Trunk

In no particular order: 1. I feel like the oil becomes hyper-absorbable by my body. Hot dry places that've been hard to get to, just soak it up! And I've had plenty of flax oil (and various other friendly oils) on it's own before. 2. I feel stronger, maybe like protein is getting absorbed super-efficiently? 3. Increased blood circulation, most noticably in a number of places that have been long-time-stuck for me. Those places seem to be receiving some deep healing. And it's not like I've never tried any other modality, lol. 4. Occasional detox feeling, like trapped heat is coming out of stuck areas, sometimes I sweat a little. Also I feel my body is working deeply on repairing those areas that were walled off. While I generally feel stronger, sometimes I need to take a nap. I've made sure that I'm taking vitamins/minerals/aminos... I want to make sure my body has what it needs to repair, re-build. Probably important to drink lots of fluids between meals. No idea. This is all new to me. p.s. I've been reading the pdf, and I'd say that their understanding of Chinese medicine is abysmal. Just from that, I don't trust this diet/protocol as a whole (could even be injurious for some imo), but find the cottage cheese + flax oil mixture an amazing find.

Good enough results that I'm getting more serious about this: went to Target and bought a small immersion blender to blend the cottage cheese + flax oil. ... reading the pdf, integrating more.

I found the hand pictures in the wikipedia article as a really helpful reference while becoming familiar with the hand positions. They were *so* foreign to me, so strange, that - at first - I would be somewhat confused getting my fingers woven correctly, then would forget how almost as quickly as I separated my hands, lol.

The ratio is flax 1: cottage 2 I suggest doing it at a small "supplement" or "snack" size: So, more or less like this: 1 tablespoon flax oil + 2 tablespoons cottage cheese stir (simply w/ a spoon/fork) eat For starters, it's that simple. Nuthin' fancy. I find that if I make meal-sized portions every day then I end up eating a *lot* of cottage cheese, and a *lot* of flax oil... not really interested in that. Scale it back to just supplement portion. There's a free 73 page pdf from the Budwig Center that I just printed out. p.s. When my friend told me about it she just said, "flax oil and cottage cheese, there's something about the chemistry of mixing them". And the next time I had cottage cheese I just poured some flax oil on it, stirred and ate. BAM! Huge result. So I did it several more times over days and got major results. Finally googled it and find there's all these books and things, but my point is, you can start as simple as that. (And maybe all this reading is unnecessary; I don't know yet.)

I've found the source documents on this: The Budwig Center (lots of free info online, testimonials, etc) Two key books in english (many more in german): 1. Flax Oil As a True Aid Against Arthritis Heart Infarction Cancer and Other Diseases (3rd Edition) 2. The Oil-Protein Diet Cookbook I've gotten such very strong positive reaction in my body that I'm getting more serious about this diet. Ordered both books.

His blog: http://www.baguaquanlessons.com/index.html ... more later. p.s. I know nothing about him, I just saw his work referenced in another thread (quotes below). Hopefully others with more experience will contribute to this thread. Interesting... So, what is the Chinese character (襠?) for this "dang" arch that allows one to ? And what are the 12 tendon channels? Where is the chart for this and how exactly do you train tendons?

I made a separate thread for Master He Jing-han. Feel free of course to continue posting his pertinent info here, but I know nothing about him and think he also deserves his own thread. If any of you who have experience/know of him, and want to share...

There's some sort of chemical reaction between the cottage cheese and the flax oil that makes it go really deep. I've never had *any* sort of results w/ flax like how this is effecting me.

*wow* thanks for those kwa links!

Sifu Matsuo has many DVDs and no written sequence (that I've seen), which inspired this thread.

I found out about Sifu Matsuo through Zerostao here at TTBs in early 2011. I've never met Sifu Matsuo in-person, but I asked and was received on board as a student in fall of 2011. There is some e-mail dialogue, of varied frequency (of course he has a number of other students and various projects in his life) ... I do feel a student~teacher~lineage connection. For me, the outward instruction vehicle of method is mainly through DVD, and I find that it's sufficient to produce very satisfying results. I have responsibilities and life-projects that keep me at home; no Hawaii trips for me at least for a long while. I don't know what the "red" line means, but the system is structured around bagua, yet includes a number of modalities... yet the various methods all weave into a single body, all align along principles, is my sense of it. The links in my signature tell more (+ youtube videos etc). If we yap too much, or at OP's request, we could split it off. ... but the above covers a lot. - Trunk

There are a couple of Shambhala centers (Trungpa's school) here in the LA area that I've visited. I like the people there, and I like that art is emphasized as part of the path. I've an old friend who studied with Trungpa back in the day and my impression from what she said is that Trungpa had a *lot* of shakti radiating through him. There's a film (either currently in production or recently out, I don't know) about Trungpa that I got to see a pre-release screening of at a local center. Interviews of students, footage of Trungpa, etc. Sorry I don't recall the title of the movie. I was particularly impressed by two things within that film: 1. That students were very open, honest, real about Trungpa's behavior and about the dynamics within the community. They weren't making any attempt to hide things. I found that admirable (and some of the behavior I wouldn't want to be around, but at least they were just talking about it openly). 2. There's a certain kind of devotion, energy, *some*thing in students who've been with a teacher from whom they received deep transmission. It's recognizable. A number of students exhibited that, imho. - Trunk

Yup, nourishment (diet, herbs). Kundalini is very refined, expansive, wrathful, very "yang". As such, it has the danger of burning out "yin" (the substantial aspects of the body, mentioned before as adrenal fatigue). Diet, herbs, being careful not to burn yourself out otherwise, all important. Also integrating your lower and higher natures becomes more critical as there is so much yang (sky) that it can exacerbate the partial earth / sky separation that normal people deal with anyways. Bagua qigong is one way to do that, but there are ... many methods. Gradually, skillfully opening *all* of the channels: important. Acupuncture, acupressure, body work, etc etc. Gradually, skillfully. (Hard to find a really good doctor of oriental medicine, ime, but hugely helpful in the long run... ones that have been influenced by Kiiko Matsumoto and/or Jeffrey Yuen, big plus.) Then there's dealing with all the gradual psychic changes. Makes you kind of a social oddity so there are social challenges... and on n' on.

Yup, that's a very significant part of it. General integration becomes more... critical, also. Both: - "centering": integrating into the center (central channel) skillfully, (at each major center) - "vertical integration": integrating the 'heavy' (earth) and 'lofty' (sky) through the human body I went through K.awakening in '88. In all that time before and since, Sifu Matsuo's system is, ime&o, the best (most accessible + effective) I've found to integrate either in preparation or post-K.awakening.

I've hypothyroid in my family, but test within normal range. (Often hypothyroidism is marginal and within md's normal range.) I'd tried Dr. Ron's Sea Vegetables Plus: Nutrients for a Healthy Thyroid before, but found it too zippy (and had other things going on at the time). I've more recently dug the bottle out of my cupboard and have given it another try: After experimentation, I've cut the dose *way* back. The bottle says "2 caps/day" and I've cut it down to 1/3rd of a cap per day. Even as little as 1 cap was too much. At this rate, the bottle should last me about a year and a half. Good results: deeper breathing, sexual energy 'lifts' more easily, better mood, more energy in general.

Thought I'd update this thread: In the last few months I've taken some products from KidneyComplete.com. Kidney stones run in my family and my brother got *really* good results from this and so I've been experimenting. I've had impressive/interesting/good results with a number of their products. Oh!, relevance: All of their formulas are based on an apple cider vinegar extract.

Seems to me that we will quickly reach a semi-burn-out where members will not offer up as many new questions for new interviews. 1. Created a generic gathering ?s thread where people can put ?s for re-use. 2. Feel free to use ?s from any prior interview.

It seems to me that we are often the most ignorant about the most basic things... 1. Please describe some critical mechanics and dynamics of a functioning dan tien. What is it? Perhaps described in a way that would give us some long term orientation for that work. 2. Often descriptions of work and results are framed around 'best case'. Perhaps some perspective on the scope of work and degree of results that an *average* student of the internal arts might face in developing functioning dan tiens, and a functioning internal arts body in general.

This might not be right for you but, ime, it's been worth while to continue searching through acupuncturists. Acupuncturists' style/skill vary a lot. If you've a complicated/unusual case sometimes a small fraction of the acupuncturists you go to will be effective, but that 1 or 2 that help can be life-savers.

gets favorited, best subject line

*yay!* Already surprising and wonderful variations of the interview idea. Give people a blank slate, and watch what happens!!!

Try it now?

And now we have a new Tao In-Person section. Read the intro, ground rules (which might develop as the community explores the idea/section).

The advanced search form always gives better results than the profile content search.

Apech, There has obviously been some confusion/mis-communication/mistaken conflation amongst us between the ideas of "teacher's forum" and "interviews". fwiw, if it helps to clarify anything, my recollection is similar to Steve's. For any moderator that has served 6 months continuously, TTBs owes them a month at the spa~resort of their choice.