Aetherous

Orb and I are chatting it up right now...it's good to converse with our fellow bums. I will try to go into the chat room more often.

Hi, welcome, I am not advanced enough to actually guide you, but some recommendations I believe are universal... I think Neptune is right - having a service oriented job is good. Also, it's best to not bring this energy to the head. Energy always goes where its supposed to when left alone (in a truly void state is best), and when we direct it up to the head bad things happen. Peace.

It's bad enough these record companies steal so much from the artists...but they also try to completely destroy someone's life just to make a point? They need to remember they are just middle men in the business and realistically should have no say. Just sue the person for 24 dollars, and call it a day! And the jury...bunch of bastards. How can you actually do that to someone just for downloading music illegally?

Hmm, yeah that was more than a little rude of Ken. But he is right: there are many other teachers you can learn from, who can give you more personal communication and also not charge you thousands of dollars. And maybe some of them are even comparable to Master Wang.

Damn, sorry to hear about that, Matt. It wasn't my intention to make you have diarrhea in your yoga class. About why it was recommended... I have known quite a few people (in real life) with lactose intolerance who can have goat's milk all they want. If you do a search on google, you will find the same info. Of course it doesn't work for everybody...and you should have read my words more carefully: "...apparently it is better for lactose intolerant peeps." That doesn't translate as: "go and drink a bunch of it without testing it on yourself first!" Little1, I don't need to be a specialist to recommend something that generally works. I also work in the health care field...so you're not special. I had assumed Matt had already consulted a specialist because his post said, "turns out I'm lactose intolerant" and smart people don't diagnose themselves. Chill out. Live and learn.

Go to a doctor and get it removed in a safe way! You may also want to see if it's something other than lactose intolerance.

Goat's milk can usually be found at local health stores, and apparently it is better for lactose intolerant peeps. Although I'm not one, I really like it!

Sounds like you've got an awesome daily practice!

3rd world farmer was tough...I lived on like 35 dollars per year, solely ate corn, and my whole family died within about 15 years!

It's important for people to interpret the TTC in their own way, to make it more understandable...because from what I understand the original version is just a bunch of words strewn together in kind of a nonsensical way. And each word has multiple meanings. And who knows what exactly Lao Tzu was discussing? Like forestofemptiness said, it could be about pretty much anything. So it's great that there is a whole universe of translations and interpretations out there. Within the huge pile, there's probably one very true and excellent one!

In my opinion, it's delusional thinking to believe woodlice will change their ways of coming into your house out of courtesy for your kind gesture of placing them outside. But I guess you never know what's truly possible. Anyway, I agree that it's nice to not kill things when you don't have to. How would I like it if some big swatter came down from the sky and squished me? It'd be kind of annoying...so thanks to the big guys in the clouds that continue to not smoosh me. I view it as the same way for little creatures...I will be nice to them, just because of the golden rule.

Thanks much Baguakid, $500 USD (Chinese) $4630.00 USD (American) $6,545 was said to be the average annual income of people in Beijing. $58,029 for Americans (although that sounds pretty high to me for an average and my family is actually middle class). So the seminar will be... 500/6545...about 7.6% of Chinese income. 4630/58029...about 7.9% of American income. I realize this is a simplified way to do the math, but it's what I needed to do to know that it's fair. I suppose it's pretty close to being equal expense for both "average" persons.

I'm confused about the costs, still... What does it cost for Chinese people to attend, when their currency is converted directly to American dollars?

Typically, the time of day you practice is very important and it can mean the difference between success or failure in your attempts. This is my experience with what I practice. So if you want to practice Gong Ting Xian's method, you should practice it exactly. Skipping a certain time will bring about an imbalance. Something to consider is that this method really changes your lifestyle. It takes up a lot of your day. Also, I think to be able to practice this, you need to have first mastered embryonic breathing (where you find no breath passing through the nose). That's not the same as having very refined breathing, or being so calm that you don't notice the breath. It's actually kind of advanced...I'm not assuming you're a beginner Dao Child, just saying this for other's information. There is also inadequate instruction on how to do these things exactly. Like what way of sitting? Lotus? Simple crossed legs? What stretches? Is the wooden bed just a platform of wood that you practice/nap on, or something more? What kind of porridge? How long of a walk, and is it slow or fast? It may sound like I'm nitpicking, and I am, but there's a lot more to Taoist cultivation than such simple instructions. To achieve good results, or any at all, you need details of correct methods. That's why they say it's best to have a real teacher in person. Anyway, sorry to sound like a know it all. Just giving a different perspective to think about...hope it helps. By the way, Dao Child...what meditation do you practice? 2 hours is pretty good!

So, when will it be ready? I've got a couple of friends who are interested, in addition to me.

I have found that being around my mom really releases emotional baggage. She knows how to push the right buttons all of the time. So, those who want to release more emotions...go for walks with your mom and talk about things.

It's a practice of left hand path Tantra to eat at the Heart Attack Grill. Fun idea for a restaurant...too bad the food looks seriously disgusting. I can stand a nice burger, and don't care SO much about how healthy I eat...but they are taking it way too far.

Papaya helps. It contains an enzyme, papain, which digests nutrients in any acid/alkaline environment...easing digestion.

Taoist Discussion is where people talk about things mostly. The Lobby is mainly for introducing yourself and not much else happens here. The search box is very good for looking up an old topic. It's near the top right of the page, underneath "Links", to the left of "Go". Typing in "kundalini" would bring up a lot of results, since these things have been discussed a lot here as well.

Hey Neptune, Don't cross swords with Carson, he's a great guy! I just want to let you know that you're welcome to discuss yogic topics of any kind here, despite this forum being mainly about Taoism. You won't be banned, unless you are really slanderous...it actually takes quite a bit of effort to be banned here. Anyway, I welcome you to this forum, and want you to know that I look forward to your contributions.

Because it makes it sound awesome!

Sweet!

Hey man, At 5 mins, looks like you are at a cool place! I'd be practicing qigong in that yard!

I like Spirit Ape's idea, that the purpose of tucking the pelvis is to open the mingmen (take pressure off of the kidneys). There are different ways of practicing. Some emphasize having no tension. That's useful for standing meditation, where the key is to take the mind off of the body. I don't have any books near me right now, but I remember reading that sinking and relaxation isn't supposed to mean absolutely no tension...it's supposed to mean that you take up a posture and don't have any extra tension which isn't needed for that posture. So if the posture requires some, then some is necessary! I used to practice no tucking, because I was focusing on standing as a posture technique. I found that it wasn't very useful, and just simply living day to day life and walking around is enough to ensure the posture is normalized. In fact, the more you focus on having perfect posture, the worse it will seem to be. Now I practice standing for qigong, and tuck. Yeah it feels awkward, but it's doing the job.

A very complicated issue which has no easy answer.