Yoda

So there was a recent article in Science News that teeth can heal themselves through the interaction between the inner tooth bud and the calcium in the saliva. Scientists are experimenting with calcium fortified toothpastes for this reason. So that's where science is on the subject. On the vitamin d link on Platos blog, they go into this in detail and claim that it is normal for teeth to be able to regenerate themselves assuming there's enough calcium in the saliva. there has to be enough calcium and vitamin d in the diet/sunlight exposure to get the levels up. The article believes that most people are walking around with half to a third as much calcium in their saliva as needed due to large scale vitamin d deficiency. I have now replaced my toothpaste with salt for many moons and am happy with it. The theory there is that toothpaste creates a slimey coat over the teeth that deprives them of the self healing effect. I lost a filling awhile back and it seems to be healing itself through the salt. Of course, it might just be that the hole is getting smoothed down through wear. Not that tooth heal is a big deal, but vitamin d deficiencies also lower serotonin and that's a huge deal!! So get your sun and eat those eggs or take some oil supplements! -Yoda

I've got it on order and I'm guessing that it's a squeeze the tailbone on exhale/in stroke. Just curious. Full title: Scientifically Guaranteed Male Multiple Orgasms and Ultimate Sex: Restart natural penis enlargement, Eliminate forever premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, impotence and Enjoy daily orgasms It's only been out a year and has gotten over 70 reviews on Amazon--that's good!

What single stretch is your fav?

I emailed Michael to get his response to the solarhealing.com practice. His response is in two emails: > > I teach sun gazing practices, but usually wait until people have developed > more grounding pathways in their body. Then it becomes much safer and > productive. Solar chi is very raw, hard to digest. His method is very > external, standing on bare ground to ground. But it can work. > > His knowledge of what the sun is spiritually is virtually non existant. So > you get into an altered state, but don't have much ability to relate that to > other states. Again, there are many paths, and this can work for some. > > I am skeptical of nine months being the end of the practice. More likely it > is just the beginning, but is there somewhere to go? > > This is not to discourage you from sun gazing. It is a wonderful practice. > It can be even more wonderful and useful if properly digested, and this > involves exchanging solar essence with earth essence. If your body shifts > vibration and has no resistance, the eyes can handle the longer periods > safely. Adding primordial [chikung] is certainly a big help in digesting the > experience. > > Let me know what happens after nine months.... > > May the Five Inner Tones of the Dao Sing in our Heart, > > Michael Winn [second email:] Ok to post. You might also consider the three "body-mandala" movements of Deep Healing Chi Kung, the sister form to Primordial. They are designed for sun-earth exchange, and can be done with sun-gazing in the upper position and center of earth gazing in the lower position. This instruction is not on the video, but is one of the practices in greater and greatest kan & li. michael [end of second email] Very cool advice and feedback. I'll need to check out Deep Healing Chikung. I agree that 9 months does seem like a short timetable. -Yoda

Of course nothing that you read on taobums can be taken for medical advise. If you have something wrong, start with an MD you respect and keep them in the loop. Having said that, Vortex had a nice idea of starting a thread on this topic. Smile: Vortex: I would like to second Smile's silver suggestion from the above website. Also, "Low Dose Naltrexone" is worth investigating. Fortunately, there are nanotechnology solutions to fighting bacteria, microbes, and possibly many other conditions that I believe will prove vastly more effective than antibiotics when their day comes. Hopefully in the near future. In the meantime, Low Dose Naltrexone is a real breakthrough for a variety of maladies as it improves the functionality of the immune system on the whole. Likely needs to be periodized. And it's good to keep in mind that LDN's underlying mechanism is to boost endorphins between 2-4am, so any number of activities/practices/herbs before bed (or to practice in the middle of the night) might be able to accomplish the same thing.

So a pal just sent me Dr. Sha's "Soul Communication" and I've only read a few pages of it but it looks like a winner. Check out this prayer: "Dear Soul, mind and body of all the souls that I have hurt, can you please sit in my lower abdomen? Can you please forgive me? I am sincerely sorry, from the bottom of my heart. I offer you my total love. I cannot thank you enough." And again: "Dear Soul, mind and body of all the souls that have hurt me, can you please sit in my lower abdomen? I forgive you for any harm that you may have caused me. I offer you love and blessings. I deeply appreciate and honor you. Thank you." then mentally or out loud chant, "unconditional forgiveness" for 3 minutes. That's all I've read of it, but looks very fun.

I have a pal who mentioned that he was into a Chinese teacher named Dr. Sha drsha.com. I try to stay up with his practices, so I was wondering if anyone can give me the cliff notes on this teacher? Thanks!

I've seen several references recently to Dr Lin's anal breathing and I'm wondering if anyone has had first hand experience with it. I'm going to give this practice a trial run, but I'm wondering how long to give it. thanks, Yoda

I found this on dragondoor, interesting how they boiled it down. -Y As summarized in today's WSJ, a January study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that persons who burn 17.5 calories per kilo (or ~8 calories per pound) per week gets the same benefit in treating depression as would be achieved by antidepressants or cognitive therapy. The number of days the person works out, type of exercise and length of workout do not matter. Only the number of calories. Catchy kettlebell training advertising: "Fight Depression by Experiencing True Misery." (that probably comes out to exercising 30 minutes a day, 4x a week when done at a jogging level of intensity. -Y)

Watch the sunset. Lovers are drawn to sunsets. My psychologist friend who has a lot of experience treating Seasonal Affective Disorder says the first thing he tells a new patient with SAD is to watch the sunsets. He says that the brain serotonin levels go up with just that one habit in place. He said that when people are in love, they naturally gravitate to watching sunsets as looking into the sun at that time supports the physiology of that emotional state. The next step in his treatment is to get them to watch the sunrise as well. Doing so, helps get the day started off well. Obviously, his very depressed patients can't make it out of bed for that, so sunrise treatments are strictly for folks on the mend with enough energy. Lovers aren't known for getting out of bed super early, either. So that's a good place to start. Just get into the habit of admiring the sunsets. Even if you can't see the sun due to clouds, trees, or buildings, just take in the radiance. Even after the sunset, there's a lot of great vibes in the air and worth taking in. That's it! You've already mastered one of the easiest and most powerful practices around. You are a natural mystic and a few minutes watching the sunset will remind you of this eternal truth. In the words of Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov, a Hungarian mystic: "As soon as you begin to breathe and drink the life of the sun, everything changes because your soul opens up, a spring gushes forth and you are imbued with the splendour of the dawn. Something of the pure light in which you are bathing slowly penetrates you and you want to spread these blessings everywhere so that all beings may taste the same happiness." And as Ken Cohen points out in "Way of Qigong" one of the very earliest Chinese ideograms for chi was a picture of light radiating from the sun, so practices such as admiring the sunset and sunrise may be one of the first energy practices ever discovered. That's all you need to know to get rolling. If you are interested in sungazing as a yogic practice, check out www.solarhealing.com and www.rawpaleodiet.org/sungazing for various perspectives, techniques and safety guidelines. If you find yourself drawn to this practice, please limit yourself to five minutes or less per day of direct sun exposure initially and gradually more as time goes on. If you begin to feel stressed out during the course of daily life, please curtail the duration and/or frequency of your practice. In the meantime, feel free to watch the radiance of the sky for as long as you like after the sun has set. I call this practice, Vespers, and it allows one to deeply experience the beauty and bliss of the sun's energy while very slowly and comfortably introducing the practitioner to the transformative power of sungazing. 6/6/05 Update: According to Michael Winn and other sungazing teachers, sungazing energy is hard to digest. The side effects of overdoing it can include nervousness, agitation, temper, etc. Running seems to be the solution. It has been noted by regular sungazers that their energy levels often increase and adopting a regular program of exercise seems to be fairly common. Walking immediately after sungazing is another beneficial practice to help circulate, ground, and process the energy. For males, sperm retention is another important practice to amplify the benefits of the practice. I'm currently at the 6 month mark with the practice and it definitely is not a 9 month, one time practice as portrayed in solarhealing.com. I agree with Winn on this one: your first year of sungazing is just the introduction to the practice where one is simply getting used to the basic stimulation it provides. For me, I've experienced nothing particularly mystical or hugely transformative, but my energy levels are definitely growing b/c of it. 10/3/05 Several Updates: Michael Winn recommends following sungazing with Primordial Chikung or mixing it with Deep Healing Chikung. Doing Primordial after sungazing is an awesome way to process the energy after sungazing. It's awesome!! Better than walking afterwards. Also, try healing sounds and inner smile during sungazing. Another insight--stay off the grass, water and wet ground during and immediately after sungazing unless you are wearing shoes. Grass sucks the energy right through you. Wait at least an hour before going barefoot on grass. I didn't believe this at first, but have experienced the truth of it. 11/8/05 Update Through the influence of 'Advanced Yoga Practices' I've come to appreciate the distinction between meditation and pranayama and the necessity of practicing both. Sungazing is an energy cultivation/pranayama exercise and needs meditation to smooth out the ride. I still feel that exercise is extremely useful in processing sungazing energy, but meditation is imperative to orient the energy in a blissful, peaceful direction. If you have to choose, meditation should be a higher priority, then energy exercises like sungazing, then exercise like running, yoga, PCK, etc. 8/14/2007 Update So I had quit sungazing as it carried too much energy and even negative energy. Now that I look back, I realized that I had done mostly sunset sungazing. Some sungazing gurus say it doesn't matter, but some are very adamant about only doing sunrise sungazing as the energy is cleaner and more beneficial. I'll have to check that out, but I think this was the mistake I had made. I can't sungaze in my yard in the summer months (too much foilage) but I can sungaze with my eyes closed when the sun is higher or sunbathe in the morning rays to check out this angle.

Gopi Krishna is one of the first people in the modern era to teach about kundalini awakening both in its positive and negative aspects. Took him 15 years after his awakening to stabilize the experience and he had many challenges in the process. Fortunately, we have much better programs that gently ease us into this level of functioning more gradually and easily than he had. Looks like the vid is about an hour long. I think this was his last talk before he croaked. http://www.ecomall.com/gopikrishna/ The first half is superior the second half goes off course. Doesn't really cover his recommended methods of cultivation as I had hoped, just very general stuff. He does have a nice, simple way of explaining things. Here's an example: Evolution Must Have Its Share But it has not to be abused, because this energy is designed by nature both for evolution and procreation. And evolution must have its share. It would be saner to conserve the energy, even to be a celibate than it would be to overspend it. This is the reason why celibacy has been recommended in religions. Otherwise there is no reason. Why should religion in some way insist that you have to be celibate unless the energy is used in some way? But we need not go to that extreme. The rational, normal and natural course is to adjust our life so that we allow that part which is meant for our evolution to be used for that purpose. There are some facts that show that nature is always giving us warnings. For instance, many people, after the climax, after the expenditure of the energy, feel a sense of disgust or coldness, antipathy, or great tiredness. That is a warning from nature that they have overdone it. After the sexual climax, man should feel as energetic as before. That means he has not used or taken from the amount that is needed for evolution. There's more like that in the link above. Just nice, sensible stuff from this chap.

I just got an email from dragondoor and Bud Jafferies mentioning the fact that Bud's bones are dense What's the Taoist angle on bone density? Thanks, Yoda

I drink my pee once a day usually in the morning. It tastes salty. But when I drink it in the late afternoon it tastes sweet like sugar... what's up with that? My carb intake is moderate--50-100g a day, btw. -Yoda

I found this at runningbarefoot.org. So very true. Quite liberating to just consider. I'll check it out. -Yoda Nearly everyone I meet who is, either interested in, or has started running, has many questions like the following; "How far should I run?" "How fast should I run?" "How often should I run?" "When should I run?" "What should I be eating?" etc... Yet very few actullay seem interested in learning "HOW" to run. Invariably, How we run is what will, ultimately, make the difference of whether our running will be successful (as long as your running goals are reasonable, we aren't all going to the Olympics), or failures (chronic injuries, frustration, etc.). As Gordon Pirie suggests, if running is a lifetime goal, not just a means to physically and emotionally rip yourself to shreds, then it really is important to, FIRST, learn how to run. My bias, is of course, to start barefoot. Our feet, after all, are our best coaches. They will remind us immediately, and persistently, when we are running badly. And, when we are running well, our feet will enjoy the run, as much as the rest of our body. It is possible to learn to run correctly, while wearing shoes. It is also possible to learn to speak and understand speech while deaf. But, if you allow your to feet join you in your running, along with the rest of your body, improvement will be much more obvious. Running with shoes is only more comfortable, if we habitually run badly. When we have learned to run well, shoes often just get in the way. Running barefoot, will almost invariably lead to better running form, and the possibility of running for several decades without chronic or serious injuries. I had always planned to take my scrapbooks and just write about each race as it is recalled by me. This was to be when I broke my leg and couldn't run. Well I never broke anything badly enough to go to bed or for that matter to stop running, so I am going to do it now at the age of 60. -Charley Robbins (Charley Robbins has been running barefoot since 1935, and, in 2001, Charley was still running and racing at age 81!) We Americans and Europeans can complain until we are blue in the face that Kenyans and Ethiopians have a genetic advantage over our runners. But, even if that is true, it's a little late to choose different parents. And perhaps competing with the top runners of the world doesn't interest you. But, we are not only failing to develop many potential world class runners. The path we choose in our youth may be handicapping us in our latter years. How can aged feet and legs remember how to walk, if they spent their youth propped up on footstools playing video games and watching TV? How can weakened legs and pampered feet be expected to carry our overfed bodies, when we didn't train them to carry our youthful bodies? There is so much in the way we live that we do have control over that will affect our health as well as our athletic ability. Because we choose to be lazy, we are not developing the natural efficient running technique of someone, who as children ran several miles a day to school, ran to the neighbors to deliver messages, then when their chores were finshed, ran just for the fun of it, and did all this without the "advantage" of Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Asics, or any shoe. We try to make the answers seem complicated, out of reach. That way we feel justified in not doing anything about it. If we believe the Africans have a genetic advantage that we cannot control, then there is nothing we can do about it. But the answers are not that complicated. We must get off our ever-widening asses! Sure your back and your knees hurt when you run. You're probably carrying around a lot of extra weight. Besides that, you probably learned to run with shoes on. You simply aren't using your body the way it was designed to be used or for the load it was designed to carry! Video Dave Parsel warming up barefoot uphill on grass between the 10K and 5K Spirit Run, 2005 March 13 Play Low Resolution size 300 Kb 2005 Mar 15, 4:40:40 am Play Slow Motion size 1901 Kb 2005 Mar 15, 4:49:26 am Learning to run with shoes on, is like learning a spoken language with ear plugs. You just can't hear the way the words sound. And with shoes, you just can't feel your feet touching the ground. And that is where the important part of running takes place! If you want to know how to run naturally, potentially for a century or more, without your body disintegrating from injuries, then look at the design of the human body, particularly the foot. Forget about the way shoes are designed. Most modern running shoes aren't made for running naturally without injury. They are designed with the mistaken concept that we are supposed to land on our heels. And therefore, that our bodies cannot run without some artificial contrivance to absorb the shock as the heel bangs against the ground. Some shoes are even designed with springs in the heels! If running naturally meant to land on the heels, nature would have put springs in our heels! The shoe companies try to convince us that humans are not designed to run, at least not on hard manmade surfaces littered with sharp objects. The fact is that hard surfaces and sharp objects are not new. I have run barefoot in the mountains on slabs of granite that were miles long, and harder than any man-made asphalt or concrete. I have also run barefoot through forests, on beaches, and those same mountain trails covered with sharp stones, sticks, and broken shells. Our ancestors managed to run barefoot across those same surfaces. We are designed to run barefoot on hard surfaces and over sharp objects. However, we are NOT designed to run without feedback from the soles of our feet. It is more comfortable on most surfaces and less dangerous to run barefoot, as long as we run the way we are designed to run! Heel striking is uncomfortable in barefeet BECAUSE we are not designed to land heel first while running. If we were designed to land heel first, we would have developed springs in our heels. No springs there! Instead we develop heel-spurs and plantar faciitis, even with shoes. The impact of landing on the heel damages the achilles tendon, then the impact force drives directly up the leg to the knee, and if the knee isn't allowed to bend, on up to the back, causing injury over time. The most padded, or spring loaded running shoes have less than 2 inches of cushion. By allowing my knees to bend, I have a full 2 feet of potential cushioning. It is true that I rarely compress my knees the full 2 feet. But, how often do your shoes compress a full 2 inches? In order to land on the heel, we must have our foot in front of our body as it lands. If the heel hits first, it is pushing against the ground in the opposite direction we are trying to run. We are hitting the brakes every time we put our foot down! Worse yet, the impact of slamming on the brakes jams our knees. It often seems that nearly everyone who asks me about impact while running barefoot is wearing knee braces! Third; Like they say at Pontiac, "Wider is better!" This point was brought to my attention by someone who sells running shoes, the forefoot is wider than the heel. Any side to side imbalances are amplified by heel striking because the heel is narrower and less stable. Landing on the forefoot, with it's wider surface, naturally promotes a more stable landing. A canoe is easier to tip than an outrigger! Video Though racing with shoes, Dave Parsel runs barefoot about 20 miles a week. Here he is finishing first in age division, and 10th overall, at the Spirit Run 5K. Earlier the same mornig Dave won his age division in the 10K. For these wins, Dave was awarded two pairs of shoes. Note the shoes he is wearing have very flat soles. 2005 March 13 Play Low Resolution size 241 Kb 2005 Mar 15, 4:39:44 am Play Slow Motion size 1320 Kb 2005 Mar 15, 4:55:06 am As our foot lands, it should be moving back (in relation to our body), and matching the speed of the ground beneath us. Technically the foot will move forward above the ground. Then before it touches the ground, it should slow to match the speed of the ground beneath the runner. The foot should be directly beneat the runner as it lands. This is only possible to do comfortably if we land on the balls of the foot. Coincidently, this is the widest part of our foot! , The foot will accellerate out in front of our body, but does not land until after it has slowed down and the body has moved over the foot. Again look at the design of the foot. It should have an arch. At least it would if you grew up without deforming your feet with shoes and orthotic inserts which prevented your feet from developing naturally. The arch is a natural spring, like the leaf springs of an automobile. The arch is designed to flex, not to be held rigidly in place by supportive shoes. The arch is located just behind the balls of our feet. Therefore the balls of our foot should contact the ground first. As the balls take on the weight of our body, the arch deflects, and the heel is gently lowered to the ground. The arch cushions this first part of our landing. Letting the heel touch allows the calf muscles to relax. Do relax! Don't fight to keep the heel off the ground, otherwise, you will end up with extremely sore calves and achilles tendons. You probably will have sore calves, and possibly achilles tendons, at first anyway, especially if you are new to running, or have been a chronic heel striker (overstriding). After all, your calves will be absorbing the initial shock, instead of the cartiledge in your knee joint. But that's not a bad thing, the calf muscles and achilles tendons can grow stronger from exercise. The cartiledge in your knee joint will be damaged when it's used as a cushion. HINT: To reduce tension on the calves, first of all, relax, but also try taking shorter, quicker steps. The purpose of the cartiledge in the knee joint is not, despite the opinion of your shoe manufacturer and podiatrist, to absorb the entire shock of running. Think of it like a thin layer of teflon, keeping the bones from rubbing together as our knee bends. The knee is designed to bend, when we run or walk. This is one of the greatest shock absorbers ever invented! Let the knee bend. Keep on relaxing! NEVER LAND STRAIGHT or STIFF LEGGED! A bent knee is capable of much more cushioning than the most technologically advanced running shoe. If the knee bends as we land, the leg will not transmit the remainder of the impact through the skeleton to the rest of our body, so that our knees and spinal column might also stay healthy the rest of our life. Speaking of our back, the torso should be upright, vertical with respect to the ground. Letting the knees bend, does not mean that our body should be hunched forward. Leaning forward will put a lot of strain on the lower back muscles as they fight momentum and gravity each time we land or push off. Being upright also, as Donald Sutherland, playing Bill Bowerman, pointed out in the movie "Without Limits", makes it easier to pick up your leg. Now, our knee is bent, our ankle is bent, our body is upright, and if we lean forward, at the ankle, keeping the torso vertical, our body will fall forward. That is the direction we want to run. So why would any runner want to slam their heel into the ground in front of themselves, slowing themselves down, wasting energy, and destroy their knees and back? Even downhill, or perhaps, especially downhill, we don't want to be braking. We should only be braking to make a hairpin corner, or on a very long steep downhill, or after we cross the finish line! When we run we should let gravity pull us. It's free, and it's everywhere we run. If we fight gravity, we feel a jogging sensation immediately in our feet. When we put shoes on to block this sensation, the jarring sensation is reduced in our feet. But the energy is transmitted directly to our knees and back, and often all the way to our head. I suppose that is why so many "joggers" run hunched over. Instead of letting the knees bend, they bend at the waist. This reduces the jarring sensation in their head. Running with this jarring motion is often referred to as "Jogging." Never jog! Never tell people you are jogging! Jogging gives running a BAD name; "JOGGING!" Most blisters occur because of how your feet hit the ground not (necessarily) because of the surface. Imagine running through paint (just like in the old cartoons). You should leave perfect footprints. You should have no smearing of the paint. -Marc McLellan Take off your shoes. Stand up. Bend the knee on one leg. Notice the heel comes off the ground. It is practically impossible to land heel first, when the knee is bent and the foot is directly beneath the body. Now let's try a bit of slow motion practice by walking. This is a little scary for most people, because we do have a natural fear for falling. And running really is just a continuous fall forward. So we'll start slow, just walking, for now. This should allow you to feel a little more in control to start with. Later when you get used to falling forward for miles and miles, you should enjoy running, I mean, falling downhill with hardly any impact at all! Stand up. Move your hips forward, under your body. Keeping your hips beneath your torso, bend your knees and ankles. by letting the ankles bend, let your hips fall forward. Lift one foot and, keeping your knees bent, set it down directly under your body as it falls forward. by letting the ankle bend, Let your hips continue falling forward. Lift the other foot, and, keeping your knees bent, set it down directly under your body as it falls forward. by letting the ankle bend, Let your hips continue falling forward. Repeat steps 5, 6, 7, and 8 until you get where you want to be. Don't try to reach out in front by extending your leg. Stride length will increase as we lean further forward, and consequently move faster, covering more ground with each step. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. When we try to increase stride length by stretching our leg out in front, we end up doing a series of long jumps, with a stop at the end of each jump, as our foot smashs into the ground in front of us, and we slow down! Our foot should match the speed of the ground under our body, as it lands slightly behind our center of balance. This allows us to continue falling forward with the next step. The ball of our foot should be supporting our weight on initial touchdown, as our heel gently touches to the ground. This gives the achilles tendon and calf muscle a short rest with each step. The next step is simply to pick up your other foot and set it down as I have described, BEFORE landing on your face! As you pick up your rear foot, the heel will leave the ground first. Followed by the ball of the foot. Since we landed on the ball of the foot, we call this Ball-Heel-Ball running. To sum up, the ball of the foot lands, the heel is set down (gently), and as we pick our foot off the ground, the ball of the foot follows the heel. As we learn to run barefoot, our calves may hurt at first. There are a few reasons for sore calves. We our using our calf muscles in a way they haven't been used since we first became addicted to wearing shoes. Trying to push our body forward, instead of simply falling forward. Our calves are not relaxed. We are trying to make long strides. Our achilles tendons are straining, because, over the years, they have shortened from wearing shoes with elevated heels. The calf muscles will build to what is necessary, as we learn to use them correctly. If we let them relax, they will stretch more easily, and build faster with less risk of injury. Relax! Relax! Relax! As our calves strengthen and our tendons are restored to their natural length, it will be possible to sprint by pushing off from the ball of the foot. This is where running becomes sprinting. Sprinting is not an aerobic exercise and we can not sprint for long distances, without gasping for air. Any running program, even if our goal is to be a great sprinter, must be based in aerobic exercise. That's why most trainers, professionals, and elite runners do about 90% of their running at a pace they can sustain comfortably, while conversing. A conversational pace, is something we can talk about, while we are running. It is not something we talk about after we catch our breath! For now, save sprinting for that last 100 meters at your next Olympic event! Discover how the ground felt to your ancient ancestors. Let your feet get conditioned to touching the rough, uneven surfaces of sand, dirt, rocks, even asphalt. When your feet are tired, walk on some nice green grass to give your feet a treat. Instead of slamming your feet into the rocks as if shoes will protect you, learn to gently set your foot on the ground (preferably between the big sharp rocks) so that you can move quietly and efficiently without jarring your skeleton. If we depend on our shoes to protect us from running, we cannot possibly be running naturally! No sense using only our feet and legs to run. As our right leg moves forward, our left arm moves forward and visa-versa. Trying to hold the hips and torso rigid during these motions is a waste of energy, and creates unnecessary tension. Let the body twist. It's kind of fun. Think of the song "Twist and Shout" while running. Be cool. Don't force the twist. Just let it happen. Relax! Relax! Relax! When our hips and torso twist, our legs act like they are longer. Remember to LET the legs (don't force them to) stretch out BEHIND, not in front of, your body. This will not work if we run, as I see thousands of people doing, hunched over at the waist. Our hips should be under our body, supporting our body as we run. Again, this takes the strain off our back, and lets gravity keep us upright, as well as pulling our entire body forward, not just our chest and face. When can I run? After several hours, days, weeks, or months, depending on our initial condition, of walking barefoot, we can start running. By this time we should be comfortable walking ball/heel/ball. And, our the soles of our feet should have begun to toughen up a bit. Don't expect thick calluses to grow on your soles. If you are walking, running, and landing gently the skin on your soles will toughen, but not harden. The biggest problem many beginning barefooters have, is with sensitivity. Our feet need to feel the ground so we can walk and run naturally. When we block this sensation by wearing shoes, our feet try even more to feel the ground. We develop an ultrasensitivity in our soles. After years of being blocked, we remove the shoes, and our feet are over stimulated. And we think, how did we possibly run around and play barefoot when we were kids? It takes several years to get comfortable wearing shoes, assuming we ever really can be comfortable with our feet imprisoned! Watch any child after a parent puts on their first pair of shoes. Watch a cat or dog, after you put booties on their feet. After a few awkward steps without the natural feedback from their soles, they'll want to rip those shoes or booties off their feet! Never jog! Jogging is how we learned to run while wearing running shoes. Shoes often do not allow us to run naturally. With their raised heels, it is difficult, if not impossible to run without slamming our heel into the ground. Human heels are designed for resting, not to absorb impact! I KNOW OF NO OTHER ANIMAL THAT LANDS HEEL FIRST! If you feel some jogging in your feet, your body, or your head, don't panic. You didn't get comfortable walking with shoes in a day (if ever!). And you won't get comfortable running barefoot in a day. Pay attention to the jogging motion. Check your form frequently. Make sure you are doing all of the following; Weight on ball of foot, or flat footed (on rougher surfaces or at slow speeds) Let heel down gently Bent ankles Lean forward from ankles (not waist) Bent knees Hips under body Torso vertical Lift foot Swing left arm with right leg Allow torso to twist Swing right arm with left leg Elbows approximately right angles Did I tell you to relax your shoulders? Make sure you relax, not just the calves, but all of your muscles. Extra tension, is extra work, and increases risk of injury. Start slowly. You should not start out any faster than you can run for 30 minutes while breathing comfortably. This is what we call a conversational pace, because you should be able to maintain a conversation comfortably. Do the conversation with a friend. If you do it alone, you'll look even more silly than just for the fact that you are running barefoot! Soon you will be running smoothly, quietly, and efficiently, without jogging or pounding. By soon, I don't mean within a few minutes. Remember how long you have been wearing shoes! You are undoing a lifetime of bad training! The most important thing to remember is; HAVE FUN! Have an adventure. Explore your world. Explore your body. Explore your running technique. Don't let running become routine. Don't just "do it!" Keep exploring. Keep thinking. Keep learning. Watch other people run. Watch other animals run. Enjoy running for a lifetime. Explore the world beneath your feet! -barefoot ken bob by Ken Bob Saxton (2001July 29), How To Run, Barefoot or Otherwise, RunningBarefoot.org

Just for all the new folks who've joined recently, the best way to search taobums is to go to google advanced search and type in what you are looking for, such as 'electric chi' under exact phrase, and just search within thetaobums.com domain and run the search and then click on the cached button of any link you like to get you to the phrase.

Allusions to sungazing in Paramahnsa y's works in lifemysteries.com forum. The stakes are too high to take Yoda's word for it, so do your own durn research but I am convinced that a conservative rule of thumb is to sungaze if the sun is less than a UV index of 2. I'm in PA right now and my sunrise practice isn't as feasible, so I'm doing it while the sun is higher. this guideline might make sungazing more accessible for city dwellers especially in the wintertime. There's a link to a UV index on www.rawpaleodiet.org dual cultivation is a huge energy generation technique and Ron has certainly mastered it. For the rest of us, I am convinced that sungazing can generate the same amount of raw energy without the need to constantly chase strippers around. Just my inkling at the moment. Interesting how there's mention of or allusion to the benefits of sungazing/sunbathing in Winn's, Bodri's, Yogananda's, etc practices. Nobody seems to recommend it as a primary practice but it seems to be popular as a garnishment. Much like fasting. The innovation that I've picked up on in solarhealing.com is that sun exposure naturally reduces and supposedly eliminates one's appetite for food, so that successful fasting is something of a byproduct. Also sungazing revs up the jing pretty good too, especially if there is some UV content in the rays. I'm guessing that it is a missing link that will empower and smooth out many of the the more sophisticated practices that we have studied. -Yoda

On the Lipton boxes, it shows that green tea has only slightly more antioxidants than black tea, and I love black tea--so that's what I drink. I do feel that the tea has a nice energizing effect over and above what I experience from either coffee or straight caffeine in pill form. A friend swears to me that green tea is a far superior mood booster and energizer than black tea. I bought some, so I'll check it out. Any thoughts?

just curious, thanks!

Heavenlygong, the same yodster!

So this thread is starting to become like the HT forum thread where people were sending out their psychic dragons to fight each other. So we have some sort of naga attack going on from Winpro for some reason that he hasn't explained and he's baiting New Dawn to psy-scuffle. If a lizardman appears in my living room I'll definitely pass on whatever message he may have for us. Yoda

Winpro, I'm not sure if doing so will make us think that Kunlun is any less weird or less hostile than we do now. Is this for our education or some sort of payback for something we've done to you? I'm happy to apologize if I've been inconsiderate to you in any way in the past. Yoda

I'm not offended... we all have strong feelings about all this and it's cool that we have a place to chat about it.

I heart entity discussions! Bindo, I have seen another photo along those same lines... That leads to another cool drill... check out the Gwan Yin photo that Kan took and vibe it out... obviously, there's going to be some positive vibrations there for marketing purposes but maybe there are other vibrations in those photos too? scroll down a bit: http://www.eceti.org/Eceti.IndexII.html

Scott, I probably shouldn't use the word 'advanced'... maybe 'dramatic responder' would be more fitting to describe some kunlunies like rodgerj. Rodgerj would also be fun to have on threads like this as he and I have spent many hours discussing issues with Kunlun and have come to very different conclusions in the end, but we both know quite a bit about each other's backstory that isn't practical to get into on forums so we have a good handle on the other's perspective. Your pal, Yoda

I know nobody would be interested in actually getting a vasectomy, but I wonder if there are studies that link vasectomies with longevity. I'd think that the sperm retention would count for something. -Yoda