zanshin

thanks Ah well, yes, not so much information on female practices, will try to take comfort in multiple orgasms I'm pretty sure have a while before really start menopause anyway, maybe will even be a positive stage for me since I'm terribly too yin and cold and metal and water. Nice warm spring day, walked around and did barefoot yard work.

I don't think they're numbered for someone running small universe, flow changes in qigong practioner. So maybe numbering is more for acupuncture practitoner treating illness. Am pretty sure I'm right about ideal of how it should flow like a circuit. Will look more at diagrams later, the ones I posted were just some I found quickly, may certainly be better sources. Hope someone posts with good understanding.

ok, re-read your post re. Ren on the back and thought maybe I was confused. Found this. http://www.latcmwellnesscenter.com/11.html If you click on Ren meridian and Du meridian on side bar can see pictures of meridians with points

Fabulous topic, that I certainly don't understand as well as I should and don't know Jerry Johnson. It's Taoist meridians and acupuncture theory. Du is longer yang channel with more points from coccyx to roof of mouth, I know it as straight up the back and not 2 channels. Ren is midline front of body yin channel. Flow in MCO is supposed to be like embryonic state yang to rise and yin to sink making one continuous circuit, yang flowing into yin and yin into yang, but this rarely happens in adults.

The Pope should be a rabbit.

K

Except there's a little bit of black in the white and there's a little bit of white in the black.

I did find out that hemlock the poisonous plant is a small poisonous plant that is completely different from hemlock the evergreen tree. Still doesn't seem like a good idea to eat parts of a tree called hemlock though.

Turned up the garden today and wondered if cultivation is really fitting metaphor for spiritual disciplines. First waiting for the right time, right weather, dirt can't be too muddy and clumpy or too hard and dry. Pull out any weeds or old stems, rake off fall leaves, some of those will get mixed back in. Turn it all over, deep shovel fulls of earth, break it up with a hoe into tiny particles rake it nice and fine and loose. Then a cart or two of compost, old rotted decomposed stuff gets mixed in more hoeing and raking. Worms are good. Planted peas, lettuce, spinach and broccoli. Full moon tomorrow.

mmm...fermenting things from the woods could be it's own topic- muscadine and elderberry wines. Hard cider is an old time staple, was allowed even during Prohibition, the farmers needed a way to preserve their apple crop.

The Foxfire Books are old, but very good for survivalist stuff. I think I'd eat lots of things before pine needles. I think most aggregate berries are safe, wild grapes, apples or cherries. All parts of clover and dandelion are edible. Cattail shoots and roots, tiger lily flowers ( I put day lily petals on pizza last summer, I am weird, the pizza was good and very pretty) or bulbs, violets, roses. Morels are way tasty, but mushrooms in general scary to try. I think White Oak acorns bland and mealy and are the ones Indians ground to make a flour, all acorns are edible, but some of the others are very bitter tasting. Walnuts, hickory nuts and butternuts are some work to get the edible part, but good.

I know a couple kids who have basicaly stopped taking meds and inhalers after doing regular swimming, not really a Taoist practice, more breath control and accessory breathing muscles, unless there is something about the water element.

didn't really mean that passive. You still always want things like finding a mate or not getting mugged. But maybe you don't try to make your own reality by using force of will to make a specific potential mate be attracted to you, you're open to people you do find attractive if it's mutual and you're being genuine that's fabulous, if not move on easily. Then you shift your path as seems appropriate. When you go on vacation- you want to have ideas of what you want to see and do and some destination, but maybe more enjoyable to go ahead and get sidetracked by whatever ends up catching your interest and take in some impromptu roadside attractions, rather than sticking to fixed schedules and agendas no matter what.

Mind over matter? Or, if you don't mind, it doesn't matter?

There's a Christian alternative to evil yoga (and tai chi). http://praisemoves.com/about-us/why-a-christian-alternative-to-yoga/

You're lucky, pretty easy for most people to feel low energy at work. But if too intense, easy to set your self up for a crash that won't really be harmful to yourself or others too. A few hours before you go in do some vigorous exercise, then eat something and rehydrate. About an hour before you go in, couple cups of coffee, make it black as night, sweet as sin. Things will be even more intense when you start your shift, but coast on down and by the end your ass should be dragging like the typical worker. Then you can see a different association with the place and just temper things til you feel a little more calm and balanced.

I don't think hate or anger is flip side of love; it's fear. Perfect love casts out fear. Not original, but I feel it is true. The idea of desiring things is a type of fear too, we look for shields against not having our basic needs, but also against other scary things like loneliness and being unloved. The epitome of being heart centered is feeling unconditional love. Anyway, don't have the last smoke, big mistake. I work with hospitalized people. So people are in hospital a few days, no smoking, worst of nicotine getting out of system, thinking give it up. But first one last smoke, make a little ritual, cigarettes are in the cupboard just one then throw the rest away, ramps those chemicals and cravings right back up. Better ask someone to throw them away before even getting there.

Heart is not a greedy grasping thing, pretty sure that's something else.

The world is what it is; vanity to think we create it. 2 people move to the same small town. One expects that people will be friendly and helpful, and that there will be lots of fun things to do. The other thinks the people will be uncaring and self absorbed and that it will be a really boring place. But that's sort of banal, since this is the Taoist section. Let's make a third person, who doesn't really have expectations, but goes on to experience and explore their new home without preconceptions.

Maybe it's been adaptive through human history, like the grasshopper and the ant. Those who wanted lots of things and lots of friends and lots of connections built up their stores, then they survived when really bad times came while those who had not amassed as many social and material resources did not. So desire could be beneficial, but I agree in modern times it gets pretty ridiculous. Like the flight or fight reaction, good if a predator bursts out, but when a neighbor complains about your dog or a traffic cop pulls you over better to stay calm.

We don't create our own world; we only create our own map of it.

Nutrition is very important in training. You gotta have the right stuff in the tank, so eating healthy is basic then maybe use supplements to refine that. I find as I get older can't eat crap anymore, have noticed big difference in energy. Or maybe training makes it more noticeable, ran my first half marathon last fall, as long as I was meticulous about eating lots of fruits and veggies and minimal processed foods felt good. But if slipped on the diet while keeping up on my miles became terribly rundown even feeling sick. I still think cheeseburger and fries can be tasty, but not worth feeling in a slump for hours after eating it. I don't know if you're looking for something more esoteric than "runner's high" as far as using your own energy for a boost. It's a common practical example, endorphin release, boom then you're through that wall and feel like you can run forever. I don't know what your gym routine is, maybe hard to get that rhythm and repetition that induces tranciness, if you're doing a low rep high weight body building routine.

Can you do esoteric spiritual practices and still lead a simple life?

I've talked to some atheists who think everything can somehow be explained thru reason and logic and science, I used to sort of resemble them. Yet, the more I learn about science and nature the more I realize how little we really understand and theories and faith and explanations are more about vanity than reality. I think we can feel awe and reverence toward the universe without worshipping anthropomorphic deities. I did come up with something to replace the idea of "god", maybe love, maybe tao, but it's not really a word thing.

Blech the internet. I actually do agree a few websites like this particular one are probably good. I rarely watch tv or play video games, but can't get away from internet. Need to use for at least basic work school and family communication. Then get sucked and big waste of time and energy. Real human connections are sacrificed for electronic ones. And somehow with all this information at fingertips we don't seem any smarter. Used to be more of an intellectual process, talk to people who might know something about a topic of interest, go to the library, now just type a question in a browser, easy to get a quick superficial answer. The human species has survived for a long long time and as we are are all tied together the potential for a cluster screw up of epic proportions increases exponentially.