thelerner

Hey turtle, I love willow trees. In the breeze they're like living water falls. I also like meditating around them. I was surprised when I took some Kaishan Golden Bell Chi Kung that they specifically said not to meditate around willows!? I forget why, maybe its because they're too yin? More advice that I do not follow. Yours Michael

Just goes to show the perfection of not trying. When you try, and say ' HEY look at this', too often the magic goes away. Michael

You can't really group all of us into any uh, particular group. But many of us have gotten our Taoist cues from the Healing Tao, which is more alchemical taoism, then religious. So no altars, a nod to the 8 immortals, mostly as archetypes, and the meditations are energy related, ie they correspond to classical 4 element theories. For a primer on the Healing Tao system as interpreted by Michael Winn here is a long article/site http://www.healingtaousa.com/isa.html#faeb . The healingtaousa.com discussion site has many other nuggets and rocks in it. Yours Michael The HT systems starts w/ the inner smile (there's a free booklet), then works on the microcosmic orbit and healing sounds, getting a feeling for how the major organs correspond with emotions and seasons etc. On this site, the taobums they have expanded the discussion way beyond taoism into practically every thing.

Call me an unenlightened sleeping robot, but I don't buy the whole these things (everything) are manifested through the power of our thoughts. I think there are long, often complicated chains of causality at work, like lines of dominoes knocking down each other moving in multiple directions. Actions are making this mess. Actions due to too much greed, self interest and short sightedness. I don't even think greed and self interest of themselves are neccessarily bad. Only when they get out of whack and extreme. I don't even buy the We are enlightened and they(the masses) are sleeping robots. I find the average Joe to be pretty savvy once you have them cornered and talking one on one. I give my kudos to the man with the rolled up sleeves and shovel in his hand over the yogi sitting on a zafu any day. I guess the real answer is you do both. Michael

I'll wait a while in Live Chat. M

Some teach, some practice and sun do. From a completely shallow point of view I'm impressed that the retreat is so cheap and includes a buffet lunch. When you look at so many of the sites advertising just above here you tend to see a pattern of Enlightenment Now! a $600 value available for 3 payments of $69.95 Its refreshing to see such a prestigous man available for just $49.95. To its credit you often see Zen temples offering sitting at bargain prices, ofcourse all they offer is silence and a mat, perhaps a few drops of dharma, but then what else can a seeker ask for. For those cheap bums looking for a free course of guided meditations influenced by Rawn Clark who was greatly influenced by Franz Bardon. His Self Healing Archaeous series is fascinating. Truth be told I've only done the first Center of Stillness Meditation and Archaeous I. The Center of stillness meditation is reminscent of Taoist practice of sealing the senses. The Archaeous series is Fusion oriented in a non taoist way. Visualizing sections of the body in terms of the 4 elements. For those interested here is the site. http://www.abardoncompanion.com/MP3-Links.html The meditations download fast because they are already zipped. Each has a 5 minute introduction. Very worth listening to. His Bardon Companion ebook is free and excellent. It compliments William Mistes free interpretation of Bardons Initiation Into Hermetics nicely. Michael

I think the Shinto Kotodama that Aikidos Ueshiba used was very vowel oriented. As I remember from John Stevens book he told his live in students, tonight I'll teach you the REAL secrets. To most of there surprise he gave a class on Kotodama chants. In Ki Aikido during winter misogi training we'd do old fashion warrior chanting. You'd be sitting in sieza, and repeat the phrase (something like Omagashi Toemagashi) slowly, then like at revival, faster and faster, louder and louder. You'd be screaming at the verge of hyper ventilation for almost half an hour. Some of the guys would be banging on closed iron bells. Then a dip into a near frozen river. Very invigorating. I'd drive back 6 hours from St. Louis with perfect posture, perfect attention. I think I loaned Twotrees a copy of Ron Diana's NOR meditation. Which was intonating NNnnnn OOooooo RRrrrr in a gut deep humming growl. This cleaned your mental cave As he said backwards it is NOR is Ron. I didn't really connect with it though. Even without the spiritual strangeness, I think everyone has a piece of music they can disappear into,. One of my favorites is the aptly titled 'Comfortably Numb' from Pink Floyd, or Genesis 'Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' - getting old, aren't I. Michael

Great quote that really sums up the essence of the essence As my teacher's teacher used to say, Suzuki, 'the most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing' Michael

Wait, I thought Gangaji was the name for a cigar size joint

I was going to just P(rivate) M(essage) it, but I'm very impressed with Karens answer. I admire people who can see alternative medicine and mainstream as complimentary and give good advice in both. Glad to have you on this site, Thanks for your insights Michael

Gangaji's always been dressed everytime on TV, so I can't be absolutely sure, but yes, she is a woman Michael

Hmmnn, One measure of a master is the talent of his students. Many of these 'frauds' left behind some very talent teachers for the next generation. They opened up doors that would have been unknown for many of us. But.. glad I didn't have to sign any checks over to them. Michael

I've seen her on the public access channel a few times and read a review and story about her on the Gurus Rated website. From the shows she seemed relaxed and enlightened. Serenely answering questions w/ other worldly presence. Michael

Here is something more helpful then my last post on driving manual while asleep with a dog. Here is site on learning to drive manually - http://www.10w40.com/individual/100186.asp - give it a look. Michael

I have Pavels' Beyond Stretching Video and a Pavel Stretching CD. Still going through them. Michael

Huh? Is that like the simple Pangu form that Michael Winn has on his Video (I forget which one)? I remember him saying its a form that the person got from channelling. I like the Pangu form for its simplicity. Michael

In many ways its true, since kalonji is a deadly poison that instantly stops the heart. Yours Michael Just kidding

Sadly no. I used to drive hours a day. When you're on the highway, ambient noise is so much higher that you naturally make the radio louder. You (or I) don't notice the creep up, until the next time we enter the car and notice the radio is soo loud. I blame long car drives. Michael

Here's a story for you. 20 years ago, my friend got the yen to travel. He went to a used car lot, bought their cheapest car, an old volkswagon Beatle. It was stick, he taught himself how to drive it in the parking lot. Then headed with a dog he was dog sitting, from Chicago to California. Each time he'd turn the engine off, he'd have a harder time restarting it, often having to push it along before the engine would turn over. Ultimately he couldn't turn the engine off, had to catch cat naps and fill it up w/ gas while it was on. He made it to California, borrowed $1,200 from his aunt to get the car fixed. Headed back home, fell asleep at the wheel, rolled the car over a hill, totalling it. He and the dog were fine, and able to Greyhound bus it back to Chicago. Needless to say his parents were on vacation and knew none of his adventures. None except for legal notices from several states and compounds telling of court appearances needed. What does this have to do with you, Lozen? Nothing, except it happened almost exactly 20 years ago. The lesson- If you drive a shift, late at night, with a dog in the car, don't expect it to wake you up if you fall asleep. Michael

Max, that 100 Day Gong poster prints out really nicely. Its a great find. Thanks Michael

These are pretty mundane suggestions, but .. I'm being opening and closing windows and shades in conjunction w/ sun rise and set. In the morning opening up all the windows, closing the eastern shades. Making sure the Western shades are shut come late afternoon. That kind of thing, buys me some fresh air and more morning coolness. Michael

The site is full of info. I wonder if Sean could throw it into the Links section? Looks like I'm going to have to restore my usual computer back to its factory settings. I'll try to save my links and favorites somehow, but may not be possible. Michael

I remember reading an article on how it rains more on weekends. The notion was considered patently obsurd because its not like the weather knows what day it is. But nonetheless it was statistically true. Smog built up from Monday to Friday from higher driving, tended to cause rain on the weekends. Less driving and the weekend rain tended to keep rain from coming til the following weekend. As I recall it was by no means an absolutist kind of thing, but it was a statistically and logically proven example of how we influence the weather. I also read that the weather was skewed after 9/11 by not having hundreds of 1,000s of flights in the air for the next few days. The con trails that spread and cover so much sky were gone and affected slightly the weather. When I did business Gerber Baby products an executive said that the little baby jars they sold would reach past the moon by now. A coca cola exec I was with said the volume company did the equivalent of draining Lake Michigan every year or two. Human production is staggering. I think its probably the cause and ultimately the solution to our problem. Michael

tsk tsk, you don't get that its a transvestite wearing a coconut bra? M

We all have to draw it somewhere. Ofcourse I draw a line, that being-face brains and nervous system, then I walk past it. Actually I think mega farming is ultimately a good thing. Without it much of the current population would have to flip coins and heads loses - there life. Its not about the crap and processed food that I willingly and happily eat. There I only hurt myself, yet tingle my taste buds. Its about hurting other animals. Its not human love, but I can't help but think all mammalian mothers feel a sense of love toward their children. I'm willing to call them lesser beings. I declare myself of a higher order then they are, and I have the knife fork and cell phone to prove it, but I'm not so far advanced that I don't see a kinship and connection w/ them. I grow grape tomatoes, and you know what they say when I spray them w/ pesiticides? "Thank you for keeping those nasty bugs off of us. And by the way MORE FERTILIZER", in a chorus of little squeaky voices. Thats what I think they'd say if they had little mouths and if I did spray them. Actually I don't, spray them. So...its 4 out of 136 on my list of guilty things. I'll get a Wendy's single no mayo, instead of a double. I'll go to a farm, scratch a cow behind the ears and have someone else hit it w/ a bat. As I say, unevolved. What can WE do? heck the solution is easy enough. Go vegetarian and buy mostly organic. Its the implementation thats the rub. Trunk posted on an amazingly small super productive home stead. Part of the self sufficiency movement, its a dozen or two posts down. Michael