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Found 261 results

  1. new or returning

    Jolanda posted a topic in Welcome

    My name is Jolanda, I think I was here before . Studying Daoism: learning from texts, reading books and scriptures, teaching and doing Tai Chi and Qigong, recitation, meditation, zhan zhuang, circle walk, letting go, returning ... In this moment my Daoist name is Xìn Rù, disciple of Liu De MIng. Living in the Netherlands, wanting to manifest a Dutch Daoist Center in the future, but then again, letting go of desires: just starting with welcoming people to learn, read, recitate and meditate with me, for recognizing the Dao, in a very simple Way ... through email, skype or facebook. Maybe starting a community - group on facebook, if there is interest.
  2. I have had this problem for so many years. I have been to monks, I have been to teachers, I have seen my guru many times, nothing ever, ever, permanently fixes this problem. When I meditate, energy moves into my head, it builds into a giant ball of pressure, and then anger, delusion, confusion, and insanity start to arise as a result. For years I have tried to fix it, I have been taught so many techniques to fix it, nothing fixes this problem. When the pressure builds up in my head, it starts to hurt my heart and lungs below. I have felt like I was going to have a heart attack before. Every morning I wake up, there it is, the big ball of pressure stuck in my head, i meditate, it gets worse and worse. Everyday is another day of suffering and misery. Horrible horrible emotions constantly arising day after day due to this energy being stuck in my head. Is there anyone in this world that knows how to fix this problem? I haven't met one yet :\

  3. Cannabis and Qi

    ganjaboy posted a topic in Healthy Bums

    Does anyone else feel that cannabis (marijuana) used in the correct way (emphasis on correct ) it allows you to channel and connect more with your Chi / Qi life force? Smokeable cannabis is from the female part of the herb and I think in men it rejuvanates Qi which women and children generally have more of, according to what I have read.

  4. Observing thoughts ?

    Shad282 posted a topic in General Discussion

    I have been lately doing more meditation where i focus on my nose and feel the breath going in and out, and this helped me in increase my awareness and my ability to observe thoughts as they arise from in my daily life. whenever the thought arise, i notice it and once i notice it disappears, and i m left with a sense of peace and ease. Even though, i did notice how much some of the thought are compulsive and negative too. After the negative thoughts decreased, my mind has been flooding me with "positive" thoughts or more like sending me thoughts that i like or would prefer to engage in or think about, and they are nice, but at the end they are thoughts. But i m trying my best to not dwel. I was wondering if anyone has any idea about the state that i go into when i observe a thought and it disappears ? that state of peace and i call it state of bliss. Even though, that i m able to to observe the thought before getting triggered, would that also help me in releasing fears and problems in my life? do you suggest to continue with such practice? or to move forward with something to deepen it? And do you consider it, an escapism technique or enhance duality? Also do you suggest any book, youtube video or so on that practice to understand it more? Thank you
  5. I have been noticing that different people use different tools, through which, they get over, or face their issues and fears. Some of different tools so far I knew about: - The use Lucid dreams through which they face the issue in dream world, - visualization. - The use hypoginia state - NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) professional or psychotherapist. - The use the present process, in maintaining focus on the now. - observing thoughts. What are your technique to release your triggers and problems ? how it works for you? did you try any other technique ? and you ever wondered that some technique may fall under the "escapism" way or maybe dualistic approach ? Thank you for your time

  6. I need help with my meditation problem

    Drifting_Through_Infinity posted a topic in General Discussion

    For the past couple of weeks, I haven't been able to meditate. I just sit down, and get a sudden feeling as if banana pudding is being spilled in my body and I just cannot go on sitting. Has anyone else experienced this? How do you get through it?
  7. Lately, I discovered that my meditation was actually hacked by a mind function that conceptualizes and creates an image of an experience and faked my experience of reality. an example: the experience or state of no-thoughts, at first it was a genuine experience and it felt really nice, during meditation. but after a while i discovered that, during my practices in the past months, I wasn't actually in that state that I started with and i was actually in a thought of no-thoughts. In other words, I was living in a conceptualized image of what i experienced first time i started the practice and the mind automated the process by attracting my awareness into it. which got me question a lot of my experiences, and ask you in this thread: How is it possible to identify whether the experience, state or the feeling we are having is a result of reality and not a fake, mind made image? When i say between myself, i forgive that person for what he did or give love to a person or deep inside pain, how to know whether it is coming from a real feeling, and not from a conceptualized dry image of forgiveness or love? Maybe it is by looking for the intention behind it? In buddhism, they say, you should approach pain with equanimity, and not with aversion, because aversion=resistance= persistence, but wouldn't you try to be in equanimity in order to heal (get rid) of pain which is by itself aversion but in an indirect way? or when you try to allow things to be as itis, but you are allowing it to be as it is, because you want to get rid of that pain (which is not allowing). Thank you,
  8. In course of meditation, often the mind-stuff (mind's contents - aka thoughts) rises up and we can end up getting attached to it. We are not always good at not judging ourselves as the contents of the mind reveals some not so pleasant aspect of us. So a very significant revelation in not such a wholesome way became apparent... Consider for a moment that we have a very wholesome, healthy, balanced diet. As a corollary thereof, our excretion will be smooth, uneventful and will keep us healthy, our digestive system functioning properly. If we have a day or two of binging on really unhealthy dietary choices, the results may be painful the next morning (or later in the day, as our schedule dictates ) No matter whether we had a good BM or a bad one, we don't hold on to the notion that the by-product of the process belongs to us. We let go of it...flushed down the toilet...gone... Same too with when we do cleanses...a lot of deep junk comes out...we let go...flush it down and are happy about it being gone. We feel cleansed after... The mind-stuff is no different. It is a by-product of what our consciousness consumes. If our consciousness consumes wholesome and healthy material, the thoughts that are generated will gradually become wholesome and tranquil. We watch and let go... Even if our mind has had a day or two of binging on unhealthy and toxic stuff...the thoughts that are generated will reflect that. We should still watch and let go. The by-product of what the consciousness consumes (mind-stuff) does not belong to us, any more that what the by-product of what our body consumes is. Similarly, when we do cleanses of the consciousness (mind-body practices, meditation, etc), a lot of deep junk comes out...as mind-stuff. Why then should we feel bad about it's contents? We should watch, let go and be glad that it's gone. We might have to cleanse over and over again...until the consciousness is clear of all the garbage. But that garbage should not define who we are and how we behave. We have to let go... Suffering happens when we hold on to the garbage, thinking that it defines who and what we are. The fact is that we are not. The garbage is just a reflection of what we are impinged with (stimuli - objects of our perception and conception).
  9. I have been coming to a conclusion that, running to meditation or any other "healing" techniques is just another way for the mind to escape what is and build a resistance to it, which win turns creates persistence. So, my conclusion seems to be going toward loving and enjoying what is even if it was negative as much as sorrow, which will allow us to experience it, and thus, there is no resistance. and maybe it may heal the permanent reaction to the memory that is causing sorrow and such. Please, don't throw concepts like (accept what is, allow, let go), please, provide explanation in terms of how to, what state of mind, or a feeling state that is needed to reach a Genuine feeling of loving and joy, not just a fake one that is like: "oh i love you, i'm enjoying this" but deep down we hate it soo bad and want to be positive. And please avoid techniques that are used to make us focus on something else to feel happy and joy as a result of escaping the negative feeling and ignoring it. Im looking for something that would dive deep into that feeling and embody it to love it and enjoy it. Thank you!

  10. Martial Arts as Meditation

    Prince... posted a topic in General Discussion

    I started lurking on the Tao Bums about 10 years ago (Wow, time flies!) and this is something that would have been helpful to me at that time. Hope this will answer questions for those just starting out on this journey.

  11. Attaining Full Lotus

    Papayapple posted a topic in General Discussion

    After couple months of good, general stretching, I figured out, well it's kind of easier to move around and throw some kicks in the air, but that Padmasana probly ain't gonna happen so easily, and since one day I hope to dig real deep into meditation, it would be nice to start a routine that is going to prepare my hips and all for that. So in short: who can recommend a simple, day to day thing that is not too hard to perform and that kind of forgives mistakes? Not looking for something dramatic, just safe and effective in the long term. For example, will this do the trick? I should add I'm currently doing first few of these every morning. Thanks for help!

  12. Victims of Porn Industry.

    Shad282 posted a topic in General Discussion

    Overview I've been thinking lately about how much the porn industry and media impact our life. Just taking a look about the most used websites in different countries, the porn websites holds the top 5 most visited websites. which means that a lot of people use the internet to access porn and sexual contents. The majority of porn users are men and youth according to some statistics. in other words, the porn industry have a very big impact on our daily life and affects the way we feel, we see ourselves, the opposite or same sex and sexualize our social life. Of course, with porn comes masturbation, and it is the addiction of the century, it is the technique used by the mind in order to escape feelings and emotions that arises, ending up with a need to release the dopamine and not deal with these deep issues. Masturbation makes you blind. Most of us, when we were young, we laughed at when we were told that masturbation will get you blind, because we thought that blindness meant to describe the inability to see with our eyes, and it was proved that none of the people who mastubate became blind because of masturbating. but blindness, is not referring to the eyes vision, it is more of consciousness and awareness of our own selves, our own emotions that point us to the deep traumas and issues registered in our subconscious and body. and that masturbation is an escapism due to the dopamine that is pumped in our brain due to orgasm make us avoid dealing with our internal issues. Energy and cultivation According to my observations, i did notice that porn affect a lot emotions in terms of making us objectify other people and enhance separation and decrease the ability to understand the person beyond the physicality. Also, masturbation does render the focus/intent very loose, it can be noticed if someone practices vipassana meditation, (where you scan the body and feel it with your focus) focusing and sensing of the body parts becomes very hard and superficial. Also, in masturbation Jing gets depleted and it is known that it is one of the 3 treasures of Traditional chinese medicine. all of my male friends, watch porn a lot and have developed fetiches and want to get into a relationship to experience all of those positions and fetishes that are extreme and have gained a lot of weird sex beliefs and seems like how the majority of people think and believe. Also, i have noticed that the body by itself doesn't get turned on sexually, a person becomes horny due to thoughts that were activated due to stimulus: porn, media, pictures, imagination or a dream. Also, Porn industry has added a lot of exotic values like "you must lose virginity before a certain age" "you should experience this fetish, that kind of person, size, height...." "jerking off is a must and healthy" "sex is very important" "size matters" .....etc of other values and ideas. What do you think about what is going on in our society and how the people are being programmed into a society that is primarily motivated by sex through the encouragement of mastubation and porn? how is it affecting our love life, spiritual life and our ability to think clearly, focus and make progress in our life.
  13. Hello, I was just reading about jing, qi and shen and there are a lot really, but for now i want to practice and try to cultivate the jing after reading its benefits. I was wondering if anyone knows some good videos on youtube or something that you recommend that teach how to cultivate it or maybe a website? or if it is possible to explain here, if you know any? and If you are advanced in such cultivation, can you tell me about your experience and how your journey was, and what impact did it have on your social, love and sexual life.. and other aspects of your life? Also, I do practice vipassana, is there a link between vipassana and cultivation the jing energy? Thank you.
  14. hey, I practice vipassana, even though lately not having time to practice it.... anyways my case is, when i m really feeling and focusing on body, a really painful sensation arises around heart, more like a circle or lines around it (around the middle of my chest where the heart is located). Also, when i investigate other parts of the body (with focus), there is a string of pain (dunno if it is a meridian) coming from my middle finger and moves up my arm to chest and to that circle of pain. usually that string of pain comes like waves of pulsation going into the heart. this pain arises most when its been a time, I didn't masturbate and when i m focused on my body. when i masturbate, the after it goes and decrease and thus i won't feel it anymore up till a period of time. feeling that feeling of pain and trying to deal with it, with watching/observing allowing it to be... didn't work much. Also, the more i focus that pain is very tough and strong... and thoughts of "it seems i won't last much on this earth...etc", it is not like i fear death, i don't mind it but yeah. I do have some kind of throat pain (when to doctor and said there is nothing) that arises from time to time when i focus on my body but that is maybe a different story but currently this is stronger any ideas? any help is appreciated. Thanks
  15. i always knew that these bowls exist but never actually gave them attention when i actually tried one. They amazing tones ! beautiful !! for those who has experience and knowledge in the bowls.. do you think they are able to heal with tones? and do you believe in the water discharging, where you put the water and make the boil sing which creates a fountain (youtube video below) ? Please do tell about your experience with it and how do you use it and how do you choose one since each bowl has a tone. and what is actually the difference between cleansing and healing? Thank you
  16. A Kickstarter project being developed to help you recognize you are sleeping and thus make you aware in the dream and become lucid: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1705207344/the-lucid-dreamer-wake-up-inside-your-dreams so you don't need to train or do anything in order to become lucid and worry about anything. https://www.facebook.com/NowThisFuture/videos/1257420744299103/ some would say that lucid dream may help to clear issue and thus help with chakras and so help with enlightenment, would be more like making a virtual world to deal with your issues and solve them, in a safe place, under your control. would you think it is a good idea? would you think, we might come to a time where an enlightenment pill or something in that space would be invented? wouldn't it be beneficial to just clear your chakras and become aware of energy without the hassle of the whole process? Even though, yes it is about the journey, but still.. things much easier Thanks
  17. Do you think that nothing in life is static and everything is relative? In other words, if you dnt believe in chi/energy, you won't feel it. It could be that the belief is what creates our own reality, what we feel, see, hear, touch, smell, taste. And nothing really exist... we just inherited genetically and got taught beliefs that makes our own reality and put us with people with same of those beliefs that reinforce them and thus lead to make it a very real reality. Nd could be that the chakras, energy/chi, meridians...etc just another packaged reality, that we can choose to believe in out of many other realities, all is real but nothing really exist? Are there some static stuff in the world? That foes beyond all possible realities? Or could a majority belief be made a a static to all other possible realities? Does nothing really exist.. because all realities cancel each others out and what is left is emptiness or just another belief? thank you
  18. Hello all!! As is evident from the above post i am 22 and in the process of putting my life together after basically a past 8 years of relative ignorance. First and foremost, as should be evident from the above title I am a user of that magical herb cannabis, for meditation / relaxation purposes as well as to assist me in treating depression. I do not believe that or any drug is the answer however, more accurately they provide a means to ask the right questions - IMO. Like a lot of young men I struggled with masturbation, lust, and porn usage, in some ways inevitable during the raging hormonal hell of adolescence but it was with time that I gained wisdom enough to realize how these things were damaging me and I am proud to say as of today I am a year clean of both. I've done a lot of reading on the concepts of the three treasures, Jing, Qi and Shen and have come to grasp an intuitive working knowledge of what they mean and how the manifest in your spiritual consciousness. I am however still a virgin and have yet to harm a woman with my lust. A wise man once advised me to make virginity "my spiritual fortress", to lose it with or to my wife. I am not sure what path I will take but am definitely aware that the common trend of promiscuity and self-indulgence is incredibly detrimental. For me it will take a special girl, and definitely not just a lover but also a cultivation partner and companion who understands yin and yang energy dynamic and how to heal with the relationship rather than the opposite. I want to get into yoga or some physical practice because like some young men I have suffered and still do from both anorexic tendencies and body dysmorphia. It's my belief, perhaps far fetched that these physical demons are karma for physical objectification of female goddesses that I did in my own mind. As a raging Taurus my challenge shall be in overcoming the base bestial instincts for higher purpose and enlightenment. Anyways, hello!! Glad to be here
  19. hello everyone, I am from Tianjin University China. I like meditation very much. Taoism is Chinese traditional technique system for longetive aim. There were many people who practised Taoism got a more than hundred years old in the history. So Taoism is very useful for a healthy life. I practised Wushu , Taoism meditation for many years. I would like to meet more friends who have the same hobby. ----Mingtongzi Han
  20. I was wondering how do u differentiate between intention, visualization and imagination when u are sending healing or trying to communicate energetically. As i have been noticing some people use intention to connect or heal the person over distance without actually having a thought or an image of the person and seems to be related to introspection but going outside, it is like sensational maybe. some people may use some kind of an image of body healing it or visualize energy with certain color going inside. And others imagine a whole scenario of an environment, the person they are trying to connect to him and what is happening with them and maybe where they live and the room they are in. what about you? how do u differentiate between them or maybe you consider them the same? and what is more effective (in terms of healing or connecting...) based on your own experience? Thanks.
  21. It's becoming clearer to me off late that when a meditation technique says "Rest your mind" on something (say the Lower Dan Tien), it is not the same as "think of something". There is a very clear difference between "resting the mind" vs "thinking". Resting the mind implies a passive attention. Thinking implies an active attention (at least that's what it seems to me). So, when a student is asked to "rest his/her mind on something", it means simply that. Rest the mind...like one would take an object and lay it down on another surface. It does not mean observe, scrutinize, study, etc. The act of resting the mind is non-descriptive, passive and does not exhaust us. The act of thinking is active and exhausts us. Thoughts?

  22. Are we overcomplicating this?

    Easternmost Frontier posted a topic in Daoist Discussion

    I've been thinking a lot about this lately as I slowly, slowly re-engage with my own practice after a period of illness. I'm starting to think we're overcomplicating things. I've practiced and read about a great many systems of meditation and energy cultivation--which seem to grow increasingly complex the further I get into them--and they may be losing the plot, as it were. Simple "sitting and forgetting" and a more active component (Tai Chi, Qigong, Yoga, etc) are helping me regain ground faster than any of the more complicated systems. So maybe we should just return to basics? It's a thought, and I'd love to hear yours.
  23. Hey ! - What is your talent and how did spiritual practices, mindfulness, meditation..etc helped you in improving it ? - and you ever thought to apply for a Talent show? For now I currently don't have any talent but i do practice spirituality!
  24. Hey why did you choose this path of spirituality, chi, meditation, qigong... (knowing that there are different paths inside of it). - are you trying to have an identity, sort of religion belonging, escapism of reality,, trying to gain superpowers/telekinesis, reach that superstate of nirvana or enlightenment? - what is your goal and what are you trying to achieve out of practicing and having such beliefs. Thanks
  25. So I am interested in a self taught yoga method that would help me gain flexibility and peace of mind and for a better meditation posture as well as something that would keep me limber for other forms of exercise. I've been considering starting with Yogani's Asana's book cause it seems simple and I won't have much time on my hands this year. I also am considering "Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya" by Satananda Saraswati. Seems like a complete guide and I like a lot of its other content about cold showers, neti pots, etc This book seems a lot more time consuming to follow and some have even deemed it dangerous to practice such tantric routines without a guru present. Anybody farmiliar with these texts?