.broken.

You are right - locking the knees, forcing the chest, etc. all lead to blockage of chi. However, the postures and exercises generally found throughout yoga block the chi circulation to particular areas in order to target other areas. It is possible to damage oneself with yoga, perhaps more so than incorrect chi kung practice. I do not doubt that you have heard some stories about people who had negative experiences. A question you may wish to ask yourself is at to why you are interested in integrating yoga into your routine. Flexibility? Clearing blockages? Because you've heard great things about it? Yours humbly, James

Wow. Erm... You really are an opinionated individual, and not afraid to share those opinions. I think this topic'll kick up a stink with the Kunlun folk and anyone who sees this as nothing but an uninformed rant. You have my empathy and compassion. May happiness follow you everywhere, James

It appears the whole argument above revolves around one pivotal point: Whether or not the Buddha wanted Dharma to be instantly accessible. I know not enough about Buddha to possibly comment, but I do have an intuitive feeling that it goes against the eightfold path. It is clear that the 8 fold path is a basic outline of Buddhist teaching. Those who adhere to it cultivate in every aspect of their living. Due to it's nature, even though it is regarded as 'basic' in the sense that it is the foundation - even, ultimately, the aim - it is certainly not 'basic' in the sense that it is easy to pick up. Habitual responses and patterns of thinking which are unfruitful in respect to cultivation need to be unlearned. I take after Christopher Hansard's teaching in calling these 'destructive'. Habitual responses and patterns of thinking that are fruitful in respect of cultivation need to be tended to and nurtured. Let's call these 'constructive'. As such, I feel justified in calling the 8 fold path constructive. As previous posts on this thread have highlighted, the need for practice has its clear advantages. It helps in losing our attachments. We should, therefore, always be mindful that we cultivate in our daily actions right view and intention with right speach, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration, outside of our usual energy cultivation practices in a manner that is constructive. Be helpful to others, take actions that keep others in mind, show love where it is needed, and all else that is constructive. Is the purpose of Buddhism not to ease the suffering of all beings? Is Dharma not the teaching that allows this to take place? Is it right, therefore, to restrict the teachings? Restricting Buddhist teachings sounds to me like one is restricting the easing of suffering, no matter how one dresses it up. It is therefore logically, intuitively, and even according to its own teachings, contradictory to restrict Dharma. How this applies to certain schools of Buddhism, I have no idea. I know too little of them to comment. This post, however, is the result of my understanding of Buddhism: using wisdom to impart teachings which ease the suffering of all sentient beings. Yours humbly, James

I read Path Notes some 3, maybe 4, years ago now - when I first started doing a little reading around. It was a pleasure to read and an insight into somebody else's practice. Glenn clearly enjoyed finding what worked for him and creating an integrated system from this. If KAP is the culmination of all his work and what he saw as lessons/practices worth learning, then I will treat it with the respect I feel it deserves. Alas, however, I am not the type of person to follow one teacher/system alone. Perhaps this is where this system may play a useful part in some aspiring cultivators - it tailors the practices gathered from a wide pool for the individual. If international teachings ever become available I would be keen to attend. Glenn clearly had a lot more under his hood than what was mentioned in the brief sharing of pivotal experiences that Path Notes was. His experiences were indeed broad - as reflected in the KAP syllabus - but they clearly took him somewhere and helped him achieve much. In fact, it's because of Path Notes that I received counselling in Rubenfeld Synergy, a school of psychotherapy, after my long period of psychosis inflicted due to cultivating heavily while under the influence of LSA. I trusted his writings and his knowledge to the extent that in one of my greatest pivotal experiences I used his writings to influence my path's notes. I am keen to know more about this system, Santiago. If travel costs weren't an issue, I'd be diligently waiting outside your front door as soon as I could be there. May I ask what plans there are for KAP, and what stage of development it has reached so far? Ever grateful, James

Humble as ever Ai Wei *bow*

Half way there chaps

My gratitude: Thank you Ai Wei for the simplicity and sincerity of your post. What you wrote seems so obvious that I now think of myself as foolish for not spotting it. Your posts are always ones I read, though rarely respond to. I feel, and know, you do the dharma justice. Thank you vortex for being there to simplify my understanding, I rarely find the words as sparcely and detailed as you do. Your humour is a needed boon too Thank you Mat for always being there to start and re-ignite the topics I thrive in and thoroughly enjoy reading. You are a star - perhaps even a beacon for me to follow.

Forget everything Surrender all you know Drop attachment (1 step; 3 verses)

I totally agree. As I hinted in my previous post, polarities disturb the mind and create room for much attachment. Technically, therefore, the mind must be stilled. I also applaud you on your use of wording, particularly "...in our density". However, attempting to delve beyond our density (futile in itself), is the ceasing of the mind enlightenment? Is this where the intellect fails to comprehend as no polarities exist in this state? I remember reading Leo Hartog's description that enlightenment is the awareness that lies behind the dualistic mind. If ceasing the mind is enlightenment, then how can an enlightened self be aware he thinks too?

I have always considered posture to be the main factor, but that's because it's the thing I'm aware of most due to my martial arts practice. It's good to read about your experience with this lady. I now have a larger list of tools to assess those when I feel the need to. Thank you for this Lin.

Brilliant white light, eternal, timeless, ever compassionate... Back in my body, I started my tai chi form. Swirls and spirals of energy moving in, out and through everything. Moving with an eternal breath."Your time will come," I was told, "...all is good." Dragon body? I don't know.

Fantastically well put! Although my perspective is the same, I couldn't have written it with such simplistic eloquence Many people have asked me why I have the outlook on death that I do... My response is simply, "I do not remember coming into being, so why should I fear leaving it?"

I believe Buddhist monks contemplate death as a practice. Usually this used to mean disappearing off the a grave yard, or somewhere where dead bodies were kept unburied. They would immerse themselves with the notion that our bodies are merely fleeting. As such they would lose all attachment to their own bodies. Personally, I find it quite impractical to go find decaying bodies when I wish to meditate. But I have meditating on death many times before. The results can be quite profound. Keep at it and see what happens!

Diet is important. For exercise I love rock climbing because it beautifully trains flexibility, power, core strength and endurance. However, I realise this may not be your prefered exercise. If you are looking for something with a bit of ancient wisdom behind it, check out Waking Up for Beginners by Stephanie Wright. I did this for two months, and, my God(!), does it work well

Considering ...

Great assumption No right, no wrong. All shades of grey. No yang, no yin. Always both in varying form.

You wish to see proof of supernatural powers. Your cynicism abounds, yet you still practice. I can only assume that you do not believe that your practices are developing such within you. If this is the case, will it ever manifest? I cannot answer this question for you... Regardless, all serious cultivators working toward enlightenment know that things happen... unexplainable things. Alas, they are always somewhat attached to their conceptualising minds throughout the process and, thusly, the attempt to explain these happenings. Throughout history you will find that those working toward the desired perspective/understanding/wisdom always use the limits of their intellectual knowledge to explain. In the early 1900s western adepts explained their experiencing through the latest theories at the time: the electrons and atoms. Kabalists, Gnostics, Jesus, Buddha, Wiccas, Transcendental poets, etc. all did the same. They used current space/time limitations and understanding to help describe experiences and philosophies. Alas, such is the 'problem' with teachings... The conceptual minds of the teachers are the tools to communicate, and as such they are limited to the pinnacle of intellectual understanding and thinking of that moment in space/time. Similarly, as this... this which I am currently attempting to communicate will not be read in the same manner depending on previous conceptual experiences that you, the 'individual', has had. In 100 years time, the shift in intellectual thinking that I am attempting to inspire with what I write will have less of an affect. Perhaps this is why Hawking radiation is mentioned in previous posts. Our intellectual minds cannot help but attempt to fathom the infathomable. This is ultimately what Buddha meant by pointing to the mind as the flaw; why Jesus highlighted the individual's judging (conceptualising) as the flaw; why Plato and Chuang Tsu highlighted ignorance. You seem to have understanding of science, and that I respect highly. But perhaps if you drop your doubt, and accept that all might be possible... perhaps then your practices will be exceedingly fruitful (if they aren't already ). Seek proof in yourself, your own mind, your own experience. Not that which others can show you.

I believe that in modern western society it is a perfectly acceptable method of teaching. Most people work 9 to 5, 5 days a week. This leaves only the weekend for periods of face to face learning, as, realistically speaking, the majority of ordinary folk don't want to learn after expending all their energy during a hard day's work. Also, due to the scarcity of teachers in these cultures, those few that do travel and impart teachings are quite sought after. Many teachers need to make a living, as they do not have the support of an established hierarchical foundation, such as a monastery, that will fund their ventures. Due to the relatively low cost of travel these days it means that the teachers are able to supply the teachings to those who are eager for them. The supply tries to meet the demand. As such, it's a win win situation. Students get what they want and the teachers are able to spread wisdom and knowledge to ease the suffering of others. You raise the question of why certain sensations manifest - you possibly sense those that you are told about because you are looking for them, as opposed to them resulting from practice. This is a fair question, but unrelated to the underlying question... this is more a question of method that the teacher uses. Who says that the student needs to be told at all? Perhaps, if it results from practice and not prior knowledge , then the student may look for the answer themselves rather than relying on the instruction. As Buddha said, be a light unto yourself. Teaching in a fashion other than workshops would possibly only work if the students were nearby, so they could access regular and brief instruction. However, I believe a lot of how successful the workshop method is depends highly on the student. I am assuming the student does their research and finds a teacher who teaches methods to attain the something (or nothing) they wish to realise. Students who just turn up to a random workshop because they saw a poster/flyer will potentially get less out of the workshop then someone who is keen to learn. You also raised the question of how workshop junkies, learning tit bits of information from multiple sources, progress with such sporadic and inter-mixed methods. This is, again, dependent on the student and not the workshop manner of teaching. Teachers cannot stop others who want to try something new from attending their classes, there are always bound to be students who will never return. I guess, to summarise, I believe that it's not the workshop, nor the teacher, nor the teachings that are at fault - it's the student. Everything stops and starts with your individual mind. Reason and intelligence are required to follow this path. Wisdom will follow. To quote the bible, "and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

Like all those who posted, I too have enjoyed this thread thoroughly. At freeform's invitation to respond with whatever comes up I thought it only right to contribute I like your model of choices and paradoxes. You described attachment to a choice as imprisonment and paradoxes as a relative freedom. There are many models that are bounded around the idea of enlightenment... Ignorance and wholeness/oneness Conceptual mind and Buddha nature Habitual thinking and awareness/mindfullness Intellect and being ... to name a few. Is one more valid than another? of course not. It's just what we experience during our practices we try to relate to others. The only way we can do this is to relate it to them with our own understanding. How do we relate things to others? We need to use our concepts, our ideas (which are different to our experience), and try to make other's understand what we have gained in wisdom. I have said this in a previous thread, but language and it's interpretation in differing circumstances in space/time (includes culture, upbringing etc.) bring about different understandings of the same concepts... and, perhaps more fundamentally: words. Interpretation is individual. Peace, James

Superb!!

Well said joe Couldn't agree more. It's simply an observation that we cannot let our own assumptions, preconceptions and prejudices drive us to a conceptual conclusion. Our conceptual minds have a purpose, but our awareness and mindfullness are beyond it. The conceptual mind, however, can come up with a concept of this understanding/wisdom. Constant limits have to be overcome. It is through, as you brilliantly put it: a "point of view" is a prejudice, a concept. You can challenge your own in this way - bring you closer to a more conscious, aware existence. Thus, by showing that any point of view can be argumented conceptually, I am highlighting that all ignorance should be dropped, and our eyes and hearts opened