Trunk

Everyone agrees that there's a lot of benefit from intu-flow. I don't have any direct knowlegde about Scott, or his forum. (All I've been doing is using his dvd's, which I like.) I have participated in a number of other spiritual groups and I can say that, so far, there has always been a not-immediately-apparent downside. Some flaw in the system, the way the knowledge is presented, and character foibles, blind-spots, human behavior run amuck in some way. This, even when the good stuff is really really stellar. After seeing this a number of times, seasoned students get better at clarifying earlier what part/s of a teaching system are really helpful, and what (often less obvious) part/s to avoid. Saves wear & tear.

I've been chanting the mantra for kuan yin (om mani padme hung) in conjunction with simple offerings to a statue that I have of him/her. It's perhaps the most balanced and profound practice I've come across.

Glad all is well. I haven't. Crystal wand while in the shower, occasionally, I'm finding to be effective enough. A new simple thing that I like is that I've been soaking my balls in ice water immediately after genital massage. Massage gets blood going all the way through the balls, then the ice soak rides the circulation all the way through.

Ok, I was holding back, but, really there's three kinds of people.

I was just thinking that a Tao Bums Nature Retreat would be cool. Find some affordable retreat center in some nature area, and have a fun informal 3-5 day retreat. There could be a loose schedule (standing in the morning), fellow Tao Bums could give some lectures (student-to-students, lecturers pay same as everyone else), hikes, good food (if the retreat ctr gives use of a kitchen we could do the cooking), hangin' out. I think the "schedule" could be loose, like half way between totally-casual-no-schedule-friends-hangin'-&-groovin' and a scheduled-retreat. Joshua Tree is the first place that pops to mind. I bet, since we're not paying anyone and not shooting for a profit, that fees would be low. (O'course any meet-up sounds good, retreat or no.) Degoba! I'd love to have a house on land with several extra rooms and 2 addtl cottages, some chickens etc, a huge garden, and a moving practice hall and a stillness practice hall. Mini-monastery.

Just to set the record straight, I regret how I expressed myself earlier and the damage it has caused to Plato & my relationship, and any hurt feelings. Not that he didn't have it coming along a line: I do have strong disagreement with some of Plato's expressions online, some of it has been inexcusable in my view, and that does close some doors from my side. But I also respect that he has been determined, and very progressive, with his own cultivation - and clearly that has contributed to the community immensely (just look at all the times I've said "thanks!, Plato" on my site). And he and I have always maintained good repoire in private conversations, and I've enjoyed and valued that. My public slam reflected only a narrow part of my interaction with Plato and, frankly, he caught me on a bad day; if I had it to do over again I would've posted more considerately. But, even posting this semi-apology isn't made any easier by the vile change in avatar. lol. Ah, well.

Just a note that, for anyone living near a Chinatown, The Outline Guide to Chinese Herbal Patent Medicines is an excellent guide to the inexpensive herbal patent medicines that are sold in Ch.herbal shops. .. I just got back from a ChTown visit. (Plus had roast duck lunch special for $5!, yummmm!)

Is the Piccus DVD the 5-DVD set, "White Tiger Tantra"?, or are you talking about a single-dvd product? Link?

The yin & blood tonics take longer (than yang & chi) to have a noticable effect. Like it takes longer to save than to spend. It might be into your 2nd week or so before you feel inklings of, "hey! more nourished, calmer yet stronger". I'm not on it right now. I used to apprentice at a Chinese herb store (run by white folks), and at one of the few meetings where everyone was there, there was the ? to each herbalist on what their favorite herb/formula was. This was to people who had the opportunity to try everything, and had. He Shou Wu came up very frequently as a favorite, for the reasons that we've already mentioned here.

Influenced by my first meditation teacher, and the Castaneda stuff, in the late 80's. The idea that it is not just one's beliefs, but the vibe that you hang out at that allows you to resonate - and act within - whatever layer of reality. "Personal power" in Castaneda's system. I saw an interview with a comediene (I forget who) and she was talking about the learning curve, and dealing with hecklers. She said that just as she got to the point where she felt she could handle any variety of heckler, no one heckled any more. Other things, like Yoda has said in this thread, about being at a vibe and what comes into your life, or how your present life arranges around you. At a really high level, reality is pretty flexible (some teachers genuinely can work miracles), but you have to have the development to be at that level. If you have the vibe of a hocky puck, you just get pushed around by life. And it is not just believing that it can be different, it's also (some say predominantly) having the "personal power".

.. and, the basis for friendship is overlapping realities.

I feel that reality is multi-layered, and different layers have different rules of play. How the world works for you has a lot to do with which layer/s you're at play in, which has everything to do with your current configuration.

Search for "Clyman" to read previous threads.

Most people simply feel "nourished" while taking it, but - (usual disclaimer) everybody is different of course, results vary and be attentive to your own system.

I'm not familiar with the chemistry, but there are clearly corresponding physical aspects to the spiritual energetic centers. Nerve plexuses and endocrine system, for instance. I'd be surprised is there weren't identifiable chemicals involved.

I'm up in the middle of the night looking at parts of the country, weather (avg highs & lows via yahoo weather), and intentional communities (as one barometer of where I might want to live, not currently strongly considering being in an ic). Anyway, I was looking at the IC website, http://www.ic.org/ , and they have this amazing mapping feature ( http://directory.ic.org/maps/ ) that is powered by google maps. Shows intentional communities, kind-of with push-pin graphics, that link to the specific community information. There is zooming out to as big as the whole world, and zooming in down to the street level, literally. And scrolling. Amazing, amazing. Trunk

As long as, imo, "daily solo practice" doesn't actually mean daily aroused practice. Sacrum contractions can be done either aroused or un. Seems to me that you should respect whatever your natural sexual cycle is and aim to make both the unaroused and aroused practices more profound - going for "constantly turned on".. well, we've talked about it before, .. but even on the physical level it leaves you with a lot to circulate and neutralize.Obviously just my 2cents, and clearly you have a proven ability to navigate to the jagged edge of practices and back. My thought when I originally wrote that was that the inhale had already gotten a lot of press and I wanted to explore the under-appreciated exhale. Reverse breathing is rich; if you wanna explore, take notes, discuss - that'd be cool. I'm pretty tired out, writing-wise, but still have a few things I feel need to be in the site.. so I'm conserving my 1's & 0's. And, Michael, thanks.

Video of an "urban homestead" (Path to Freedom) at Tree Hugger TV. Path to Freedom's home site.

Here y'go. That's the specific method. If you haven't browsed the site, AlchemicalTaoism.com, it's worth it. It's not just my insights, but a compilation/distillation of (much of) what the online community has discovered over these last 6+ years.

Anywhere someone gets good keys (and as many as they need to create real harmony in their own body), that's the main thing. As better info makes the rounds, more people (in all sorts of formats) are going to be saying the same things (in different ways) and that's what should happen, that's what we.. I, anyway, want to happen. If things get to the point where the keys are 'just obvious', sort of "everybody knows that", (and therefore there's not as much to sell anymore, no one "owns" the 'secrets' anymore), that's all a good thing. My caution with this is that he may be presenting one (or more) of the physical keys without the means to really resolve sensation. And that can be (obviously is) an addictive trap for many people. (I'm not saying that it's necesarily the case for him.) I think that, until this knowledge is really at a level that it heals people .. it's not really ready for prime time. By heal, I mean.. sex addicts, rape victims, someone who just went through a break-up (from jr high level stuff to heavy divorce). Healing for people whose sexual turbulence is disturbing their spirit. - It shows up in all sorts of ways. For me the pleasure happens as it travels up the spine to the levels of various nerve plexuses. The sacrum is the key to get the sexual energy to the spine.

Gee, like this? I guess that there is opportunity to take some of the keys that are out here on the web, compile them and publish. The group online processing of this material is, I hope, providing a better foundation and raising the bar for published work.

Impressive.

Yoda's Introduction to Raw Eating

That's my worry, too. That's why I propose we vote on whether to have the new Butterflies & Lezlie header! *rabble-rabble-rabble-rabble*

I vote for that header!!!