freeform

White Tiger Tantra's the one. I haven't seen the content of all the dvds - from what I've seen it's the same as Stephane's stuff - just more footage of him performing the massage aspect.

I'd be interested in that

I couldn't be more pleased with my current toothpaste - Weleda Salt Toothpaste - basically seasalt and herb oils made into a paste. You brush it with a dry brush and a dry mouth and the saliva quickly produces the needed moisture - I get the same feeling of cleanliness afterwards as what you soap guys are suggesting. There is a subtle whitening effect that the salt has and the oil extracts seem to be making my gums look and feel healthy.

Steve Piccus has a squirting DVD - it's generaly the same as Stephane's material (I think he learnt it from Piccus)... he goes more in-depth on the massage side - I found the massage of the genital area particularly interesting - the idea is you massage the kinks out until on gently sliding the skin over the pubic bone up towards the torso the whole genital region down including the perineum slides freely... I think this is valuable for both men and women to know. I'm not in a relationship - so have not had the chance to test this squirting technique out - although I do remember trying it with my ex (before the dvds) and not having much immediate success... I think 'letting go' both pysically and mentally is the key hurdle to cross...

Good post, Hagar I agree on several points - yes we seek to control! we try to control everything! our minds, bodies, envoronment and others. It's the function of the ego. The problem is that all control is an illusion - if we start believing in our illusions we'll get stuck there and no spiritual progress will occur. We try to control because we're afraid of letting go - this fear comes about from the collection of traumas (both highs and lows) that we have experienced over our lifetimes. Secondly about always reaching for the good/pleasure and neglecting the bad/pain - that is the best example of control - we try to hold on to the water in the flowing river of life. It works both ways - we hold on to pain as well as pleasure... we try to control our experience. The key to negotiating the ego is to discover the polarities it operates on. Take pain and pleasure for example - they're two ends of a spectrum - we want one and try to avoid the other one - so like a pendulum, we uncontrolably swing from pain to pleasure, grasping and needing. We can integrate pain and pleasure - and they become one - and we need not control it - and it just happens - we are not concerned by this polarity, and rather counter-intuitively this allows us more free will - more 'control' (of a different kind). Once we start to integrate the polarities in our ego, we are presented with an opportunity to play! if conceptualising is of no concern - we can conceptualise and enjoy it/hate it and then let go...

Hey Michael... I've got a different belief to you regarding this (although I used to have exactly your belief). So let me demonstrate how my former belief changed... it might be entertaining to play with?! so you say the tape recorder records the sound of the tree falling!... who hears the tape recorder to verify that it recorded something!!!??? My point is that no matter how many instruments we lay out to 'record' reality for us - we still have to check the instruments in the end not even mentioning that we have to design the instrument and the way it works and the way it records and the way it comunicates its information back to us - reality is only ever percieved subjectively!! I actually lied when I said that's my belief - I tend to prefer to try on different beliefs for different uses. Sometimes I do believe that there is an objectivity to the world - but I dont believe that any one person/instrument/model/philosophy/religion/word etc can cover all of it! I believe the only instrument that can come close to experiencing 'objectivity' directly is the most sensitive instrument in the universe - our own body... ofcourse the mind needs to dealt with so that our illusions and behavioural patterns dont cloud the view of reality... This is how quantum mechanics relates to our everiday life... the fact is that we experience the world through five senses and our specific ways of filtering the sensory information into something that makes sense. We're grabbing little impressions of 'objective reality' and translating them into 'human' (first) and then 'Michael' or 'Yoda' or 'freeform' second. If we used echo-location like bats, we would be grabbing a different sample of the objective universe - the number of possible samples may be infinite. That's what QM tells us - the very act of observing something morphs it to the constraints of the observer. This is the beginning of working out reality - after that whatever model you use to describe reality is only there to make life easier - whether it's Taoist cosmology or Hindu or Buddhist or mathematical/sacred geometry or sound waves etc...

ooh! how come?!

Or you can go for one of this guy's powerfull creations!

Phew.. back home from 10 days of no internet access I missed you guys Actually this reminded me of a fun Huna practice of blessing things... I think you'd like it, Yoda... The idea is that you invoke the Aloha spirit when you see or experience something that resembles what you want to manifest... I've done a bit of it and if anything, it makes you feel great. If I want to develop my rooting and grounding and I see a big tree with cool strong roots I can bless it with the aloha spirit (basically like a projected 'inner smile') ... here's a link! ...I'm simpathetic to Thaddeus' view that the healing happens from one's own power and not from someone else's energy. However I also know that the human body is an incredibly sensitive system... Just today I cought something fell off the table without even noticing it falling. It struck me and reinforced what I've been finding - your body can sense the most subtle of things - you can fine tune your sensing in a narrow direction such as abdominal massage - so you notice the tiniest differences and distinctions that it seems almost magical - same with some martial artists, golfers, even poker players. In hawaii they used to navigate their boats at night by 'sensing' the direction. (the movement of the waves below deck, but also the directional energies of north/south etc.) We can also just train our sensitivity without specialising (to a narrow direction) and we can notice notice how everything arround us affects us in some way - the energy from a picture, from that advert, from the radio waves from the time of moon cycle - we're very much connected to everything, and if someone narrows their sensitivity in the direction of energy healing and someone else narrows their sensitivity in sensing their personal energy field, I believe there would be an independent healing - ie the person being healed will sense the healer's energy directly (without self hypnosis, strength of belief etc)... (I've seen this principle demostrated that's why I believe it.) It would be cool to have a double blind study with controls to test that.

Hi The Way Feels Great Welcome to the forum. You've got a great writing style - I was very absorbed in your story. I'm looking forward to your contribution to the forum. I know that there are at least a couple ex-psychedelic users here (me being one of them)... The Taoist way of getting there (wherever 'there' may be) involves using the body more than the mind. So most practices focus on you getting in touch with and aware of your body which is usually a little painfull at first. Psychedelic stimulants have a very powerfull effect that propells your energies in completely new ways, this to a Taoist feels unbalanced and there is a danger that the subtle work you've been doing may be disrupted by the powerfull torrents of drug-enhanced energy. I personally take a slightly different path than a lot of Taoists, in that I think that even though our culture has been forgetting their bodies and going up into their head - we're still a different bunch from the ancient Chinese, and just concentrating on the body would not work for most (because the mind is already over-powerfull, distracting one's efforts). My methodology is to burn the candle at both ends... getting back into the body is a slow and gradual process - working at clearing the mind of illusions and distractions is somewhat faster and can greatly benefit in moving back into the body... so that's what I do... In my view drugs can be used along the way, but only at very important points, with a sharp focus and intent, as rituals to move you along... otherwise we're just heating the atmosphere with our own life-essence. anyway - enjoy this place!

I'm personally with thaddeus on this... 'naturally' is such a hypnotic word (especially for the Taoist community). When people say it they picture or feel some ideal. Whether the ideal is 'in the momentness' or 'in line with the way of nature' or whatever doesn't really matter... the word naturally is like one of those advertising gimmicks - it brings about a feeling that is agreeable. If naturally means, as Todd says, 'as it is in the moment' - then again there are several considerations - for example the moment prior to beginning an exercises is also important - you could be anxious, excited, relaxed, introspective, in love, calm etc. each of these would bring about a different 'natural' breathing style - which is the right one? I see people all the time breathing with the very top of their chest, quite rapidly - it's very natural to them (I find it hard to replicate). I think a lot of practises aim to teach the body something new - whether it be a new way of directing energy or awareness, or body mechanics or muscular co-ordinations. From what I know about learning to learn something new, you have to do something new... otherwise you're not learning. I understand that there are people that try to train their awareness by not doing anything new - and that's also a skill (and not necessarily connected with standing). There are other complexities - for example a child learning a language in a class will be far less fluent than a child learning the language in the environment it's 'naturally' used in. The difference here is the use of the subconscious - learning in a class, forcing a certain breathing pattern, moving into the 'correct' position all involves the conscious mind - which only has the ability to pay attention to 7 +or- 2 bits of information at a time. Some would say that a child learning a new language in the country that it's used is learning the language 'naturally' (which in my view doesn't really mean anything)... the difference is that the child would be learning the way s/he learnt hir first language which is a difficult process to duplicate consciously. When I was showing my grandfather how to breath from the belly I didn't tell him to contract and expand his diaphragm (that's conscious learning). Instead I asked him to relax and move his attention down into his body - this is the way you can communicate with the subconscious - as he kept breathing lower and lower I asked him to imagine a balloon in his belly that contracts letting the breath out and then relaxes allowing the the air to re-enter. He was now breathing in his LTT 'naturally' - I could talk to him and completely distract his attention away from the breathing and his belly still did all the work. So for myself I use several rules - if there is a goal in a practise then I somehow impart the intention to my body (in stages) until the goal is achieved without conscious effort. If the goal is to not make any goals then that's a different story - it's going into a deep Yin state and I have my way of doing that. The point is that standing has a rather specific set of goals - as far as I know letting things 'be as they are' is not one of them, until one reaches a level where you can stand for many many hours with no effort.

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I'm not a very experienced stander, but I have looked into a lot of breathing methods, and have used them during standing. There are a few things to consider... One of the things I found valuable when standing (this is usually a post practice 15 minutes hands at the side type of stance) is to imagine yourself expanding and contracting with the breath and to physically do it. It's quite subtle - as you breathe in you raise a little from your crown and your stomach and lower back expand then as you exhale your stomach, back and crown slightly contract in towards your LTT. This feels quite natural and unforced when the LTT is pulsing... Another thing I've learnt is to create a reflex reaction where your body takes a deep breath automatically... I remember writing a post a long time ago explaining how to do this, I'll try and find it in a bit. The feeling is a bit like yawning - your lungs take a full, deep breath without you conciously engaging any muscles. After learning how to set off the reflex, it takes a couple of weeks to be able to do it spontaneously and without doing the reflex technique. Eventually it's possible to combine the two techniques together - you make the intention of expanding and contracting from the LTT as you breathe and then just notice the reflex action doing it naturally.

Great idea. I'm glad to finally be able to give back to this community in some kind of (semi) physical form. I've got a bit of an issue with the icon that appears under the name. I feel like the loud, garish American wearing shorts, pulled-up white socks and sandals, a bright hawaiian shirt over which hangs a stupidly big camera. I sometimes see characters like this in my local pub - and everyone stares! (it's not just Americans - the Spanish stick out too... and the Italians - jeeze they're loud!) So yeah - now that I've demonstrated my xenophobic bigotry, is there any way that that big, brash, bling-bling, icon could be toned down to something simpler? I don't mean to be a pain in the ass. It's not that vital. It's just that girls only want boyfriends who have subtle icons.

I'm not even gonna ask how you discovered this "quality pumping gear at a solid value"!! All it's missing is some butterflies on the side... although anything that doesn't have butterflies on the side is missing er.. butterflies.. on the side...

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Just as I suspected - I'm a watery fella! Year: Water Pig Month: Wood Tiger Day: Water Dragon Hour: Wood Dragon Inner Element: Water ( ) Elements: Wood/3 Fire/1 Earth/2 Metal/0 ( ) Water/6 So yeah - I can see the woodiness in me - the wateryiness is obvious... lack of metal is worrying, but not surprising... oh and btw - I found this site helpfull for finding out the daylight saving hours on your year and your location (plus the GMT calculation) in one step: www.timeanddate.com

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Great insight - and a very important one too! I find that the Huna tradition sheds a lot of light on this matter. The unconscious is a very important part of self development in Huna - the idea is to first become proficient in entering trance/subconscious states (which is linked to the LTT)... after that you learn to open up the deep inner channels (8 extraordinary channels) - which allows you to remain conscious while in your LTT (unconsciousness). When this is achieved you have several possibilities - you can work on your ego, behaviours and patterns of thought from 'in there' or you can gradually connect up to your 'Higher Self'. Eventually the idea is to create a balance where by your unconscious is informed by your higher self - and this seems to be similar to the wu wei state described in Taoism. I have to run - but you've given me some extra pieces to help work out the puzzle!

Cool! I'm glad someone tried it! I'm finding this drill has a lot of bang for the buck. I'm trying to do it at different times (standing, sitting, moving, talking etc). It's a little difficult at the moment - because I seem to pop myself out of the state sometimes - but I'm noticing what it is that pops me out (and how I pop out). So I think it's a case of stabilizing this state and making this dissorientation feel more comfortable (and it already feels very comfey when in bed - standing and walking on the other hand is somewhat scary - similar to a subtle vertigo feeling - maybe I need some more grounding practice to stabilize it? Thanks for recomending the book, Sean - it's on my wishlist - ready for my next amazon 'mega-shipment' lol . I had exactly the same experience of remembering places and times that I havent thought about in many many years - it's almost like opening the door into a part of your brain that locates you in time-space - and looking inside the door you can find all the time-space you've experienced - and all very vividly. I actually experimented doing the same excersise with time only. So I would remember something in the past then think of something in the future and carry on in exactly the same way as with the drill above. The result was very funny indeed - I completely lost track of time and then 'woke up' (I wasn't quite asleep - but close) not knowing what day it was, what time it was, how long I was 'away' for and what I had just done... very strange - I also was giggling for hours afterwards - felt like a newbie stoner laughing at everything - I had a very blissfull glow for the rest of the day. The only similar experience I've had was from 1 hour floating/sensory deprivation session - but that felt more hormonal/chemical - this was 'lighter' - hard to explain in words. The technique of experiencing a then b faster and faster has given me a tool to use on so many other things - and I'm finding this is very similar to Slavinski's DP3 technique (althouh the way he does it has some important differences). I'm finding that this is a way to integrate a polarity - and the resulting stillness is the neutral bit in between a and b. One thing I did was use it on making a decision - I wont go into detail, but I had to decide between doing a and doing b - there was a lot of emotional energy invested in doing one or the other and I had a hard time sticking with a decision - so I did the technique - imagine doing a then imagine doing b then a then b etc. untill I popped out into emptiness again, and I forgot what the options where and why they were so important. When the time came I actully made the decision naturally, without even thinking about it (or even noticing that it was a 'decision') - it was the 'right' decision, I'm happy to say! my next experiment is to use this on goals! a will be me as I am now and b will be me with the goal achieved...

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I reccon the most important thing is making everything/nothing the most important thing.

I heard that abundant Xenon gas in the air also helped in the same way... I can feel energy from a xenon lightbulb (especially if I put a magnet near by)

generaly the problem is with your tripple warmer overreacting to a minor threat. The way to permanently remove this reaction is to retrain the tripple warmer... this involves setting off the alergy, then sedating the tripple warmer - setting off then sedating again several times... if you've got a good sense of communication with your meridians, you can then tell your tripple warmer that whatever is setting you off poses no real danger. Or you can use self hypnosis - such as the the allergy CD from Jack Elias... it will work better if you do the tripple warmer technique too.

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