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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,

hello, I have been doing tests and read about TCM and such, and i have been diagnosed by different tcm practitioners and tests that i have yin deficiency. these links of some tests and what i have been told by some tcm practitioners: " You seem to have several symptoms of a general yin deficiency. The burning of the hands, nervousness and flushing can stem from heart yin deficiency. some of your digestive issues and some of the constant worry could be from spleen qi deficiency. Eczema is commonly caused by damp heat and is probably made worse by your yin deficiency as well. As for your tongue, the deep centerline crack reflects yin deficiency. The soft, somewhat flaccid texture of the tongue reflects chronic spleen weakness. the bumps of the tongue reflect chronic heat accumulation, which in your case is probably a result of the chronic yin deficiency. it is a little hard to tell but it does look like the front of the tongue is a little brighter red than the rest, which is another sign of heat which has accumulated in the upper." tests: http://imgur.com/a/bqOMz http://imgur.com/a/xD1Tz Can someone explain me the yin energy and how it is absorbed (ground or cosmos..or...) and what food or lifestyle is yin, and techniques and such that may help me in balancing, since i don't have much knowledge in tcm. thanks

Hello, I was referred here by a redditor after making this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/energy_work/comments/5fr8gs/whats_the_next_step/ I copied and pasted it below. I have high levels of energy which I meditate on and run through different circuits frequently. Some days I try to "burn" with my whole body at once all day long. I am familiar with rotating major and minor chakras on two axis of rotation, and the stimulating effects that has on the energy meridian pathways. I can feel where the meridians go and identify where acupressure and acupuncture points will stimulate. I can warm myself when cold and heal myself. During intense energy meditations, my point of awareness isn't at the third eye, it's wherever I'm focusing, and I can look around and see the energy fields of my body, the chakras, the meridians, the physical anatomy as well, and it's all dancing in all colors of the rainbow, and is accompanied by beautifully harmonious astral music. I don't believe I've had a full Kundalini experience, but when I do connect the tail of the snake through my root to the earth, or the "below", and run the head of the snake through my crown to the "above", it feels like going super saiyan, especially if I'm cycling with the whole universe, fully open, sending and receiving to infinity. Am I right in thinking that I should be putting more energy into the environment now? Feeling my surroundings and working energy with other people? So far I can put up a strong shield, I can "feel" people, whether they're close or far, and send them energy, having beginners identify the areas I send energy to and whether I'm sending energy or pulling energy. All information on energy work I've found thus far teaches how to do these things I've become familiar with, but on my own I've started to find things I haven't heard about before, like seeing the energy and hearing music. Does anyone know where I can progress from here? Any high-level books I could read? What else is possible?

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.

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.

I have been diagnosed as having eczema on some part of the skin, its been said to be caused by skin oil and stress and heat. and seems that it can't be healed with meds. The bad thing about it, is when the weather is hot and stuff gets heated it, it becomes itchy. so i was wondering what could be the energy reason for this genetic thing to become activated, for example, i do know that allergy is related to immunity system being overreacting and could be related to a fear or lack of safety and this the body stays alarmed and causes energy..etc. so what about Eczema, what past issue or life circumstances might activate it, and the heat seems to cause it to itch and inflam it. and how it can be healed? in terms of energy or past healing, or natural remedies ... etc? Thank you !

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

Given all the discussion on shielding and energies, a member suggested this might be a fun poll to do. Cheers.

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

Many times, I've been told when thoughts that makes me feel sad or have a an emotion that is not desirable and such that i should be in the now and not dwell on the past or what is going to happen. It is true that not thinking or just thinking about what is in the now.. makes me feel better and relax and such... but i see it as a kind of escapism of the thoughts that makes me feel sad...it is like not dealing with them and with what they are trying to point to.. and running into the now where they don't exist. No matter how a person stays in the now and train his mind to be in the present moment, there are triggers that is going to appear in the now that will awaken back the thoughts he tried to escape from by altering his focusing in the now. these thoughts will always stay there waiting for you to get triggered or lose your focus back into them to. these thoughts are there for a reason, and demand your attention to be healed and transformed. they are the result of the past and exist in the now, but need to be triggered and if not healed, they will be in your future. what do you think, is it an escapism? and how to actually deal with these thoughts without escaping them? Thank you

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.

it seems for me hard to trust the universe/life.. you can see people who struggle and suffer due to stuff beyond their control, for example a kid that is living in war or on street hungry and such.. why would the universe put that innocent kid in such situations and pains. Even tho, some may say, will help him to develop and become strong and other benefits of these situations.. but these lessons could have come in another way. why the universe/life has to make its learning through suffering? couldn't be upgraded to a new positive way of teaching? how would I trust that the universe won't try to teach me through such kind of events of pains? i know i can cop up with such events that I consider painful or whatever.. but are they necessary. it is like you know the way out but do you have to go through it from the first place? I do believe that we create our own reality but that is make me increase the control i have over myself and my actions and increase my awareness of thoughts and sensations to be able to control my own reality 100%. but at the same time I think it is not really we are the only one who make our own reality, no matter what we do, because how would an innocent pure kid put himself in such situation and experience: (no karma plz) http://www.aol.com/article/2016/08/20/brother-of-omran-daqneesh-boy-who-became-the-symbol-of-syrias/21455644/ isn't the universe harsh?

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!

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

after meditating, healing, doing qigong and etc of other practices... what is next? after reaching that state of presence, stillness, mindfulness, awareness, observing the body, thoughts,.. what is next after all that? how to measure the progress? and what are the levels or stages how to know where are you at? what is the goal you are working toward?

hey, I have been noticing a lot of people i know who have done healings through different meditations or practices always had the issues come back when they are down or something. It is like the pain from the past is still there but when u do healing you become more optimistic and present and in the moment and so u are less likely to feel or worry about that issue. After time, this pain gets triggered and u are back into the same situation of feeling the same pain of the same issue coming back. I had this problem.. even tho i know the issue, what happened and reasons and everything. when i m not in total focus and present and mindful.. this issue can be triggered back. for example: if it is a pain related to confidence.. if i focus on it and heal it (myself or an important healer), it makes me feel more confident. but later on few months later it get triggered back. healing and inner work seems like a pill to not feel the emotional pain and be happy but when this is gone all the pain is back. it is something noticeable among different people that participate in different practices meditations or qigongs and even with known important healers in their domains. My question would be, how the problem/pain/issue or could be a craving, can be radically removed.. i know the memory of the past is still there, but the trigger of emotional string to stop and see it as it is ? Thank you!

I was wondering lately about when to use healing through energy and when to go and take meds and such. Many views on healing claiming that everything from sickness and different kind of symptoms is related to energy stagnation happening due to a karmic or psychological/past issue. and that can be healed through working with energy and healing those stagnations and such. and not healing the wounds on energetic levels means that they will appear in another way in form of sickness or other materialization in the physical reality. Other views sees limitations to the healings in terms that stuff can be healed and other can't, and it is left to the medicine. Also, i m asking this question because lately i was having this throat/adam's apple uncomfortable sensation of like there is a stagnation with a little pain sometimes and some hardness in swallowing in my throat/adam's apple. and these sensation increase if i focus (during meditation/vipassana) and when an emotional / drama scene appear on tv or in real life. sometimes when i scan the body and find a pain or an energy sensation on a body part, with a lot of focus of allowing, letting go, accepting it as it is, the pain disappears... but this one is growing and links up sometimes to ear and eyes. So currently not sure if it is root is malfunctioning of an organ maybe the thyroid or other physical thing, or an energetical problem, or an energy issue (related to something of past/psycho) causing the malfunctioning of an organ or something ? and i don't want to treat it through med without solving the actual issue if accepting the view that all is energy related. So how to know whether it can be solved through energy or medicine (taking meds)? Thanks.

hey! my story short, is that when i was young up to my teenage years, i used to be cold emotionally, having shield around myself and heart in order not to get hurt by others. and with time i became careless about what others would say and wouldn't affect me (At least what i noticed). which lead other to see me as a cold person and distant and such. about 2 years from now, i started learning how to feel my emotions back and be sensitive to feel them since i was kinda numb of them, and started working on my heart chakra because i used to feel a heavy block of energy around my chest etc.. Now after practicing vipassana, i could feel strings or dots of pain around my heart and on my chest and i watch them and they get healed and go away and later on others appear... and working on it. The thing is i m becoming a lot sensitive. sensitive to criticism to other or me, when someone act mean to others or when i see a poor kid on streets begging or seeing emotionally broken person on tv or movie... when such things happen usually my throat start feeling uncomfortable, tight and more sensations of pain appear on chest when i scan the body. Yesterday, i saw, a poor kid on the street crying and alone in the dark... it made me feel sooo bad and made me think about humanity and the pain and suffering all around the world. from being cold and emotionless to becoming an empath and being overwhelmed by the environment, how to find the middle way (balance)? Thank you! <3

What is the book that lead to a change into your perspective of life and taught you lessons or practices that helped you in your journey? For me, it was: The power of now and practicing the power of now by Eckhart tolle. It taught me about mindfulness and the present moment and how to be aware in my life.

In the last week, things were going wrong or at least not going in the way that the people desire. Stuff happening to me and to others i know, in a weird way. I usually see the relationship of cause and effect among things and can notice what my mind or the other person's mind was thinking or focusing on, that lead to an event to happen. but seems like these sudden events and situations are just appearing out of nowhere sometimes. even tho. i tried to look for the resistance, aversion or craving that lead to such events to happen, was kinda hard to see. maybe it is my mind state that is cluttered or something. letting go of looking for the reason, i was wondering how to solve the events or issues that appeared suddenly into my journey? I m trying not to resist and go with the flow and allow things to be and just be still and optimistic. even tho I did notice a change in the flow and change in the outcome of the events but it seems it is fluctuating and not maintain the desired outcome or less undesired outcome to stay. It is kind of a crucial and critical event that is happening and that is why i m asking for help. Thank you ! <3

Do you believe that parallel universes or alternate realities exist? what i m saying that, some spiritual people say that all the possible action that could have happened are happening at the same time, but based on our energy/vibration/frequency we move among these realities. for example: someone who is poor in a reality, maybe rich in another one and all of these reality exist but we are moving among them. Maybe it is similar to those who can know their past lives, can see and maybe relive a past life? it is like moving the consciousness into another stream of reality and living it and going out of this reality that the consciousness is experiencing. What do you think?

Recently, i have noticed the importance of the last Thought (activities, mind state) that a person has before sleeping, in affecting the next day in terms of the energy and mind state the person wakes up with and the quality of the whole new day. For example: watching Tv, drama series or something violent before sleeping, will make the person wakes up in a bad mood or feeling tired, Also this is similar to masturbation, thinking of negative thoughts or eating unhealthy food before sleeping. A lot of teachers recommend doing meditation at night before sleeping and ending it with metta of love and compassion allowing the mind to become calm and have positive thoughts. also it is recommend to meditate in the morning to empower your day. (usually if you meditate at night you are more likely to meditate in the morning and be holding that energy during the day) Also meditating at night allow to improve lucidity in the dream, which can be used in solving life problems that arises in the dream state or realize fantaisies. also, if someone try to solve homework or maybe do their work at night before sleeping.. you are more likely to find yourself more motivated to work on them the next day. So, What do you think?

So for someone who wants to start somewhere with all of this energy cultivating and manipulation.. and start feeling the energy more and cultivate and heal later on... where i should start ? I do Vipassana.. can feel energy on my hands up to arms... feets up to legs... other sensation everywhere... I did Qi gong by myself.. one finger zen.. and felt the beam of chi using the finger... also I can feel the energy pulses with my hand (like a magnetic field) if i move my awareness to there. Where do you suggest i should continue.. what practices do you suggest? something maybe without visualization.. something with mindfulness and awareness if possible? If you have a link to a video or suggest a book that provides a map of energy practices.. and their levels and their use ..etc knowing there is no place here in my country that teaches anything like that...so i can only to practice by myself.. Thank you ! With metta of love and Compassion <3

Hi everybody I’ve been snooping in this site since June 2015 but this is only my third post, so maybe I am the kind of newcomer you are trying to help. I joined the daobums in order to be allowed to read as much as possible. I was (and still I am) looking for answers concerning something that could be called “energy flows” which I experienced quite spontaneously some years ago, without any previous indoctrination. I started looking for answers in Hindu/yogic sites, as they had more visibility. Later on I found Taoist sites, which in my opinion give a more detailed description of what I feel. I wonder if building the perfect spiritual forum is feasible at all. I’ve seen sites with very strong moderation, keeping heretics at bay, so everybody is happy as far as anybody questions any dogma. Of course I prefer being able to see very different opinions, as here at the daobums. The problem is the myriad of traditions, theories, schools and lineages, which seem to be speaking about the same stuff, but competing against the others, so which one to choose? It seems to me that making a choice involves embracing some kind of “religion” in the sense that I have to surrender to a master/priest who, in exchange for money or obedience, and with some luck, will tell me in a couple of decades what to do. This is an act of blind faith that makes me feel very uncomfortable. The most basic question I have is, once you feel these energies flowing inside/outside you, what to do with them? Some traditions/schools recommend specific circuits (i.e. MCO); some speak only about the ascension of these energies from perineum to crown; other recommend “hoarding” this energy and are quite wary of leaking one single drop, still some other see them as a mere distraction from the real objective. All of them usually warn against the heavy consequences of guiding these energies the wrong way. Last, but not at all least, firing and intensifying these energies require a very special “mental attitude” or whatever we may call it, which seems to be the goal of meditation exercises. On the other hand, seeing that so many people are claiming that their totally disparate systems are the right ones is a good thing. It makes me think that, after all, the right choice may be just letting the energy guide me so I will eventually find my way. In this quest, exchanging opinions, experiences and insights with (undogmatic) fellows could be a great help. But I still haven’t found a good thread about energy management issues, especially if you are using sex as a tool. Maybe this adds an extra blockage, as speaking about sex and gender identity could stir very strong cultural taboos. I have thousands of doubts/questions, but before starting I would like to know your opinion on this: is this exchange of experiences possible? Is it worth? Is there a common area where anybody could speak about common experiences without being biased by specific traditions/schools/lineages? I greatly appreciate your patience for reading so far and your comments. Thank you! Juan

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