Trunk

I prefer Cleary's as well, though Wilhelm's is also useful (it took others to turn me on to it). Seems to me that Cleary is talking about the central channel, really core fundamental mind training - and Wilhelm about the MO.

I feel this was relevant to the turtle breathing set of techniques that I recently put on my site, thought I'd comment. I think we'd all agree that it's good to work on whole body breathing plus more specific part-by-part breathing methods that support integration towards whole body breathing. I mean, maybe the most basic principle is integration, right?, we're into that. Seems to me that, around sexuality, the main difficulties for men's practices are around stagnant heat, residual from excitation of dense energetics~substance. I've found that working with cool early morning air helps clear heat and gently circulates. 'nuff said.

I still use it, occasionally. I've even shown it to several friends (though I've renamed it "yin~yang mudra": more descriptive and doesn't lead back to that school.. and it's simple enough to easily draw). It's a good method.

Pure awesomeness.

It goes both ways. Some people activate it via a hands mudra that prompts~allows flows both up&down; that's a nifty solution. I'm currently diggin' activating all of the eight extraordinaries; I find it does more of what the mo was advertised as.

I mean when you receive any kind of energetic, state-of-mind, emptiness transference from the teacher to the student. Can happen through physical touch, by being in the room meditating with the teacher, or psychicly at a distance. .. when any of that happens, you're likely to be introduced (whether you know it or not) to the psychic space of the teacher's heavenly lineage (their spiritual support team).

Interesting point. The heavenly lineage (that community of enlightened beings that reside together in "siddha loka") includes many more than Muktananda. Also there is the Kagyu lineage grace that flows through HL as well. (Not sure how they are related, but they're both there.) I don't know to what degree Muktananda's human karmas (whatever tendencies that were less that clear) are still present in his current state. I know for certain that he's not the only one in that realm. Often teachers are associated with a lineage: a subtle group of advanced beings, often referred to as residing in a 'heaven' (aka 'loka' in the Indian traditions). They lend power, purity and stability. It's a truism that when you are initiated by a teacher backed by a lineage, that you are initiated into the realm of that teacher's heavenly lineage. - Trunk

This short: Muktananda died in 1982: I never studied with him so I can't speak much to specifics. From what I've heard (from those that were there) he had a tremendous amount of energy running through him and gave shaktipad to tens of thousands in the west. Unprecedented. While it seems like there was some sexual misconduct, most of what is written in that article sounds like bunk to me from what I've heard from others. ~~~ up to present time ~~~ HardLight is a clean operation. Mark is his own person and I wouldn't judge him by anyone other than him. I've never heard Mark speak disrespectfully to people and there aren't shenanigans in the background. Tremendous amount of juice available for anyone. imo, the main difficulty in HL is that Mark often has difficulty relating to students at their level, tends to speak over their heads and ability level. There's been a lot of work to organize his teachings (cd's at the HL store) so that students can work through the material more systematically. Still an issue, imo, but it is at least being worked on (rather extensively). In general (beyond just HL or any particular school) I think that it's difficult to find all of the answers that a beginning student needs in any one school - often even in any one tradition. Too narrow of focus + lack of long term diligence often blocks students from going as far as they could in a lifetime. We are at a time in history where, these last few decades and currently, more information is becoming available from various specialties / schools / traditions. HardLight has a niche of providing very high end meditation experience and exposure and is very worth while to check out, imo. That's my 2 cents. - Trunk

1) Self-massage the Liver channel. 2) Do aerobic exercise in order to circulate blood. 3) Go see a dr of Chinese medicine.

Way cool. I haven't had that particular experience.

Well, with most channels you're working with "something": clearing obstruction, circulating, nourishing. That's good and facilitates a healthy body. The central channel has special connection with Space and Light, the Non-Stuff that transcends the subject/object split of mundane consciousness. When making the transition from inside/outside based identity to identity based on Space and Light a lot "goes away" so there is a sense of "nothingness". Energetically it works out that subtle energies "enter, abide, and dissolve" (phrase from the Six Yogas of Naropa) in the central channel... That is, they refine into Space and Light which 'feels' like "nothing". As contrasted w/ regular channels where you're nourishing w/ "something" (substances and subtle substances). Hope that helps. Agreed that normal rules don't apply there, Everything changes. How I find myself relating to your post is via my own process, so I'll talk about that a little and if we're both lucky it will be somewhat relevant. I studied with a series of several teachers who could fill a room with refined energy, and I was somewhat sensitive, so I got access to stillness pretty quickly. Thoughts stopped and I plunged into more and more powerfully refined inner spaces (that were at least partly made available by my teachers and connected lineage). Those refined spaces, coupled with still sitting, tend to gradually dissolve the human form. There is a lot of profound letting go. Some of that's good (opening, refinement, purification, etc). The problem is that the Deeper Spaces get progressively more powerful, especially if you sit with Accomplished Teachers. The dissolving gets more powerful. You need something to hold yourself together. As I say in my overview page: That is: you need both transcendence and cohesion otherwise you'll get dissolved~torn apart by the progressively higher states. And so we come to this, which I state in big bold letters at the top subtitle of my jing-to-Light essay: There is an esoteric process of igniting the the bindus with yi + essence + Clear Light. Really important. It refines the personal energies of the centers in a way that fuels connection to the Primordial and keeps one's energetic body cohesive in the face of ever more powerful states of consciousness. Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. - Trunk

This post and several following it.

Not much. Short warm-up on each of major joints: wrists & ankles (all 4 can be done simultaneously if you're sitting down), hips, shoulders, spine (esp neck). p.s. If you want to be more thorough then get Sonnon's Intu-flow.

*yipes* That's telling. Haven't seen it, but from all this *ugh*, what an opportunity wasted: the source material really handed success on a platter. p.s. I read the reviews at Rotten Tomatos, wow. Spectacularly bad.

Way cool! Thank you Oleg! (I wonder if this method has a name?)

A few thoughts re: sexual vocabulary... (Talking here as a TTBs member, not in moderator-role.) I see a real western cultural deficiency in sexual vocabulary. The cultural psyche has basically 3 modes of talking about sex: 1, repression by convention, not talk about it at all. 2, use sterile clinical names ("penis", "vagina") or 3, use words that either are vulgar or border on vulgar ("cock", "pussy"). None of those options have style, warmth, refinement, art. But they're what's readily available, what we've all been taught by just growing up. Some of the eastern terms ("jade stalk") show more art, more love of language and of sex... and sometimes we can use those terms - but they're really mostly out of place in english. It's a sad situation and calls upon us to be original in our language, to make up ways of talking about sex that have... art and humanity. ... in a culture where there isn't really much of that.

One of the key teaching phrases in Tsongkhapa's Six Yogas of Naropa is "enter, abide, and dissolve". With most channels you wanna open, circulate, fill, nourish - run energy through and it's all good. The central channel has special dynamics that has to do with it's special connection to Big Non-Stuff. Energy goes in there, stays there, dissolves~refines and Turns Into Nothing.

Agreed that the mani mantra works primarily along the central channel (sushumna). My experience is that the individual syllables resonate the centers from top to bottom, as I stated before. This can be done out loud or silently internally. It also can be done in conjunction with a simple version of deity yoga where you have an altar to Kuan Yin (whose sound signature is the mani mantra). Ringing of a bell, offering of incense and perhaps other (flowers, water, vegetarian food) and simply being there during and after the offering. This beckons the presence of Kuan Yin and thus you have the principle of Enlightened Cause with the practice. Also, as we've talked about before, it is not only a matter of running energy through sushumna but concentrating and refining it at the special locations where sushumna intersects the centers: the places I've called the deep-centers, where the bindus are. (Reference essay.) With regards to this mantra, the method to do that is to visualize each syllable of the mantra at each deep-center. As small as you can while still keeping the visualization clear. (Also you can make the visualized syllable luminous, bright, also spin it if you want to.) This provides a handle for you to focus your attention on, and energy (qi) is drawn towards your attention (yi) and illuminates the bindus. And as the bindus illumine they resonate with The Clear Light. The refinement of the centers occurs in steps: from 1) simple physical areas to 2) energetically active to 3) connected to The Primordial through the bindus. The sound syllables of the mantra take it from 1 to 2 and the concentration~refinement takes it from 2 to 3. The presence of the deity facilitates the whole process. If I'm not mistaken, this is the skeletal fundamental outline of "secret mantra", "secret" in this case meaning "most subtle". As contrasted with "obvious" which would for instance be chanting the mantra out loud in a group and perhaps not being aware of the deeper subtle refinement that the mantra can be used for. Same mantra, everyone knows it, just a deeper progression of work. I'm curious as to Vajrahridaya's feedback re: all of this vis-a-vis a more traditional perspective. The above is something that I've pieced together partly from related reading and largely from personal experience. I do know that the traditional Tibetan deity yoga practices are way more complex, but I think I've gotten some key essentials here. Also curious as to Vajrasattva's feedback as well as anyone else who has experience, as well as those that don't. - Trunk ~ later edit ~ The problem with going to the central channel and bindus directly is that no one can find them (or not find them with enough specificity, repeatedly, with focus such that results are really produced). The central channel is stillness, and the bindus are very refined... not illumined~activated in most. Plus, even though everyone has heard the word "chakras", very few know how to actually energetically activate them (beyond just stirring up their physical energies). So the sound syllables of the mantra are a tool to awaken them energetically, then on to connecting to Primordial as I described above.

Quite different.

Have you tried soaking your head in a sink filled with ice & water? (Maybe that's what you're already referring to.) Also, try the "polar bear variation" of testicular pulsing. Also, some various acupressure could keep channels open to help you vent. If the early morning is cool, at least, then some deep breathing at that time.

My experience is that the mani mantra resonates~awakens the centers from top down.

Beautiful. I'm reminded of some scenes of Roberto Benigni, one in "Night on Earth" and another (below). There's just so much *joy!*, the heart was so overflowing and such art. I don't know italian (except maybe "vulva" and "pistolino"), but it's pretty clear what he's saying. Though he put the actress on the spot no doubt, his full heart carried it off well.

I do like the word "vitality". I find it descriptive and communicates, travels well into english. I like "essence", also, but it's not as readily understandable by others. Both "bedroom arts" and "pillow arts" work. "Body wisdom disciplines" and "body wisdom arts" both work well, though they are much broader than jing gong. But they communicate well and work across traditions. I was talking to a friend of mine, she's a tutor and was helping a student write about a poem that had a lake metaphor in it. We had a good discussion about how water is used to refer to essence. "Waters of adolescence" was a phrase that her student could use. That worked, said a lot with a little. We also talked about the process of "clouds and rain". Essence being refined by Light, rising nourishing, descending again. "Just like the water cycle" my friend said. "Exactly." There's often wisdom about the alchemical process, about our bodies, in these terms. There's options beyond just "silence / clinical / juvenile" if anyone has any interest and creativity. - Trunk