cheya

Hi Eugene, Glad you like the TCR practice! I do all six forms every night. I used to do most of the variations too, but I've pared it down a bit as I've added some other practices (some Feng's tai chi bang, for one), putting the chi flow through its paces. Ninety minutes! Whew! I do about 45 minutes, but not all of that is TCR. Please convey my regards to Phil if you see him. In addition to providing me with a great practice, he's been very generous in answering questions.

The big tools are great for large areas, and you can get smaller gua sha tools for little areas. Gua sha on the hands makes an amazing difference in the pliability of palm and fingers, and is a real boon for woodworkers, musicians, and artists: anyone who uses their hands intensively will love this! It's also great for arthritis. Apply some oil (especially one with dragon's blood herb in it! But that stuff stains clothes), and then use a Chinese soup spoon or any other smooth edged tool on the palm, especially around the base of the thumb, and on the little-finger-side edge of the palm, which can get really tight and thick. Then here's the best part. You need a notched tool. I guess you could make one, but I use a fish-shaped one like you see on the gua sha page MithShrike linked to above. The notch on the tail is perfect for gua-sha-ing your fingers! Oil your fingers up, and then run the notch up and down the palm side of each finger, right over muscles, right across the joints. Then do the surfaces between your fingers, working right down into the "crotch". You will feel little gritties (sand), especially near the base of the finger. Do it until each finger is warm and pink. If you do this 2-3 times over a couple weeks, the sand will be gone and your fingers and hands will loosen up dramatically. Then you only have to do it when you notice your hands have tightened up again. I bet it'd really help for doing the Kuji-in mudras!

Gua sha has been a wonderful technique in my bodywork practice, and it an amazing way to treat your own chronic muscle aches and pains, easy to apply. You can use a coin, a jar lid, a chinese soup spoon, and you just "scrape" down and out over the area. You MUST use oil (preferably chinese herbal oil, but any will do), or you will damage the skin. If the area doesn't need the technique, the skin just gets a little red, but if there is congestion/stagnation, you will raise up red, blue, purple, or even black bumps that look like bruises, but which is called "sha" or toxins by practitioners. The darker the sha, the older the condition. You wait til those marks fade, and then do it again. With repeated treatments, the sha gets lighter and lighter until you find you no longer raise sha at all, and by that time, the muscle aches are long gone. The theory is that you are raising deep-lying toxins up to the surface where the superficial circulation can carry them away. If the area really needs it bad, the skin will blanch when you rub across it, as the superficial blood is moved away, and then turn bright red, as the blood from deep comes to the surface. I call it "herding blood". An Asian porcelain soup spoon works really well. The best tool I've found to do gua sha on yourself is a saddle-shaped Cuisinart ice cream scoop. Classy! It's got a handle on it that lets you reach further into those awkward places under your shoulder or on your back. Actually, any of the saddle shaped scoops will do, just make sure the edges are not too sharp or rough, which will damage the skin. You want to move blood without damaging the skin, so you need a very smooth and blunt tool with no sharp edges. And oil! Be sure to use plenty of oil! Warning! Be careful using this technique: the area treated will often look like you fell off your bike onto gravel! Don't do it on children or you may be hauled in for child abuse. (it's happened!) Don't do it on exposed skin if you're going out, unless you just hang out with bodyworkers and acupuncturists. :-) You'll find youTube videos really showing you how to do it and what it looks like. It may look awful, but it works!

Lovage (Just a little in salads is amazing) and Fennel (salads and seed grazing in the garden) are two more of my favorites. And then there's Boneset, which volunteered in my garden some years back and which I zealously protect from the mowers even though it's trying to grow into a path, and all I do with it is admire the big, strong plant. Boneset isn't used for broken bones, but for colds and a terrible flu, which they used to call "break-bone fever". Somewhere I read that boneset has more vitamin C than any other herb, and that every settler's home had a supply hanging from the rafters all winter. If anyone got even a hint of a cold, they were forced to drink boneset tea! I say "forced" because the tea is EXTREMELY bitter. It tastes truly nasty, even with honey and mixed with other herbs. Just the threat of boneset tea was enough to keep children from getting a cold! That seems to work for me too. I have a great supply in the pantry, and I hardly ever get a cold! Boneset is also supposed to facilitate sweating (I haven't tried that, it's too bitter even for me!) This is a truly unusual looking herb because its leaves are continuous across the stem so they look like the stem has just grown through them. It comes back faithfully, year after year, bugs and critters don't seem to care for it either!

Basil! Tons of Basil! Mammoth leaf, Italian, and Holy Basil too! And Cilantro! It tastes great, and it's a major detoxifier of heavy metals. Seed it every 3-4 weeks to keep a constant supply. It likes to grow close together, so you can seed it in a couple square feet, scattered loosely, not necessary to keep it in rows. One of my favorite tricks is to "mulch" with little lettuce plants (seeds will be too slow) in between the slower plants like tomatoes and broccoli, that take more time and only need the space when they get bigger. The lettuce in between keeps the weeds down and holds the moisture. You could do it with spinach, or anything else that grows fast and is out relatively quick.

Dang! I thought I was doing great with a year and a half of daily TCR practice. But when Tamas Acs wrote this last May, he'd been doing tai chi ruler for 2000 straight days! http://primalsynergy.com/lifestyle/day-2000-of-my-tai-chi-gong/

Hi Charles! I want to chime in here about your custom made taiji sticks (bangs) and rulers! They are so beautiful! I use the tai chi bang you made me every day, and really appreciate your guidance in choosing the wood and sizing it for my body and purpose. You offer a wonderful service. Thank you! Also, your youTube bang videos are the most helpful I've found. cheya To see Charles' custom taiji sticks and rulers, go here: http://charlestauber.com/sticksandrulers/

You could also do a practice I learned under the name "Ten Breaths, Eight Mai", which circulates the chi through the eight extraordinary channels (eight mai) and covers the macrocosmic orbit. You can find a version in Charles Luk's book, Taoist Yoga, pgs 25-26. Joe Blast kindly posted those 10 steps/breaths in another TB thread: http://thetaobums.com/topic/24433-extending-your-sitting-meditation-time/ Scroll down to his post (last one on the first page) for the ten step description.

Hi Crunchy, Some years ago I was playing with two sets of those chiming Chinese health balls, and noticed that they were inducing a flow, hands to head, head to feet, feet to head. The chinese do claim that the balls induce meridian flows from you hands, but I was stunned. Even if it's true, I would just never expect to actually feel it! I figured it was a one time thing, but it happens every time I pick them up! I start my chi gung practice with them now, just to get things cooking fast. I haven't ever worked on getting the circuit going without using the balls, though... The balls, also called Baoding Balls, are mentioned on a number of threads here. You can find those threads by googling with this term: "site:theTaoBums.com chinese health balls" I don't know if it will actually open the macrocosmic orbit for you, but it may help you clear the necessary circuits. Sure feels good, anyway! (If you decide to do it, you have to find two sets of the old heavy balls. The new ones are too light weight to make good vibration in the hands.)

Hi SB, You could add some epsom salts to that hot water soaking.... and also, are your calves sore to deep pressure? Tight calves can contribute to sore feet too, and massaging your calves, or rolling them on a tennis ball might help. What do you wear for shoes? Robert Bruce has some amazing mental techniques for energy stimulation he calls "tactile imaging" and "mobile body awareness" that taught me how to activate the energy channels in my feet (and then all over the body). He has a site called astraldynamics.com . If you can't find his page on tactile imaging, pm me and I can email it to you. It takes awhile getting the hang of it, but the techinique has been amazingly useful to me for energy work. You might give it a try.

May be a real story, who knows, but Osho was called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in 1972, not Osho. The name Osho came much later.

The hormone aldosterone is also effective in age related hearing loss, at least if aldosterone levels are low. Aldosterone is expensive. Norm Shealey has an acupoint protocol (he uses a tens type unit) which he claims increases aldosterone. Interesting experiment....

Meredith gives a 7 step practice which involves doing a section of your regular tai chi while mentally tracking specific segments of energy movement. You repeat a section of your practice 7 times, 10 minutes or so for a single rep. So it's taking significant time to do the practice, but you're doing your own form (so long as your form fosters relaxation and does not foster tension.) This 7 step practice is a small part of the material in the book. I'm not doing the 7 stage yet, but the book is very helpful to me beyond the specific practice he mentions. It is more about ways of paying attention to the energy, and what to look for, a different set of points to focus on (niwan, lingtai, dailing), and cultivating the energy paths, than it is on any new physical forms. "Real taiji is about energy cultivation and deployment." He says it's about learning to feel and focus within yourself. "..the mechanism of true Taiji... functions to get your mind fully and pervasively interpenetrating your body exclusive of any blocking physical tension or muscularity so that spirit energy is connected seamlessly from feet to hands." We could say he trains you to feel the energy states and surges within your tai ji practice with the goal of energy deployment in pushhands and beyond. Sort of. I'll probably never be able to manage the push hands part of his training, due to the state of my knees, but the book is fascinating none the less, largely because he describes and pursues the energetic experience in words that seamlessly meld with what I have already discovered by myself in my energy practices, far more so than I have found in any other source. Your milage may vary.

Meridith says you will have to practice a type of tai chi (series of linked postures) to get much from his book, and not every tai chi practice will work with his system. While he recommends Zheng Manqing's 37 move sequence, he says any tai chi style will work, as long as it emphasizes relaxation and not tension. He aims to help us rid ourselves of the "deep pervasive tension" that we all harbor, the tension that also gives a purchase for the energy trigger Tumoessence refers to in his post above. I may have to take up tai chi! (Although it does seem to be working with tai chi ruler.)

Hi Mal, Are you asking how it changed a tai chi practice, or energy practice in general? (I don't do tai chi.) Tumoessence was the one who first recommended the book on the basis of its effect on his tai chi practice. He doesn't seem to be online often... you might pm him to see if he'll chime back in on this...

Gotta pipe in on the other side here. My 40# border collie was attacked twice in his life, both times by pit bulls. Once was a dispute over some small tidbit in the road, I didn't see the beginning. The pit had got out of his fence, and had been in many fights before, mine hadn't, so the owners paid the vet bills that time. The second time, an unknown 70# pit bull that lived half a mile away across a large hill, attacked my border collie in my carport. If I hadn't been home, my dog would have been killed. Caught totally by surprise, I ran out and grabbed the pit by her rump and her collar. That was a really stupid thing to do I found out, but I was lucky, didn't get bit, and saved my dog. I lifted both the pit and my dog totally off the ground (adrenalin is amazing), but the pit wouldn't let go of my dog's leg, even with my dog biting her face. Eventually she let go of my dog. She was bleeding all over her face, and my dog had big holes in his legs that took weeks to heal. My neighbor told me that pits are trained to fight by disabling a dog's legs and then going in for the kill. This dog, "Sugar", turns out, was a rescue, of unknown origin. My neighbor claimed she must have flunked out of fight training. A kind soul adopted her, but let her run loose. Other dogs in the neighborhood had been killed or mauled, but no one knew who was doing it. After we cracked down on "Sugar" and her owner (found by the rabies tag on Sugar's collar), and the owner had to pay some major vet bills for my dog, those maulings ceased. If you want a pit, I'd make sure you've met the parents, or at least are very sure the dog has never been anywhere near fight training, or even came from a bloodline involved in fighting. To her credit, Sugar never bit me. She clearly felt differently about the men who came to help when they heard me screaming. It's one of the scariest thing that's happened to me in recent history. I feel sorry for pits, but would never own one.

My client is using a CPAP machine. There are other solutions, but I think this is the standard. When your blood oxygen is low and you are sleep deprived, you can fall asleep very quickly, not necessarily in bed! You are sleep deprived because you wake up sometimes HUNDREDS of times during the night. Your doctor can send you to a sleep clinic and they will find out how often you wake up. Another important thing to understand is that trouble breathing can be caused by narrow throat structure, which can be genetic, not just due to overweight. That seems to be the case with my client.

Here is an interesting version from scholar Ellen M Chen, The Tao Te Ching: A New Translation with Commentary. "I have three treasures (pao), To hold and to keep: The first is motherly love (tz'u), The second is frugality (chien), The third is daring not be at the world's front. With motherly love one can be courageous, With frugality one can be wide reaching, Daring not be at the world's front, One can grow to a full vessel (ch'i). Now to discard motherly love, yet to be courageous, To discard frugality, yet to be wide reaching, To discard staying behind, yet to be at the front, One dies! One with motherly love is victorious in battle, Invulnerable in defense. When Heaven wills to save a people, It guards them with motherly love."

Hi MoG, I have a client, thin as a rail, recently dignosed with sleep apnea. This person's father had it so bad that his kids had to keep him awake while he was driving! Scary! Your blood oxygen drops, so you are exhausted all the time. This client is undergoing treatment, and feels MUCH better! You will too! Good luck!

Hi MoG This REALLY sounds like sleep apnea, and it is not spiritual. People die from this. Please follow GrandmasterP's link and advice to have yourself checked out medically ASAP! Good luck!

Tumoessence, thank you very much for this recommendation! Meredith's descriptions of energetic development in Juice: Radical Taiji Energetics, are the first I've read that actually describe what has been happening in my practice over the last few years! This book is a huge help in watching and moving the energy, finally offering a(n unusual!) framework that fits the way my practice has already been developing. I'm psyched! Anybody else fascinated with Chuang Tzu's statement that "The Ancient Ones breathed from their heels", check this one out.

Welcome Sam! I'm enjoying your posts! cheya

Tai Chi Ruler practice might work for you. I've been doing this version for over a year now. It cultivates the 8 extraordinary channels and amps up the chi in your hands and feet. I love it! It's a moving practice, but it takes a VERY small space. http://www.amazon.co...f=cm_cr_pr_pb_t If you go to the Masterworks International website, you can watch some of the DVD and get a feel for the practice. (Doing the practice MUCH more slowly than shown has been more effective for me...) Adeha PS Interesting doing the rocking if the boat is rocking too!

Hi Humble, Mike Adams at NaturalNews.com wrote this in February 19 2010: "Amino acids shown to be effective at treating brain injuries" The link is broken, but I copied the article. Maybe this will give you some leads. Also I'm pretty sure I read that progesterone and magnesium are nutrients that help after brain injury from stroke (maybe not quite the same as TBI...) Good luck! cheya "(NaturalNews) Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have found in a lab study that amino acids are highly effective at restoring cognitive function and balancing neurochemical levels in those who have undergone brain trauma. Conducted on mice who had been inflicted with traumatic brain damage, the study holds promising potential for humans with similar injuries. The study appeared in the online journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In it, researchers fed brain-injured mice leucine, isoleucine, and valine, three branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) that have been shown to heal severe brain injuries. The result was that the brain-injured mice demonstrated a full cognitive recovery, visibly responding the same as uninjured mice following their treatment. The BCAAs used in the study are the precursors to two important neurotransmitters, glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) which jointly balance proper brain activity. Damage to the hippocampus, the portion of the brain that sustains memory and higher learning, is typical during a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and results in reduced BCAA levels. Supplementation with BCAAs has proven to rejuvenate the brain and restore it to normal function. Intravenous nourishment with BCAAs has been done before, however in this study the BCAA mixture was added to the mice's drinking water. Dr. Akiva Cohen, Ph.D. and author of the study, recommends dietary supplementation with BCAAs for human TBI treatment. He believes oral rather than intravenous supplementation is preferable because, rather than flood the brain with too high a dose intravenously, drinking BCAAs will provide a more sustained dose with increased benefits."