Treena

I'm not against academia (sp?), however could the thing have be written so it reads a bit juicer? Even so, I have heard academics slam it too. (Just check the reviews at Amazon.) Please, if anyone's willing to do the Summary Notes, just let me know.

You've mentioned this a number of times Grand and I'm wondering what you mean? Is it what sells isn't necessarily what research proves? Or what?

Man! Is this just a guy tonic thing? Because it sounds cool and I wanna try.

to Sean and El Tor.

Yep. And thanks for all the great variations! In Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body, Bruce Frantzis has his variation using a partners arm in front of the knees to cue the person if the knees are moving forward.

Sounds like those tater people are a crop to have ready about Halloween time.

I like The Tao Bums. It brings so many great images to mind: Casual, following the Way. Dropout from regular society. Unpredictable. Not following the established system. And then there are those who have a "foot in both worlds." Like the look you see in the eye of the bum who has given up everything and is wandering on the streets. Many more images too...

I am familiar with it. It's my system of learning. And I have a caution. Working with people who have cancer can be very dangerous for you until you have developed yourself in such a way energetically that you are not going to absorb the toxic energy from the client/friend. This means consistent specific exercises to build up your energetic strength so you can protect yourself, as well as specific methods and techniques to seal your body so it doesn't absorb the toxic heat and pathogenic energy.

Owl, thank you for your experience with that fellow. I love the profound change in that man. Cancer, chemo, and radiation often cause a great deal of heat in the system. The triple burner healing sound can be incredibly helpful.

Crop rotation, companion planting, cover crops, and beneficial insects can all help keep you on the organic track. Crop rotation, one year you plant peas in a spot, they actually put nitrogen into the soil, next year you plant tomatoes there or another crop that loves nitrogen. With companion planting you can plant something that repels certain insects beside a plant those insects normally love or plant a trap crop, which will draw insects to it instead of to the garden plant you want to protect. Cover crops. They help to keep weeds down and can also add nitrogen and organic matter to the soil. Beneficial insects. You can actually buy lady bugs, praying mantises or is that manti?, and other beneficials. Also, using stuff like floating rowcovers can keep bugs and frost out while creating a wonderful growing enviroment. Oh, there's way more, my mind's just ajumping back into the garden...darned winter!!!

I'm curious about the 'hematoma.' Could they 'see' it on your test? ECG and...Xray? Or was that "could be hematoma' diagnosis? Wrestlers and such often get hematomas you can see very well, like when their ears swell up and turn purple with blood. Yours isn't visible? I'm just trying to get specifics because you definitely don't want a blood clot moving into your blood stream. Maybe muscle knots are the culprit instead? If so, attack and root out. If hematoma is the problem. Hey, a little downtime is good too. Often you come back to your training in much better physical and mental shape then you left.

If driving causes sciatica pains stretch your butt muscles! Especially the piriformis muscles (aka among the lateral rotators). Many good stretches out there. And try a lumbar roll. Easiest to describe. Cradle your left knee in your arms and pull towards your right shoulder. Make sure you've already emptied your bladder. Many other 'funner' ones. Just more difficult to describe.

Todd, sounds like Michael Lomax's Stillness Movement Meditation might be just the thing for you. You don't direct anything. Just focus on the LDT and relax enough to let it all happen on its own. I've been able to accomplish it when not stressed. When I can drop down and be. Bliss actually. Yet life often seems to get in the way of that. Check out his book... hold on, I have to find it... Okay, A light Warrior's Guide to High Level Energy Healing. And really, that's all you do. Stand in good taiji posture (hands at side), or sit (hands on LDT), and concentrate attention on the lower dantien. Let your body do what it will. There is a bit of an opening method to concentrate attention on the LDT. And an ending method to help work the chi through many of the channels, and especially to tonify the kidneys. Hmm... really hoping I'm ready again, too! Corrects posture and energy lines and everything. It's when I realized I was losing my microcosmic orbit energy because of posture. Hmm. Yoga people have the term Namaste. What's ours?

I do the exercise the same way Freeform does. A short period of shaking followed by a number of 'soft like a cat dropping to the floor' heel drops. My intention with this exercise is to loosen up stagnant energy in the body then to drop it into the ground. Todd, I agree with Yoda about not overdoing things. Also wondering if you're getting lots of stagnant energy shaking loose, but then it's not going anywhere? However, your intention with the exercise may be a lot different from mine, so that may not be it either. Are you grounding into the lower dantien at the end?

Hi Leidee, Thanks for your thoughts on the purchased Chi cards. I do like things summarized in a succinct visual/text way, so I do make up my own cards in a way. Been practicing steadily for 8 years. And on and off for some time besides that. How bout you?

Please don't get me wrong, I have very good teachers. I am working with the real deal. But I also know that the healing smile is a good practice, too. I see the cards as a summary of many of the 'standard' chi kung practices out there. What I want to know is if they are well edited and worth their price.

They're summaries of chi gung practices in a flash card type format.

I joined a while back but felt I had little to contribute. Since then I've continued in my love for the Tao. Nice to meet you all.

I'm curious as to how many of you out there base your occupation on your taoist viewpoint and energy work? For me, that is what I do. Classes and clients.

When I was a teenager I spent a lot of time training myself to dream recall and to lucid dream. I discovered that focus and intent are the biggies for success for me. For dreams, becoming aware and alert as you wake and *before* you come up through all the dream layers can help you hook a memorable aspect of as many dreams as you are able to 'snag/tag' this way. That memorable aspect can then help you recall the dream fully when you're awake. And like someone said, lots of dreams are just emotional workings that really mean nothing much...except for the training you get from being able to retrieve them. Lucid dreaming is another thing altogether. I think I really managed to get into it when I used the Castenada trick of viewing your hands in a dream. Hard as hell, that. You not only have to become lucid in dreamtime and remember you gave yourself a task, you have to try to view your hands. Slippery little suckers! Stop morphing! But interestingly, I found lucid dreaming can be, well, tiring. I finally stopped doing it when I realized I really like to *sleep* at night! However, that kind of training is never undone. It allows deep penetration into dreamtime where things other than dreaming go on. Not that I can ever recall much of it. Seems like it's not meant to be brought into consciousness. So I don't try very hard. Just content knowing some part of me is accessing something/place/spirit beyond what my puny human self can comprehend. And it allows me to get into some very deep meditative states. Tres cool. Hmm...now why don't I do more of that?

Mmm! Custom fireplace doors. Sounds like energy work to me! And especially gratifying, thinking of that lovely fire energy warming and flickering through the door. I teach tai chi and chi gung/qigong. I do energy and bodywork. I'm presently studying Medical Qigong. You raise an interesting point about healing work and renumeration. This is something I've thought about often. I've come to view it this way now, in some great past healers were often taken care of within their tribal group so there was no need to charge a fee. Nowadays, this is not necessarily so. Should the healer starve to be altruistic? Does this help anyone? Another aspect is the commitment people make when they pay a fee. They are committing not only their time, but something that has value to them. For me, this also means they are much more likely to commit 'themselves' to their healing. There is nothing worse than working on someone who figures they have nothing to do with their own healing. They miss the point. They have everything to do with it. You give me much to think about, Grand Trinity. So true!!! LOL! Great joy. So awesome. I'm glad to be able to be here at this forum with all of you.

I've heard this can be done through qigong/chi kung methods. Has anyone had a go at it?

There's supplements? Where can I get some of those?