What if I feel practice is improving while people around me see problems?

First listen to the reminders from people around you, then take another look at your own condition. Feeling strong spiritual perceptions or believing that your practice is improving does not mean that everyone else fails to understand. If many relatives and friends see that you are increasingly unlike yourself in a concerning way, you still need to be careful. Sometimes the person directly involved cannot see the situation clearly.

In principle, practice should lead to improvement and greater happiness. If it becomes increasingly difficult and your fortune keeps worsening, something needs to be understood and adjusted. You cannot simply keep going without looking up. I once met a client who assumed meditation was a good thing, yet found life becoming increasingly difficult the more they meditated. I reminded the person to look again at whether there was a problem with the method of moving qi, the visualisation or the place where they meditated.

In our experience of practice, if a location’s energy field is confused, meditating there may fail to bring clarity and instead expose a person to negative energy. Understanding these circumstances requires knowledge and judgment. We cannot set aside every other change simply because the sensations we experience at that moment feel strong.

We also need to examine our own attitude. If we are especially greedy for supernatural abilities and think only about gaining particular powers, that may lead our practice in a negative direction. What we really need to learn is how to discern and follow the right path. Having the identity of a practitioner is no reason to stop listening to reminders.