BobD

Interestingly enough (well, for me anyway) Barefoot Doctor's current column on his site, says Which, aswell as being useful for lazy ass types such as me, is also very like the Sedona Method, my current all consuming extra practice (as if you didn't know!)

Thanks for the replies chaps. I am trying to get back into the habit of sensing the orbit running all day, with checking in periods now and then, backed up with the occasional full on orbit meditation, probably linked to breathing. So there will be the orbit speed linked to the breath, and the whizzing around of its own accord speed. That Minke sample MO meditation is very good for getting the orbit started up. Looking forward to the integration of her stuff with the site when/if Sean can sort it (just a comment Sean, not a nag )

Yeah, I am continuing to love his books. Not much I have read is new to me, but it is all expressed in his unique way. I have not got his sex book, but might look it up once I have finished his others, since you have not slagged it off! BTW how did you get on with that 5 Minute Miracle tape? Barefoot Doctor is really Stephen Russel. He claims to live the life of a modern barefoot doctor, basically like travelling barefoot taoist wisemen who aid villagers with medicine/advice/magic/exercises etc. He has been studying taoist arts since he was 11 (he is now about 46 I think), and does have a way of expressing them in a very modern (and sometime irreverant) way. His books would certainly serve as a good pop introduction (I'm sure we had a thread on that subject here or on HT once, but I hadn't come across him then), but I am stil getting some good stuff from them even now. The two books of his I am reading at the moment (not at the same time , but I spend time in one of two houses so I have one in each) are about 1) affirmations/visualisations/wu wei and 2) general taoist principles/mediations in the modern world.

Related to this, how fast do people run the orbit when not in sync with breathing? If you are just standing at the bus stop (or wherever) and do a few rounds of the orbit, how long does it take to go one round of up the spine and down the front? Do people always sync with an in and out breath? To me, it seems "right" to run the orbit quickly, just about in time with saying (at a normal speed) "up and down", though if I am linking it to breathing then I have to run it much slower. I think I read somewhere that M Chia said his ran at some incredibly large number of rounds per second (ie far too may to actually visualise each one).

Welcome Lillian. Enjoy! (Really not sure what my sister & brother would think of this site (and my posts here)...

My initial thought on reading this post is that the more subforums there are the more compliccated and confusing the whole site becomes..... But then again, I hit most of the posts through the View New Posts link so I suppose it wouldn't make too big a difference, as that would just find them all anyway..... But then again, I would agree that many posts would cross several topics, so any set of categories might feel artificially imposed. I just can't see the need at the moment to create too many subforums rather than just new topics in Off Topic, but (since this was a quickly dusted off reply before closing the PC down) I'll think on it and post again later.

Kudos for being happy where you are. I think that is probably one of the best descriptions of success that I can think of. That always helps of course! So many of the books I read say that if you don't accept that you created your own current circumstances then you have no hope of changing them for the better. As to if my circumstances are those I aimed for, then I would say that generally speaking yes. I am in a job that I enjoy, with people I get on with, that pays me well enough (to live that is, not to retire ), I am healthy, happy in my relationship. increasingly at peace with myself and the world and generally content. There are things in my life that I would change if I could (most notably the death of my father a few years back, totally unexpected, and perhaps the failure of a company startup that could have made me wealthy - and has made some of the management wealthy, but I am getting increasingly ok with things as they are), but the day to day circumstances of my life match those that I had in mind when I started to take responsibility for my life, around the time of taking A-Levels before going to university. No real suprises in where I am. I could and did predict the nature of my job many years ago, so no sudden twists and turns in the road for me (up to this point anyway) A quote from somewhere that I always enjoy (but can never remember the source, or even the exact wording, not much of a quote really ) is that the best way to live in the world is just to relax and get the hell out of its way. Interested in reading other answers to this topic!

Finally got to see this movie today. Loved it (but that was no shock). I think the slide from good to bad in Anikin was handled well, especially when you include the scenes from Clones where he killed the sandpeople. There were some good scenes (like when he is deciding if he should go to stop Mace from arresting/killing Palpatine) which showed parts of the slide to the dark side. He was too rigid I think. He had what he believed in, and what he wanted, and was not flexible enough to change when the need arose. Selfish and unyielding, but also trying to do the right thing at the same time. One of my favourite quotes (bearing in mind that I am a Sedona Method junkie now) was when Yoda said "You must let go of the things you are afraid to lose" (or something like that)

On the other hand, it probably makes it real hard to stay upright I think I'd fall over by about rep 2! I still sometimes wobble quite a lot just doing normal H squats.

I do them at an even pace (well, I might accelerate as I go through the reps, but each rep is a constant speed itself), though I am by no means an expert (at this or anything ). I'm not sure grace applies to any of my movements, but I understand what you mean, and that is also the approach I take at the moment.

I'm pretty excited about Hindu Squats. Since reading about them here over the last year (ok, ok, so I'm a slow reader ) I started doing them something like a month or two ago (I dunno, details are in my blog so I dont have to remember). I started with 25 and found it pretty tough, but fairly quickly got the numbers up. I now do 50, then a short rest and another 50. Feel like I'm nearly ready to up that again, but I'm taking it slow on the increase. I found this to be useful.

Not yet seen the film but hoping to do so next week or the week after. To paraphrase another classic: "Jedi are not sentimental, they treat all things as straw-dogs"

Yay, Happy Birthday Yodester. "When 900 years old I am, that good I will not look"

I also love Jet Li movies. He is a good actor as well as a great martial artist. I loved Twin Warriors in particular. Around the World in 80 Days was quite good. Steve Coogan was a bit annoying at times (even though I like him normally). There wasn't so much action as in his previous films, but it was enjoyable. Worth watching.

Jackie Chan makes fantastic movies. Always remember to keep watching during and after the credits as most of his films have outtakes at the end (including the one (can't remember which film) in which he jumps onto a moving boat, breaks his ankle but carries on filming! He then spends some of the rest of the movie (including a water skiing scene) with his entire foot in plaster) Of the ones you have, Rubble in the Bronx is a fantasic film. I love that one. Operation Condor is good, SuperCop is good. (well, all the others are good too, he donsn't make bad films, they are all a joy to watch, but some are better than others). Rumble is probably the most action packed of them (though I've not seen ten fingers, killer meteors or even spiritual kung fu. Hum, must update my collection!) I'd say start with Rumble, then go out and buy/rent First Strike! Of the ohers you have, Austin Powers is always funny, king pin is funny, Final Fantasy is interesting, ghost dog is good, haven't seen the rest Let us know what you watch!

Wow. This looks pretty damn good (well, on first impressions anyway!) Heres the full description from SoundsTrue If anyone goes for this, don't forget to post a review here (I can't be the first to get it, as I've just forked out for the Abundance Course, so I am now offically a) out of spending money and out of spare time)

Just had this story posted to my inbox. Not much info in there, but a google on his name plus sunlight found a few more: like this one and this one

Good spot Ron. Happy Birthday Jessica!

Thats actually the page I first used to get into the 5 Tibetans, and was the thing that kickstarted my fitness exercises.

Thanks guys, good advice from both of you, and a cool link too! That page has an animated gif of the squats, which I'd been looking for anyway. I'll do as you both recommend, and start slowly to get the movement right, and only do a few reps to see how I feel. I'll try flat footed too, to feel the difference. If I build up slowly I should be able to monitor any sudden knee pain, and reduce the speed and reps back down again. Several people on that forum do say that it has helped their knees, though there are of course others who say it made them worse! Hopefully, I'll be in the first camp, though it rarely gives me pain these days provided I am careful (I wear a strap on it when I play badminton for instance, but leave it unstrapped for my morning exercises). I'll start building them into my routine as of tomorrow, and see how it goes. Thanks again.

lol But I think this is a bit harsh

Just started looking at the Hindu Squats and Pushups from Furey's page, and even trying a few. The pushups seem quite like one of the Tibetans, but I have a question about the squats. I'm sure that I read somewhere on the site that they are meant to be good for the knees. Is that really true? I had an operation on one of my knees several years ago and so dont want to do anything that might trigger it off again, and when I did some squats both knees (the good un and the bad un) creaked and clicked a fair bit, which is something I usually try to avoid. So, are the squats OK to do with slightly dodgy knees, and do they and the pushups really do as much for fitness as he claims (I dont even want to think about the Bridge exercise at the moment. )

Hey, one of my favourite topics! I have trouble with getting up in the morning sometimes, and lack the energy to do anything. I did some research (on for instance powerfulsleep.com), and some of my comments are in my Blog & Personal Practice Discussion. The main recommendations from powerfulsleep.com are to stop thinking that you need to (or can) catch up on sleep at the weekend, and instead get up at the same time each morning (see below), and go to bed at the same time also, get sunlight immediately on waking/getting up, do physical exercise on waking to get the body temperature up, sleep in complete darkness, find your natural body rhythm (eg the time in the afternoon at which you feel most groggy), and of course do the normal diet/drinking water thing to help with energy levels. I have done all of these things (although not consistently) and they do seem to help. By cutting out lie-ins at the weekend, and actually trying to get up earlier during the week also, I have found myself feeling more awake. I also do much more physical exercise than I used to (up to over an hour in the morning including Yoga and Chi Kung). Powerfulsleep.com also says that it make a big difference which sleep cycle you are in at the point you wake up, and that some will leave you feeling groggy, and others (or actually one 0 the Rem) won't. So by having a regular bedtime, you can predict what time in the morning equates to a good cycle to wake up in, set you clock for that time and bingo! Its worth looking on powerfulsleep.com as even without buying the e-book (which I have) there are some chapters you can get for free. Outside of that, I would say that getting up to exercise is good (I did that before my sleep research anyway) as it can motivate you. It also selfpropagates, as once you have managed to get up eg 30 days on the trot to exercise, it becomes easier to do so for the next 30 days because you don't want to break the chain of successful days. Well, thats my experience anyway Also, I've found that it helps to do some energy meditations in bed before getting up, in a quick attempt to lose that groggy feeling, and any physical movements that can be done lieing down also help. Someone (I think it was Trunk) recommended doing ankle rotations in bed before rising, and I have found that helps. If you find anything else that works for you, let me know! [Edit] Just read Michael's post above I'll have to give that toe/finger breathing one a go, that sounds good. And another vote for ankle rotations. Found Trunk's origoinal post for rotations here

Cool, thanks a lot Tenguzake. I'll look into those when I get some time (whenever that might be, time is still as elusive as ever!)

Thanks for the list. I've got Tao and the Tree of Life somewhere, so I'll add that to the (large) pile of books to be (re)read soon, and I'll google/amazon the Bardon book (having already done so for the Mace one). Thanks for the loan offer too. I'll check out my local book stores for these (and any similar ones I can find) as a starting point. Cheers