Eric23

Like most things, you have to keep up with it. Show up every week and draw. Don't get hung up on the work itself, just draw, don't be critical of yourself. As time goes on you'll develop skills from repetition and the other artists in the group. Just do it

As always Spectrum, very instructive. Glad to see you're checking in here more.

I am a visual artist among other things. I coordinate and am a regular at a weekly figure drawing session. So I spend several hours a week intently looking at nude humans. Nice to know that my longevity has been assured I should point out that we do use male models from time to time and our drawing group has several female participants. I don't find looking at a nude female equates to an aerobic exercise as the article suggests. My experience is more meditative. The article also seems to emphasize voluptuousness, I have found no correlation in the intensity or satisfaction of the drawing experience to the size of the model's bust line either. Our female artists do appreciate having male models to draw and pester me to schedule them more frequently. So perhaps it works both ways. Sounds more like a fluff human interest piece rather than serious research.

Over the course of several years I've been building a collection of ambient music. Some of it is new agy, some yoga related, most is chilled electronica. I was sitting today and sampled some Tibetian singing bowl tracks and felt something very deep. There are some vids on Youtube of monks chanting OM, really gets to me.

I was having the classic symptoms of an enlarged prostate, always feeling like I had to urinate, never quite emptying my bladder. I also noticed a dull ache in my root that sometimes would be relieved from ejac, sometimes making it worse. The doctor did the digital exam and put me on antibiotics. We were insured with a HMO so they just automatically put you on antibiotics. Wound up having about 3 of these episodes in a 3 year period. My father had prostate cancer so we insisted on the blood test for that which came up negative. All this happened about 10-15 years ago. I'm 55 now and haven't had any problems since. So much has changed in my life since then, it would be hard to say why.

Robbins is great!! Jitterbug Perfume is one of my all time favorites.

Have you been checked for infections? I've had some prostate infections in the past with some of the symptoms that you refer to. I know that western medicine is not looked that favorably around here (not the biggest fan myself), but sometimes it has it's place.

Am currently enthralled with Roberto Bolano; start with The Savage Detectives. Also Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus Trilogy.

Last Gods by Galway Kinnell She sits naked on a rock a few yards out in the water. He stands on the shore, also naked, picking blueberries. She calls. He turns. She opens her legs showing him her great beauty, and smiles, a bow of lips seeming to tie together the ends of the earth. Splashing her image to pieces, he wades out and stands before her, sunk to the anklebones in leaf-mush and bottom-slime--the intimacy of the visible world. He puts a berry in its shirt of mist into her mouth. She swallows it. Over the lake two swallows whim, juke, jink, and when one snatches an insect they both whirl up and exult. He is swollen not with ichor but with blood. She takes him and sucks him more swollen. He kneels, opens the dark, vertical smile linking heaven with the underneath and licks her smoothest flesh more smooth. On top of the rock they join. Somewhere a frog moans, a crow screams. The hair of their bodies startles up. They cry in the tongue of the last gods, who refused to go, chose death, and shuddered in joy and shattered in pieces, bequeathing their cries into the human mouth. Now in the lake two faces float, looking up at a great maternal pine whose branches open out in all directions explaining everything.

I live in Arizona, sounds like a good road trip. Info please. Thanks

Interesting reading. After 30 years in my chosen field, at the same company it all came to an end last week. I happen to have worked in a sector of the economy and in a state that was decimated the worst. In a way it's a relief, was getting burned out, and the handwriting was on the wall for several months now . However I find myself needing to re-invent myself. Although I only have 5 - 10 years until retirement, I would really like to find something worthwhile. There are some safety nets in place, so the situation is not desperate. At my age another degree may not pay off, although a certificate program may be a great benefit. Companies don't seem to like hiring old farts, so some sort of entrepreneurial endeavor may be the answer. Planning on taking the summer off, working on stillness (and my art) and see what comes up. Anyway a different perspective from the recent high school grad wondering what to do with his/her life.

I came across this gentleman's web site years ago when first starting out. Very nice discussion on zhan zhuang, lots of references. http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/wuji.htm The Way of Energy is a very good starting point. Like so many things along this path that we are all traveling upon, the benefits come from doing a practice consistently, daily and for a long time. You can only read so much, go to so many retreats, seek out every teacher under the sun, at some point in time you have to just do it. Chop wood, carry water.

It has been discussed here quite often. A search should bring up some very informative threads. The thing about zhang zhuang is that it's so utterly simple at face value. You simply stand straight. Everything you need to know about the mechanics are readily available. Where it gets interesting is that while you are standing utterly still, everything is moving. Wonderful, profound, very effective practice; recommend it highly.

My Kundalini Yoga teacher told me to do breath of fire every day for the rest of my life. Very effective de-tox.

I'm not sure that the thoughts ever go away. What I'm learning is to catch myself quickly, acknowledge the thoughts and then get back to where ever it was before the thoughts crept in. I imagine my thoughts in a bubble that rises up and bursts into nothing. I've found adding more stillness based practices into my routine have helped. Totally understand how thoughts getting out of control can hurt a life; been there.

Thanks Keith. Very interesting. Profound experience.

1) I think it was a visceral reaction to moment. How would any of us react say if we found ourselves at the top of an Aztec pyramid having our hearts cut out as a sacrifice? 2)The Jews had very strict rules about the copying of the law for many generations. The common opinion is that the Old Testament is quite accurate. 3) I really don't know what possessed me to respond to your post. I haven't set foot in a Christian church for years now and left completely disgusted with the entire situation. Even during my years in the church there were definite scriptural issues that I felt a very real cognitive dissonance with (most of them by the apostle Paul). I do need to pick up a copy of the Gnostic gospels, the few snippits I've read on line look interesting. So here I am on TTBs. When I first read what you had written, it seemed like some clarification of the theology was in order, that's all. Why I felt that reaction is something I'll have to ponder. I thank you for your civility in this discussion as well as every other thing I've read by you. Namaste

The point I was trying to make in a previous post was that according to Christian scripture, Jesus was destined to die in the manner in which the gospels depict. It was not really a choice, more of an acceptance of one's pre-determined path. I spent a lot of time long, long ago being preached at and once in a while preaching myself in a Bible church; am very familiar with the "party line." Looking at it from the outside I can see where you're coming from and why you come to the conclusions that you have. The very act of Jesus accepting the roll as the Lamb of God and thereby being offered as a sacrifice, forms the basis of Christianity's core teaching. For whatever it's worth, given the history of the Christian church I believe that it's almost impossible for anyone in our time and in our place to really know what the exact teachings of Jesus to his followers in Palestine were. So many corrupting influences, almost from the very beginning, have shaped (and distorted)what is being taught as the truth.

According to the Old Testament, sin HAS TO be punished by death. The purpose of the temple was to offer animals as a sacrifice for the believer's sins. According to the New Testament and from Jesus' own words in the gospels, he stood in as a sacrifice for all believer's sins. From the standpoint of Christian theology, Jesus did not really have a choice, as the Son of God he had to be sacrificed. Yes, Jesus was very upset with the way in which the Pharisses distorted the Old Testament laws and the operation of the temple. I have no doubt that he would be equally offended by the "fundamentalist" Christian church operating in the US today.

Officially, Kundalini Yoga is for those schools who teach the method of Yogi Bhajan. It is quite a bit different than the more familiar hatha yoga. I've done both, very fortunate to have a KY ashram in my town. I will say that the instruction is consistantly excellent at the ashram. On the other hand I've come across some really good hatha yoga instructors and some who weren't so good (none bad though). I'm really not sure about kundalini meditation however. I will say that the meditation time alloted at the KY class is a bit longer than the hatha classes. The have all been focused on a particular mantra paired with a mudra, fairly active IMO. The hatha classes are more of the stillness variety.

This is what ultimately lead me to move in a different direction myself. It seemed like I was chasing a physical feeling or sensation. After hanging around TTBs and reading experiences from far more accomplished seekers than myself, stillness was the missing ingredient in my practice. I'm learning that the sensations will come through a still body and mind. I'm also finding that having an understanding of the practices are useful. For instance, quite often I notice myself holding some muscle tension and my inner voice/guru tells me to smile. A few moments later the inner smile has released the tension.

I have Eric's book as well. Found it very helpful. IMO he presents excellent step by step instructions of the fundamental practices. Breathing, inner smile, healing sounds, standing forms are all introduced in good detail. If someone has a problem with Chia's program, they probably won't appreciate Yudelove's work. But we've been kicking that around here at TTB from the very beginning.

Because it scares the hell out of them.

I'm out!! Last night