sean

Yeah, there is definitely some cool stuff in there. I just found his Tendon Strength post the other night which I learned a few things from.

Haven't gotten it to work for me yet. I think I may be doing it wrong. The closed nostril tugs are pleasant though. Anyone else have luck w/ this technique?

Tenguzake, I'm definitely looking forward to your Maximology review. And thanks for the tip with throwing in CFK3 warmups into the mix, I'd forgotten about those and I believe the neck release exercise on that DVD may be just what I need right now. Yoda, how are you digging WW? Sean.

Totally forgot to post this earlier. I put up my Sedona Method tapes on ebay a couple days ago. I'm almost positive this is identical material as is in the newest package at Sedona website selling for $239.00. In any case, the method is simple and you'll definitely learn it from these tapes. And eventually you won't need the tapes anymore and then you can sell them on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=6970506933

On second thought, I meant from figure eights to cloverleafs.

Whereas Warrior Wellness DVD has Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced routines, I would say the Freedom by Degree tapes are the next level ... Warrior Wellness "Mastery" ... from circles to cloverleafs, it's a nice refinement.

In an effort to make the Personal Practice Discussion forum a little more like a personal blog, particularly in the sense that members have more control over their journal threads, I've moved the journal post(s) of every member that has been active in their journal in the last 30 days or so into a new subforum with their member name and given them moderator priveleges of it.. This means that you rule your subforum. You can make as many topics in there as you see fit, you can make polls, pin/unpin topics to always stay at the top, close/open topics to end discussion in them, and even delete topics/posts by you or any other member. It's late so I don't have time to document a how-to for all of this tonight, but it's not too hard so mess around with things, feel free to ask a bunch of questions and please give me feedback with any comments/criticisms about this decision. I figured it'd be easier to just implement it so we can play with this setup and then decide yay or nay rather than try to explain it and figure out in our heads if it would be cool or not.

I know, doesn't it seem like grade school calisthenics or something? I had the same feeling. It will sneak up on you though, I promise.

My (most likely predictable) advice is Warrior Wellness until you are really comfortable with advanced level (probably 6 months to 1 year) then Freedom by Degree.

1 - Sedona Method 2 - Biomechanical exercise, ie: Body Flow 3 - Natural alchemy (ie: Sun, Moon and Earth gazing / meditations)

Yeah, the site went down earlier today for a few hours. I think for what you are looking for, your best bet is to start with Warrior Wellness and then once you are comfortable with WW advanced move on to Freedom by Degree. Some long time Tai Chi guys on the CST forum talk about how much of the benefits can be found from Warrior Wellness and without the years of learning an intricate form. I can't wait to check out this Prasara.

I've been tentatively interested in getting involved in real estate investing for about a year now. Yoda, do you have any suggestions on how to start out with this? Should I take a local course that offers the opportunity for a real estate license? I guess step one would be moving from the Bay Area, jesus.

Let's discuss this issue as civilly as possible. We do have a more or less clearly defined policy on posting illegal materials on TaoBums (refer to the FAQ for more info), but the porn/offensive image/link policy on Tao Bums has yet to be really fleshed out in detail. Unfortunately this issue is not as simple as uptight morals, it's also a legal issue. Any site hosting images depicting sexual acts must create and maintain individually identifiable records pertaining to every performer portrayed in such a visual depiction per US CODE: Title 18,2257. Outside of legal issues on hosting sexually explicit material, there is also just a certain baseline of common decency that I'd like to maintain here. After discussing things with my fellow concierges, going forward we'll stick to the "no deleting images or links unless it's illegal" until further announcement. Posts that contains links to off-site images or content that is: * highly irrelevant to spiritual discussion and/or * visually offensive will be: * tagged so that clicking on the link will generate a pop-up disclaimer about offensive content, agreeing to being at least 18 years old, etc. and also potentially * moved to Off Topic Obviously this is a fairly subjective topic. Judgement calls will be made. Mistakes are almost inevitable. So is growth. So please let's go easy on each other. Constructive feedback goes a long way. Sean.

I though this tip from Ron in the Alchemy Weight Training thread sounded bad ass. Haven't tried it yet though:

After brainstorming about a lot of different options for this over the last year, my two cents is that the best way to distill/crystalize information from the various posts here (and elsewhere) is to write an article that does so. The article doesn't even have to contain much of your own words, it can just be, for example, "A summary of Ron's gems" ... and you can take it upon yourself to sift through all of Ron's posts copying and pasting what grabs you and organizing it as you see fit. If more and more of these types of articles are created, over time we can think of more efficient ways to organize them ... ie: table of contents, index, etc., and even separate them out of the forum itself into a "flat" format, for example, as a "Tao Bums E-Zine" or "Tao Bums HandBook" ... What do you think? Do you want to come up with article ideas in this thread and any of us can grab ones that appeal to us. I think it could be a very useful community project.

Yeah, I love this video. Sonnon posted it last year on Rmax and watching it was a real turning point in my perception of physical culture ... ie: what's possible and how much fun you can have doing it. Haven't seen it in awhile though and it never ceases to inspire ... thanks for posting.

I'd definitely say just pick up the Warrior Wellness DVD no matter what. It's the foundation. From there it depends on your your goals. I would recommend you pick up the Body Flow book next because it contains some of his most revolutionary ideas. After I read Body Flow, a lot of the way I looked at my body, emotions, sports, fitness, etc. really changed pretty radically. From there, if you are drawn to exloring Body Flow more, get the videos and prepare for a learning curve. But it's well worth it. Next is Clubbells ... a great strength training tool and are also just plain fun ... so if the idea of swinging lethal steel bats around to get in shape appeals to you, grab a pair and the DVD. I can't comment on anything else, since that is basically the extent of my experience with his work, and I frankly have no interest in any of the martial arts material at this point in my life. Yeah, he's tricky like that.

Decent article I just came across on working your way into a comfortable Lotus position: http://membres.lycos.fr/zenmontpellier/Lotus-english.html Since starting my Chinese Acrobatics class I've been really diggin' practicing various forms of Lunges and splits to open up and release my groin. I'd like to work up into a full front and side split in a few months, which is a fairly agressive goal given the current state of my splits.

I will definitely try that Trunk. A lot of the stretching I've been doing lately really lends itself to stillness meditation. I find myself holding sometimes very painful poses for up to 30 minutes to release enough to let me move further into the stretch. In order to do this I am almost forced to get into a space where pain is just phenomenon. I just let it be there and I let go of trying to do anything with it. In this space I can slowly watch the layers of tension come up and dissipate, it's pretty fascinating. I've also been playing with Yoda's tip about whispering "release, relax" to my muscles. Heh. Come to think of it I'll probably start personifying my muscle groups soon so I can discuss things like local politics with them.

Hey Hagar, for what it's worth I thought your posts were excellent and that you brought up a lot of very insightful points.

It does sound like you are simply struggling with the normal and ongoing process of formulating and committing yourself to a coherent set of beliefs belief regarding good and evil. A worthy cause. And probably one that continues your whole life. I do think people are probably on the wrong track when they think their beliefs on good and evil can neatly fit in a little religious comic book. Just keep asking the big questions and don't settle for anything less than what you know in your heart is true. Peace, Sean.

Yay! A good vs. evil vs. it's-all-one debate! Ok, I'll bite. I think there are certain words that are at such a high level of abstraction that it's very close to impossible, if not actually impossible, to sensibly debate using them. What one person means when they use the word "evil" or "God" or "love" is probably significantly different than another person. Worse, I think most people using these terms haven't even clearly defined them for themselves, so their own understanding itself will shift during a single argument. For this reason I believe that unless an enormous amount of time is dedicated to a meticulous preliminary establishment of these terms, arguing about wether they "exist" or not is just not productive. I mean, it can be fun, but it kind of reminds me of getting really drunk at a party and then doing a bunch of coke at around 4am, and suddenly it's dawn and you are out of your mind grinding your teeth with some yahoo you just met trying to tweak out a solution to world hunger. That being said, here's my take anyway. "Good" and "evil" are words humans use to describe phenomenon from within a specific perceptual position, or context. Like all polarities, I believe it's likely there is a place or state within which they are a part of. Something larger that is the space that keeps them separate and contains them both. But at our level of manifestation, good and evil may be as distinct and real as the difference between you and I. Sean.