escott

Head size is no indicator of intelligence. I'm living proof of that. When I played football they had a hard time finding a helmet that would fit my little head. The coach called me "pinhead" one year on the day they were handing out helmets. As a student I was in the gifted program. My IQ is 133. I grew up running through the woods, not in an urban environment. There was another group that equated head size with intelligence: https://www.inverse.com/article/33193-nazi-device-artifacts-secret-room Can we get back on topic, please? For instance, let's talk about solutions to water scarcity.

That exactly why we've reached the tipping point and it becomes a fight fire with fire scenario. There needs to be a change in values, as you said. We need to value clean air and clean water above all else. But, this only happens when people's bellies are full. On the African continent that's the challenge. That's where there is so much poverty, population growth, cities growing but with no services like electricity, sewage, it garbage collection. They are heading for catastrophe. Politics aside, Israel is leading the way as an example of how industrial technology can move the world forward. They are showing how to do agriculture with scarce water and also implement water reuse in addition to desalination.

I'm glad you mentioned Fusion. We should be spending way more on Fusion research. But, I don't agree with the "Devil could care attitude" about the environment. Intellectually I get that I am not truly the body. But, nonetheless I am experiencing life as a human and so are my children and so is everybody else. When Nisargadatta was asked, "What is sin?" His response was, "doing that which causes suffering." With that said, though, I'm not about to take my family off the grid to minimize my carbon footprint only to watch the world burn anyway.

If you want to have some real fun, check out the history of Arianism (not to be confused with Aryan) to see how something can be a popular belief, but then be declared heresy. It makes me wonder if anybody really understands the true meaning of anything in the Bible. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism

I found an article precisely about this topic. See if this rings true to you. https://personaltao.com/taoism/becoming-taoist/

Did you look to see if there is any Krav Maga near you? If I wanted to learn modern self defense that is what I would choose. For spiritual/internal development I do Tai Chi and Qigong.

Wow! This put a knife right through my heart. I, too, have been stuck. For me it's been 3 decades trying to figure it out. I've been following this thread closely hoping to gain something. Mine is a whole different set of circumstances, I don't want take away from the needs of the OP, so I won't say any more. But, I keep reading this over and over again. This is a deep truth that you have given to us.

Are you prepared to live this way for the next 50 years? Choices...

What's keeping you where you are? Family? Do you have debts to pay, so you're sticking with your job? What's preventing you from radically changing your life? Hopefully these questions aren't too personal to ask on this forum. But, sometimes we have to realize that it is our own choices that have put is where we are. Maybe it's time to choose differently and break from the old patterns.

I used to struggle with anger issues, but no longer do. If you want to retain your Christian faith then I suggest you read some books written by Neil T. Anderson: 'Victory Over The Darkness', 'The Bondage Breaker', and 'Getting Anger Under Control'. These books helped me immensely on a spiritual level. I could tell you a real story of transformation (but now is not the time). Here is a phrase to consider: Anger is your REACTION to an unmet GOAL. So, when you find yourself in a situation ask yourself - what's my goal here? Is it a goal that I should even have? Does my reaction serve my best interest? Is my reaction helpful to others? I think if you pause to ask yourself these things you'll soon calm down and realize it's not worth getting worked up over. Ultimately, though, your not going to "think" your way out of this. You're going to have to "feel". To do this you'll need to change your subconscious. I've used Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to replay events in my life to change the way I feel about them. This will help to alter your automatic, emotional reaction to situations. Recently I started doing seated meditation using the book 'The Mind Illuminated' as my guide. I'm feeling a real difference and as an added bonus I sleep less.

This article came up in my feed today. This is exactly what I was talking about when I said the best way to get your bacteria it's from your environment, not supplementing with probiotics. https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/an-organism-found-in-dirt-may-lead-to-an-anxiety-vaccine-say-scientists The best thing we can do is to eat lots of fresh vegetables (fiber) grown in our own gardens. Eating a little bit of dirt (soil based bacteria) is good for you (as long as it doesn't have something like E. Coli in it, make sure the manure fertilizer is fully composted).

BTW, here is a link to the whole program. It looks like Taoist alchemy. https://www.limitlessgate.com/qigong/taoist-qigong-path/

How does Dr. Pang's Zhan Zhuang differ from Master Lam Kam Chuen's Zhan Zhuang? What difference does turning the toes inward make? My IT band is way to tight for that. Master Lam discourages the visualization of moving energy, but in 3 Centers one is to visualize energy entering through the head, hands, and feet then going into the lower dan tien.

If you want a healthy gut eat more fiber. This article nails it. https://www.vox.com/2019/3/20/18214505/fiber-diet-weight-loss

Yes! I actually believe that prebiotics are more beneficial. But, there can be a problem with them. I am sensitive to certain FODMAP containing foods. A lot of things that are very healthy that I used to love to eat give me IBSD. I think somehow my gut bacteria got out of whack. Probiotics leave your system soon after you stop taking them and you are back where you started. I think your gut bacteria it's more determined by your day-to-day environmental exposure.

https://www.daohearts.com/downloads/book-the-methods-of-zhineng-qigong-science/

@rideforever I'm going to get some training in Yiquan ZZ (as well as other things) in a few weeks. I'm pretty stoked about it. https://pittsburgh.shambhala.org/program-details/?id=402066

I love perspective shifting. I think everyone does even if they don't realize it yet. Isn't that what drugs and alcohol are for. But, that's the easy way and temporary. I like messing with own mind to purposely see if I can shift into a new perspective. That's why I do Qigong and meditate. I've also used NLP visualizations on myself. Years ago I was aspiring to be a Professional Futurist. It didn't pan out, but I really enjoyed it. I was a member of the World Future Society and attended a few conferences. One year I worked the conference in Toronto to get free admission. One memorable occasion was being the session helper for Don Beck's talk on Spiral Dynamics. That's a tool that can shift your perspective by putting all of human history and development within that framework. And you can use it to try to forecast possible futures. I say "possible futures" because futurists don't like to say they make predictions. Instead they construct "Scenarios", usually multiple scenarios. 'Backcasting' is another tool - Image a future then work backwards to think of what would have to happen to bring that future about. I also was present when Ray Kurzweil gave the keynote presentation on the Technological Singularity. How I use Qigong for perspective shifting? When I was kid my grandfather was a martial artist. He showed me things like hold up your arm and visualize it as a water hose shooting water out, then he would try to pull my arm down. That visualization made me stronger and almost impossible to pull my arm down. Then I thought what if I think I have chakras or dantiens and meridians and Qi is flowing through me? It may not be "real", but what if I just pretend they are there? Could they change reality? If they do then doesn't that make them real? Then they become a tool no different than a hammer and chisel that makes a sculpture. They make something appear that wasn't there before out of imagination.

I do something like this almost daily. Have you ever heard the Earth referred to as "The Pale Blue Dot"? There is a distant picture taken by Voyager looking back at the Earth. I often visualize the Earth like this. Then I (my body) seem like an insignificant ant on the surface? Basically, nothing and insignificant. Yet, at the same time I am part of it all.

Here is what I learned about the leg positioning from Dr. Pang's book: Step qi: without moving your heels, open the tips of your feet out 90°. Move your weight to the tips of the feet, open the heels out along the ground 90°. This movement makes qi go through the yang channels of the outer legs, while the three inner channels are relaxed. This makes yang channels’ qi flow down and yin channels’ qi flow up. In the old days this movement was called stepping qi. So, his methodology is to facilitate the flow of Qi. Additionally, during 3 Centers Merge the mind is to visualize Qi entering through the feet, hands, and head and gathering into the lower dantien. With that said, though, I still do ZZ LKC style. The Zhineng way is too hard on my knees still. I do 2 poses, wuji and tree hugger.

Do you currently have a practice? Have you picked One (1)?

@sacred_chicken Are you ever coming back? Please tell us a little more about yourself and be more specific about your personal goals. I may have more suggestions for you.

I started this thread that might help answer that question.

Yes, the sequence they teach follows exactly how it is described in Dr. Pang's book.

Did you see this yet? http://www.ycgf.org/YCGF_PAB/YCGF_PAB.htm