Aetherous

USA is pretty damn awesome to live in. I hope it's not destroyed anytime soon.

My opinions... Real masters have all the time in the world for people who are interested. There is no sacrifice, because this is their passion and life. It's actually a privilege for them to find someone who shares their passion. Their purpose is not just to pass on a lineage, but primarily to help others and bring benefit to the world. They don't require money, because part of being a real master involves having a real job (or other respectable source of income) and not relying on spiritual seekers to survive. Having a real job takes time...but there are MANY hours in a day. Lets say a teacher works 8 hours every day...they sleep 8 hours maybe...that leaves 8 more for fitting in a teaching time which could only take 2 hours. Piece of cake! This is their passion and purpose, so they make time, and it isn't a problem! If they are famous enough, and travel, of course they should charge money because they NEED it to keep up at that pace. But at that point, what will the quality of their teaching be? All in all...stick to your gut instincts on this. You think it's natural for a master to be easily found or show up, teach you something amazing, whereby you become amazing, for free. A precious gift and a blessing. I agree with you...this is how it's supposed to be. Students should demand the best from their teachers, and should never accept weak rationalizations for why they're being charged a lot of money in this bad economy to learn subpar energy work, meditations or principles. Spiritual teachers should have their shit together and be as close to impeccable as possible...while remaining human. If you haven't found this, then you haven't found someone who should be called a "master". Just my pov.

No prob. It takes probably less than 20 minutes to do the basic level of the exercises. There are 5 of them, and you cycle through 3 sets total. The basic level lasts two weeks, or as long as you want. At the two higher levels, there are more exercises and sets, and it takes longer (45 minutes for the final 2 weeks).

Sweet, I think you're right, zanshin! I agree, nutrition and hydration are a big deal too.

Green Tiger, Thanks for your interest in the topic, and also for the Pete Egoscue reference. It looks worth checking out!

Who cares? We are living about 50 years later, in 2011, and trying to make the world (and especially our country) a better and better place! A place where cops don't beat and pepper spray people for no reason (yes I read your opinions on that video and think they're totally ridiculous). A place where people don't accept cops doing that (or shooting and killing, or doing 'virginity tests' ). Saying that people are sheltered or "poor babies" is contributing less than nothing towards making this world a better place! The more people that voice a similar opinion to yours = the worse this place gets.

Yes...someone who puts others down. Nothing personal meant...I hold no hard feelings against you.

Vortex, What??? Sports med etc is not a muscle-based perspective whatsoever. They work on the whole body. K. That's what strengthening/activating the muscles does. When it's activated correctly, then it resets to normal and can release and relax. Actually, sports medicine tends to take an approach where you correct the muscle first, and then the skeletal misalignment is naturally corrected (muscle energy technique). There is no reason for bones to be out of place by themselves. It can happen through chronic misuse, or from an acute injury...but the theory (which I prefer at least) is that it's almost always a muscular problem (unless it's a bone fracture or complete ligament tear or something). Even in the spine, which is the domain of chiropractors...if you can diagnose the issue, you can set the person up in the right position, have them contract with the right pressure, in the right direction...then the muscles of the back line up and the vertebrae are naturally corrected. It's the muscles that are holding the bones out of alignment and the muscles which need healing. When someone cracks your back, they are not fixing the muscles. They're mobilizing the joint....this has some benefit, but not as much as muscle energy, which will have a more lasting effect. I've seen this done many times, and have also done it and reassessed people. It's pretty awesome! I recommend this dvd if you're interested in doing muscle energy to others (if you're uncertified...beware of lawsuits). It's a pretty safe therapy but a steep learning curve! Pelvis is the most important aspect of the technique and the first thing most people address once the person has good ROM in all of the large muscles. Well, actually there's a sports medicine technique called positional release or strain-counterstrain which does something very similar to this...whereas I don't think chiropractic is as effective (it's just joint mobilization or back cracking). Chiropractic is like fixing the axis of the seesaw...then waiting to see if the other side will balance out (it won't ). I guess positional release would be like readjusting the seesaw on the axis, so that perhaps the 50 lb weight would be close to the axis for a while, so there was balance...then it would release and the weight would fall off. The strengthening rehab approach is more complex because it doesn't involve simply adding strength to one side of the body to balance the strength of the other (most of the time)...there are relationships between specific muscles, which each have unique functions. Anyway, an example of sports medicine not simply using strengthening: someone came into clinic today with back pain and kind of an extreme shoulders forward posture. So we strengthened the rhomboids, traps and extensors. But if that's all we did, and let the person continue having poor posture, it would have a diminished effect. So I added in some Gokhale method ideas (stacking the spine on the sits bones, raising-retracting-and dropping the shoulders effortlessly) for them to do all throughout the day. With the self-positional-reeducation, it will have a better effect. No back cracking necessary! The 3rd Foundation exercise video in the original post is my favorite for hip flexor, although it's not technically ideal because you're actively using that leg to balance. But it works really well and is what I use. If you have a partner to help... Have them passively extend your thigh/hip until you feel a good stretch and hold it for 30 seconds. 3x for each leg. ...I don't know what the ball is doing in that picture... There is a popular one where you're kneeling on one leg, but I don't like it at all. (Joeblast posted it). Pigeon pose (which he also posted) is awesome for it, but you need to work up to doing pigeon. Use support like rolled up towels beneath you until you're flexible and strong enough for it. For backward bending the entire spine shoulders and neck...why not do the ones in the videos above? The second video is ideal. Too much spinal flexibility without functional strength is dangerous.

Very glad it was reported like that!

It bothers me when people come in trying to seem like they are above the discussion. Or that this kind of information is disgusting, degrading or unevolved, etc. PUA material helps many guys get over their loneliness and able to have relationships and be more social. It's also interesting to study what works socially and what doesn't. It is very positive. There is nothing wrong with guys picking up girls, or vice versa. PUA information is very beneficial, and many times in our current society, it is information that is NECESSARY for turning confused boys (of any age) into confident men. Even though I don't use the information, I did study it and am better for doing so. It's awesome stuff. Probably the reason why everyone is here in this topic is because it's somewhat interesting! No need to put others down, or act better than anyone else. If you feel the need, please remember how I will feel about someone like you...then decide if you want to continue acting that way or not.

Just to add something...I once read in a Mongolian shamanism book that it represented the movement of the big dipper as the Earth rotates.

I think you're right, Cam!

Some quotes I like from the unrelated textbook, Rehabilitation Techniques by Prentice (4th edition)... I don't think it's against copyright to post such short quotes...if it is, someone let me know and I'll edit this post. If anything, I think sharing quotes from the book would maybe inspire someone to buy it.

Thanks for posting that, man! I wish the video continued longer so I could hear what he was going to say.

I have no idea how that fight would go (depends on the players too) but I'd love to see it.

Interesting ideas. There are essentially three types of pleasure: outer, inner, and a combination of the two. None of them are truly lasting. Outer pleasure is something like having a cup of tea, breathing the natural air and feeling the breeze, seeing something beautiful, having fun with friends, doing things you enjoy, having certain types of food, etc. None of these pleasures are lasting, because either the experience ends, or our awareness of it ends. For instance: we have to go to work and pay the bills. We have to deal with crappy things like politics and negative people, etc. There is nothing wrong with pursuing external pleasures. Our lives improve from it. If we know their place, and that they come and go, then we can just enjoy them for a period of time and let go. Inner pleasure is the bliss you feel from living a meditative life, easy energy work, simply being alive, being a good person, letting go, etc. It is biochemical, but it's not derived from fleeting experiences. This type of pleasure is more lasting. It has somewhat of a more permanent effect of drawing our awareness away from external sources of pleasure. It's like our nature becomes one where we're constantly savoring something that is completely unseen and unknowable. We just feel good. Our inner breath is experienced as joy, peace, love. There is nothing wrong with pursuing inner pleasure. Our lives improve from it. Life can and should distract us from it. Say for instance if you get a flat tire, or you are fired from your job. You're not going to be so blissful...in fact, you should be experiencing a wide array of emotions. So inner pleasure comes and goes, but changes you, so that your natural inclination is towards inner peace. The third type, inner+outer pleasure at the same time...this might be from having an orgasm. It's basically doing something external which stimulates the biochemistry of the body to have an inner pleasure experience. Forceful types of meditation are included here...exercise... There is nothing wrong with pursuing inner+outer pleasure. Our lives improve from it. The pleasure derived is not lasting, and we require the external things to feel it. Everyone knows you can't have eternal orgasms, endlessly sit on a meditation cushion, or feel a permanent runner's high, etc. So enjoy it while it lasts, and then let it go. ... So nothing lasts. But inner pleasure, a shift in the biochemsistry of the body towards 'inner peace', could be said to have a more permanent effect...even if life can constantly distracts us from the hidden nectar. I think as a person progresses, inner bliss merges with their empty nature. Then the emptiness+bliss merges with life experience. So life is not a distraction anymore...it is something we connect to. The nature of the world merges with the nature of the self. Or in other words...if you just live your life, enjoy everything pleasurable while it lasts, let everything go, let pleasures go, let bad experiences go, keep moving forward...then you've got it.

I like how Cody is always hurting his feet, yet he keeps on insisting on going barefoot. Also seeing one of the episodes last night spoke to me. They were in a desert, and finally came upon water - a river. Cody started crying, and said something like "when you see water like this, all of the other bullshit just falls away". So true. There are so many things we take for granted in our modern lives. When facing mother nature directly, the entire game changes, and makes us realize what's really important. _/\_

Also the difference between that one part of the Founder exercise, and utkatasana...in the Founder, the weight is all on the heels and the knees are right above the ankles. Totally changes things, so that the quads aren't being contracted and the hamstrings are being lengthened + activated more. All of the weight and tension of the upper body should be in the hip musculature and not in the low back.

Vortex, Actually this approach is based on a lot of research. Sports medicine, physical therapy, etc...is based on the approach of strengthening/activating muscles in spasm, which kind of sets their muscle spindles back to normal (that's the theory), and allows them to release. Or also prevent spam, and promote good biomechanics through stregthening. This is primarily what professionals use to rehabilitate patients in pain. Stretching helps a little, but it's also been shown to not be as effective. A muscle spasm is actually thought to be (this is off the top of my head so forgive me if I'm wrong) where some filaments are kept in a stretched position and not returned to normal, when the muscle isn't being activated. So if you stretch it up to that point, all you're doing is sliding the other functioning filaments back and forth, while the problematic ones are kept in the stretched and dysfunctional position. If you stretch all of the filaments past the dysfunctional barrier, then you risk damaging that area which was problematic by overstretching it, and causing a tear. So...this is a Western health care mindset, which is based on many years of awesome peer reviewed research. This is how I've been trained to deal with patients after 4+ years of studying this stuff in college...strengthen. Stretching is primarily used to increase or maintain pain free range of motion...that's all. It's not just the fitness world...like I just said, it's the health care field, as well. The fitness world is simply influenced by the scientific research. People with back pain have been shown to have weak core muscles (there are 29 different core muscles altogether). Especially the transversus abdominus, internal oblique, multifidus and deep erector spinae have been found to be weak or not activated enough in people with chronic pain. It's been shown that if you rehab those muscles, people experience less pain. And think of it this way...it's not just strengthening muscles...it's making them activate so they function properly. Our bodies are designed to function...the muscles are designed to activate in order to function. Stretching has some great benefits, but by itself, it's not addressing the real issue and is actually ineffective. The third Foundation exercise video opens the kua (hip flexors). The video you posted merely stretches the adductors, it does not actually open the kua. By the way, there is a Foundation exercise in the book, which activates the adductors in a lengthened position, which will pull the anterior pelvis down and take pressure off of the lumbar spine. It's kinda brilliant. Strengthening the core, and the low back, does this. It's proven through a lot of peer reviewed research. Also the hamstrings, which are usually weaker than the quads, are strengthened in Foundation...as well as lengthened. The rhomboids which are genereally weak compared to the pecs, are strengthened. The low back which is usually weak compared to the abdominals is strengthened. The glutes are strengthened, so that the hip flexors which are chronically flexed and in spasm in most people, can open. Force couple relationships are benefited all around. So this program, above and beyond anything else out there, returns us to default tensionless balance.

Maybe it does. The key thing that this program is focusing on is strengthening the muscles of the "posterior chain" in a functional and integrated way. The calves, hamstrings, glutes, low back and spine, rhomboids and other muscles... Especially the erector spinae, multifidus and latissimus dorsi in the low back are trained to brace, and allow the large muscles of the hip to support full range of motion and functional strength. So if a part of silk reeling involves strengthening the posterior chain, training the hip musculature to support movement through full ROM, and the spinal musculature to support itself being upright during this, then it will have a similar effect.

When it comes to the "martial"...besides avoiding conflicts altogether... "Western" boxing; if you've got a decent trainer. Training in boxing increases your odds of winning a street fight greatly. You will have the strength, speed, power, conditioning, mobility, agility and hand eye coordination that the other guy (lets just be honest) will not have. If the fight is taken to the ground, MMA type stuff or BJJ most likely isn't going to be too effective unless it's on grass. And a trained boxer can still throw a lot of devastating punches while on the ground, being wrestled, without having trained for that. If a person kicks you, they've just given away half of their ability to balance and avoid your blows. So boxing is my favorite martial art. But if you want an art just for focus, flexibilty, endurance and overall health...maybe baguazhang. Or what would be even better is pilates or yoga, since you don't care too much about the martial aspect. A lot of people like taiji, but to me it seems not challenging enough for cardiorespiratory...and it doesn't really develop flexibility.

What a depressing thing, to come to this place, and deal with such garbage. I'm not trying to mod anyone, or command or instruct anyone to do anything. I never have. You are free to do whatever you wish, and reap the rewards or consequences. Simply pointing out: your actions have been ridiculous here. Yeah, Immortal can speak for himself, but this is a public discussion which you are interrupting with pointless bullshit, and I'm interjecting to tell you that in as kind of a way as I can. At a spiritual forum, I would think this would be accepted...or even appreciated (by those who are advanced)! Why are you not willing to work on yourself...and why are you willing to continue being dishonest with yourself and others, harassing someone else, being disrespectful to me, and derailing this thread? Think about it. This is not a command for you to stop. It's from one spiritual person to another, saying, "you've got some ugliness there, might want to fix it for your own benefit". Also saying from one forum member to another: knock it off, you're being annoying. So am I...such is the nature of dealing with people who harass and derail. Leaving this thread now, for the sake of keeping it on topic... And letting it go, for my own benefit.

You're interested in trying to out him as a Christian fundamentalist who is trying to convert people or something, so that everyone will agree that his posts should all be placed in one thread. Just knock off the silliness. If you're interested in him, try being friendly and less confrontational. If you want to have an off topic discussion, do it in PM please. As for your disrespect towards me, and lack of personal honesty in your own actions within our interaction...that's noted, and I am pointing it out to you as something to work on.

Fiveelementtao, I'm about to report you for harassing and trolling (by making a bunch of off topic posts). Your behavior here is confusing, and from my point of view, pointless. What's YOUR agenda here? It'd be nice if you dropped it. Whatever it is.

*in an eternal cloud of unknowing* This song has haunted me since the movie came out. Damn you Matt Damon!!!!