Aetherous

Most of the time I was able to...but other times, I think that cold or dry weather would cause the bamboo to not work properly. Or if your mouth isn't loose enough at the time and the technique isn't just right, it won't work at all. At times literally no sound came out despite all trying, even after I had the technique down. Cold weather can also severely crack the flute...there is probably great info out there on how to maintain these things, such as always keeping it indoors. I would personally keep the thing in a humidor, lol. Some shakuhachi have a buffalo inlay, which might help with consistently producing quality sound.

I got a really cheap shakuhachi flute a couple years back. It's a long exhale when playing, so it helps with heart rate variability...it's calming to the nervous system. Also, the open mouth design of the shakuhachi presses into REN24 in a very significant way. It's a challenging instrument to play! My next flute will be some sort of Native American style...much easier.

I didn't go low at all...just pointed something out (which you said yourself) that would help you in your practice, if you chose to take it in that way. If I'm being snide, and it says a lot about me to you, then that's unfortunate for how you're viewing me.

Could "Jedi" have anything to do with the Egyptian word, "djed"?

You need to let go of what you've learned and become more open, flowing hands.

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." - Jesus, Matthew 18:3 NIV

Taomeow, Yes, the condition and conditioning of girls is a horrible thing. Not that I know personally, but having known quite a few girls. We may be opposed to all forms of conditioning, but when I see traditional cultures (such as various tribes that still exist), the status of girls and women seem far better than what we have here. I miss the wisdom of the old ways.

To provide peace is the highest form of love.

A lot of mothers understand this well. My cousin's wife is a superb mother, as well, raising 3 boys.

What I said stands...I suggest you reread it with a clear mind. I will not discuss this with you any further, because you are taking the thread off topic.

You're speaking without understanding about other religions and people...and besides talking trash about the person who this thread is about, you're taking the thread way off topic with your personal views on religion. This thread is not about flowing hands.

I had an experience of meeting a soul mate...deep energetic connection and heart connection...true love at first sight for me. Interesting that I had this experience, which I didn't fully believe in before it happened. However, it totally didn't work out at all...turned out to be the second most epic fail of my life. I'm 99.9999% sure we'll never be together. So keep a balanced mindset if you meet someone and have an interesting connection to them. It doesn't necessarily mean that things will work out between you two and that you'll be together...great if that works out, like for silent thunder and Uroboros...but not a guarantee. From now on, if it were to ever happen again, I'd be incredibly cautious about having a relationship with that person.

Yup, people debate that. My view is that there's a huge difference between things like: playing war, having fights with friends once in a while, being rowdy...and for instance, school shootings. Real violence. It's more than a bit psychotic and unrealistic to try and put a stop to the former, to prevent the latter. This is how society has become, though...misguided and ineffective, as well as destructive to the natural state of the genders.

What cat posted is not misinformation.

Totally great interview so far.

Step Four - Qualities of the Pulse Here is where it becomes challenging to learn for most people (mostly due to unclear teachings IMO). I'm not quite at this stage of learning myself, but I have a couple of very good directions to point to... 1) First phase would be discerning the 8 qualities (fast/slow, deep/superficial, forceful/forceless, yin/yang). We've already basically done this. This "Eight Principle Diagnosis" is described in this book, in the final chapter....however, I haven't read it yet so I will have to hold off on doing an overview of it here for now. There is also this free resource, which can give a lot of insight into the different qualities of the pulse. The website's author, Al Stone, unfortunately passed away earlier this year. 2) Second phase...that free resource gives you an idea of the depth and precision in teaching the qualities, which are in this diagnosis book which he coauthored. The book covers the 29 qualities. It's very clear and understandable for the Western mind. So at this point, you're discerning the 12 organs/meridians...basic 8 qualities all around, as well as in each organ...and now you're discerning the 29 qualities both all around, and in each organ position. You can discern quite a bit. 3) This phase is where it gets even more complex. There are different levels of the pulse. Ayurveda has either 7 levels, or 9 levels (versus just the superficial and deep that we've been working with)...which can apparently reveal a lot. Chinese medicine has this verison, based on the weight of beans to determine the level and corresponding problematic area. There's also an easier version based on 3 levels...you can determine the activity/inactivity of the 8 extraordinary vessels from this. Probably much more which I haven't heard of yet, as well. Ayruveda also has a method where the pulse is felt on the outer corners of the fingers, as well as the center of the pad, to determine which dosha is affecting another one, in addition to much more. It's covered in this book. It's quite complex, so I put it at this 3rd phase of the 4th step...not something necessary to know immediately in my opinion, but will come naturally as the fingers gain experience. The author just lays it all out, instead of teaching it in a step by step learning process...so reading some of these books can be challenging and discouraging. Clarity in the basics is what comprises mastery, though. Also...there are other systems of pulse taking. There's a "Shen Hammer" method which is very complex. That's probably only good for this later phase of ability. There's "Pulsynergy" which people like, but I haven't learned yet. At this point, you can probably find a seminar or personal instruction. If I have more to add to these posts or thread, I will later on once I gain more experience.

Side note: There are other locations for the pulse. In the Basic Questions classic, they describe a method called "Nine Continents". You can use this to compare with your radial pulse findings for deficient organs. It's not something that's typically taught in Chinese medicine, but I think it's fun. The Ling Shu also has a method, where you compare the strength of the carotid and radial pulses, to know which channel has a pathogen (I won't go into that one here). I'll describe my understanding of the Nine Continents here,because it's good to compare findings to really be confident about what you're feeling in the radial pulse... Upper: 1) Ends of the eyebrows...this can either mean the pulse when you pinch the upper bridge of your nose, near the eyes...or the sides of the temples. I tend to think the former, because it's closer to being near the eyebrows. The strength of this point indicates the qi of the head. 2) In front of the ear. This tells you about the qi of the ear and eyes...or we could say the senses in general. 3) Facial artery, on the cheeks near the sides of the mouth. This gives you the qi of the mouth and teeth, as well as the strength of the earth element (stomach and spleen qi). Middle: 4) Radial artery...this tells you the strength of the lung qi. 5) Ulnar artery...this tells you the strength of the heart qi. 6) Radial artery of the index finger, described as being felt on the large intestine meridian...this tells you the strength of the chest qi/zong qi. If you do breathing practices and eat fairly well, this one should become stronger, because zong qi is from good nutrition (from the spleen stomach) and oxygen (from the lungs). Lower: 7) Dorsalis pedis pulse, on the liver meridian...strength of the liver qi. 8) Anterior tibial pulse, on the stomach meridian...strength of the stomach and spleen qi. 9) Posterior tibial pulse, on the kidney meridian...strength of the kidney qi. In my personal opinion, this position also denotes the strength of the qi in the legs, in comparison to the chest and head...but the stomach position might also do this. Later addition: it's very useful to use this to compare to the radial pulse. For instance, in my radial pulse the kidney is slightly poor but not so bad, but especially deficient in the 9 continents method. I think this method can give very clear results...you're literally feeling the pulse of that specific organ/channel itself, rather than a mirror of that organ/channel in the radial pulse (which is only on the Lung channel Hand Taiyin). So this can be super useful for finding excess/deficiency. Consider that it was a main method in the Neijing! At another time I will update this portion on the 9 continents system, because I did find some additional information recently. So there you have another method that also tells if one of the yin organs is deficient. I bolded the yin organs to make it clear. It's said in the classics that all of the positions should feel equally strong. It's interesting how a few of the positions are right near the yuan-source points for those organs. The Ling Shu also states that the yuan source points can be used for diagnosis...if there is abnormality on one of those (visual or palpable), you can be assured that it's the malfunctioning organ/meridian. It's possible that when comparing the left and right sides with this method...the left is yin or blood, and the right is yang or qi of the organ. I saw someone say this online, but I didn't see it mentioned in the Yellow Emperor's Classic for this method. (The usage of 9 locations, and 3 in each of the 3 areas, goes into Taoist cosmology. I'm sure there is far more to this system of pulse taking than what's explained here...and I'm not using the same terminology of "heaven, earth, man" that's used in the classics) It's also good to use other methods of diagnosis in addition to pulse taking...channel diagnosis and palpation, face, tongue, eye, shen, smelling, listening, etc. There are a lot of ways of gaining information. The classics as well as some practitioners stress the pulse as being the deciding factor, but others stress the importance of an all around diagnosis using the four pillars of diagnosis. Later addition: okay I really under-emphasized the other pillars of diagnosis here. They can make diagnosis incredibly clear, and they don't require the pretty incredible skill of pulse taking. There's a learning curve to those, too, because it's tons of information to sort through...learning Chinese Medicine is a monumental task, if you want to be accurate and good at it. ... About the radial and carotid comparison...that method is described well in the Ling Shu. It's a way of balancing yin and yang in the body, which of course is important. My only apprehension with it is that one has to accurately be able to feel whether the pulse is equal, twice as large, etc, up to five times as large as the other (the carotid could be twice as large as the radial pulse, or the radial pulse could be twice as large as the carotid pulse, etc). How can a person know if it's twice as large versus three times as large? It requires some skill...and it's not as reliably accurate and easy as comparing excess and deficiency. And radial pulse taking is not as reliably accurate and easy as the 9 continents for comparing excess and deficiency. The purpose of this writing is just to give the beginner enthusiast a direction to go, so that they can start finding out accurate things about themselves. I personally believe all spiritual cultivators should be at the level where they can know what's going on with their body, apart from intuition or how they feel.

Step Three - Differentiate between deficiency and excess for the 12 organs Here's where you're really beginning to diagnose based on the pulse. You might want to check this a few times throughout the day each day, to get a really clear picture of what's going on. Take notes. The best time to check the pulses, according to multiple sources, is either first thing when you wake up, or at midnight...but any time is good to get experience. Deficiency and excess is really the first thing you look for in diagnosis. The classic texts of Chinese medicine (the ling shu and basic questions or the yellow emperor's classic) are clear...tonify deficiency, and disperse the excess. From what I've learned, it's important to tonify deficiency of the yin organs first, so you want to be finding the weakest position at the deep level of both wrists. But feel everything in the 6 locations, at the 2 levels. It's also good to note anything that really stands out. Maybe one of the yang organs positions will be really excessive...who knows. Later addition: it doesn't necessarily have to be the deep level...get a feeling of the entire pulse from superficial to deep. Remember to use one finger at a time, rather than pressing with all 3 fingers at the same time...this helps give a better reading. It's normal for the kidney pulse to be deeper, especially in winter...so perhaps you will feel it as being thinner or weaker in the superficial positions than the other two positions...this can be normal. It's good for the lung pulse to be active at the superficial level...that means the lung is diffusing wei qi, which will help maintain health and fight off sickness. The front pulses, lung and heart, are normally more active at the superficial level than the kidney pulses are at the superficial level. This is all normal. If the kidney pulses aren't present at the deep level, this means the kidneys aren't functioning well...this is important to know, because the kidneys are literally the root of our life. They enable our bodies to create qi in the Chinese Medical understanding of "physiology". The most important thing is to ensure that the pulse has "root"...this means two things: 1) the pulse is present at the ring finger position, and 2) all three finger positions can be felt at their deep levels. If the pulse doesn't have root, then zhan zhuang practice could help remedy that. But it's best to see a Chinese Medicine practitioner.

Step Two - Feeling the 12 positions Now that the fingers are in a good place and you can feel the pulse under all 3, it's time to slowly ramp up the skill level. Take each phase of this step, one at a time...or skip phases, and then go back to previous phases to explore and learn more. I personally always went straight to phase 2 of step 2 from the very beginning. The learning process is set up in this way based on the amount of skill each step and phase takes, going from easy to most challenging... 1) You have 3 positions on the left wrist, and 3 on the right...for a total of 6 positions. Now you feel each one individually...you can use the single finger to press down and get a sense of how they feel. Compare the different feelings in each of the 6 locations to each other. With this, you can get a sense of the different elements... Left wrist elements (from proximal to distal): water, wood, fire Right: (not exactly an element, can be classified as water or fire), earth, metal That's based on the Chinese 5 elements. You can also discern the parts of the body that have the most energy. The index finger is for diaphragm and up, the middle finger is for the area between the navel and diaphragm, and the ring finger is for the navel and below. From this, you can tell if a person is ungrounded...their energy will be strongest at the index positions, and barely palpable at the ring positions. This also means their water elements (kidneys) are weakened. This can also tell you which part of the triple burner is weak...upper, middle, or lower. For an ungrounded person, their upper burner would be excessive and their lower burner would be weakened. Later addition: the triple burner pulses are pretty much only accurate if they're the same on both sides. For instance, as already said, if both index fingers felt the strongest and both ring fingers felt weakest. On the other hand, if the left side at the index finger position feels strongest, but the right side at the index finger position feels weak, then it's best not to think of it in terms of the triple burner and where the most qi is in the body. But guess what, if you feel that, you're becoming skilled at taking the pulse. In Ayurvedic terminology, you can discern the doshas from this. It's much more accurate than those personality or body type assessments, if you've ever taken a dosha test. For instance, I can test out as kapha-pitta dosha...but with pulse analysis, I'm currently vata-pitta dosha vikruti. Vikruti means what's out of balance...prakruti means your genetics. If the index finger is strongest at the superficial position (when you just barely press down and first feel the pulse), that person has vata dosha virkruti. They will want to adopt a diet that pacifies vata. Middle finger is pitta dosha, and ring finger is kapha dosha. So this can also be a very simple way of knowing which foods are good or bad for an individual. Later addition: to make this Ayurvedic part more clear: what's out-of-balance/vikurti in some styles of Ayurvedic pulse taking is found at the superficial level...the prakriti/your-constitution-or-nature is at the deep level, and the bridge between your nature and your imbalances is found in the middle between the superifical and deep. Anything above the middle level (at the middle level, all of the pulses tend to beat similarly against the 3 fingers), can be considered imbalances, with the very top layer of the superficial level being what's happening in your body mind spirit and life at the present moment. Something interesting to play around with is taking your pulse to determine when to eat and when not to eat. This requires multiple quick pulse takings throughout the day, like every hour or two. So, at the very top of the superficial pulse, when you barely touch it or press down, the kapha (ring) finger will be more active when digesting. So some minutes after eating, and for a few hours afterward. When digestion is over, the superficial pulse will normally return to the vata (index) finger as being the more active one...and that's a good time to eat again. To eat while digestion is already happening can create ama (toxins)...so this is a clear way we can tell when the body is ready for more food and when it isn't. 2) Now press down equally with all 3 fingers. Work on not using one finger more than another, and getting the exact positioning to be able to press with equal pressure. This will help you discern the differences between the elements in a better way. Later addition: I'm not sure this was good advice. When pressing with all 3 fingers at the same time, it can interfere with discerning the pulse qualities in each location. For instance, you could feel as if your kidney pulse is strong and healthy when using all 3 fingers, but if using one finger at a time, you could actually find the kidney to be deficient. Right now, I'm going to say that it's much better to press with a single finger at each position to get clear information. 3) Now there are 2 basic levels to work with in the beginning. Superficial and deep. Superficial is just when you start to feel the pulse when touching and pressing down. Deep is right before the circulation is cut off when pressing toward the bone. 12 organ positions: Left wrist (superficial/deep, distal to proximal): Small intestine/Heart Gall Bladder/Liver Bladder/Kidney Right: Large Intestine/Lung Stomach/Spleen Triple Burner/Pericardium Notice that all the deep positions are the yin organs. All of the superficial positions are the yang organs. Later addition: some teachers say that the yang organs can't really be accurately felt in the radial pulse. In the Neijing, when they are comparing the radial to the carotid pulse (which is an old technique and isn't covered in this thread), the yin organs are expressed in the radial pulse and the yang organs are expressed in the carotid pulse. Later on in the Nanjing, they said everything can be found at the radial. There are differing opinions in Chinese Medicine. It's safe to say that the correct positions are as follows: Left wrist: Heart Liver Kidney (yin) Right wrist: Lung Spleen Kidney (yang) Why now Kidney yang instead of Pericardium at the right proximal position? Kidney yang is basically the same as mingmen/ministerial fire. The pericardium is the upper expression of the mingmen fire...when excessive, it can be said that minister fire is flaring upward. The root of this fire is in the Kidney specifically...and the Pericardium meridian of Hand Jueyin treats the Heart organ, more so than the Heart meridian of Hand Shaoyin does. Plus, anatomically, the Pericardium is in the upper burner which correlates to the index finger, whereas the Kidney/mingmen is related to the lower burner which correlates to the ring finger. So, for what I think right now, it's more accurate to say that kidney yang is at this position. So in this phase of learning, you press down equally with all 3 fingers, first on the superficial level, then on the deep level. You will feel that some fingers are stronger than others, which leads into step 3.

Who has a thousand words for this one? I'm interested in its meaning.

Edit: whoops, silence is golden.

One thing that can help move forward is distracting your attention away from these intrusive thoughts when they're happening. Focus on your senses in the real world instead of the mind (this is a basic level of meditation, called "calm abiding with impure external support"). For instance, make yourself a cup of tea...sit in silence and just smell it, taste it. Or sit out in nature and just observe everything that's happening around you...the leaves rustling, the birds flying, etc. These are examples of ways to distract yourself from the mind, and I've gotten excellent results from this type of method. Another way that people do this is EFT. Or people go out and party hard, which is kind of unhealthy. Or they watch movies and get absorbed in the story, and for a while forget all about life's problems. Distraction is not repression. Repression is the natural response to painful memories and feelings, and the aversion you feel to reliving the past. Repression is not good, and only leads to stuffing these memories and feelings further down, only to resurface later on. Do not repress, or attempt to escape or cheat your way out of bad karma. Distraction on the other hand will release the stuck energy. But it takes a dedicated effort to spend time periods each day actively practicing it. When you're having bad dreams, just let it happen. Know that it has to happen...dreaming is the way that we integrate our experiences. Allow yourself to feel those things as you wake up, instead of trying to escape what you're naturally dreaming about and feeling. Accept it. As time goes by, the intrusive memories and feelings will happen less and less, and eventually will no longer happen. Trust me...I had a mild form of PTSD from the military, and it took like 6 years of bad dreams and random daydreaming about it, and today it's over 99% resolved. You eventually move on. It can also help to do breathing practice, since that's a way of releasing the mind. And cultivating positive virtue, which will create good karma to outweigh the bad. For instance, you could practice tonglen or else loving-kindness type meditation, or Taoist inner smile...and you can put it to real world action, by volunteering or donating. Creating good karma. Additionally, focus on the kind of life you want...thinking and planning more of the future will help you move forward from the past.

I don't think this modern Christian doctrine is in line with Jesus' teaching. There's a pretty clear verse on it, in Jesus' own words... “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ - Matthew 7:21-23 NIV And then in the Old Testament of all places, it says... "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." - Hosea 6:6 NIV Mercy in my view is a big key to the real Christian path. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." - Matthew 5:7 NIV "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matthew 6:14-15 NIV "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." - Matthew 7:1-2 NIV I don't actually know whether the crucifixion played a major role in wiping away the sins of the world, or if accepting Jesus into your heart erases your sins. I'm sure a heart opening and connection to Jesus can make it feel like it does...but at least personally, I choose to view the Christian path as being one of personal transformation and striving for the highest ideals. Being a good person/doing the will of God. It's important to read the Bible often in order to discern what's actually taught, versus what the modern church and believers preach...it's not so far off, but I think there are differences.