soaring crane

haha. I've been to three Feldenkrais weekend workshops, and really enjoyed them. I have a few good books and have incorporated some of the principles into my routines but can't replicate on my own the experience of being guided through the motions by a gentle instructor. It's quite well-know here in Germany

With over 2,000 posts at TTB, this is the first time you've read of the Chinese Wu Xing? I don't mean that contentiously in any way, I'm just surprised. http://www.kheper.net/topics/eastern/wuxing.html re Greek element system, the date of one or the other plays no role whatsoever because neither ever met the other until sometime very recently. The Huangdi Neijing from the Warring States period is the first recorded record (as I understand it) of the five phases but how many centuries the system existed and was applied before records were kept, is anyone's guess. to clarify why the western word 'elements' really is inaccurate (this probably goes for the Greek system as well) - 'real' elements ie gold, cobalt, magnesium, are called elements precisely because they don't change form. They're elemental, can't be created. The Wu Xing are all about change. 'Wood' is burned by 'fire', resulting in ash, 'Earth', etc. The process of one transforming into the next is the crux of the system. To be fair, it's much less complicated to default to the easy word 'elements', and I do it, too, when talking about them. But I do feel it's important to understand that the word is meant figuratively.

Not taboo - I was responding to Stosh but I was on the mobile and couldn't quote. It's not literally about carbon atoms (or wood or fire or earth or metal or water. Well, maybe water haha). But referring to the phases as 'elements' really isn't helpful imo. But only for clarity's sake, nothing dogmatic on my part. When we use elements, people will often ask, 'what about air?', or they say, 'No, there are four elements - fire, water, wind and stone' ... In German, it's normal now in Qigong/TCM circles to refer to them as the five 'Wandlungsphasen' - phases of change. Also, thank you for the clarification about vice. Wondering - where did you get that list of vices? And have you got a chart assigning them to the different organs/phases?

'Elements' is the wrong word. These have nothing to do with elements in the western sense. Phases, states, or stages all say it much better. 'Vice' is a new one on me. Never heard it put that way before, that I remember.

mmmMMMmmm Feldenkrais

Note that aboriginal humans never sit like that. They squat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ edit: 'aboriginal' in the sense of original people (not necessarily 'Australian Aborigines'). Look for videos of tribes of the Amazon. I really believe now that we're built to either lounge (lie down), kneel, squat, stand, walk or run. I no longer sit in meditation. If I sit, it's in half-lotus on a folded blanket and I move - spinal circling or snaking moves, gently, maybe imperceptibly, but consciously. The very least I'll do is breathe through my spine and not hold back any resulting movement. I don't understand the value of sitting motionlessly (anymore). No judgment intended.

Hey you found a great write-up there, xor, thanks! (There doesn't seem to be a quote function or like button on the mobile interface)

Something you can always observe in children (I say that having seen it with our own daughter and all her friends, and having discussed it with many parents and Kindergarten ladies) is that they separate their food groups. In German it's called 'Trenncost' (meaning, 'Separated food groups', haha) and you can buy books on it. It's a fad diet that people swear by, but kids do it automatically. They don't want protein mixed with carbohydrate. They really don't want that gravy on their rice, or the peas to touch the pork chop. They aren't being picky or difficult; they're following their nature. I think it's quite likely that their instincts are correct. To my own damn credit, I tried like hell to allow our daughter to make her own food choices (the choice we made was what to buy, but she could say what she wanted and how she wanted it, to pretty large extent) but real-life in the form of the mother-in-law and every other 'normal' person wins out over time and now the kid is 13 and eats like everyone else. But she's still healthy

now, please stop dreaming, you beautiful butterfly. Arise and be me!

Time to mow the lawn. For those who have gone before, It's just a haircut* -- *apologies to Walt Whitman

Some words about Zifagong in English

That's a pretty good description of Zifagong :-)

remains the best Qigong music I've yet Found: Budi Siebert, Qigong (aka Wave Hands like Clouds) please listen to the sound samples. and then there's Acid Jazz like this: Boogaloo Joe Jones - GREAT lot's of other older Acid Jazz stuff just blows my mind. And maybe someday you'll get into real blues, stuff like this: Blues Instrumentals Blues Jazz When they sink in, the jazz and the blues just go straight to your belly and stay there. After a while, nothing else satisfies

it's a numbers' game that numbers play patiently. Come, infinity!

Regardless of the system or techniques used, I think the best possible situation would be to have the lowered sleep-requirement be the result of practice, instead of intentionally seeking it as a kind of conquest. This approach is likely to yield short-term effects but fail you over time whereas the lower-sleep requirement resulting from steady meditation is a completely normal phenomenon. Under four hours of sleep is extreme, the last thing you want to do is apply willpower to get there. You'll just burn out, guaranteed. Judging from my own circle of friends and acquaintances, and my own experience when I'm in top-form, it seems like there's something about the 5-6 hour range that appears naturally among people who pursue these lifestyles, so to speak. But regardless of my own bias, and the great information already noted here, you mentioned improving your diet and I want to add that, yeah, better nutrition overall is probably going to be requisite to your plans, but even more important than the nutritional value of your food is going to be the digestibility of what you eat. You should aim to eat as little as you can get by with, and only meals that you don't notice at all afterwards, so to speak. Quiet digestion is always important. Also, pay close attention to keeping the liver happy and quiet.

woooooowwww ... very sweet Have you seen this one yet:

Perhaps no one can see it because it isn't there. I see no wei wu wei in Obama's actions. Every move you describe is a calculated political tactic, the antithesis of wei wu wei. He's got a team of high-priced advisors (not to mention an entire intelligence community) telling him what to expect if he chooses option A, B or C. I don't know if he even makes the final decisions - who can really know? You misconstrue the concept when you confuse wei wu wei with intentionally standing back and watching your opponents hang themselves. It may be smart, crafty politics, but it's not Dao.

Spontaneous flame We need another drummer Maybe eleven

Rolling in from sea Columbus had lost his way Let's smoke the peace pipe!

Hi there again, I haven't been here for quite a while but I thought I'd update my PPD, only to find it asleep. I can't find a function to wake it up and assume that a mod has to do it. If someone could do that for me, I'd be very thankful :-) That got me to thinking that I don't actually know who the mods are anymore, and can't find a link to them on the website. In fact, I can't find an 'about' page anywhere or any historical info on the group. So I'm asking here - who are the mods? Thanks!

wooo wooo! Now I can rock me some ... uh ... meditations and stuff Thank you all

This is a very narrow list, restricted to your personal experience. I don't practice any kind of yogic meditation yet I experience other things in my spontaneous qigong sessions, and it can get quite bizarre, and some of them are definite signs that it's time to bring the session to a close. How was the OP to know if the phenomenon s/he experienced is a sign, or not? Did you come to your information intuitively or did you learn it somewhere? Given the labels attached, I assume they're recognized, standardized phenomena; you learned it somewhere along the line. And the OP is here to learn. I also believe (strongly) in not judging the things that occur during practice - not judging. But that doesn't mean ignoring. I feel the constructive answers given thus far are useful and insightful. I don't see where anyone placed any importance on the experience. It's been very non-judgmental up to this point.

Thank you, BKA, that worked. But, another question - my PPD or PFF tells me that I cannot start a new topic ... why? I hate bugging mods with stuff like this, but I tried to figure it out and failed.

Thank you BKA! just a thought - the mods list and other info of that sort could just be in a sticky at the top of this forum - that's where I looked first.

I turned 50 on the 24th of Sept, a couple Tuesdays ago. I also have a Qigong group on Tuesday mornings, a nice circle of elderly ladies (65 and up) who have been with me for about five years now. The class is held in an old house, in a large, airy old hall that was a music and dance hotspot at the turn of the century. The last century. There's a stage area with a grand piano behind me when I teach. There's a stack of sheepskins, carpets and blankets that people can choose from for something to stand on, but I'm always either barefoot or wearing thin socks on the old wooden floor, while my Grandmas like it a little more cozy. They're pretty tough, they don't need chairs for the 90 minutes, but they always have to have something soft and warm under their feet. On my birthday, my ladies really spoiled me. They sang a beautiful song in chorus in my honor and had brought carafes of coffee and tea, and cake and cookies, and presents for me. It was very touching. And on the Tuesday after my birthday, there were only four of them there. Being retired they're often on tour somewhere (Italy, Greece, North Sea ... ) so that's not so uncommon. But on this morning, I decided, since there were so many sheepskins left over, to try one out. I was on my usual spot in front of the piano. The four ladies were arranged in a semi-circle around me, and I was standing there on my sheepskin, wiggling my toes and saying something like, 'ooooh, cozy' when Monica, one of the more lively of the bunch said quietly: 'Yeah, it starts when you hit fifty' AHHHH! I gave her a look! And kicked that damn sheepskin off to the corner of the room, yanked off my socks and ... just laughed the loudest laugh I've laughed in a long time The whole bunch of us just belly laughed so long it took a while for me to gain my composure and start the class. I love my Grandmas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ here you can get an idea of the house and the room: http://www.form-farbe-wort.de/wort/artikel/blaues-haus/