a retreat/center/temple thats possible to go to ?

[Solefald]

Hi!

 

In January my contract as a Paramedic expires and I find my self wanting to deepen my experience in Daoism. I got a sharp intellect, great creativity and practical hands and learning things from books ain't my forte. 

 

I have previously done a two month trip to India and did Hatha and Ashtanga yoga teacher training, but I did not find my self settling into the yogic system.

 

I have also been to China where i tried out two kung fu schools that werent quite what i was looking for. 

 

What I would want to find now is a place where I can go and learn properly from someone who masters it. I got a lot of tension in my body, TMJ, my pelvis is out of balance and most of the joints in my body is popping/cracking.

 

Getting some help to clean out my body and purify it and the mind would be a welcomed thing. 

 

I've considered Mantak Chias center in Thailand, but it is quite expensive even for me as a Norwegian.  In Norway it is very very little of this kind to find. 

 

Anyone got any good suggestions?

 

The main purpose would be self healing.

[JohnC]

Check out http://www.damomitchell.com/ and http://www.lotusneigong.org/. They have a retreat center in Sweden or Norway, and the teacher spends months of the year out there.

 

John

[henro]

If I could go anywhere right now it would be here:

 

http://fiveimmortals.com

[vonkrankenhaus]

Re:

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"If I could go anywhere right now it would be here:

 

http://fiveimmortals.com"

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What is it that you find attractive on that web site?

 

Looks like a (albeit rather grim) advertisement for 6 Flags or a Disney experience of some sort.

 

It's an amusement park.

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[MooNiNite]

Check out http://www.damomitchell.com/ and http://www.lotusneigong.org/. They have a retreat center in Sweden or Norway, and the teacher spends months of the year out there.

 

John

 

What has the teacher attained in terms of cultivation?

[thelerner]

"If I could go anywhere right now it would be here:

 

http://fiveimmortals.com"

-----

 

What is it that you find attractive on that web site?

Looks like a (albeit rather grim) advertisement for 6 Flags or a Disney experience of some sort.

It's an amusement park.

Don't look like Disneyland to me.  It looks like a way to take part in and experience a genuine Taoist temple.  The only promise being it'll be rough, you expected to 'eat bitter' and follow the rules or leave.   I'd love to hear from someone who's been to the place. 

I'm sure Wudan has its share of ..tourist traps.

 

Back to OP. 

I've always had a fondness for Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Paradise Island.  Not that I'm much of a yogi, but they seem to stand my presence and I have a good time there.  The swami's there seem to know body mechanics pretty good.  

 

Course that might be going backwards for the OP writer.   Perhaps looking more intensely at what's close to you.  There may be a teacher, humble or hidden, of an esoteric art nearby that would be the key to your lock. 

Edited October 6, 2015 by thelerner

[JohnC]

What has the teacher attained in terms of cultivation?

You'll have to explore the website, and his publications. He writes at http://www.scholarsage.com/

 

I can tell you though that a lot of what he writes and recommends is some of the most clear, concise and experienced writing I've ever seen about some of the most esoteric practices within taoism that usually have people translating 'cauldrons' and other obfuscations.

 

And a lot of it lines up with my experiences in the stillness movement lineage.

 

John

[MooNiNite]

You'll have to explore the website, and his publications. He writes at http://www.scholarsage.com/

 

I can tell you though that a lot of what he writes and recommends is some of the most clear, concise and experienced writing I've ever seen about some of the most esoteric practices within taoism that usually have people translating 'cauldrons' and other obfuscations.

 

And a lot of it lines up with my experiences in the stillness movement lineage.

 

John

 

Ok so he is more of a teacher than a practitioner. i see.

[JohnC]

Ok so he is more of a teacher than a practitioner. i see.

He is a practitioner and teacher.

Edited October 8, 2015 by JohnC

[MooNiNite]

He is a practitioner and teacher.

 

I think it is important that teachers are also practitioners. However, I also think it is important that the teachers have some type of attainment. Many teachers are unwilling to display their attainments, however, unfortunately many of those teachers are also spreading, and receiving money for, illusory practices. But there is no need to discuss it further, apologies if this dragged on. It seems like a rather mundane thing that still needs to be addressed. 

[henro]

Re:

-----

"If I could go anywhere right now it would be here:

 

http://fiveimmortals.com"

-----

 

What is it that you find attractive on that web site?

 

Looks like a (albeit rather grim) advertisement for 6 Flags or a Disney experience of some sort.

 

It's an amusement park.

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

 

 

Because the things they are teaching interest me, not sure where the 6 Flags part comes in….

[vonkrankenhaus]

Re:

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"Because the things they are teaching interest me, not sure where the 6 Flags part comes in…."

-----

 

It's just my reaction. I wrote it.

 

Please don't let me interrupt you or anyone in acting on the amazing statements in the quote.

 

They are self-resolving ideas.

 

And everyone has their own experiences and perspective, making value a relative thing.

 

I have lived in a retreat, a few times.

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[Geof Nanto]

My impression, from reading Lindsey Wei's account of the Five Immortals Temple in her book The Valley Spirit, is that it's very much a place of genuine intent, headed by an authentic Daoist practitioner.

[lazy man]

 I don't think you are going to find an authentic Taoist retreat with internet or a website:)You are going to have to "beat the brush" to find the real deal...or be real lucky.

The Chinese Gov't has a very tight lid on all religion in that country. The great leap forward destroyed all the well know monastery's and killed or re-educated teachers and students up to the mid 70's. You are going to get an "approved" version of Taoist philosophy and martial arts (Wu shu) there. Maybe in the back country "Tien shan mountains.

 

And Capitalism has very tight lid on religion in this country (USA).Lots of folks without complete transmission teaching all kinds of "Feel good" stuff with out knowing short and long term effects.  A nice way to make a living.  

 

Not saying it would not be a fun experience and that you may get something useful that was not looked for originally. I have friends that have gone ( Wu Dan, Shaolin) and they had a great time. The most impactful events that happened to them where with the mountains themselves.

 

 

 

 

Best

[Geof Nanto]

Whilst China has a long tradition of reclusive Daoist and Ch'an cultivators living independently in remote wilderness areas, such people are not renowned for accepting students. They guard their privacy. Temples have always been a place to go for instruction and these have operated with varying degrees of official regulation since at least the Tang dynasty. And fortunately, these days, places of authentic teaching do have websites.

 

For those with an interest, here is a little background information on Li Shi Fu, the abbot of Five Immortals Temple, as told to Lindsey Wei and recounted in The Valley Spirit.....

 

 

One day I asked Li Shi Fu when it was that he first had the notion to become a Daoist renunciant. He said such a thing does not occur in a single moment. "It has been occurring as far back as I can remember. When I was two or three I used to be very timid, afraid of everything. My older sisters would tell me ghost stories to work on my courage. This is what I grew up with," he said, "mythology and the belief in the power of spirit."

 

Li Shi Fu's family lived in an ancient ruined temple. Three days before he was born, there came many crows to live in the trees around their home. They stayed until he came of age. Many people thought it was surely a bad omen. However, in Wudang, the crow is the spirit of the mountain.

 

One day in the market when Li was seven, he met a wandering Daoist on the street. The Daoist looked at him, felt his bones, and told him that he had destiny with the Dao. The young boy thought nothing of it at the time.

 

By age 13, Li began to study Daoist and Buddhist beliefs as well as Chinese Internal and External Arts such as Shaolin's Plum Blossom Boxing, Chen Family Taijiquan, and Qing Gong or "light" Gong Fu. He traveled to many places in China and learned under the tutelage of over 16 masters.

 

Li Shi Fu grew up in a generation that can hardly be compared to my own. Since he was 13, he trained in fighting skills day in and day and day out, as well as meditation, all in the traditional manner of extreme discipline, dull repetition, and bitter lengths.

 

When he was 19 his "teacher," as he called it, pointing upwards, guided him to broaden his religious studies to include Christianity and Judaism. He read the Bible nine times, looking for where it was the same as Daoism.

 

By 1996 he left his family to become a renunciant and within one year found his way to White Horse Mountain. By 2000 he became the Abbot of the Five Immortals Temple, undergoing severe hardship in the bitter conditions. [The Temple was virtually a ruin and he did all the early rebuilding by himself.]

 

When he left his life behind, he thought it would take him three to five years to reach enlightenment. Now it is nearly 15 years later, and he says he is hardly even past the beginning. "I was not properly prepared in myself. So I remain in society's clutch, to grind my thoughts and desires until I am ready." [Hence he sees it as his 'karmic' role to teach Western students. His temple is one of the few in China able to accept Westerners.]

Edited October 11, 2015 by Yueya

[Gerard]

Anyone got any good suggestions?

 

The main purpose would be self healing.

 

 

Have you considered a Vipassana retreat? There are centres in Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and northern Malaysia (Penang).

 

Hard work, but it all pays off. It works wonders...hmmm what the MIND does is simply beyond belief. Everything is in it.

 

Here's a pdf file with information.

 

Best of luck