Apech

Hi, I have practiced both qigong and also prostrations as part of Tibetan Buddhist ngondro. Obviously prostrations do involve some physical exertion especially if you do a lot of them daily - but their purpose is not really this. At least in the way I have been taught them it is really about two things - diminishing pride (and other negative attachment) and more importantly opening a door or connection to the lineage teachings. This is a very deep level heart connection which is established and then never really closes. So I would say, yes your subtle body is affected and thus qi flow and so on - but not in the way which normally understood. Qigong on the other hand is much more directly about stimulating or encouraging the qi flow and has great health benefits. In this sense it is much more than physical exercise - but is I think more productive if you are physically in good shape. If your primary purpose is to get rid of your beer belly then I would not suggest prostrations - I would suggest martial arts or just running or similar together with basic qigong and also essential good diet, by which I mean fresh food properly cooked with no junk food + to lose weight low in carbs. Best to find a teacher in your locale if you haven't already.

Actually unless you are advanced you need to lay the foundations before even thinking about the elixir. My advice, for what it is worth, is to not do anything forced, but just gently watching the in-out natural breathing, learning to do deep relaxation, and gently focusing on the LDT in a light hearted way without expectations (combined with healthy diet and regular exercise) is the way to go. Better still find a competent teacher. As to the books you mention I would read as much around the subject as you can - with a healthy scepticism as there are some doubtful books out there and also quite a lot is lost in translation. You could try some of the exercises recommended but without force or expectation just to see what works for you. Cultivation is a long term task - 'the work' can't and should not be hurried. So try to slowly build confidence to lay a strong foundation for future success.

There is a quite interesting debate going on by Youtubers which is part political and part spiritual - in case you haven't picked up on this here is an example: NB: the audio level is too low - so need to turn up volume but watch out for embedded clips

Give it a go - I know it's off putting but it's up her what she looks like. She says some interesting things.

Western culture seems to have got itself into an unholy mess over the gender issue. People on the left say that gender and gender expression are not determined by biological sex differences. In other words being born with a penis does not make you a man and being born with a vagina does not make you a woman. Socially this is potentially very confusing. People these days do not want to be limited by these types of definitions but pursue a kind of individual freedom beyond the social conventions - which is in a way fair enough. I want individuals to be free. And I remember when I was younger how the very much more defined social conventions were quite oppressive. So now people worry about which toilets transgender people should go to and give the likes of Caitlin Jenner awards for bravery - for cross dressing basically. She still looks like a man in drag lets be honest - but best of luck to her - but why should we make a fuss? There is, we have to accept, a fundamental difference between men and women which is evidenced by the type of gametes they produce - eggs or sperm. If you produce eggs you are female (or if your body is geared up to do so even if it has stopped or is malfunctioning) - same for men and sperm. But what we need to remember is that these are specialisms produced by nature to allow reproduction through meiosis - that is sexual reproduction rather than just mitosis (duplication) - and the reason this occurs is evolutionary. It is favourable evolutionarily to reproduce sexually because of the variation in offspring. So the male female difference is fundamental. However it is also true that this favouring variety of expression will have the consequence that there is a wide distribution in male and female characteristics - e.g. some men who display what are normally considered female traits and visa versa. This is because the actual range of expression in men and women are broad curves which overlap rather than being narrow and completely separate curves. So for instance some women may be physically stronger than some men - although statistically it would b the other way round consistently. On an individual basis though there is something else happening. Because all sex difference is a product of variety and specialism you could argue that at a cellular level the basic condition of the cell is neutral. In fact each cell is the symbiotic product of the relationship between two bacteria - one of which forms the mitochondrial energy system (female) and the other forms the nucleus containing the genetic code for replication (male). But this is in one cell so you could argue that every cell is bi-sexual (!) and that to be a whole person you have to integrate both male and female - in other words there is a inner sexual dynamic in each cell and thus in your whole being and your outer sexual relations are just projections of this. Your lover/consort/ wife/husband resonates closely with your own inner male or female - and this would work in all types of relationships - for instance gay men and women. Each individual in relation to other individual knowing the male but keeping to the female.

Butch Kar3n

David Icke is the man.

I never do

No - we modern humans came from Africa (or such in the standard theory) - we evolved from earlier hominids. Here it is possible to look this up!

That's because the interbreeding happened in Europe where the Neanderthals lived - the modern humans moved in an replaced them. Those humans who stayed in Africa did not meet the Neanderthals so therefore obviously could not interbreed.

This has been known for some time - non Africans have 1 - 4% Neanderthal DNA. To address the points made in that blog: If you accept the categorisation of 'races' no-one as far as I know says this means everyone is the same. Saying they are equal means they are all equally human and entitled the same respect and so on. So the writer is confusing equality with sameness. The fact that we interbred with Neanderthal suggests more than anything else that we were closer than formerly thought and indeed possibly the same species - so traces of Neanderthal DNA does not make whites and asians a different species to black people.

All things bigger then. Until shrinkage does occur After a cold bath.

I'm a scratchy cat. An outdoor one.

no hugging!

oh yeah

Catpernicus.

What goes up must come down. What comes down must go up. Get with the symmetry Brian.

Don't do that.

Well good that you haven't got a tumor! Do you mind me asking - are you a head orientated person - do you think, read, study a lot or not?

Go for a check up at the doctor to see if its anything simple like blocked sinus and so on - before delving any deeper into qi and chakras and wotnot.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/18/did-human-women-contribute-to-neanderthal-genomes-over-200000-years-ago

Cheapskate! A little goat flattery never hurt.

Some people prefer livestock ... mentioning no names .... Marblehead.

Federal Agents are hacking your code.

'do a goat' really Marblehead you have such an interesting private life!