emily

I get this from time to time, got it at the moment. Rather irritating at night time! I find loads of things can induce it; energy work, neck tension, bad food, or just too much wax in the ears!!! Yum I was recommended a few drops of olive oil in each ear on a health website and this worked quite well. Takes some time to take effect though.

quote of the year from one of her videos: and non duality is like HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL in the hindu persuasion non duality, that's like OH HOT STUFF, NON -DUALITY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ynqi1SLeAU...feature=related its worth watching for the crazy emphasis she puts on certain words also she has a PRAY HILARY INTO OFFICE yahoo group

Hahahaha, when the black & white photo came up I did literally lol (probably the first time that abbreviation has been used sincerely on the internet...)

I think theres truth in this. The thought popped into my head that the ego/mind whatever you want to call it is basically a log of information to keep the individual away from any perceived threat. But as we live in a very over stimulated state of perpetual stress the mind keeps mulling over pointless issues. I think the perception of a fixed personality is a byproduct of this. We attatch ourselves to anything that makes us feel secure. I prefer the analogy of living from love or fear. I think it leads to less confusion. I honestly think the best spiritual practise is just to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Hmmmmm.....EGO!!! That old chestnut. The internet is the global EGO!! Mostly reams of unecessary bullshit with the occasional hint of something a little deeper. In my opinion conceptualisation is something which should be confined to the practicalities and trivialities of life! The fun stuff and the necessary stuff. Not all this mental masturbation which for some reason goes hand in hand with whole spirituality deal. Seeking to experience a concept that one has not known experentially is a bit psychotic....best to be real. It's all very well someone who has experienced liberation to say that we need to transcend the ego. However to someone living from a ego identified state this is just another concept to add to a stream of conceptualised conscious, that one would equate with the end of self. Not a very pleasant thought and one which could send the mind reeling for hours trying to work it out. I agree with what Hundun said earlier on about words meaning slightly different things to us individually. Amalgamations of past experiences. Someone summed it up pretty well when they said the map is not the terrain. I think the majority of spiritual conceptualisation has the potential to do more harm than good to an unruly mind. I have had one short experience of ego death; it ocurred spontaneously whilst walking down a street one evening....it has left me with this perspective on the old EGO debate... It was basically like dissolving, actually more obliterating, that subconscious filter that is like the internal police officer and feeling totally free and uninhibited and VIBRANTLY ALIVE. Like all of life is some great big dance and your right on the rhythm. It was totally non dualistic, although at the time that thought never crossed my MIND!! As mentioned earlier in this thread it would not have left me gawping at vegetables in a supermarket because I was so at one with them; in fact it would have only served to allow me to be more effective in any activity, aside from the initial rush of waking up which was a little intense. I burst out laughing, like all of a sudden everything clicked, all problems suddenly seemed totally absurd, like a flash of "why haven't i got this all along?". Of course none of this crossed my MIND, it was like acessing a greater source of knowing totally non conceptualised. This is merely my interpretation after the experience. During this time, I would look at a tramp and feel overcome with emotion, I guess intense compassion, but I didn't go and do anything stupid like give him a great big kiss or the keys to my house cos I knew I was him!!! I just gave hims a smile and a pound or whatever and kept going. But I literally felt at one with everything. Everything was beautiful. Even toilet roll, I kid you not. but not in an "ode to the roll" kind of way. I still knew I was ME, I just never thought it. No need to navel gaze, too busy BEING me. The veil was lifted, and I was acting from the core of my being. That faded after a few days. I a bit low afterwards, like coming back down to earth. I was again goverend by the mind. It comes back more and more frequently, ocasionally I can maintain this state consciously, sometimes I invite it, sometimes it just happens. So to me transcending the ego is not what I would at all have THOUGHT it to be. It basically amounted to getting rid of the BULLSHIT. That is it. Lifting the veil. Seeing truth. Incidentally it did leave me with a reverence for all life, and understanding the true meaning of the word God. I had grown up very anti religion as I didn't like my expriences with Christians as a child....but after my experience I realised all religions were basically rattling on about the same thing and somewhere along the line we had all started taken poetic metaphors literally. I knew what Jesus meant when he said "the kingdom of heaven is with you". Again, someone summed it up really well with the map is not the terrain. Anyone at any age could experience this, whether they have any notion of spirituality or not. I wasn't adhering to any spiritual doctrine at the time: I had what would be perceived as "obstacles on the path" and all that jazz.... Being more fully yourself would never cause a problem. It would support greater socialisation, achievement yadayadayada....any worries i had no longer affected me internally and I got along with people one hundred times better than normal.....not once did I feel tempted to go up to a stranger clasp their hand and whisper "we are one in our divinity" or whatever!!!!! Ego...not what I thought it was!!! haha

welllll.....not being male or experiencing hair loss i can't say i can personally attest to the effectiveness of this herb but i take he wou shu as a general tonic and as it replenishes the kidneys (which the hair on the head is a reflection of their functionality) many men have APPARENTLY reported hair regrowth. it has greatly improved the condition of my hair ( which was fairly thick initially it has to be said). anything that improves circulation and the condition of the bodies health will prevent hair loss. and with regards to men going bald after too much ejaculation, i thought the whole point or retention was to conserve the jing, so if it is constantly being depleted, i guess the hair on the head will be among the first things to suffer!! the same should go for any toxins...the less you put in, the less the body has to work, the less you age. the neck, spin and sacrum should be kept healthy for a whole host of other reasons besides hair loss. yoga, tai chi, qigong...its all good. i was quite into herbalism last year and there is a herb called saw palmetto that men take for prostate health to lower levels of androgens in their body which would cause hair loss so that could help. i typed he shou wu in and this came up. quite relevant. http://www.vegasbikram.com/health_articles.asp emily

Hey rakkasan I am practising spring forest qigong too and am getting really positive benefits from it. I read in an article about spring forest that intitially the most important thing is to learn and get comfortable with the movements and synchronise with the breath. I didn't intitially practise reverse breathing for the same reason you stated, I felt it was a little constricting, but I still got good results. As I am developing my practise I've started to add it consciously to certain moves with the intention of applying reverse breathing to the whole practice in time. This is working well, slowly adapting the muscles to this process. Can't see that doing together with zhan zhuang will turn you into some sort of energy mutant i practise with mantak chia's stuff and have tried a few other things that have caused no problems. emily

I'm not "knowledgeable"on these things per se and just do some basic energy work and breathing meditation but my opinion is that there are plenty of potentially less mindfucking things than out of body experiences to do to keep motivation!! im quite content with the subtle feeling and seeing of energy right now. and theres things like tai chi, qigong or yoga that aid mindfulness and are motivating but are generally safe when practised with a teacher or some sort of beginners learning instruction kit. i modified the yoga nidra practise to not go so deeply because although part of me lusts after the unknown experiences that we read about, i think its is more important build a solid base first. a question i had to ask myself recently about many areas of life was not only what do to but why. that should fix the what too. emily

Hey alfa, This sounds very similar to an experience I had practising yoga nidra, which makes sense because it is meant to induce conscious sleep. I felt as if my body had died and I was totally insubstantial for a few seconds, then I suddenly became terrified that all the blood had stopped flowing to my limbs so I shook myself and got up. To my surprise I was actually really warm. Som yogis say this is a an experience of "little death". Its meant to be four times as rejuvinative as sleep or so they say...Some practitioners of raja yoga recommend it instead of typical meditation too. It can be used to develop visualisation ability and also to heal the body. I learnt this technique from a book and recorded a track of myself reading the exercise and listened to it in bed, it only took three or four sessions to reach that state so if your looking to regain that experience you might want to try it out. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yoga-Nidra-Swami-S...2950&sr=8-1 There are recordings available too but on torrenting a few i really would recommend the book instead. emily

cool thanks for taking the time to put this up

i did a five elements form in a tai chi class but this is different. as ive started practising kunlun im interested to learn this. so is the video the correct order and labelled incorrectly? im confused!

thanks tried it out last night. asie from the fact my neighbours probably think ive joined a sect its great!!

hey thanks for sharing will definitely check this out!

There is only love. I think we try and put it in boxes, different types of love because of fear. I look at it as a frequency we tap into an "be" in. I am either "in" love or not. It is not conditional. It is the eyes through which I see the world, not that which I see. Haha that sounded corny.

hey i don't know of any qigong for hypertension specifically but my dad had problems with this last year. he went to the doctors due to headaches and his blood pressure read 200. the doctor recommended medication but my dad refused. he now swears by apple cider vinegar. hes consistently 120-130 now, ocasionaly in the 140s when hes had a stressful day but that is quite normal for a man in his 60s apparently. he takes a tablespoon of cider vinegar and a tablespoon of manuka honey with hot water each morning. also watches diet, still drinks some wine but not too much. certain foods can aggrevate it like ginger and licorice, ginseng also raises his levels. id recommend your friend to do as much research as possible BEFORE coming off the drugs, as the reason my dad didn't want to start taking them is they can be extremely difficult to come off safely and in some cases can apparently be fatal. as far as qigong goes i think anything that produces a highly relaxed state would ease hypertension. im using spring forest qigong and really enjoy that because its very simple which is preferable when teaching yourself, so perhaps a simple method like that would be best as overloading with complicated techniques could just add stress. yoga nidra i think would be fantastic. you buy cds or books (probably a torrent or two out there too ). its the most relaxing practise ive ever done, totally switches off the body and mind, just left with a calm awareness. in the book i have its said to be brilliant for people with stress related conditions as it allows them to relax beyond the level they would intially achieve with meditation. hope this is of use

hey teddy! fellow brit here too...from cardiff myself. i was intrigued by yoga for the same reasons as yourself...there has to be something in that enthusiasm! i also started at a time when i wanted to lose a few pounds, so here are my experiences which you may find helpful. first of all as James mentioned diet is a crucial part of weight loss. i have had fantastic results with the ph diet-not a temporary diet more of a new way of eating to adopt, based upon eating foods that are alkalising to the body. its a bit extreme for some, but as always you can apply it to whatever degree that you wish. www.energiseforlife.com have some resources and supplements to get you started. also google robert young who is the founder. anthony robbins is a big advocate of the diet too, love him or hate him he has some nlp methods that are successful in helping people stick to eating the right foods too. yoga wise nothing beats ashtanga yoga for me...it REALLY energises you, detoxes and is fantastic to lose weight. said to bet the best yoga for fitness and weight loss. if you haven't tried it i thoroughly recommend you do, it is the most enjoyable form of exercise i have ever done. and you sweat buckets but without getting breathless so it doesn't drain you but provides a nice aerobic workout. a lot of the movements flow so there isn't too much locking or holding of postures for very long. hope this helps, emily

hello can anyone recommend which wuld be a better practise for health kunlun or spring forest qigong?

thanks for the responses. hundun, thanks for the ken cohen course recommendation; seems perfect for someone learning without a teacher cameron, by no kundalini, does that exclude any form of asana? im not too worried il get a kundalini awakening from doing a few sun salutes but as im doing this alone just want to check!

hey im new here. my names emily im from the uk. i came across the site when looking up something qigong related. look forward to chatting to you all

ive had some serious postural and alignment problems recently after a spell of being pretty much confined to my bed due to illness. really screwed up correct muscle function. the best thing i have come across is the egoscue method. it required dilligence and commitment (roughly an hour and a halfs daily practise for at least 3 months depending on the severity of the situation) but it has a 95% success rate. im practising it at the moment and am getting brilliant results. it is not a fun workout, lots of static stretches....but i listen to a cd, do some reading or a bit of breathwork whilst in the long stretches. if you have a limited range of motion this is ideal i think beacsue it will gradually restore musculoskeletal function. i have the second book of the two links. apparently the other is the same but repackaged. http://www.amazon.com/Egoscue-Method-Healt...1110&sr=8-2 http://www.amazon.com/Pain-Free-Revolution...1110&sr=8-1 if you have some money a pair of mbt shoes will help also. they help realign everything and ensure you are walking correctly due to the shape of the sole. not the prettiest looking shoes around though.....i use them for a power walk in the mornings http://www.swissmasai.co.uk/ ive ordered the intu-flow system recently, has anyone here had any experiences with it related specifically to realignment and postural work?