zanshin

and aesthesia feeling it down to the toes feet don't know of sin

food of love's music soaring searing thru my soul tastes like silence

? If you mean self defense then you need to add plyometrics for explosiveness and speed drills, holding stances for long periods of time and high rep calisthenics don't really apply so well, although I admire the mental discipline involved in that.

For good health, you might want to do cardio of some sort too, cardiac fitness is more correlated to time to recover from injury than strength or flexibility too.

from Chapter 81 of of the Tao Te Ching Sages do not accumulate The more they assist others, the more they possess The more they give to others, the more they gain The Tao of heaven Benefits and does not harm The Tao of sages Assists and does not contend Compassion is one of the three treasures in Taoism, so I don't think it more of Buddhist virtue, so maybe you acted effortlessly at the time in feeling compassion and doing something to help. So now I will tell I think it was very kind and a lovely thing to do to try to help the kitty- so probably not very Taoist to tell me about it

Have you tried getting up to meditate at 5 or 6 am? My mind is naturally much quieter at this time, in the evening I have much more the experience of multiple random thoughts.

I met one once, but then I got to know another one who turned out to be nothing like him. Strange, mysterious creatures.

I wonder how many people have "training partners" either romantic or just friends who are seeking this same goal- I'd think it very unusual. Then even if the goal is the same, the path may be different. My husband is supportive, but doesn't do any quirky training etc. with me- and that is okay, he and my kids keep me grounded and teach me other lessons. But with a family, I am not single minded with goals of spiritual transformation. other things come first at this time. I am a bit of a natural loner, I think I do have it in me to eventually disappear into the west, but not yet. I really don't learn in a linear fashion, I think many women do develop more by intuition and epiphany, so while we may seem less goal oriented because not working in a traditional fashion a to b to c to d there might be more cooking than you realize.

I wouldn't say I flop or hippie dance, mostly swaying and circular motion, lots of spinal flexion and rotation lately, occasionally shaking- and I don't speak in tongues- I sing- tribal sounding chanting I could never concsiously think up.

I haven't had any earth shaking spiritual results, but I agree I do feel really good and peaceful afterward seems to wring out any muscle soreness or that feeling like I'm getting a cold. I think a big part of the appeal is in letting go moving with the flow, so much of our lives are relatively scripted, nice to have a form with minimal rules.

In practice I am also more interested in the energetic spiritual side, but academically I am interested in many religions and cultural practices. I think Mak Tin Si's posts are fascinating and a wonderful resource for the board. "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -- Aristotle

By this idea, we should all be animists as this was the original human religion, must be the best version. Everything came from somewhere, but did it really only ever get worse and more superfical? Of couse things evolve and change to fit the situation and the time, sometimes they get worse, but we should strive to make them better and certainly not to become stagnate and dogmatic.

Trying to remember what nlp says about this- something to the effect that all people are trying to make the right decision for them based on their perception of the situation. So like the example with the moon better to try to understand their perception than to say "you're wrong." In a way I find religious debates fascinating because I am interested in knowing why people believe what they do, I don't really think anyone knows for sure right and wrong on those, maybe we'll find out someday. But the part where it deteriorates to sniping and impunging the other person's character, better just to agree to disagree yet seek to understand in my opinion.

It's the new and full moon right? I've been trying to eat more vegetarian meals anyway, I'll at least observe these two days of the month (and now that I said it will have to do lest be false speech).

No r.w smith I would never make a blanket statement such as that. I am only saying while the skill of the practitioner is impressive I am not sufficiently impressed to believe this is mystical rather than a mundane ability based on these videos. I suppose it could be a mystical experience if you want it to be, similar to walking on hot coals.

He sure does. I e-mailed it to my Iaido friend- still a trick, since skin is rubbery it is harder to cut through than vegetables so the trick in this is keeping pressure evenly distributed through the blade while slowly sliding, rocking or stabbing with the knife will cut, so need to not slide after going through the watermelon since that could make assymetrical pressure. The guy in the video does it very well, although his knife looks cheap so we would be more impressed to see how sharp it is, doesn't really need to be that sharp to cut vegetables. My husband and I played with the kitchen knifes were able to confirm this on a small scale last night, which is sort of a dumb thing to do no blood but not recommending it. Just physics. Now I need a master of my nemesis the cheese grater to show me how to handle that without hurting myself.

I'm sorry did not phrase that well, I certainly would not want anyone to hack down as hard as they could with their sharpest knife. I have a friend who is an Iaido (Japanese sword) practitioner and does the trick cutting cucumber or watermelon on someone's body or neck, he does not claim to have magical powers but explains it is a trick in the cutting motion of the sword. I would not try anything so dramatic as there is definitely skill involved also, but realized I do the trick a little too while cutting vegetables onto my thumb and my son asked how I can do this and not cut my hand- my thumb would be gone if it was magic or qi powers. Peace to you

The sword trick works because you need to pull it across to cut flesh, but if you push straight down it will cut the vegetable but not flesh, you can demonstate this to yourself slicing a cucumber onto your thumb with a kitchen knife it will bounce off unless you make a sawing motion then it will cut.

I'd say the generative and destructive cycles in taoist perspective add great depth (which I am far from understanding) opposed to 4 elements which seem to be more free standing.

I don't think that's zen- that's Edward Lorenz's title of his famous paper in chaos model of dynamic systems "Does the flap of a butterfly's wing in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?"

I find Patrick's pictures gorgeous, this is from a 30+ year old mommy with young kids frequently looking over her shoulder. Patrick I'm sorry you got banned for that and I'm glad you're back.

I'd love to hear about the rain making and weather magic, not that I particularly want to practice it, but it sounds fascinating. Practically, I am interested in staying in harmony with nature and my relationships, it's like a groove that I am in and out of but can't quite figure out what makes the difference. thanks, looking forward to any information you can provide.

How old is she and how alert is she at this point? I am a physical therapist so will talk more about the conventional side. As soon as medically stable they need to start helping her sit up and move, early mobility even if have to hold her up at the edge of the bed helps stimulate the neural pathways. Have the family always double check that staff is careful of her hand and arm on the paralyzed side if her muscle tone is low it can get into funny positions or stuck in bed rail when she's moved around so always double check, hand open a little elevated on a pillow, no IVs in that hand if it can be avoided (don't want it to swell), staff should never pull on her arm to move her or help her get up, don't leave it hanging when she does get in a chair. Have the therapist show the family how to do passive range of motion to the paralyzed side, ideally this should be done several times a day. To bring her attention to the right side visitors and things to look at in the room should be on that side, unless it's something really important they need her best attention for then left. Pm me if you want too, wishing her all the best.

Has anyone noticed their sense of direction has gotten better with practicing qigong and meditation? Somehow in the past few years I have gone from easily getting lost to fairly consistently knowing which way to go even if not much environmental cues. Not sure if it's expanded awareness, tuning into something electromagnetic, maybe both.