thelerner

This is good advice. Daniel Reid in his book The Tao of Health, Sex & Longevity (That one or Complete Guide to ..) had a story about a college student who was suffering myriad symptoms, mental and physical. Short story, shorter, it was diet. He existed on diet soda, pizza; literally flour, fats and chemicals. No real foods. Once he changed his diet, opened up to fruits and veggies, meat and stayed away from processed 'junk' food, he transformed. You might not even need a nutritionist, write down what you eat, and if its crap, move toward real food. What you eat can make or break you.

]damn you beat me to it. From my (limited) readings of his history he was a good man, very learned, open minded and no rascist. Silly side issue in any case.

I like what the others have said. Sitting meditation to clear the mind, exercise to clear the body, singing or dancing-an excellent release. I'd add get off junk food too. I'll be a little contrarian by saying sometimes the right drugs can be a god send. Not for everyone, but for some, its the difference between night and day. They allow people to function normally. Some problems are chemical imbalances and can't be out thought or exercised away. Pills can be a wonder drug. Your mileage will vary. Good luck and remember and take advice here with a grain of salt, we're neither experts nor do we have true insight into the depths of your condition. In my experience there are no easy answers, secret formulas or magic words but there are paths and finding the right one and keeping on it will make you a little bit better each day. Good days add up. In Hope Michael

May I ask, why do you consider yourself a holy man? What do you? How do you earn a living? Thanks Michael

Wise words. I didn't originally envision the mentorship to go both ways. Computers and email are a relatively impersonal medium. In someways the best a mentor can do is open a door, show a route. Let a person know the possibilities and problems along the path and offer encouragement. I encourage other people to get involved. I've gained from having a mentor who is intuned with the Shamanic and Taoist traditions.

I'm in the minority here but I hated thenTao of Pooh. I'd suggest books by Daniel Reid, and check out the healingtaousa site. I've learned quite a bit from Michael Winn's works. There are some gifted teachers here too. Santiago runs an online Skype course called KAP that teaches energy work. Ya Mu teaches courses in healing Chi Gung that is eye opening.

Hmnn, We're worried about over population because of we're unthinking and controlled by media. Do you have solutions beyond stating- there is no problem? The reason its in the news is we just hit 7 billion. There are problems like starvation (millions starve each year, 10's of thousands a day, its a REAL PROBLEM http://www.worldometers.info/ ), there will be future problems of wars over shrinking resources. These aren't made up. You're right, new levels of consciousness might be needed come up with solutions, but you're awfully dismissive to people who are looking for answers. There are intelligent solutions, but burying your head in conspiracy theory, and new ageisms aren't going to be part of it. You can philosphize that the problem doesn't exist, but we're damn lucky we're not the ones facing starvation. Personally I like Heifer.org. Not a perfect solution, but something REAL we can contribute to, to help a little. And enough little can become a force for change.

Here's an interesting TED video on overpopulation and possible solution from a person who describes themselves as neither optimistic or pessimistic but a 'possiblists'. Its fairly optimistic and there's some reason to be. The elephant in the room, China, has been successfully cutting its population. The U.S has an even to negative population growth depending on how you treat immigrants. Russia,Europe & Japan have (I believe) a negative population growth. The video address the expansion in 3rd world countries. For me its about 3 things..Land, Water and energy. We've got the land, we've found some cheap natural gas that should last (the U.S) about maybe 2 generations, hopefully long enough til we perfect renewable energy resources, water..that maybe tougher, but we waste more then we use. With conservation and some tech we could do well. Ultimately the 3rd world will have to solve its own problems. We can suggest and offer help, but there governments and people will have to make the right and hard choices if they're going to thrive.

Wow, 4 out of the top 5 Articles in the Contributed Article section are Threads from Immortal with the vast majority of posts in them from Immortal. This is my monthly belly aching. Why not start a single thread called What I saw on the History Channel and just fill it up with shows and speculation. Last night they had a show on Presidents and Aliens, based on which founding fathers were influenced by UFO's. You can collect these somewhat speculative shows and post them under either a single thread or in a personal discussion area the board would give you. As the number of your threads climb from dozens to over a 100, it becomes clear that this may not be the site for your writings. Its philosophy, Taoism, Buddhism etc. While it can be said everything is the Tao, this board is not supposed to be a resource for dozens or hundred of threads on speculative history. We're just not. But there are forums that love it. Word of caution; If you started posting dozens of new threads on say Taoism on History/Conspiracy forums, you'll run into flack because thats not what they're about. You can get away with a few posts on say meditation or what not. Even 2 or 3 a month, but as your number rises to dozens and over a 100, you're going to get flack on them. thats my Nov. 2 bits.

What you write really resonates with me. I've been working on dream recall with the idea of becoming increasingly lucid. As I get better w/ recall I find I can't sleep! I get better and then my regular life starts to suffer as I'm over tired. I've gotten to the point where I remember 3 dreams, but I'm dead tired. In my case I may be doing 2 things wrong. First I'm messing with REM sleep, waking up in the middle of dreams in order to have clearer recall. Second, my pre sleep programming is causing anxiety that keeps me from sleep. I think the answer is to give up on early dream recall and lucidity during the first few 90 minute REM cycles and concentrate on the magic hour, the last 90 minutes of the sleep cycle. Wake up early preferably through self command or quiet alarm. Get up focused, back to sleep. Hopefully I've already gotten 5 or 6 hours. This is focused practice. Maybe done in another location, sleeping in a different slightly uncomfortable position. Special care taken on waking, to write up my dreams. One method of remembering my dreams has been instead of groping to remember on waking to retell myself the story from a different point of view, like a third person was telling me the dream. I call it Restory to Remember with the idea that I'm pulling it out of short term memory into long term. I've gotten a few good nights of sleep. I think my new strategy will be to do less work and preparation at night. Have my ipod nano near my pillow and softly awaken me 90 minutes before I'd usually get up, 5:30ish. Go downstairs, focus, tell myself what I want to accomplish, have the dream journal nearby. Get back to sleep.

Reminded me of the state of martial art demo's from the early 70's.

I agree. Let me plug my story, (damn I forgot my own stories tittle) "Shade and Snake" its in my Personal Discussion site, under Misc Stories. Its somewhat unedited, but it has one of my versions of the afterlife in it. I think the only animal we really know goes to heaven is the cow. After all when a Zen Master is asked does this or that animal go to heaven, they reply- Mooo

downright mean and nasty?? Hmnn there were times he was. He ran a large organization and its might be impossible without stepping on some people toes. I think that reputation is a very small part of the whole picture. I've read hatchet jobs on Mother Theresa. In my eyes he was a visionary and did a lot of good for the world. I think he had an artist's temperament that includes a near obsession with creating their vision. That bites both ways. His enthusiasm brought out peoples best talent and pushed them past limits. That can be great, but it also causes friction and burnout. Most great artists aren't compromisers, they're single minded and that can put people off. His company made hundreds of people millionaires and he saw many get burnt because of it. He kept his life relatively modest. He succeeded in his goal, combining technology and art.

I think Animatva had a good answer here: "first i would quit complaining about the state of the world and of people in general. If my attitude sucked as bad as yours does, i would be really concerned that that sort of pettiness wouldn't bring desirable results in the hereafter. . Focus on the immediate essentials of your life and let the rest be part of the divine plan, its meaning and purpose doesnt have to be known to you. That is a spiritual practice. emptiness meditation is great too." Note: I knocked out the part about spirits of death, because who really knows? We conjecture, but death may be a simple off switch, no different then any other living thing. When the brain dies, we're dead, zero, zip. I don't know. It will take decades of serious meditation (& deep dreamwork) and life experience before I (maybe) know anything. Decades..no short cuts. Live, learn, love, cut wood, carry water all with increasing mindfulness (or maybe no mind).

I tend to think Aliens are our generations Angels. Projections of our fears and hopes. Or just the way we label the unknown. I kinda hope if I ever see an UFO on the ground I'd have the guts to walk up to it knock on its door and say 'How was the trip?'. Be Chillin

Hi Stig, Question. I've gotten materials from WuDangtao.com and there is blog from Master Chen who I believe does some of the audio materials, which I've enjoyed. Some of your Tai chi references mention Wudang. Are you familiar with the Wudangtao.com people? Do you find it a legitimate source. It feels authentic to me, but for all I know could be some kid in a basement .

Look to Itunes podcasts. They're free and some are excellent sources for learning. I love Infinite Smile and Zencast. Both podcasts have dozens of insightful lectures. You have to download Itunes, but its free, then search for either one. You'll be able to download and save podcasts as mp3's on CD for later listening. Beyond philosophy there are undoubtedly Chinese language practice podcasts out there too.

Maybe less stress, but its a hard life. Here is a sample of a possible Buddhist monks schedule: The Monks Daily Routine in Japan is: 4:00 Shinrei (Wake-up) 4:20 Zazen (meditation) 5:50 Zazen 6:00 Choka (Morning Liturgy) 7:30 Breakfast 8:00 Study Hour 9:00 Samu (Work Practice) 11:30 Lunch 13:30 Samu 16:20 Evening Liturgy 17:00 Evening Meal 17:20 Bath 19:20 Zazen 20:20 Zazen 21:30 Kaichin (Evening Rounds) "The Schedules for Buddhist Monks vary somewhat depending upon what kind of Buddhism is practiced, whether it is a training temple or a sub-temple, etc... Generally speaking, monks rise early, have several periods of meditation and chanting while the kitchen gets breakfast ready, a work period followed by lunch, than more work, some free time, followed by dinner, and then a two hour period of evening meditation. During retreats, there is often less work and a lot more meditation. Some monasterie's schedules are quite strenous end leave one wondering if he has joined the marine corps."

But no more math class! Halloween is here tonight Eat lotsa candy

I could meditate on it or use my intuition. I'm thinking 2, because its your second CD, but instead let me use my scientific rational mind. I GUESS 500. This way I'll be within 499 of the right answer

Good posture, good focus. I like the way he holds the weapons, firm but relaxed. If he's a good teacher and the price is right, go for it. 2 bits

Very powerful. Really, God bless them. Ted videos rock. Still, growing up with Popular Science since the 60's, so many wonder techs haven't come to fruition, no flying cars, no moon bases, no free energy. I don't think its conspiracy, these things are hard. Lab work is not always scalable or practical. Sometimes simple, like Sodis, high efficiency gardening may work better then lab wrought nano tech. The best future will hopefully have both.

Lots of benefit to training in bad places. Train yourself to meditate on a swaying subway car then home and zendo practice will be a piece of cake. Its all in the mind, train it and the place matters less. Though I suppose at upper levels there are places of power that give you an extra boost.

The first part is pretty deep, I don't think I'd have the nerve. The second part reminds me of an Arab proverb and its modern translation: Trust in God but tie up the camel. The modernization being- trust in husband but use the seat belt

I've never heard of a no alcohol policy at Burning Man. The bar set ups at the big burn were amazing, elaborate and relatively numerous. The local events also weren't bashful about bars and drinking. The official maps showed bar locations and the events held at them. The local event did have bracelets and it was known that a bar would be shut down if it was serving minors. The ethos of Radical Self-Expression would be a turn off for anyone uptight about drinking, drugs, nudity, loudness, and all manner of craziness. Drugs..were technically illegal, probably bustable if a real cop was around, but if people were cool and well behaved camp rangers would traditionally look the other way. I suspect the warnings about alcohol had to do with the extremely hot weather. Still if you could handle it, sitting in the shade w/ a drink was the best way to sit out dust storms and extreme heat. Um, maybe not, but it felt that way at the time. Truly the best drink of all was water and in the desert plenty was required. Still the Burning Man ethos calls for radical self reliance, You are responsible for You. Yet there was an excellent sense of community and somehow it worked out.