liminal_luke

I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other. --- Rainer Maria Rilke Awhile back I took an online course with Robert Peng on the Yi Jin Jing. One of the movements I learned was meant to tonify the heart protector meridian. Robert taught me about the importance of letting people in to my heart -- and keeping them out. The point of the heart protector meridian, interpersonally speaking, is to develop discernment. Metaphorically, the heart is the emperor and not everybody gets to touch the emperor. There's virtue in being vulnerable and virtue in declining to be vulnerable, depending. Publically share a face picture and some people will feel entitled to comment on one's features, and not always kindly. Even the most minor of celebrities, even cats, sometimes find themselves subject to this kind of parsing. Does the soul recoil? I think maybe. Sometimes.

A few years back my mom got breast cancer, received chemo, and began to wear a wig. It wasn't comfortable. On one occasion she found herself in a group composed entirely of wigged chemo recipients, so she made a sensible but uncommon choice: she took off her wig. My mom has never been a fashion trendsetter but her action that day sparked a small revolution. It wasn't long before everybody in that room went wigless. I don't know what happened next but I suspect the mood lightened. I suspect laughter rang out. Most of us are not receiving cancer treatment, but almost all of us, at least on occasion, wear metaphorical wigs. To me, this thread is an invitation to take them off. It feels better than I thought it would.

Not to worry -- I won't come knocking on your door seeking counsel. Which is not to say you don't have talents that would come in handy in an emergency. In fact, I can imagine ringing you up for assistance in all sorts of scary situations. Who ya gonna call? Nungali. Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters (Official Video) (youtube.com)

Not snakelike at all. From some of your previous posts, I gather that you don't place much faith in therapy, but the directness of your presence combined with the coziness of the setting -- comfortable chair, hot beverage, tissues, woodstove -- makes me want to come over and tell you all my problems. Count yourself lucky we're living on far away continents.

I hadn't thought of it that way but I think you're on to something.

Big Bear Bald Eagle Live Nest - Cam 1 (youtube.com) Pretty amazing!

You nailed it, Mark! @Taomeow gets my vote for posting the photo? painting? photo retouched as a painting? that seems to most completely evoke the essence of her presence here on the board. There's a sense of darkness, forboding, to the environment in the picture. It's not a safe and welcoming place. And yet the woman pictured seems alert and resourceful, entirely ready to face whatever challenges might emerge from the mist. She's got her big boots and her gun. A tiger follows behind, quiet in the moment and yet we feel a latent ferocity. To me it seems like the woman and the tiger are intimately connected, mirror images of each other, mutually co-occuring emanations of the same strong spiritual stuff. This may not be Taomeow as she is (I wouldn't know) but it's certainly Taomeow as I imagine her.

Not as spooky as it sounds I'm afraid. I've always been a person with multiple goals and I can be a bit, um, obsessive about keeping track of my progress (or lack thereof). Some months back, I decided that I might be more motivated if I hung huge calendars with everything I want to accomplish on my bedroom walls. A spirit calendar is a calendar dedicated to the tracking of my spiritual practices. I also put up a calendar to track writing exercises I was doing, dietary goals, workouts...etc. In hindsight, the project seems a bit more "group home resident" than "wandering taoist master" but hey, it was fun.

Oh what the hey....

Many thanks to those who have posted pics. To some it may seem like a small thing but I think it's an act of courage; it's not always so easy to allow oneself to be seen. I think the pictures make us more real to each other. They foster connection and ever so slightly bridge the gap between the virtual and "real" worlds. As for myself, I'm not quite ready. Maybe someday. It's odd that sharing a picture of my physical presence would seem so challenging when I've shared so many other details of my life here over the years. I guess we're all different and I've got to honor where I am in the moment. This thread will remain as an invitation for some future less neurotic version of myself to take the leap.

Big ole dykes, On mountain bikes, Cruisin' down the highway with adopted tykes.

You know you're middle aged when you don't know who to support anymore. Back in the day we were supposed to cheer on feminists. Big ole dykes, resplendent with piercings and tattoos, would mount bikes and take their rightful place at the head of the parade. Now, sadly, they've all turned into trans-exclusionary Palestinian killers. A few white ones even traveled to Baja and stole the recipe for flour tortillas, returned to the states where they opened up a culturally appropriating burrito stand. Fortunately the good people of Portland gave them the heave-ho. Whew. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to find myself far from the comfortable cultural middleground. At a time when everyone is trying to find their identity, I'm trying to lose mine. I've had it for years and what good has it done me?

The post you responded too was from 2016. I believe Jenny Lamb is now retired. Her "Self-healing" dvd which has the basic Yi Gong practice was available for download on her website, Eastern Internal Arts Institute. Max Christianson, of Kunlun fame, used to teach the 2nd and 3rd levels of Kunlun (his name for Yi Gong) but I'm not sure whether he still does publically. My own sense is that most people are unlikely to need the higher levels: the basic practice will take a person plenty far. Later edit: Here is an answer to your question from Jenny Lamb's website... Thank you for your feedback about your experience of practicing Yigong level one and desire for advanced level. I have been retired for many years now. I have no plan to teach advanced level since I have not seen advanced students out there. In fact, Yigong level one can take you all the way to your goal if you allow yourself to deepen into it. There is more discovery in the practice than you think. I suggest you to practice at least 45 minutes each time (if you can). In the weekend, when you have time, make yourself available without time limit, but just end naturally to see what you will learn from it. Please continue to share your discoveries.

Crunchy on the outside, soft and warm on the inside...that's how I like my bread -- and my tough guys.

For people like me who like real simple stripped-down practices, there's humming. THE HUM BOOK – Zapchen Somatics

Here's artist Austin Kleon, author of "Steal Like an Artist," demonstrating how to make a no-staple 8 page zine from a single piece of 8X10 paper. Looks like a pretty cool project. How to make a zine from a single sheet of paper - YouTube

Effortless enlightened action enjoys a gloss of perfection rarely sustained by teachers, students, or organizational administrators. We mostly muddle through. It's good to call out abuse; not so good to permanently store a pitchfork in the entryway.

My practice has been profoundly shifted in Taoist directions (or at least what I take as Taoist directions, for the skeptically inclined) by my time on this forum. It doesn't take much. Just one post -- if it's the right post -- can open up years of productive exploration.

You're not alone in that reaction, I'm sure. My intuitive sense is that the Dalai Lama was being mischieviously playful rather than sexual, though it's possible that I'm wrong. In any case, your feeling is very understandable and likely the majority view.

The Dalai Lama's behavior was certainly odd by conventional standards but he says he was being "innocent and playful" and I'm willing to take him at his word.

Musical interlude. This rendition of Amazing Grace may not be Buddhist per se but it feels to me like it could be. Amazing Grace with Overtone Singing by Nestor Kornblum (youtube.com)

Do something about it? What do you suggest? Perhaps everyone could hand over their credit card information so that the mods could fine them a $1 "vice tax" for every use of the word Abrahamic. At the end of the year the Bum who has gone the longest without mentioning any of the following -- semen retention, mopai, Trump -- gets the money.

Oh darn! I suspect climate change would of been more fun.

This resonates -- thanks! I used to study with a qigong master who, after a practice session, would instruct his students to feel themselves "one with the universe." Taoism leans towards an infinitely expanded self; Buddhism towards no self. I suspect this too is all the same. We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky And lost among the subway crowds I try to catch your eye -- Leonard Cohen

I agree with you on what seems like the main point: feelings are to be felt. I love your image of "a dry stony riverbed" filling with "cool clear water." So apt! What we disagree about is the nature of Buddhism. One of the things I find meritorious about Buddhism is precisely that it does lead practitioners to engage directly with their emotions. Buddhism doesn't reject emotion -- it doesn't reject anything at all. Buddhsim says: feel what's there. Never have I engaged the deeper psychological layers of my being so fully as when I've sat at Buddhist retreats. So if emotional honesty is what you want, Buddhism is gold. I'm sure you can find sources that seem to contradict my experience, teachers who say that "feelings aren't real" or something of that sort. Words about emptiness and nonduality may have a place for some, but for someone at my level they are mostly a distraction, or worse, a source of confusion. What I need is to sit. I don't want to read about architecture, I wanna take up the hammer. The view looks different when you're pounding nails on the roof.