Learning to enjoy our selves.

>>>”I am in no way interested in immortality,
>>>but only in the taste of tea.”
>>>…the 400 year-old Lu T’ung, (b. 755 A.D.)

Amusing 🙂

>>>Aline says it is all about learning to enjoy her self.

Pema Chodron (American Tibetan Buddhist Nun) likes to say
you can help accomplish this by trying to notice the
“subtle sweetnesses” in life. The million little things
we enjoy every day, but don’t acknowledge . . . the gentle
breeze, the sight of a sunny blue sky, the smell of lilacs,
the warmth from a warm shower, the taste of the food we are
eating, the company of friends, etc.

Part of the cultivation we do toward integration of the shen
is help the shen stop bickering amongst themselves, get
them to recognize that they are working toward the same
goal (they just don’t realize it), and stop the internal
argument that distracts us from the joy of life.

I think this is what immortality is really about.
If you can integrate and get the internal argument to die down
so that each moment becomes joyful and you can live in
the present in open-hearted happiness, then your shen and
core essence will want to continue on in the same way
upon physical death. If, on the other hand, life is
filled with internal struggle and conflict, then upon
physical death, the shen and core essence will say
“I’m not interested in any more of this. Can’t I rest already?”
And in that case, you will. Game over.

Steven

Hi ChiFiend,

Skipping earlier practices in favor of getting to the more advanced material
has one of two typical results:

1. You have trouble making the higher level practices work.

Namely, the material from the course becomes “head” information only,
and doesn’t do anything in terms of actual body-oriented energy change.

2. They work; but you get nasty unintended side effects.

This ranges from physical problems, such as having energy moved
and stuck in places you don’t want . . . causing headaches, insomnia,
hallucinations, etc., or physical sickness as in the case of having
toxic energy and patterns circulating through your body, i.e. nausea,
vomiting, and the like.

One of the most common side effects, though, is not physical!!!

It is emotional and chaotic consequences in your subsequent
everyday life. I’ve seen people get extremely strong emotional
mood swings . . . suicidal thoughts, fits of rage and anger,
extreme paranoia and anxiety, intense fears, severe depression;
or it triggers/amplifies identity crises . . . personal life
feels chaotic, feel like they are losing their minds. It can
make you feel spaced out, stoned, disconnected from reality, etc.

I see the stuff of the last paragraph quite often, usually as
the result of people trying to “rush through” the formulas . . .
always rushing ahead to “take the next class”, rather than take
the time to actually *LEARN* the material and let it digest in
a previous class.

Even if you have the prerequisite material, sometimes Lesser KL
and higher level formulas can trigger issues that you had either
consciously or subconsciously buried as the practices start to
unwind/resolve these things you weren’t dealing with before.
HOWEVER, if you have studied the previous material thoroughly,
you can use the tools from the “lower level courses” to help
you manage the results . . . deal with your emotional changes,
help get grounded, deal with physical symptoms etc.

So, in other words, you don’t want to think of the “lower-level”
material as junk that you just do to “piss away” time until
you get to the “real” stuff. This “junk” is extremely important
and you can think of it as “safety” material you can always
return to, to help support you through serious/severe changes.

When you go on a boating trip, checking the gas in the boat,
putting on a life-preserver, making sure you bring food/water, etc.,
are all things that aren’t necessarily “fun”, and “slow down”
the process of getting into the excitement, but you can sure
bet that if you don’t do these things, you will probably regret
it later.

Do you know what I mean?

Usually wanting to skip the earlier practices tends to come
from having a lot of experience with spiritual training and/or
seeing some of the “juice” of the later practices, but you have
to sort of realize that this is just ego and impatience that
you are dealing with.

Moreover, a lot of other spiritual practices have you work with
the third-eye immediately, which is much easier to open than
the lower centers. The lower centers take much more work to
open and develop, and you might not see fast results. However,
opening them is extremely important. The problem with practices
that just have you open the third-eye first and get really
profound experiences, is that oftentimes these experiences
don’t stick and don’t internalize and transform you. What you
end up getting is nothing more than an energetic “drug-induced
high”. Like taking pot or acid, you get a really trippy
experience and feel like you are on cloud-9, but then you come
back down to reality and the experience is over–it doesn’t
integrate in, and all you are left with is the craving for
more of the same. Not to mention the fact that your physical
body gets weaker from it over time. Take the time to open
the lower centers, and the progress will appear “much slower”,
and take longer to get to the “seeing angels” category, BUT
the experiences you DO have, *last*. They integrate in, and
change you to your core, and you slowly progress to higher levels
that *remain* with you during your everyday life. I can
speak on this from personal experience.

Lastly, some of the basic practices, say the Inner Smile, get
much more profound and get deeper as you evolve to higher levels,
so the practices as a self-reference become more powerful as
time goes on. In some sense, the Inner Smile is both the
beginning and the end; the alpha and the omega.

If you’ve had other spiritual practices before, and had really
high level experiences, then despite what *you desire*, what you
probably need is, in fact, the lower-level stuff. You probably
*need* to get grounded, etc.

Having said all of that, let it digest and think about it 🙂

A final word:
There are two types of people: tortoises and hawks. Hawks
don’t waste any time getting from A to B, just soar overhead . . .
always eager to get to the next thing. Tortoises are extremely
slow, creeping along but ever forward, slowly examining each
inch in front of them. I’m am an admitted tortoise. But what
I will say is that I’ve had a number of hawks talk to me in
private and tell me how they regret having rushed ahead,
how it’s caused problems for them, and how they wished they
had been a tortoise like me. With enough patience, even
tortoises reach the finish line . . .

Note: Yes, I realize I didn’t really answer your question, but
sometimes it’s more important to say other things.

Just think about some of the things I said anyway, and let
it digest within. If you are still not really interested
in the things I said in my response, then you can ask again,
and I’ll tell you “what you want to hear”. But bear in mind
in that case that the response is less than the ideal recommendation,
and you take full responsibility for any and all consequences of
your actions 🙂

Smiles to you and hope you have a wonderful day 🙂 🙂 🙂
Steven

ChiFiend,

After about 18 years of practice, I can share with you that the most important thing of all this different practices is… learn to feel.
It sounds simple but you have to learn to FEEL your organs and learn to create a pathway and communication with your inner self. The more you sink into your inner garden or inner universe (however you like to feel your inner sanctuary)the better and the more truthful your practice will become.

Not a head thing, not a mental concept which happens too much for too many, but a real sensed experience in your body.

Healing sounds and inner smile can take you there, it looks like it is a ‘simple’ way, an easy practice, realize it has many levels of awareness, so the simple becomes complex when you tap into the many layers of your organs and feelings. In short, don’t see it as something minor, it is still one of my main focus points, and I find new pathways in it every time I dive in, not every day though.

What I do every day is turning my awareness inside and observe, feel and register the coming and going of feelings, sensations, short, I work on my communication skills with my inner universe.

The more communication you can FEEL the more the other practices become more easy by itself…
Fusion almost happens as a natural result, kan and li is the logical result of fusion and sexual practice, etc…

So the stronger you build your foundation skills AND your feeling ability, the better the higher practices show themselves…

I was a rocket ship once, I hit some stars and planets along the way, bounced back the hard way on planet Earth, and transformed into a very slow turtle, digging my way through the center of the Earth, … I am at 1/3 of the way to the surface 🙂

Good luck!
Wendy

Hi ChiFiend,

I suspect no one saw your original welcome post.

You posted your original post on the “OLD” forum.

A number of years back Michael created a new forum,
whereby the forum is divided into three categories
“General”, “Philosophy”, “Practice”.

Unfortunately, people can still access the OLD forum,
and any posts that people make on the NEW (current) forum
get COPIED onto the OLD one. This gives people who
see the old forum the belief that people are posting on
that one, which is false. If someone makes a post on the
OLD forum, it does not get copied to the NEW one, so no
one sees it or knows it exists.

Michael should really have the OLD forum disabled, because
this issue comes up from time to time.

I’m sorry this happened to you, but I see you found the new
version and are making/seeing posts.

S

Hello

Yes I am from Sweden. The right spelling is realy Swedish, but I spell wery ugly 🙂
Dyslexia.

I have the book “Awakening healing light of the tao”, but I do not have the DVDs. I guess it is the same practises or about the same.

You are wery welcome to ask questions about retention and related topics. I answer according to my own understunding, but that is of course obvious 🙂 , what else could I or anybody do. The retention practise is one of the things Mantak Chia has been most critisised for, so the subject is a bit controversial. There is some dangers connected to it and some practioners does not practise it at all. I think you will find some valuable information on this site: http://alchemicaltaoism.com/

Have a nice day

SD

ChiFriend,

I might propose that you go at it from both points to find all there is. If you are so close to Chia I wouldn’t hesitate to take that opportunity in a Chang Mai minute, that is a gift being so close. If you also have a proclivity to Michaels teachings order the cds/dvds and use it too. Maybe through a logical thoughtful process of learning, the juxtapostion and the harmony of the two you may find what you are looking for. Just a humble suggestion.

PS There is no accelerated program and shortcuts will lead to adverse effects as you have been warned. I’m not sure now but in the old days Chia’s Micro Cosmic Orbit worshop taught the Inner Smile, the Five Healing Sounds, and the Microcosmic Orbit. That is the begining, the trip of a thousand miles starts with the first step.

Good luck, balance and harmonize

Hi ChiFiend,

If you are looking for spiritual immortality,
you’ve come to the right place ^_^

I’ve attached a link to this post listing
Michael Winn’s Recommended Sequence, as you
requested.

Note: The full package at any level consists
of BOTH the DVD and the CD set. Some of the
material at a given level is on the DVD, and
some of it is on the CD set . . . but they
are not a duplication. DVDs contain demonstrations
of the physical movements and qigong forms; CD
audio sets contain the meditations plus lectures
on Daoist theory relating to the material at that
level, i.e. you really need both for completeness.

Chia’s DVDs are worth considering also, and or
lessons at Tao Garden (given your proximity) but
Chia is really prolific and has put out a LOT of
DVDs and materials, and it can be a bit overwhelming,
i.e. difficult to see the forest through the trees.
There’s nothing wrong with his stuff; it’s all good
material . . . but I personally would consider it
more an adjunct or add-on as you see fit (as time goes
on) if your goal is to reach Lesser KL in a less
tortoise-like fashion.

I have to cut this post short right now unfortunately,
as my college algebra students are having their exam today,
and I need to get ready and get onto campus.

I’ll respond more later today,
and give more specific recommendations based on
what you told me . . . but the link and sublinks etc.
should keep you plenty busy until then 🙂

Best,
STeven

https://healingtaousa.com/winn_sequence.html