Peregrino

Interesting . . . The Marxist philosopher Slavoj Zizek critically notes that Taoism is at least as compatible with capitalism as Protestantism. I do have a strong libertarian strain on issues of individual rights, but wonder about the excesses of what I would call "free market fundamentalism." Maybe I'm just not fit for Taoist "orthodoxy"! (Geeze, I'm using a lot of smilies these days. Maybe I should adjust my guarana dosage.)

Thanks for all the links! This is more impetus for me to develop a short story-cum-screenplay idea I've been cultivating--sort of a cross between Eric Rohmer and Nicolas Roeg's _Full Body Massage_. Er, that would mean intellectually stimulating horndog material, I hope!

Hi, gw! Alan Watts was a big influence on me when I first started checking out the contemplative path, and I'm also proud to say that I once lived in Memphis, resting place of America's only true king! (Some day the Elvis Diet will be vindicated!) Glad to have you on board. Best, Peregrino

I'm SO happy that Chuck made that roid-addled, Neanderthal, squeaky-voiced loudmouth shut up again!!! Oh, how I love the way that MMA stirs up my most noble sentiments towards my fellow man!

Bill Hicks, Mitch Hedberg, Larry David, Chris Rock, and Robert Schimmel are among my favorites, though lately I've been cracking up at the exploits of the Urban Ninja: Not much dialogue, but the basic premise of most ninja-related humor fills me with juvenile glee!

Greetings, Ran! Chia was one of the first teachers to get me interested in Taoist practice. Some people on this forum whose opinions I respect have major disagreements with Chia, but I am still grateful to him for teaching me the basics behind semen retention, multiple male orgasms, and the micro cosmic orbit. Despite the marital troubles you mention, I found your post very inspiring. Now, in my late thirties, I finally have found a partner with whom I can see myself enjoying such blissful energy exchanges well into our golden years. Thanks for re-affirming such possibilites for me! Best of luck as you seek the Way which is most fruitful for you and yours. Peregrino

Man, I miss this guy--he was the best thing on cable TV when I was growing up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88G4Xx6r4vI...ted&search=

The cussin' preacher?! Now *there's* a revelation! I had never heard of that guy, but now he's my favorite nutjob of the week. Thanks for more laughs! [Edit] Wow, that Gene Scott guy even ended up marrying an Italian hottie! I understand that Pentecostalists don't have the advantage of qigong, but this guy must really be filled with the HOLY SPURT!!!

Very belated greetings! Your name really stood out for me since I recently taught a class on _Beowulf_. So, what prompted such a choice of a screenname? Do you think Grendel got a bad rap? Best, Peregrino PS The older Beowulf makes me think of Ken Shamrock in his last fight, if you follow MMA at all!

There's a ring of truth to that, Michael. I'm big on hard/soft right now (boxing, kickboxing, and jiu-jitsu, but with meditation and basic energy work, along with lots of stretching). I still have a need to express "explosive" energies, but I always say that whenever I start to mellow out--maybe not until my 50s, or even my golden years--I'll dedicate myself to the purely "soft" styles.

I was first impressed by his anti-shrew defense after he bested Lydia Lunch in her attempts to control and shame him behind an LA comedy club: http://www.sacredcow.com/allnew/ext_conten...media_video_joe (5th clip--scroll down.)

On the subject of pistols, it's been a while since I tried any, but I have in the past managed to crank out two on each side before collapsing with spaghetti legs. For now I'm focusing on GTG two-legged squats with strength-endurance as the goal (30-40 reps for each "break," several times a day), along with weighted squats once a week when I have a normal gym routine. I also do push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, and hanging leg raises, plus light barbell work (high-rep military presses and good mornings) when I'm at home, and push-ups and bodyweight squats when in the office or in an empty classroom. Pistols still really appeal to me because they seem capable of giving you the effect of heavy lifting without needing any equipment, and they resemble movements that could help you when grappling (e.g. returning to stand-up position when someone's got your leg in a tight hold). I am worried about knee integrity too, esp. since I like to shadowspar with ankle weights, so now I think I'll either buy some milk crates or freak out my neighbors by using the stairs in my building to get into an *incremental* pistols routine: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler2.htm (Don't be fooled by the word "bodybuilding" in the title--Mike Mahler's really big on *functional* strength, and has lots of articles and interviews about MMA too.) I just got _The Naked Warrior_ and appreciate it as a general explanation of principles I can apply to a great variety of strength training exercises, as well as a how-to guide to pistols, but I like to supplement it with other materials like the above. BTW, does anyone here use the Reebok slide? Apparently they don't make them anymore, but I used to love 'em for developing lateral movement and the way they actually STENGTHEN the connective tissue of the knees--a welcome change from most cardio/explosive excercises. Then again, maybe Sonnon's got some good exercises for knees and other joints? I really need to check his materials out in-depth. ***** On the subject of pick-up, I have to say that so much of what I read from the "seduction community" really brought in a paradigm shift in the way I think about relating to women and socializing in general, even after filtering those ideas through my very particular ethical and cultural criteria. Nowadays I'm in a very happy monogamous relationship, but I find those teachings very helpful in maintaining attraction (or "polarity," as David Deida would say) within the commitment. In fact, I don't really care for the word "seduction," but prefer "attraction dynamics" (when referring to erotic communication) or simply "social dynamics" when referring to other types of communication requiring confidence and connecting with other people. I can say with assurance that the confidence I got from such a paradigm shift has helped my teaching immensely, as I'm no longer attached to outcomes (whether crowd-pleasing or coming across as "too hard"), but the result of maintaining integrity is that my students now generally show more enthusiasm and work harder *and* we have a good rapport.

Pietro, A great introduction to Pavel's "greasing the groove" concept can be found here: http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/69/ He explains everything clearly and with a clever sense of humor to boot! The great thing about his method is that you don't need any equipment (though a doorframe pull-up bar like the type Everlast makes is not a bad investment). These days I don't have much time to go to the gym, but am still getting excellent results doing strength-endurance exercises (more reps then he mentions in the article, but same principle) at home. I just live the energy I get from those short, intense (but not excruciating) exercise breaks. Way better than coffee . . . It's funny how your mind can play this old-school "no pain, no gain" game with you when you start to see results from Pavel's method. He says people write him and say, "How can it work if it isn't torture," and he responds with that blunt Slavic humor: "I always said that my method is an effecient means of building STRENGTH. If your Puritan heritage dictates that you develop CHARACTER, then look for ways to suffer elsewhere!" BTW, I think I have to thank you, Yoda, for turning me on to the Pavel stuff. I think you originally mentioned the article above on a thread dedicated to "pistols." Interesting to note that he gives an example of children using GTG in _The Naked Warrior_. Best, David

Wish I had wrestled in high school AND done Judo. (No BJJ was available yet in the Wash., DC area. Same goes for Muay Thai and Jeet Kune Do.) Not that my initial years in Tae Kwon Do were a complete waste--anyone see how Georges St. Pierre nailed Matt Hughes with the high kick when Hughes went in for the take down? What else: --Wish I had studied French as well as Spanish. (Tried German for two years, but it just didn't click for me.) --Learned how to cook early since I grew up in a matriarchy, but wish I had caught on to the "real deal" of female psychology much earlier on. --Learned the piano as a kid, but by high school was wishing I could play the guitar. Now I'll just focus on improving my karaoke voice. --Pavel's GREASING THE GROOVE method! I wasted too much time on ineffecient exercise schemes. --Boy Scouts first aid merit badge. I still need to take a course! --More basic "fix it" stuff. Nowadays I tend to consult DIY books, but it would have been nice to have developed a natural capacity early on. --Ballroom dance. I know it sounds square, but it's a great foundation for all the really impressive dances involving a partner (e.g. tango). --More McGyver-type survival skills. Maybe I really should have stayed in the Boy Scouts . . .

Ha! Apparently Richard Nixon was raised a Quaker, but I guess he turned out to be nothing more than a Quaker-faker!

Sorry if I'm thread-splitting here again, but you know, I do have a soft spot for Quakers, with their penchant for spiritual listening and resourceful non-violence. However . . . a book I recently read about the settling of North America, _Regeneration through Violence_ by Richard Slotkin, documents at least one case in which the Quakers' non-violence only left them peacefully . . . dead. Sometime in the latter 17th century, By all accounts the Quakers treated the Native Americans far more fraternally than any other "Christian" group in North America, but they were not spiritually protected from the threat of violence after all! I wonder how much of the gun mania in the US goes back to the memory of such massacres, notwithstanding the belligerent behavior on the side of the other (non-Quaker) settlers that would have provoked such retaliatory attacks. PS One of those Undead IRS ghouls Max posted is a real hottie!

Maybe Spock doesn't pay his income taxes either--har har! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBXal1GAA4A

I'm not an economist either, but felt compelled to read more about the subject when I came to the conclusion that my humanities-oriented education was extremely limited in figuring out lots of "real world" issues. Keynes gets a lot of flack from both Marxists and libertarians like Hayek, which is fine with me. Maybe not all of his ideas have proven themselves, but I still think that some form of "mixed" economy is the way to go: adequate wealth-generation mechanisms coupled with adequate wealth-distribution mechanisms. Most of the exchange students I get from the former Eastern Bloc would seem to agree! They're not nostalgic for the limited resources and freedoms of the old system, but do miss the security and stability. Regarding the "no-go zones" in Britain, there are lots of links reporting on and debating this issue here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1285085.stm Also there are *some* good discussions of related issues here, in response to a Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Colum...1885282,00.html (I said *some*, because there are also comments by backwards white racists as well as people who apologize for Islamic violence--two extremes I always want to avoid . . . I'm especially interested by comments by non-whites when it comes to dealing with Islamic extremists in Britain.)

I just want to add to the above (re: Steyn's comments on European "infantilization") that "infantilization" is a relative thing. Americans give a lot of lip service to individual accountability and having a strong work ethic (and often do indeed live up to those ideals), but can be infantile in other ways . . . As five minutes of channel-surfing can reveal. It's true that Europeans can show less initiative than Americans in some matters, but they are far better at taking care of their own, and especially the least favored members of their society . . . One reason why, minus some areas of European cities that are menaced by Islamic radicals, I feel much safer on the streets of this part of the world than I ever did in the US. The welfare state does entail a rather hefty share of the budget, but the lack of antagonism in daily life--UP TO THE PRESENT, CHANGING SITUATION--has been a welcome change for me after living in LA, where I found myself either witnessing or provoked to possibly violent encounters on an almost daily basis.

I find it's best to be phlegmatic--slow to respond to provocation like a good Quaker or Buddhist--but *decisive* when it comes to the point of no return and action (even if it's violent action) is needed. Not sure how that translates into geo-politics these days, but it does make it easier to deal with mosquitos!

About three weeks ago I took a hard shot to my ribs--the area just under my left pectoral--during a sparring session in my boxing class. I didn't think much of it and kept fighting. There was pain, but not the kind to bring me to my knees. In fact, I was pumped up for the calisthenics at the end of class, and the next day I did a hard lifting routine with the bench press, squats, and deadlifts. The pain was still there, but I figured I could train through it--unlike the rotator cuff injury I sustained some years ago. Silly me . . . In subsequent days I found it hard to get out of bed, twist, or bend. In fact, any exercises involving any kind of trunk support were out--including running. My old "groove-greasing" stand-bys--push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, leg-rasises, etc.--were still possible, but I noticed that I would feel even *more* pain some hours later. (The only strength-endurance exercise that hasn't given me any problems has been weightless squats.) I finally broke down and went to a doctor and got some tests, namely an X-ray and an ECG. Although my doctor initially suspected a slight fracture, it turned out that my ribs are fine, there are no shredded muscles, my cardio health is great, and there's no damage to the inner organs. It's just a stubborn hematoma that's not externally visible. Although I've been taking some anti-inflammatories, the doctor told me that the main thing I should do is rest--for the NEXT MONTH, or EVEN MORE! Given the great boost I get from my training, this was a harder blow to take than the initial one. (Note to self: ALWAYS KEEP A TIGHT GUARD!) Stubborn as I am, I've tried other moderate remedies such as ice and heat, subject of another thread here. Although both of those extremes provide some temporary relief, the pain and lack of mobility still won't go away. My trainer recommended an anti-inflammatory ointment that I've tried and it's given me some temporary relief, but still, nothing dramatic. So, maybe I'm still just being too stubborn, but since this forum attracts a lot of people who "think outside of the box" regarding health and medical matters, I was wondering what kinds of advice any Tao Bums cold give me about facilitating this healing process. My doctor said that massage wouldn't help, but bodywork isn't really her specialty, so I'm ready for another opinion . . . Indeed, I appreciate any input from anyone who has dealt with this kind of injury. Thanks a lot in advance! Peregrino