Search the Community

I'm not a native speaker, so there are a bunch of mistakes, sorry about that:) I just want to share my experience, and receive feedback, I would be really happy to discuss it with people with opposite view! B efore we move forward, I want to let you know that I consider these practices in terms of real life, this topic is not about spiritual growth. Probably you will want to say, things like, hey, mfka, what are you doing here, all this stuff is not about chick attractiveness or money making practices, this is only about spiritual growth. But how about these dudes who were locked on lower chakras and became invisible and living life in real darkness and struggling with depression, because they are lonely, they are unable to find a life partner, even their friend disrespect them with no reason, even if they have money, a great car, an apartment in the center of the city, looks good. But this is not the way it works, it means nothing if you are blocked. I remember when I was in kindergarten I was really attractive, girls liked me, they were ready to hang out with me, but they all this stuff disappeared, i became invisible, like nobody see me, or they see that i looks good, but when they come closer, they sense my vibe and they to stay away. So a huge part of my life i lived in the darkness, i was blocked, i tied to earn money, to be successful, all this stuff mean nothing if you are blocked. These practices could help me to unlock myself, it help me to come back to that state when i was a kid, to become myself! How it works. In terms of Taoism we have three reservoirs called as Dantian, with Buddhism projections called as Chakras. Main one is considered as Lower Dantian this is root reservoir, also considered as tree root. Lower Dantian has raw sexual energy this energy gives you physical strength, health, sexuality, creativity, artistry and charisma. The more you have in this reservoir energy, then you will be more attractive. On a subtle level - sex is an exchange of energies. That's why we have this huge desire to give this energy, and female have this desire to absorb this energy. Guys who have little of this energy become simply invisible to girls in terms of sex, since at the energy level they cannot give them anything. They can be elevated for spiritual or intellectual communication if their higher Dantian opened, but in terms of sexual attraction they will be completely faded and empty. Conversely, a huge amount of vital energy in the brain works literally like a magnet that makes a person sexually attractive. Male attractiveness and masculinity comes from an excess of this energy. You can act as an alfa male, you can practice it. But after she get closer they will sense your energy and recognize that you are fake. First, the most important thing that you have to remember is that there are too many practitioners who died from cancer such as Gopi Krishna and the others, you probably can google it. In my opinion, our body is unable to stand this amount of energy, nervous system all the time under pressure and unable to recover, then afterward, consistent stress obviously bring us to huge health problems. My recommendation, if you are a real practitioner you have to improve your overall body system by taking cold shower, standing on nails, standing tall, doing sport exercises such as running etc. Of course if you wold like to go really deep with these practices like meditate for a couple hours, because your chakras have to be free of blockages, unlived emotions, fears, you have to purify you energy system and prepare your nervous and immune system before you go deep! For me this idea when practitioner brought himself to exhaustion. Second, the most important thing that you have to understand is that we are different, and one combination which works for me perfectly, but it doesn't mean that it will work for you. So you have to be ready to try all this stuff and issue your personal conclusion and select your personal combination. I will try to be concise, so there are some combinations that i tried. My main purposes were female attractiveness and to take higher place in hierarchy. Unfortunately, my experience showed that you unable to be both, because if you are so really attract other girls, regular male, even your friend will hate you. In this case, female want to hang out with you, to be your friend, act politely, pick you up somewhere, or even will offer you to spend a night together. In other hand if you will be powerful, aggressive you will be respected and take higher place in hierarchy, new male friend, no one want to joke with you, but female will be afraid of you, like you are a danger for them accept some of them. Preparation part will be exactly about this, there will be no attractiveness, you have to be ready, because purification can broke you, to become stronger and better. Of course, you can get first results like attractiveness without preparation part, but after that when you understand how it works and you decide to go deeper, you have to come back to the preparation part! Remember, your main purpose not to be energized at maximum level, your purpose to be energized, comfortable, not over-loaded like somewhere in between. Of course, a woman 30 y.o. + will be able accept you if you are over-energized, because they understand their sexuality and have much bigger capacity. In the other hand young girls, they will be afraid of over-energized, because those feelings will overload them too. So comeback to the beginning of the sentence and remember that, purpose to be balanced, then you will attract both! How to understand that your are on the right path? Female will try to send you a message, communicate with you, touch you, spend time with you, they will laughing on really not funny jokes and accept anything you do. If you are not dizzy or overloaded of course. All these stuff looks like they feel remotely, i mean your vibe and energy. Like there is a space from where we receive information remotely, without even see the person. But this stage is take time, and it's faster with the preparation phase. Here some practices: Do not expect fast results for some of us this process can take minimum a couple month of consistent practices, before you feel first result or even feel subtle energy. So get ready for a long way! In this sphere consistence is your friend! Minimum time for the practice is 1 month. Meditation on Lower Dantean two times a day morning-evening ~15 min each + wrestling bridge. Lower Dantian locating 4 fingers below your navel, in center of your body. Projecting Svadhistana chakra or sexual center, the most powerful energy in our body. Sit down, calm down, put your mind from your head to your navel, and try to feel a physical sensations of vibration point or heat on the surface of your body or inside. There is have to be no thoughts in your mind, if there any thoughts appears, try slowly switch back to no thoughts. - This practices you can get huge results. While you meditate on Lower Dantean, you also directing your energy through your chakras, Thaosists consider Lower Dantian as a tree root, if your tree root is week, higher parts of the tree will be weak too and almost impossible to deal with. So it's basics. - Also this great chakra to practice meditation on a chakra, because if done something wrong you will not experience huge issues with your mind or health. Compare to meditation on your head, where you have to be well prepared with knowledges or even better to have a master who you really trust. - You don't have to buy anything, you just need to have calm and cozy place for meditation. - This practice will attract hight sexual and low sexual female. - The best one after you done the preparation phase, because your Kundalini flow opened, and there is much more energy to go up, but stay balanced, not over-loaded! - Also Great idea to add chakra breathing exercises, which is really useful but basically no thoughts will be enough. Chi Machine two times a day morning-evening + wrestling bridge. - I would consider this practice as the easiest one to see first results, because it's activate your entire body and each chakra, here is unnecessary to know specific practices. You can lay down relax each your part and set a timer that you comfortable; - These movement as a fish starts from your foots activate your Kundalini and move it straight up to your head and feeding each of your chakra. Female really attracted if you are activate on each stage, especially hight sexual female; - Also this movement as a fish release your stress and turn your nervous system to Parasympathetic Nervous System; - While you are doing the Chi Machine, try to keep your mind free of thoughts, to get bigger results. I would say try to meditate on it if you do not feel over-loaded after this; - This is the easiest way to see your first results with female, you don't have to know how to work with each chakra to activate it; - If a seller is going to tell you that you have to buy an expensive one because you will get a better result, it's not try. I have Chinese one which i bough by a reseller for 150$ and it still work for me for almost 3 years. But of course more expensive ones will be more solid and probably without annoying sounds. So it's up to you; - You will be hated by blocked people. If you have such friend you will lost them, they will consider you as an enemy; - Chi Machine also as good as Meditation practice above! The best one which i tried was: meditation on lower DNTN + chi machine +wrestling bridge+ i didn’t mentioned it, but i fap on prn whenever I want to; Also in addition was doing chi machine twice a day, before important event, so i did: chi mach + bridge then hot bath and again chi mach + bridge + back stretching. Also better fap a day before a couple times, and this day don’t do that, because can became overloaded (this is personally how i done it). TRY TO DO NOT DO THESE PRACTICES BEFOR YOU GO TO SLEEP, BECAUSE YOU CAN GET INSOMNIA. Energetic practices focused on living to the fullest. Back then i remember while i meditate on lower DNTN, and the go to hang out somewhere, when income back from a party i felt exhausted, like my chackras opened and everyone sucking energy from me, even we do not have physical contact. This problem I could resolve with the preparation part. If you fap on no porn you can attract both, hight sexual energy and low sexual energy. Also you will have much better results on business, because other male will respect you similar as you would be on semen retention, so this one somewhere in between. If you fap whenever you want to, and practicing your combination you will attract so much those who have high sexual energy. But male will hate you, if you have a business, where you have to deal with male and conflict area, it will be really complicate for you. And the last one semen retention, you will be respected by any male in the room, also by any woman in the room, but to have sex, they will be afraid of you, i mean female)) I don't want to add any comments to these combinations. Because it's too personal, some of them will work for you better and i would recommend to try each one and take a conclusion and select the best one for yourself! One interesting thing that I could observe was that there is three types of female. Number one a female who has low level of sexual energy: - Attracted to male who has raw sexual energy. Here the best way was semen retention, personally for me was really bad idea to combine this with other practices including Chi Machine, Meditation etc. Which directing this raw enegy to your head; - My opinion for me it's better do stay on semen retention and do not combine it with any practices; - This female seems to me with LOW leavel of lust. That's why thay are seeking something like this, like with hight level of it. - Coudn't deal enough do give more detailed information; Number two a famale who is blocked: Normally this type of female going through really hard times. Their body to prevent death of a person by losing energy reserve or etc is blocking most of their chakras to make this person invisible for enemies; - This type is hate number one and three; - Also this one is being hated by number one and three; - Blocked are hanging out only with also blocked; - Female unable to experience any orgasm, probably except clitoral; Number three a female with hight sexual energy: - Normally prefer to be with male who has low level of raw sexual energy, but this energy has to be transformed into higher centers energy also called Jing; - Most of the time they can find it with drug addicts, alcoholics, but this guy has to be unlocked on higher levels, to make this transformation possible. Otherwise it doesn't work properly; - If they can find a male with hight level of jing and low level of raw sexual energy which is has to be transformed, they can experience squirt orgasm; - Normally act with such male like a slave and ready to do anything this male want them to do, sexually or etc; - These hate over-loaded male, and hate a male on semen retention. I spent a lot of time for training, earning money, traing to be interesting. All this stuff is cool and make you like easier and much brighter, but in terms of your attractiveness it means nothing. Of course some female do not even consider you because of that, that why it make it much harder to deal with. But if they can sense transformed CHI which named Jing all that stuff immediately became unnecessary. Preparation Phase Y ou may think that if i have some practices which will work with no preparation phase so this is unnecessary even to do it, because it's hard and take really a lot of your time. But here is the this, while i was practicing all this things, i was wondering, if i have chi machine, and i have huge results with it, just do it 2 rimes a day for 5 min each, what am i going to do if it's broken or i unable to take it with me if i travel. Back then i started trying other practices, combine them all and i couldn't find anything better then what i have. I spent really tons of hours for new researches. I red a lots of topics, books, watch videos, but only with chi machine i had huge results only. And the conclusion came into my mind from the side that i newer expected. But after the preparation phase i figured out, that if i'm doing easy practices and anyway became over-loaded. I was really disappointed, because i put this much effort and got nothing. After, I even tried my old combinations and i got over-loaded, now it looks like i lost, i couldn't understand why it doesn't work for me. And the it hit me, YES, i could find what i was looking for. Here is the thing, while i was doing could river and semen retention first of all i could purify my chakras, also clean my emotional and muscle tension, also i trained my body to stay calm under the stress. And the main reason, my Kundalini channel was opened because of the preparation. While i sleep at night sometimes when i between to wake up and sleep i experienced so powerful light going through my spine, it shine, and feels like airbus starting to fly, also i heard specific sound like flying airbus. This light start in lower part of your back next to your coccyx. Just now i understand why my previous combinations and practices didn't work for me and all the time I experience anxiety and feel really dizzy. Because my Kundalini channel was opened and flow was much stronger, so these combinations that i used before opened bigger flow which is over-load me, and as i mentioned before, you have to be balanced, not over-loaded! If you are overloaded, people will be afraid of you, even you will experience anxiety which is really not attractive. Also, i could my chakras and opened my Manipura chakra, which i felt last time when i was in kind garden while concurring with my friend, like wrestling, a still remember this filling from my solar plexus, at that point even i was a kid, i was wondering what is going on, at that point i thought that it's place of my fear. Since now i spent years exploring this sphere, and here what i could found out: That bad feeling in solar plexus was working right Manipura chakra. This chakra created for competition, exploring new, trying new, resistance of pain, taking whatever you want to take. I don't know what happened, but in my adult life this chakra was closed, so i couldn't compete, couldn't be under presume, so I was more likely as a female, everybody felt this and enjoy this weakness, even friends. But i felt that i have to be different, I was different before in my childhood. So every time i experienced this it was awful, back than i thought that it's impossible to change, it forced me to stay invisible, not to deal with anyone. Probably that why i have social phobia. I tried to change it so many times, i was training boxing, reading books, exploring topics, all that stuff didn't work for me, like there was something that i couldn't understand. Something that works not the way you think. Obviously boxing changed my personality a lot, but any ways i staid also as a victim. Probably the real reasone of my slow growing was porn and fap addiction, that i didn't have, I didn't have my bolls. You may wonder, probably this phase has some secrets you have to have a guru. No, it's not true. Everything really easier that you though. The best ways in terms of me to make your Kundalini channel opened just a little bit and at the same time prepare your body and nervous system to live with the most powerful energy. I have 3 practices, i wouldn't recommend to combine them with other practices accept meditation, but just in case you feel comfortable and not over-loaded. Cold Shower/River, i prefer the second one. Sidhu Nails Tree position Each will be really hard to do if you are not on a semen retention and you have to have fuel for the purification of your chakras. So you have to be on semen retention, i'm not support to retain for month or years, but it so good idea to retain if you are comfortable. In my case i have too much raw sexual energy and i could retain for 7 days and then i experienced anxiety and feeling that i'm in a trans. These days you have to stay away of thinking about sex or something. Don't try to watch some erotic and expect to spot watching it, then you will be out of control of it. You may wonder, why these thing work like this, i probably have an answer. We were created to survive, and millions years we were leaving next to predators and in environment full of danger. So that's why our evolution created such mechanism, you can evolve if you survive. If you survive your body give you an access to the evolution mechanism. Of course you can meditate for a couple hours a day and you also will open Kundalini channel, but it doesn't prepare your body to deal with powerful energy like this one. So be careful with it! I was doing could river for almost a year, 3-4 times a week, for 1-3 min sometimes 5, temp of water was from 2 to 13 degree Celsius, also you can do cold shower, but i prefer the first one. So for this one i spend most of my time. Also you you don't have an access to a river you can stay on Nails or Tree position , it's also great practices. With both of these you can concentrate on Lower DNTN to transform your raw sexual energy in jing. Be careful, even with the preparation phase, i didn't add any duration of these practices except my preferences, because you have to find out the best time for yourself, be patience, move step my step, because if you will overload your nervous system you can experience "dark night of the soul"! For some individuals it would be almost impossible to go through "dark night of the soul" without help of a doctor. And great doctor can help you, but try to not overload you! Because recovery after that can take years until you can come back to normal life. About "dark night of the soul" i would recommend to read books of Gopi Krishna, he is describe it the best. People with weak health or weak nervous system can even Die. Cold river, cold shower, sidhu plate, tree position, all this stuff purifying your energy system, turn on your immune system, this clearing process take a lot of energy, better to stay away of people, when you are practicing this things, this improves your body and your mind but with downgrade and then improve on better stage. It make you broken then better. So do not expect attractiveness, because of this broke then make you better. Thoughts on NOFAP I spend so much time practician NOFAP, I do not rule out that I did not understand it completely. But the idea of it really strange, why you decide that a person who do not have sex, more successful that those who have it. I think that you can be on semen retention until you feel comfortable, but better way it's FAP on NO PORN, because when you fap on porn, you change videos, your body see that you have sex with so many girl at once, per session your ancestors couldn't even see throughout entire life, then your body accumulate all your energy to catch this success and share your genome with the most beautiful girls in the word so you body just waste tons of energy. When you fap on NO porn, your bady concider it as have sex with low rank, to have sex with low rank persone can have only high rank, so your body shares just small part of you energy, then you became calm, have left bigger part of your energy for real female, and your aura showing that your are sexually successful because you have low rank partner, and energy left in your body, you can spend it for training or real woman. Also great think you will be able to have long sex session. much longer that it would be on semen retention. Probably no fap will work if you will be able to change your mindset, but basically it doesn't work for female attraction. The best way to use it i would consider the preparation phase only. It just my experience and opinion.

Been trying to find a a qigong technique or meditation technique for boosting brain performance but cant find anything.

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!

Hi, I would like to start a practice thread or a cultivation thread is what you call it. Thanks!

Dear friends My post will be in 3 parts: 1) Introduction to the lineage of Vethathiri Maharishi and his different gurus 2) Interesting information about one of his gurus 3) Questions for you and invitation to further research on one of his guru's guru (paramguru) 1) Introduction to the lineage of Vethathiri Maharishi and his gurus Today, I researched a bit about Vethathiri Maharishi, and I found that he himself had 3 physical gurus and 1 astral guru: 1) A religious Guru called Balakrishnan Naicker (when Vethathiri was 14, he learnt hindu devotional worship using songs, mantras and puja as well as the importance of ahimsa and vegetarianism) 2) A Guru in indian herbal medicine called Vaidya Bhoopati S. Krishna Rao (in Vethathiri's 20s, he was employed in Chennai as the apprentice of this traditional doctor in herbal medicine and learnt Ayurveda, Siddhar Medicine and Unani Medicine as well as indian philosophy) 3) A Guru called Paranjyothi Mahan who opened Vethathiri's muladhara and sahasrara chakras and taught him astral travel (in his 30s) 4) When he was 42 the astral form of the Great Saint Ramalinga Vallalar came to Vethathiri and then stayed with him for a period of about 10 years, helping, assisting, teaching and blessing him. As you know, SKY completely changed my life, and I am very grateful for the teachings of Vethathiri. However, as you might have read in my other posts, the astral travel method has been removed from the official SKY system. To me, that's a great tragedy. I am personally very interested in learning it, hence I am continually researching on it. 2) Interesting information about one of his gurus Seeing that Paranjyothi Mahan was actually the guru who opened Vethathiri's chakras, and taught him astral travel, I thought I would research some more about him. There is an organisation he established, which continues to this day: Universal Peace Foundation. One of Paranjyothi Mahan's students is the current leader of the organisation, as Paranjyothi passed away in 1981. So, one possibility for me is to contact this organisation and see if they still teach astral travel. However, from what I can see, they teach something which is very, very similar to SKY (the master opens the students' chakras one by one). Well, what about the guru of Paranjyothi Mahan? This is where the new piece of interesting information comes in. His guru was called Haribullah Kamil Syed Ibrahim! This is a muslim name, or it could very well be a title. "Hari" refers to Vishnu in Sanskrit, however, in Qur'anic arabic, "hari" means dawn, morning or sunrise. "b" is short for "bi" or "bi'l" which means "of" or "of the" "ullah" is Allah. So Hari-bi'l-Allah means "Morning/dawn/sunrise of God" (as you know, sunrise is symbolic of the rays of the sun dispersing the darkness of night, and instead bringing light, warmth and life. As you know "guru" in sanskrit means "darkness/light", someone who takes you from darkness to light. So, the Arabic meaning of "Haribullah" could be a clever muslim/sufi way to say "Guru". This in itself is (to me) extremely interesting, that the paramguru of Vethathiri is possibly a muslim or sufi! Kamil or Kamel means "perfect" or "perfected". Syed or Sayed/Sayid means "noble" and usually refers to descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Ibrahim is the muslim variant of Abraham, the first "hanif" or first rightly guided monotheist (in the 3 abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam). As you can see "Haribullah Kamil Syed Ibrahim" could very well be a title, refering to a guru or master safeguarding and passing on the true, perfected and noble teachings. In this case, the true teachings include kundalini and chakra awakening through touch, as well as astral travel and prayers for world peace. It being an honorific title could very well be the reason, that nothing really comes up when you search for it online. Maybe his given name was different. You also can't find any pictures of him. This leads me to the last and final point. 3) Questions for you and invitation to further research on one of his guru's guru (paramguru) 1) Do you know about or have experience with UPF (Universal Peace Foundation) and their teachings and practices? 2) Do you know about or can you through research find anything about this mysterious Haribullah Kamil Syed Ibrahim? 3) Do you know about or do you have experience with the astral travel methods of Vethathiri, Paranjyothi Mahan or Haribullah? May there be sufficient rain, crops and sustenance for all living beings. May the whole world enjoy prosperity, happiness, health, wisdom and peace. May Peace reign within us, may Peace reign around us and everywhere we go, may Peace reign in the whole word. Be blessed by the Divine!

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!

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!

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!

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

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.

Hi there, I had the realisation of having aphantasia about 2 years ago, ever since then my mind became fixated on curing myself and redeveloping the skill possesed by 99% of the population. Through my fixation i learned obsessively about everything i could relate to it: digestion, diet, nutrition, leaky gut, chakras, energy, reiki, ibogaine, ayahuasca, god In part i am very grateful to it, because only through the realisation of having aphantasia did i become spiritual, reiki level 2, meditation initiated and fundementally a happier human being through my reconnection with the devine. Every free moment that i have i like to read about ayurveda, yoga, hinduism, energies etc and super interested in alternative medicines considering that i have tried most of them and on my way to study them on my new life path of becoming a natural healer So happy for my new life path, but still there is the aphantasia hanging around almost like a curse. I have considered many causes including stuff like carmic debts and i am almost out of ideas... I am begging anyone that might have tools to help me understand and overcome the affliction known as aphantasia. Thank you in advance, Human

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?

Does anyone practice Zazen and in particular the style closely resembling Shikantaza ("nothing but precisely sitting")? This is a method of practice that lineages like the famous Soto Zen tradition of Kōdō Sawaki & Kōshō Uchiyama are famous for. Famous monasteries and training locations like Antai-ji, Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery, and Sanshin Zen Community all belong to this school. I would be interested to know how Daoists approach and view this practice in their own words. Then if some are interested I`d love to dialogue a bit about on it

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?

Hey guys, I have recently picked up "The Little Book of Meditation" by William Bodri. I found out about this book from the energy cultivators handbook thread. And honestly, a lot of the ideas resonate with me at this stage. Anyone read his material? It's repetitive so I have to skim slme of it, but I'm liking what I'm reading. He goes over different aspects of life like gaining merit/karma, dieting, and sexuallity. If you have any input on his thoughts please elaborate. He starts off with talking about meditation and all of its benefits. He says that you can open up chi channels with meditation and so fourth. Then he dives into a subject I am spending a lot of time trying to implement into my life and that is the subject of chanting. He says it's good to chant all day when you aren't busy (which is literally all day for me being a lifeguard this summer). He gives numerous chants from different religions. The are also numerous websites discussing chanting and the different benefits they can bring depending on the chant. So I took to chanting and for the last few days I chant out loud when I'm alone and in my head when in the presence of others. It kind of makes sense because in the very least, it forces me to breath deeply in and out. I've been chanting on the out-breath and taking deep in-breaths afterwards, all through my abdomen. I've also been chanting in my daily meditation. The chant I have been using is "Om Mani Padme Hum" prounounced "Aum Ma nee Pie me Hoom". I've been liking the way it sounds and feels so far, but I've only chanted it maybe a few thousand times and compared with most monks that chant, that is supposedly next to nothing. Anyone have experience with chanting? What chants do you use? Anyone have opinions or input on this practice? Best Regards, Chi Boy

So, I saw that there's a lot of good stuff on this forum, and, after downloading some ebooks, I thought it would be good to retribute back somehow. So, here is my first "donation" to TTB library of awesomeness: http://www.highexistence.com/the-wim-hof-method-revealed-how-to-consciously-control-your-immune-system/ It's the meditation technique that Wim Hof practice and teach in his workshops. As I mentioned some time ago, it's a mix of pranayama and tummo, but in a different manner (somewhat simpler imo). The main focus of this method is to stimulate and strenghten the immunologic system. I am applying this meditation for two months (I'm still a beginner), and I feel some good improvements, not to mention a slow, but ever-growing resistance to colder temperatures. He also has a book on this subject, called "Becoming the Iceman." I'd like to tell more about it, but I haven't readied it, so I think I'll just leave the torrent link where I found the ebook Link Removed here. Hope it serves to anybody. Namaste,

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?

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.

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

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.

Hello, An initiation in London is coming up for Xiao Yao Pai and I am thinking about attending. It sounds interesting. I just wanted to ask anyone who has been initiated and done the practices what there experiences have been with Xiao Yao Pai. So, what are your experiences? Both 'normal' (improved mood, health, etc), and mystical (seeing auras, communicating with deities when you didn't before, increased intensity of energy in practices, healing abilities, OOBE, etc), and, whatever else (like improvement in practices)? If you can (concisely) describe the practices involved that would be appreciated too. Would the practices involved be called Neidan? Neigong? Qigong? Any (concise) relevant information would be appreciated). I'm still quite new to Chinese and Taoist terminology.

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

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.

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 😊

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!