elephant

I wonder if the Embracing Sun and Moon practice from QF2 would be helpful for this? I conceptualize this practice as a basic yin/yang balancing practice, but one that operates on the left/right polarity, rather than the front/back polarity that is more evident in the microcosmic orbit. In QF2, Embracing Sun and Moon is presented in the context of…[Read more]

Nice! Did you have to practice for a while before it became effective for the headaches?

It does seem that the quality of instruction varies a lot, and to a degree that is somewhat baffling. I been in tai chi classes that were just like mere calisthenics, and others that were catalysts for deep healing. If I may get a bit speculative, I think it might have something to do with the odd historical moment we are in, where the spiritual…[Read more]

All of that makes a lot of sense to me. I learned grounding as an adjunct to mindfulness / pure awareness meditation, so it seems a very natural pairing. Regarding the usefulness of “mental health professionals”, I think a lot of us who should know better have been effectively propagandized by the pharmaceutical industry to believe that…[Read more]

Excellent. Very interesting. Thank you. I think what you’ve done, to some extent, is lay out some basic principles for structuring a qigong practice, regardless of whether one is working with psychological issues or not; principles which I haven’t found articulated elsewhere. Pacing oneself, learning to deal with healing/detox reactions, laying a…[Read more]

thanks. Maybe this is more complicated than I imagined. Lots of material to work through. I ordered Marie’s Cd and Chia’s book. I will try to follow Steven’s advice: use Marie’s Cd to see the forest through the trees, then add Michael’s modifications. The good news is that just circulating the energy around the pearls for a few minutes…[Read more]

Hi all,
I’m currently in the process of listening to the Michael’s Fusion 1 audio. As sometimes happen, as I’m listening I have one question constantly on my mind: How do I translate this into a daily practice session of, say, 30 minutes or so? Can anyone suggest what a daily Fusion practice might look like?
thanks,
elephant

Do you feel that get a different effect doing the animal frolics vs healing sounds alone (which I interpret to mean seated practice) ?

Is this the same as tai chi 1?

http://www.chikungpractice.com/#!product/prd14/2174156695/tai-chi-short-form

Thanks all for your thoughts. I wanted to add one clarification on this topic: when I say that the symptoms return, it’s really something beyond just that – sort of a unique syndrome of its own, similar to my usual symptoms, but different or more intense in some ways. It’s characterized by a certain quality of fatigue that often leads to deep,…[Read more]

Interesting. Do you care to elaborate? What is the nature of the pain? How much has it diminished? Are you doing other practices besides DHQ? How do you do it? Have you noticed other changes over the 2 years?

Thanks. Besides the summer retreats in North Carolina, where might one find an IS1 class?

Interesting. Thanks.
So – if I may attempt to summarize some recent posts on grounding practices
1) the main ones are iron shirt 1, tao yin, and tai chi 1
2) iron shirt 1 may be the “best” but needs to be taught in person
3) standing in stillness practices from CKF4 are grounding practices but in a lesser sense (“wimpy”)
4) tao yin and…[Read more]

Not sure if your post refers to dietary fat, if so I wanted to mention that for a long time conventional views on nutrition emphasized the evils of fat, and a lot of people formed a general impression that they should just avoid fats. Recent research is now repudiating that view, but the old information is still everywhere. It turns out, fats…[Read more]

Hi Steven,
which HT courses correspond to the practices you mention (iron shirt, tai chi, and tao yin)?
thanks,
elephant

Hi Little One, there is a lot of information out there on the use of mind altering substances as catalysts for healing (though not necessarily in the Daoist context). If you haven’t yet, I might recommend exploring of the work of Stan Grof. There has also been a lot published on the subject of the ayahuasca shamanism of South America, to mention…[Read more]