Lozen

heh, who's hungry? sorry, i made zoom balls the other day and sitll have 20 left. and it's all i've been eating...

Okay, so it was just a reminder. Don't remember if I told you or not, but if you do go you HAVE to check out Seven Cups. www.sevencups.com and http://www.sevencups.com/tucson-tea-house.php It is straight out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Things that help me is getting regular excercise (I make myself do at least fifteen minutes a day), going to bed at the same time each day (if possible), taking calming herbs or doing breathing excercises or meditations before I go to bed, and finding some way to process the events of the day BEFORE I go to bed helps a LOT... Like if I had a stressful day I will obsessively update my livejournal or try to let it go through meditation--focus on it and then drop it somehow, or let it dissolve... My favorite herb ever is pedicularis aka wood betony cos it gets my mind to shut the fuck up once in a while so I actually CAN sleep and when I do sleep to not have to dream whatever it is I'm obsesing over. Not eating heavy foods after dark helps a lot, I try to make sure my last meal is before 6 PM if possible, and after that I just eat light foods, fruit, herbal tea, stuff like that. (Not that I am consistent, I just ate zoom balls, When I get up I have a glass of lemon water and a glass of regular water, followed by a piece of fruit... seems to get me going... and then I'll eat some kind of grain breakfast...I have been doing sun greetings every morning but just stepping outside really helps a lot. I agree that sleeping in complete darkness (except the moonlight) helps a lot. Vitamin B6 seems to help too, making sure I'm eating stuff with b vitamins. Any kind of morning ritual seems to help--some kind of routine, whether it's writing in my journal every morning, or doing qi gong and stretching every morning or even just looking at my calendar, watering my plants, and making tea. Just seems to tell me it's morning if I do it regularly. Another thing that was really helpful for me was focusing on specific hours that I was having problems and looking at the TCM clock for biocardial rhtyhmns. So for example if I'm supposed to get up between 5 and 7 AM when the kidney is WEAKEST, and I just can't do it, I need to be looking at my water element, eat foods which nurture kidney, look at things that deplete kidney jing (stress, fear, overwork, insecurity, intoxicants, heavy metals, too much protein, too much sweet food, too much semen loss in men and women bearing too many children), etc. etc. Just something to look at. Below is the chart, the organ mentioned is the one that is strongest during that period of time, and the one 12 hours later is weakest, make sense? (Example, 3 to 5 AM lunch is strongest, urinary bladder is weakest). Let me know if you need more. 3 A.M.- 5 A.M. Lung 5 A.M.- 7 A.M. Large Intestine 7 A.M.- 9 A.M. Stomach 9 A.M.- 11A.M. Spleen 11A.M.- 1 P.M. Heart 1 P.M.- 3 P.M. Small Intestine 3 P.M.- 5 P.M. Urinary Bladder 5 P.M.- 7 P.M. Kidney 7 P.M.- 9 P.M. Pericardium 9 P.M.- 11P.M. Triple Warmer 11P.M.- 1 A.M. Gall Bladder 1 A.M.- 3 A.M. Liver

Hang out in the Superstition Mountains. Hike Camelback... Lessee, I used to hang out at the Gentle Strength Co-op for some reason... Also if you are into primitive skills, there's a really cool group called S.A.L.T. that meets there, and also a lot of flintknappers. Or come to Tucson, it's ALL right there!

My goal was to do B2B and then Scout, and then be done with it. So I am still saving up for B2B, should get a fat tax refund in a year or so that will almost cover half of the class. But my new cult is Warrior School (see www.warriorschool.com and initiation.warriorschool.com) so I've also been saving for those classes...did empowerment and impeccability is at the end of the month...

I've had No Boundary by Ken Wilber on my "to read" list for a year now... can't find it in the bookstore to look through it and see if I really want it. Has anybody read it? What did you think? (Honest opinions please).

THANKS!! I'll trade you something.... Lessee, what do I got that's not heady... Celestine Prophecy, but only if you haven't read my comment on that somewhere else on this board. Had an acupuncturist that told me to read it. She had this amazing ability to read and pick up on my energy states and push me past them, tell me I wasn't allowed to stay in them... It seems that when I get past the normal everyday state, and get really in tune with inner vision or intuition or whatever you want to call it, everything just falls apart afterwards. I wonder how this fits in with Alchemy... I mean the traditional definition of that term, the alchemical treatises, the classical texts, it seems are always talking about processes, 99% of them, about disilusio, being boiled down to bones and reconstituted again, and maybe 1% on the gold in the end...

Mugwort can help you with lucid dreaming. Unless you can already lucid dream, in which case it will fuck it up. Be careful, though. If you're avoiding dealing with anything in yr life and you burn the mugwort or use it in a dream pillow, it WILL come up so make sure you're ready for that.

I agree that the book had some good insights, but it would have been nice if Redfield had an editor. Oh, wait, he did have an editor. I mean an editor that actually knew how to edit.

Maybe he passed it undigested. Need a tracker to go find it, clean it up a bit.

Me me me me me!!!

You could take classes at Tracker (which I highly recommend btw) and then you learn how to access all of this stuff, all of these skills, but then what? You are left alone to figure it all out. How will being more spiritually aware and a good tracker or caretaker or survivalist help you when you figure out you need to work within society instead of running from it? How do you live it every moment? How will it help you learn to do the things you need to in order to keep a roof over your head and food on the table? How are you going to pay your rent while you are perfecting the skills you need to "go live in the woods and survive without needing anything from society" which isn't what 99% of indigenous people did anyway (they had systems of trade goin' on and did not live in isolation or even in isolated communities). What do you do when you're living in the woods and practicing your chi kung and it's been a couple of weeks and you're lonely? Honestly if I was going to have to live in the woods and survive alone I'd spend the $800 (or whatever it is now) on really good gear.

Larrea was pulled off the market because of three cases, but the liver toxicity was never proven and now it is back on. I saw it on sale at Wild Oats the other day. Yes, there was a warning. But I for one do not believe everything the FDA says, some of which I feel is sometimes politically motivated. Re: creosote, if you look at the three cases closely, you will see that these people ALREADY had compromised livers and they were taking excessive amounts of capsules...powdered form. In any case, I always combine creosote with milk thistle... I would not give it to someone with a compromised liver or who was elderly or very young, I don't use it for over a month, and I never give people isolated, concentrated compounds in capsules. The whole plant, for the whole person. Sometimes I read studies just to keep up with popular opinion, but if you get to know the plant, you get to know the plant. I know creosote. I have sat and meditated next to it, gathered it, processed it, made tea, tinctures, oils, salves with it, used it on myself and others. I don't need to take a class or get a certificate or a license or be a member of the AHG or switch blood lines or have expensive insurance, lawyers, or disclaimers to say it is SAFE for people without compromised livers. But if you need a scientific explanation for how it works, it has resin that inhibits aerobic activity in the mitochondria of other plants, this makes it useful as an antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral because it actually prevents bacteria and fungal cells from growing or reproducing. It also has NDGA aka nordihydroguaiaretic acid (yes I looked that up) which is an awesome antioxidant compound that prevents destruction of tissues (internal and external) by free radicals and helps ease inflamed tissue and stuf flike allergies, joint pain, etc. It's also a good digestive bitter (read: liver herb) internally and is great for people who have trouble digesting and processing fats. I have never used it for excema or psoriasis but have learned it is helpful in these dry conditions. Also you can use it externally for cuts, scrapes, insect bites, athlete's foot, candida (in a sitz bath), and interally for strong colds or flus, bacterial infections or fungal infections.Also for asthma and arthritis. Sorry if I am ranting, but I LOVE this plant and hate to see it maligned. It is good to read up and be safe for sure, but really creosote is not the one to worry about...

Vegan is an old Indian word for "bad shot."

I am all for dietary awareness, organic food, food combining, herbs, whole grains, you name it. I am certainly not saying since there are chemicals in the air, we have to eat crap. What I AM saying is that I believe it is even more important to be present when we are eating, than what we are eating. Why is it that some people eat crap and live forever? Even John Robbins (an ardent vegan, btw) said, "Beer and franks with cheer and thanks is better than sprouts and bread with fear and dread." I would argue that STRESS is the primary cause of illness, not diet, though there is definitely some correlation. Did you know that every cell in your liver is replaced within six weeks? Nourish the new cells, then let the liver clean the blood. Hell even the blood volume is replaced in three weeks, every bit of it. So yeah, nourishing is good. And there are physical and non-physical (i.e. energetic) ways to do this... Anyways, I don't know you from Adam or whether or not you have food issues, just saw some language that made me think it was a possibility... But I can guarantee that SOMEONE reading this does have issues with food and I think it helps to point it out, to keep an eye out for when it becomes obsessive or about purging your body of imagined heinousness rather than being healthy. For me qi gong is a lot about learning to TRANSFORM energy, why is it that I hear stories of monks in caves pelted with nasty chemical poisons that SURVIVE?

Hate to break it to you, but you're gonna get chemicals in your system anyway from the air you breath anyway... I just hope you are not trying to use qi gong and herbs and diet to try to purge your body of yr imagined heinousness. I have a lot of friends who have serious issues around eating, I think they say 75% of women (and lots of men too) have had an eating disorder sometime in their life, and hiding it is part of the pattern. Food was a big financial issue with me growing up, and I used to feel really guilty wen I ate food I wanted and would do it sort of numbly so I could pretend it wasn't happening. I remember visiting a friend who had tons of really good expensive food, lots of juices, all kinds of nut butters, and just feeling really jealous, because eating food I wanted was this luxury that I thought was reserved for other kids that deserved it, or somethimg. I would go on all these extravagant diets. You name it, I tried it, I even pretended to be vegan for a couple of weeks, then I would eat tons of greasy processed meat, get sick off of it and pretend I hadn't done it. Was totally caught up in this cycle of shame and guilt with food. It kind of hurts to admit this but I thought it might help. So all I want to suggest for you is the idea of just eating whatever you want and being really present when you do it, really taste it and enjoy it.

Qi gong bathing--so after you take a shower, grab a loofah or something and give your whole body a good scrubbin'--every inch of it. Then seal with cold water. An acupuncturist told me to do this for a while because I had holes in my qi field. This works especially well after a very draining day at work and before bed time. But it only works if you get every part of yr body. Food--I know you're supposed to do it on an empty stomach, but I try to drink a glass of water and have a piece of fruit after I wake up, and then I'll do qi gong before breakfast. I think I take a shower in between there too, sometimes, never heard you weren't supposed to. And if I am having trouble feeling my extremities after qi gong which happens sometimes I'll soak my hands and feet in warm water right away. Interesting how it's supposed to be on an empty stomach, and yet they tell you to eat before acupuncture so that you'll have more qi to move.

My teacher taught us that we must do that closing exercise where your hands end on yr dan tien, he said if we didn't do it, we'd be spacy all day. Never heard about self massage, but it makes sense. Also in qi gong bathing which an acupuncturist introduced me to he said that after you are done scrubbing every inch of yr body with a loofah, you MUST run the cold water or else it won't work. So I think the concept is the same. Have you tried sealing and not sealing to see the difference?

I just wanted to ask a question about my qi gong practice and spiritual practice or whatever you want to call it, is that I feel like I keep having to deal with the same imbalances or manifestations of imbalances over and over again, and it seems like no matter how hard I work on it or whatever, it just keeps coming back up again... Has anybody had this experience, over a period of months or years? It's like you do all the right exercises and healing sounds and eat the right foods and needle the right points and it STILL comes back. I have all kinds of theories about it--from neural pathways (a la What the !@#$% Do We Know) to maybe I just havent' gone deep enough yet and haven't REALLY tapped into it etc... or someone just told me that some of the fusion work involves creating certain virtues in ourself in order to replace the imbalances you are trying to get rid of... but the hardest part for me is the idea that if you do more qi gong you can somehow empower those imbalances so that you have even more qi, but it is still imbalanced, so you're creating greater disharmony... And I was just at these workshops that had a very Buddhist flavor to them so I got the good ol' karma theories rammed down my throat again, basically saying that nothing you do or try to do in the physical or even internally will make any difference at all, that my bad karma will continue to follow me forever unless I do very specific actions and dedicate the karma from those actions towards these past actions... Well, it doesn't make sense or ring true for me, because I still have hope that eventually you can move past or beyond (or whatever) those imbalances...and that it can be specifically related to what you do in the moment, not what you did in a past life or body or whatever.... Thoughts?

Yoda, But isn't the opposite sometimes the case, too? For instance, I have a coworker who absolutely can't stand one of the customers, and the more she suffers in silence, the more he buys her stupid little stuffed animals. Obviously she needs to work on the mixed signals she's sending his way, but now come the net vibe is so different? Or in another example, I was talking to someone the other day and I said something he didn't like, and the more I tried to 'fix it' the worse it got. I was trying to send the vibe like "no really, i am very respectful of your feelings and beliefs" but I may as well have been sending the opposite based on yr theory... Lozen

Just looked up schizandra berries in my herb notes, and I was wrong, I was thinking of hawthorne berries. OOPS!

I use chaparral all the time, it is NOT banned in the US, and it only has been proven to cause illness to people who were taking TONS of it and already had liver problems. The Tohono O'odham have been using it for generations, see http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/samples/sam327.htm I combine it with milk thistle just in case. I agree with some of the warnings, but comfrey? You can use that internally in small amounts for up to a month before it becomes dangerous. It is AWESOME for broken bones. Pokeweed is awesome in small amounts.

They use artemisia arborensis for moxa? I thought it was artemisia vulgaris??? Ran into my acupuncturist at this awesome tea shop we have, and we were talking about our local artemisia (ludoviciana) and how he thinks the properties are different--more cooling--than other subspecies. I wanted to make my own moxa (twenty years later, right?) but he told me not to use the local stuff. It is an amazing plant. It is excellent for dream work. One time I smudged with it and two guys who were crashing at my house that night both had exgirlfriend dreams, they had gone travelling to try to get PAST those memories, but mugwort has a way to bring your subconscious stuff out. One time I was severely dehydrated (kids, don't try this at home) and one taste of that plant brought me back. One time I ate a tiny piece while out on a hike with a group of people and I sware it took me to a whole different PLANET for about ten minutes... It is great for journeying. I have heard from one of my favorite herb teachers that it is good for dreamwork in that if you can't lucid dream, it will help you, and if you CAN then you won't be able to. I am making mugwort oil right now which I want to experiment with (externally) for cramps. (Don't drink herbal oils unless you want to get botulism and die...or as Eddie at Tracker School says, 'go on a permanent involuntary vision quest' heh heh.) What else about mugwort... There is so much to write. I have studied this plant heavily... Interesting about arborensis--where did you hear that? Herbal teas you buy in the store are usu. too old to provide any kind of medicinal value, with the exception (sometimes) of root teas...or if you buy them in the bulk section and they still smell and look very fresh. Nothing in a box. I have heard of schizandra berries as a heart tonic but never for liver... Never heard of st. mary;s thistle seeds--do you know the latin name perchance? For liver NETTLES is awesome--the tea, and also dandelion root tea or tincture (glycerite), milk thistle tincture (also glycerite), red clover combines very well, too. In the desert we have creosote which is a HARDCORE liver detox herb, I always add milk thistle to it for safety... Also there is cleavers (which is great for lymph detox)--I have a tincture and a vinegar in the making right now... FOOD: green leafy vegetables, root vegetables (esp. burdock), miso soup (not the powder), whole wheat grains (+ psyllium husk) oh sorry you don't like grains but they are still good for liver... VEGGIE JUICE especially carrot juice. Apple and cranberry is good too. Cutting back on fried and greasy or fatty or sugary foods can only help. Drinking lots lots lots of water is good. Epsom salt baths and dry brush scrubbing...massage...lots of stretching... mmmmm... I love detoxing. It feels so good.

I'm starting to think that maybe my whole problem is with my attitude. I had to get up earlier than usual this morning, and I just decided to be positive about it. I thought about how I woke up, and not everybody woke up this morning, how I had breakfast, and some people didn't have breakfast, how I did my qi gong, and not everybody is blessed with really amazing teachers, not everybody is cultivating qi, not everybody has the energy that I believe I have to deal with ANY situation that comes up for me if I choose to rise up to the challenge... Or am I just gonna whine about it, "Oh, poor me. I have to deal with the same imbalances. Life is sooo hard. I can't afford to go to the workshop I want. I do so much work and nothing happens! Cry me a river! Waaa waaah. Someone call whine-one-one and get the waaaambulance!!" Well, you get my point. So I decided my new practice is in addition to the qi gong I'm gonna do an experiment, and every day for the next two weeks I'm going to wake up in the morning and make the conscious decision to have an awesome day, and anytime someone asks me how I'm doing, I'm gonna say I'm doing excellent! I'm going to CHOOSE to be doing excellent. I apologize if I sound like a motivational speaker, but I just had this revelation and I'm all excited about it.

Thank you for the link. I believe that things that happen to us do leave imprints on us. But I don't believe that those things that happen to us are always our FAULT, or that we did the same thing to someone else previously, or whatever. Surely even most Buddhists can visualize the idea of NEW karma or someone who didn't know someone else in a previous life having an affect on us. I think our choice is in how to react, how to move on, how to help others in similar situations. Btw I have done tons of meditation and it is not nearly as effective in dealing with blocks for me as chi kung is... I guess I'm starting to think that maybe the problem isn't that old stuff comes back but that it's a lot deeper than I may have thought. I may be working on this my whole life. And I think I'm okay with that. Today I am, anyway. David icke should take his own advice and move through the world with a sense of love--last i checked, he seemed to have this thing against lizards. Lizards are awesome! Thanks again for the link, and I'll look at it when I have more time. Btw I realized I posted this whole thing in the wrong forum, sorry about that.