turbo

Own your mind, own your thoughts, don't be controlled. Sure it sounds great but it takes a lot of mental effort to achieve. Check out the book "Monsters and Magical Sticks" the author makes a solid case for the position that we are constantly hypnotized, by design. Psychological methods to sell have been advancing for decades. The organizations that produce the media that we are exposed to everyday are able to produce advertisements that will create enough nagging/begging in children that their parents will give in and buy the toy/cereal/etc. The level of control that the media(military industrial complex) has over our minds is incredible. The CIA has been studying this stuff since WWII. And 99% of the time were not aware of it. Further, taking the time to be aware of it may not even be worth it. If you spent your day concerned about what memes are being introduced into your thoughts you would have little time to get real things done. Anyone who can own their mind has my up most respect, its easy to say, but doing it is a heavy order. Recognizing when one's mind has been influenced and rejecting that influence takes a constant vigilance, and when you get emotionally involved in your favorite TV show, radio station, or are zoning out or thinking about what youre going to do next, there is product placement, a dj promoting a product, or a billboard to take advantage of that state.

I mean that if a person is overly right brained they are likely to be diagnosed as mentally ill, at least in the majority of industrialized nations. Industry appreciates those who follow directions, obey rules, respect structure , etc... all the left brain stuff. Right brain dominance is characterized by impulsiveness, disregard for structure, lack of respect for authority, all things that industrialized societies try to stamp out through "education". Look at the standardized testing in the US, where is the right brain given a chance to grow in that? A right brain dominant person in an environment like that would be unusual, and such a person is likely to be labeled mentally ill or even crazy depending on the extent of their right brain dominance. Kids who can't sit still in class are called ADHD and given drugs. In all things balance is important, it can be fun to let one side take over for a while, but balance is necessary to keep up the appearance of sanity.

Not likely...being right brain dominant could get you labeled insane or mentally ill by todays standards. Check out Poker without Cards, a very interesting book, which has an interesting discussion on the hemispheres of the brain. Here is a link to the pdf. The author asks you donate $3.23 in the pdf, but on Amazon he says the pdf is the free edition. Personally I think that meditation/qigong and spiritual systems work toward integration of the hemispheres as a (bi?)product. My current thinking is that the mind can be broken into 6 distinct parts, the 3 brains: lizard, mammal, human, which can also be seen as the brain stem and cerebellum, the lymbic system, and the neocortex, another way of looking at it is involuntary, emotional ,and logic parts. I am under the impression that each of these have a left and right portion. So to fully take in the world around us we need to activate all of these parts of the brain. In an effort to do that I've tried to sing melodies in my head instead of counting things so much and plan to start taking some art classes to get more use of the right brain. Anyone have other suggestions?

Playing it by ear sounds best, but I'd definitely like to meet everyone and spend some time connecting and getting to know all you interesting folks. Of course if my ego is splattered all over the wall then it may be a little difficult.

I'm all signed up too. It would be cool if we could all get lunch and hang out after the class on Saturday (Sunday too, time permitting). I think it would be ideal to hang out at a park or other scenic natural area, maybe even go for a hike or a walk. Cameron, do you have any ideas? Maybe we can get a group rate at the Courtyard and save a little dough. Mantra, can you call and see if they would be willing to give a group rate to attendees of the class? I'm looking forward to the class and meeting the people behind the messages.

I quit doing AYP because I started to wonder about the differences between yogic and buddhist enlightenment. The more I looked around the less good information I could find. I had read that the Buddha had tried all schools of spirituality that had come before to achieve enlightenment. Thus, he must have tried yoga. Therefore I assumed that yogic techniques would not take me all the way to full enlightenment. Which is the goal, right? So at the beginning of this year I returned to the practice of annapana and vipassana, which I had practiced before. However, the buddhist meditation did not have the same "hook". The AYP meditation made be feel great and I had some profound experiences practicing it. I was no longer getting this, so I lost interest and quit meditating, became more social, drank more beer (mmm), and quit worrying about my eventual enlightenment. In the last few months I've tried to get back into the AYP stuff with little success...dunno why, its just not sticking like it used to. It used to seem pretty effortless, now it seems like a lot of work. Kunlun seems very interesting to me, as I am having sensations and experiences that took a long time to experience with AYP. So it possibly is the "shortest path to re-enlighenment" as is claimed. Which would be great, then I could get enlightened, stop meditating, and get back to drinking beer (mmm) even faster.

My last serious endeavor into spiritual practice was the AYP system, which I practiced daily for over a year. As a result I had some interesting and powerful experiences, similar to what the Kunlun practitioners describe. The wealth of my spiritual cultivation knowledge comes from the AYP system, my experiences with it, and my intellectual study of yoga. I believe that one valid spiritual system has more or less the same effects as another, in other words its the same process, just approached in a different manner. In AYP and yoga the goal is to achieve emptiness and bliss and eventually combine/merge these energies. From reading this discussion it seems like Kunlun aims to achieve the same thing. Yogani says that this combination is enlightenment, I'm not so sure. I quit AYP around the beginning of 2007 and have since not been getting back into it. Recently I began practicing the stage 1 Kunlun practice which has induced similar experiences to those of the meditative practices of AYP. Specifically: involuntary movment, shaking of the body, and tingling sensations all over my body, although these, particularly the movement, is more pronounced with Kunlun practice. I have only been doing Kunlun from the book for 5 days and have not attended any seminars or had any kind of transmission. In the wrap up part with the hands at the dan-tien I have some sensation of energy...what I perceive as a ball floating half on and half in water...around the dan-tien area. I generally feel more cheerful since starting Kunlun, but it could be from a number of things as things are going well for me. There may be some dangers to the practice of Kunlun, but one should be able to overcome these with careful self observation and by applying the self-pacing approach advocated on the AYP website. (applying common sense will help too) It will take more practice to be able to give a true assessment of the Kunlun practice, but for now it seems to be worthy of pursuit.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1754914

...and makes a lot of sense while doing it. http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

One more question: How is the stagnation brought upon by retention affected by massage of the pelvic area including prostate and the "crystal wand" internal massage advocated by Owl? Thanks.

Trunk, I skimmed the essay, and did not find any mention of what period of time you consider retention. A week, two, a month? When is one practicing retention versus general energy management? ie: I'd better not tonight as I've got a big day tomorrow. Thanks for the wisdom on your site, its a gold mine.

http://www.haveaslogan.com/

This guy has products that can rehabilitate your manual dexterity. These guys take a different approach, mainly strengthening, to the hands. Either of these would probably be beneficial.

I've found the stumble upon add on for Firefox to be the best resource for new and interesting sites.

Be sure to check out ten thousand visions for some amazing, spiritual artwork.

People who have their spleen removed continue to have an "energetic" spleen that satisfies the role of a spleen under TCM, or so I have been told by an acupuncturist. Applying the underlying idea to your thyroid would result in the physical removal of your glands, but their energetic presence remaining. Whether this is valid or not, nobody can say unless they have had the procedure already. There may be some comparison to people who have had vasectomies and try to cultivate their jing....I don't know what kind of results they have had, but there is sure to be more of them. In any case, it seems hard to believe that you could physically remove a part of the body and destroy an essential energetic part at the same time. Amputees report itching where their amputated limbs used to be.

Not at all, I enjoy these discussions as they bring light to perspectives I have not considered, and they are all legitimate. I'm not trying to say that David Shen should give away training to anyone who says that they are interested. I am simply trying to suggest that it may be in his interests to sponsor a taobum. It would not cost him anything and we would all benefit. Sure there are problems with freeloaders, but that is not the suggestion. I am not trying to nominate myself. The idea, as far as I perceive it is to find someone we can trust and get their feedback on the practices. I'm not trying to suggest that David take on students for free, or that this is a better model than charging for instruction. I know that if someone with history here took up the practice that I and others would give it more serious consideration. As far as I know, anything could happen on one of these trips, perhaps he is recruiting people for nefarious purposes, perhaps he has superior methods of cultivation. Many here would like to know, but few are willing to spend time and money without some trusted verification. As a student there could not be marginal costs, you have to pay for everything. But suppose your teacher let someone into the class, it costs you nothing and would cost your teacher nothing, unless it excluded another student. The same should be true for David.

I'm sorry that you do not seem to understand the idea of a marginal cost. When a person sits in on a class, it costs the teacher nothing. There is no material used, there is nothing created or destroyed. There exist tales of gongfu masters who learned by watching masters teach from a distance. What is being proposed is not dissimilar to this. Its silly to compare someone sitting in on a class to producing some product for someone to consume. There is no financial reason to prohibit David Shen from taking an additional student to an already planned class. Except the fact that he will not receive more money for the same effort. Ok, well, I never asked what the money is for. I don't doubt his sincerity. Even PT Barnum was sincere when he said that a fool is born everyday. As far as the cost goes, its fairly expensive. Particularly when compared to resources like aypsite.com and dhama.org who charge nothing. I can not criticize David for making a living, we all need to make money. However, even the therapists that charge a lot of money occasionally take on a charity case. Doctors and lawyers do too. Allow me to apologize, I made a circular argument here. Of course anyone wishing to establish themselves as legitimate would want to a serious boost in legitimacy. I'm not sure how you consider this an opinion or how you can not agree with it... Perhaps you disagree with the idea that taking a student on who we were familiar with and trust would boost his reputation. Apparently you are in the minority, see the discussion on who should take the class. Nor am I suggesting that a taobum seal of approval will make him legitimate. However, it will lend much more credibility to the clams he and his students make. Again, see the discussion on who should take the class for the need to establish his school. Many are curious.

Per my post above, it would be only a marginal expense to add one student to an already planned course. If you want to take up the issue of needing proof of the legitimacy of the practices then consult Cameron, as he is seeking proof. However, for me, if a taobum went and practiced the LSD methods per David Shen's instructions and reported back that would add a level of legitimacy that I, and perhaps this is a personal failing, can not get by reading internet message boards. Lets face it, is there any evidence outside of message boards for anyone to rely on? I suppose you have studied with him? I am unaware of your basis for this conclusion. Why does he give it to anyone who has the cash for it? I don't know. Many people believe that spiritual teachings should be given away for free. dhamma.org is an example of that in action. Further, are you proposing that I believe that I have a right to get everything just as is? If this is some sort of an accusation, I am happy to respond, but I need you to clarify what having "the right to get everything just as is" means. Again, I must make the assumption that you know David in some personal manner to be able to assert that you know that he does not want to make money with it. Further, in my post I mentioned that the rewards that could be reaped would be not only monetary, but his system would get a serious boost in legitimacy. Surely, anyone wishing to establish themselves or their methods as legitimate would want this. From what I've read David is looking to get approval to teach the LSD methods to a wider audience. Establishing a reputation as a legitimate school or method of spiritual cultivation is key to this. Having someone from the taobums take his class may expedite this process. I harbor no such belief and let me be the first to apologize for leaving you with that impression. I am simply stating from that from the perspective of him wanting to help others and spread the practice of LSD that it is in his best interest to legitimize his techniques to a wider audience. One avenue to do this, as Cameron proposed, is for one of the taobums to take one of his courses. Perhaps a better one is for David to let one of us to attend without cost. Cheers, T

What basis do you have for making that conclusion?

Cam, Your intention is in the right place, but youre going about it entirely the wrong way. The LSD folks should sponsor a taobum to take the class, not the other way around. Its silly for us to waste our money for David Shen's profit. Let him prove it to us, take someone from the boards who will sincerely practice it and let him train them without cost. I would understand if airfare and hotel were not covered, but the cost of having one more student in a class is marginal, and ultimately could reap large gains (not simply monetary, but reputation and credibility) for David and co. Just my 2cents, T

Darin, The only resources that I am aware of that could possibly be of assistance would be Bill Bodri and his teacher Nan Huai Chin. You can contact Bill through his webpage. His teacher, who claims to be a master of both Taoism and Buddhism, lives in Hong Kong, and is still alive and teaching. Plato visited him I believe. Not everyone here is a fan of Bill, but none can argue with depth of his knowledge regarding spiritual cultivation. I find inspiration in your seeking, and hope that all works out for you. Few have the desire to get started down such a long path and fewer the dedication to stick with it. Many talk the talk but few walk the walk. My best, T

Here are the first two sites that came up for a search on "Bob Cooley's Meridian stretching" http://www.meridianstretching.com/ http://www.flexiblestrength.org/

Anybody been practicing this for a while? Can anyone comment on the long term results? Thanks.

Here is a link to a kriya yoga library http://www.yoganiketan.net./.