Tsunami_MAPUA

haha. PUA is relatively underground in my country. The only PUA stuff that is getting public is old-school M thru Neil Strauss, but not the jedi super powers. I hope this BS doesn't reach my country before I completely master male-female game.

While waiting for other replies, let me tell you that I first heard of the concept from Kumar. There's also some similar ideas from people who write about astral projection. Other than that, I'm not aware if there's any other contemporary teachers of Taoism who also touch on this subject. If there is, I want to know too and hear his perspective.

Paleo diet? Hasn't quit yet. Rice is staple plus I love coffee. (I'm on caffeine abstinence but took two cups today.) Yes, I'm cognizant of the dangers. If I read success stories here on how to minimize rice intake and sugar, I'll really appreciate it.

You don't know Cicero? He's a Roman orator! He's also known as the person who formulated the so-called Method of Loci in mnemonics. With that said, it's not necessary that you be miserable in old age.

emphasis mine.. Exactly! From where I'm coming from, I'm on and off the Phenomenal Memory (pmemory) program and will be restarting this week. Aside from the drills, there are ancillary exercises you have to do to develop the skills needed for effective memorization. http://study.pmemory.co m/student-area/addexercises.php 1. One is like trataka Meditation. The aim is to improve your concentration. 2. One is like Quantum Entrainment. The aim is to quiet your mind so that when you do the lessons, your monkey mind will be quiet. 3. A set of drills to improve visualization, since pmemory is entirely built on visualization and encoding information into images. So these drills are meant to cultivate what Carlos Castaneda (as cited in Lesson 8 of pmemory) calls "The Great Silence." With that said, I find it hard to digest OP's suggestion that the higher your IQ is, the more is your level of intelligence a hindrance to enlightenment. At the very least, pursuing enlightenment - either in Taoist or Buddhist terms - may in fact help you become smarter with the added benefit of being stripped of your ego, the source of your suffering. Now, let me add some thoughts on being smarter. I got this idea from a person in another forum who claims to be a neuroscientist. He said that IQ tests only measure your ability to do well on such tests. It's limited and can't really measure other metrics of being smart such as problem-solving in the real world, such as using old ideas to solve new problems where the old ideas weren't even developed to be used in such new contexts; or coming out with new and better ideas to solve existing problems. It all boils down to neuroplasticity - the ability of your brain to form new connections. You cultivate this by being willing to learn new things and unlearn old habits. In short, letting go! For example, one suggestion by another neuroscientist is to learn at least one foreign language every ten years. Therefore, if being smart is about learning and unlearning, of adding new things while letting go of old stuff, how can that be a detriment to being one with the Tao? Isn't it by definition being smart to let go of negative emotions? to learn Taoist breathing techniques to improve your health? to learn Chi Kung and internal martial arts? etc. etc. ?

Huh? So you're saying that as we travel the Way, our IQ will diminish? or for that matter, does meditating make you dumber? Yeah right!

This is the shit! Now, it'll be better if RSD fanboys in RSDN would stop mentally masturbating on meditation, and go here in TTB to properly learn meditation, as well as traditions and lineages.

I only heard about this book, but the author is libertarian and the book is about how to practice a sense of freedom in an unfree world. For those who in the know, there are similarities between Ayn Rand as well as libertarians. I'll create this analogy: although Taoism and Buddhism are Eastern Religions [philosophy if you will], there's major differences - at least that's my impression. I believe that's also the extent that Ayn Rand is different from libertarianism, especially the anarcho-capitalist Rothbardian kind. to give you an example: Ayn Rand actually advocated right-wing offensive intervention of states just like the American invasion of Iraq, and she doesn't care of collateral damage, blaming the oppressive regimes for deaths of innocent civilians. In contrast, no self-respecting libertarian will follow this policy, never was, and never will be. Nonetheless, I find some value in many of Ayn Rand's ideas, but don't take all of hem seriously. Otherwise, you won't be here in this forum, for she'll call you a mystic and incapable of rational thought. Jusy my $0.02

Good luck trying to do the impossible! Perhaps, your model of doing that is the Very Short Introduction series!

not surprising. a lot of people just want to post the requisite number of posts, then move on to the general discussion forums

I too am interested in training in Wing Chun sooner or later, so I'll watch this documentary later today. But right now, I'm more fascinated with the Internal Martial Arts. Have you looked at the free pdfs Bruce Frantzis is giving away? He has a bunch of freebies on Tai Chi, and perhaps on Bagua. IIRC, he also has a giveaway on the Hsing-I chapter on his book The Power of Internal Martial Arts.

I couldn't help but think you watched some Blueprint Decoded. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh8tinbBxpQ On topic, as far as some Eckhart Tolle things I read, we're born perfect, but once we developed ego, we lost touch of that egoless state. No different from the Christian tradition of losing the sinless state. But reading Bruce Frantzis, he talked about "birth trauma." I'm not sure about that, but that's also something to consider.

@Sloppy Zhang I take it to mean that I have properly learned and used the techniques in the books - both these two volumes and Bruce's other books which I'll acquire soon - in such a way that I have outgrown them. So from there, either I find a great book on the more advanced topics that can teach me, or perhaps meet a genuine master who could skyrocket my practice. I also have in mind the so-called rule of 10,000 hours of deep practice as found in books like Mastery by George Leonard, Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, and Mastery by Robert Greene. I don't have that book yet, but perhaps that should be my marker for mastery with respect to this practice. Like I said in my post above, I'm new to Taoist meditation and BK Frantzis. (I've been exposed to other meditation methods, but they're so ad hoc and not systematic. e.g. Just sit, close your eyes, and observe your breath. Just sit, close your eyes and watch your thoughts, and ironically by observing thoughts as they come and go, you'll reach a point where your mind is blank. Trataka: Just focus on an object. [exercise to improve concentration] That's it. I found that the path presented by Bruce is like an adventure. Anyway, I digress. What I've been doing thus far is read these two books. I tried a bit of Lesson 1 on Taoist Breathing. I'm trying to finish reading Vol II to get the big picture. So far so good. After I finish reading The Great Stillness, I'll go all out and practice the lessons in Relaxing Into Your Being. Again, thank you for your reply and well as everyone else's. @Friend I don't mind if it takes 15 years or perhaps longer. For the 25 years of my life, I felt I have suffered unnecessarily, but I suffered nonetheless. This led me to not fulfill a lot of my potential, suffered from clinical depression and at one point took antipsychotics. Perhaps, had I not been aware of some techniques on releasing emotions prior to discovering Bruce, I'd still be suffering as intensely as before. And maybe, just maybe, if I don't take this spiritual path, I would've killed myself many years before I reach 40.

Hello, I'm new to all this Taoist thingy and internal martial arts. I'm also fascinated by Kumar, and I can see myself doing Taoist Water Meditation as a spiritual journey to finally exorcise my inner demons and get rid of unnecessary suffering altogether. So far, I'm reading his Taoist water meditation books. I'm in chapter 5 of The Great Stillness. (I'm reading to get an overview and roadmap of what I can effect to do and experience in my upcoming years or perhaps decades of practice.) He said that the advanced method of volume 2 will only help clear the blockages up to the chi body. He mentioned in the foot note (p.131) that the dissolving techniques for the emotional body and those above it is beyond the scope of his book. I wonder which direction should I go after I mastered the techniques of the two volumes. What are those practices? Thanks for any reply.

There's some Western spiritual writing that's channelling Easter philosophy concepts. The gist is: there's a difference between the Self and ego. The Self is real and unchanging; the ego, false. I don't really give a damn about these issues at the moment, may be someday. Experienced and hardcore Taoists should answer this. The point of meditation, according to BK Frantzis, is to eliminate wants (since our suffering stems from such wants) and this includes wanting to get benefits from meditation. Also, Eckhart Tolle says it's about enjoying the present moment whatever you do. If you're experiencing pleasure, be in the moment and experience pleasure fully. If in pain, welcome the pain and do not suffer. Also, Taoism is about BALANCE. There's a branch of Taoism (is it left Taoism as per Kumar?) where people pursue pleasure and worldly glory, but they have awareness and Taoist concepts in place. I'm not sure I helped, but welcome aboard.

welcome, Jade

I love Coursera, but sometimes you can't stand the boring voice of some professors. GRRR

That's strange though. Are you by chance doing some work on astral projection and out of body experience? I checked some stuff about it, and meditation is one major component to achieve it.

Welcome aboard, Nomad

welcome aboard!

Greetings! I'm Tsunami_MAPUA. Here's how I got here. I was looking for info on TAI CHI and how to train for its martial arts application and for some strange reason, I found myself in Bruce Frantzis' website. There I discovered that there are other internal martial arts other than TAI CHI. So every now and then, I looked for information on Kumar. I got into a general martial arts forum which I won't mention, then I found myself here. He seems to be an amazing man. I got his book Relaxing Into Your Being, and I made a commitment to walk his path of Taoist Water Meditation. So it's appropriate I use the Tsunami handle. BTW, I originally came up with Tsunami because Tsunami was my favorite character in WMAC Masters - a very funny guy. Unfortunately, unlike a lot of people here, I sucked in my early martial arts training, in Tae Kwondo. I was unable to memorize my kattas that time, and it's been 10 years since I last set foot on a training center. While I'm curious now on learning the internal martial arts for health and meditation, I'm at the moment not sure on what external martial arts to start and train anew. I'm thinking of Wing Chun, but since I need to be conditioned first, perhaps I may need to focus first on learning some Qi Gong and at the very least the Yang Tai Chi short form.

Hello. As I understand it, Qi Gong is not of Christian origin. However, it is not required to renounce Christianity and convert to the Taoist religion in order to reap the benefits of Qi Gong.