freeform

aah! I see - yes I agree my channels are far from being completely open. The sexual energy redirects itself sometimes, but rarely, I tend not to be concerned with that. You have a Bodri-esque vibe to your posts - I actually enjoyed a couple of his books - though I dont take them as gospel... I've got to check out Sailor Bob - what Cam wrote about karma rings true for me, and I like the simplicity too

I agree completely - I think that's exactly what happened with me - I just have to add that indeed you must let the map become completely part of you - you have to study the map to the utmost of your ability - but then you must let it all go. It's so hard, but in my oppinion so necessary. Thank you.

Dear Yen I used to be quite 'wordy' - I studied semantics and linguistics for fun Alfred Korzybski (of General Semantics 'fame') was my hero - I even wrote my entire dissertation in e-prime. I studied linguistic Metamodelling and could take you on a brain-swelling ride explaining all the nominalizations, presuppositions, bad use of modal opperators, lost performatives, complex equivalences, deletions, distortions and generalizations in your posts... I found a wealth of powerful ideas that changed how I 'thought' - and the result of this expanded way of thinking was that I found little satisfaction in thought. Yes I still follow Korzybski's famous "the map is not the territory" which is the same as "The tao that can be spoken about is not the eternal Tao" - nevertheless both Korzybski and Lao Tzu carried on talking - elaborating on the map. I've had enough of the map - and I'm leaving the safety of it's certainties - I'm venturing into the territory and it turns out that when you're really in the thick of it, maps only tend to hinder your progress...

Yes this resonates quite strongly - I find that for me, the content comes afterwards - usually quite unpleasant - namely: anger - all this anger comes up and if I stay with it, a really deep sense of sadness and grief comes up from beneath that. Funny thing is, if you met me you'd think I'm the calmest, least angry person around - but it turns out that I hold a lot of anger inside. I've had this anger coming up for the past 6 - 7 months and it still does - the sadness beneath is a relatively new revalation - so even though I can silence inner dialogue quite easily, my progress is by no means fast, and rarely do I get glimpses of bliss or anything like that...

Yup my dad brought some back from Argentina - we've even got the traditional gourds and silver straws - the Argentinians take their Mate very seriously. It does have some kind of effect on me - gives a calm sense of energy, similar to coca tea...

I had a dream that I caught a meteorite. I know very little about them, but would really like one - does anyone know anything on the subject - where to buy, how not to get conned, any esoteric uses etc? I remember reading somewhere (connected to John Chang in some way) that meteorites hold a powerfull yin energy that is only available in the vacuum of space... Also remember seeing program about nuclear fusion, and that the most efficient way of doing it is to use 'helium 3' - which is very scarce on earth but abundant on the moon (at least)... fusion is about joining particles - alchemy... helium 3 being the alchemical agent (maybe a physical manifestation of this yin energy?)

Ok - so last night I went to sleep with the intention of carrying on the meteorite dream - I havent done any kind of dream interpretation before so I wonder what it all means: So the meteorite took me for a little trip - I say little... it was anything but - the only way I can describe it is I went down. This overwelming feeling of going downwards was coupled with the deepest, darkest darkness I've experienced - I'm pretty sure I fell into a very deep sleep after that. Also a funny thing happened during the night - our building was struck by lightning - we have a lot of scaffolding covering it at the moment, so that's probably why, but I didn't hear anything - the surge destroyed my girlfriend's transformer for her laptop, killed my tv reciever, and took out the intercom system for the whole building. It felt really uncomfortable at home today. I live in a church so I'm considering it an act of god

Thanks for your concern, sykkelpump. I certainly don't consider myself 'a very high level meditator' - I also don't really know what samadhi is. However it's certainly very noticeable when my mind is silent, and it's quite hard to tell how long the silence lasts for, I can only really estimate after the meditation. Maybe I am deluding myself, but it's certainly quite striking when dialogue stops, could I be masking the dialogue somehow? It was very alarming at first and as soon as I'd 'notice' the dialogue was back. Do you count body awareness as inner dialogue? Because my current experience is the witnessing of 'physicality' (without talking about it or analysing) I'm also wondering how you can tell someone's meditation ability from their posts. I'm not being sarky, and am genuinely interested - is it the energy of the post or the words I use or the concepts being put forth?

Hey ZenB I think it's great that you took up Tai Chi - I hope it really helps. You can also support that with some smart nutrition. I would highly recommend "X Factor Butter Oil" combined with high quality "Cod Liver Oil" - it's very good for all kinds of things (especially mineral absorbtion), but it's proven to be very good for arthiritis... I got my grand dad on the butter oil and the cod liver oil along with some natural multi-mineral compound and Glucosamine and MSM - and his artheritis started reversing - after just a week he was completely pain free - I'm not suggesting this will be the case with you, but it's certainly worth a try... I must also say that the Butter Oil is quite expensive... You should also get some good multivitamin/mineral compound - I've personally really enjoyed Dr Schultz's "SuperFood" Here are some links to places that sell X Factor Butter Oil and high quality Cod Liver Oil: http://www.greenpasture.org/products http://www.drrons.com/ http://www.htnetwork.org/superfoods.html http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/ or if you're in the UK: http://www.red23.co.uk/

Scott Sonnon (your favourite, Lozen ) has a DVD called "Forward Pressure" - he touts it as 'the yang of yoga' - I havent tried it. Also one of his crew put together an ebook with pictures and videos teaching his style of yoga in a progressing manner. Having looked at a preview chapter and tried it out, I'd say it's very much a mixture of stregth and flexibility - although it seems less about stretching...

Does anyone do any cultivation that's focused on the face? I remember Hearing a lecture by Vilayanur Ramachandran, a famous neurologist, where he describes how the face is mapped in the brain, and in fact shares parts that also map other areas of the body (in some people with damaged brains if you hurt the hand they can only feel the pain in a part of their face). I also remember reading a book by a Reichian therapist (cant remember the name at the moment, but I'll have a look) who says that our faces carry a lot of armouring and habitual expressions - these are what gives us our ego 'mask', and working on the face can have dramatic changes in how we behave. He also stated that the part of the brain that controls and recieves signals from the face is very large, and is very important when de-armouring the body. I also had an older friend that looked barely 30 but was in her late 40's swear by a facial excersise routine, where she would contract certain muscles, and pull with her fingers to create resistance - although it seems that this may cause residual tension and in fact promote facial armouring... but there is something to it... I know many people massage the face after extended qi gong session too...

Thanks Karen! Could you suggest some reading material for me on this? Yoda, yeah, I seem to remember that the Indonesian Keris was made with bits of meteorite in it - apparently it provides the missing yin energy that makes the blades come alive. (the yang was the Will of the creator) Cat - it's a great idea, I'll try it out, and report back - thanks for the idea buddabubba, My meteorite experience was much more pleasant - although I'd certainly try and get away from the meteor Paul's talking about. It's quite exciting to know that some of these rocks are older than the earth and have travelled untold distances, something kind of romantic about em...

Well I guess it depends on how you define thinking - I define it as having mental processes, where the energy is in the mind (upper dan tien). Can you feel the difference between hot and cold? That's a distinction. My aim is not to "fall off" - but to have a quiet mind - I certainly dont want to lose my body, I'm barely just beginning to find it. Generally speaking Taoist arts concentrate on having full awareness of the body.

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I'm one of those 'lucky ones' with almost complete control over ejaculation - I think it's less to do with luck and more to do with how you masturbated when you were younger. For me it was always about how much pleasure I can get from it - which meant that when I did, I'd masturbate for long periods of time (30 - 40 minutes), I learnt to recognise when I'm building up to an orgasm and would slow down - so within a session I would have 3 or 4 'opportunities' to ejaculate, but each time I'd withold. I would always ejaculate in the end though. I've noticed a few things that I do naturally to stave off that no-return point - firstly dont start to panic if you're nearly there, this panic or fright can make you ejaculate - perhaps it's something to do with the kidneys contracting... Also you'll notice that when you're nearing to ejaculation everything tends to contract - the balls, the muscles and tendons around the shaft, and the perineum - so it's good to breathe slowly and fully, pull those balls down, pull the penis from side to side (or create a 'screwing' motion if you're inside your partner) it immediately calms the area and the pressure subsides. Pulling out suddenly tends to build the panic and creates that extra bit of friction that takes you over the edge - just relax while you're still inside. I've found that pumping the pc muscle quite counter productive - my perineum/pc mussle tends to pump gently throughout intercourse - if your pc is very developed then the pumps are very powerfull and can literally bring about an unwanted ejaculation. I remember doing pc pumps over a few months, and for me it was generally counter productive - appart from the huge increase in the force and propulsion of the semen - I could probably have shot down a bird at that time However I've not been working on redirecting the energy much - sometimes it happens on its own, but most times it doesn't, so I tend to ejaculate in the end...

I always make my tea in a pot - whch means I drink a lot! (and my pee ends up smelling like tea ) My dad has been bringing me some green tea from kazakstan - probably not famous for its tea, but the leaves are a really nice colour and smell, and the tea is strong! Ooh and chamomile in the evening - really nice too

We're in agreement To be honest I dont consider myself a Taoist - I'm still not even sure what it means. I'm also a very kinesthetic person, and I need to be "in the body" to feel balanced - reading and generally 'contemplating' tends to get me out of my body - it doesn't mean I dont think or contemplate, I do, and still probably too much - but for me to 'understand' I need to feel it - not picture it, or talk about it or think about it. The tao that can be spoken about is not the tao - but nevertheless we carry on talking - I find that the tao that can be felt is probably much closer (at least for me) - and the kinesthetic sense is not so easy to talk about - at least for me...

congrats! They say that what you build, especially the very important things, and especially the ones you worked your hardest with and put your heart in - they are the very things we have to drop and forget and destroy at some point... I'm pretty good at the droping away thing - not so great on the building thing - and in that regard you're still my hero

You're quite right, I couldn't possibly know that that's the only way. Maybe I was trying to emphasise in an emotional way? I'll try and re-phrase it - I think for a modern human, living in a modren society and wanting to carry on living in such a culture, relating deeply with another will result in being able to relate deeply with yourself, without having to retreat into a cave for a decade... Family, friends and lovers provide us with the mirror to see ourselves fully - including the little emotional games we play that keep us in a fake sense of safety. Relating deeply is letting all those emotional, dark, repressed and hidden parts of us be there in the moment in a kind of vulnerable way while being with another - it allows you to see those parts through another (like seeing your face in a mirror) and not hiding whilst in the presence of another person - it's quite transformational. It happens naturally (or should I say accidentaly) all the time when we're with other people - but that's when we get embaressed and immediately cover those vulnerable parts up (oops I dropped my mask and someone else saw - they saw the real me without the mask, how could they possibly love and accept me now?!) It's hard to know what the mask is and what the real you is without another person. That's why we seek masters maybe...?

That makes a lot of sense, thanks. could you say some more on this? what do you mean by "meditate in a non-karma-creating way"? Is it a specific way of meditating? (i.e. can you meditate in a karma creating way?) Or is it just meditating sincerely even if a part of you doesn't want to? Is this info from Burgs? I've had a look at his site and I'm certainly drawn to him. Can't quite afford a retreat yet, but as soon as I can I'll check him out, he seems very genuine.

HAHA Actually I never answered because it's a loaded question - If I were to answer it I would have to accept the presupositions that the question is loaded with - that "a Dan Tien" can evolve, not only that but can evolve in degrees (so it can be sufficiently evolved and insufficiently evolved) - that there are 'better' and 'worse' kinds of energy - that you can 'put in' energy. That there is a required level of evolution of the DT to start 'puting' energy in. etc. And perhaps the biggest reason is that I feel it's a mental question designed to fulfill a passing mental desire for more 'knowledge' rather than anything practical. I'm sorry if I'm incorrect, but that's what I feel - I dont mean to insult.

Yen, I suspect my reply will not be of much value to you, since I'm not going to be quoting canonical texts. I dont read much of them any longer. It's also quite hard to make factual sounding statements from something that was written in a different culture in a different time with a completely different language... The thing is interpretation is quite hard - these are not scientific documents, and there aren't clearly defined terms. However, I doubt very much that the kind of logic/intelligence that is used in the modern day was used then to come up with the I Ching - it is beyond linear intelligence - even the most developed modern intelligence - Billions of man hours from the most intelligent men and women of the world have been spent on studying the universe and now we have quantum physics approaching the breadth of the I Ching. The kind of intelligence these sages used was beyond 'logic' - it was beyond simple mental processes - it's the kind of intelligence that you can feel and taste with - the 'true knowing' that appears when the mind is silent, the heart is connected and the body grounded. The knowledge of the I ching wasn't developed from studying turtle shells - a trutle shell may have immediately inspired such knowledge, but can you immagine a sage thinking - well we've got these seasons, and this water and these mountains yeah - so it's pretty similar to this turtle shell right? Cosmic Intelligence happens in a moment - there is no deduction, no mental thought to develop it... Saying all this, I do believe that it takes this linear, logical type of intelligence to translate a glimpse of 'true knowing' into something that can be used and understood by someone who isn't prepared to cultivate the level of stillness and completeness that it takes to have this knowledge experientially. ofcourse this is my own interpretation and my oppinion

Oolong - the excersises are very much similar - only, as you say, the Aristotlean one is intelectual - it allows a wider perspective on your initial desire. The one I wrote is based on a principle called Metaprograming (programs that run programs that run programs etc) - and another principle called Parts Therapy (or Parts Integration) - it comes from a synthesis of two disceplines - Neuro Linguistic Programing and Gestalt Therapy. The end result is the integration of the part you're working on. By integration I mean it dissolves into 'You' and not a separate part - and you're left with the ability to act out on the desire or not - it stops automatic behaviour and makes you more 'whole'. If the decision is to act out on it you'll have a much easier time because there will be no internal resistance, or conflict of interests. You can use this process with parts of you that desire, with parts of you that sabotage, with parts of you that you're ashamed about, with parts that suffered trauma and 'protect' you by repeating negative patterns of behaviour etc... At the end of the excersise the feeling that I get is the same that I have glimpses of in meditation and chi gong - a spacious sense of gentle bliss, a complete silence in the mind (for a good 30 minutes, with no meditation) and a lightness quality to my energy.

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