Sahaj Nath

given the private conversations i've been having with a number of people on this site, i'm surprised you haven't gotten more responses from those going through the exact same thing. it doesn't really matter. what matters is that you stick with it. are you being honest about your ultimate goal? you might want to ask yourself in a deeper way because is seem like you're worried you might be missing something good if you settle on a practice. but what could be better than the discipline of settling in? IF that's really your ultimate goal. if you find that deep down you honestly want more, that's fine, too. you just need to really be clear with yourself what you want. if you are truly willing to do it, this post is unnecessary. just do it. because unless you are not willing, there's no reason why you couldn't reach tranquility fairly soon. if you're willing, then do what you already know you need to do. it's hard to get more simple than zen practice. if you've already got a bit of a thing for buddhism, you might want to go there. very simple. not a whole lot of stuff to memorize or practice. zen just keeps it real. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PdIBDa8FSk&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PdIBDa8FSk&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PdIBDa8FSk&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

HEY! that's my grrl you're talking to!

as far as i know, they are a group that grew out of the popularity of john chang. they're out of indonesia. pretty sure they're bullshit. i can't watch the clips just posted for some reason, but here's a clip from youtube i saw a couple of years ago. the caption on the side: A video clip from a beach in Perth, Australia. Yellow Bamboo are chiblasters, and even if you do manage to get close enough to touch them, you'll allegedly die if you touch someone who's got a charged up chi blast in him. Listen for the people saying "he touched him, he touched him. how could he touch him?" <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

almost 6 months since i've been around here. looks as if not a whole lot has changed. many of the same questions, the same answers, and the same old challenges. but in this time i know that *i* have certainly changed quite a bit. i've missed the community a bit, but i had some growing to do before i could return. my apologies to those of you to whom i never responded. i hope you all will forgive me. i was mid-conversation with Trunk when i just sort of fell off the face of the earth. in our last conversation he told me that what i was expressing was part of the non-dual school, something about which i knew nothing at the time. so i began my inquiry and wound up coming upon the Integral Spirituality of Ken Wilber. i have to say, i'm a big fan of his now. i just want to know what folks here think about him and about Integral Spirituality.

as always, much appreciated. i was just talking about this with one of my guys yesterday. i think it was on page 14 of the pdf book you linked. he tends to be, as i put it, 'fast & loose' with some of his analysis and facts, like punctuated evolution and the whole "a half wing won't do" argument. it seems to be a fairly consistent type of flaw in his work, and as such it doesn't tend to bother me, so long as i can see him coming. i know weak logic and unsubstantiated claims when i see them. but his brilliance in the areas that matter to my personal development is no less beautiful. i'll read the entire book sometime this week and then comment on it. the arguments that are laid out look as if they may be more credible than a lot of the detractors i've read. i'm sucker for a good debate. guess old habits die hard.

just for the record, i'm quite sure that you can file a claim and get refunded. lots of frauds on ebay, so they definitely have a procedure for dealing with those types.

i wouldn't say it's an issue of 'more advanced,' but maybe just that i've logged more hours connecting with qi in a different way. i'm not really in any place to comment in a meaningful way about your method because i've never tried it. i don't even know what this 'trance state' is that you go to. it's just that on the surface it seems like a whole lot of time and effort to achieve something that can be simple, easy, & fun to do in a matter of minutes. could you direct me to some literature on this technique of yours? maybe i can relay some techniques that are compatible with your current style, yet easier to acquire. could be fun to play with.

Thanks, Jane! i just watched your most recent video- Meditation: best kinds, finding teachers, origins of. loved it! i'll be sending a link to it to a number of my folks. what i love most about it is how you clarified what it means to choose a tradition and then commit to the practice. many folks hear that from somewhere or read that in a book and think that they have to join a religion or something. it's not about being a joiner; it's about being rooted and consistent in your core practice & philosophy, no matter what else you may like to play with. i don't think i've ever explained this as clearly as it comes across in your video. i'm gonna send it to some of my peeps.

strange. the link didn't work until i clicked on it from the quote rather than your original post. whatevs. thanks, Lin Sifu.

you don't need HIS music, but i think shaking is best done with some high-energy music playing. i think his music kind of sucks, but i have some capoeira tracks that rock, as well as Afro-Celt Sound System.

i could loan you the set if you like. just PM me. be warned, though. his music tracks aren't great. 2 1/2 hours of music, and only 30 minutes of it is something i would actually shake to. but other than that, he really helped to shake me out of some of my own unconscious dogmatism. i definitely feel a lot more free. i'm shaking every day for at least an hour (in 20- to 30-minute sessions), and my energy flow is both stronger and cleaner. it's taking the place of a number of my forms. my K is a lot more active as well. i don't have any of his books. i may check out his autobiography.

maybe you could explain a little further? i'm not really sure what that means. i think knowing what you feel is more reliable when you don't have to be in a trance to feel it. qi is right here, right now, in this present state, with no need for altered consciousness to relate with it. you said earlier that you believe qi to be completely natural and testable scientifically, which is true. so why trance your way to such a simple and natural experience? i'm thinking that perhaps if you could better relate to the (not so) subtle in the here and now, you might not be in such a rush check out of this world. The ever-present is fully present right here, too.

that sounds like a REALLY inefficient method. you're someone who does a lot of experimenting before settling on an effective practice. how did you come to settle on this? if you like, i can send you some stuff that will bring out your sensitivity fairly quickly. really simple. no trance required.

i don't think you need the audio tape to tap into his qi transmission. a photo of him will do. even a reverence for him will do! and i think 50 bucks for an audio tape of any kind is just plain absurd. we can just agree to disagree on that. pay me no mind.

the fact that you "feel something" in one instance and not the other doesn't disprove the earth connection with the k-1 point. perhaps you still have some work to do opening those gates? i align the kidney-1 points with the lung-1 points, not the tailbone.

Any other reports? anyone? anyone? Beuller? i began to feel stirrings about an hour and a half before the designated time, but i wasn't convinced that it was The Wave. mornings have a tendency to be like that. either way, though, i chose not to participate. i'd like to hear what others experienced, or didn't experience. i'm sure many of us would. so c'mon! don't be shy.

hey, that's actually a good idea. I'm in. contribute to the flow of the planet each morning at 6:18am. let's see if it catches on, or if people just want to do it once so they can get themselves some stuff. (yes, it's a thinly veiled challenge!)

well said. took me a while to learn this one.

Nice! it never occurred to me to look for clips of him on youtube. his mastery is SO apparent in his movement. there was a time when i would have camped outside his home to become a student of his. thanks for posting this.

a 1-hour audio tape for $49? LOL! even funnier because the description says that it's one of the most popular forms of qigong, so it's not like you're paying for *rare* knowledge. just a rare recording. guess i'd also have to buy a cassette player. i'm always ready to play with new things, but i'd have to be stoned to buy this.

well, it may not be responsible for your lack of energy, but it certainly doesn't seem to be a fix for it, either. the way i understood it (not that i read up on it or anything, so you can correct me if i'm wrong) the benefits were supposed to be pretty immediate. but whatevs. you've got 87 more days to decide for yourself. you've taken shaktipat. TWICE. well, THREE times if the presence i felt from swami g was any indication. AND you're about to do another on the 6th. your nervous system is already going through many shifts that will push your tolerance and coping thresholds in different ways. you've been experiencing some of that already. holosync is designed to do more of that. it gradually pushes your nervous system in the direction of overwhelm so that your mind/neurons/whatever reorganized into greater complexity so that your overall capacity increases over time. it can be a delicate process, and moving too fast can create kundalini sickness. you doing a lot of shit to your nervous system right now. more is not necessarily better. listen to your body more than your mindstuff. all the stuff you didn't want to experience again could come back with a vengence. if you can't relax into your process, it's very unlikely that you will relax into your turmoil. there's no virtue in being foolhardy and hurting yourself. you're juggling a lot of stuff right now, which is fine for the most part, but you've chosen a lot of invasive stuff, and that's not the same as reading multiple authors at the same time. take care in what you are doing. favor the messages of your body OVER your mind's desires. if you don't at least do that, you don't have a safeguard.

this seemed to me like a topic worthy of its own thread, so i guess we'll just see how that goes. for you, rain, ANYTHING! no, seriously. i hope this post will also clear up any ambiguity relating to the term 'liberated' that i used in the 'mixing practices' thread. i think the concept of "ego death" is one of the most misunderstood spiritual concepts to be imported from the east. it's a problem encountered most often by dabblers (like most of us) who treat eastern thought like a spiritual buffet and pick up words and phrases without a contextual foundation with which to understand them. to put it as simply as possible: a good, strong, healthy ego structure is profoundly important- especially for the spiritual aspirant. to drive a car, to take a shower, to use the toilet, to interact in commerse, even to move about effectively in any space, requires a functioning ego. immagine the idea of grocery shopping while in a state of devastating non-dual spiritual awakening. how absurd the notion of buying food- after all, you ARE the food! and the floor, and the lights, and the people in the grocery store who are looking at you like you're on drugs. you're the shopping carts, too. the goal is to properly train the ego to know it's place and to willingly, happily embrace it's essential function as the servant to the continuous spirit. the skills and gifts of the ego are NOT to be denied or extinguished; rather they are to be offerings to the most high. this is one of the reasons why i believe that genuine service to others is our highest earthly calling. one of the most important ways we strengthen the ego as adults is through self-discipline. it's implicit in the term: to have self-discipline is to become your own disciple. the ego's place is as the powerful, faithful servant, carrying out our true purpose without reservation. this, i believe, is a fundamental trait of truly enlightened beings. so. children... i think it's important for children to have a solid egoic foundation in order to develop mentally and emotionally, and to be able to interact (not just act) with their environment in a healthy, funtional manner. i believe profound spiritual experiences can hinder a child's ability to build a strong and healthy foundational ego structure, and this hinderance can potentially retard or even prevent the child from achieving psychological maturity/stability. in a BEST-case scenario you could end up with a spriritually gifted adult who has the phycological maturity of an adolescent, or, worse, a sociopath with clear cognitive & emotional deficiencies. if i had not wrestled with identity, need for acceptance, and existential anxiety as i child, i could never have accomplished the well-integrated spiritual work that i have thus far. the basic fundamental struggles of children, including the struggles with fear and uncertainty, are ego-building and serve to give the child greater strength and resilience as they develop into adulthood. if i might borrow from SFJane's analogy: the mundane struggles (especially the existential ones) of childhood can be like the psychological push-ups that give us strength and character later in life. for a child's spiritual consciousness to be liberated from the ego structure, BEFORE the structure is fully intact, is detrimental. i think it would take some truly skilled parenting or the guidance a master with experience with that phenomenon for the it to be otherwise. that's what i think. i don't have kids, and i could be wrong. but that's what i think right now. ...i can already feel Lin Sifu rubbing his hands as he prepares to respond. lol!

he's a little fast & loose with the facts here, but i love where he's coming from. i was seeing things in a very similar way, but he did a much better job breaking it down. he even tweaked my original understanding a little. good stuff.

well, that's your answer, isn't it? otherwise, you could end up attaching to an idea that you associate with the object.