thelerner

In some ye olde traditions it was taught to begin in hard martial arts and evolve softer as time went on. That always sounded like a wise path to me. Otherwise done too long and repetitively your hard martial art can break down your body. It wasn't from Shotokan, but there were some nice dynamic tension katas in some other karate style that was good for overall muscle work outs. I'd add, I meditate better after a hard workout, when my bodies tired. Course for overall fitness I've heard people, well Doc Glenn Morris in particular (&most yogi's) rave about the simple Sun Salutation sequence in yoga.

In the long run (10 years plus) the stock market's been the best hedge against inflation and way to grow your savings. It may not make you rich, but it can make you comfortable. Slow, 'dumb' money invested over the long term is smart. By dumb I mean invested in the larger ETF's or mutual funds that cover a wide swath of the market. I forget who said it, but diversity is the only real 'free lunch' the market gives. And time, it can be as valuable as amount, ie invest early, reinvest dividends and let compounding interest get rolling. Seemingly crappy stocks can become brilliant, given enough time and a little luck. I like 50% in broad funds (like SPY, DIA, VYM, QQQ's or the many similar vehicles), 30% in higher dividend payers (4%+ w/ historical appreciation) and another 20% in more speculative stocks..something with a story(examp SMG, solid boring stock, but getting into hydroponics thus MJ). As you get older there's sense to make some room for bonds, but I find they're frozen money, better to have a dividend stock (or REIT) that has potential to grow in price and steadily in dividend rate then a bond that while less volatile tend to be frozen in both. My own conceit, most experts recommend older savers have bonds for safety. Stocks can be like crops, right soil and climate and they do well but when climate changes, slowly change your make up. In a world where FANG rules.. (Facebook Amazon Netflix Google) get some fund (like QQQ's or FDN) that's heavy with them. Like crops, some you prune, some you dig up, others are fruit trees and you let'em grow and turn into more trees. Diversifying will keep you out of trouble. Like your stocks but don't love them. Simple does well, exotic.. perishes. You can honor a drought or storm by taking some action, but don't panic. Walk don't run. Things are rarely all or nothing, and it can be wiser to sell a small portion then panic. For dividends stocks, falling to lower prices mean getting more shares, that can be very good long term. On the other hand, one saying from Kramer is Don't buy and hold, buy and homework. Read articles and look for fundamental shifts that could put 'your' companies at risk. If it might be, then walk the money somewhere safer. last thought. I can understand why for recent entrants the market correction (-10%ish) has been frightening, but for those of us who've been in the market for decades, it was more like, What took it so long?

I'm under the impression this one is called Aku. Most famous for being the enemy of Samurai Jack. seriously, the artists of Samurai Jack (Like Avatar: The last airbender series) took there history and archetypes seriously. No coincidence their artwork is found in real life. <taken from https://volfeyed.deviantart.com/art/Aku-Mr-Sunshine-121538592 seriouser, I'd love to see these artifacts side by side with photos of similar ones from other world cultures.

Good bad and ugly Roll like a 3 sided dice. Gotta toss to play

I voted yes, perhaps naively. The simplest group interaction is simply meditating together. That's always been a positive experience for me. As far as distance stuff.. the problem I've had is not being able to connect. Still caveat emptor. Know the person or object of your connection before hand. Be grounded and without expectation.

Also welcome, I'd love to find out what goes on in Naropa University. What'd you take, what it was like..?

Off the top of my head.. purple is the color of royalty.. even spirituality as the top chakra's are purple-y. Snakes often represent fear or sexuality in dreams. From there.. you can see if that connects and take some action to honor the dream. Or take a less mystical path, file it away as another anxiety dream.

Those are great, the 'joseki' of sword play. Filled with subtlety, many small angles of body and blade you can't get from a film. I didn't get too far with them even at Nidan.

I was wondering where to put this. Thought about in my PPD but I wanted other people to join in if they wanted, plus the strength of this project is that it's public. Group Studies is a relatively underused sub-forum, maybe it'll do well here. This thread is about making a Plan sealing it with a promise of consequences if you don't follow through. The idea is the use of public peer pressure to increase follow through.

1/29/18 Sadly, I'm in fasting mode again to insure I make it. Need to be 192.3# or below. At the moment 193ish, won't be eating for 2 days. The end of month weigh in is any time on January 31st. The weigh in for February is Feb 1st first thing in the morning. I will lose another 3#'s by hook, crook, intelligent discipline or.amputation.byFeb28th.my damnit.spilledcoffeeonkeyboard.space.not.working.

The tax cut has been a good idea, and is indeed standard Republican platform stuff. While I've been making out like a bandit, my dog, if I had one, would have 2 diamond collars, one for itself, another to wrap around its rear end, just for show. Anyhow, I think a moderate Republican President would have listened to the other side and compromised. Aiming more benefits to the middle class and poor. Gaining some bi-partisan support, and there were a couple of Dems who'd listen and indeed reached out for such. You could still have substantial cuts and directly help those who haven't seen much benefit. It's good economics too, since they spend the money, invigorating local shops, whereas the wealthier tend to stash it. It'd be good politics too. I assume in the coming year or two, many poor (10,000's? 100,000s? millions?) will have there health care canceled, and probably other programs too. Some will die and it won't be pretty. A substantial number of Trump voters (rural) will get little or no benefit from a booming stock market. While some benefits will trickle down, the bridge between rich and poor will increase. With the super rich doing particularly well. The Reaganomics and its mind set are indeed back in play, and they were a mixed bag. I expect the general stock market and commodities to continue to do well. I'd recommend against investors chasing what's hot and going for safer, more boring investments.. broad market ETF's (SPY, DIA..) or mutual funds, or higher dividend vehicles, since prices move up and down, but dividends are what you keep (or if possible reinvest).

Thanks for the comment. I hadn't read these in quite awhile and they are imo, thought provoking and insightful. I'll have to see if there anything new and worthy to add.

What a great post. Useful and concise, practical yet poetical, keeping with the imagery of the tradition.

imo, gematria, linking numbers, names and events tends to say more about the person doing it then association itself. Somehow the name and numbers always seem to point where the person wants it too. In truth we can probably use gematria to link anyone to anything in a dozen ways, maybe hundreds if we dropped a digit or fudged a date. For example I could find numbers showing that I'm the devil, but that would be coincidence or diabolically throwing the suspicious off my track. On the third hand, like a rorschach test, gematria gives insight into oneself, can be a study aid, and shows a certain mastery of the material. I remember hanging out with Guru Gil in Jerusalem. He'd translated the whole 5 Books(Tenach) into numbers. A surprisingly short book of pages and pages of numbers. With great meaning and insights to those who believed in such things.

I get the feeling every generation think common sense is becoming less common. If true, we wouldn't be around. Every generation tends to look down at the next. Yet they manage. Throwing us off because they're not interested in the same things we are. They have different talents and will make different mistakes. The kids I'm seeing seem more environmental, more computer literate, maybe less sexually obsessed then some of the last X's or Y's or M's.

I call it capitalism, and think banks, loans and credit are good things. Powerful tools, while they can be misused, when handled intelligently create much prosperity. Its great to buy a house and take out a 30 year mortgage, rather then wait 30 years til you're 50 to save up enough to buy it, or similarly a car. Such loans do 'create' money, increasing the 'velocity of money' (an important element in monetary theory and why inflation didn't raise its head earlier), but that's not bad in my book. As long as debts can be repaid, and people don't over reach, its all good. No need to bring mockingbirds, gold or Central banks into the equation. Loans are what banks do. Are there 'theorists' who don't use loans or credit cards for fear that they'll add to the counterfeiting by Central bank forgers who create mockingbirds? Whose idea of Capitalism doesn't have banks, loans or interest rates? Okaay. Please consider the above rhetorical and not an opening to explain conspiracy theory. Back to OP. Credit is a tool, used wisely it's helps, poorly and it can turn people into indentured servants. Use it carefully. Having a good credit score will help you and save you money in the future. Pay bills on time, establish credit, having old credit cards with no late payments helps establish a higher score, even if you don't use them much. There's a blog called MyMoneyblog (http://www.mymoneyblog.com/)that has imo solid info on finance, coupons, above average credit offers. Not recommended for most, but he'll 'play' the credit card companies, taking out cards, getting the bonus's and canceling them soon after. Not a bad game if you stay on top of it.

As a kid savings accounts meant having a passbook, and you'd earn 5 1/4 percent on your money plus get a toaster or stuffed animal. Course those days had pretty high inflation too, stagflation but you can't have everything. Interest rates have been abnormally low for almost a decade (they were dropped to stimulate the economy, probably shoulda been sent up years ago, but politics..). They're creeping up now, probably be close to normal in a few years. As usual as interest goes up, bond prices go down (cause why hold a 3% bond when you can get a new one paying 5%). Borrowing will become more expensive but safe savings will provide more money. I expect we'll see more inflation but that's the way the cycles rolls. Very Taoish really, good times raises wages and goods. They get too high, inflation.. and the seeds of recession come into play. Things cool and the cycle repeats. Monetary policy tries to keep the highs and lows in check. Under capitalism, this wobble between expansion and recession is the price we pay for pretty productive system.

Sounds like you're working heart, mind and body. Seems like a balanced practice to me. For tension, shaking might help. Standing with feet shoulder width apart, hands to the sides, then from the elbows and wrist shake your hands. Let the shaking fill your body, get your knees into. You can keep it subtle or big and apelike letting your knees bounce your body up and down, lifting yourself off your heels. (going hou hou hou hah like a big ape) Keep it up for a few minutes or longer. Then let it slow and remain standing, feeling the inner vibration and let it settle. Stay there for a bit. It should feel good. A good shake is great for chronic tension. You can find it in a couple of chi gung traditions as well as martial. Get some menthol or eucalyptus oil or wax.. Give it a sniff every now and then.. good for the sinuses as are many herbal teas. Or you really want to get yoga on them, have someone show you how to use a neti pot. I find that after use my sinuses clear out.

Makes sense, though metta always seemed to me as much in the head as in the heart. Still, when working with energy, its good to end and settle at the lower dantien/hara.

<I don't do tai chi, but I do like simple. In my opinion 13 > 72, at least until you've gotten alot of experience. I like chi gung forms that are simpler then 13! Like Michael Winn's Fundamentals and Pan Gu.. Course, we're all different and finding a good teacher who lives close regardless of style is always a blessing. Many great teachers will give a student a short piece of a long form, and that's it for many a moon.

I collected bokken (wooden swords) for awhile, gave most of them to my old dojo. My favorite wood is hickory, what they've been making axe handles out of for millennia. For more weight, a couple places make bokken using laminates, thin slices of wood with resin inbetween making for a heavier tougher blades that still feel like wood. Yet even cheaper bokken can be nice, if you strip them and oil them up.

To me, Taoism is about about skillful means. In conflict there is fighting, getting out of the way, building stronger defenses, taking away weapons, waiting & investigating deeper.. myriad. A master recognizes the infinite possibilities and moves in the direction of what is proper. He understands the possibilities beyond fight, flight or ignore. sometimes making a cup of tea, stops the war.

I put down this one without listening to the whole thing. Not bad, but a lotta kid noise in the background. So much that it kinda cancels itself out, thus not so bad . Maybe its the voyeur in me but I find meditating by a public pool to be very nice. There are so much conversation and noise that it blends away.. The above reminds me of that, and the bells are nice. This week I recommend finding some other yoga nidra's. Again looking through podcasts and youtubes, finding ones that connect. That's what this is really about, we're all different and its nice to find a perfect one, until it's not anymore and search goes on. Til then I'll add a nice longer one. The Beach and Stars I mentioned earlier. This one is long and blends traditional yoga nidra and pleasant guided meditation imagery. As I recall it cuts down the usual body sensing. Instead of right hand thumb, right hand finger one etc., it does both 'sides' at once. I was just listening to another nidra that began with the tip of the nose and worked out. Nice to hear variety. In any case here is one of my favorites, excellent first thing in the morning on a lazy Saturday or Sunday.- Yoga_Nidra_Beach_and_Stars_42_min_1.mp3

I've never done bagua, but in my experience double weighted keeps one from moving as quickly. Fine for forms, but movement requires.. dynamic imbalance.

I'm a Wooden Dragon ('64). As the old saying goes- wooden dragons shouldn't play with matches.