You know what impresses me

[thelerner]

It's hard to be impressed over intangles that I cannot see.  Like someone saying they have an immortal fetus within them and versus another who says, 'just one?  I've got twins'.   There are philosophies and esoteric aspects I can't judge. 

 

One thing I can is practice.  What people do.   What is there cultivation regimen.  What they do and for how long.  That's one thing that impressed me with Vitalli, his practice regimen, especially outlined at what he did for special training was amazingly rigorous. 

 

Tell me what you think, and I know little about you.  Tell me what you do, and I'll know quite a bit more.   On the other hand there have been people who have done heavy duty training in the past and currently do relatively little.  Yet they write with a demeanor that shows cultivated equanimity, an (air) wah  of calmness.  That also impresses me.

 

Can members write about there practice schedules, what's done and how long they do it?

 

 

I'm not doing any alchemy or anything much lately.  Some Wim Hof training and breathing, a bit of quiet sitting morning and evening.  Before the polar vortex hit (its 5 degrees F now, -12 windchill) quite a bit of walking (2 or 3 hours) trying to keep a quiet mind.

[idquest]

Well the challenge of ageing is that more and more time one has to allocate just to basic joints mobility movements and simple stretching routines. Otherwise the body will be shrinking with frightening speed... As this eats up more and more time, the less and less is left for something interesting like fascia activation or sitting still.

[exorcist_1699]

Many widely recognized  'masters' , those who wear a pair of glasses, long white beard, wrinkled face or big belly  ,do give good ideas in their writings, yet all  wither and die as ordinary people. Why ?

 

I think although  they practice well in  their youth ( otherwise they can't give good ideas on spiritual stuff) , they can't continue their achievement into  their old age . That is ,  the pace of aging outpaces their effort or  advancements ,and  fame , sex, stresses in life..etc  further make their life worse .  

 

As a message appears in many Taoist classics warns us :

 

" Those who can't recognize  what  the Magic Gateway is  , those practice Tao in vain "  

 

('不識玄關 , 學道無益' )

 

For in the end , the depletion of jing will take away all their efforts   no matter how arrogant they boasted of their achievement in youth . 

 

 The Book of Simplicity  ( '素書 ' )  also  tells us :  'The worst scenario in life is above all the  complete dissipation of jing'  

('悲莫悲于精散' ).

 

A young , healthy guy , no matter how poor he is , is still  hopeful.

 

An old guy in his 80s , to whom you give grand mansions, pretty ladies,  luxurious cars ,delicious food.. is no longer meaningful.

Edited December 17, 2016 by exorcist_1699

[Taoist Texts]

 

Many recognized  'masters' , those who wear a pair of glasses, long white beard, wrinkled face or big belly  ,do give good ideas in their writings, yet all  wither and die as ordinary people. Why ?

 

Ask yourself: Have I seen those that do not? Then you will know why.

[RiverSnake]

The body and astrological conditions run in cycles. I've noticed the astral cycles influence people into different phases of practice according to the Microcosms interaction with them (without individuals consciously even realizing it). Some times are good for intensity others not so much. 

 

Having a strict regime used to be very important to me, but with time and as life shifted i found it made me suffer, as i could not take it with me around every sharp corner. Like the seasons there is a flow to life and cultivation, attuning to that flow seems most valuable to me, as i currently see things. 

Edited December 16, 2016 by OldWolf

[Taomeow]

Heard this argument many times.  Show a face in your 90s that looks better from cultivation than what a plastic surgeon can do for you, and that makes you legit.  You can't?  Then you've wasted your time, silly taoist.

 

Some of the old withered masters with wrinkles and glasses and so on would have been dead, would have missed out on enjoying life for many years, would have been senile, decrepit, bitter, scared, dumb human wrecks instead of mere non-immortals they wound up becoming, mere contented humans.  One needs to know where they started.  Some started from a rather desperate place.  Some were jing depleted from birth -- many!  Some were jing depleted by their fifth birthday -- many!  Do you realize the age we live in?  and how hostile to human wholeness it is for everybody from the start?  One of my teachers was starving in China during the cultural revolution and his father died of malnutrition when he was a child.  Do you realize that someone who, decades later, is a powerful, cheerful, youthful "senior" in a body with which nothing whatsoever is wrong, with much to live for and a lot of enjoyment in living it, didn't practice in vain after all?  

[Brian]

Can't speak for others but, personally, I have no interest in seeking immortality and I'm not sure I even really understand that motivation -- any more than I do the notion of going to church each Sunday in order to get into Heaven.

[thelerner]

 

Many widely recognized  'masters' , those who wear a pair of glasses, long white beard, wrinkled face or big belly  ,do give good ideas in their writings, yet all  wither and die as ordinary people. Why ?

In this heavy dimension we live in, we have (through training) supreme power to change our minds and moods, with skillful means to control our fate. Our bodies, we can affect but it's hard to escape ones genetics.  Every cell has a built in time bomb, it'll replicate this many times, before it stops or goes Frankenstein.  

 

If we throw out the stories/legends of the past, the reality seems to be excellent living- taoist, yogic, athletic, provides much much healthier life, but not so much extraordinarily longer ones.    Healthy and alert in 70's, 80's, in a few cases even 90's.  A few genetic superstars who do better, but the centenarian's I've seen don't look very good.   

 

This came up in a Q & A in an ashram I was at.  Does yoga make you live longer.  The yogic life is great vegetarian diet, exercise, worship, low stress; yet with all that the swami, said no.  You live a better healthier life, but not necessarily longer.  That point was driven home by the founder the ashram had recently had a stroke.  He was taken around in a wheel chair to observe the place, he wasn't very old, but was paralyzed, which was very sad.  To me the lesson is, bad luck, genetics happen. 

 

In these discussion people will mention an alleged 256 year old Taoist, but he is dead.  His kids are dead, his grandkids are dead, his many wives, all dead.  What ever secret he had (he liked horny goat weed) doesn't seem to be replicable.

 

Actually this is getting off subject though.  In the OP I was hoping to get a feeling for peoples length of practice. 

[Taomeow]

.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Taomeow

[Taomeow]

Can't speak for others but, personally, I have no interest in seeking immortality and I'm not sure I even really understand that motivation -- any more than I do the notion of going to church each Sunday in order to get into Heaven.

 

The motivation is "to roam the root of heaven and earth."

 

I've never been to a church or temple or mosque service.  If they were close to the root of heaven and earth, I'd go though.  

[dwai]

I only have three main practices. One I have been doing almost daily with break since 2001 - Taiji and eventually Dao Gong/Nei Gong (perhaps since 2006). Well...there was a break period in 2003 (for a few months). But since then, almost without break. I average about 2 hrs a day since Feb 2015. Prior to that averaged about 1 hr a day.

 

I also have been a practitioner of jnana yoga (the way of knowledge), specifically Advaita Vedanta, but non-dualism in general. Been doing that since 2000 (though Advaita Vedanta study started in seriousness only since 2005-6). This involves both a mental and intellectual exercises of using logic to understand what is being said and taught wrt. that which cannot be spoken

 

Eventually I found that the intellect can only take us to realizations about what "that which cannot be named" IS NOT. Then slowly seemingly cryptic and confusing texts and teachings began to make more sense. So the third practice is essentially the practical side of this jnana yoga - meditation into the nature of "that which cannot be named" - aka "Who am I?". This meditation blends into and aids my taiji and daogong practice (and in fact, there is no difference between them). The core of who we are (who I am) is the same Emptiness that is non-different from the Dao. 

 

I've shared my daily taiji practice videos in my PPF before...sitting practice is much simpler and I think anyone can do it.

Cognition is rooted in an awareness. Recognize that awareness (as I am reading what I typed...recognize that there is someone who is witnessing the reading of these words). Turn my mind to seek that which is witnessing the reading (or seeing, or hearing, or smelling or tasting or feeling or thinking). Stay there...

[Wu Ming Jen]

I learned to throw my pre conceived thoughts of what someone may look like away very early. I know a bagua master who "looks overweight and un healthy ask for a lesson from him and you will feel so bad about yourself.

 

Lots of other examples but got to go. Met some amazingly skilled Masters That do not fit in with our thoughts of what is strong healthy accomplished and so on.

[Brian]

It's hard to be impressed over intangles that I cannot see. Like someone saying they have an immortal fetus within them and versus another who says, 'just one? I've got twins'. There are philosophies and esoteric aspects I can't judge.

 

One thing I can is practice. What people do. What is there cultivation regimen. What they do and for how long. That's one thing that impressed me with Vitalli, his practice regimen, especially outlined at what he did for special training was amazingly rigorous.

 

Tell me what you think, and I know little about you. Tell me what you do, and I'll know quite a bit more. On the other hand there have been people who have done heavy duty training in the past and currently do relatively little. Yet they write with a demeanor that shows cultivated equanimity, an (air) wah of calmness. That also impresses me.

 

Can members write about there practice schedules, what's done and how long they do it?

 

 

I'm not doing any alchemy or anything much lately. Some Wim Hof training and breathing, a bit of quiet sitting morning and evening. Before the polar vortex hit (its 5 degrees F now, -12 windchill) quite a bit of walking (2 or 3 hours) trying to keep a quiet mind.

I met Michael Lomax a little over five years ago, IIRC, and have practiced Stillness-Movement almost every day since. Formal practice is about 10-12 hours a week (not counting sleeptime/dreamtime work, which I can't put a time to). My informal practice is gradually approaching all waking hours. Edited December 16, 2016 by Brian

[Rishi Das]

Can members write about there practice schedules, what's done and how long they do it?

 

Formal practice as of late looks like...

 

About 30 minutes of qi gong, 30 minutes of mobility/stretching, between 1-2 hours of seated meditation, I do about 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise 5-6 times a week which has helped with breath work, about an hour of Japa a day, I also spend about an hour chanting and reading scripture.

 

Practice is always in flux but these things seem to be a foundation.

 

Would also like to acknowledge that practice never really stops. Over time life itself has become practice; everything counts.

 

Chop wood, carry water.

[munky]

.

Edited August 23, 2023 by munky

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

Skill doesn't impress me very much, because skill doesn't indicate quality of character.

What impresses me is people who give of themselves freely to others who are in inferior positions to them, and those who use the skill and wisdom they have accumulated through hard work to help instead of to hurt.

Any other gauge of skill is stuck in the realm of external achievement and vanity.  In the end, everything goes away, but if you left some good behind you in your wake, then people will remember you with fondness.

 

Specific people who score high on that metric for me are:

 

- Nelson Mandela

- Ghandi

- Thomas Sowell

- Thomas Pain

 

And lots of normal people I've met who will be mostly forgotten by history.

[Teddy]

I practice yoga, qigong, fitness and kung fu. One and a half hours per day. Fifteen minutes of a rather athletic form of qigong followed by either yoga, fitness or kung fu.

[CloudHands]

My practice increase every year since I started 5 years ago and fluctuate somewhat with the seasons and conditions... My rule is not to do less than 1 hour of taiji a day and with meditation total time for an average week would be more than 15 hours including two or three days I got a course or collective practice.

These last weeks I'm starting to work at night outside and I'm really enjoying it. Once you accept the challenge of obscurity, nothing like a closed park with big trees in a shutting down city.