Ian

I know there are more lines in Europe, as the authors of that book did another one about two big European lines that meet the English ones in Cornwall. So probably in USA and everywhere. Don't have any references, tho... She's still a beast, just not mine! And yes, nice day. Should probably avoid such... Didn't get too close. The crayfish were in a bowl in a shed. Wouldn't have known they were there, but the people with the llamas responded to a thud from within by nipping in the shed and putting an escapee crayfish back in its bowl Welcome. And you. Nice pic, btw. I

Nearly everything we think of as love is attachment. Would you be upset if the person disappeared or didn't want to see you anymore? Would that interfere with feeling the love in your body? If so, attachment.

Typical closing of eyes at the wrong moment by yours truly. Freeform, let me know if it's ok to put up the picture of you and Anne.

I think the question is about standing as the K1 practice, rather than as a preparation for it.

Very still, very gentle. My favourite is his chanting. All the charisma drops away and there's just this purest thing. On my first retreat with him in 2004, he said something very simple around day five about how all beings just wanted to be happy, regardless how terrible they might seem, and something about that moment opened my heart just a sliver and I wept for two days. Later in the year, I was sitting on the floor of waterloo station, just after another retreat, and a pigeon landed near me and skidded a little. And the perfection of the moment made me cry again. That sorta thing. For me. No promises!

One thing that I learned lately, is that apparently cocaine binds to a particular receptor in the brain, which normally receives a chemical generated in adolescence. The effect of this chemical is to make people feel 1) confident and 2) not in need of love, and is intended to prepare teenagers for leaving the nest. But I think most of it is just unacknowledged tension from kids becoming sexual beings and this not being really recognised.

Just a thought, but maybe worth trying twiddling the thumbs away from the body. Just to see if it has value of its own, when paid attention to. I mean, stimulating both hemispheres, nice regular motion, circular in same plane as orbit. Have you tried?

Dude, you gotta show me that sometime !

Man in Germany, former student of Daskalos, does them for individuals. That's all I can recall. Possibly called Paul, but don't count on it. Will dredge through my old emails if anyone wants to know.

Welcome! In that case you could check out qi yoga with Hagar's master, Zhixing Wang.... Teaches in London and Henley, I believe.

I think just Nils and Freeform and me and Cat. It was fun. Very nice people. Full report to follow.

My impression is that you can get great benefits from yoga so long as you can feel a degree of energy flow in your system. That way you only stretch as far as makes things better, and don't go for the kind of over-the-top flexibility that damages your tendons and leaves you floppy rather than integrated. If you go slowly and sink into each position and breathe there you should be ok. Having said that, I'm just passing on received wisdom and don't really know. What country are you in ?

Agreed. But getting leg channels really open is at least five years' work, which many people think they've done and haven't. Physical flexing to make it painless is skirting the issue, imo. Not denying that full lotus is very balanced and stable and potentially useful, lest I seem obsessive.

Thank you. Glad to have some support on this issue.

While I thoroughly respect this position and agree that much of what you can achieve in any given lifetime is determined by previous karma, I have been repeatedly told that the sort of good karma you get from virtuous deeds is not nearly as important as that which you get from a sincere effort to meditate. What I'm told is that the former will get you nice circumstances, for a while, but that the latter is cumulative, and will keep you established on a meditation path, regardless of circumstances. Obviously I have no personal knowledge of this. I do acknowledge that practice goes better when you're feeling good about yourself for having been kind, and that generosity weakens the sense of separation between self and other, which is one of the main illusions we're up against. But perhaps we're talking more in this thread about being kind for the sake of making things better, rather than making progress for ourselves.

Seems to me like you've answered all your own questions. And very well too. And basically with this post, you're asking for a bit of back up, some acknowledgement that you're not the only one who feels it like this, and that it's really painful. So believe me, you're not ! One thing I've found that helps: don't try to help people unless they ask you to. Otherwise just set the best example you can. Make it clear, if you like, that you are generally willing to help people, so that they can ask if they want to. But never try to help anyone who doesn't want it. Makes things so much simpler. I'm just now in the process of ending the best relationship of my life because I can't help her be happy. It's taken me about 18 months to admit it and still I want to try. So anyway, you're not alone, and I think everything you've said is spot on. Good luck, I

Yes. Yes yes yes. Yes. Did I mention: Yes?

Good to have you aboard. The UK seems a bit under-represented here.

Beautiful. I used to know a dog who would nudge toys into your hand while you were reading, and I could find I was playing without noticing that I'd started. Just like thought.

Yes. As I understand it, not dreaming while asleep is exactly equivalent to not thinking while awake.

Must admit, I'm curious about these questions myself. I do take AugustLeo's point about finding out for oneself rather than having just an intellectual framework, but I imagine it would be a fair while before I had personal experience of these states....

This thread made me try to remember how it went. I used to do a lot of this form when I was (a bit) younger, but it only made me feel lumpy in the liver. Mind you, that was true of many practices, so it was clearly my problem and not the form's. Anyway, long story short, couldn't remember, so had a look at the video when I went to my Mum's recently. And it all came back to me, so I had a little go. And much to my surprise, I really like it. I do modify it slighly, in that I won't gather at the ltt, but just let it all flow on down, and I do the heaven cycle as a push through rather than a gather in, and I'm damned if I'm going to remember all the stuff about what's coming from where in each round, but... yes. It feels really nice. I especially like the bit where you offer the ball to each side at the start of the earth cycle.

Yup. Sounds exactly like Metta. Grooves.

It may be normal, but I'm not convinced it's natural! Good luck, anyway.