Aetherous

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Everything posted by Aetherous

  1. What to wear on my feet while cultivating?

    Maybe. Let us know!
  2. What to wear on my feet while cultivating?

    Only maybe...and not really "bad"...just something to be aware of, in case you get bad symptoms at some point. John Chang isn't one of my teachers. I've seen pictures of his old student, Jim...his legs look in pretty bad shape to me. Really weak. This is a guy who sat on the bare ground for years during practice... Synthetic clothing is noticeably not good, for me. I wear all cotton stuff. For my personal practice, shoes don't matter in terms of "synthetic" or not. More insulation is good when practicing...for me. Like I said, skate shoes = the best experience standing, for me. Pay attention to your results. Personal experience is the only thing that ever really convinces anyone...it's not my wish to convince a single person here that anything is bad.
  3. ... There's no need to argue anymore ...

    http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1357513 This study shows that acupuncture is better for pain control (50% effective) than random needling (43%), and random needling (probably through gate control theory) is better than placebo (30%). Of course, this doesn't come close to 100%, like drugs...
  4. ... There's no need to argue anymore ...

    Big difference between alternative (meaning you don't use modern medicine) and complementary (meaning TCM or whatever is used on the side, with modern medicine being primary). My view is that modern medicine is the bomb. The process of publishing research is nearly 100% reliable, and it's the standard to do evidence based practice. Of course it's imperfect, and maybe other forms of medicine can help prevent illness in a better way. (on the other hand, maybe they can't...if they do studies on it and find no correlation)
  5. Right...well I don't have the time for it, so...
  6. What to wear on my feet while cultivating?

    How is that funny at all?
  7. What to wear on my feet while cultivating?

    Energy isn't created, it's merely changed from one form to another. From the material body to freely circulating qi...so the body is temporarily strained. Grounding causes the excess voltage (qi) to leave the body immediately...which you could have used for qigong purposes, like opening channels and filling the dantien for instance. So without as much recirculation and re-storing...with your energy simply leaving the body...the body ends up in a depleted state. At least in theory, according to this really basic and probably inaccurate line of thinking... But in my experience, it's not just theory. I feel drained after barefoot qigong or even taiji. It also happens to be something a teacher of mine said...to have insulation during qi practice. So if anyone notices weird symptoms from qigong while barefoot or wearing cotton sole shoes, they should reconsider whether it's actually good for them. Earthing is good when you're not practicing.
  8. A Seeker, That's a lot to look into, and is pretty vague. Is there a good book or documentary that you recommend, which ties it all together? I really don't have the time to start a huge research project here. I've covered some of those topics in a couple of history courses, by the way...and wasn't shaken to my foundation. joeblast, Not to sound offensive in saying this, but I don't see a use in responding to that. My opinion remains what it is, as does yours.
  9. What to wear on my feet while cultivating?

    ...but that's a good thing.
  10. Erasing Debt: Rolling Jubilee

    I don't know anything about this subject...do you have an answer?
  11. What to wear on my feet while cultivating?

    Yeah probably...unless they feel too uneven, or your feet get too cold (depending on where you live this time of year).
  12. What to wear on my feet while cultivating?

    I have preferred skate shoes for standing. My experience is that if I do qi practice barefoot, I sometimes end up drained and cold afterward. If I wear shoes, I feel perfectly fine...so I personally insist on shoes. When not doing qi practice...being barefoot doesn't seem to have the same draining effect, but it's still cooling.
  13. Erasing Debt: Rolling Jubilee

    Some criticism here.
  14. Smile

    Science is sofa king preposterous.
  15. I'm going to 'Chat' room here

    I only wear red on Týr's day.
  16. I agree, I'm making an assumption. And to assume makes an ass out of u and me (mostly me)...or whatever. But I think my assumption has a lot of truth, and not just for a small percentage of who I'm talking about. I'm not saying everyone who wanted Romney to win this time around is racist. Or that you/joeblast/whoever else is racist...I don't think you guys are. Anyway...
  17. Definitely. And that's too bad. However, it's shifting the blame to say this. Right now, we're discussing white Americans who now are wanting to secede from the US, simply because one guy was voted into office. As if that ever truly made a difference in our political system.
  18. Thanks for the personal insult. You could have given examples of what you were talking about instead.
  19. A Seeker...like what? Regarding secession right now (as well as in the Civil War). Of course it's racist, for the most part. In the Civil War, every state that wanted to secede was a slave state. Today, a President gets re-elected into office, and all of a sudden, within days, it's unacceptable to live in the country? Some use the economy to justify their feelings at the moment, as if Romney would've solved every problem...but they don't realize that the problems of the last 4 years were the inevitable result of the previous 8. With the stimulus, some say that Obama actually saved America from a second Great Depression. They don't realize that to "liberals", Romney didn't seem to have a real plan, and what he spoke of wasn't even sensible (PBS, cutting education, not raising revenue)....in addition to all of the nonsense which revealed how out of the loop he was. We need more naval ships? Raising the Pentagon base budget by shifting war funds?? Obama was giving "gifts" to people and that is the only reason he was reelected? Canceling the credit cards of everyone on his team immediately, so after election night they couldn't even get a taxi ride home? 47%? All the rhetoric in the press and from the Republican party and sympathizers is misleading, and it's leading the United States toward a split! Who was recently talking about how the two parties should work together? Repubs and Romney/Ryan. Remember? Why can't that happen anymore? Just because Obama is in office? Right. Anyway...secession IS partly how America was founded. I do think the states have a right to secede. The question is...how much of the state wants to? If this really happens (I doubt it), the states will probably be required to vote on it. Do you know what percentage of Texas signed the current petition for secession? A little over 4.2%... weak sauce...and the governor isn't actually on board.
  20. Is this Mo Pai Level 1 ?

    Aaaaannnd I'm going to have to disagree with you two.
  21. This Brazil topic was brought up earlier, and I just stumbled upon something about it at Fact Check...
  22. Self Worth Of A Young Man

    Yup, definitely. Be bold.
  23. Info on kunlun book(s)?

    It's what I believe is true from 5 years of practicing. Not as long as others, who may disagree...whatever. It's a point of view that people can consider and the warning that it's "unqualified" is clearly there. Since I believe it's true and potentially helpful, I speak it. That's why, bro. Please, ignore me if you have trouble with this. edit: I didn't say gold flower was "the same" as red phoenix...of course they differ in how you do them. edit again: To keep this thread on track, this will be my last post in here. Just trying to help people with the book be confident in practicing on their own.