silent thunder

I'm curious if many folks only use head pillows? After years of fussing and fine tuning, I now use six, (used to be eight) in a specific pattern. My wife loves to goad me on my plethora of pillows but after decades of rock climbing, kung fu, working in construction and hiking/bicycling across much of North America and a fair amount of Canada... at age 50, I sleep soundly and wake daily without an alarm to no pain, so I swear by my setup. So here's my over the top silent thunder Six Pillow Form. Two for the head. One firm and slim, one loose and down. The slim foam pillow is very firm, almost no give and has two bumps, one higher than the other with a valley between them. When sleeping on my back, the higher bump perfectly fills the neck gap and cradles the back mirror, keeping the neck open and breathing passages at maximum suck and blow... (no snoring, or very minimal for short periods according to Mrs. thunder). The down pillow goes on top of the foamie, as it's so loose, it fills gaps and gives way to pressure I find it particularly helpful to support the head in line with my spine when sleeping on my side. Two long thin pillows in a T position, one between the thighs/knees and another for the ankles/feet. This keeps legs in parallel line as in neutral standing/wuji posture and prevents the hips from cocking at an angle when sleeping on the side, which causes tension in the hips/lowerback. When I sleep on my back, these two raise my calves and feet up slightly above the chest, easing workload on the heart and inducing the zero gravity position that lightly stretches the lower back out blissfully. Most beloved is the one extra large hug pillow that I fold in half and hug to my chest with my topside arm while sleeping on my side. She keeps my chest wide open by supporting the arm I drape over her. I'm a thick cut viking guy with a broad chest and shoulders crafted from decades of force and work. Without a hug pillow to support the upside arm, I wake frequently from pressure and reduced breath flow. The others are all optional but this one has become mandatory if seeking to sleep on my side. The sixth pillow is not always used but sits next to my head, it cradles my downside arm when i want it stretched out and don't have my hand under my head. I find having that arm rest straight out on the bed, can induce tension in the elbow which transmits to the neck and will cause me to wake sometimes. When sleeping on my back, the hug pillow and side pillow go to either side of the head, supporting the arms in freefall/zero gravity pose. Interesting side note... in recent years, i only sleep on my back during daylight hours for naps, and on my side at night.

now I'm playing anagram. order tactly... tact orderly... I love anagrams, almost as much as puns

I usually keep it very quiet for a time after being down. Illness is the body re minding me it's overdue for quiet and recharge for a time. Bone broth (or vegan) and quiet mindfulness. Walking through the neighborhood, but in bits at first. Baby steps revisiting practice as vitality returns. Stillness and breath awareness are foundationally potent. Though listening to audio lectures, or reading is helpful I find when mind is stirring. Best wishes on speedy recovery.

First thing to flash in my mind. Perhaps it's an anagram...

Circe by Madeline Miller. It is a retelling of the story of the Witch/Goddess Circe, the one whom Odysseus spent years with on her island during his journey home after the Trojan War. Got if for my gal and she's shared a few passages. Strikingly Poetic and Insightful... I'm stoked to get my turn.

Master Zhou explained it to me this way. Hold tongue to roof of mouth on inhale, energy rises up Du. On exhale, move tongue to touch lower teeth. Energy flows down Ren to Lower Dan Tien. More specifically he said: Moving tongue to the lower teeth closes the gap in the circuit. For our MCO on exhale we use the following points of the Ren Channel, starting at Bai Hui (thousand lotus point top of skull), energy flows to Mi Zhong (between eyebrows), then San Jen (dimple at juncture between lower lip and chin) with tongue to lower teeth, Tan Zhong (center of chest), coming to rest in Lower Dan Tien. There is a gap in the circuit between Mi Zhong and San Jen that is completed when the tongue touches the lower teeth and assists energy flow down Ren channel through San Jen, Tan Zhong to finish in Lower Dan Tien. Here's a picture that shows the gap: (Terms here are different from my school but the points correspond.)

Dreamed or imagined, forcing peace is not peace filled. It's wrent to pieces.

My retreat with Master Wang was as idquest described, at a hotel here in Los Angeles. The effects were paradigm shifting. Assumption shattering. All sitting work and sleep work was done in hotel rooms. We did go for a walk collectively each morning and worked with local trees each evening. But all else happened in a room in the hotel. Personally, most (over 90%) of my sitting and moving cultivation for the last ten years takes place on the second floor of our home (aprox 3 meters above ground). When turning within, I find the whole of reality unfolds in response... As Within, So Without. Old fundamentalist notions have dissolved in experience. What my butt or feet touch is not a concern lately... only the quiet still calm deep breath.

No screaming... no desire to vent. That's the point. Those days have passed and along with them, is any desire to force others to stop such behavior. Let them explore that... I'm looking for a sound proof door to close, so to speak... so my time here is not spent in sifting through things I've left behind in my 35 years of tilling the soil. I participate here to share what has value with friends I've made and to foster connections to folks of high skill and open hearts, that I'd otherwise never have a chance to meet face to face. I've no inertia for convincing others when I disagree, or make claims of truth. No desire to tell folks their wrong, or prove I'm right. I seek to share openly and with love, what is valuable with those of high skill, or simple means and open hearts. No need to even cease the bog conversations, or suspend anyone... let them have their place to vent... lord knows I engaged in that sort of thing for decades. I'm just hoping this place with a small addition, could be a much less violent experience. So I inquire about the add again, in hopes that a simple option could fascillitate a less assaulting experience.

I've inquired before, at length and rather persistently for some months, several years ago, when the right wing barrage began. Here's one more shot at it... Is it not possible to block specific thread topics from appearing in one's feed? Seems such a simple feature and so useful. Particularly in the face of toxic threads and intentionally flame-baiting topics. I've tried the custom activity stream process, of which I turned to and created half a dozen variants of, during the 'blitz-krieg of right wing sharing' of recent years, which was not very useful as it either renders an entire category mute, or allows all aspects of it in one's feed. With the incessant spam=like nature of certain topics and their toxic nature, it is cause to avoid the site all-together in the more intense periods. So that's it. Is it possible to ignore specific threads?

After handing the vendor a twenty for the dog, he inquired... "where's my change?" "Change must come from within, grasshopper." the Vendor replied.

Absolutely achievable. I started late in martial arts and at first, my ankles and hips were so tight and high strung with tension that it was a real challenge. This stretches shared on this site are quite valuable in my experience to opening up the Kua and lower body. I fell into a trap for a time though in my early years (decades ago). As well intentioned as my teachers were, they almost all adhered to the 'no pain, no gain' school of effort and strain equals progress. This I found through experience to be the slower path to what I was seeking (even though at that time, I didn't know what I wanted clearly). Strain and force inevitably led me to injury, which required ceasing training to heal and thus slowing me down. Dynamic, soft stretching through the breath is the name of my game now. Stretching to find the tension, then breathing in and through the tension while backing off slowly and re=investigating the tension again. Always with the breath and never into the pain territories. And I find i now stretch all throughout my day, as I wake, in bed rotating the extremities, arising sideways not sit-up style. My wife chides me as every time I rise from a chair, I stretch like a cat before walking about. Walking across a room, I'll randomly flop over and breath into my hips and lower back, before slowly restacking the spine and continuing on to the task I was headed for. And always the breath, leading the soft exploration of the extent of that moment's current ability to move. Happy stretching mate.

Mental models were convincing for a time while experiencing awareness in a certain perspective, but no mental construct seems able to hold together with any feasability lately (last six years or so). Doubt has become a constant, (and relievingly welcome) companion to all mental activity as the process unfolds of itself in recent years. Mom believed and taught me that the universe is a Pot, made by God who is The Potter. He used magic to imbue the Pots with Life. This was feasible yet wholly unsatisfying, inherently skewed to me, even as a young child, but for a time, I dutifully tried to accept it. Eventually, by middle school, in an effort to put to rest my misgivings and to find answers to the questions none of the elders in my church were willing or able to answer. I read the Bible for myself... and that was the end of my ability to pretend that the model presented by that type of mind, reflected truth. Dad saw the world as the 'Dumb Machine'. Inherently meaningless dumb particles streaking, floating, crashing and squeezing at immense pressure, eventually, through random statistical improbabilities of staggering proportions, resulting in life. This pot never held water for me, due to certain experiences of a deeply intangible and spiritual nature. Some friends suggested a blend, that God had made the Machine of our Universe, imbued it with certain laws, then left it utterly alone to its own devices to putter along on its own inertia toward some grand (or meek) finale. Lately Doubt is my model. I don't know, my mind in its localized awareness state, can't know... and that's just fine. A most constant and deeply welcome mental companion (and interstingly to me, an unsought and unmanufactured companion). I no longer have any ability to prop up certainty models of the universe, in fact, without seeking or straining, they fall away of themselves with simple observation and my own raw being. When it comes to mentally ascerting the nature of all reality, certainty is untenable and rather inherently repulsive and whenever it begins to solidify, doubt infuses it with fluidity and it melts warmly, (like an inner smile though, not a bitter pill). Visions of life, thoughts, smells, items I touch, trees, insects, mountains, people, animals... they have form to my senses, colors and textures... yet all are revealed as vaporous, passing intangibles in their essential nature, no matter how precious, or repulsive their form, smell and sound may seem. Awareness is the only thing that abides beyond doubt... for now. Awareness is... the rest... well, it takes care of itself. Fog rises in morning, dissipates in mid morning and returns pre dawn. Awareness abides. Maya is a compelling model, the innocent arising and play of senses and mental constructs. It's a compelling play. But inherently vaporous, insubstantial and without the awareness that seemingly fuels it... is...?

So much present in all of those books... but how to determine what is Best? Best for whom? At what point in their process? To what end? Having the books and having spent time with the man who wrote them, your question seems unanswerable. Try all the soups. See what you taste. Is it for another to tell you what your best is, may be, or could unfold as? Who is the qualified judge in your unfolding? Who can experience what it is to swim in the river... by reading it in a book? The word water, may convey much knowledge, but will never slake thirst.

Finding it not possible to accept the gifts offered... They inevitably remain with their givers.

Intuition is like Nature... ceaselessly flowing, unfolding. About my being, through my being, through my awareness. am i hearing? am i listening? Intuition arises for me, without straining. It arises impromptu, but local 'i' awareness hears it effectively when a certain quiet of beingness abides. Intuition, like awakening arises of itself. When we break fart, we do not proclaim "at 5 o'clock, I will break fart." It happens of itself... let it. Intuition, like Nature, is always speaking... unfolding. Allow yourself to hear... not with ears, but with the whole of your beingness. With whole awareness... unfold into hearing all that transpires about and through your being. Sensations, emotions, thoughts, intentions, proclivities, revulsions... all speaking all the time. Find a spot outside and quiet all but that which arises without effort and then open to what arises without storyteller or assumptive projections. Simply be. Allow self to hear spherically, with whole beingness, full raw presence, devoid of storyteller, judge and jury. Beingness is complete and intrinsic with all of manifest. All beingness connected, shares the anchor of manifestation equally. Being is never separate and thus in connection, one may 'hear' through thoughts, feelings, sensations Awareness abides without restriction. Intuition, like Nature ceaselessly unfolds in presence. Always singing its presence. Allow Awareness to abide in the calm unflinching center of beingness and Intuition's singing will be heard. Muddiest Waters. Left undisturbed by process... rest in clarity.

Two genres pretty much guaranteed to instigate and instant dance party in my living room: 1) Can't Stand Still (typified by big band, and electro swing) of which Parov Stelar is reigning MVP with my gal and son. and 2) Liquid Spine Music (groove-adelic, psy-funk) of which Thievery Corp, Beats Antique and Transglobal Underground exemplify the unignorable effect of turning my spine into a gyrating spiral of groove bliss. Needless to say... We're tearing it up this fine Sunday Afternoon!

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck~!

Wow... the synchronicities are uncanny the last few days. What you quoted here was shared with me, almost verbatum in an extended conversation yesterday with a long term friend. What is so poignant about it is that, the friend who shared it, has always been a staunch materialist with no inklings of spirituality of any kind. Then I log on and read your words echoing it... road markers of connection... everywhere. Thanks for sharing Manitou.

wow... timing. *deep bow* that really rang the bell thank you!

Chatting was nice on occasion, but after trying Slack for a while, found I didn't care for it. When we lost the simple site specific chat feature and found Slack was the only option, I shrugged and let go... "C'est La Vie". Out of curiosity, (and evidently withering memory recall) the old simple chatroom feature is not available for this edition of the forum software?

From Love and Exuberance, to Misunderstanding, to Charged Emotional Reactions, to Dialogue, to Understanding, to Hugs. I think Marbles would be grinning widely and with approval at the progression and process. I'm grateful to you all in a way words are too small to express. LOVE!

That's wonderful! Congratulations!

Haven't heard of that one. I'll check it out. Thanks for sharing and nice to see your name and words my friend!

I experience life from the center of my awareness. Life is experienced through my awareness of it. I live in the same world as all of you, yet we do not experience life the same. We are all part of this fluid process, yet we have our unique perspective and experience of it. I live in the same world as earthworms, yet we do not experience the same world, in the same manner. This is a wonderous benefit, not a detraction to me. I am no longer diminished when others share how differently they experience life. I'm usually grateful. So long as no violence is perpetrated. To me, awareness is akin to a massive gem, with as many facets as there are individual experiences of it. Each facet representing each awareness. Indra's Net in a Some facets are nigh on identical to my own and kinship is instant and effortless... while others are anti-podal, diametrically opposed... yet they are no less 'real' than my own. Should someone find Christ represented in a Tree, or a poem by Rumi, or some aspect of the Taoist Canon, is up to them to explore this reality through their awareness. I'm confused when folks can't allow others to describe their experience of life as their awareness filters it. I appreciate everyone in this thread for spending some of their precious time here. The older I manage to become, the more precious I realize my connections are... for each day, I have (seemingly) less energy to spend, so each bit that is offered becomes more treasured. Agreement is something I no longer have inertia for. If I agree with an opinion, or take on life, great. If I do not... well, reality and awareness are gratefully vast enough to encompass all, with room to spare. Thanks for sharing your passions everyone. I'll pass on the more virulent, and violent aspects though and so, will take my leave for now.