This past weekend, I travelled to Columbia, SC to attend a  Laozi Academy retreat led by Dr. Sun. When I left my home in Nashville, TN, I was a little worried because there were bad storms and tornados hitting the  areas where I travelled. When I reached South Carolina, all I saw were clear  and sunny skies.  

We began the retreat on Friday morning with a lecture on the history of the Longmen sect of Taoism. Dr. Sun was very excited to tell us about the history  of Lu Dongbin, Wang Chongyang, and the 7 Real Taoists of the North. I really enjoyed this history lesson because I really like to learn about history. One  of the highlights of the weekend was hearing Dr. Sun's stories.

We started our practice on Friday with the foundational sitting practice. Dr.  Sun talked us through the sitting exercises and showed us how to do the  internal organ massage. In total we sat for over 50 minutes this first time!  One person was able to sit in half lotus for the entire session. Dr. Sun  comfortably sat in full lotus. We all aspire to do the same! I was only able to  sit cross legged, and I really experienced some pain! One of the misconceptions  that is being spread is that people are required to be able to sit in full  lotus for four hours before undertaking this type of training. From what I was told, Master Wang says one only has to be able to sit cross legged. With enough  practice, the hips will open and the joints will allow one to sit full lotus.

Dr. Sun was very patient with us. We had all kinds of questions about the benefits  of this type of practice that Dr. Sun answered. Every evening when we concluded  our session for the day, I left with the feeling that I had really learned a  lot of new material. Of all the things that we learned, I liked the walking  practice and the stories about Master Wang the best.

As someone who practices Taijiquan and Xingyiquan, I have had a lot of interest  in understanding more about Taoism. I have been doing a lot of zhan zhuang to  develop power for gongfu, but I never really had a sitting practice to balance  myself. I am happy that I attended this retreat. I hope to attend more retreats  with Dr. Sun and Dr. Li in the future. I am excited about the possibility of  one day becoming a western student of Master Wang and helping spread the  Longmen practices in America.

To anyone reading this who has read the book about Master Wang, I would strongly urge you to come attend a retreat with Laozi Academy.

--- Bell  from Nashvile

I had a wonderful time at the Lao Zi Academy three day  retreat.  The historical and theoretical portions of the retreat were  essential and very interesting, but the best part about the weekend was the  time we all spent practicing.  There were only four practitioners, but I'm  sure I benefited from the combined chi field.  Dr. Sun was very patient  with our questions and took us through seated meditation practice, three types  of tree balancing, the walking arts, sleep practice, and the "Big Dipper Star Stepping" practice.    

For seated meditation, we started with full-body pore breathing, then imagined  the whole body expanding and contracting, followed by the ears expanding and  contracting, then imagining energy just entering and leaving the pores of the  head.  This was followed by a Third Eye training practice whereby an imaginary  line is drawn from the aperture, to the "eye" at the upper dantian,  to the heavenly mirror at the back of the head.  The next step was to draw  a line from the upper dantian to the Hui Yin, then up to the Bai Hui  point.  On the second day of our practice of this, when we were instructed  to use our inner vision to look down at the Hui Yin and describe it, I  distinctly saw a four-petaled figure appear on the black screen of my closed  eyes.  This figure did not last more than a couple of seconds, but it did  stay long enough to make an impression.  I also noticed that during both  the seated meditation and tree balancing, the third eye region of my forehead  was tingling strongly.  At times, I could see a spherical form when I  focused attention on this region.  

  
 I did not feel any inner sensations during the main part of our seated practice, the five organ massage. But, there was a sensation of mild heat and  tingling in my hands during these exercises, especially the right palm.   This was especially true during tree balancing.  After the first  exhalation and inhalation, I began to feel chi in the palms.  Once during  tree balancing, I also saw a dull fuscia colored circle on the screen of my  closed eyes.    

Two days after the retreat ended, while practicing the walking arts, I felt a  strong tingling sensation in the fingertips of both hands.  Also, during  the pore breathing component following tree balancing, I briefly saw the shape  of an inverted triangle. 

----Shawn from New York

A week following the retreat, while practicing organ massage, I felt a dull  pain in the left kidney as I massaged.  Also, following the sleeping  practice (and for the rest of the day), the tingling sensations in the third  eye region were very strong, almost to the point of being painful.  Along  with the tingling, the feeling developed that was like the numb feeling you can  imagine would occur if you were to apply an ice packet to the point between the  eyebrows for an extended period of time.    

I've done my best to recall particular sensations I felt and things I believe I  "saw", but I'm most excited about the prospect of building up my  body's energy.  I've had notoriously low levels of energy for roughly the  last 25 years and am looking forward to making progress in a system that helps  strengthen my organs and returns my energy to normal levels.   

Thank you for the articles, that came through perfectly.  Some of the sketches are very similar to the pattern I saw, but what I saw was very subtle, not bright.  Also, I only saw it when we were told to look down at the "hui yin (perineum)".  

----Geoff  from Athens