thelerner

Why assume anything. Just do it. There are lots of apps that let you set breath rates. You can do it yourself just looking at a clock with a second hand. I have tones for 8-8 and 10-10, going up to 36-36. If you have a mp3 player with repeat you can listen and breath to them yourself.

Someone touched in this in another thread. Glenn Morris, author, esoteric martial artist and teacher is gone at age 62. I was very impressed w/ his first book, "Pathnotes of an American Ninja Grandmaster". Despite a hoky tittle, it was very well written and had indepth information on meditation, enlightenment, fighting arts and dreamwork, from someone who had been there. Despite the lofty position of Soke(founder) of a martial art, Morris was very friendly and open in his teachings. He will be missed. Here is someone who I consider to be 'enlightened' and certainly considered himself to be enlightened, having gone through Kundalini and decades of practice, dead at a relatively young age. It seems like a great many high level practitioners are dying the last few years. Maybe its due to the explosion of esoteric literature in the 70's and 80's. The people who were influenced by Chia(Morris was) and Carlos Castaneda (himself, dead relatively young). I think these arts can make you a better life, but if you're looking for much of an extension, I don't think so. Michael

What is the soul? Is that the most important question there is? Not what's out there, but what's inside us? Are we big brained apes creating rationalizations to soothe our fear of impending death and what is in truth a meaningless life? Or do we hold sparks of greater divinity within us? What theories do we hold? What proofs are there of them? Personally, as with most things, I sit on the fence. Simply not knowing, perhaps hoping, seeking some answers in silence, but I really don't know.

Sorry you're in pain. Beyond sitting there is zhan zhang standing practice. Matter of fact you can stand and 'do' gi gong routines in your head; seeing them there and not actually moving. I actually feel the energetics working, though it is different. and here's an old post on pain; Dealing w/ Pain, Great Take from Otis Otis: Hi Bluefront, I have a lot of experience with healing muscle and connective tissue in myself. What I would do, is to make the injury into my moving meditation. Find a good, non-stressful posture (even lying down), relax, and then slowly, lovingly, activate the areas that hurt, through movement. Get the pain to be just hot enough to be intense, but not enough that my system shouts "no!" at me. Basically, I listen for the "no!" and back off, just a smidge, and make that my arena of play. And I emphasize "play", because it is better, IME, to be guided not by technique or concepts, but by the actual parameters of the injury. Every injury is unique, and the body's signals are there, precisely to guide me toward self-healing. Also, because that level of intense (but not freak-out) pain, can actually be a very joyful experience. If it is not, then I'd recommend slowing down, paying still more attention. If I'm tripping over my body's "no!" signals, then I'm not listening enough. The more I can utterly and joyfully "fall into" the sheer sensation of the pain with my awareness, the faster the injury heals.

When you have time, I'd love to hear about what the monastery was like.

Any good books or blogs on Young Seekers abroad in China? I think 'The Gods Drink Whiskey' is a great adventure travel book to the orient for someone looking for spirituality, but it was done by a (n out there) professor who had a job lined up, not a wanderer per se.

Reading this article http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32082968 made me think of this thread. excerpt: "Later this year, the UN is expected to adopt the World Bank's ambitious target of ending extreme poverty by 2030. It would mean that for the first time, everyone in the world would able to afford a refrigerator and other goods that would make life a bit easier. But, what would it take? Could we really see the end of poverty within a generation? First, there's been a great deal of progress already. The poverty rate in the developing world has more than halved since 1981. Back then, 52% of people in developing countries lived on less than $1.25 (84p) per day. That's now dropped to 15%. In terms of the UN's Millennium Development Goals, it meant that the target of halving poverty by 2015 from 1990 levels was achieved five years early. In 1990, more than one-third (36%) of the world's population lived in abject poverty. That was halved to 18% in 2010. For China, which has accounted for the bulk of the poverty reduction in the past few decades, the answer is economic growth. But, it was due largely to China. So, there are still about a billion people who live in extreme poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where the number of poor people has increased during the past three decades. Even though the percentage of the African population living in extreme poverty is slightly lower than in 1981 - population growth means that the number of people has actually doubled. They account for more than one-third of the poor in the world, despite Africa making up just 11% of the global population. By contrast, in East Asia, progress has been remarkable. four out of five people, or 80%, lived in poverty in 1981, and that rate has now dropped to 8%. On current trends, the fastest-growing region in the world could see the end of poverty within a generation.. " Good article.

I had friends from some very religious households, Jewish as well as Christian fundamentalist. Come adulthood, college, exposure to the wider world and they left much of the dogma behind. I think its possible to let go of it. Helps to escape the environment though. Maybe it was ever thus. We, the U.S always had a back stream of religious zealotry of different shapes and sizes. So its nothing new, just focusing the camera on long time phenomena. <>You know what else, camp is camp. I went to YMCA Christian camp, didn't mean I became Christian. A kid goes to Space camp doesn't mean he'll become an astronaut. Kids screaming at a rock concert aren't so crazy in real life. Hmnn, Ted Cruz is basing much of his presidential campaign on being the 'godly' campaigner. Frankly, it might win a few primaries but in the States in general its a losing hand.

I wonder if this is too bold? Look around the bums, especially the Chinese section and send a PM to those who seem to be living there now and ask for advice. See if you can get a conversation started. <> Are there any monasteries that welcome (w/ $) beginners? Any group/traveler centers where one can stay with like minded people looking for a spiritually good time (in my town we call them brothels) ? For yogic spirituality there are ashrams, is there anything like that in China? Sometimes the best travel begins by staying in one place. Finding out the lay of the land and making connections before over commiting.

There are times in our life when we're simply too busy for the spiritual stuff. It happens. Hopefully you're being well rewarded by either money or experience (if not look around for another job). I'd say accept it, don't worry to much, but plan for a future when you will have the time to do it, if its important to you. Get your ducks and books in a row now. Also see what you can sneak in now. Even if its just audios you listen to on the way to work, or a short dharma speech or yoga nidra (my current favorite super easy practice) before bed.

I use ighome.com. It allows great personalization, like the old igoogle used to. Thus you can make a page or several pages linking to favorite sites.

First time I'm hearing about it. Certainly looks great. I'm not going to the Big Burn this year. Couldn't get tickets to the regional Burn in Colorado and I'm in the lottery for the Lakes of Fire in Michigan. It might be a cool place to hit. I'll have to look into it. Seems mellower then Burning Man. Thus I might be able to grab my mellow buddies.

ditto and thats why I only type... plus silence makes for a boring forum

hmnn, it may not be the dying so much as the pain and reflection that shock and rock the ego's foundation. See, trying to hurt yourself is all about You, and that's moving in the wrong direction. If you're indeed a selfish and self-centered bastard I'd recommend rocking and shocking the ego through karma yoga, ie long hard charity work. Smash the constant Me, Me, Me/Want Want Want against long term hard service, where others come first. Might be just the thing to crack the ego's egg open and reveal something to you. Course I'm talking months and 100's of hours, but hard is what creates the surrender. back to OP short term, hmnn, drinking..? drugs..? but for the long term, sustainability.. you need long term practice, cause you always pay a price for artificial boosts.

Forum emptiness- Finally one with the Dao at last some quiet

this may be a little off topic; when I was 24 and back packing around Europe and the Middle East, it took a while before I was comfortable taking gifts/meals from strangers. I traveled w/ some Australians and they pretty much expected a couple meals a week from tourists. I picked up there habits and soon invited into restaurants, trading stories and travel advice from the tourist class. A distinctly different bunch then the backpack/hostel group. It was good for me, I learned an interesting mix of humility and hubris. It was good for them too. Every now and then if I see a backpacking world traveler I'll pick up a tab.

or we need GULAG !

Good science should debunk the old. The scientific method demands an open mind. Sacred cows need to be sacrificed. We move from paradigm to paradigm trying to find the solution that presents the best 'map' of reality.

maybe we need to shake things up more on the bums. Something like.. ban one person each month. Totally capriciously. I'm thinking for month 1, we make it: The next person who posts gets banned for life. Then say when a new person joins we tell'em , 'Welcome to the bums, by the way, your banned for life.' The next month, we could say the next person who uses the 9th letter of the alphabet gets banned. That'd be very Zen, well cruel Zen. When someone writes 'I object'; we can tell'em 'And you're out of here'. For the third month we can say who ever mentions anything about the Tao gets booted. That might work like the first one, ie the next person who writes anything gets booted and we can tell them 'Buh, bye, its All about the Tao.'

Which cultivation practices do you enjoy most? I like sitting on my zafu w/ a quiet mind and gently rock (though lately I'm still, staring at my nose tip and breathing slowly & quietly, not as effortless or natural). I like standing in the afternoon sun, sometimes listening to Rawn Clark's Archaeous or a yoga nidra. In the morning I like arranging head pillows in a T, putting another under my knees (ala zero gravity position), 2 sobakawa pillows on my stomach, a heavy sand eye pillow over my eyes and listening to a meditation audio. Often Minke de Vos's. I like chanting in the shower, usually Rawn Clarks YHVH canticle. I like doing the first 3 moves of Michael Winn's Fundamentals II Video then the Pangu qigong sequence.

Its like he swallowed a didgeridoo!

Its interesting. At the moment I feel mellow & mature, like there'd never be anything that could rile me up enough to get banned or suspended. Yet, I've felt this way before then gotten spitting mad and decidedly less rational. Maybe like AA's version of alcoholism I can never say I'm above it. Just that it won't happen today and probably not tomorrow but Tuesday all bets are off

thought I'd bump this thread up. Some very good stuff on it. nice downloadable on p.15 To me, this is reminiscent of the breathing done on Minke De Vos Sexual Energy guided meditation.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if some established quantum physics is bunk and much of its theoretical outliers. It's sciences most sexy, hip, paradoxical field verging on science fiction. There's a certain elitist swag to claiming full understanding of some of the more out there theories. Course that's just one version of me speaking. The others would probably disagree depending on who observed.

Don't know, but I think you might need more input then one physicist to declare a vast scientific theory debunked. Plus the article gets way side tracked by religious implications.