silent thunder

Wang Liping talked about three types of Taoists at our retreat. Mountain recluses. Full time and solitary (tiny social interaction). Temple Taoists. Full time dedicated to temple and partly social, no family obligations. Family Taoists. Part time, due to social and family obligations and dedications.

For Big Qi I want wide open channels and strong flow. I no longer view my subtle body as a bucket that stores Qi. There is always a flow, but when the eddies (reservoirs) are full, this is due to increased overall flow. Though there are pools within the subtle body, they seem more like eddies in rivers than buckets. Think of a river when the rains have come and swollen the banks, creating eddies and side reservoirs where the water is constantly flowing in and out, yet they are so full, they are swollen and plentiful, so long as the flow remains. Water sitting in a bucket, with no flow, is the definition of stagnation. What I used to see years back as full or empty buckets of Qi, I now experience as wide open, or constricted channels and meridians and reservoirs. When channels are open, flow is high and there is ample Qi to work with that is replenished as the work flows. Open up the channels, increase high flow, the banks of the river swell, the reservoirs are full but not stagnant. Big Qi! Zhou Ting-Jue. I still hear you saying 'Big Qi' and see your 80 year old unwrinkled face smiling. *Deep bow of gratitude wherever you be now, teacher and friend*

What a fantastic image! The goats in the street remind me of the wolves and wildlife roaming Chernobyl. Couple years back a team went in to test soil and see how things progress. They were quite surprised. Fungus samples in the soil were surprising. Wolves and other wildlife were found to be veritably flourishing in the post irradiated city, Wolves rate of mutation had doubled to .003 while the populations of all wildlife were vibrant in the absence of human presence and activities. Seems (on the surface), human presence is harsher for wildlife than radiation. who'da thunk it?

We're focusing on a high phyto-chemical content. Phyto-chemicals are akin to ammunition for the weapons of the immune system. Eating a high phyto-chemical diet will charge the immune system with potency. Some foods require cooking to release phyto-chemicals, some must not be cooked, or they're destroyed. Tomatoes are an example of a food where the phyto-chemicals are not released until gently cooked. They are not bad for you raw, but their potential is released with gentle cooking. Beets on the other hand, (particularly the staining property of the juice) is where the phyto-chemicals are... cooking beets breaks them down and again, doesn't make them bad for you, but destroys their benefits to the immune system and turns them into lumps of calories. Not sure about pickled beets. Raw Corn is another, very high in phytos, but nullified when cooked. I've come to really prefer raw corn. My favorite raw smoothie recipe: 16oz distilled water fuji apple w/seeds 1 small beet avocado w/pit (pit is loaded with phytos) to process the avocado pit, requires a 3hp blender handful goji berries raw corn, cut from the cobb 1/2 cucumber organic (must!) strawberries palm full of cordyceps several nodes of cilantro several nodes of mint 1/2 lime, scrape the green zest but leave the white pith (phytos in the pith) stalk or two of swiss charde blend on highest setting for two cycles of one minute

As taught to me by a nurse friend (now passed) who spent years in the East, in a monestary. He asked me to burn the piece of paper he wrote it down on, once I'd memorized it. In keeping with that tradition, I'll delete this in a few hours. <snip>

Hope I'm personally lensing on the repercussions of this, but it appears if anything, my lense was way too optimistic... I've been up on this stuff since the early 80's, but expected this level of actionability for my son's golden years, not mine.

I may have missed it, if it was mentioned in the other threads... what's the word on Kombucha? Any reason to avoid it, like honey due to cytokine production? My gut tells me it's no problem, but my gut always says that with Kombucha so another opinion is craved.

Going to have to watch very closely... what they try to pass and what has recently played out. Those sweeping powers Barr was seeking? Lack of provisions on the money handed to the wealthiest corporations? They can lay off only 10% of their staff now, but after six months, that restriction lifts. I fear the backbone of middle class' financial independence is crippled, perhaps beyond the ability to recover, on the mom and pop scale. After the wave of failed small businesses and the sale of said resources, the resulting commodities scoop by the wealthiest will use all that government cash to 'prop up the economy' and result in a massive influx of remaining resources to the top 1%... all while we're in our homes, frightened... Sure feels like the middle class has been irreversibly finished off... Greatest cash grab of financial coffers across the globe just took place and no one can protest, if it's even on their radar to be upset, which it seems, it's not, as we're all under curfew and house arrest social distancing laws and restrictions of gatherings of any kind.

...

wow... the literal visit by Sparrowhawk at the end... talk about synchronicity.

Interesting pattern to his fever. His fever starts about mid day, peaks just under 102 in the early evening then breaks on its own about 10pm. No treatments for fever any longer. My wife is a tough sell on this point, especially when the Dr's push fever reducers... but we've reached a compromise on it that I can function with. I got her to stop feeding him cow's milk years ago, so she's open to research and changing perspective. Just curious if anyone else has noticed this pattern to their fever? His energy is back up and was about 3 hours after coming home from DR and has remained so. He's sleeping well. Lungs still sound beautiful today. He's currently back to utterly normal daily self, aside from the persistent cough and light fever... and total freedom from 8th grade studies. Currently focused, present and vital, and on reprieve from all homeschooling by teachers; he's hooked up with his best friend who moved to Arizona last Sept and another buddy. They're coop gaming together online, with headsets, almost as if they were still in the living room together. Mom has the dry cough, but has been exposed for at least 11 days, so i'm relaxing a bit on her expression of symptoms given her body conditions. Still no symptoms for me, but there were some characteristic flashes, indicative that my body was responding to some thing. I haven't had a cold or flu since Connor was in preschool, 11 years ago.

Son took a quick down turn after seven days of dry cough and mild fever. Drs office was quite smooth and well run. They are seperately treating and bringing in only one patient at a time, no packing up their waiting rooms. They examined and tested him for three strains of flu. All negatives. She said, "I've seldom been disheartened to tell a parent their child does not have the flu. " So she sent us home, no prescription (that says a mountain full in and of itself) and then emphasized... "his lungs sound beautiful. Monitor his breathing and if there's any sudden change, go to this hospital for testing, but we won't test him in his current state, just assume he's got it." So we're quarantined now, though due to my and our reclusive nature, we naturally isolate when I'm not on a show. We've been sheltering in place since I left my show back in late January. Only interacting directly when we went out to shop. Otherwise we spend out times in our home and on walks/hikes. Dr was not concerned for Connor as his vitality and medical history is remarkable, she noted again on seeing him. But she was, as am I, very concerned for the implication to my wife, who's been battling immuno-deficiency most of her life. Crohn's like symptoms of an immune system prone to attacking itself... But we've done all we can, we're well stocked for a long spell indoors, we've got support of local friends who can bring what we need (not likely) to our door and drop it for us, just in case. I've liquidated enough reserves for us to live up to 18months without income and we've enough food in my MRE's and camping reserves for 60-80 days. As long as power is up, I can distill our water as per usual. So we've done all we can. Now the focus is on keeping spirits high. Eating well, resting often and relishing the intimacy we'll have for the next weeks/months. My guitar skills are improving noticably, Connor is writing daily and expanding his science studies on his own. My gal is in a state of extreme quiet and bliss, alongside accute tension and worry. And my lungs are processing energy from 3 am on each day in a way so profound, it's waking me up and catapulting shifting resonation through all aspects of being like a cosmic inner bell. We play the five organ circuit as a family, our cats are absolutely in heaven with us around all the time. In short, we're thriving in the midst of this...

This thread shines like a light house on a dim night. Like Pearls reflecting Moonlight.

This latest bail out, makes almost no provisions for small businesses. I'm just old enough to recall the heated conversations between my Folks and their friends when Ma Bell was broken up over anti-trust/monopoly laws. When was the last time, we broke up a monopoly in 'murica? Now they're celebrated and gifted massive tax grants. Who takes action when the pres brags 'i don't pay taxes'. Offshore tax havens allow corporations to reap profit, while paying nothing back into the system from which they derive all their profits (cruise lines just being one example). If this Stimulus Package Coffer Raid is as bad as it seemed upon first reading, this is the death rasp of the small business framework in 'murica. Once the small biz are fractured beyond repair... JP Morgan and company sweep through and buy up whatever they wish. Then we all purchase all our goods and all work at 'The Company Store' and we live in a completed Oligarchical Monopoly. It's time the corporate ride were halted and restructured. Any company being handed a payout should be restructured. After restructuring, no stock buy backs (ahem United Airlines @ +90% in recent years), no balloon benefits to executives for 10 years and all employees from custodial and security to management should share in profits of the company across the board. The folks doing the actual work of the companies are not compensated fairly, they are squeezed and abused in the extreme. The current system is parasitic. How short sighted to bleed dry the host upon which you are feeding? I stayed out of healthcare when I realized it was financially predatory, back in the late 80's. Now I realize it's nigh on the entire American economy, that is financially predatory. Strange times. Sad times.

social distancing o @ d... safe sex in covid times...

Drew? is that you with a new username again?

Trained and trained and trained... All mine ever got was hairy.

not clicking... I'm not clicking...

my hat looks nothing like that! more like this...

calling @manitou

i want to bowl! Used to bowl every Saturday with Dad. We crushed it!

Very well said. Count me a +1 to that.

Wang Liping stressed daily walking. He led a walk each morning, before our first sit of the day. 45 minutes, breath timed with steps. RAB. Zhou Ting-Jue, my other traditional chinese teacher stresses the benefits of walking as a foundation forming and transforming skill as well.

Amplification and stabilization of wei qi field; deep resonant grounding and heightening of senses... particularly lately, spherical awareness intensified and amplified. Equalizing of emotional response that persists in inertia long after the walk; heightened palpable gratitude and physical manifestations of bliss in the belly chest and head. Third Eye impulses magnified. Effortless Connectedness at the level of heart. Compassion and bliss. the list is nigh on endless. dampening of fear and paranoia, increased hope and optimism