RobB

William Blake Vs The World is a great read. The author, John Higgs, has also written books on Leary and the KLF. It has a lot about Blake's personal mythology and the nature and role of the divine imagination. The Moore book only arrived today but is bound to be an adventure!

In our school , we say that whatever your reason for starting practice, it's generally not a good reason. However, it's what got you practicing so... My teacher has referred to martial arts as the 'Royal road'. It develops and strengthens your physical body (yin) and gives you plenty of opportunities for exchange with others (which helps avoid some of the delusions which might arise from solitary practices). It gives you a chance to directly work with fear and other confronting emotions. It gives you the confidence to occupy your own space and to remain relaxed in complicated situations. It also enables you to crush your enemies, drive them before you and hear the lamentation of their women. 10/10 would recommend.

I couldn't state definitively that I have experienced anything like that from circle walking specifically. My practice has brought multiple changes but whether that has come from my Shen Gong/Shen Dan sitting practice or other exercises like Bagua is hard to delineate - they all seem to work together on the same qualities. At the moment both my sitting and moving practices seem to be drawing me towards a closer relationship to a central axis. This is not something that I have sought or had laid out for me - it is just something that seems to be happening. Currently, Bagua seems to be enabling greater relaxation in movement which in turn leads to greater awareness in general. This might make it a bit like qigong from your point of view. As I relax, I become increasingly aware of changes of heat, pressure etc in various areas of the body. The more the physical aspects get 'locked in' the further the attention can go inward.

I've been circle walking for roughly a year, most days, 30 mins per day. As you say, one advantage is you're doing the same thing over and over again and can concentrate on trying to get all of your internals to line up rather than what move comes next. Every step is a golf swing - with all the attendant frustrations! Benefits? You know how it is - I feel better for doing it but not a huge list of things I could put my finger on. It has balanced out some binding in my knees and lower legs - although there is still a long way to go. Better balance. The twisting in my arms has produced some visible development. Overall though I feel that I am working towards a unification of the body. Recently, the upper body seems to have settled into a focussed unit - just today I realised that the two steps are driven by the same inward twist in the legs. Some days it seems I can feel how far my sole is from the ground. I can be completely aware of my hand at the same time as trying to refine the movement of my legs. Every days is different. And the interesting stuff always happens in the last few circles...

This guy seems to have found contentment. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/apr/16/experience-ive-had-the-same-supper-for-10-years

Write to your local University? Or even a non-local one - many researchers are OK with unsolicited contact even if they can't always devote a huge amount of time. Really helps if you do your research and find someone who is already working in the same specific area that you are interested in.

@daojones - sounds rough. I've had 'no sugar' periods recommended to me but it sounds like your lifestyle already has that covered. Have you had a formal diagnosis? It looks like there are a number of varieties of candida - some fairly drug-resistant.

Cut out sugar. Like, properly. Including all of the things that contain sugar or turn directly into sugar i.e. grains, flour, pasta etc. Give it 100 days and see where that gets you. There is a good article (not candida-specific) on the no-sugar process here. Actually the proper 'good' article is linked from that one and you can go direct here.

<fx: consults Yi Jing> Could go either way...

Thanks @Apech, I shall gird my loins!

We don't use visualisation, at least at the beginning (*). Don't worry about your fingers either. People have cultivated in all sorts of situations for a very long time. * - maybe not at all - I'm only at the beginning!

How is the series as a whole? I like Adam's work - really enjoyed Hypernormalisation - but I'm not sure I currently have the fortitude for another trip down the rabbit hole of 'why everything is fucked'.

You might enjoy this talk to the (UK) Buddhist Society by John 'Maki' Evans. John is an interesting guy and an engaging speaker. Part of the talk is a discussion of a mandala relating to his school and practice as painted by one of his students. He also drops in a few references to William Blake (as per my post above) who he considers to have been an advanced Vajrayana practitioner.

Not a yoga person myself but a few people I've come across in related areas seem pretty susceptible. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-55957298

As a point of reference, as someone who works in top-tier academia (but is not an academic), I'd like to note that you can have multiple academic credentials and still be mad as a hat.

Yes, I think you've got it there. I suppose it's also reinforced by having previously found things of value by plunging down rabbit holes that no-one else was interested in.

But at what point does an inclination towards questioning accepted narratives and towards independent enquiry ( quite common amongst the martial arts/meditation community) become a vulnerability to nonsense? When you spend years or decades cultivating wisdom, discernment and insight - why are some people not proofed more effectively against this stuff?

I'm.planning to learn a bit about Ba Zi. Good time of year to start something new!

My teacher has shared the purpose/achievements of our practice as: 1. To be happy and able to flow with the changes in the world. 2. To understand the nature of reality 3. To clean up our celestial mandate prior to returning to the Dao Cheer up, wise up, clear up!

Ohh - it looks like something very odd has happened to the kwon3d webpage - seems to have been hijacked. It was valid a few days ago (https://isbweb.org/resources/software-resources/130-movement-analysis/three-d-analysis-of-human-movement/473-kwon3d)

I particularly liked this bit: What practical, actual and applied value is this question to the one who has *not come* to this point of experience?What practical, actual and applied value is this question to the one who has *actually come* to this point of experience?The answer to both of these is the same: it is *nothing*. Of course, I now have to throw my computer away and get off the internet...

@Limahong, to be honest, I have no idea. I've only just got your 'particular' joke...if, indeed, I have got it.