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Found 260 results

  1. Been trying to find a a qigong technique or meditation technique for boosting brain performance but cant find anything.
  2. Master Yuanming Zhang

    Dear Dao Bums, I have searched and read all of the stories about Master Yuanming Zhang on this forum. I read some stories/reports/controversies, which stated that he was actually one of the teachers of both Master Zhongxian Wu (Master Wu) and Spring Forest Qigong founder Master Chunyi Lin. Supposedly, they then took some of his teachings, went to the west and became big stars using his teachings. I personally know nothing about this, but it's a pretty juicy story. I hope to engage with you on the following three points (regarding Master Yuanming Zhang): 1) can you either prove or disprove the idea that both Master Wu and Chunyi Lin copied Yuanming Zhang? Or share some stories related to these reports. 2) do you have any personal experiences or stories about Yuanming Zhang ? 3) if any of you are interested in his teachings, he hosts a 2 hour zoom meeting this Sunday (17th of July 2022) on meditation. I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say Be blessed!
  3. Hi, I would like to start a practice thread or a cultivation thread is what you call it. Thanks!
  4. 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!
  5. 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!
  6. 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!
  7. 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!
  8. 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
  9. 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.
  10. 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
  11. 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?
  12. Zen Meditation

    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
  13. 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?
  14. Chanting

    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
  15. Wim Hof's Meditation

    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,
  16. The Art of Song 鬆

    After reading through Nathan Brine's wonderful book (The Taoist Alchemy of Wang Liping, vol. 1) depicting the practices and overall line of development within the Dragon Gate sect, Nathan puts out a wonderful reminder. To truly build the foundation for neidan, one needs to learn how to relax and in particular learn the art of Song 鬆 . In WLP's lineage the art of Song is explored through methods such as pore breathing, body squeeze and the nine basic foundational techniques. From Nathan, I can understand there is a big difference between Song and flexibility. One can be completely flexible, yet not be Song 鬆. This is important to remember, I feel. I personally have been exploring Song through the practice of "anchoring the breath" as described by Damo Mitchell in his online Microcosmic Orbit course along with some of the practical teachings (pore breathing, from Wang Liping (viz. Nathan Brine). I also try to incorporate the principles into my standing work, though this is proving more difficult than I thought as it usually ends up with me spiralling into sponteanous postures rather than sinking the Qi and rooting and anchoring more deeply. I thought this would be a nice topic to explore together. I am sure it has been mentioned before, but it could be nice to have a thread directly dedicated to this aspect of internal training. So, what methods or ways have or are you working on Song or sinking in your practice? What does it feel like when it's working for you -- how about when it's not? What is important to keep in mind when learning this process?
  17. 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.
  18. 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
  19. Dancing

    Dancing is a form of love and self care. Dance brings joy. Joy is an act of resistance. Joy builds resilience. Joy gives rise to hope. Please take some time for yourself, to do a little dance, any kind you like, any way that feels good.
  20. 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.
  21. 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
  22. 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.
  23. 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 😊
  24. 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!
  25. Hello my name is maske and I'm a young man who is interested in cultivation i have always loved the feeling of meditation and just finding your own spiritual self. And I really love the idea that a human having the ability to use QI wich excites me because I always had a feeling that the human race has more potential and now that I have found out about this feels like the best thing that has happened in my life. But I don't really know how to start what do I do? Or am I doing it right sometimes I feel warmth in my hands and I once listened to monk music once and and closed my eyes while listening very closely to every single sound and I felt my soul being outside my body I felt it over my left shoulder but the second I noticed I went back into my body those were the only things that gave me hope to keep going but know I want to really know i want to do this. It's my dream to become good at cultivation and I want to learn more about daoism. And so I want to ask you all as my seniors if they could share or even show me how to cultivate. Thanks