Aetherous

If you are making yourself all attached to being unattached to sense pleasures, then you're worse off. You are just creating even more divisions in your energy. Be natural. Because what we consciously manipulate in our character does not matter one bit, in regards to any type of cultivation...it only makes us delusional. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3:1

Isn't it illegal for cops to be looking up our personal info for other people? Get proof of that, and sue. As for the girl, who cares.

It draws you inward, and conserves your energy...instead of wasting it on external things. It's good. Many people (as well as animals) do a similar position with their wrists/limbs when they're sleeping.

I don't think any forum exists, where people actually know the true function of mudras.

I completely agree. Also, you're doomed to fail if you start out the 10 days with apprehension. You're most likely going to succeed if you start out with tons of plans to keep yourself occupied all day long. It can be really good sometimes, to be disciplined and overcome something...but it's bad if you find that you can't overcome it. It's not good to fail. If that's the case, you might as well not even try, and just relax and enjoy life. Because stressing so much about it is actually a bigger waste of jing, than if you were to have sex/masturbate and be carefree.

If the mat isn't very insulated you will mostly be losing body heat (your own energy).

Christianity that is taught most everywhere is a false religion...made up along the way. The very points that you bring up: Jesus is our savior, God is a big guy in the clouds taking notes on us, we are going to eternal hell if we don't accept Jesus is the savior, etc...if you actually study the scriptures, you come to find that all of that is fabrication. And of course, it just simply doesn't make much sense to anyone with half a brain. Sorry to those I offend, but it's truly what I believe. So to truly be a Christian, a follower of Christ, all of the fabrication must be rejected (on a personal level, don't go trying to save everyone from the false Christianity or something). It's hard to do this when so many other "Christians" ascribe to it, and you are expected to say the things they do...but just be yourself, be firm in your beliefs, let other people believe whatever they think is right, and don't think you need to label yourself as something...and you'll be okay. We are all human beings first and foremost...why not just think of yourself as that.

Interesting. I sometimes see this as well. To be clear, I actually seem to see it with my eyes and it isn't a vision and isn't very similar to how some people view auras, where you unfocus your eyes and do it in the dark. I see it more with my peripheral vision, and probably am not able to see it by focusing on it. I have never seen a light above someone's head, though...not that I know of. A strange thing is, I will see this above cars sometimes when I'm driving.

Please, lets not dig up people's old posts and use it against them. Everyone changes. And everyone says all kinds of things, that apply at different points in our lives. So basically: who cares? Plus, I am Yoda's friend. I have met him in person, and have absolutely no doubt that he's a great guy. I will not say things like he "shit his pants" etc...he has done what has seemed right for him, and him posting what he did, is just him trying to help others. Let it be!

Sorry, sunshine, I'm too lazy to have an interest.

I don't have an opinion of Mak Tin Si, but... If this is pretty much all you do, then it should be considered your occupation and you should be able to get money to be able to survive. Just because something is spiritual or martial arts, doesn't mean it's worthless. Think about how much pro football players get...millions of dollars a year. What a joke. So someone teaching martial arts should at least be able to feed themselves and live under a decent roof. Plus, teachers of these types of things have usually traveled long distances and sacrificed a lot of time (money) to get where they're at...so all of that investment should not just go to waste. People should work primarily at what they're passionate about, and others should value that. That's how business should run.

I tend to just see weird colors spiraling in different areas or something. And open eye visuals are just like little specks of light that show up and fly around sometimes. An interesting thing is I've noticed when there is sexual energy, like if a girl is around, it happens more. I will get a few little light dots flying. Weird.

Check out "the ammonia hypothesis" on biology of kundalini. I think it can be prevented with dietary changes.

I am interested to read your reinterpretation.

Go see a real TCM practitioner in person. It's not too expensive. We shouldn't be diagnosing over the net...especially by recommending herbs. Real practitioners do a pulse diagnosis, in addition to many other things, in order to make sure that what they're recommending will actually help the patient. They double check their diagnosis with other methods, because sometimes they could be wrong. Plus, TCM doesn't really treat specific symptoms, like Western medicine does, so your best bet is balancing the function of the body. Taking herbs specifically to get rid of acne is not a balancing/harmonizing approach.

I really liked Toph as well.

Blasto, I highly respect your experience, and don't wish for you to shut up. What you contribute to this forum is valuable. In my view, meditating on sound doesn't always have to be about trance states. It can be a way of silencing the mind. When you repeatedly bring the attention to a single point, gradually the monkey mind is lessened and silence increases. Before this happens, it's not a choice...the practice makes it a choice (and there are many different methods). So after you've used the tool, you can toss it aside. The function with this type of meditation is more so about "feeding" the time when consciousness is at its peak, than it is about avoiding the times when it's dim. There are added benefits of working with sound, because the body and mind are inseparable, and certain sounds affect the body in different ways. A certain frequency will vibrate at a certain level...you can do this with your voice...the bassier it is, the lower the level the vibration can reach. Not just on a physical level, but on a deeper more archetypal level, different vibrations have different effects. So when you're vibing with that area, you are healing that part of the body/mind by bringing the hidden stuff to the forefront of consciousness. That's part of the theory behind sound meditation. So while at the same time you are experiencing the silence, you are also taking that silence into loud places (blockages) and listening to them, and further silencing those parts...so that eventually, all parts of the body/mind are integrated with the purity of being...instead of going in and out of the state, or only partially being silent. That's my idea on the subject.

There is absolutely no problem with having a beer every day or two. Or even a couple sometimes. Especially if this is in your genes, like myself, with German roots. And especially if you're laughing with friends during it.

Blasto, People all over the world have used sound as a spiritual practice for probably all of history. Bushman songs. Mantras. Pythagorean music. Gong or bowl healing. Nada yoga (like the example I gave, which is a form of external nada yoga). Etc... So I disagree. Plus, if you're going to do the type of meditation where you repeatedly bring your focus back to a specific object...why not use sound? It's just as legitimate as anything else, such as body sensations, or a visual image, etc. It's all different vibrations, some better, some worse. You know by practicing for a good amount of time, like Vajrasattva has. Skepticism is a good quality to have, but it's irrational to pre-judge things you have little-to-no experience with. But everyone will do what they want, so whatever. This idea could have only come about in the era of recorded music. Personally, I haven't had good experiences with binaural beat tech, and think it could be harmful...but to each their own.

That whole website is very very informative. It's my favorite for understanding Chinese medicine. Especially great are the articles about the 5 organs, which for some reason I can't find in the articles section...so here: http://www.itmonline.org/5organs/liver.htm http://www.itmonline.org/5organs/heart.htm http://www.itmonline.org/5organs/spleen.htm http://www.itmonline.org/5organs/lung.htm http://www.itmonline.org/5organs/kidney.htm

I agree with people that suggest breathing exercises. It has really been helping me, since I also have had some social anxiety. I don't think it's too important what breathing exercise you do specifically, as long as it feels good and is relaxing. It's not a cure for anxiety, but it can help transmute the erratic feelings into calm ones...to reprogram our automatic response to situations. Each moment is a choice.

One of the coolest music meditations that I've found is the Divine Sound by Dhanyogi Omdasji. It is beautiful. You can download it for free here, if you register for the website.

Check out this article, which has good things to say about coffee... http://www.itmonline.org/arts/chlorogenic.htm ... My diet is basically whatever I want. I don't like to get really full, so I stop when it feels right. I eat when I'm hungry, which is usually a few hours after I last ate. I don't like to eat a lot of the same thing...it is enjoyable to have different tastes and textures, and smells. If I'm not getting enough of something, I crave it, and so I eat it. Nothing's totally off limits.