Japhy Ryder

feahth: A Detroit, Michigan (USA) area rock radio station used to broadcast a different hour-long talk by Watts every Sunday morning, but that was nearly thirty years ago now. According to the list posted here (http://www.alanwatts.net/watts.htm#radio), a bunch of US radio stations broadcast the talks, but I don't know how accurate the list is. There are Watts audio files posted at http://www.alanwatts.com. Another good source of information (including transcripts of some of the talks) is here: http://deoxy.org/watts.htm#radio. Enjoy!

Mal: Looks good. When I was doing the Five Tibetan Rites, I started with five reps per Rite. I added one rep per Rite each week week until I reached 21. That was the progression recommended on the website where I found the instructions, and it worked perfectly. After all, the Rites are about learning to move energy and feel comfortable in one's own body, not about creating overload. At some point, you may wish to apply a similar principle to your Hindu pushups and squats. It's easy to reach a point of diminishing returns where you're expending more effort with less benefit. I enjoy doing slow-motion pushups, tensing the working muscles throughout the entire range of motion and really "thinking into" them. This way, I get a good workout with ten reps or less. This technique won't build great muscle endurance, but it works well for strength and development purposes.

Nope, I've never seen The Last Movie, but your mention of Hopper reminded me of Blue Velvet, one of my favorite films. Had it been released during the 70's, it would probably have fit your purposes perfectly. If Hopper's Frank Booth doesn't illustrate Girard's ideas about the relationship between violence and the sacred, then I don't know what does! What's the sound of one po-mo clapping, I wonder? One reason I didn't pursue a Ph.D. in literature is that I never felt comfortable putting critical schemas before the works themselves. Call me a throwback.

Peregrino: "A field more viable than English," he types hopefully? Naahhhh! My degrees are in English literature, but I've never taught it. Mostly I've taught composition, which I enjoy, but not as much as I enjoy teaching student success courses. Later today, I'm meeting with my university's associate provost to discuss my responsibilities and priorities as interim caretaker of the "retention" program I teach in. Your dissertation research sounds cool. Which directors are you focussing on?

Mal: I completely agree with you about the value and safety of neck bridging. For all the stories of people whose back problems were cured by it, there are also stories of people who injured their backs and/or necks due to it. I hope your friend is careful. I worked quite conscientiously on neck bridging over several years and gave it up, concluding that my long torso and short legs don't suit me to it. I've found that gymnastics bridging (with hands on the floor, holding the top position of a reverse pushup) provides similar full-body benefits without compromising the neck. For building neck strength, self-resistance and isometrics are much safer, I think. Your sifu's right on about the need for a daily energy practice to counterract the depleting effects of other practices. I realize now that in running 70 + miles per week, I was attempting to use running as qigong. I gave up running years ago, and I much prefer doing qigong.

You're very welcome, Wayfarer64. Kerouac's writing was a real touchstone for me as a teenager. Dharma Bums is still my favorite book of his, but I fondly remember reading long sections of Visions of Cody aloud, just getting drunk on the words. Qigong helps me remind myself that I can't fall off the mountain, however daunting it seems.

Raio, it looks like Yoda's recommended an excellent resource for you. I hope you'll post more in the future to let us know how you do with SeanD's teacher.

Hi, Peregrino. As a "full-time, part-time," totally non-tenure track college teacher, I've done the gypsy thing, too, but feel fortunate to have taught at my current institution exclusively for the last eight years. How about you? Are you in Spain as a post-doctoral fellow? My book's a guide for "underprepared" students on how to succeed in college. I've written about two-thirds of a first draft, so it will be "upcoming" for quite awhile. I sought an agent to represent me because I've done some writing in the past (co-authored a textbook, ghostwrote an exercise book) and want to earn more money from my work now and in the future. The wonderful agent who's representing me signed off on my book proposal before Christmas and has begun fishing for a publisher.

Rainbow: The best reason to attend college is to gain convenient access to the people, information, materials, and opportunities you need to achieve your goals. Your grades are essential only to the extent that they allow you that access. thelerner's advice to "work smarter, not harder" is excellent. Learning how you learn most efficiently and pleasurably is fundamental to that process, and everybody's different--most students don't learn the way their teachers do. Renee Mallon-Masters' book You Are Smarter Than You Think! has a series of self-assessments that will show you how YOU best receive, reorganize, and retain information. This book will help you get the most out of your "study" time, leaving you more time and energy for your most important learning: the learning you do on your own terms. One of my students last semester (I teach at a university) did that. He told me it changed his life. Don't be in a hurry to start college immediately after high school, either. Considering all the stress you're feeling right now, and your obvious desire to pursue learning in your own ways, you may want to take a year or so off after graduating high school. Do what you want to do during that time. Travel, work, read, write. Meditate and cultivate your energy. Do what you enjoy, and don't try to figure out your entire life. Try to spend time interracting with people who are living the life you want for yourself, even if they're "famous." Correspond with them--email makes it easy to initiate dialogues. Pursue opportunities to work with them, in whatever capacity. Take risks. Don't be afraid of failure--or of success (most "adults" are terrified of both) Don't wait for anybody's permission to start living the life you want. That way, you'll be equipped to consider attending college as a means to that end, not an end in itself. Enjoy the ride.

Tag, Raio. Welcome! I know exactly what you mean about looking for "the right teacher." It's frustrating to have a sense of what you want in a practice and a teacher, yet be unable to find it. My (completely subjective, far-from-expert) sense is that you're right that actively searching for a teacher is a much better strategy than "hoping" one will appear before you. But I think that what matters most is the quality of the activity. You may not yet have found a teacher to learn from, but are you doing what you can where you are? After all, qi is available to everyone, all the time. You might try practicing standing meditation--a wonderful practice that's easy to begin without a teacher. After awhile, your practice will help you see that qi itself is the teacher. And once that happens, you've created a context for meeting and working with a human teacher to help you deepen that sense. I hope this helps. You English is very good, by the way.

Greetings, Mal: Like you, I've worked with both the Five Tibetan Rites and Matt Furey's Combat Conditioning exercises. I found the former to be an good stand-alone cultivation on mornings that I didn't do a full-fledged workout and a fine warmup on mornings when I did work out. I liked spinning, too, but gave it up when I found it was redundant to my qigong--I wanted to try other stuff in the morning. You're very wise to "make haste slowly" with the Royal Court. Several years ago, when I switched over from weight lifting to bodyweight workouts, I increased my repetitions too quickly and developed joint issues. These days, when I do pushups or other calisthenics I do them slowly, contracting the working muscles through the entire range of motion. By limiting the number of repetitions I do to ten or fewer, my concentration is better and body and spirit are much more satisfied. As you've seen, making a god of increasing repetitions is a recipe for dissatisfaction. In fact, I'd like to get to the point that I don't count reps at all and simply work by "feel." How's your bridging coming along?