liminal_luke

Loved the link Gerard. As extreme measures go, one could do worse, in my opinion, than an intensive silent Buddhist retreat in a natural setting. One need not even be overtly dedicated to Buddhism per se to benefit from something like vipassana. A willingness to confront oneself deeply in a quiet beautiful place while paying excruciating attention to the breath for hours on end is, in my admittedly limited experience, the only requirement. Less painful than getting ones balls cut off, though I´m sure some retreatents might beg to differ. Liminal

Hi Flofilil, Recently heard a quote that might be apropo to your situation: "Everythiing is about sex, except sex." The mystery of our attractions runs very deep indeed, and is tangled up in the most profound --and usually hidden--reaches of our selves. For a fascinating, and helpful, exploration of the way this happens I love Jack Morin´s book, The Erotic Mind. I´m not very optimistic that someone here will be able to give you the key to turning off your sexuality, and even less convinced it would be a good thing if they could. Which is maybe a jerk comment given how much pain you´re in. I get that you want the feelings to go away, and certainly something needs to change, but I just fear that radical sledgehammer approaches to that end would end up doing more harm than good. Obviously more is going on than would be appropriate to go into here at Taobums. Have you gotten in-person professional support from someone who specializes in this? Liminal

pissing on a post unforgivable blunder or innocent chat?

I´m reminded of the following quote... “I blame the daffodils. Who wants to hear summery sounds while they’re in prison? Who wants to hear summery sounds even when they’re free. Not me. I hate summer. The same old outings, happy people going on long-planned holidays. Children sucking ice-cream, pregnant women wearing blousey dresses. Why can’t it be winter the whole year round. Do we really need summer?” June Gibbons

That what a practice feels like the first week you do it is different from what it will feel like after a month, a year.

Awww, Marblehead. I´m sure you don´t need anybody to send you any negativity; just change your perspective, and you'll have plenty. The rest of us don´t have any difficulty being negative so I imagine you´ll get the hang of it. Perhaps you´re just out of practice?. Liminal

Is Chinese Medicine a career with spiritual integrity? My opinion. If you practice with a sincere desire to help others then yes. If not, then no. Liminal

In my opinion, asking which teacher to go with is a little like asking which treasure you´d like to buy next for your personal collection, the hope diamond or a gold mask from Tutankhamun´s tomb--you´d be very lucky either way. Sifu Jenny Lamb´s video has enough material to last a lifetime. Myself, I would never hesitate to buy and practice from it even if you can never meet her in person. It contains the basic practice that Max teaches as the first level of Kunlun (Max says it´s not the same as what he teaches but I´ve learned both and don´t see the difference myself) plus routines to practice before and after the spontaneous movement. Highly recommended. Max is Max. Beloved by many though by no means all. He´s a charismatic character with a personal style that might or might not mesh with yours. I´ve benefitted a lot from Kunlun, but some do have safety concerns. If you get a chance to study with him, I´d go for it. I´m not so familiar with Dragon Gate material, but believe that Quan Yin Magnetic Qigong is the Sifu Matsuo practice that most closely corresponds to Kunlun/ Yigong. I´ve only done just a little but wow--very powerful indeed. There´s a thread on it so you might look it up if this appeals. In the DVD of Quan Yin Magnetic Qigong Sifu Matsuo talks about the dangers of approaching the practice in an obsessive way. Words of wisdom there. In my opinion, any of these practices can take you as far as you´re willing to go. Any of these practices can be misused and cause harm if not approached with sensitivity, listening to your body, knowing your limits. Liminal

This doesn´t go exactly to your question perhaps, but my sense is that there is infinite space "outside" the body, and infinite space "inside" the body. The more facility a person has to go out, the more facility a person has to go in, and vice versa. Liminal

Students who demand perfection of their teachers on every level (harmonious personal relationships, charging very reasonably for teachings yet not suffering financially, humble yet authoritative) have a long search ahead of them. Many have noted Michael Winn´s less than exemplary body mechanics. So what? I wouldn´t learn martial arts from him but it would be a mistake to conclude he has nothing to offer. Master Chia got a divorce. Yawn. I´ve learned so much over the years from people with great spiritual refinement and (sometimes) lousy personal lives. Liminal

I'm interested in working with my breath more, and wondering if anybody has any breath pacer recommendations, either stand alone devices or an app. Already have a Resperate but find it cumbersome to use. Is there something out there with sound cues (so that I don't need to be looking at a screen) and very customizable in terms of breaths per minute? Thanks, Liminal

Practitioners of Michael Winn´s version of primordial tai chi might be interested in this video of him showing refinements of the movements. It might be old news for some but I´d never seen it before, and found the changes fairly dramatic. I don´t know how to embed youtube videos but search "Michael Winn Corrections" and you´ll find it. Liminal

Hi Spotless, Thanks for weighing in. Certainly you may be right. I remember Michael Winn saying something about how the Po (lung spirits) ultimately rebel against such exercises. And I do have a tendency towards overly controlled, overly mechanized approaches. So there´s that. The idea for me comes in part from my former use of Resperate, a device used to gradually slow down the respiration rate in order to lower blood pressure. I found the Resperate machine cumbersome and frustrating but nevertheless like what happens to me when I´ve been practicing slower breathing for a time. I find that in my everyday life (when I´m not specifically practicing) I don´t so much breathe slower, as breathe differently--I think my diaphragm relaxes. Anyway, it feels good. Whether or not it leads towards awakening or deeper spiritual progress I really can´t say. Liminal

Life is but a dream sing it sing it sing it sing till dizzy you fall.

Thanks Hundun! Have been using a metronome on the web, but these look good. Will try them out. Liminal

As others have pointed out, this is probably a dangerous position to take as a would-be hexer. But if you are the one whose hexed it might be just perfect. Along with doing whatever necessary to come out from under the bad spell, it might be useful to examine the possible lessons such misfortune brings. Liminal

Silence and a deeper silence when the crickets hesitate Leonard Cohen

If you´re interested in a Tai Chi--esque form that is specifically for spiritual development, as opposed to martial arts, and can be effectively learned from a DVD I´d consider Michael Winn´s Primordial Qi Gong, or, as he calls it, Tai Chi for Enlightenment. My two cents. Liminal

The placebo effect brings up some interesting ethical issues. Is the good doctor the one who maximizes the placebo effect by talking up the medication (at the expense of the "truth") and engaging in questionable but flamboyant procedures which give patients reason to think something special is really happening? Or is the good doctor someone who plainly lays out statistical evidence, good and bad, for every proposed treatment? Liminal

Hi Brian, I love reading personal accounts of how practice changes lives--thanks for this! S-M is on my radar too. Am also a massage therapist, or used to be anyway, so I like the idea of something that specifically develops healing ability. Perhaps more important though is the other thing you mentioned: calmness. Sure could use more of that. At the moment I´m still following through on other things, but if the moment seems right I´ll take a workshop or read the book. Appreciate your spreading the word so I know about the possibilities. Liminal

Hi Dreambliss, It sounds like your brother is having some real difficulties. As far as I can gather from what you wrote, nothing that would likely warrant involuntary hospitalization though. That doesn´t mean what he´s going through isn´t serious. As a brother, you´re naturally concerned for him. You say he´s isolated and doesn´t have friends. I´m wondering how your relationship is with him. How regularly do you talk, see each other? If you are both up for it, this would be a place you could start easing his isolation. A friend to take occasional walks with in nature could go a long way. Unfortunately, our ability to get other people to take care of themselves is limited. If he won´t seek counseling or psychiatric care you likely can´t make him. Part of this, for you, might involve coming to terms with the limits of your influence. But just having a brother who he knows accepts him as he his, maintains contact with him, and cares about his wellbeing--these things mean a lot. Liminal

For me, the whole subject of semen retention is a little like superpower talk: I know I should probably just forget it but there´s this strange, and possibly unhealthy, fascination. I just can´t stay away. This phenomenon of testosterone peaking after a brief period but then (possibly?) falling to lower than normal levels with continued "practice" mirrors the reported subjective experience of some practitioners. To wit, they start out feeling energetically enhanced (greater libido, more chi, etc) but after some time end up depleted. Others seem to experience benefits indefinitely. I wonder what separates the two groups. What are the people who benefit from semen retention long-term doing differently from those that run into problems after some period of time?

Hi CT, Hope I didn´t come across too stridently. I actually do think there´s value in the ideas the article presented. Just that there´s a historical tendency to romanticize depression in a way that I think leads people not to receive necessary treatment. Liminal

There´s certainly value in seeing the silver linings in adversity but the message of this article is a dangerous one for people who suffer from depression and their loved ones. Saying you can have a constructive depression is like saying you have a touch of constructive lung cancer. Well, maybe it can be constructive. Maybe it wakes people up to the true meaning of their lives, and so on. But this glorifying of disease--and, make no mistake, true depression is a disease--is dangerous. Perhaps what the author really means is not depression at all but a constructive sadness? That would make more sense. If it´s depression, by definition it´s "got way out of hand." Liminal

A thought that occurs to me... As opposed as they seem, perhaps the world needs both Manitous and Marbleheads. Instead of arguing about which perspective is right, what would happen if we mixed their disparate world-views up in an alchemical elixir, combined their yin and yang without needing to reach for some unequivocal truth, just let them cook together for a while. Liminal