Yoda

This just came up in Winn's e-mail, but he's offering a 23 CD set on fundamentals for $295... that's a great deal. It isn't advertised, so you have to call HT directly for it in case anyone is interested.

Great thread! I think the above phrase "Pacifying Intention" really hits the nail on the head. Everyone has mood swings, but people with stronger than normal mental focus can hold on to one thought for a longer period of time resulting in great mood swings. Any sort of pacifying practice or activity is good. Maybe buy some massage sessions as a birthday idea?

Fun!!

Channeling is too cumbersome for most situations where on the fly inspiration is needed like having a fun thought, having a nice conversation, or driving a car but it is pretty cool for unpacking intellectual issues and entertainment value... a-muse-ment and all that. Imo, both channeling and connection to source is very easy for kids and becomes more challenging as one gets older.

No, but then again who cares about proof, studies, expert advice, tradition, etc... it all boils down to seeing how it works for you. Yoda

Why do you drink tea? Ken Cohen has a whole chapter on it and says that in China drinking tea is very common amongst energy cultivation experts. There are many health, energy, and mood benefits of tea, but the most important one per Ken is that, "Tea promotes the function of the liver to spread and harmonize the qi. This is an important benefit for qigong students." I agree that caffeine can have some negative aspects, but decaf tea works too. I get the strongest mood boost from green tea, but then again, green is my color! Yoda

I believe that matter originally sprang from our non-physical source during the big bang and is sustained by that source in every moment. We are constantly calling upon the Tao/God/angels/ancestors/collective unconsciousness/etc no matter which way one clumps or articulates this. In a recent Discover article, physicists say that not only is matter mostly nothing but a tiny volume of quarks bouncing around, even those quarks are mostly "virtual particles" that shimmer between physical and nothingness. It seems the more we dig, we can't find anything solidly "physical." Yoda

I'm glad you like it! Webmaster Sean and crew have done a fine job here. -Yoda

http://madewithmolecules.com/caffeinenecklace.html You can buy jewelry of your favorite molecule like caffeine, serotonin and dopamine! Cool!!

Rumgoat, thanks for the Science of being great tip. I hadn't heard of that before. Hagar, I had always assumed that the Tao te Ching was written with great poetic license until I started listening to Esther. Now I believe that those "paradoxical" assertions are simply straightforward common sense. Silence really is a source of great strength.

I wonder how rolling back and forth on the floor between tailbone and shoulders compares to using a back roller? I'd assume rolling is less intense and more accessible as there's often a clean floor around.

powdered goatmilk? Malt coffee? Fun ideas!

Just as the proverbial child is just as happy to play with the 10 cent box as play with the $100 toy, the master doesn't crave the excitement of palaces, wars, chariot racing or gladiator combat as the stoics would say. In lieu of inner contentment, we divert ourselves in what is flashy and exciting and fetishize out of proportion some of our normal drives. I think learning the law of attraction is an important aspect of learning how to relax, knowing that one's wellbeing isn't threatened by others and thus one doesn't have to spend energy trying to control and coerce friends, family, and enemies. Esther says that she's noticed that Haitians don't even have running water, but they laugh much more than adults Americans. Like the child with the box, they've done a better job manifesting their world than we have.

There was a recent study that came out saying that adding milk to tea negates its cardiovascular benefits. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_benefits_of_tea

I didn't think they could do stuff like that back then!

I try not to have sex with my sister too often.

So Trunk recently recommended He shou wu as a yin tonic. Plato concurs. If our resident east coast and west coast wizards agree on something, Yoda will check it out. Been on it 24hrs. What's up with it? Anyone have long term experience with it? I'm taking red/processed fo ti. Had some funkadelic dreams last night, and think I'll lower my dose to just a wee bit per day just to keep dreamville on an even keel. Any thoughts?

the youtube helps, thanks.

go for it!

I was listening to a science program on NPR the other day and she said that humans were taller 30,000 years ago than they are today. That pretty much blew me away. I've seen all those tiny handprints in the Grand Canyon walls and have read that humans have been getting taller due to good nutrition steadily over the last hundreds (thousands?) of years. I had assumed that we've gradually been getting taller since the hominid days. Wild shit. Average male was 5 ft 11 inches 27,000 years ago in Europe. The Vikings were considered giants back in their day, but the males were only 5 ft 6.5 inches. And today, I think European males are 5-10. Fits with the Atlantis mythology, of course. More scientifically, a friend suggested that it could be that agriculture and switching to a grain diet shrank everyone drastically... not enough nutrients per calorie in grains. Before that, the paleo diet was all the rage. Could be. There must be an easy explanation for this. I hope it'll be easy to google. -Yoda

"By this merit, may all attain omniscience May it defeat the enemy of wrongdoing From the stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death May I free all beings." Is the classic Tibetan wrapup for any practice. It is said to protect the merit generated from one's own aggression and to intensify it by giving it to others.

I think Chris put his finger on it... there are some amazingly positive aspects of jealousy and other "negative" emotions that shouldn't be overlooked.

the goal is to feel more groovylicious.

nice one.

Year of the Pig... everyone in China who wants a child is makin' bacon this year!!