sean

i'd suggest you think about the question itself a bit more deeply. for one, the only way to objectively answer this question is a scientific nightmare. at least two nearly identical people to engage exclusively in one approach vs the other would be needed. what "better, faster, easier" even mean would have to be explicitly defined. worse would be trying to design the criteria for evaluating which participant is not only getting results defined as better but got there faster and with more ease. (!) a "better, faster, easier" course of inquiry for you might be questions like: what makes sense to you right now in this very moment? what practices do you already know deeply in your heart you are meant to pursue and discover the truth about? what do you already know in your whole being that you must do no matter how difficult it is, even if you are terrified it may be the wrong choice, even if you knew you might die trying? sean

cool! i love electronic music. what are you using to create these? sean

forgot to respond to this. first off, hell yeah! another awesome share, thank you! second, trunk has stumbled across something similar you may dig, a real gem in my experience, he is mapping the tibetan "om mah nee peh meh hung" to energy centers. great idea. thank you. i used to tap sections of my spine to activate sensation but i can't recall exploring this particular work with a partner. will try. sean

yes, yogani refers it as spinal breathing. i see, very interesting. this leads me to a question if you will. in the beginning of my practice i could not feel distinctions between different areas of the spine. "spinal breathing" was just very very rough attempts to feel any sensation at all in various places (e.g., t3 to c7 was almost blank). it took me months before i had any sense of felt precision. my practice was fueled by intention. so my question, could this intention (at least at first) make a key difference between spinal breathing along front/back channels of spine vs. spinal breathing through the core of the spine? i ask because i'm sure there are still sections of my spine where i could not truly sense (as in with my actual senses, not merely my intention/imagination) the distinction between front/back vs. core. or hmmm.... thinking this through further. maybe it's more like this.(?) intention (and even imagination) are the vehicle. but not much is happening cultivation wise until what i intend leads my awareness to actually feel. it's only to the degree that i can actually feel precisely one way or the other what i am doing (tracing front/back vs. core) that that difference is even very relevant to anything happening. haha, i hope this question (and my own attempt at an answer) even makes sense at this point. for what it's worth, i've done two full day sits with mark, one where i received shaktipat. i have refrained from articulating much of anything about these experiences, but i will just say they were stunningly powerful and mark is an amazing being! sean

seth, thank you for posting this. yes, wow, this is similar to ayp spinal breathing which i've been practicing for many years now. in ayp spinal breathing ujjayi is reserved for exhale only vs. the hissing. mind moves in center of spine and brain is gone through directly to third eye and back (at least at first). the bhandas are there, but some are separated into other practices and do not form this incredible full body wave (!) this is fantastic, i've been playing with this today, very powerful, quite a lot of bliss is arising, again thank you for sharing this. sean

tiny moments of clarity, repeated often, become continuous. sean

was a good read, think you'll dig it. sean

been having this weird, recurring craving the last few weeks to live in taipei for a few months. not sure if i'll follow through with it yet. but i'm curious, are there are any fellow bums in taipei? anyone with experience living there? anyone with an opinion whether i should do it or not? sean

friendly reminder, let's stay on topic. wbbm and sillum, i've split your side tangent to a new topic here. sean

a warm welcome to the forum Trinh. best, sean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lwuFEz_ydo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFkaZNetc_U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lAdEILVkfE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47tXpKkpMco

dude, will you do sexy saxman next, please? imo we need at least two sexy saxmen in the world at all times. sean

it seems like you are processing some strong emotions right now about this forum and how you perceive yourself being treated here. now you are calling out mods, members, saying the whole forum sucks. i'm going to give you a 180 day break. that's about half a year to disconnect, live your life, which you are saying TTB is currently not that important to anyway. then, if you want, come back and see if you resonate with being a part of this community again, sans the antagonism. peace, sean

alwayson, this does not strike me as sincere, in fact it is more or less open trolling. i believe you are returning from a suspension, no? and now your first acts are 1) to dig up a dead topic in the main discussion, link to a pit flame war, incite further drama and 2) create a topic that appears like a sarcastic, thinly veiled attempt to argue with another member. please introspect on what role you truly want to have in this community, because at your current trajectory it's headed for a conclusion. best, sean

in the sense that me, re-configuring this forum software to give you these powers, might be said to arise within a single interdependent "being" that you also "are", then yes. sean

artificial "intelligence" spam, see -> http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/17738-hii-am-wwwthetaobumscom-member-nowgrate/ sean

nothing fancy, you just now have the occult powers to open/close, pin/unpin topics, and also to move topics, e.g., something not related to nei-yeh, from that subforum to taoist discussion, off-topic, etc. sean

yes, Non, i believe you've gotten enough solid advice from the generous community here around this theme to make a choice, pick some practices and commit to working through these issues. let's not use the main taoist discussion area as a public journal. i've gone ahead and created a shiny new personal practice forum for you, if you feel the need to create additional topics on this theme please do so there. i'm sincerely looking forward to reading about your progress through these issues and on the Way in general Non. best, sean

abrahadabra http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/forum/169-nei-yeh/ also, i signed you up as the moderator. pm me or write me at sean AT thetaobums.com if you have any questions. sean

thanks for your response. the trip i'm on right now is a perception that all feelings have their root in physiological sensations in the body. that, in a sense, feelings are a "story" about sensations. i'm inspired by your public practice, fwiw. sean

This month I've setup an email interview with Bruce Frantzis, who likely needs no introduction here. I could really use your help coming up with cool questions to ask him. So once again I'd like to ask the community here to help me come up with interesting, respectful questions for this interview. Sincere questions from the heart. Please post your questions for Bruce Frantzis right here in this topic. Or, if you'd prefer some privacy, you can PM me directly. This weekend I'll organize the questions from this topic and I will email them and post his responses here on the site. Thanks! Sean PS - Bruce's enormous Bagua Mastery program launches later this month. Mal has already posted a topic about that in the link below. (Oh and it looks like Gerard has already pre-ordered the program! ) http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/16143-bruce-frantzis-bagua-mastery-program/

in this context, do you find that there is a distinction (or usefulness in one) between feeling and sensing? this may very well be particular to my current trip, but i've been noticing that "sensing" points me a bit more toward the actual raw data of my experience in the moment. e.g., the coolness of the hardwood floor on my feet, the vibration of sound from two birds conversing and how each chirp subtly ripples through my ears, inside my skull and then down the front of my chest, the warmth, almost heat, of my nose contrasting with the crisp air hitting the inside of my nostrils, etc. compared with "feeling", or at least the way i've been using that word, and especially what i used to think of as "emotion". they are at least subtly more like "stories of sensation", one conceptual layer removed from the living visceral sea of sense impressions. e.g., i am feeling sad, vs. there is an impossible heaviness in my chest, like a compressed stone, somehow floating unreasonably, defiant, despite its weight. maybe this is one of those "mountains are not mountains" temporary middle phases i am in, and over time feelings will return to what they "should" be, i.e., simple grounded descriptions of archetypal bundles of sensation vs. floating abstractions i am not truly in touch with. sean

i was really disappointed in the lack of peer-reviewed work being done around this, considering that the impact, were it true, would be revolutionary. the fact that emoto went straight to pop-new-age book publishing and touring mode before taking the time to release his methods and validate them is concerning. i'd like to see more information about these new follow up studies. sean

snowmonki, do you have/recommend any of her other books? i found lover within on amazon, looks like her others are only available by sending her a check. bedtime stories, humming, well-being and one on i-ching and the language of movement which interested me as i've been getting into bagua lately. regarding the topic here, i struggle with this often. one thing i (think) i remember adyashanti saying was that as he became more and more open, there was this point where he was so vulnerable that it became kind of an all or nothing thing. if there was one shred of attachment to "ego" arising, then even a small slight from someone could feel like a sword just brutally ripping it's way through his entire being. but to let that tiny thread of investment go, then there was only transparency and a sword going "whooosh". sean