Trunk

Your idea inspired me to another: I got my dumb-bells that hold plates and took the plates entirely off of one end, then added a few 2&1/2 lb plates to the other end. Tah-daaaahhhh!: ultra-cheap club-bells. (Caution: I only used dumb-bells with very secure plates, not the ones with little clip-holders.) A friend tipped me to this link, which has a section of The Indian Club Exercise, with some club-bell-like exercises.

Sometimes the result of meditation has been that my subtle body is more open, active, refined - and part of this is that it is more sensitive. Other peoples' vibe are then relative coarse, somewhat painful and annoying to be around, disrupt the energetics that were being cultivated through the meditation. Mystics tend to be reclusive.

John Du Cane has a video entitled Power Qigong over at DragonDoor.com. The "Bear frolic", which is part of that video, is a specific set of posture, movement, breathing that massages the kidneys. Best movement.. best anything that I've ever tried to directly massage the kidneys, very effectively. Its simple and can be done gently. I must put in a disclaimer, that I don't know enough about your condition to even know if your kidneys would take well to that movement~massage; might be a lot for them, or it might be revujenating. --- later edit --- Other thoughts are to combine the above with: testicle massage cod liver oil (internally, breaks up stagnation and is nourishing) http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/codliveroil.html http://www.westonaprice.org/men/vitaminabodybuilding.html http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition...indmiracle.html castor oil (externally, on your back at the kidneys) massaging with a massage tool (or even the blunt end of silverware): Kidney-1 (activates the entire kidney channel) Pericardium-8 (cooling) Any of these things you should try in very small steps, to see how your body reacts and - if things go well - increase application in small steps.

Now someone's thinking! link http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2006...nal_servic.html

Wow. Really interesting to hear so many say that they like clubells over kb's. Gonna have to try them.

ditto everything everybody else said.

Really good to hear. And, I 2nd Yoda's comment: nice avatar.

FM?, AM? Make sure you get a digital copy of the program, so you can post an mp3.

Frank wore Tito out, then ripped him up. Frank's flexibility was impressive, really mobile.

When I first found out about 'em I saw that the kbs were expensive, so I tried with dumbell. Then I went online and got a relatively inexpensive kb alternative (a kb-like handle that you put regular weight plates on). I eventually got a real kettlebell. The real kb is superior; the others don't cut it. I enjoy it, and use it now and then, basically just for swings (2, then 1 handed). I like to vary my routine a lot, so its not like I use it every day. But I'm really glad I bought it.

A little while back, I was experimenting with the exhale some more. I had already done just very simple consciousness-in-the-lower-tan-tien plus slow exhale, which is just such a full practice in itself. So I started looking at, "What else can I do with this?", and came up with a few really simple variations. One variation, the one that's really opening up new things for me, is to - at the bottom of a slow exhale (that is, when you've exhaled all you're gonna) - at that point just gently squeeze the muscles around your sacrum. Breathe, repeat. For me, this gave me a deeper experience of my sacrum than I'd ever had before. It started pulsing, and sexual vitality was drawn into it, and I've developed a much deeper connection between sexual vitality and sacrum as a result, (which then naturally leads to up the spine). Like this key, that I've heard mentioned a number of times before, has come alive in a way that I'd really not gotten before. I know that Dr. Lin talks about this (flexing around the sacrum), but his batch of techniques are a little awkward for me. There's a lot going on: the sexual chi gong breathing, the anal breathing combined with the flexing around the sacrum. The idea and the technique were definately there but, for me, isolating the sacral flexing with just a very simple technique made it much more accessible for me. So I've been appreciating the sacrum, how it is the base of the spine, and how it is opposite back of genitals. And I've got a new appreciation for the connection that needs to be established to get across from genitals to sacrum, as a critical first step to getting up the spine. "That first step 's a doosie!" And how profound that jing~sacrum connection can be. I knew that Taoist Secrets of Love talks about the "sacral pump", and so I went and purchased a new copy (I'd thrown my old copy away long ago) in order to review. Thought, "hey, I oughta re-read this and get a fresh view on it". It definately talks about the sacral pump (and cranial pump) as a real key to getting jing into the spine. Spot-on recognition of that. However, the techniques to accomplish that miss the mark. Straightening the lower back does flex the spine, but it doesn't directly deal with the sacrum ... definately could indirectly pull energy through the sacrum, but that's not the same as activating the sacrum itself. Not by a long shot, given what I'm experiencing as actual deeper sacral activation. And clenching the buttocks misses the mark, too. As far as technique to actually effectively activate the sacrum, I don't see it in that book. (And if someone else does, please refer me to the page.) So, of course updated several pages on my site. Its so helpful to have the web. I just searched for images of "sacrum" and had a ton of pictures to choose from, put 'em on my own page and bam! Compared with having to hire someone to draw the pics, and going through a laborious publishing process.. whew! main revised pages: Exploring the Exhale - basic technique (which has been there for a while), added several simple variations. The Spine - revised with a sacrum section, and a small bit of other mods. Compliments of Alchemical Taoism.com. cheers, Trunk

I can't say that I'm really 'good at it', .. but, yes, I could do the whole spine - and it didn't take me long, just a little experimentation, quickly, actually. The big barrier was finding out that it actually could be done, doing it is not that hard. One tip (that I keep repeating, maybe cause its such a surprise to me) is that the stack o' vertebral bodies is pretty close to the middle of the torso. The sacrum is further back; its relatively flat. So, once you start squeezing up past the sacrum, the flex goes fairly close to the middle of the way back. You might try at various places if the "little by next little, from bottom to top" is not working. Try at the solar plexus, or at the neck a bit above the sternum. Place your attn there, exhale and let that area contract a little with the exhale, and then just give a little flex in there at the bottom of the exhale. Likely that you'll get a-hold o' the vertebral bodies.

Intense energy + kidney failure. I'd say "fairly concerned" would be an appropriate response. Honestly, you're in a serious situation and basically out of the league of anyone here. Giving / taking any advice in your situation is very tricky. I'd only say that with any of your practices go easy, be gentle on your system. Chinese herbs could be helpful in smoothing your energetics and nourishing you but, given your condition, you'd definately have to go to a good dr of chinese medicine. warm regards, Trunk

My recent explorations with the sacrum-squeeze (and on up the spine) has resolved some stagnation in my lower tan tien, which has prompted me to review the whole topic of "sexual energy massage". Like the stuff in Chapt 3 of the Bone Marrow Nei Kung book. That is, unaroused massage of any of the lower torso (& genitals, perineum, etc) area for the purpose of keeping good circulation, 'cause retention tends to jam things up. Or even some simple internal work that serves that basic purpose. Like, my "sacrum-squeeze" isn't external massage, but it basically massages a potent jing area: sacrum and spine. So, What are your favorite (unaroused) jing massages? Least favorite?, Are there some that you've tried that did nothing for you? Are there any that you do regularly? Did you do some once, three years ago, but none since? What areas do you think tend to jam up the most as a result of retention? curious and researching, Trunk btw, I'm reading Acupressure for Lovers and Bone Marrow Nei Kung (chapt 3). Any other good references?

Thanks Michael. I see that its also available through Amazon. It'll be on my next Amazon order. .. next .. I'm suddenly a big fan of John Du Cane's Bear frolic from his Power Qigong dvd. The position + movement massages the kidneys more effectively than any method I've tried. This relates directly to "sexual energy massage" in that the kidneys are a big part of the water element and are part of the endocrine ladder along with, obviously, the gonads. I'd gotten ways to activate the sperm palace, testicles, ducts & epidydimus, prostate, sacrum, lower lumbar, various acupoints along the way .. but not the kidneys themselves! The bear frolic really does it. I feel my kidneys being gently squeezed, and I feel them pulse with vitality - kind of like a second set of balls. I feel that I've really activated an important link in the jing~processing~chain. -- later edits -- Also, the classics say that its really important to refine at least up through ming men, that its a turning point. Of course, that's right between the kidneys. Cool. p.s. I've tried other things before: leaning over and hitting the kidneys w/backs of hands, various breathing into the k's, smiling, fusion, bridges, tao yin .. many useful in diff ways, but DuCane's bear frolic is the best for massage of the kidneys that I've experienced.

Fireblood, Hey! you stole my avatar. Is that legal??? (Sheesh, where are the cops when you need them? ) ?#1: imo, its not about making a little man (or woman) inside your belly, its about how light naturally integrates with your own body. ime, light is effectively helpful to the process of qigong, but you don't have to believe any particular theory about what the light is or isn't. ?#2: I think that the best any of us can do is be honest with ourselves, and keep integrity with our own experience, both as best we can. Just be true to your own experience, atheist~agnostic~theistic, where ever you are on the continuum. Looked at from another way, "calming the mind" isn't about believing anything. Trunk btw, welcome to the Tao Bums.

I looked for the title and couldn't find it.. maybe you mis-named it?Here's all the things at Amazon by Gay Hendricks, and here's The Hendrick's Institute. Would you dbl-check which item it is, maybe provide a link to it? (Obviously I'm interested by your results. .. not the throwing-up part.)

I haven't done the EFT point sequence, but I've borrowed the idea of "tapping" (with my finger/s) acupoints. I'd pretty much massaged them before, tapping is an interesting option.

Definately those are the top two. "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" got shut down some years ago, but I really liked it. And, when I was in grade school I went to DLand with the multi-sport YMCA team that I was part of - all my friends in grade school. We spent like 3 hours on Tom Sawyer's Island playing "ditch". That was it. --- later --- Oh, shit! Are we talking Disneyworld?!? Never been there.

I've been watching the Colbert Report videos on the web. Really clever send up of ultra right wing nonsense. Edgey style. At first the interviewees didn't know what to make of Steve's character - he basically attacks them with aggressive utterly absurd arguements. And he is so good at it that they sometimes get put off, or actually (sort of) shot down. Even though its clearly all a spoof, Steve's tone is aggressive and he is very smart; people get a little put off.. which is what the send-up is all about: its a mockery of ridiculously far right-wing bullshit. Its an opportunity to learn to laugh that stuff off and not be taken by it at all. Robert Greenwald did a good job in the recent interview.

Interesting to have people of an increasingly diverse background here. Welcome.

A couple of useful links kidney 1 several acupressure essays w/ links --- later edit --- oops, and this one

Here's a very simple version of EMDR. I've had some experience with doing this simple version ("Method 2" from the linked page).. I've done it both on myself, and had someone do it to me in therapy session. Very simple, very effective. Interesting read with the EFT, hadn't heard of it before. --- later edit --- Tao1776, I'd be curious to hear - after some while - how the EFT goes for you. Maybe you could post in this thread with results in a couple of weeks or so.

Happy-happy-happy!