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Hello, I'm writing this in the spur of the moment in a sleep-deprived mania, so I hope you all will forgive me if I'm brief. I've been attracted to Daoism for the better part of three years now, but I haven't yet taken the plunge on becoming a practitioner mostly because I have been tugged to and fro by every aspect of practice, each equally interesting, that I haven't yet been able to choose anything to focus on. Maybe I need to find a teacher, even if it's just online, maybe I need to read more, maybe I need to stop worrying about it; whatever the case is, this feels like a good place to start. Thank you all for providing an inviting space for me to explore. I was raised Catholic and have spent most of my life an unwitting agnostic - I started exploring religion again about six years ago, but nothing felt as intrinsically right to me as Daoism has, if maybe just at the surface. I'll hope you all will excuse a few mistakes due to inexperience. See you, Taken Afront

Hello there! I have come across this forum repeatedly in my own searches and queries regarding energy cultivation, alchemical practices, and neigong over the last few years. I am frequently delighted by the depth of knowledge, insight, and curiosity displayed by many of the posters and postings I’ve come across. I’m not sure why I’m only now joining the forum. For myself I often feel a touch isolated in my own path and journey and don’t always have an outlet to share or even compare notes with others. I don’t believe it has been neglect as much as a realization that internal arts, cultivation, and meditative practices are solo endeavors in practice and I feel I often forget that others can have just as profound a connection to dao/source/god as I do myself. As practice: I engage with and practice neigong and alchemical practices alongside qigong and recently a tiny bit of taiji and bagua. I have lived “half in-half out” my entire life. Spirit and energy is simply as real to me as breathing and always has been. Much of my life I have often engaged with many energy practices as they come to me not knowing the same ones have been handed down from mystics and sages to others for centuries. I just knew what they felt like. As I 5 year old I didn’t know I was opening my third eye but simply enjoyed the feeling and sensation of directing my attention to it or making ‘sword fingers’ and feeling the pressure at my forehead - as a minor example. Later in life I have found energy healing and faith healing as practical applications. Simply moving along with my intuition has yielded many uncomfortable but fantastic encounters and situations. Prior to any knowledge of daoist alchemical methods I had had my own kundalini awakening and had regularly practiced what I later found out are shengong in nature. Without divulging loads of personal things the drive to learn energy cultivation practices came out of necessity. The lives we lead will often leave us in need of healing and wisdom whether we like it or not. Step back, do the basics, work on foundations, start over. Chop wood and carry water. The yield has been worth the effort but I still have questions! I feel like a novice when I see so many doing the same work. Its great. Cheers, adam