Trunk

This discussion has prompted me to fish it out of the garbage can in my bedroom intact and (except for a little dignity) unscathed. Maybe we can hash it out a bit and still find something useful in there. When I have a moment, I'll type thoughts about it in more detail and post. Curious to hear your experience/take/thoughts on the Deer Exercise.

Purdee-innerestun'thred, ah-rekun. Reminds me u' them thar times uh-while bahk, when.. (gotta switch outta accent) Someone talked about absorbing qi from others, and giving back compassion, throughout the day. Not vampirously, but just instead of basic looking, you know? I forget who and where.. it might be in my site, I'm not sure where. Also sbiel talked about giving away one's virtue and essence. Both of these mentions.. I don't know, rang a bell some how. And I don't think I've gotten deep enough with this one. So, back to my original point: innerestun'thred.

Karen, Can you talk a little about cod liver oil (or provide a few links). I've just started to take it within the last week or so and surprised at how powerful it is. Do you use a plug-in mic, or do you find your built-in laptop mic ok. Record rhythm, and then record lead over it? Looking fwd to experimenting with this. Trunk

I ordered this from Amazon, and read ~100 pages of it. Its awful. Waste of time. At first I saw that the writing was really poor, but thought, "oh, well, there might be some gems, still, in here" and plugged along. It just kept getting worse. Threw it in the trash last night.

Well, Michael was exploring the pause, and the Tibetans are inhaling suffering etc, so those are really two different breathing practices. Just to comment on the method that Michael was exploring, he took it to an extreme. Re-read how long he did it: he went way way way far with it. imo, exploring the pauses is very beneficial (try it), but in moderation, much smaller doses than Michael did back in the wild day.

Emelgee, Hello! Welcome, welcome! Trunk

Yup. Definately a huge key. I look back at what I was trying to do for years, and it just wasn't going to happen without the sacrum activation. Re-read my exhale essay; its gone through revisions. The 3rd technique is about hui yin, and might help you with the pelvic floor. What I'm experiencing now, with hui yin, is similar to what sbiel experienced with hui yin years ago. He was way ahead. That technique that Sean mentioned from there, helpful. If there are others, lemmeknow.

Agreed about the swing. re: bound up fascia, I've found that activating the sacrum and the points of the lower torso, and breathing.. I've gotten more release of stagnation that way. (See my "exhale" essay. if you haven't read it in a while, its been revised considerably - worth an entire re-read.) Massage the sperm palace, the ducts and epidydimis, the testicles (a real key), and prostate (I do that through pc exercises). Details, check the BMNK book. There's a chapt on massage. I've got an essay in the works, but it may be a while. For various other tips, see the "Iron Shirt 3" section of my site. Really important to get the jing into the marrow, not just pull up a bunch and let it run where-ever in the body. -- later addition -- I hesitated to add this, cause I've only been taking it for 2 days, but cod liver oil is amazing. I think it assists with circulation and detox, amongst other things. I don't know enough about it to know exactly, nor have I been taking it for but 2 bits.. but its something.

Yup. Tips: 1. Only light weight is needed to exercise the area. Get yourself a 5lb and a 2&1/2lb plates, and that's enough. I think you often don't need to use more than 5lbs. (If you chose to go towards heavy weights without close guidance of a genuinely qualified teacher, then you're out of your mind.) 2. Connect the pull to the sacrum and spine, not the organs. Spine integration is really important. 3. Still standing assists into-the-bones. 4. Massage before and after.

Congrat's! And, thanks for the heads-up re: cod-liver oil from your blog!

So, I subscribed to netflix and its cheap, convenient, and their selection is huge huge huge. Recently watched "Yogis of Tibet: A film for posterity". The thing that really struck me, and which was a major pt of the film, is that the yogis are dying off, and there aren't the cultural conditions present to produce new ones.

That's a memorable phrase!

I thought I was going to see some heated debate in response to my post! Maybe later.. I was watching "Deliverence" on TV once, and it was one of those shows like "Dinner & a Movie" where they comment and cook between scenes. So, the scene was when the guys are paddlin' down the river and its all pristine majestic nature, and the guys aren't talking at all .. it was all just utterly regal and quiet. The girl from "Dinner & a Movie" said that if it was a bunch of women going down the river they'd be "sharing their feelings". One of the guys from D&M said, "that's what they're doing".

There are good sociobiologic (Darwinian) reasons for gender behavior. The male is strong to defend life & limb, and to do a lot of physically based survival work. A man desires to inseminate as many females as possible, so his line will continue. Women will flock to a rare really exceptional provider, and he'll get it. Women, on the other hand, need someone stable and reliable to assist with all the work it takes to successfully raise a child. Its all about behavior aimed at successfully raising the next generations. And, imo, the resulting unit is not just a couple and a kid/s - but a "tribe": a significant sized group that can provide diversity of skills and some redundancy when people are injured / die. Roots of group psychology run deep. Maybe this doesn't account for all of human behavior, but probably at least into the high %90's.

retreat details: Lifegate Institute

I just added a paragraph at the end of that section: "The sacrum, spine, brain, jing, endocrine system, nerve plexuses, energetic centers - all related, and hopefully this essay provides an effective start for exploration along this key topic." Better to at least mention that this stuff all ties together (not that I know all the details of how it does, but it clearly does) to give a better idea of scope, and possible exploration. About the libido thing, you might try: - pc muscle contractions: start with just the general pc muscle. Then work at just squeezing segments of it at a time. Then work on doing a similar action with the whole "lower curve": from below the belly button, down past the urogenital diaphragm, across the pc, inside the anus (prostate), and up the sacrum through the lumbar vertebrae. - massage at least the ducts and testicles. (edit: added) - do "grease the groove" with standing ab-wheel. ie, like I can only do ~3 at a time, so I do 3 and then do 3 more 20 minutes later, a number of sets through the evening. - kettlebell swings. With the above, you should feel like a gorilla - and the chicks will notice.

Still a little time to sign up for this Feb 2-6 Sun Do retreat.

Uh, that statement implies the assumption somewhere around the area of "if its in the book its safe and tested and like they say it is". Its an untrue assumption, just thought I'd mention it. The quicker you adopt healthy suspicion in this area the better. I can't speak for them; don't know exactly what they think as to theory, only that "people get hurt". Probably something to do with lots of force, and maybe stuff going to the wrong place, maybe somethings breaking a little (like sunshine's post).

The table of contents looks promising. imo, he's talking about many of the right topics.

I got it from the web, and am using it in my site. If its copyrighted, no one has notified me nor come after about it. So, its your call.

Don't know, never use it. Dangerous, imo, and per HT instructors. hui yin, I've been going by feel (haven't looked it up in a TCM book). Under the prostate (that is, nearer the skin).

His thinking in those initial paragraphs is along the lines of Wendell Berry's writing (such as Citizenship Papers). Without the background-view, his comments don't make sense. .. worth reading.

Massaging other places that connect to the prostate. By pulsing massage of the testicles, massaging the ducts (important to include epididymis), massage of the sperm palace, and whatever way you massage the prostate (pc muscle exercise and/or other).. all those are connected by tubing and massage of all of them gets circulation between & amongst them going. Healthy. The pulsing-massage of the testicles has been, for me, really key in getting the circulation to a new level, and should probably be done last of the massages. --- added later --- Two things to add to the massage list: the gland at the tip of the penis, and the sacrum. When my sacrum activated, significant jing stagnation resolved, because the stagnation now had somewhere to go. All the major glands in the lower tan tien, the tension in the musculature all in there, and the bones (sacrum, spine) are all connected. They are all stations in a flow of blood, jing, vitality. Any massage program needs to address all of the major points in the "lower U", the curve starting from above the public bone (really just below the belly button), down through the perineum (and all parts along the way), and up the sacrum and vertebral bodies.

Seems to me that the main cause of taoist-online-discussion-addiction-syndrome is that there is so little opportunity in 'real life' to discuss taoist cultivation. And that the obvious solution is to join, or start, local practice groups. Real satisfying community. (There's gotta be a better word than 'real', cause both are real, obviously I mean 3D in-the-flesh.) fer example, A friend of mine on the west side started a meditation group in his home. He turned his living room into a sort of zendo (zabutans & cushions, nice sitting environment) and people show up for silent sitting early every morning. Same could be done at a local yoga studio. Or with zhan zhuang, inside or outside.