cheya

Good grief, bojole! These links are going to have me delving around in this stuff for WEEKS! Thank you!

Any TB's gotten into de-switching? I am currently investigating brain lateralization, left/right brain stuff, and came across this elsewhere. VERY interesting that a doctor of nuclear medicine is proposing that we can protect ourselves from EMF (omnipresent wifi, smart phones, smart meters, etc) with these simple exercises. I find the exercises energetically intriguing— don't know about the electrosensitivity aspect. Here's another interesting page on it, more explanation and vids: https://contemplatingtruth.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/deswitch/

Great short piece by JAJ: http://qi-encyclopedia.com/?author=Gods%20Living%20In%20The%20Body?

Iodine, in all its forms, is amazing. Here's a great article by Jonathan Wright, MD on some of its many uses. http://www.tahomaclinicblog.com/iodide/

You might be interested in previous DaoBum threads on Kuji-in: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=site:thedaobums.com+kuji-in&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Re multiple buttons: a wrinkle. (For me.) With 17 buttons, (possibly anything more than one), the name of the liker is not displayed, just the tally of clicks for each icon. Button clicker names may be available as notification to the poster, I don't know, but I really do like seeing on each post who has commented, and the button tally thing alone is too cold, too much like voting. And yes, of course 17 buttons is extreme. I most like Thank You! as a button, because that better conveys the feeling I'm usually having when I click "like". And sometimes I do wish I could multiple-like posts, so Outstanding! could be a pretty good second. Having an approval button of some kind seems to me a tool that knits us together. I'd be looking at any "improvement" for the sense that it could knit us together more.

Dawei wrote: "I assume one has to be a member logged in to see the buttons but it is easy enough to envision." Sorry, of course you"d need to be logged in, and I can't really recommend the site at this point, a gazillion threads, but so far low usefulness ratio (to me.) I tried to paste in all 17 buttons in a row, but our "forum cop" said I was trying to post too many pictures at one time. :-) So, other buttons Longecity uses are: Good point, enjoying the show, needs references, pointless/time wasting, and dangerous/irresponsible, as well as report, of course. If you could actually install more button icons and name them as you chose, it might be interesting to poll Bums what buttons they would like to have available. There are so many times that a post really strikes me, but I don't have much to say as a response, and even short approving posts that don't add content can disrupt the flow. Be interesting to see if a variety of TDB-useful buttons would decrease the number of random one-liners in threads... which I find somewhat annoying, especially if I just got a separate email announcing the post....

TDB could probably have a LOT more buttons! Longecity.org has the same format as TDB, but has many more choices than just "like": a total of SEVENTEEN! Here's a thread on ashwagandha: check out those buttons! http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/56409-ashwagandha-a-miracle-herb/#entry515874 Maybe an expensive upgrade, and a few of the buttons (dislike, disagree, ill-informed) might be constructive on a health info site, but disruptive on TDB. But there are also some useful ones: informative, cheerful, well-written, well-researched, and agree, along with the less harmonious responses. Two of the more negative ones I did kind of like are "unfriendly" and "off topic." Anyway, all those choices! But not sure any of them would help much for appreciating TaoMeow's difficult thread.

Sonstan, Of Two Minds :The Revolutionary Science of Dual-Brain Psychology, by psychiatrist Fredric Schiffer, MD might be of interest, help to you. He details his conversations with patients' left and right brains. You can bring out one or the other with the simple methods he describes. Not sure that would be good for you though. :-) But he goes into how each side of the brain has a different personality and how the two sides can learn to communicate with each other. Very interesting.

VonK, I've read/heard that acupuncture can re-establish the energy flow across or around scars... Is this your experience?

I am eternally grateful to my massage training for making us do everything— EVERYTHING— equally on both sides of the body. Left hand does it one side of the table, right hand does it on the other. Keeps the body and the brain balanced. That's the main thing that's allowed me to practice so long.

Eating with chopsticks left-handed is pretty cool too!

Hi Dainin, Yes, I've got Master Tsao's DVD, along with a number of others on TCR/bang/wand, but, for some reason, none of them appeal to me as much as Master Feng's inscrutable version. (Except for the MWI version, of course, which is quite scrutable...) I think I understand the movements, and they are in a way their own instruction... but I really want to understand what Master Feng said about it. As presented in the book, the practice switches back and forth between ruler and bang. One of the strongest practices reminds me of a witch stirring a cauldron (with the bang), which is a yang exercise?, but that exercise (shaking heavenly pillar) seems to be most closely related to this integrated primary qi. The author writes: "Through the rotation of Taiji stick driving the rotation of the body and internal qi in the same speed, at the stage of practising integrated primary qi, there is a feeling of internal qi uncontrollable by the meridians and collaterals. When internal qi circulates, it is like breaking out of flood blotting out the sky and the land to come and go. The meridians and collaterals are described as rivers and stream, and the points as villages and towns. But when the integrated primary qi circulates, it is like breaking out of torrents of water engulfing rivers, stream, villages, and towns and everywhere in a vast expanse of water." So, if primary means congenital, this is integrated prenatal qi circulating? What would that mean?

Hi GreytoWhite, Thank you for the link! Charles Tauber's stuff is great! I have seen some of his vids on youtube, but that's hard for me, being on dial up. But maybe I will get his bang DVD. Didn't see a ruler DVD yet. He makes wonderful bangs and rulers. You can pick the wood and the style, and he will advise you, based on your body measurements and wood and color preferences. He gives very good advice! I know! He made my bang! And it is so beautiful! Wish I knew how to post a pic...

Hi Dainin, All this time I thought you were doing Master Feng's version! I have the Feng/Wang DVD, and it is a huge help, but frustrating, as the verbal accompaniment to the performance is done by a woman with a very strong accent, reading word for word that terrible English translation! Word for WORD, I tell ya! That said, the DVD is still a huge help, just seeing them actually do the exercises, way better than 1 or two still pics per practice. Yes, I still do the Masterworks International version too, 3.5 years now, every day. (And as you, much slower, but not necessarily coordinated with breath. My breathing often does its own thing, even when my mind does not approve!) I've got a little of Master Feng's bang practice thrown in too, and the Chinese balls to get warmed up. Rereading the book, I've started to suspect that some of the elements I have just been noticing are probably supposed to be the main focus of the practice! That I need to be much more closely tracking the internal movement of the chi, which is quite palpable, but there is so much else going on! OK, now after writing that, I say to myself, "Well, duh!". It also occurs to me that Master Feng's version does not rock, so is not co-stimulating the qaio and wei (heel) channels along with every other targeted channel, the way the MWI version does.... Probably just making excuses for myself... :-) I'm also getting more interested in the bang (stick) exercises, which are said to be the yang exercises, and much more focused on developing arm/wrist/hand strength than internal energy. The ruler exercises are the yin, internal side. I learned some of the yang twining back aways, fun, but not so energetic, only to find that now, well down the road, those bang exercises seem HIGHLY energetic. It's hard for me to believe no other DBs are practicing some form of this set... surely there are more of us...

Hey Gerard, Great story! I'd like to check that out, but the link doesn't work.

Trampolines are tricky. You can just jump, and then it's just another physical exercise like running. Or you can jump focusing on the chi flow, and that's a whole nother critter! Done that way, it definitely qualifies as cultivation. But then, done that way, maybe everything would!

So have you googled both flashers and floaters to make sure what you are seeing is neither of those?

I considered caffeine pills once, just to keep at work as an alternative to the baby cokes I tend to use when I forget my morning cuppa... :-) Don't remember why I didn't pursue that route, as it would eliminate the corn syrup and other crap, but since then I have heard of actual deaths from caffeine pills and energy drinks! Did you google it? My memory is there were questions about inconsistent dosages in the pills, combining them with other energy drinks or OTC meds, and individual sensitivity to caffeine. Wouldn't touch 'em now! I find chocolate covered coffee beans consumed with a couple pecans offers an attractive alternative... :-)

What a great Daoist-looking Green Wood Goat! Thank you, Sean! I especially liked some of what a web author wrote about the Wood Goat, which I think Sean captured wonderfully in this Taoist Goat. Seems very fitting for TTB. The Wood Goat in Chinese Astrology http://www.futurescopes.com/chinese-astrology-zodiac-signs/goat/8487/wood-goat-chinese-astrology "The most noticeable trait of the Wood Goat perhaps is a curious stillness in nature. While the Water Goat is eager to forge social connections due to emotional compulsions, the Fire Goat is driven to physical adventure and travel. However the Wood Goat feels no such desire for motion and connection – he/she is at peace with the inner self and is only too happy to lead a quiet life, away from the spotlight. However this impulse towards stillness can go either way – in a positive scheme of things, this implies in the Wood Goat a quiet confidence and calm self-assurance. He/she knows what is important to him/her in life and can be trusted to achieve those by making slow but steady progress. Not only this, he/she can also be found advising others when asked and showing tremendous wisdom in their words and suggestions. However when taken to an extreme, this tendency to quietude can make the Wood Goat nervy and unsocial in nature. Being exceedingly sensitive to words and actions of the outside world, Goats as it is prefer to keep themselves slightly aloof from the rest of the world. However in this case the Wood Goat can end up being trapped in the ivory tower of his/her own thoughts and feelings and lose the life-affirming touch with the rest of humanity."

Well, not EVERYWHERE else, Rene... Singing Dragon is calling it The Year of the Yin Wood Goat... Goats are really cool people. Always rather a goat than a sheeple! And @ What a major cool goat pic! Thanks!

Yes, all wood goats are green. The color is tied to the element. If it's a wood goat, it's green, because the element wood is associated with the color green. If it is a water dragon, it's black because black is the color associated with the element water. Over 5 cycles through the 12 animals (60 years), the animal and the element of the year you were born will repeat. During those 60 years, your goat would have occurred once in each element before it gets back to the one you were born in. So naming the associated color is a little redundant, but more fun.

You guys are too literal. The accented A is (also) an artistic touch, adds to the visual, lands nicely in the middle for symmetry. And reminds us (well, me anyway) that this is not just another english word. I like it.

Oh Dang, Nungali! I only get to LIKE that post once! What a wonderful outcome! Celebration is definitely in order. And what a great goat pic!

Goats will do that! Gonna be a fun year!