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I will intdoduce my shelf to all of you again after being absence long time from the martial arts and nei kung forums... I was taught the system of five animals and hard chi kung in the period 1992-2000 by Antonios Iatrakis in Heraklion Crete and I reached a teacher level (In 1997 I was given a black belt and the first Dan). This system is genealogy of Shu Pui Cheung, based in Philadelphia's China Town. The kung fu of this kind includes movements in combination with breath, such as the tiger associated with the bones, the crane associated with the nervous system, the leopard associated with power and speed, the snake associated with controlling the chi-prana (animal power) and finally the dragon, who combines all four previous animals into one and symbolizes spirit-perfection. On the journey of my internal search until 2008 I was taught, I received influences and guidance from several teachers, some of which are: Kostas Vrettos (wu taiji form and sword) Panayiotis Kontaxakis (chi kung of the sun, chi kung of the spine, iron shirt and opening the microcosmic track.) Master Don Ankut (Korean based in New York, from whom I taught iron shirt chi kung twenty-four animals and tai chi chi kung, dan tien chi kung) Wang ting jun (Xing Shen Zhuan) In the last ten years, I have practiced beside master Kenneth Bone (the only personal student of BO MA, a high-grade Buddhist monk and teacher at Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai), from whom I fully taught the following: 1. Chen taiji chuan 3 frames (new, old, small). The main feature of chen tai chi is the switching of slow and fast spiral movement as well as the explosions at the end of the movements, of course, if we choose it. Some of the benefits of the proper tai chi execution to health are the following: Due to the very slow and constant speed of movement (we can only choose slow motion, if our goal is health) the body muscles are stimulated at the cellular level while the heart pushes the blood even to the smaller capillaries. This makes tai chi an excellent cardiovascular exercise. At the same time, the muscular and neuronal control capacity is gradually increased at a more sophisticated level. During the exercise of tai chi, the soles of the feet as well as a part of our intent, our mind are rooted in the soil with consistency in addition to the external stability to gain emotional balance. In addition, during the execution of the form, alignments of some parts of the body are made, while others are symmetrically arranged in relation to specific axes and points. This makes the contribution of tai chi to the prevention and treatment of orthopedic problems decisive. Because of the spiral movements combined with the intent, chi is driven to the joints and from there to the bone marrow where the blood is produced. This helps to strengthen the bones, to clean the bone marrow and thus to better oxygenate and revitalize the body. It is, therefore, an excellent anti-aging exercise. The constant intention of pulling from the earth and the top of the head from the sky dilates, strengthens the spine and exalts the spirit. Finally, all our moves should be guided by our intention, with the consequence of pushing the chi to the various parts of the body.This is meditation in movement, which strengthens our macrocosmic orbit. White crane (white crane from the lineage of master wee kee jin perfrected in my opinion by the great buddhist monk BO MA). The feature of this system is the combination of breathing exercises, tendon nei kung and bone- chi vibrations. Wild goose if the execution is done by the secret method, it is one of the most effective energy practices that combines stretching exercises and light vibrations to open energy meridians as well as detoxify the body. It includes two forms for opening the microcosmic and macroscopic track, respectively. Each "move" of this form can be used individually as a separate exercise, aiming at specific benefits. Swimming Dragon.. Form with the main aim of exercising the kidneys and opening the third eye. Mara qigong This form deals entirely with the spine and with the opening of all acupuncture points left and right. It looks very much like yoga on the move with the palms of the hands united. Mo pai the proper one not the ritual and demonic one LOST KUNG FU SUSTEM iam also train a system of a series of 12 spiraling forms very old and very very rare !!!! when I asked my sifu to tell me the name of this system, told me that he did not knew the name and that his teacher never mentioned from where come from. I believe that these forms are arcetypes for pakua, taichi xing yi system

Dear Dao Bums, What I wanted to share today was my very interesting discovery about the parallels between the TCM and qigong meridian system, and the chakra, nadi and petal system in Yoga and Sri Vidya. The two channels in the agyna chakra: Ksham (क्ष) is the left side of the forehead, it is the left, outermost bladder meridian in TCM. Ham (हं) is the right side of the forehead, it is the right, outermost bladder meridian in TCM. The bladder branches into 2 channels on each side of the spine, i.e. 4 channels in total. An innermost and an outermost on each side of the spine. The four channels in the muladhara chakra: Sam (सं) is the left, lower kidney meridian (i.e. from the muladhara chakra and down to under the foot) Vam (वं) is the right, lower kidney meridian (i.e. from the muladhara chakra and down) Sham( शं) is the upper part of the right kidney meridian (from muladhara chakra and up through the body, through the lung and finally into the brain) Ssam (षं) is the upper part of the left kidney meridian (from muladhara chakra and up) The six channels in the swadistana chakra: Lam (लं) is the left, lower part of the spleen meridian (running from svadistana chakra and down to the big toe) Bam (बं) is the right, lower part of the spleen meridian. Bham (भं) is the right, upper part of the spleen meridian (running from svadistana and up) Mam (मं) is the innermost bladder channel to the right of the spine, running from swadistana chakra and up alonside the spine Yam (यं) is the innermost bladder channel to the left of the spine, running from swadistana chakra and up alonside the spine Ram (रं) is the upper part of the left spleen meridian (from swadistana and up). I can't wait to journey through the rest of the chakras and nadis, and clear the channels even more (nadi shuddhi). I'll keep you posted as I discover more If you'd like to know a bit more about the background, read on: There are mantras for 6 chakras and their individual nadis. There are 2 nadis in the agyna chakra, 4 nadis in the muladhara chakra, 6 in the swadistana, 10 in the manipura, 12 in the anahata, 16 in the vishuddi. That means you need to memorize a total of 50 sanskrit letters and their mantra, which is going to take some time Saying the sound of the sanskrit letter in the "petals" of the chakra, activates the nadi. Saying the sound of the sanskrit letter in the middle of the chakra, activates the chakra. All of this knowledge is from Hinduism, namely the Yoga and Sri Vidya tradition, as taught by Guru Karunamaya. I've written about my experiences with it here: The method is simply "sandwiching" an empowered mantra from your guru in between the sanskrit letter for each channel. This 1) activates the channel, 2) sends energy from your guru mantra into the channel, 3) closes the energy inside the channel. For example: lam aum nama shivaya lam. So far, I've only mastered the agnya, muladhara and swadistana (which I've described above), so the next one I'll work on memorizing and opening is the manipura chakra and its 10 nadis Be blessed by the Divine! May we all enjoy good health, long life, prosperity, happiness, wisdom and peace

Endless debates over what is correct and what is not correct. Endless debates over what is better and what is worse. Every day fare in the kingdom of the ego. Up and down, east and west, hot and cold. Which is correct? Which is not correct? Which is better? Which is worse? Which all-knowing and all-seeing being can answer these questions with absolute authority? Who here on this Earth can say what immortality is? If anyone can live forever, they must be very rare. No, it's about spiritual immortality, you say? What is spirit? What is spiritual immortality? This person says this. That person says that. Which all-knowing and all-seeing being can answer these questions with absolute authority? What use is self-cultivation if it is not practical? If what a person practices has value and benefit for them, is it not good? If what a person practices improves their health and state of mind, is it not good? What does it matter what this person or that person says about some particular cultivation method? If what a person practices has value and benefit for them, is it not good? If what a person practices improves their health and state of mind, is it not good? I am just a human standing on a vast Earth, surrounded by a vast universe. I do not know anything about spiritual embryos and immortality. Nebulous clouds which no one can seem to agree upon. Beautiful images for the ego to picture and behold. In this world we must be practical. Will it help us through our work day? Will it give us better health? Will it give us a better state of mind? Will it help us to interact with others in a more positive way? Will it help ease the aches and pains as we grow older? What is ultimately real, and what is ultimately not real? What is ultimately of value, and what is ultimately not of value? I do not know. Which all-knowing and all-seeing being can answer these questions with absolute authority?

I came across this person's videos and want to find all of them, specifically the ones where he talks about changing the bones. I have no idea how to get in contact with this person or where else to find his videos. Apparently his videos were posted on this site around 2015. Does anyone know how to find this person's videos, if so, please let me know. Thank you.

Hi, I wanted to spread awareness of 戴氏心意拳 Dai Shi Xin Yi Quan (Dai family heart -invention boxing) as I see a lot of misrepresentation recently being spread through certain individuals, who I am not even aware of being certified or holding lineage in this art. I would like to give individuals an opportunity to ask me questions regarding the art and how to practice it as well as where to go to find proper instruction. I will give you the link to my blog, where you can read some of the articles I have had translated over the years, so you can get a basic introduction ans understanding of the art. ww.daixinyi.blogspot.com Feel free to ask anything on here or send me anything in pm. warm regards Dai Zhi Qiang

Hello hello hello Long time no see everyone! As I realized recently, there has to be an intermediary routine to add at the beginning of my day, but before I start doing my neijiaquan sessions, and I figured it must be the ever-famous "rubbing and tapping" promoted by so many schools and teachers. There used to be a ton of videos and articles but recently I have a feeling that the internet has inflated so much it's impossible to get to the good old bootleg stuff or maybe I'm just way less patient these days Please, please share your favorite self massage/tapping routines that go well with your other practices Namaste! Anyways, gotta walk that circle!

Hello, I am interested in learning medical qigong and this website has some amazing background. I recently did a two week free trial with Holden Qigong and the practice is improving my energy but I felt really ambivalent about Lee Holden. His background has various incongruous stories about how he was introduced to qigong, and as I understand he was a protege of Mantak Chia, the unintentional inspiration for the founding of this site. I want to learn from a respected and legitimate teacher and practice in a respectful way. Looking forward to finding recommendations 🙏🏻

Hello Dao Bums, I got a chance to sit down with Harry Minogue this last Saturday and chat about Baguazhang. I hope you enjoy. https://youtu.be/0hvCighYqyM

https://youtu.be/tV3Ds1FpUp8 In this video Michael Goddard and myself discuss intuition and how to develop it. We discuss techniques from Reiki, foundations for integrating intuition into your daily life, as well as how intuition has literally saved my life. I hope you enjoy this discussion and we plan to continue these. Thank you, Matt Parsons

Hi all, wasn’t sure what part of the site to direct a question about what types of online qigong people have found during this last 2 yrs (where many practitioners went online). I picked up with spring forest qi gong, but something isn’t fitting right with me, and I want to find an alternative. Figured this might be a good place to ask. (And my background is in Wu-Ming style qigong, via Master Nan Lu in Nyc, but I cannot make his live classes) thanks for any help directing the question! I’ll remove this when I know where to post

Hi - I’m wondering if anyone would be comfortable sharing any online qigong groups they might be aware of (so many practitioners have gone online in last two years). I’ll clearly be searching on my own, but thought it couldn’t hurt to toss the question here in case it brought up an interesting avenue. I have had positive and powerful teachers in the past (Wu Ming style), but do not have access to live classes at present…and it helps me to have a live group to practice with, as I’m somewhat isolated at present. I recently found Spring Forest Qigong in Midwest of US…and while I like the actual practice (basic, but a good way to lead me where I’d naturally go in practice, movement leading to an orbit meditation)…I’m not certain about the $$$ to miraculously heal people/cancer vibe. Something isn’t sitting right. Any offerings welcome….whether you can share any experience/knowledge of SFQ, or suggest another solid online live group to investigate, I’d be very grateful. thank you!

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

Any insight or experience around Thich Man Tue (Brother Insight) or other Plum Village related qigong?

Hi Everyone, I am looking for a good avenue to learn Zhineng Qigong, for both self healing & well being, and to assist others in their healing journeys. I am aware that personal instruction is the best, but it seems most teachers in the West are doing instruction online. I have found an interesting course offering by Master Yuantong Liu who was taught by Dr Pang Ming and worked in the Huaxia medicine-less hospital for 10 years, and Britta Stalling (Body & Mind Factory). The program seems quite comprehensive and includes the first few levels of Zhineng Qigong, including Hold Qi Up, Pour Qi Down Method, Separate Body and mind, Eight Verses Life Meditation, organising the chi field, qi core improvement, five Zang organs chanting, 3 gates, Fa Qi (Qi emission), amongst other methods. The full course outline can be seen in the link above. It is a 2-year commitment, with both online & 2 in-person workshops (in Europe), as well as theory modules. There is a certification process at the end to become a certified hunyuan qi therapist. Does anyone have insight whether this is a good program to do? Are there alternatives that teach the same content? Warm Regards

Started reading this book: Chinese Qigong by The Publishing House of Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine And am surprised to see how here they seem to write of Qigong as a scientific system and not so much focus on it in a spiritual(awakening/enlightment) kind of thing.Sometimes it even seems like they're being skeptical of Qigong itself(or at least, the Qigong that is linked to spirituality) and consider this more of an "alternative health system" of sorts. For example, some of the chapters and sections: Chapter One: General Survey -Section Two: The theoretical basis of Qigong - Qigong and the Viscera Chapter Two: Maneuvers of Qigong -Section Two: Dynamic Qigong - Iron Crotch Qigong(not gonna lie...I laughed when I read that) It is both strange and interesting seeing this kind of "pragmatic"(?) view of something that I'm just so used to seeing being constantly linked with Daoism and all the spirituality that comes with that.

Hello! I have been practicing Qigong and studying Daoism for the last 3 years and had practiced Kundalini and studied Hinduism for the 3 years before. Much happier and content with Qigong and Daoism as I find it more fulfilling. Here to learn more. Thanks! Sunweiying

Hi everyone. I'm looking for a teacher in Oahu who can help me through the first 3 years of practice to meet the preconditions Neigong. I'm practicing Damo's standing meditation daily, and I understand it will take years before my Lower Dan Tien activates and starts spinning. But in the meantime, I'm reading so much about the wonderful sitting meditations of Wang Liping, especially the meditation where you make your organs vibrate (Fusion of the 5 Elements?) and really wishing to practice those. But the texts all state that you really need a teacher to make any progress. I've looked around in Oahu and I am not finding any teachers of the Longmen Pai system here. I'm hoping there might be some secret society or something that I'm just missing. Does anyone have any advice on where to look for a good qigong mentor of an officially recognized system like Longmen Pai? Thanks!

Hello my name is Ste. I have recently discovered Taoism and the beautiful Lee Style Tai Chi. I hooe to learn alot from you guys.

I found an interesting Tai Chi video series from WLE. There are 9 videos (DVDs): Yang Tai Chi Chuan (Part One) Yang Tai Chi Chuan (Part Two) Yang Tai Chi Chuan Applications Tai Yu Grand Ultimate Sword Sun Style Tai Chi Chuan (Part One) Sun Style Tai Chi Chuan (Part Two) Sun Style Tai Chi Chuan Applications Sun Style Tai Chi Sword Tai Chi Broadsword Anybody can put a review of the videos? Thanks.

Hi, I would like to aks if someone here has experience with both the prostrations as they are done in tibetan buddhism and qigong. I am quite interested in how you view the benefits of prostrations on the body and etc They seem like a quite good exercise and probably encourages flow of chi through the body, can anybody here support it from experience or from the teaching? Also if you have done prostration what did you notice that happened with your body? What about muscles that are used in prostrations, can doing them help me against my slowly growing beer belly? Any kind of opinion is welcomed.

I've been intrigued by the buddhabrot fractal for some time. It had been called buddhabrot because it shows several features of historic Gautama Buddha depictions: The tikka, a topknot, ringlet hair and a meditation pose. I've done a bit of qigong during lockdowns and have become even more intrigued by it. If you take a look at it, you will probably see why. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhabrot High-res rendering: https://erleuchtet.org/2010/07/ridiculously-large-buddhabrot.html The buddhabrot is the same as the well-known mandelbrot fractal, which sorts 2D starting coordinates c into escaping / not escaping a specific boundary on the complex plane (a 2D plane that has its own set of mathematical rules and is linked to various physical domains, e.g. quantum physics) during a long simple iteration. The classic mandelbrot only shows the points that stay inside the set. For the buddhabrot, instead of showing points that stay inside the set, we look at where all the points that escape the set into infinity fly around. Simply said, the brighter a pixel on the buddhabrot fractal is, the more escaping points flew around there on their way to infinity. What are your thoughts about it? What do you see when you look at it?

riding the never-ending-change-wave, i find myself here interested in yijing, qigong, taiji, art, poetry, theatre, zen, dao and like-minded stuff going to wall-flower a bit to watch the dance and feel the breeze till i have something to say best wishes and peace and thank you for having me

I have come to this site in order to find answers to answers to the following questions: 1. can qigong fix scoliosis 2. can qigong really help you grow taller 3. can qigong really fix and change your bone structure (particularly the face)? 4. can qigong really be used to heal the body? After coming across this video on YouTube below along with another video with an older woman stating that her scoliosis was healed, I have a deep routed curiosity to know if chi can really heal the body this way. The video below is by a man named master Wong but I cannot find anything else by this man. In the video, he says that the bones are harder to change but the joints are easier, so the bones can changed? I'm curious. I have come across qigong in the past a long while back but was not in a position to really delve as deep as I would like into the subject. I spoke to a person that taught qigong and said in the chi world, anything is possible? I want to know more about qigong for the purpose of and I do not like to use this word in fear of sounding off my rocker but shape shifting. I do not believe that I can magically change into another person but to me it makes sense that certain parts of a person can change and heal. I do not think the story about the woman who used this practice to fix her scoliosis is far fetched. I have read many stories of the amazing things the body can do. I want to know to what extent qigong can be used to change and heal the body. This whole search could be in vain but for a long time, I have had the feeling that it is not and the only way to really find this out to leave no stone unturned. I will read whatever material I have to, and do whatever qigong practice I have to. So hello to anyone who is reading, I want to know all I can about qigong. *In the second video at time stamp 1:51, the elderly woman talks about the severe scoliosis, at 2:15 she states "I came to qigong for my Lyme disease and my scoliosis straightened"

I have been practicing unguided spontaneous Qigong for a while. I thought it was good for releasing muscle tension and there was no danger in it as it's just allowing natural movements that come out without forcing anything or adding anything foreign to your body. I have been told recently that spontaneous Qigong is bad for you, will create Heart fire and should not be practiced unless advised by a teacher. Is this correct? Is it advised to stop practicing this completely? In that case, would you recommend any methods to suppress those spontaneous movements when they arise? An easy method to suppress them is to add muscle tension, but that seems like a bad idea. I was wondering if there is a way to stop the movements while keeping the relaxation and not adding tension. Thank you!

Hello, Dao Bums, I was on this forum 11 years ago and I am now back. ( some of you may remember me as fiveelementtao). I trained in an esoteric taoist practice associated with Mao Shan. so, after 30 years of training and practice, I have discovered something truly amazing about the qigong and nei gong I was taught. I have finally discovered that the techniques of the practice are not stimulating or focusing on the same meridian system as traditional taoist practices. The masters who taught me were "uneducated" in the sense that they were taught a lot of techniques and had mastered those techniques but did not learn a lot of specific theory. They just told me that what we did was "different.' But it was unclear to me exactly how. The techniques were undeniably powerful and unique, but it was shrouded in such mystery that we were encouraged not to try and figure it out... What I learned in the internal martial arts, qigong, meditation and nei gong was ( in my experience) unrivalled in terms of pure power. This practice was my first experience in Taoist energy work. So, when I learned it, I assumed that all taoist energy work was coming from the same place (energetically). But every time I would learn another school's energy practice or internal martial art, I could feel the energy was very different. Masters of all different schools ( including ones who claimed to be Mao Shan) who saw what I was doing or tried the techniques would either say the practice was evil, dangerous, demonic or they would tell me that they had never experienced anything this powerful. this included qigong, internal martial artists and tai chi masters.... So, for 30 years I have been extremely confused as to what exactly was different about this practice. Well, I have made some very exciting discoveries. instead of trying to learn from available sources about why the energy was so powerful and different, I started focusing on the meridians in my body that were constantly "firing" when I did the practices. And I finally understood what my teachers taught in terms of what meridians we focused on.... You have all heard of "Jing - Qi - Shen" right? Well my teachers would say we did "Qi - Xi - Yi" (life force energy - heart-mind - intent) When I asked about this compared to the Jing-Qi-Shen path, I was told "Oh just the same thing ". But I have come to realise that it is NOT the same AT ALL... I could explain for days, but the bottom line is that after 30 years I have discovered that the Mao Shan masters were intentionally NOT pursuing Jing Qi Shen, they were intentionally focusing not on the lower dan tien but on the pericardium meridian. Which I have discovered is a secret zone of power where the feminine "lightning" energy resides surrounding and protecting the shen (soul) from the harshness of 3 dimensional reality. In TCM this power is called the "Emperor's Body Guard." It normally is self-contained in the middle dan tien unless someone knows how to stimulate the pericardium meridian to release it into the body's meridians. This was a secret kept by the Mao Shan demon fighters for centuries. When I learned this, it explained so much about why this art was so powerful, dangerous and different. The benefit of releasing the power of the Emperor's bodyguard is immediate and unrivaled power. The kind of power that demons run from. but the downside is that if the practitioner does not have a mature relationship to the heart center, it can create a Sith Lord ( if you'll forgive the reference). ( now I know why my teachers were always warning us about the danger of becoming a Darth Vader). For those who remember all of the controversies surrounding me and other people who shall remain nameless who also taught this tradition, you will know why there was so much power and rumours of danger associated with this path... Anyways, 30 years later, after some seasoning, I now understand what I believe to be the true purpose of this Mao Shan path. I hope to share more on this forum if there are any who are interested... For now, here is a qigong routine I created using these techniques. Let me know what you guys think.... Mahadeva