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Requesting feedback on some new development in my practice. I feel a little embarrassed about the timeline, but after seven years or so of consistent practice I'm noticing a very consistent and distinct/intense feeling of bliss all the way to my hands and feet. Especially in my hands and feel but throughout the entire body also. I assume this is good =) Looking for any guidance or insights by those who've traveled further along the path. Is there a name for this? What further signposts might indicate advancement? Etc. Thanks.

Devotion and Worship may be something you secretly dispise or are attracted to. It can be for some a sign of giving up on autonomy and or willful self journeying and isolation from mass hysteria and lazy followership. But it has nothing to do with these things - though all elements of human frailty may be found as is true everywhere. In abiding wakefulness grace is ever present - gratitude pours forth to nothing - it is not in devotion - it is the light But Devotion simply dawns - it dawns as one sheds the ebbing rude coarseness that stood solid on so many willful grounds of insanity and ignorance. In the beautiful stillness - the boundless Presence - the magnificence and majesty - Devotion is camaraderie with the highest light. It is attending a dance with Angels. IN NOTHING great transcendence radiates within - one cannot but be in devotion. It is not a choice or a falling or failing - it is the twilight of all holding - the touch of one finger to the hand of Divine Essence in Living Light. Love unbounded - unbinding

I want to talk about my experience with Heartfulness. Now, I'm not talking about the form from Mindfulness in the book "Cultivating Heartfulness" that I've seen spoken about around Daobums, but something different that has completely changed the way I cultivate. Most of us are practitioners or at least know of the refining processes of cultivating and internal alchemy. We all know it to be an excruciatingly long and arduous process to refine our internal energies in order to produce measurable results. I have always been drawn to daoist practices from a young age and would meditate without even really knowing what it was, it just felt nice. But i didn't start officially Cultivating until just after college but i was underwhelmed by how little return you get for so much effort. I had processed far enough to have formed my Dantian and refined my senses enough to be able to detect spiritual energies and their movement. However, then i encountered a practice called Heartfulness that utilizes Yogic Transmission and this put my cultivation into hyperdrive! It would normally take me about two weeks to take in qi, extract the impurities, refine it into a higher form, and condense it into a pearl to draw up into the second dantian. But with Heartfulness, i was able to complete that entire process in One Day while i was At Work! I don't sit behind a desk, i work at UPS. I'm constantly moving and i was able to refine a pearl almost Passively while i was constantly busy. It felt like as long as i was doing Heartfulness, the energy would move Intelligently on its own to complete work within me, automatically. After a week of this, my body became stronger. I was able to walk around in 40 degree weather in shorts and a teashirt without getting cold and things that would normally hurt or bruise me would hardly hurt at all. I wanted to share this with my brothers here on Daobums so that you all could give it a try and share your results here! It's completely free, all the teachers are volunteers. https://heartfulness.org/us/masterclass/- This is the three-part video series that introduces the practice and helps you experience the transmission. https://heartfulness.org/us/experience-heartfulness/- You can follow this link and scroll down to “Try Heartfulness with Assistance” for a more personal experience with a real person rather than a video series, though I do recommend the video series first.

Hello ! Few things about me, I currently reside in LV, Nevada, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Background is Brazilian/Argentine.. nor sure what else to write here so I thought I would go ahead and share an experience with you all. Excited to hear what everyone else here has experienced! A few years ago and a few months then into my spiritual/meditational journey, I had an encounter that changed existence itself for me. Only a few people know, and recently I decided that I would share it with anyone out there so that they may see what the depths of your Self holds at all times, and anyone who has had a transformational experience themselves. If you read it, thank you for the time Here it is: At the time of my transformation a few years ago I was doing my regular meditation at around 2 A.M. The living room was virtually pitch black. 20 minutes into the meditation I decide to simply let go of my 'internal clock' that determines when I have meditated for the usual 30-40 minutes and I curiously go into seeing how long I can stay in that thoughtless meditative state. I would have to say about 45 minutes into it that I start hearing a very loud high pitched ringing/noise in both my ears.. as it got louder and louder so this bright light in my mind's eye would become brighter and brighter. This was a pure white light that looked as if someone had turned on their headlights to my face at point-blank range; my eyes are still closed this entire time and never open. This goes on for about 15-30 seconds and then the sounds and light are now accompanied by what seemed to be hundreds and thousands of voices giving me praise, so many voices that it was hard to figure them all out at once but I did not need or try to because I was receiving the core of the message intuitionally, I knew, I felt. It was like being in the middle of a fully filled coliseum, with everyone there cheering for you and loving you unconditionally with Love that reached deep into the past, present, and future all at once. These were immense feelings of achievement and how proud they are of me to come this far into myself, and that they have always been here and always will be here for us all. That they have loved me and all of us since the beginning of it all and continue to do so indefinitely. I was filled with incredible emotions of pure agape, pure love, and interconnectedness that took over my entire being. I smile with Love and Gratefulness and all I can struggle to say is " Thank you " as my eyes begin to form tears. As the loud ringing noise dies down and things begin to get darker, so do the voices dissipate. But it didn't feel as if I was going back down in consciousness, I went higher. Higher into a dark expanse that felt infinite, eternal, empty, vast and yet also containing the entirety of existence itself, all that has been, all that is, and all that will be. Which is plainly also, just all that is. There I could not identify with the part of myself that says 'I' or 'me' anymore. I could not understand it, it was so abnormal and really, non-existent to me. Not only was I in that Void, but I knew and felt my Self AS that Void itself. I was Everything and Nothing all at the same time. It was quieter than quiet.. no sound beyond the sound. Empty. Yet also filled with ALL of existence itself. Pure Oneness. What came, later on, was light, it looked like stars in the distance and stardust but also water, a different type of water/fluid. It filled my view with hues of purple, blue, indigo and a whole array of lights among this void. I stay in observe in a balanced awe. I open my eyes and break down in an utter joy that is beyond any comprehension. About 10 minutes later I comfy myself on the couch in which I usually would sleep on. As I close my eyes, I am in awe of that same sight of stars in this Void still there even after my meditation. It was pure bliss to shut my eyes and head off into sleep, gazing out into the star-filled space in front of me. I was whole, and one with All That Is. This feeling later went on to stay with me for months after, I was born again. Glad to be here with you all, and I'm looking forward to bouncing off of each other with anything that can help us grow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Later on, I plan to host dark room meditations/retreats for periods of 12 - 21 days. Thanks for reading and Love to you all :)🙏✨❤️ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Words can never convey the beauty of a tree; to understand it, you must see it with your own eyes. Language cannot capture the melody of a song; to understand it, you must hear it with your own ears. So it is with the Tao: the only way to understand it is to directly experience it. The subtle truth of the universe is unsayable and unthinkable. Therefore the highest teachings are wordless. My own words are not the medicine, but a prescription; not the destination, but a map to help you reach it. When you get there, quiet your mind and close your mouth. Don’t analyze the Tao. Strive instead to live it: silently, undividedly, with your whole harmonious being." - Lao Tzu (Hua Hu Ching, chapter 31)

I want to talk about my experience with Heartfulness. Now, I'm not talking about the form from Mindfulness in the book "Cultivating Heartfulness" that I've seen spoken about around Daubums, but something different that has completely changed the way I cultivate. Most of us are practitioners or at least know of the refining processes of cultivating and internal alchemy. We all know it to be an excruciatingly long and arduous process to refine our internal energies in order to produce measurable results. I have always been drawn to daoist practices from a young age and would meditate without even really knowing what it was, it just felt nice. But i didn't start officially Cultivating until just after college but i was underwhelmed by how little return you get for so much effort. I had processed far enough to have formed my Dantian and refined my senses enough to be able to detect spiritual energies and their movement. However, then i encountered a practice called Heartfulness that utilizes Yogic Transmission and this put my cultivation into hyperdrive! It would normally take me about two weeks to take in qi, extract the impurities, refine it into a higher form, and condense it into a pearl to draw up into the second dantian. But with Heartfulness, i was able to complete that entire process in One Day while i was At Work! I don't sit behind a desk, i work at UPS. I'm constantly moving and i was able to refine a pearl almost Passively while i was constantly busy. It felt like as long as i was doing Heartfulness, the energy would move Intelligently on its own to complete work within me, automatically. After a week of this, my body became stronger. I was able to walk around in 40 degree weather in shorts and a teashirt without getting cold and things that would normally hurt or bruise me would hardly hurt at all. I wanted to share this with my brothers here on Daobums so that you all could give it a try and share your results here! It's completely free, all the teachers are volunteers. https://heartfulness.org/us/masterclass/- This is the three-part video series that introduces the practice and helps you experience the transmission. https://heartfulness.org/us/experience-heartfulness/- You can follow this link and scroll down to “Try Heartfulness with Assistance” for a more personal experience with a real person rather than a video series, though I do recommend the video series first.

I was recently introduced to Edward Selim Michael by a very spiritually-insightful Jewish woman who has hosted Quaker and Buddhist groups for as long as I have known her. I recently finished reading Michael's book, "The Law of Attention: Nada Yoga and the Way of Inner Vigilance". He clearly states that the aim of the book is "direct inner experience" and that is what attracted me to him. My own spiritual mentor of over 30 years once said, "Question everything, even what I say... and, if a teacher can't point you to the direct experiences, then go elsewhere". Edward Selim Michael seems to be such a being who points one to the direct inner experiences. I just ordered another one of Michael's books, "Obstacles to Enlightenment and Liberation", because he warns against getting into comfortable, familiar ruts and I plan to use his book as a checklist to see what tendencies I may have that could be holding me back. Michael seems to be a man who has been there and not just some one pontificating grand theories and quoting the masters but one who speaks from direct inner experiences. I wasn't sure where to post this topic but decided to post it here because, despite his yoga/meditation inclinations, " It was to Buddhism that he felt closest, but as his teaching was based on his direct experience, he did not hesitate to quote Christian, Hindu, or Sufi mystics." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Salim_Michael To get the discussion going, I will include without comment a few quotes from his book, "The Law of Attention: Nada Yoga and the Way of Inner Vigilance". (Note that I have replaced the masculine word "he" in the quotes by "one".) 1. "The aim of this book is to help seekers arrive at recognizing, through direct inner experience, their higher nature and the after-death state, the state from which they originated and to which they will return on leaving this form of existence." 2. "Without perhaps realizing it, one will then start to sleep inwardly again, thinking that one is still working by being merely satisfied with the intellectual knowledge and memory of certain limited spiritual experiences one may have had in the past." 3. "If, during meditation, this luminous expanse of consciousness becomes adulterated and diluted in the slightest degree with one's habitual state, it will then inevitably cease to be Truth." 4. "It will be readily evident to one who has practiced meditation seriously and has had enlightenment that what was right and necessary at the beginning of one's quest will no longer be right or practical later".

As the process of abiding as awareness unfolds, one encounters following one of three conditions - actively abiding as awareness with no or negligible other contents of the mind. A apparent departure from condition 1, with a lot of contents of the mind. There seems to be an obfuscation of the “true nature” as one is caught up in the drama of samsara. Abiding as awareness but many thoughts and emotions flow naturally , with no attachment to them. Condition 2 is remedied as soon as one recollects the fact that one is awareness in which dramas of samsara rise and fade away. Even the thought “I am no longer abiding as awareness” is a recognition of the Self as awareness, and realizing this gives one the freedom to be, without suffering from guilt or fears of “losing” condition 1. This realization and associated relaxation results in condition 3 naturally arising. It is that simple. Feel free to discuss

I'm on day 50 of a dedicated routine, 30-60 minutes twice a day. My question is in the title. But more specifically, how am I too follow the instructions suggested to me during meditation without thinking? For example, observing the nature of thoughts, pondering, "Where do they come from?Where do they go?" Also, once Im, "In the zone," as I like to call it,I still have these vague thoughts which are just observations of what is happening. All thoughts of past or future melt away, except for the occasional thought of how I can try to describe the experience to someone else, but I'm working on that. Is this okay and a natural part of progression? They are not constant, and sometimes appear as chatter I can't even hear that sounds very far away. Thank you. It's very difficult to even form these inquiries into coherent questions.

hello, i tried to control masterbation for 40 days but on 41th day nightfall happened. i could'nt control myself. i masterbated once n now i feel regret about this. how to transfer this enrgy to the brain. i have lots of question but not able to find the answer. plz help me regards

Hi All.. This is my first post on this forum. First of all i will tell you my symptoms that i have been living for 1 year 3 months now. I just did meditation for 10 month, and all of the imbalance thing happened. I guess its because i was just too focused on my third eye and crown chakra area, not doing any kind of grounding, and not prepared. 1. feeling bumps in the head( forehead, around the eye sockets, crown, and both of my temples) 2. depersonalization and derealization, feeling disconected from reality ( people, places, enviroment, myself, and my mind) even i dont feel its me whose typinh right now, and my hand that typing right now now syncronized very well with my brain because i just feel so disconected. 3. brain fog, loss creative, indecisive, hard thinking prossess, cant read or understand a deeper topic on books, when the first time i experienced this is just so much harder,, i cant understand 1 sentence from books. 4. losing motivate to do anything. because everything looks heavier than before. 5. depression, panic attacks everyday, anxiety.. feeling like what happening in this world is too much for my brain to take. 6. every concepts in the world seems confusing, i cant understand a thing anymore 7. losing the sense of self, like i have been born again. 8. plants and tress look vivid and crystal clear, so beautiful.. except objects, animal, and human.. still looks the same but it disconected way. I have been doing energy follow attention to reduce all of the energy that got trapped in my head the techniques is pretty much similiar with the MCO ( but just for the front channel to drown the energy down, not the spine because it can bring more energy to my head and i dont want that), and also i did grounding visualization and its worked. I have been using all of the techniques for 2 months, and its give relief day by day.. But i feel the energy still so much in my head, and theres also energy got trapped in my throat. Like i feel there is something in my throat, but when i try to get it out, i just burp. So i burping everyday to get out the energy that stucked in the throat. My family thinks im weird, and made me want to go to the Doctor, but i dont want them to spend money to go to the doctor, while the problem obvisiously just about the stucked energy in my throat. Thank you so much, for anybody who kindly helped me out through this!

Hi everybody!!! Longtime lay-omni spiritualist here! I'm a working percussionist, drum maker, music producer and DJ in NYC. My family consists of the 3 of us - my common-law wife & an 8 year-old 3rd grader called "Love". We live comfortably in the Bronx near Yankee Stadium. All 3 of us do a damn good traditional Okinawa Goju-Ryu class in Harlem 3x/week. Our teacher turned us on to the standing and sitting 8 pieces of brocade forms. It's reignited my personal quest for this old school knowledge from Asia I started when I was a kid - 1st from my father ranting about Taoism & physics then stumbling onto Mantak Chia's books in the early 90s. We're 2 years into this Goju discipline next week & as I turn 44, my thoughts turn to my end game: I want to live long & need ALL my systems functioning strongly into old age to achieve my goals. IMO the Taoists and Buddhists figured all that out 1000s of years ago & I thought this'd be a great forum to discuss. Looking forward to listening to/sharing with all of you. 1 perfect love, Ceiba aka Brotha Sean

I have been practicing the microcosmic orbit meditation for a few months and find it generates a lot of positive energy within my body. I hear again and again the value of meditation. Given the pleasurable sensations this particular meditation generates I wonder if this practice could ultimately be just another form of attachment, one that is best to release. Curious the groups take on this.

I just tried this today and was finally able to duplicate results I'd had in the past naturally. I had to go against some useful meditation suggestions I'd been given, which I suppose is why some say this shouldn't be introduced to people as meditation or they will get the wrong idea. Anyway, I just want to check with my favorite community to make sure I'm on the right track, as I have no teacher, and the problem with looking something up online, especially something as esoteric and hidden as Taoism still manages to be is that you get a lot of different sources from a lot of different perspectives, difficult to discern. So I fall back on you guys. All I did differently from regular meditation was clear my breath out of my lungs first, and start stoking my belly like a bellows, first shallow and fast, but then longer and still fast, focusing on pushing out and letting it draw in naturally. Then after I felt some heat there, I settled into stillness and observed for a moment. Once I was able to focus on the LDT and let the thoughts drift away, I began to observe how the breath in expanded the perineum and the breath out let it contract. Building from this, I started to squeeze it in with the exhale and let it expand with the inhale. This was extremely clumsy at first, but I have practiced squeezing the perineum quite a bit in my life for sexual reasons, so it came quite easily to me I think. Anyway, basically this: fire, pull water in, steam fills the body,keep pumping, more heat, more steam, fire grows. When it got to the heart I panicked and stopped, but continued back on for a bit before sitting back and just observing how I felt, which was warm, pain free without medication (a miracle) happy and...whole I guess, like I was my whole body and not my thoughts, and at moments the sound of falling rain became indestinguishable from the "sound" of my own body buzzing, both in distance and as an object apart from my self. TL;DR- pumped my LDT and squeezed my perineum, felt with everywhere. Just looking for guidance and thoughts, or encouragement if it's due. Practical advice basically.

Huge topic. But I get asked this all the time from patients, students, etc. What system should I study for personal growth? Here is my two cents from 30 plus years of professional practice and personal study. This will be a thread that I attend to in between patient load at work. Pardon if my reply is slow at times. Sol

I keep reading about the importance of the six yangs, or six dragons, as represented by the hexagrams. What does this mean? It is mentioned in many of the texts I am cross referencing as I study "The Secret of the Golden Flower." At the very least, what is the beginning? My understanding is that it means practicing spiritual principles in all of my affairs.

Hello again, While studying, I came across quite a few different methods of achieving inner silence, quieting the mind, a prerequisite to most all practices, whether East or West, and crossing many cultural boundaries. The two basics I have reduced to pinpointing and flooding. An example of pinpointing is to focus on one mantra, a single sound, reducing everything in your concentration to a single point. An example of flooding would be the form of walking while holding a particular hand gesture that is not normal, and not focusing on anything in particular, but keeping the eyes open and using peripherial vision to let all sights and sounds around you flood your senses. As you can imagine, you can certainly come up with many variations of this same thing, and probably new ones that I have not logged. What I can say about it, is that when you have silence, sound can easily let you know, because it changes radically and in my opinion, faster than any other sense factor for me. What forms of silence for meditation have you used? How well do they work for you? How many use the form of rolling the eyes up in the head? Particular ways of sitting? Holding the hands in a particular fashion?

I chose the name seeker of truth not just for the good book series but also because I am seeking truth. I have ever since I first read the magus of java. I was heart broken when I found out that the subject of the book was no longer taking students from non- Oriental heritage. Since then, my search has yealded little in the way of truth, clues or people willing to help. I turn here in the hope that someone knows something that could help.

I wondered whether the Kuji-In practice has ever been combined with a moving form such as the circle walking from Bagua Neigong? Would this cause problems, or would these two practices be compatible? After all, Bagua makes a considerable amount of use of mudras, as do most of the martial arts, but very few actually use double hand interlocking mudras such as those found in the Kuji-In practice. I usually practice Kuji-In in a static posture, either sitting down cross-legged or standing in some sort of horse stance, but I wondered what effect a moving form in combination with these mudras might have. Thank you.

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.

A Shamatha Meditation Based on Symbolism, Visualization, Mnemonics and Classical Conditioning. This 3-level meditation method is based on pure psychology and a completely rational method to develop focus, objectivity, discipline, inner purification, a desire for liberation, inner stillness, understanding ‘destructive normality’, and a preparedness to walk on the path of spirituality. You can read the disclaimers given at the top to understand the objective of the meditation: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/a-shamatha-meditation-based-on-symbolism-visualization-mnemonics-and-classical-conditioning/

Hello from Germany / Europe, thank you for granting me access to this forum ! My main intention is learning and asking questions, plus being able to learn from other experienced practitioners. I am coming from the Yang Style Tai Chi form and started out with basic health improvement goals. Nowadays I focus more on topics such as Nei Kung, safe ways to open energy channels and in general similarities and differences in meditation practice ( Taoist / Chan / Zen / Shamatha practice ). I welcome all guidance and once again thank you and my best wishes to all here in the forum.

Greetings. I've read the forums from time to time & found good information here in the past so decided to join proper. Have taken many ideologies from different places throughout my life and have constructed a belief system that is again in transition. Been practicing Yoga and Qigong regularly, many years of different Yoga styles, Qigong is new. Have been practicing the Spring Forest method and would like to learn more traditional methodology to have the option of weaving the two together or practicing another form. I am interested in a spiritual wellness as well as mind-body wellness. I've begun meditation over the past 2 years which really isn't a lot of time. Focusing on breath work. Have worked with TCM practitioners quite a bit over the years though my knowledge feels limited. I wish to more fully participate from a more informed mind. Am happy to read on different modalities a roots of said practices. Am interested in learning how things are connected from Taoist perspectives as have found some of my beliefs and practices here in the past. I feel the need to look deeper. Pleased to be here. Moon Yin

Taoist GrandMaster Wang Li Ping will be teaching a ten day intensive in China, starting on the afternoon of Dec. 21st and ending at noon on the 31st. Mr. Richard Liao will be translating. Please email [email protected] for complete details. www.dragongate-academy.org Our goal is to build a bridge between Master Wang Liping and everyone interested in Taoism. We wish to benefit all to communicate their experiences during their practice to learn the Taoist Golden Elixir system. We hope the heritage of Dragon Gate shall live on in the new era to enrich lives everywhere.

https://www.arshabodha.org/adiShankara/DrigDrishya-9.pdf