Ian

I don't think there's a big mystery. I think you're able to tune into what's underneath the garbage and appreciate it. You're not focussed on garbage, so it's not a problem. I completely agree with what you say. It ain't called solar plexus for nothing. Think about those words. Even in our rigid cartesian anglo-saxon language, someone has noted a cosmic quality to this part of us. Must admit, I find it a wee tiny bit of a pain in the arse too.

I respectfully disagree. I believe a sincere wish to become so suffices to begin. Otherwise no-one will ever be ready. Not necessarily, imo. These feelings can be old attachments, previously hidden away inside, being burned up by the purity of the new connection. Again, I respectfully disagree. The solar plexus connection can be the purest and most valuable, a true heart, if you will. It's just that the solar plexus has so much clutter in it, in the average person, that teachers tend to steer people away from it, for fear of having to deal with it their students' emotional garbage. But spiritual progress which doesn't address it will be abstract and ungrounded.

You're right I was confusing foam and rubber. But hey, we don't have the rubber ones either. I wonder what UK kids do for spherical entertainment. I have in the interim found a way to use the soft foam football - up against the wall!! Especially good just on the abdomen, breathing in and out. Like a simplified CNT. Many thanks, anyway. PM to follow. I

Trunk, In this picture, is the squished ball shown with you pressing as hard as you can? i.e. is that as flat as you can get it? The only foam ball I could get is pretty hopeless as it flattens completely under any of my weight at all. These balls don't seem to exist in the UK. Would anyone be prepared to post me one if I paypal them the necessary? I got a quote from the site which Trunk linked to, and it was like $93 dollars postage for a couple of $5 - $8 balls. It can't actually cost that much to send foam to England, can it? Cheers, I

IMO, very, yes, and only by getting into the body. Thoughts are past and future and only the body is present. My opinion is that Freeform's technique, even the yin one, is too active and involves a very subtle level of thought, and will only take you so far. But I think we've agreed to differ on that...

Yeah, what they said! Many happy returns of the day to you!

I seem to remember Trunk's site has a nice page of recommended reading. Cleary's translation of Taoist Classics, that sort of thing.

I always feel that he has a point, sort of, but that he's really arguing from a point of view of not wanting to stop being Michael Winn, because he fancies himself so much.

One beer - always a good idea. Two beers - sometimes a good idea. Three beers - never a good idea. Spyrelx - yes, I'm told we can start drinking for a variety of reasons, but after a while the body just gets habituated to it, and we can find ourselves drinking just because the body wants to, without it being prompted by anything "personal." I used to drink to excess, seven days a week if possible, for a long time. Quit in 2002, didn't touch it for about 18 months, now I do what I like. I no longer enjoy being drunk, in the sense of being so drunk that I'm aware that I'm drunk. So I hardly ever have more than 3 or 4, rarely more than two nights a week, unless my girlfriend's away, and don't feel as if I'm doing myself any particular harm. Knowing that I'm going to do 45 minutes standing the next morning, come what may, has quite a good regulatory effect. It will be a long time before my body forgets, tho.

Two points: One: when you start trying to discipline the mind at all is when it kicks off big time. Try to see this as you've got it scared and it's bluffing. Two: in the beginning you just get better at paying attention. This gives the impression that everything's getting worse, but it isn't necessarily. Every time you notice what your mind is doing, congratulate yourself. You've put some distance between you and it, else you wouldn't be there to notice. I realise these two points are kind of mutually contradictory, but they're still both useful.

I recently read a very nice little book called "The Dawkins Delusion" in which the writer, a microbiologist turned theologian, examines the progression of Dawkins' work. He has lots of praise for "The Selfish Gene", and also says that "The Blind Watchmaker" is an excellent piece of writing, provided you understand it as a rebuttal of one particular 19th century argument for the existence of god, which argument was peripheral even at the time. Since then, however, the author argues that Dawkins has been guilty of exactly the tactics he condemns in true believers, to a point now where just spits sarcastic fury and eschews reason altogether. I work with a couple of scientists who've been to Dawkins' lectures in the past. The suggestion is that he's a bit of an arsehole, frankly. Quick edit: article here.

You can't fight it, but you can starve it.

Please do! And perhaps the keys to my new home in the other hand? East Oxford, somewhere near my allotment?

Have scoured the one in London to no avail. Will see what I can do.

Yes, I know good sources in NY Chinatown myself. There's a shop in Elizabeth Street to start with. But I'm in England, and I imagine the postage would be a little prohibitive. So I'm looking for a source actually in England. Thanks anyway.

Thank you. I really like this. I also really like the idea that you need a happy relaxed, embodied state to do the manifesting, as I reckon that in such a state you won't want much and what you do want will be pretty reasonable. For me the biq question about this sort of thing is "What has to happen for it to work?" For example, suppose I want a pack of 1970s Top Trumps Cards, Military Planes. I get all relaxed and happy and picture how nice it would be to hold them in my hot little hand. And such is my relaxation that a powerful message flashes to cosmic central. BUT, the only remaining pack belongs to a family in New Zealand. And for it to come to me can only be arranged by a series of awful disasters befalling a whole chain of people. I find the pack in front of my house a few days later, and none the wiser, think "Goodness this manifesting is a jolly wheeze. Now for those missing Pete Loveday comics." But unbeknownst to me I've saddled myself with the karmic payload of having maimed and killed a whole bunch of former Top Trumps owners. Silly example, obviously. But I hope it illustrates the point that one should be very careful about "asking for" anything which doesn't have an unobstructed chain of supply. Because the responsibility is no-one else's. Eldritch organ music please, as the man said.

Yes, but I can't get it anymore. There used to be a chinese supermarket in Lisle St, London, that stocked it, but they don't seem to have it any more. The last time I found any was in New York in 2004, but it's a long way to go! If anyone knows a source in the UK I'd be very grateful.

I just had a go with two tennis balls in a sock. (finally found two tennis balls!) It was intense. Worked the twisted bit behind my liver in a strong but, I believe, not counterproductive way. I'm impressed. Must admit, it took me a minute to work out what the hell to do. Maybe I was expecting it to leap on my back and start rolling up and down. Then I worked out that floor might be needed. Can you athletic types move all the way up and down the spine in one go? I found myself doing little tiny sections and starting over. Cheers, I

Nice. I like too

Welcome. I believe that even the best guides can use your energy to manifest and may need you more than you need them. And I also believe that one can outgrow guides and have to break up with them, as in any relationship. This is not to say anything about the nature of your guides or what is happening now, it's just a good thing to be generally aware of. I would suggest that a tree represents the strong need for a vertical connection, especially of rooting to the earth, to balance all the horizontal connecting to other people that has been going on. Sword, Metal element, involves boundaries, skin, lungs, not doing more for others than you reasonably can. Ask Voice about Rosemary water, he used to recommend that as a booster of protective chi. Comment: Maybe slow down, stabilise, negotiate with your guides. Assume they are well-intentioned, but not perfect, not complete. Do stuff just for you, walk in nature, sit, stop. Try a bit of stillness meditation. Good luck.

That's interesting. Me too. I've always been very concerned not to offend or upset people, especially female people. But that has changed quite a lot in the last few months. And people don't respond badly to it. I swear loads, insult people and argue much more. But I enjoy it, and that seems to be infectious. It can be good to claim a bit of verbal territory. Having said that, when I'm about to argue about something important, that really matters, especially if I have to raise the subject out of the blue, then I get palpitations. Like I've just run for my life. Amazing.

I think the word joy can be misleading. I believe a succesful path involves digging up all one's troublesome stuff, and can feel superficially quite troubling. Only when you tune in to the much subtler sensation of peace which runs through the process, do you get a more positive understanding. And I think that this peace, while eventually joyful, can be very subtle and elusive for quite a while, particularly as we are brought up to appreciate powerful sensations, whether positive or negative. I feel joyful for maybe an average of two of my waking hours per day. More if outdoors and not working at a computer. I'm pretty happy with that. I think that to become joyful one simply needs to come home to the body. Home sweet home. But I think most of us delude ourselves as to how far from that we are, imagining a level of presence far superior to the truth. All just my opinion, as ever.

Something that arose in a different context: A friend who teaches teenagers, some quite unruly, recommends "getting angry", i.e. acting angry, some time before it gets to the point where you wouldn't be able to help it. That way the kids recognise that you're in control and can switch it on and off at will. Not for his purposes, but you could try it, whenever someone's out of order: just act cross and see if anything physiological comes up which you could then anchor to. Fake it till you make it sort of thing. Alternatively just keep doing body based meditation and you'll meet all your anger soon enough !!

Amazingly enough, Julian Cope's two books about British and European sacred sites are REALLY GOOD. Links here and here This is the same Julian Cope who lived naked under the desk in the recording studio, but wonderfully enough they are works of genuine scholarship. Go figure.

I think this point needs to be emphasised even more in relation to physically based release methods such as these. I think it's all very well to be able to use these small playful pressures to bring awareness in to the body, but I think that whether one gains from it is dependent on one's ability to accept, and surrender to, the discomforts that arise. I suspect, Trunk, that you're pretty good at that and do it almost without conscious direction. I further suspect that those less adept, me for instance, may find themselves failing to relax completely and thereby putting the tension back in elsewhere, especially if the experience is really painful. In other words, what you said, only more so.