RedFox

Funny... that was always my favorite 'miracle' when i would read about some of the saints of the Catholic church when i was a kid. Heal and teleport (or bilocate), that's what I wanted to be able to do! You know, the priests don't take it too kindly if you ask them why they can't do that stuff.

The Matrix Groundhog Day Lord of the Rings Deed Poets Society

Wild! Thanks for posting that, Yoda! So timely for me! As its finally warmed up a little around here, I've been playing around with the running method that Peter Falk mentioned not too long ago. I started with it last fall, and found I could run pain-free with it for miles in the woods on trails (and I am not built like a runner at all, so that's saying something). On asphalt, though, I would still run into knee pain after a half mile to a mile. So I'm gonna give this a shot. In the yard first, though, my feet are still a little tender from the winter boot & shoe fest. But, how cool to be able to run a 5K without pain and without shoes! I love it!

Volunteering I've taken too many already. I have to start absorbing the ones I got!

<sigh> Its unfortunate that we have to have things like bottled water shipped via a truck, and oxygen bars, as a necessity to deal with that infested, murky water, and reduced oxygen in the air today. But I'm probably preaching to the choir here. Undoubtedly, too little is not a good thing, but let's be cautious in our experiments too. Even clean air isn't 100% oxygen, and there's probably for a reason for that. Increase a little at a time and monitor the results. Increase intake until you go too far with it, then ease off. Little experience in this line... I was given oxygen supplementation in my drinking water and tea when I was not in great shape several years ago. Had a bronchitis that had I had Nyquil'd right into walking pneumonia (yep, I knew it was stupid even then but need for sleep overwhelmed reason). A friend I was staying with did nothing else but this to try to help me, for 3 days, and I watched her, she wasn't doing anything outside the recommendations she'd been given. Now, at that point in the illness, months after it started, I felt reasonable well most of the time, and quite able to exercise rigorously, I only had shallow breathing and that damn cough. But after a day, I started getting really, intensely sick to the point where I was literally cussing her out over this and nearly refused to cooperate further. Luckily she was patient and stayed with me on it. By the third day I had stabilized and felt much better. Although my breathing was still somewhat affected for months after that, enough had cleared out that my cough was gone, and overall I felt much better than when I had started. As Niemad suggested, it appeared that the extra oxygen allowed my body the opportunity to move out some of the problems. But a detox event can really suck if you're not prepared for it either (mentally or physically... I had fasted on water for days many times before, I thought I knew what detox felt like!)

If you find it helpful on your personal path, I'd say to hell with my opinion. But since you asked... Been many years since I read it so I can't speak to the editting anymore. I was visiting a friend in Sedona when it was still a word of mouth thing (apparently he had to self-publish until somebody picked it up) and at least from what I saw, it seemed to be generating a lot of buzz in that community. People were photocopying summaries of the insights and passing them around, talking it up to their friends. I didn't read it for a while after that. I thought it the insights were good. Where I thought it shone was from from the standpoint that it somehow, whether it was the adventure mixed in with the spiritual concepts, I dunno, but whatever it was, it seemed to manage to slide under the radar of a lot of people's resistance to spiritual concepts, and get them talking. For quite a while I heard a lot of people talking about it, and the insights, that I never would've guessed in a million years would pick up a book like that. Had study groups, even. Not so great as a manual of spiritual development, but I never saw that as its purpose. I see it as a book designed for the mass market to wake people up to greater possibilities than their 9-5 existance, which is very much needed. The people who want to take it further, do.

You know, I used to think about that a lot... running off to the woods. Hard not to when you've taken even one of those classes, and you hit that wall of grief about what we've lost (environmentally, culturally, you name it). Just screw this society and bolt, what's the point, it's all going to hell anyway. The strange thing is, the more I practice qigong, the less that becomes a necessary/desirable goal. If it's spiritual progress I'm after, there's plenty of that to be had right here in the cauldron of the city. It's great to take a retreat once in a while to recharge the batteries. But when i go out to the woods, the woods reflects me back to me (sometimes, rather harshly!). When I drive, the traffic reflects me to me. When I go out in a crowd, I see myself in the crowd. When i sit and home and meditate or even just think, I still see me. It appears I don't have to go anywhere special or pure to cultivate.

Present.

Depends on who you talk to, my chiropractor is fond of telling me many of them have a common ingredient with antifreeze! (So... I buy the ones that dont, or make it at home.) This is quite an awesome discussion (even if we're not sealing energy in at the moment!) I've tried lots of ways of eating. None of them work for very long. There are several I haven't tried, like 100% raw foods, but even if one of them did turn out to be the single most perfect way to eat - if I suddenly find myself in a situation where I couldn't get that diet, am I totally screwed while my body completely rejects what food is available? I don't regret the search though. One of my goals for internal alchemy that came out of that search is to simply develop the capacity to ask my body what the heck it needs, and remove the blockages that prevent me from doing so! That way I'm choosing what gives me the nutrition & energy the body need, vs. avoiding something out of fear. The other thought that creeps in my mind is, with internal alchemy practices, are we concurrently developing and increasing our capacity to process and eliminate the crap in the food, water, and air that doesn't serve us? I wonder if that's how some people smoke like chimneys or eat the worst crap and thrive... maybe they have the ability to let the stuff that lingers and makes cancers in other people to pass on through them.

Hmmm... I havent made this a regular practice, beyond the occasional rubbing my face and head if I get tired from too much sitting practice. I will try it out for a while and let you know if I notice a significant difference. I have noticed that the 'zest and joy for life' feeling I have after training does diminish, but I figured it was me being pulled into the day-to-day stuff. What I haven't figured out yet is.. is my training supposed to increase my quantity of chi? Or is it supposed to increase my access to the chi field? If the former, then doing the sealing makes sense. If the latter, is the sealing still necessary? Maybe it is, but for a different reason? I'm not sure I totally agree with the part about sending/receiving bad vibes. Seems to me if my disposition calls for it, I'm going to attract or send those vibes whether I seal or not. I am also curious if the rubbing is more about guiding my intention to seal in the energy, vs. being absolutely physically necessary to do so. But again, this is all stuff I need to test out. Thanks for the heads up!

I can't speak for dual cultivation, but generally, I find it easier to feel more energy flowing the less/lighter clothing I have on and the more fresh air I have available. Particularly when it comes to shoes, but I tend to prefer the grass/soil under my feet anyway. But that's only when I can get away with it. This does not prevent me from practicing with heavy boots and hat, gloves, and wool when practicing outside in a blizzard. I just find it easier to practice the less I have on. I can't say for sure yet if it's a mental block I have, or something real about the practice that I can't detect.