Hello Folks,
Here in Taiwan we are starting to get excited about the Lunar New Year. We have nine days off this year, so everyone is hyped about that. How about you folks in Singapore, do you get nine days off?

I started the western new year by looking into a kind of interesting aspect of Daoism which is the relationship between sleeping and Daoist practice. I guess sleeping/lying down in Daoism can be used for a couple of different types of practices:
As a form of qi gong
As a form of mystical excursions (to visit the land of the Immortals)
As a general form of health exercise

These two pages are supposed to be from a Daoist training manual passed down from Chen Tuan (also known as Chen Hsi I). As the folks who can read Chinese can quickly see, the two pages have two practice poems. Each poem has four lines with seven words.

Does anyone know what the poem says? Or have any other information on "sleeping Dao"?
Take care,
Brian

Hi Brian,

This is from my master:

Quote:
道教的养气之道认为元气乃生真气之源，得元气则生，失元气则死。人的活力之源出自体内的真气，故强调保持和充实体内的元气，通过养气之道而达到祛病延年长生久视的效力。

行气亦称炼气，重点以人为中心，使我之气，适我之体，攻我之疾，通俗地说气体进入人体后的修炼，用于五脏六腑，四肢百骸，疏经通络，活血行气之功。

据了解，陈希夷服气法注重 每次仰卧于床，闭目，握固，鼻引气，口吐气，气息轻微，使自己的耳朵听不到呼吸的声音。气体入肺后则闭息，不吞咽，使足心出汗。胸部闷极了再引少气，微吐废气。平时不用吃粮食，也不须药物，仅需不时饮用一两杯好酒或净水以方便肠胃顺畅。

总的来说，气功种类多，练气功最好是向正统的气功大师学习，祝君阅读愉快。
Unquote:

Hope it can help you.
Regards

Hi Reborn,
I want to say a big "thanks" to both you and your master. The advice is very, very helpful and much appreciated. I printed it out and asked my wife (my Taiwanese wife, who reads Chinese!) to help me read it.

This really is a great site for information. You and the rest of the crew do an outstanding job.

take care and I look forward to talking with you again soon.

Brian