Trunk

Well, like I said before.. Also, in the BMNK book they are noted for releasing sexual hormones into the body.

Welcome aboard! 've always enjoyed the pics at your site!!!

There are several parts to Tao Yin, and the part that I've had experience with is focusing on the psoas muscle. Really, really interesting work. Goes deep deep into the tan tien; the psoas is hooked into all sorts of really deep emotional and core energy. The Tao Yin video is really excellent.. much much easier to study & practice from than the book. Well worth the $. I got rid of my vhs player, and so gave away my Tao Yin tapes.. gotta order the dvd's.

This exhibit was in L.A. some years back. I have a friend who is a massage therapist, and she thought it was amazing. I didn't think I really wanted to see people's insides that bad, so skipped it.

Welcome, Karen!

You bet. Glad it went well.

oooommmminiscusooooommmmm

Interesting. I've done it gentle. Interesting to hear how things vary. I also find that standing is easiest. I've found that this technique can be applied all the way up the spine. Above the sacrum, the bottom-of-exhale puts you most in touch with the vertebral bodies, so you end up squeezing around them. This can be applied, little bit by next little bit, starting at the bottom and working all the way up into the neck.

Hi Sean, welcome aboard!

Is that a contemporary fellow? Seeing "Edison" made me wonder if he wrote an autobiography. Bet he had some cool stories.

Couple of Tao Practioners walk into a bar, One is from the Southern School, One is from the Northern School. Bartender says, ..."

Don't worry! A piece of shit car is one of the signs of a serious spiritual aspirant! (Go to any serious meditation group and you'll see a whole parking lot full of them! ) Congrats on coming up with the idea and getting to do it!!!

For posts that you've posted, there appears an "edit" button near the bottom right of your post. As long as you have cookies turned on, the computer "knows its you". Spooky, huh?

I've been tinkering with words, lately. Clarifying names and purposes of practices. Partly by something that Sean mentioned in another thread, partly my own process. Its long struck me that "Healing Love" is a very ironic name to the jing cultivation practices as presented by the HT (books). 1), If someone really is experiencing an illness, disharmony, at the level of jing - then the HT's practices are way way way too advanced - and will almost certainly make that person worse. So the "healing" part of "healing love" is sort of a joke. and 2), Some of the practices are so advanced (long term retention) that even most generally-healthy people get hurt by attempting them. So, "healing" is not an apt word, here. .. "Love" is pretty loaded, also. Additionally, people tend to get fixated on jing retention (which is just one thing that might happen, if a number of things are in place). The way that we've been presented with "Healing Love" material has resulted in a pattern of thinking about sexual energy cultivation that is narrow. I've come up with "jing gong" as alternate words to "healing love". For me, its loosening up the way I'm thinking about the subject. Also, I'm thinking about it in three broad overlapping levels, that broaden the view from our typical rather narrow scope. "Healing Jing Gong", "Healthy Jing Gong", and "Advanced Jing Gong". My scrappy notes follow: 1. Healing Jing Gong This key word for this level is "disharmony". Illness, dis-ease, significant, or minor disharmony. Whether its manifesting as something that clinical western medicine might call a serious health condition, or its something relatively more subtle that Chinese medicine might recognize, or whether its personal consideration that some significant healing progress needs to take place in an area. This could be physical (in the tissues, etc), or emotional (for instance, post-relationship healing), significant compulsive behavior, consciousness, life-style, what ever. The more seriously into this level, the more specific help is needed. At a level that really borders in the next level, one might look at the natural minor fluctuations of tissue, fluid, alchemy, that occur as one goes through one's sexual cycle. (For men, that'd be build-up and release.) What happens at the different stages? Do the transitions happen smoothly, harmoniously? Or is there some exagerated jag at some point?, if so, what disharmony is going on there? and what is the appropriate remedy? 2. Healthy Jing Gong for those that want to maintain and improve good health this layer is more social vs. too far into disharmony, and social ability is impaired vs. the high end of advanced jing gong tends to be alone work variety in lifestyle healthy forward and healthy reverse healthy satisfying 'normal' sex life (ie, retention uncommon, not part of the discipline at this stage, of course allowing for when its natural and unforced) 'healthy satisfaction' is forward, here gradually more & more adept, developed at harmonizing the minor disharmonies body work through physical wisdom discipline/s opening and filling the channels ` at high end of this level, true reverse is experienced more frequently though it doesn't dominate at this level 3. Advanced Jing Gong this is where reverse begins to dominate - references: post #6957 and thread, essay Jing-to-Light the centers are transformed, and truly become Medicine Fields - particularly, in this context of jing gong, the lower center genuinely becomes a Medicine Field personal expression Dives into the Ocean focus on building a light body stillness cultivation dominates more here - non-dual nature becomes more of a factor dual cultivation is a lesser technique of this level - the consciousness art of dual cultivation is higher level here - retention is part of this level of discipline, and is the norm here - though not an absolute, - in respect of the lessons of healing jing gong and healthy jing gong at the high end its solo --- summary notes --- I'd suppose that there are solo and dual cultivation aspects to all three of those areas. Note, I don't put retention in as a significant focus until "advanced jing gong". Also important to note that probably most people have some experience with all three levels, at least at different times in every regular life, perhaps on a regular basis. So, these are rigid levels, but just ways of looking at whatever condition you're currently looking at ... in a way that helps sort it out more, I think. Glad to hear any feedback, thoughts.

I suspect that being a "no tv family" is probably one of the simplest best things someone could do for their kids.

H, Your comments, above, stayed with me. I'd agree on each point, and that they all need to be connected profoundly. However, its too much to put in a detailed way on my site, so I summarized it as: "You'll find that, in time, this will profoundly deepen your experience of the whole orbit (little, micro, and macro)." .. in the exploring the exhale essay. It really refers back to those orbit topics, and all the points along the path there. Back to Chia's m.o. book, "Awaken Healing Energy..". I also added a paragraph to the spine essay: "While spine-curvature-adjustment-exercises (such as "straighten the lower back", and others) are important, they are not the same as activation of the sacrum. Once the sexual vitality ~ sacrum relationship has been activated, you'll find that exercises that shift the shape of the spine become much more effective." T.

In my experience, imbalance can result by long term exclusive focus on any of the centers. Dogma at either extreme ain't so great. Focus too much in the head, and blah-blah-blah. Focus too much in the ltt and yadda-yadda-yadda. Balanced practice tends to made a better blend. (Though the ltt does take some more work because it is so dense, but still, important not to obsess.)

Nice to have you around.

COOL! Good notes. Two points.. Well, first off - all well said, a good read.Ok, two points: 1. If someone actually needs healing, if they're not 'basically healthy', then they shouldn't be practicing retention. Likely that retention would make their situation worse. People do come into this system of knowledge who actually need substantial physical or emotional healing. Who have serious health issues and so on. Retention is likely to really jam up their system and exacerbate troubles. There's too much emphasis on retention in the HT system, imo, and there's not enough clear discernment about how it can cause trouble and it when it shouldn't be used. 2. The word 'love' is so romantic and hits squarely in the middle of emotion and desire as a selling point. While healthy, satisfying relationship is part of it, the deeper principle of transcending desire is crucial. Without that, people are being sent down a very entangling path. Without that, its lost the principle of Tao (which is non-dual), and that's real trouble. That's why Buddhism has been a hot topic in discussion lately, to clarify some of these deeper principles (that are central to Taoism as well, but perhaps more accessible through Buddhist readings). I hadn't thought of the martial connotation, but now that you mention it I see it and agree that its unfortunate. For me the term didn't have much connotation at all (only that it was jing practice, or jing art, or jing cultivation) and so was free of pre-conceptions and has broad open application. From healing, to playing music, lifestyle's effect, to relationship, to meditative states. It widened the scope beyond retention. Seems to me that you have a very healthy view of the practices, and can see the very healthy elements in the HT system... which, I agree, are there and can be seen if one has the balance & perspective to see them. And perhaps your healthy view shields you from some of the mis-use that some people bungle with when working the HT system. But, imo, the emphasis in the HT system too easily lends itself to obsessive focus on retention at inappropriate stages, and to missing some of the deeper principles that are protective. Good conversation. Trunk

Generalities are useful, and accurate, when taken as generalities. That is, they're general trends and accurate only with the caveates that come with a general trend. As contrasted with talking about a specific instance, which gets.. well, specific. Its like, I can say, "plants are green" and I'd clearly be accurate as a generality. But if I look at any specific plant, there's a variety of colors, and its specific to each species and more specifically to each plant itself. Hopefully if I said, "plants are green" we wouldn't have to get into a big arguement that plants have lots of different colors and each one varies. Rather silly. Its implied. There are generalities, which are broad-trend sweeps. And there are individual specifics. They're both accurate in their own right, and with their own limitations of view. Let's not get our undies all in a bunch over it. Gender issues might be a bit more loaded for this crowd than plants, but you oughta see the Sierra Club discussion site!!! love, Trunk

Where's the love, people? If everyone could cut eachother a bit more slack, it'd go a lot better. You're all intelligent and making good points, and a variety of pts of view makes a better discussion,.. some interpersonal friction seems to be complicating and tangling things. Maybe I'm stating the obvious. If all of you could just take a deep breath, go "ommmmmm", and chill in a little bit of universal , and let conversation play out in a more spacious way - that might help a lot. My 2 cents.

I feel the same way. The community has needed more women, really glad to have you here. Your timing is good. More toward healthy balance.