Birch

This is what worked for me.: - Quit doing the action (smoking) - Allow yourself to desire it (feeling) The latter fades over time and with acceptance (or through transmuting it - I guess if you already do qigong you're set;-)) I figure that what many people want to do when they say they want to quit smoking is actually to quit the desire to do so. Heh, funny they want rid of this desire and not some others...I'll have to consider that. Anyway I reckon that what happens next is you have to deal with what that desire ACTUALLY is. And it may be hiding lots of things, like other desires, stuff like anger underneath. But, because one spent so long misinterpreting the desire(s) as the desire to smoke - and then "fulfilling" the "one" desire by smoking, when you quit it can feel as if the sky fell upon your head. There's certainly a golden opportunity in there for some people who are in a position to cultivate. From a KAP perspective it would be a lung/heart issue so if you quit, maybe be prepared to open your heart?

I suspect binaurals are just as compelling as spirals, singing bowls and ok sex;-) (we can put that in a different thread) I suspect a very effective path (towards self-realization) might be one of suffering Except that I know that the word translation isn't the original term so maybe our -ist friends can properly translate;-)

So is Sean definitively retiring himself from TTB's? Or maybe it has no significance. I guess it could be a burden to have this forum thing to deal with. I sometimes wondered if he was able to make enough money off the ads to make it worthwhile doing. I sometimes wondered just how much he might be making;-) Thanks again to him for doing it!

"Anyway yeah my alignment will change through the stance.. sadly.. lol." I don't know what there is to be sad about it;-) I'm getting into just noticing the changes. Was a time (I was told) I couldn't tell my ass from my elbow... Now I'm getting so I can tell you which bone/joint/articulation is where in relation to all the rest. Of course that stuff stops you (me) from thinking about anything else Maybe when I get better at it I will be able to do all that stuff at the same time;-)

Hey! That's EXACTLY what I was about to say;-) Oh Markern, if you plug at the energy work in the same way that you push yourself elsewhere with the results that you've gotten then maybe your risk is that you'd be adding juice to the very thing that is burning you out! I'd cite something about seasons from Ecclesiastes but can't quite remember it. The gist is that there's a time for everything.

I think it depends on the extent to which you (may be) avoiding the inner world. I'll stamp a hefty generalization on this when I say that it's perhaps more of a "guy thing" to do but that's also social conditioning. Plus my tendency is overly inner-world so thar ya have it;-) "How does this resolve the stream of negativity I have to endure from him?" - You don't have to endure it. See? All better;-) "How do I work on that by working on myself?" - He can be as negative as he wants and it doesn't have anything to do with you. Although his idea of you is pretty sick;-) You take care of your attitude. I have no idea if this will help him. It might, he might feel more confidence around you, he might realize he can't go around stamping like a child. Maybe something else entirely. Maybe the Yin-Yang experts here can translate the energies. "I don't think everyone around me is there to help me better myself." - yeah, this is tough. It's more to do with accepting things the way they are, including yourself;-) But if no-one is here to help anyone become more, I don't see why we'd bother with consciousness in the first place;-) Just put my fur and tail back on;-)

How about the following experiment? All I'll do is randomly rewrite everything with a few reversals here and there. It is fiction and the whole idea is to bend what you wrote. It's a sort of a twisted version of Byron Katie's "The work" and she does it extremely well. If you want to do it properly, she has some free downloadable stuff. ------------------------------------------------------Here goes------------------------ "I am one to ask for advice when it comes to dealing with myself. I tend to see things their way and act accordingly based on what they feel, and for the most part the results have always been bad, or at least to my unsatisfaction. But we are, right now, in the middle of a dilemma with a friend whom I have not known for over nearly 20 years. This is the story. My friend, let's call him "Bob", is the sharpest tool in the shed. My level of insight is not very strong so because of this I have been drawn to those who have what I perceive to be as intelligence and insight. Enter HIM. This is essentially how we became friends - I wanted someone like him in my life, I naturally wanted to help me out. Midway between the 20 years of knowing me, we had a falling out. My anger coupled with my lack of mental capacity, led us to many fruitless arguments and eventually led him to distance himself from me which, in hindsight, I think affected me very much. Fast-forward to the present. I have found a new friend to replace him, a man much like myself. I have met my new friend, we get along VERY well and have become good friends while he is still a mutual friend. After having discussed the me situation with the New Friend, we both concluded that I am probably a homosexual and have feelings for both of them. I also concluded that my anger is a defense mechanism for the fear of my own sexual thoughts. New Friend confided in me that there have been instances when I seemed to hint that I was, but quickly covered my tracks. I now work for me. I am my boss, but I am angrier than ever. I am full of hate, greed and delusion. Frankly, I think I live in a fantasy world while everyone around me sorta of knows while I don't. The capacity for my hatefulness is incredibly potent and obvious. I hear my cries for help in vibrations of my voice whenever I scream So here is the dilemma... How do I help myself deal with this without 1) making myself think what i'm doing is some kind of sexual advance and 2) losing my job? I want to help myself, and so does everyone else who is fortunate enough to be around me. In my circles, this is becoming a big problem that is building up and a resolution, eventually, must be found otherwise the only other option is a constructive one. Maybe I should just wait and see what happens... Anyways, interesting thoughts and experiences would be much appreciated. Thanks. smile.gif ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - So hopefully you found my reworking of your story pretty inaccurate! My point is that you mostly always (ever?) only have to deal with yourself in any situation. The other people are just there to help you do that - even if they are assholes;-)

oh. ok, that was disappointing

Vaj Dude! The third "door" was "mine" ;-) So we share many things;-) What do you mean when you say "Not drugs and gangs. That just revealed..." ? I'm curious.

I don't know. What about all those other "doors" that folks keep on about. So far, apart from the "meditation door" we have: - the being struck by lightening door - the growing up a bastard gang child who does drugs door - the vaguely dissatisfied (or downright depressed with the state of things) door You know who you are;-)

I now cannot post in any threads that SereneBlue is posting in;-)

"It changes when your in the stance." This is awesome. So what do you do then?

Yup, possibly some delayed something. Friends, we have to start (unless you're already doing so in which case I am not addressing you because you rock;-)) "using" this stuff for bigger goals than our small selves. I will confess I don't know "where to start". But it ought not to be wasted. Presently working on the "what". Ideas welcome.

Heh, the knee issue is just one of the things that brought me to TTB;-) So I've just got a "proper" yoga teacher (amongst other things) who goes via the seemingly anal but absolutely fascinating Iyengar approach to alignments. How long do you spend getting into to stance? Do you just pop in there and then sail off into whatever is next or do you spend some time checking all the parts so you actually are aligned before anything else? The things I've been learning about most recently are (amongst others) how to properly weight on which bits of feet, tuck tailbone and how to turn tops of thighs and outer groin to support overall alignment. The knees come with.

Ok Santi. I can tell you right now, I'm falling asleep already;-) So I will tune in as best I can while asleep. Sending all kinds of good things to everyone.

"We constantly work out, constantly have sex, work too much, sleep too little and entertain our senses in excess." Shit you're having much more fun than me!

"Thank you! To connect to my higher self? To relax my mind... To improve my mind... to improve my health..." Ok! "Higher Self" - no idea what that is. Assuming "something better than me". Meditate on what that would be. "To relax my mind" - do you mean make it less tense? Or make it not bother your/itself? Meditate on either of those, they're cool. "To improve my mind" - what's wrong with it? I think you can learn critical thinking but until you meditate it doesn't come quite so easily. Meditate on that. "To improve my health" - stop doing things that harm your health, even if they are lots of fun;-) And get some exercise and eat right. I would say that would go faster and further towards improving health. But meditation will help you to do it;-) The way to do meditation on those subjects or anything else would be as GIH has suggested. Very nicely done. Other systems out there too. Lots of books, great people. Some nutcases. Watch out for those;-) I personally need (yes I do;-)) the sense of grounding that I get from doing tried and true practices. Following where others have been able to blaze a trail is a pretty good idea IMO. Besides, it's not like the result will be that much different anyway and I think that each path has something to offer everyone. The only other thing that comes to mind is the notion that "meditation" is one technique practiced all and every time. If I've come to understand anything about meditation it's that it's a lot of different techniques that you can call upon based on where you're at.

I try to notice what things come after each other all day. I give myself time and space just to breathe. I pay attention only to how I feel, not what I think. I let myself go through horrible emotions. I shock myself into the realization that there is only ever right here, right now. I let my mind wander. I imagine the world with us. I imagine the world without us. I feel things in my heart and my head and my gut. I stretch out in the sun like a cat. I jump around (jump around, get up get up and get down;-)) Lots of ways. What's your goal?

Awesome! My Skype version won't work with it either so it will have to be a tune in without the screen;-)

More like I'm doing things on purpose, includes being here. Definite solidity. The opposite is floating - light headed, buffeted by everything. Very anxious.

I'm wondering why she would say you could go ahead and sleep with others. It doesn't sound very much like a woman...unless it's to give herself permission to do it. Besides, it's nice to go away and have some real fun and passion knowing that you have someone safe to come back to afterwards. No consequences. None. I don't play with the multiple partner people so maybe I'm out of touch though. Either way, how much does it matter what you read on an online forum? You feel the way you feel. Work with that.

Hi OMC, Could you elaborate on that?

Sometimes I don't know my ass from my elbow I think it depends upon the way you approach learning things. So if for example I was learning what we tend to call "western" medicine, I would go to school and learn those things. If I want to learn TCM I would have to approach it through that set of learnings. I think anatomy would actually be different depending on which one you choose. I don't see how you can learn practice without doing it though. Learning changes our relationships to things (and us in the process), so it could be worth being picky about what we learn and how we go about doing it. A fun example is the whole "sperm penetrates egg" theater we learned in biology. How do you know that big fat egg doesn't just yuck up the sperm? I've read a few of those theaters too, but only when the discussion is oriented to unfaithful wives...Either way, what does it change? Maybe quite a lot of things. My attempts at scientific experimentation as far as KAP goes are pretty dire. I never control the conditions and I have no hypothesis whatsoever. I'm going the participant observer route;-) Since I'm presently learning to feel things, including my organs, joints and fluids (I am right this minute captivated by that traditional image of a plushy red blood cell;-)), I'm not sure what learning where bits of them are, what they're called or look like would bring - maybe help for visualization techniques? And would that be cheating in my current exercise? I know this makes me a useless candidate for a medical exam in either tradition. When I did 5E meditation I looked them all up - I had no idea where my spleen was! It, however, knows exactly where I am and won't let me forget it;-)

Hey Serene, Yeah I often have to guess at what I'm feeling. Sometimes there are layers of things. Getting better at it. As for danger, I'd keep your own counsel on what you consider dangerous or not, as well as asking the person who is teaching you. Ultimately, you know yourself, well, that's my take;-)