soundhunter

That's interesting that you mention it as an epidemic bad habit...I do it and the dentist insisted I needed a dental guard for sleeping, and many people I know have needed one as well, it seems to be a very common "epidemic" these days. Wonder why, it's such a common thing these days.

Oh you're very welcome! She's not only very special in these regards, but amazingly generous with her knowledge, I really admire her.

Yes, but not ALL males, all males wouldn't be discriminated against because of the actions of one. I agree with this. Just read it the day this thread popped up though, so it seemed relevant to the discussion, no idea how authentic it is, have no real knowledge of the history of Chen Taijiquan. While minutes ago trying to see what I could dig up , which was zilch, I did find some cool articles about women in the history of martial arts, like this one. I look forward to learning so much more about this fascinating history as I learn about Taoism and it's many facets in the years to come. Other than religious traditions centered around Goddesses, I have yet to find a more woman friendly spiritual tradition than Taoism.

There are western herbalists that have fine tuned their sensitivities to the effects of plants, where they can sample small amounts and understand the energetics of the plants, how it is affecting their systems and what it would be good for. A blogger who shares plant wisdom very generously is Kiva Rose, who also teaches what you are describing.

I think it'd be enjoyable for the people watching alone, and from what I understand there's many people there who enjoy being watched, like performing musicians and an audience, both share creative energy with each other. Once my kids are big enough to leave for bouts of time I'd like to go to a burning man fest with my husband, we enjoy being in the company of colorful freaks and weird music. One big wacky colorful beautiful chaotic festival of humanity.

gulf islands, bc, canada. aka paradise.

Did you read the whole thing? Including this part "Vowing to never practice Chen Taijiquan, Ziaoniu broke her sword in two. She was inconsolable, and after an extensive period of mourning, hung herself. She was buried with her broken sword. Following this horrible incident, Chen Xunru decreed that Chenjiagou Taijiquan would not be taught to women."

hrmmm? Master Wang Liping

From what I've read and the very little that I understand, I have yet to find any Taoist words that I find conflict with, as a woman, a feminist and a mother of girls. That doesn't mean that those practicing Taoist arts haven't themselves been sexist bastards at certain points in history

I'd send some to you if you needed. Maybe you should be an Auzzie doc dealer

I can share

I saw him speak live years ago, a friend was writing an article about him for a magazine. He was a very entertaining and compelling storyteller, I enjoyed his shtick very much, however what stopped me from taking any of it too seriously is your point exactly Michael. If what he was saying was true, he'd have been served up as reptile jerky or something long ago. He does a good job of connecting obscure tidbits of fascinating history though, and there's some truth and value to his stuff in my opinion, though I don't buy the big conclusions of his. Though I wonder, kinda wandering about here, what's so bad about someone being schizophrenic? Does that mean they are incapable of wisdom or knowledge? Just because someone isn't "normal" doesn't mean their ideas aren't worth consideration, particulary when most of agree that reality as it often appears is a grand illusion.

I'm with you on this, we're done having children at 3, and I already look forward to being a grandparent someday I hope by having three kids, the odds are in my favor! I also think it is natural to want this, procreation is as natural as it gets, this is what nature revolves around. The old chinese folk religions which spawned Taoism involved much reverence for ancestors, and family life is where human harmony is prime, if done right. I would be quite sad if I didn't get to be a grandparent, hoping to know my grandchildren is my greatest motivation to live into old age, and a part of my inspiration to develop wisdom to share with and benefit these future grandchildren. As for if I only had one child, I'd still want to have granchildren, and it would probably be an awkward thing on some level if they chose not have children. Perhaps the answer would differ depending on why someone only had one child, how much they love children etc. If I only had one child it wouldn't be by my choice, but for people who choose to have only one child, I'm going to guess that they'd be less concerned about grandchildren.

Thank you for this

It's been amazing, the twitter element of this uprising. The Iranians had no idea there were so many caring people in the US and the west in general, now they know. I could cry I'm so impressed with the bravery these people are showing. Anyways, here's where you can watch the twittering in real time, whether you're a twitterer or not

Do nice guys finish last? Is it up to men to tolerate or handle women's bad behavior? This stuff is all irrelevant n the world of families, marriage, children, sunshine, seasons, celebrations, generations. I was a bad girl attracted to bad boys. In my experience, the young girls who played that game WERE insecure. Often when a truly good guy would come into our lives, ready to love us, we placed such low value on ourselves that we'd wonder what the hell was wrong with these good guys, if they were willing to love us so much, clearly, there was something wrong with them. In my case, and that of many of my friends from back then, we grew up, and the nice guys did win. We married them. We had babies with them. We are with them for decades. The bad boys who succeed in family life and become good fathers and decent adult men become nice guys. The bad boys who stay bad boys are not good family men, but seems many of them, once they meet the right woman and once they are ready to settle down, become nice guys. Those that don't and try to combine family life and maintain their badness, well, they fail and end up devastating their children's lives. The bar scene is where my husband and I met, we both worked in the bar. He was, and still is, a very nice guy. I was a bad girl who was turned good with him. He didn't do anything but love me unconditionally while I worked through the shit that came with a horrible childhood that had toughened me up. He won. I had fun with those bad boys, but it was spiritual destruction, only by living a life where things are simple, pure, and true have I found the space to develop wisdom and pursue spiritual growth. I recognize that I am only one voice in this subject, but I'm in a similar space as a few people here who are in the family season of their lives. Now there's lots of women and men in other seasons and places, there's Witch, there's nuns, there's women content to be single, there are bad girls. No mode of manliness is the right mode for all women, and in some significant areas of male-female relationships, the nice guys do win in the end. And bad boys do become nice guys too, when they have had enough of the game. I'm glad I'm with my nice guy, he's faithful, kind, a truly devoted father who speaks to his mother daily, and is the dream daddy to our two little girls and our infant son. edited to add: my husband got laid a lot before marriage because he was good looking, and he was a pro BMX freestyler, these two qualities drew women to him like magnets. Being confident and fufilled in your life is the ticket to success in love, is my belief. Desperation is unnattractive in anyone, sucking up to anybody is unattractive, unrequited adoration and idolization is unnattractive in anyone. Confidence, inner power, success and a sense of fashion are attractive to almost everyone, of any gender.

There's a picture of him at the bottom of this page on his site and here I went to a TCM doc for serious sinus issues, and with a combo of herbs, accupuncture and diet therapy he cleared up something that caused me more pain than childbirth and that western medicine had been useless to treat. The diet he put me on he called the clear bland diet, no spices, no major flavors, no garlic/onions/chili/pepper/curry, lots of bland grains and veggies, small bits of meat if desired but very little, broths, teas. Importantly everything was to be warm, nothing cold. since then I've noticed if I consume anything cold, my problem sinus area acts up, so I don't consume much cold foods/drinks anymore unless I'm willing to suffer slightly. he told me he thought I should make that diet the basic diet i follow for life, but I found it depressingly boring and I love eating too much to stick to it, though I felt great when I was on it. I became aware of the energy inmy hands when i was on that diet, I could feel liveliness in my fingers and hands, something I've only felt when I was true to that diet over a couple of weeks.

Someone posted this link here awhile back ago, and I found it fascinating reading, though it's written by a muslim who believes that spontaneous qigong is very very dangerous from a muslim perspective. So perhaps not as relevant if a muslim critical perspective s not what you're looking for, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

He doesn't claim to be a master, only a teacher and I've never heard him say that, you can hear his words on on youtube.

So sorry to go on off topic Still just a newb readiong with fascination. I do think most people can't handle power without being tempted to practise evil, same with people who amass great wealth. I personally don't want any power, I'd prefer wisdom. All these people gaining power too quickly are having to face some demons and problems sounds reasonable to me. And Max being a bit shady sometimes about it all, well i don't know him, but if he's got power and he's making money off of this stuff quickly and getting as many students as he can and selling books etc, well, there's some room for corruption no matter how wholesome his original intent was. I also disagree that becoming conscious, waking up, living with reality has to suck. Watching repeatedly, I can't see suckage anywhere in his contagious giggles. K, back to lurking now, since you guys all know so much more than me anyways

Not indigenous, I wasn't just thinking them. I was thinking poor people who make up a huge chunk of this planet, and in places like Japan, very limited in space. Both these groups of people tend not to have the luxury of rooms for individuals, and often don't have individual beds either. The family bed has been the norm in Japan for ages, and they're not indigenous, many of them just live in very small spaces.

offtopic witch & yoda I disagree with that family bed tip I think your daughter will outgrow it when she's way too old for it. I know lots of families who do what you do and all are healthy and happy. It's the cultural norm in places where people have small homes without separate bedrooms, families sleep together until the kids are married off. Then again maybe that's part of the reason some places marry their kids off so young But having separate beds and separate rooms is a luxury millions of families around the world don't share, it's not a necessity for human children. /offtopic