Treena

Martin and the Python crew, Robin Williams, Jennifer Saunders (who wrote Absolutely Fabulous a British television comedy series)...various comics I can't remember the names of, only that they made me forcefully eject liquid from my mouth and/or nose as I was caught off guard by sudden fits of laughter.

Trunk! Thanks, I needed that laugh.

Try to establish a daily practice, don't overdo it, and enjoy! The rest will grow as you go along.

I second that!

Dustwalker and Lerner, Both the Pinchbeck and Alexander books say there are the hoaxer circles and then there are the unexplainable circles. Apparently there is quite a difference between the methods of the two. The hoaxers flatten the grain (wheat or barley usually) and the unexplainable and often "unclaimed" circles have crops that have "specific changes to the nodal points of wheat and barley stems, which are seen to bend or rupture from the inside outwards." And while, "Levengood [biophysicist] does not go so far as to speculate on the ultimate origin of such changes, he does believe that microwave energy may be involved, which superheats the crops for a fraction of a second, affecting the moisture content and causing the plants to soften and fall over, cooling in a horizontal position" (Alexander). And, well, if all it is is some hoaxers who want to create beautiful art in fields, good for them. Interesting thing, Pinchbeck notes they have managed to put some mathematical crop circles out there that are so far advanced they haven't or almost haven't been figured out yet! Math geeks unite and do crop circles! The odds, what are the odds?

LOL, Snowmom, bored housewives indeed! I can believe they'd get the job done quickly and efficiently. Thanks for the heads-up on the podcast. Wayfarer, thanks for the great links. I see I have some exploring to do. And yahoo, Chaos Theory. Love it. From what I've kept in my memory (I have a very small memory bank) reading about it years ago is that in the midst of chaos you either adapt or die. Those who adapt, ride the wave and continue on for more chaos. Those who don't, dissolve into the chaos and... Likely not accurate as to the whole theory. But I'll head back in and check it out.

We are what we repeatedly do. ~Aristotle

I love this thread. It so appreciate hearing what you all do for a good meditation.

Love that! I do it for those reasons also. And because...think back to when you first started doing something, anything that you're good at now. If you'd never started, you'd never be good at it. Never have it become such a comfortable everyday part of yourself that you forget half the time that you made the choice and the time to learn it. That's my goal with tai chi, qigong, all the other amazing internal arts, because I don't want to feebly ponder the end of my days and say, "Sh**t. What the hell did I do with my life? Purpose? Life purpose? Well, I sat around and watched a lot of tv..." And definitely healing.

Mercury was ringing a bell, I finally remembered the source: Matthew Wood's The Book of Herbal Wisdom: In alchemy, the primal fluid is associated with mercury, because this is the metal which remains in a liquid form. The other metals have to be reduced to a liquid, malleable, fusible form in order to be refined, but mercury is already in this state at room temperature. Thus, mercury is looked upon as the "mother of metals," and as the substance most closely representing the essence. The essence was associated with mercury in both the East and the West. The common term in China, however, is jing, from a root which means to winnow wheat or sort through something to get to the essence. The essence is one of the three precious substances which make up the primordial foundation of the body in Taoist alchemy. In China they are called jing, chi, and shen. In the West these three principia are called mercuius, sulphur, and salt. And LOL, Grand! Sounds to me like you need a girlfriend!

I can just see that. And it brings me to something I've been thinking a lot about lately and I'm going really basic, nothing profound here--physical movements in combination with the energy work. You can physically move and that will help your body a lot, reducing the effects of aging (scientifically proven you know ) and then there's the specific internal energy exercises where you get the energetic stagnation out so you have lots of room for good juicy chi. How many stuck stagnant people do y'all know? I know lots. I actually puzzle over why people start off like a spinning top, always moving, then eventually move less and less until the top falls over, kerplat. Dead person. But try to get someone moving and you'll get a pretty angry couch potato. I also range in and out of this stuckness myself as I'm more or less focused. I've been that angry couch potato and I've been the faithful qigong practitioner. Nowadays, I'm always constantly amazed when I learn and do new qigong or internal martial arts practices. Wow, that bagua really got things moving. Who knew all that crap was stuck in there? Well I guess I did, but man, still? I think aging like that woman in her 70s means keeping it all moving, every single cell. No stagnation. Lots of energy building. Juicy joints and muscles. I'm not interested in living forever. However, I don't want to do grade school and high school all over again, so...

I love patents. I use them over most any other over-the-counters. Come to think of it, I don't do prescriptions much either. I'd rather use qigong or the patents. Thanks for the recommended book, Trunk. A patent company I really love dealing with is: www.maxnature.com

Thanks for that tip, Sean! Tried it today with my standing postures and it made a distinct difference for the better. Heaven and Earth. Our lower half rooted in the Earth. Our upper half connected to the Heavens.

My best meditation came from doing a crummy job for five years. I went to work every day, 9 to 5, five days a week, minimum wage. During that time I worked through all kinds of emotional crap as I did repetitive work: rage, sadness, envy, jealousy, anger, resentment, happiness, love, joy, hate. Eventually I worked through a whole pile of stuff and just got into the groove and went blissful mind and that crummy work was like the best thing ever.

You could also do some specific qigong liver purging, tonifying, regulating. The liver healing sound is great for purging. Recommended no more than 36 per day. If in combo with other healing sounds, no more than 24. Make sure to ground at the end. To tonify do a liver massage: hands over liver massaging 12 times clockwise then 12 times counterclockwise, intention on moving the energy with the spiralling, then point respiration where you inhale Divine Light into the liver and on exhalation press it in with your hand and your intention. Then some time of energy regulating activity. Tai chi will probably do it. Should add that the healing sounds need not be done to that number of repetitions. Recommended to do only until you feel an energy shift. Overdoing can cause qi trouble.

I've been wondering about this noni juice...and marvelling at the price of it, especially, as Peter says, you can pick up the dried berries so cheaply. Cat, summarizing what Michael Tierra says in The Way of Chinese Herbs the Gou Qi Zi affects liver, kidney, and lung organs and meridians. Its energy and flavour is neutral and sweet. It's a blood and yin tonic, lowers cholestrol, and blood sugar, antihepatotoxin. It's used for deficiency of blood and yin, especially when ocurring in the liver and kidneys. Nourishes liver and benefits essence....used for yin deficiency of the lungs when there is consumptive cough. Contraindications: Lycii berries [Gou Qi Zi; Fructus lycci, wolfberries] should not be used by those with patterns of heat and excess or when there is spleen deficiency with dampness or loose stools. Definitely not for everyone. But awesome for those who can take it. Super antioxidant. Doesn't seem to be indicated for stomach and spleen, surprisingly. Maybe it's digestive effects are from its liver, cholesterol, and blood sugar effects?

Spectrum and Rex, love what you're saying. Darebak, I don't think I have any sort of concrete answer but here's what happened to me. I practiced tai chi and qigong for a number of years, with and without teachers. I worked with the forms daily until I was extremely familiar with them. Then I went on a workshop with a 'genuine' teacher. Though all my teachers were genuine (no matter their level) this one was high level energy with transmissions. As a result, I can now sense, move, and do all kinds of interesting things when working with energy. My question: Was it my teacher who helped activate the ability to work with energy in me, or was it that during the workshop I realized 'everyone' there was doing this very thing with energy and so I should be able to do it too? I've learned belief and intention *are* key. Maybe it doesn't matter. In the end, all the time that I originally spent learning my forms was not wasted--because I know them so very well now that I can focus on the energy aspects. I just thought of one. LOL. Squirrels! I do a qigong method where you pull energy up from the earth into the side channels and down again, using hands to direct. I was practicing outside, in nature, where nature was doing its thing. Where I'm from, young squirrels can be incredibly annoying as they barrage you with machine-gun-style chattering harrassment. One day a squirrel was so insistent while I was doing the movement I finally lobbed some qi at him. He shut up abruptly. Stared in shock. Then took off. LOL.

Go for it, Grand. Admirable quest.

Thanks, Wayfarer.

Thank you, El Tortugo!

Hey, T, There's all kinds of good things in raw honey, such as pollen particles, beeswax particles, nutrients and such. But I don't think it likely there'd be a whole lot of propolis, perhaps trace. The propolis really is the glue that holds the hive together. The bees stick the hive boxes together, the frames together, the lids to the box, and so on. Each time you go into the hive you have to use this little mini pry bar to crack everything apart again.

Interesting article: http://www.botanical.com/site/column_poudh...1_shilajit.html Excerpt: There are several methods to identify the true Shilajit, honorable Baba told us. The true Shilajit smells like cow urine (Go-Mutra). When it is kept on fire, it produces no fumes. When burnt, it gives bright flame. It is soluble in cow milk. And: Honourable Barfani Baba also informed us about the method used to purify the Shilajit collected from natural conditions. Although many healers and Pharmaceutical companies use it without purifying it but Baba warned that it can cause side effects, if it is used impure. For purification, it is dissolved in cow milk. When the dust particles settle in bottom, the solution is filtered in other vessel with the help of muslin cloth. After filtrations, the solution is kept under the sun and by drying milk, pure Shilajit is collected and used in treatment.

I'm sceered. The food and ice is gonna get me.

Grand, I've been educated enough to know that your regular tai chi/qigong teacher is in no way prepared to "document" the benefits. I assume somehow you mean doing studies on students. Even an academic outside an academic institute would have a hard time doing so. Accept my paper, I'm with...me. I also seriously feel this teaching people qigong because it's their birthright is a pipedream too. I once had a prof who said to a student asking why they didn't make our great course mandatory: Can you imagine if people were forced to take this class? Would they accept any of the knowledge? No. I've taught tai chi/qigong students who pay, as well as students who don't pay (because someone else did for them). Those who don't pay are much like the forced students my prof was talking about. No investement. No commitment. And as an academic Grand, how much will you make a year? Any other woman here offended by the pretty woman better subtle body energy comment? Though I do agree about the ghosts...bad energy anyway. Right on, Buddy!