Teddy

Why is this post adressed to me?

The best single general health exercise in my arrogant opinion is zhan zhuang chi kung (buy 'way of energy' by Lam Kam chuen). The only exercise that I have heard turns grey hair black is the five tibetan rites, however I have never practiced them. It is easier just to buy a bottle of hair dye. What do you mean by 'spiritual alchemy'? Equivalent to a sixteen year old in what way? ...I think forty year olds have the benefit of more experience for one thing, in this respect maybe they shouldn't want to be 'equivalent to a 16 year old.

No. There are several variations on the small universe meditation. You can do it the way chunyi lin describes without listening to him say om and mo. Or you can do it as anyone describes it. (ken cohen, mantak chia, bruce frantzis etc etc etc........)

Of course this is old news! Oh my God I get so perplexed at some scientists. Why did they think people meditated if it doesn't do anything?!?! I heard that 'they' recently did a study that showed that regular excercise is good for you! ...and they have developed a drug for 'road rage' (which now has a scientific diagnostic name!)!

Imagine if we could change our beliefs in the same way we change our clothes! Everyone is naked under their clothes. Winnie the Pooh is Naked a lot of the time. Is there anyone here who would consider themselves a fashion designer??

haha If it was as easy as posting an advert for a 'verry' good teacher, dont you think everybody would be doing it? My own two pennies (not cents, I'm English) is that in terms of taoism and buddhism, most people dont need to learn, they need to forget. You can be your own very good teacher, if you practice 'sitting and forgetting'. Just out of interest, why do you need a teacher so badly?

Sometimes my girlfriend knows exactly what is going on inside my head. -I suppose if you want to get really deep and literal, then no one can experience anothers reality, and so cannot truely 'know' what is going on inside anothers head. But speaking in real everyday terms. -Of course people can know what is going on in others head. I often have uncanny rapport with good friends of mine and we all know what each other is thinking. Have you not experienced this?

Is that how you justify the global damage that intensive farming causes? Is that you you justify inflicting (indirectly) pain and misery and death on hundreds of animals? ...or are you being ironic. I hope you are. To be fair I wear leather shoes, and buy lots of products that were probably something to do with slave labour somewhere along the way. -I just get upset how many 'meat eaters' are thoughtless and idiotic, and when people make flippant remarks it is easy to assume that they just dont think... ...as so many people just dont.

flamenco

Do you worship Godess(s) but not Gods? -Turning away from light is just as unbalanced as only worshipping Gods and not Goddesses. Why do you turn away from light? Are you afraid of it? I look for heaven above AND below (metaphore by the way)

...trikselion...

Force of darkness would be like force of emptyness. ie. yin energy ...maybe?

Do Zhan Zhuang postures correspond to the five elements? My current understanding is that that 'holding ball' arms in a circle at chest level that loads of people practice combines all of the postures in one. But it also relates to the lungs and metal element. What I am curious about, is if that famous 'arms in a circle' pose combines all the other health postures, then why bother practicing the other ones seperately, or doing a sequence. I know that the hands at he level of face connects your chi with heavenly chi (fire element maybe), and I can guess a few things about other postures, but does anyone know for sure what the specific effects of different postures are?

Vampires

'Timbalada' is a 'pop' group from Brasil that use almost only drums and voice. They are very different to what most Americans would think of as Brasilian music. They might interest you, as many of their beats and melodies are based on the ritual music of 'candomble' and 'yoruba'.

I read a little bit about this system and am very interested. Are there any good books or dvds on this system?

Well... If we assume that the yogis and zen blokes were both equally deep in meditation, then the zen geezers had everything the yogis had plus extras ie awareness. So it seems that the zenaroonies are the winners. In my experience most people who have got deeply in to Indian mystisism live in cloud cookoo land, and people who are in to zen are usually (not always) a lot more 'alive'. This gives a fascinating insight in to why that might be.

new topic

Qi means 'energy'. Is 'energy' real? ...well yes. Can we shoot lightening from our third eye if we practice enough? ...maybe, maybe not, but if you practice qigong well, you wont care. because you will get other benefits that are even better. What are these amazing benefits? ...well "the tao that can be named isnt the tao" hahahahaha I sound drunk. Funny because I dont drink. Just had an argument with my girlfriend. Why am I saying this. Dunno I am tired tho, because it is late. sorry for rambling. Does being tired make you act drunk? Maybe Ill start that as a new topic.

What is it you are interested in, theory or exercises? Are you ill in some way? Do you already practice qigong?

The authentic qigong training course by Ken Cohen is EXELLENT! Combined with his book on qigong you will have enough stuff to keep you occupied for years! With that course you will understand what all of the techniques included do. He explains everything soberly and doesn't do the mysterious thing other teachers do of -"I know tons of secret techniques, but cant tell you, because your brain could explode"

I heard that they have turned on the accelerator, but the first collisions wont happen for a couple of weeks. So we might all still die... or quantum leap or whatever. (!!!)

A mantra that helps you be sharp, awake, and relaxed. yes: "I am sharp, awake and relaxed"

Hi! On amazon, I came across a five volume set of books entitled 'Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy' by Jerry Alan Johnson. It looks fantastic. However, it is expensive and I am not rich. So, I wondered if anyone here has read them, and what their opinion is. From browsing the contents it looks very theoretical. Are there practical explanations of exercises? How much actual qigong can somebody learn from these books? I practice yiquan at the moment.

Those angels are hot! They would be even more sexy if they looked a bit happier, and had lovely smiles on their faces