thelerner

That Chia kettle sure is black.

On a more serious note. I think there are limits, despite recent Mo Pai theories, you're not going to catch bullets or fly. You can become a healthier, higher amp person, but there are limits, you are human. These questions tend to get 'how many angels on a pin' answers. Like Mu Pin in 879 said 'Greater then 9000', answers are meaningless.

Lineage, modern, store front..whatever, its still Caveat Emptor, buyer beware. Sometimes the best thing we have to go on is the advice of someone experienced and we respect. Even taking a free class, if we don't have experience we can be overwhelmed by presentation and not see its (expensive) fluff. I think store front/community center yoga isn't a bad way to begin the art. Not everyone is heading to be yogi and there are beginning teachings that are very healthy and set the stage for a deeper exploration once you've gotten your feet wet. edit> On the third hand, going to the Sivananda Yoga ashram on Paradise Island off Nassau is a heck of retreat. I managed to avoid doing yoga during my trip, but met yogi's, guru's and hindu priests etc., very cool. Great food, nice people, world class special presenters, all on a beautiful island.

Glad to have you here. We have quite a few Bagua people around. Personally I can't say I've ever walked past a store front dojo that said it taught Bagua. Is it mostly a 'practice in China town' kind of thing? Or luck of the draw in finding training?

While I think its a mistake to assume taking Kap will automatically result in Kundalini, its also a mistake to disregard its potency. The Doc sought out, synthesized then practiced and experimented himself and with students to create a modern streamlined system without religious baggage. Its a very good system. No guarantee of Kundalini though, because it relies on much work and practice from the student as well as a certain grace or maybe karma, if you will. Ofcourse you can say that about anything. Still those Himalayan yogis have given up a huge slice of life for their attainment. Kap's requirement are quite a bit less.

A practice I like to do from the Healing Tao is to focus on the heart and its qualities and make the heart sound-Haaahh and think Summer. Then move clockwise (left) imagine lungs, whiteness and do the lung sound Ssssss and think Fall. Move down roughly between the kidneys visualize dark blue/purple, maybe a bear walking in winter, and go Choooo. Circle right and up to the liver area, think green sunny swamp, and go Shhhhh and think Spring. I think there's supposed to be a yellow/orange (heeeea ?) late summer in the cycle but I don't do it. No particular reason. There are movements taught that go along with each sound. There are also some gi gung forms that make use of them. Some of the 5 Animals Frolic forms use the sounds. Thus each sound = color, organ, animal, feeling, movement, even soul element.

I love bamboo and we're finally seeing plantings here in the Midwest. It makes for beautiful natural fencing. In Israel I was surprised to see bamboo growing thickly along the streams. Very pleasant. Still, I've heard warnings about some species of it becoming super weedlike. No problem with many types or if its contained.

I prefer a cultivation system that doesn't rely so much on math. o r a n i m e.

I like the philosophy in Marksdailyapple.com. You don't need to eat Paleo to appreciate the fitness regiment there. Lots of (I think) solid info and freebies. For an athletic look and lifestyle. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/subscribe-to-blog/ DAISNAID (figure it out yourself)

I have a theory that forum years are like dog years. So 2011 was about 14 years ago, who the heck can remember .

Spent 2 weeks there last year. Seemed very clean, the people pleasant, lots of natural beauty. Economically higher taxes, but less of the economic lobsidedness that the U.S. has. All in all a very nice place imo. If that's a destroyed country (since 2004, 9 years of destruction?) then you and I have different definitions of destroyed. What country fits your bill of nondestroyed? Conservative, liberal..tends to swing in a pendulum like fashion. When it get a little extreme it tends to reverse. Which is the benefit of democracies.

"why are there so many techniques ?" Also, why so many letters in the alphabet? From now on I won't use the letter C. You can kount on it. edit> back on track so I'm not totally useless. When I see the similar practices that have evolved across different, widely separated cultures, it makes me think they're onto something. For example kotodama (sacred sound) practices. Many similarities between Kaballic and Ancient Egyptian sources but they're not widely separated. But they are similar to some esoteric Japanese Shinto chanting traditions which is a world away.

I do quite often. Mostly in the form of patience and restraint

I think weekends. Less stress, more time to prepare before and chance for quietude afterwards.

That sound really nice. What your salt of choice? Epsom or something fancy? A shower doesn't have the same dissolving mellowness. But you can buy or make sea salt and almond oil scrub mixes that you rub all over yourself. It a different, more energizing and cleansing versus the yin of a salt bath.

I don't have a Taoist answer but sometimes in the tumbling ball of love and lust we seem to imprint on another. The thought of them, the feeling as you approach them, throws you off kilter, makes your hair stand on end. Such an endorphin powered high can last for months. It can be wonderful, dangerous and Pavlovian. Its also a flame that can get too hot and burn itself off. Riding it out and giving the other person space can move it into a nice simmer stage where. Where you can be more separate and regain control of your thoughts and life and a solid relationship can build. I don't think it should be fought or broken off unless its unhealthy. We usually look back on such infatuations and early loves as a very special time in our life.

You should start one up in the PPD. Plus cut and paste, with permission, the best of comments during the years it's been discussed. Make a best o Mo pai, like I've done a best of Tao bums. You'd control it, but being in the PPD it'd have fewer 'eyes'.

For Paleo no grain recipes, here is a very good source http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-paleo-recipes/#axzz2gn549HjS The rest of the site is pretty good to.

My reply was rude, sorry. I don't know much about Mo Pai and didn't think of it as foremost a martial art. Rather a system for powerful cultivation, self knowledge and learning what behind the curtain. So when I read..I wonder what we could blow up with it? Trees, tanks, the world? I couldn't help thinking it seemed like a question a teacher wouldn't want to hear. I taught martial arts to kids and every now and then, on day one, you'd get the kid who'd ask: "Let's get the important stuff. How do you kill someone with this" and you kinda groan. That's not what we're here for.

I think I understand why he'd no longer teach Westerners.

In the stories I heard about the Yellow Emperor, his teachers were woman, particularly the Plain Woman, who taught him Taoist philosophy and bedroom arts. Daniel Reid writes about him in one of his books.

Is there a place to discuss Daoist web sites?Good idea. I just started one in General Discussion.

What other sites have good information and/or good forums on Taoism. Let me open this up to any good meditation, esoteric study site. Whats the address and why? Let me start with this one: http://www.healingtaousa.com/ The forum there is our 'Mother' site. Not that we're connected, but when it had problems and lost years of data, Sean created this site as a back up place and for deeper discussions. Good site, many experienced members, less moderation so it occasionally seems more chaotic. Good article section too. FWIW I've studied with Michael Winn and found value in his audio and DVDs.

Just found a wonderful little coffee shop in Evanston, The Coffee Lab. Every cup comes from beans ground after you order, then its a slow pour through process into a beaker. Beans are single sourced. Only one worker, takes a few minutes each cup. Classic kind of place. <haven't made the egg coffee yet> <edit> Just did. Very good. I like Trader Joe's Instant coffee. It makes a dark, slightly burnt consistent cup that as easy as stirring water with a spoon. I put 2 eggs into a glass, stirred them up, slowly added water that was a minute off of a rapid boil, kept stirring then added instant coffee, a little agave, cinnamon, nutmeg and a little salt. What nice thick glass of java. Not overly thick, you can't taste the egg, but there's a soothing creaminess to it. I liked the ghee and butter recipes, but those felt oily. This was perfect. Eggs are very yan, and nutritional powerhouses. I can see making this my go to breakfast drink. I see there's a little sliminess at the bottom of the cup. Maybe needs a slower pour, or less hot water.

'Survival of the Fittest' caught on in popular jargon, but the truth is its 'Survival of the most Adaptable'. Specialists, within species tend to deal poorly with change.