Aetherous

There's a third camp that doesn't experience entities.

Cool background. What is the Christian form of energy transmission?

Well, who said it'd be easy? What I suggested involves directly facing the addiction...probably the hardest thing in the world to do.

Looks very familiar.

Special qigong exercise: When you feel the urge to smoke, notice how it feels in your body. That feeling is the energy of addiction. Transmute the energy by dan tien breathing. Or you can also transmute it by simply focusing on it.

I realized how much I love life no matter what, while laying in my own vomit on the grass in my buddy's backyard.

There is only the present. Experiencing the past happens in the present. Perception and understanding is slow...but it's possible to experience things in the present moment. And it's not hard to do...in fact everyone does it. If you didn't, you'd have no past to reflect upon.

Welcome to the forum. I have a lot of respect for your experience, and choices.

Agreed...you are very welcome here.

I'm not a master debator. So don't get your hopes up that what I have to say will be any good. I don't even have studies to back up my claims. I will just say it really basic here, because the drama is just too intense for what I have to offer... It's well known that meat contains certain nutrients which you have a really hard time getting from a purely vegetarian diet. B12 is the main one, if I remember correctly. I think vegans take brewer's yeast for that...but what an unnatural thing to do! Of course you can supplement, but supplementation isn't the best option. Our bodies aren't so simple, that if you take a certain vitamin pill, you will absorb all of it. Nutrient interactions are very complex, and I really don't understand much of it...but it can be summed up as: if you eat more natural foods, you will be able to absorb nutrients better. Anyway, the fact that with a natural no-meat diet, we end up deficient, kind of goes to show that we are required to eat meat. Of course if someone is opposed to this, then that's their choice and they can just supplement or eat specialized things... I think what you do is best, Deepbluesea, by eating meat sparingly.

They talk about an exercise where you determine which of 2 body segments seems more like where "you" are located. For instance, cutting the body in half at the hips. Then when they locate the sense of self, which in the guy's case, was in the middle of the head...they ask whether he is aware of it. Because he's aware of it, it's not the formless aspect of self, which is aware. ... I liked how well put together the video was.

It's a confrontational statement... I will try to make a topic about it, and will probably put it in my subforum in the next few days. If I don't, and you're still interested, please remind me in a PM. It will take a bit of time and effort to put together.

I think it's a good question to raise. With practices for longevity, you should see an increase in the health and lifespan on the practitioners. If that's not the case, then those practices are for something other than healing and longevity. Of course it's true that quality is more important than quantity, and that some people just happen to die younger perhaps due to genetics, but these things are totally beside the point. I think with many spiritual practitioners, you will see weakened health, due to the practices they take up. Fasting, or being vegetarian is obviously not healthy. Sitting still for long periods isn't. Developing a strong will, so that they don't listen to their bodies enough, can lead to overdoing certain things. Not being able to get deep sleep at night. And probably neurological problems due to using incorrect techniques, such as focusing on different parts of the body or forceful breathing practices. That's not even mentioning the fact that with all spiritual techniques, you are bringing negative unconscious memories to the surface, to be dealt with. If you can't deal with it, you store it in the body, and it becomes an illness. I think all of this is very important for spiritual practitioners to consider.

Wow, yeah, topflight has some really good ideas.

Breathing with the heels refers to embryonic breathing. My view is that it's not something you should try to do, unless you're already able to do it...in that case you just allow it.

vsaluki, Great post. Seriously. ... The suggestion to help educate people on preventative medicine is good...but the government already does a ton of that. Kids are taught it in schools. There are tons of posters that get put up in schools, clinics, etc. It's simply not effective because the public doesn't care. Plus, I think there's actually a bit too much info, which makes things confusing. But everyone knows to eat more fruits and veggies, and to be active...like I said, it's just that no one cares enough. I mean, even I don't follow those two simple instructions enough. ... Something slightly more effective than educating, that could be done by any one of us, would be opening a healthy and cheap "fast" food restaurant. Use whole foods (for instance make healthy stews), and serve not such huge portions like every other restaurant, but enough to be satisfied. Have it be cheap, like 3 or 4 bucks for a meal. I think the key to helping people is to make the healthier choices be super convenient. If I go to McDonalds for instance, I spend over 5 bucks on a meal. And it's not very nutritious at all. I'd rather choose some place that I knew had healthy and good tasting food, which was cheaper, and just as quick to pick up. Who would choose otherwise? I think this idea is the biggest key towards helping communities be healthier...but there's not much profit in it, so it'd be hard.

Michael Jackson stole his signature looks from them.

All ninjas are welcome here.

This is in New Zealand... http://www.shuichuan.com

Practicing is necessary because we aren't using the energy skillfully.

Sorry, I just didn't find it funny. It's my problem. Baaahh.

Okay.

Don't click it. It's some joke website that plays a song and doesn't let you navigate away until you click through it.

Our bodies are already full of energy, the key is using it correctly and efficiently. There are quite a few practices that get the energy to the dan tien...belly breathing, stillness meditation, standing, putting your palms over the belly, etc... I think that's the most important part. Adding more electrical energy isn't necessary at all, and in fact, it isn't even the kind of energy you want to work with. It would be useless to use. Good question, though.