meditation (the non sexual ones) and the bön visualisation before sleeping. Questions for you Would you like to share your experiences? 1) How did you get to be able to lucid dream? 2) Which practices did you follow, and for how long? 3) What do you do, during lucid dreams? 4) What are your greatest "pro tips" for lucid dreaming? 5) Anything you would like to add on the subject of lucid dreaming? May you all be blessed!
  2. Qigong and astral travel

    Dear Dao Bums, Qigong and astral travel... Let me ask you some questions 1) Have you astral travelled? If yes, could you elaborate how you got to be able to do that, as well as share some experiences 2) Do you know any trustworthy stories (about friends, teachers etc) about astral travel? If so, please share 3) Do you know any qigong or meditation methods for astral travelling you could share? 4) Do you know any qigong or meditation teachers (trustworthy and authentic) who teach astral travel? Let me share some of my own answers to the above questions a) I'll start with SKY (simplified kundalini yoga). b ) After, I'll share about my sexual qigong and daoist lovemaking teacher. c) Then, I'll share from my indian-village-mountain-cave-yogi guru, who has a student who has shared stories about "sukshma sharir ki yatra" (subtle body travel or subtle body pilgrimage). d) Subsequently, I'll share the story of a white, atheist european boy, who accidentally got the power of astral travel through tibetan buddhist mandala visualisation meditation. e) finally, I'll share a short story from a qigong master from Australia SKY In SKY (Simplified Kundalini Yoga), Vethathiri Maharishi (the guru and founder) was taught astral travel by one of his own gurus. In the beginning of SKY, astral travel was taught as one of the meditations, freely available to everyone. Later, they changed it so only masters would learn it during the masters course. Latest... they completely stopped it. Therefore, alas, I have not been able to learn it yet.. However, I've heard face-to-face trustworthy accounts of high level teachers and masters in SKY, personally telling me about their experiences. The method used is meditating on the navel chakra. After that, I don't know what the next step is (yet.. I hope to learn someday, somehow). Other things they said: how they used to learn it. It would be on full moon morning. They would all have eaten a light dinner the night before, and meditated on the navel chakra before bed time. They would then meet at 4AM. They would all lie down with white sheets on top of them. Vethathiri would be seated, guiding it all. They would meditate on the navel chakra while lying down, and Vethathiri would use his yogic power to take them out of their body, one by one. Once all were out of the body, he would take them to the moon, all together. After returning to the meditation hall, he would stay there. He would then allow everyone to go and do what they want to try; e.g. visit their families, visit mountains or faraway lands, go on pilgrimages to temples etc. Lastly, he would put everyone back in their body. They could then practice this meditation on full moon mornings back home, whenever they wanted. They should just follow the same instructions; light dinner the night before with navel chakra meditation before bed etc. Sexual qigong and lovemaking teacher He told me that the end goal of all daoism and qigong is astral travel. "The One" spoken about in alchemy is actually our spiritual fetus, spiritual body, whatever you want to call it. "Return to the One", "Merge three into One", "From spirit to the One", "Merge with the Emptiness and attain the One" etc. He said the couple would do their qigong and meditation. They would then make sweet, sweet love. They would then leave their bodies. Once out of the body, they would use all the energy from the lovemaking to heal the physical bodies. They would then travel to another planet in our Galaxy, the one from where qigong originates. Here you can be taught higher teachings and achieve higher levels of mastery than using the qigong physically available on Planet Earth. Teachings which have slowly been lost over time, since given to the Planet Earth by "the Gods". Indian Village, another student of my guru He got the siddhi of sukshma sharir ki yatra through the following steps: 1) attain mantra siddhi of a kavach mantra (tantric protection mantra) 2) tratak on the sun and moon to build the energy sufficiently strong 3) meditating on the navel chakra with neck lock until prana and apana merge, after which they rush up through the sushumna, naturally break your neck lock, and go to the crown chakra 4) the prana will then pulse in your crown chakra. You meditate on this pulse of energy for 60 minutes with no other thoughts in your mind 5) then you will feel your sukshma sharir leave your physical body (don't become shocked, then you will have to restart the 60 minutes) 6) after the first succesfull leaving out the crown, you can do it very quickly (because the path has been opened) 7) then you can lie down on the back more comfortably and simply leave out the crown 8) then you will see your physical body sitting or lying there, and you will see spirits around you, trying to mess with you, trying to get you to freak out. Don't let them distract you from your goal, remember that you have put the kavach and trust in it 9) go to your destination, do what you need to do, come back (just by thinking about your body, you automatically return instantly, no matter where you are or the distance) He himself personally went to "Vaikunth", the planet or place where Lord Rama resides. He then did puja to Rama and Sita. Then he returned. After this first journey, he would venture out and journey, doing pilgrimages or simply visiting interesting places, every night during his sleeping time. White atheist boy At one point in my life, I stayed 6 months in a Hindu Ashram in Europe. The resident indian swami told me the following story about this swiss boy, who came to ask for advice. He was a white, swiss, atheist boy, who had never been interested in religion nor spirituality. In his 20s during his university education, a girlfriend of his convinced him to try to meditate, as a way to cope with stress. He agreed (I think he liked the girl ) He was taught a tibetan buddhist mandala visualisation. He would visualise the mandala in 4 steps: lower part of the mandala, middle part of the mandala, upper part of the mandala, the whole mandala together. If you lose the visualisation, you start over. He actually felt some stress relief from this method, so he continued it all throughout university, and also after starting work. After 7 years, one day while meditating, he heard a huge pop. He opened his eyes and saw the wall moving towards him. He was very surprised. As he tried to move, he noticed it was actually him, flying towards the wall. He turned around, and shockingly saw his body sitting in the chair. He was out of his body! He didn't know what to do, so he decided to go visit his dad back home in the countryside of Switzerland. He flew slowly all the way, following the roads and signs. He found his dad out in the garden, working. He tried to talk to him, but his dad didn't react. After some time, he flew all the way back, and went into his body again. He called his dad and asked "dad, did you work on the kale in the garden around 3 o'clock this afternoon?", "Why, yes son, I did". The swiss boy was shocked. The leaving of the body would then happen every single time he meditated. As an atheist, he was so confused by this experience, that he stopped his meditation, and went on google to try and find some hindu or buddhist centers in his city. He found the ashram I would later live in for 6 months, and asked the resident swami to explain what was happening to him, how it was possible, and what he should do. Qigong Master from Australia He was born into a chinese qigong family. At 4 he was forced to do long standing. As a teenager, his teacher took him astral travelling. He took him all the way down to the "realms of hell", and all the way up to the highest levels of "divine realms" they could go to. Conclusion I have heard many bogus and untrustworthy accounts of astral travel in my life. However, the ones above, I can all vouch for. They were told to me by trustworthy friends, in a natural and unforced manner. There were no reason or anything to gain for them, cooking up these stories. It was simply a natural part of the conversations I shared with them during my time with them. I consider them quite "juicy" and interesting I hope to also learn astral travel someday Now please, what do you have to say about my 4 initial questions: 1) Have you astral travelled? If yes, could you elaborate how you got to be able to do that, as well as share some experiences 2) Do you know any trustworthy stories (about friends, teachers etc) about astral travel? If so, please share 3) Do you know any qigong or meditation methods for astral travelling you could share? 4) Do you know any qigong or meditation teachers (trustworthy and authentic) who teach astral travel?
  3. Master Yuanming Zhang

    Dear Dao Bums, I have searched and read all of the stories about Master Yuanming Zhang on this forum. I read some stories/reports/controversies, which stated that he was actually one of the teachers of both Master Zhongxian Wu (Master Wu) and Spring Forest Qigong founder Master Chunyi Lin. Supposedly, they then took some of his teachings, went to the west and became big stars using his teachings. I personally know nothing about this, but it's a pretty juicy story. I hope to engage with you on the following three points (regarding Master Yuanming Zhang): 1) can you either prove or disprove the idea that both Master Wu and Chunyi Lin copied Yuanming Zhang? Or share some stories related to these reports. 2) do you have any personal experiences or stories about Yuanming Zhang ? 3) if any of you are interested in his teachings, he hosts a 2 hour zoom meeting this Sunday (17th of July 2022) on meditation. I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say Be blessed!
  4. Hi, I'm doing Zhan Zhuang and am interested in meditation, spiritual practice in general. I have recently very much enjoyed books by Anthony de Mella, Lester Levenson, Rob Nelson, ... I'm also learning Mandarin and now I would love to start reading/learning with Chinese books that have a similar paradigm hoping that the added interest and motivation because of the topic will support the learning. Any recommendations would be greatly welcome! Thanks!
  5. Dear Bums, my meditation sessions are getting longer and longer now. The focus is there, but my body aches after a while. What is your approach? Just staying with the pain, making it conscious, growing with the pain? Or is a more gentle approach appropriate? I thought about changing from cross legged sitting into another posting after every 40 minutes. (Maybe my knees or laying on the back?) Would love to hear your perspectives!
  6. Hi everyone! I study with a Taoist Master who created an online video course covering the entire Nei-Gong System he inherited, including meditation, breath and energy practices. It's quite extensive and covers everything in a really easy to follow step-by-step manner from the beginning to the most advanced practices that would not normally be taught in public, and I have found it incredibly transformative for my own practice, so I wanted to share it with all of you in case anyone else could benefit from this kind of thing right now in the way I have. In addition to the daily practice videos, you will also have access to group practice sessions on Zoom five days a week, and the opportunity to ask a senior instructor questions about your meditation practice and spiritual path. Here is the link to try the course for free for a month! I hope this may benefit someone! Wishing you all a happy new year
  7. Dear Dao Bums, Today I'll share my experience with "Guru Karunamaya" and his teachings of Sri Vidya (a branch of spiritual practice in Hinduism). I have tried many things under the sun, but I am extremely positively surprised by the power of his teachings. Intro to Sri Vidya: Your body, energy, chakras, aura, psyche etc, is a perfect replica of the universe. This is called the "microcosm" and "macrocosm" idea. How the energy flows in your chakras and nadis, or energy centers and energy channels, showcases how your mind works, as well as how your life is working (and will work in the future). If the energy is flowing freely in a particular chakra and its nadis, it means your life is flowing freely in that particular area. E.g. regarding work and money, sexuality and pleasure, power and fame, love and relationships, manifestation and communication, understanding and wisdom, spirituality and oneness with the universe, etc. By opening your chakras and nadis, you also open the corresponding areas of your life. You then progress through the "sri chakra" or "sri yantra". This yantra holds all yantras, all gods and goddesses, all chakras and nadis, and all areas of your life. The beginning practice: You start from the outside perimeter, and then work your way through it. You end up in the center, the "bindu", the point, the dot.. The divine The outside perimeter (bottom left corner, the outermost square line) corresponds to the elephant God "Ganesha" or "Ganapati". This energy corresponds to the root chakra (muladhara chakra), and general stability and trust in your life. This also includes basic needs like work, security, fincances etc. When you get the deeksha (initiation) into the "ganapati" (another name for Ganesha or the elephant God) you start opening this chakra. With the shaktipat (energy transmission) of the teacher, you get a boost to your own process. Then you recite 100.000 repetitions of the mantra. This makes the mantras energy "flower" - both in your chakras and nadis, your physical body, as well as your life. This will give you physical health, heal any problems related to the anus, spine, legs and feet, bring you emotional and mental stability as well as trust, energetically it will open your muladhara chakra and its nadis, in your life it will attract a job to you (if you're looking for one), otherwise it will make your work situation stable. The scope of continued practice: Further, you continue this journey of self-healing alongside realization of ever subtler levels of the Divine, inside and out (your body, energy, emotions, mind and soul, as well as your outside life). This is done by working your way through the Sri Yantra. There's a process for everything: opening chakras and nadis, getting a job, attracting more wealth, removing black magic and evil spirits, controlling the weather, overcoming racism, depression and other negative mental states, and it just goes on and on. The sri yantra contains everything. Also ALL the siddhis (supernatural powers, e.g. auric vision (called divya dristhi or divine sight), controlling the weather, healing of self and others, and so on and so forth). Ending blessing and prayer: May you all be blessed, and enjoy good health, long life, prosperity, happiness, wisdom and peace
  8. I started reading taoist yoga and i must say all the nei dan information dont look like instructions to me. They look like biographical information of the alchemical changes of the energy body as one cultivates towards samadhi. There are too much steps and processes to be aware of that I believe alchemy infromation was more like sign posts that your on the right track rather than steps to actually follow. I mean there are easier ways like anapanasati and skeleton visualization from the buddha or samatha(concentration) practices in general. Instead of the risky practice that is alchemy. And yes you can not achieve samadhi without alchemical changes happening inside you. Else it would be false samadhi. Nan Hua Chin said that samadhi without change in your body is a false teaching that has infected buddhism especially zen. He encourages people to learn about alchemy only to use it as a referral that they are on the right track rather than an instruction manual. His book Tao & Longevity: Mind-Body Transformation shows how alchemical changes happen in the body using practices like anapanasati from the buddha. He says its based on the rule of the dao that extreme yin gives birth to yang. So the stillness from anapanasati where at some point you slow down to the point of having your breath, pulse and thoughts stop(hsi), gives birth to the yang chi being born. No need for all the alchemical jargon just slow down and become still and the internal alchemy will take place. its like our bodies mimicking creation. Where from wuji came taiji and from taiji came yang chi of heaven. The secret of immortality. It has also been said in yoga that physical immortals are in samadhi 24/7 hence they are constantly in touch with the yang qi of heaven. So if alchemy is just another way to samadhi or wuji why do Daoist treat it like its some super secret when there are even safer and less cumbersome ways of getting to samadhi. After all the emptiness is called nirvikalpa samadhi in other traditions.
  9. I used to meditate with binaural music to get myself into faster and deeper states. I have tracks for alpha, theta, delta, gamma and epsilon brainwave induction. I also have a device that modulate electric to pulse at certain frequency for the same effect. All of it works well. Recently i need to use these tech assistance again because my environment is not conducive for meditation. I'm wondering what's the opinion of tech-assisted meditation or if anyone else is using it. Would it be considered cheating?
  10. I've never lasted more than 25 minutes on my half lotus sitting meditation because around 20 minutes mark, my legs will start to feel numb and sometimes lead to cramps. It's also because of this problem that i can't go into deep state, it's also usually around that time my mind starts to reach alpha state. Any of you guys have tips on how to last longer in sitting meditation? stretching tips perhaps?
  11. Dear Dao Bums, This is the post I always searched for. A no-nonsense, no bullshit, personal experience and description of sexual qigong and daoist lovemaking. For over 7 years I've been meditating daily. For over 5 years, I've been involved in learning, reading, studying and practicing genital weight lifting, sexual qigong and daoist lovemaking. I'll keep this concise and precise, 4 headers: genital weight lifting, sexual qigong, daoist lovemaking, chinese medicine. 1) Genital Weight Lifting Lifting and swinging weights tied around both scrotum and penis is the primary exercise. Tying a weight just under the head of the penis and swinging it is the second exercise. These two types of swinging, combined with breathing and genital muscle contraction, will enlarge your testicles and penis. You must be VERY careful, and only do this under the supervision of an authorized and trained teacher. If done incorrectly, you'll damage your most prized organs. Even when done correctly, you WILL have slightly longer testicles than before. This can be annoying. So think about it, before you start. Now I'll shortly list my experiences: The positives: The primary swinging exercise, with the weight tied around both testicles and penis, will increase qi and blood circulation. Due to the cloth tied around your organs, the blood you pump into them via muscle contractions will stay there during the exercise. Over time, this will increase the number of capillaries (blood vessels) as well as the size of your blood vessels. This increases qi and blood circulation, as well as enlarging your testicles and penis over time. When your testicles become bigger and stronger, you get MUCH more sexual energy. When your penis increases in size (this takes time), you'll get more confidence. For me personally, the penis swinging exercise was incredible. After just two sessions, I started noticing results. It also enlarges your penis head. Longer, fuller and stronger erections. You can last longer. The negatives: If you do any of these exercises from books or videos, or from a withholding teacher, you can greatly damage yourself. In the typical chinese style of teaching, you'll get only very little theoretical information. You'll be shown what to do, and then only after lenghty testing, observation and consideration, will the teacher give you the small theoretical and practical tricks, which will greatly increase the efficiency of the exercise. You'll get longer, hanging testicles. This can be annoying both cosmetically and functionally (i.e. they hang lower in your pants and are more exposed). The "load" experienced by your sexual organs taxes your system. If you don't have proper recovery and life style, herbs etc, this can drain you energetically. This is in contrast to most kinds of qigong, and more similar to normal bodybuilding/fitness training. Normal qigong increases your energy. Bodybuilding/fitness and genital weight lifting taxes your system and drains you. HOWEVER, with proper recovery you grow stronger after the recovery phase. So, be very mindful of this aspect. Normal qigong will help you recover faster, if you practice while sick, weak or drained. Doing an iron man while you're sick, will tax your system, and make you even weaker and potentially more sick. Genital weight lifting is the same: never practice when sick, or if otherwise weakened or drained. It will drain you further. 2) Sexual Qigong If a man and a woman both practice qigong and meditation, as well as have a healthy lifestyle, they can be of great assistance to each other. Through retaining semen, the man will build his energy stronger and more harmonious with each sex session. For the woman, the more orgasms she has, the more balanced and harmonious she will be. 3) Daoist lovemaking Sexual Qigong and Daoist lovemaking go hand in hand. Sexual qigong is more concerned with building, circulating and harmonizing the qi. Daoist lovemaking is more focused on making the sex act as pleasureable and satisfying as possible. Hence, it is more of an art form. The most important point is foreplay. Through kissing, licking, hugging, touching, biting and gazing, the man starts with the woman's face, arms, back, legs and feet. After only certain signs of arousal are observed (reddening of the neck, her body becomes warm, nippels harden, her breathing changes and the vagina is BOTH warm and moist), the foreplay will go to the breasts, and lastly the vagina. The sex act itself employs many different positions and techniques, as well as a lot of talking to stimulate the woman psychologically and emotionally. The second most important point (other than foreplay) is the afterplay. After the sex act is finished, the man should hold, hug, caress and sweet talk the woman and consolidate what they achieved during the lovemaking. Usually the man is more focused on the sex act, whereas the woman truly enjoys both the foreplay and afterplay equally as the sex. The sex is physical, the foreplay and afterplay is emotional. Ejaculation is very healthy and important for the man's health, and extremely arousing for the woman. However, it should be regulated according to his health, age, cultivation and lovemaking frequency. 4) Chinese medicine Each of us have a certain bodily and energetic configuration. When we're healthy, still, some of our organs, meridians or jing/qi/shen will be a little weak or imbalanced. This is something we're born with. Some people will naturally have a weakness in the heart, kidneys etc. It's very, very important to know one's weaknesses in Chinese Medicine when undertaking genital weight lifting. This is so you can supplement your training with herbs. The testicles (as well as the brain and bone marrow) is connected to the Kidneys in Chinese Medicine. So, when you're swinging weights, you're taxing your whole Kidney system. With proper recovery, this will make your whole Kidney system stronger. HOWEVER! If you're a person whose natural weakness is Kidneys, you're in for a world of trouble if you don't supplement Genital Weight Lifting with herbs. This was the case for me personally. I was told that Genital Weight Lifting is the strongest qigong in the world, and everyone will benefit from it and become a superhuman. When I was gradually weakened by it, and asked my teacher for guidance, he couldn't understand it. He told me to practice more and harder, but the more I practiced, the weaker I got. When I finally quit genital weight lifting, after having been severely weakened, it took me 2 years of herbs and a new style of qigong to recover. When I asked my new qigong teacher about how everyone had seemed to become superhuman from the training, but that it completely killed me, he wasn't flabbergasted at all. He simply said "different people need different things". After having finally recovered, I restarted the genital weight lifting 6 months ago. Firstly the penis swing (which was always my personal favorite), and just under a month ago, I added the normal swing (both scrotum and penis). With all of my prior experience, new qigong training and knowledge, as well as herbs, I can now appreciate the sexual function boost this style of training gives. It CAN really help you with health, energy and your sex life, but you need to be very mindful of balancing with herbs, life style, recovery and normal qigong. This is how it works according to qigong theory and chinese medicine: Your physical body is considered the jing layer of your existence. The brain, bone marrow, kidneys and testicles are especially related to your jing. Through increasing your testicle size and strength, you'll strengthen your Kidney system and thereby the foundation for your physical strength and health. Your energetic body has your qi. Just like a teenage boy can grow like crazy in height and increase his muscle mass very quickly due to the power of hormones, similarly, by training your testicles and increasing your hormones, you'll increase your qi levels immensely. By strengthening the Kidney system, you also strengthen your brain. When your physical body is strong, your qi is powerful and your physical brain is healthy, it will be easier for you to meditate better, and work with your shen or spirit. Conclusion: these were the most important points of my experience, as well as what I wish I had known when undertaking genital weight lifting 5 years ago. If I had known then, what I know now, I could have avoided getting too long testicles (by being more conservative with the weight lifted), I could have avoided a 2 year weakness period (by supplementing with the correct herbs as well as more normal qigong and less swinging). This would have helped avoid unecessesary suffering, and instead increased my health, happiness and cultivation further. Therefore I decided to write this post: in order to help others avoid unecesseary suffering, and in order to benefit as many as possible by giving realistic and practical advice about the pros and cons of genital weight lifting. Be blessed!
  12. The Art of Song 鬆

    After reading through Nathan Brine's wonderful book (The Taoist Alchemy of Wang Liping, vol. 1) depicting the practices and overall line of development within the Dragon Gate sect, Nathan puts out a wonderful reminder. To truly build the foundation for neidan, one needs to learn how to relax and in particular learn the art of Song 鬆 . In WLP's lineage the art of Song is explored through methods such as pore breathing, body squeeze and the nine basic foundational techniques. From Nathan, I can understand there is a big difference between Song and flexibility. One can be completely flexible, yet not be Song 鬆. This is important to remember, I feel. I personally have been exploring Song through the practice of "anchoring the breath" as described by Damo Mitchell in his online Microcosmic Orbit course along with some of the practical teachings (pore breathing, from Wang Liping (viz. Nathan Brine). I also try to incorporate the principles into my standing work, though this is proving more difficult than I thought as it usually ends up with me spiralling into sponteanous postures rather than sinking the Qi and rooting and anchoring more deeply. I thought this would be a nice topic to explore together. I am sure it has been mentioned before, but it could be nice to have a thread directly dedicated to this aspect of internal training. So, what methods or ways have or are you working on Song or sinking in your practice? What does it feel like when it's working for you -- how about when it's not? What is important to keep in mind when learning this process?
  13. Since the Covid-19 lockdowns began, Master Stephen Co has been doing live meditations every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, twice a day at 10:00am PST and 6:00pm PST on his website, Facebook, Instagram and other social media. I normally wouldn't have been interested but my gf is really into it so I gave it a try and it is actually really cool. I feel really blissful afterwards, with a strong flowing of energy through me, and widened energy pathways. It's so simple you just go to his Facebook. I'd just follow him on Facebook, that's easiest. He guides Meditation on Twin Hearts which is the foundation of what he practices, as well as The Great Invocation, and even little bits here and there of higher level practices of Arhatic Yoga. He's been being quite generous about opening up bits and pieces of the practices not usually taught openly. Fridays are deep emotional cleansing day. Follow him on Facebook, his meditations he leads for his followers are powerful, and he has his own "special sauce", or a powerful energy technique he uses to add more spiritual energy to the energy you are developing and make it a lot stronger. https://www.facebook.com/MasterStephenCo/ Tuesday Oct.13th at 6:00pm PDT he is giving a free class on Pranic Feng Shui and Pranic Healing called "Aligning Your Inner and Outer Worlds" https://pranichealing.mykajabi.com/align-pfs-psh-registration
  14. Key pointers for meditation extracted from this series of Q&A's. https://realization.org/p/annamalai-swami/annamalai.talks.html The simplicity of how the Swami expresses the nature of this practice is gold. And for my brethren of a more Buddhist persuasion, that particular YouTube channel is a veritable gold mine. Jewels upon jewels, diamonds in the rough.
  15. Bruce Frantzis has put out a series of Taoist meditations to help in these strange times. There's fifteen videos so far: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZGxERtakiPYPJxR-KLETDnz_ruOY7hAU
  16. Dancing

    Dancing is a form of love and self care. Dance brings joy. Joy is an act of resistance. Joy builds resilience. Joy gives rise to hope. Please take some time for yourself, to do a little dance, any kind you like, any way that feels good.
  17. Hello everyone, I am abhi, and here I want to know more about cultivation, actually I recently started cultivating with meditation as base and im addition I practice taekwondo, but I don't know if I am doing it right or not, some say that they feel it in their body some kind of energy or something but I think I feel it it's just normal for me, during recent surfing I came across this site and thought to head some advice from others who do practice cultivation. If anyone can help me to know how do I start it or how do I know if I am doing it right then it would be much appreciated. Thank You 😊
  18. I have had the following daily Kriya routine for a few months: - Navi Kriya (9 cycles) - Yoni Mudra (1 time) - Kriya Pranayama (48 reps) - Mental Pranayama (maybe 10-20 minutes) Every time I do it I feel a quite strong inwards pull in my 3rd eye, sometimes strong energy activity in the area of my throat, mouth, jaw area. But couple of days a ago something very different happened for the very first time. The sensations during mental Pranayama were so strong that I thought I was really going to die, but I thought I was about to achieve some important break-through, so I surrendered and was ready to die if it happened and kept going. I felt very strong energy everywhere in my head, especially in the area of 3rd eye, face, mouth and jaw, and throat. I was really struggling to breathe. The problem with breathing was similar to if you stick your head our of the window facing the wind while driving 200 miles an hour. My heart was beating at very high rate, the reason for this might be also the enormous excitement I had at that moment. After a few minutes I moved focus from 6th and 5th chakra to 4th and then further down, and then the sensations became quickly much more bearable. Any advice on what might have happened and what should I have done in that situation? Might I have a blockage that causes dispersion of energy in my throat and facial area? Any advice would be highly appreciated, Thank You!
  19. Hello my name is maske and I'm a young man who is interested in cultivation i have always loved the feeling of meditation and just finding your own spiritual self. And I really love the idea that a human having the ability to use QI wich excites me because I always had a feeling that the human race has more potential and now that I have found out about this feels like the best thing that has happened in my life. But I don't really know how to start what do I do? Or am I doing it right sometimes I feel warmth in my hands and I once listened to monk music once and and closed my eyes while listening very closely to every single sound and I felt my soul being outside my body I felt it over my left shoulder but the second I noticed I went back into my body those were the only things that gave me hope to keep going but know I want to really know i want to do this. It's my dream to become good at cultivation and I want to learn more about daoism. And so I want to ask you all as my seniors if they could share or even show me how to cultivate. Thanks
  20. In meditation, we have the use of the term "staying centered" or "balanced" or "maintaining equilibrium". In taijiquan too we have the use of similar terms, or if we want to be more technical, "maintaining Zhong ding" or "being in Taiji". What does that really entail? Is it a mental state? Or is it a state of energetic balance? Or is it a combination of both? The best definition of "no-mind" I've come across is "The no-mind state is when the mind neither clings to anything, nor runs away from anything". This is where the key to remaining centered exists. The nature of the mind is to process information, to think. So even when there is no need for thinking to occur, the mind tends to preoccupy itself with thinking. Processing events that have passed, and extrapolating and projecting into possibilities in the future. The resulting effect is one of distress, even though there might not be the recognition as such, of the effect, under "normal" circumstances. This is true for all serious meditation (imho). If your mind is constantly vacillating between past and future, there is no point of rest any longer. So then how do we stop vacillating between the past and future? That is, in essence, the root of meditation. In order for that to be possible, first there must be total and complete recognition of our true nature and an understanding of what we are not. There are many ways to get there -- but the end result is a direct knowing of what we are not. What we truly are, cannot easily be grasped directly. Usually we have to go through the path of "neti neti" (or not this, not this), progressively and logically eliminating layers of not-self, until only the bare essence remains. Once we have spent time with the realization of our true nature as being that bare essence, then we can in earnest begin the process of 'letting go'. It takes a bit of effort initially, but to simply sit, without doing anything, is a good way to 'let go'. How do we let go of sand that we have held in our fist for a while? Just open the fist...and the sand falls out. Some grains still remain, just dust them off by rubbing the hands against each other.
  21. Hi there, I would like to invite you to join in on the greatest global mass meditation humanity has ever done. With one coherent positive intention we will propel humanity towards the most positive timeline which will usher in the golden age prophesized ever so often before and which will end the current corona virus situation. The meditation will be at 7.45pm PDT tonight. Please look at the below timetable for your timezone: The meditation will be going 20 minutes and you can either make a most positive intention for the future of earth and humanity or even better follow the below instructions: 1. Use your own technique to bring you to a relaxed state of consciousness. 2. State your intent to use this meditation as a tool to shift the planet into the most optimal timeline and as a tool to completely remove the coronavirus. 3. Visualize a pillar of brilliant white Light emanating from the Cosmic Central Sun, then being distributed to Central Suns of all galaxies in this universe. Then visualize this light entering through the Galactic Central Sun, then going through our Galaxy, then entering our Solar System and going through all beings of Light inside our Solar System and then through all beings on planet Earth and also through your body to the center of the Earth. 4. Visualize this Light transmuting all remaining coronavirus on Earth, disinfecting all infected areas on the planet, healing all patients, removing all fear associated with this epidemic and restoring stability. 5. Visualize the course of events on planet Earth shifting into the most positive timeline possible, shifting away from all epidemics, away from all wars, away from all global domination. Visualize white, pink, blue and golden Light healing all inequalities, erasing all poverty and bringing abundance to all humanity. Visualize a new grand cosmic cycle of the Age of Aquarius beginning, bringing pure Light, Love and Happiness to all beings on Earth. There are many many spiritual groups joining in, please share it! I don't think I need to tell you that such a meditation has indeed an impact on everything. Further links: https://2012portal.blogspot.com/2020/03/make-this-viral-ascension-timeline-end.html https://2012portal.blogspot.com/2020/04/ascension-timeline-end-of-coronavirus.html Promotional videos: https://2012portal.blogspot.com/2020/03/ascension-timeline-end-of-coronavirus.html I sincerely hope we can make it one million people, so please join if you are feeling guided to _/\_ See you later, Best, Julian
  22. I found this group while searching for possible sources of a tapping sound I sometimes hear during meditation. It is light and regular and occurs when I do not concentrate on it. It tends to go away if I focus on it. I found a discussion of similar experiences but no definitive answers. That's ok though. If it matters I assume I'll find out. Currently living and teaching in China. Bless this community.
  23. Hey Spiritual cultivators I like to hear any advice on what happened next after three dantians are FILLED and flowing? recently couple days of ago, this happened to him while cultivating my lower dantian then it flow up fill my middle dantian for couples of weeks then fill my upper as well. Now when I cultivating my lower dantian (sitting meditation upon it) the qi flow from lower to middle to upper and now it return back to lower dantian. I like to know more about this process and what WILL happen next?
  24. Shared Meditation Journal

    Shared Meditation Journal- for encouragement and fellowship. Write about your meditation. What you did, how it felt, preparation.. cool down, time spent or However you'd like to journal it. Not looking for much discussion or critiquing on the thread, certainly no critical comments. Just people sharing there experience.
  25. Are you not able to let go off Helplessness?Does Helplessness make you feel like a Victim?The feeling of Helplessness makes us feel negatively about us and everything around Then, listen to this Guided Meditation for Letting go off Helplessness and be a witness to miracles in Life Transformation