Yoda

Michael, how tall are you?

I do have a skeleton in my closet. I should break it out for Halloween, come to think of it. I bought a half scale and then painted it white to help with the visualization. I've been modifying my spinal breathing/mco practice to incorporate WSM for the past month or so. Sending the energy down, I visualize the bones of the pelvis lit up and sending the energy up I'll end up with my forehead plate (name?) shining bright. Or while standing going from foot bones to forehead bone, etc. Playing around along those lines. And then chase that sort of practice with meditation. At some point, I want to score a full sized skeleton.

Karen, I just got my layered lemurian hhg from Dennis and I absolutely love it!! It's got a great vibe, looks cool, and isn't stinky in the slightest. I think he uses a different resin for his nicer products. I really can't unpack the exact energetics of what it does or anything, but it seems to have a nice, relaxing presence to it. I'd say the closest vibe is of being around a large salt water aquarium-- a good antidote to the computer vibe. I don't think I can feel it outside the room it's in. Does just one 'cover' an entire house? I might just break down and get one for the car. The TBs felt 'interesting' and 'nice to have around' (if kept outside), but this is exciting to own. Do the regular hhgs approach this vibe? I'll post again down the road to see if my enthusiasm stays this strong, but a fantastic thingy so far. Thanks for the suggestion! -Yoda

Plato said it was not worth it. I've been happy with stuff I've gotten from him in the past, though.

While I didn't get into it, it sounded like John's all time fav. If I can dig it up again, I'll revisit it.

I just got the dvd, and flipped through it and it looks like amazing stuff and God knows I could use it, but I'm wondering if I really will *actually* carve out the time. Any words of inspiration?

Takes me back to that Duran Duran song... Seriously, though... cool subject. It's awesome he's separating the lineages out a bit to look at.

Max had pointed this link out re: regrowing teeth, but ultrasonic (using a wire batter?) stimulation might could help with regrowing bone and cartlidge or anything else for that matter... (???) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/...60628234304.htm

fun read, thanks!

Dear Taobums, This is Mrs Yoda here. Yoda just died attempting to electrify an aneros. His last wish was to tell everyone that while it does increase the contractions, it's not for everyone. I knew he'd go in an odd manner. Yours, Mrs Yoda

Happy Birthday Michael! I have no idea how people know birth dates around here. It must be in personal info area. Killer about your kids!! They really are light years ahead, but they couldn't have been born with such sensitivity if our generation hadn't done our part for them. As a practitioner, we can see that they really are the teachers and we can benefit from them. I'll rent Avatar at some point! Two weeks ago I bought a, gasp, second tv so the two kids can watch different things. Then last week, Mrs Yoda ordered all tvs to be thrown in the dungeon!! We were all relying on it too much for its babysitting services. She allows them out here and there, but they now live in the closet. It's a good overall change for us in our particular situation. Cat, so far my fav book on sexuality is Deida's Enlightened Sex Manual which comes with a cd and hails from a taoist background.

I can never get a straight answer out of this crowd about who is the best at retention, except for x-taobum Ron. But then again, it gets worse outside this circle: Me--"So how often would you say you ejaculate?" My brother--"[pause] you know, you really need to get out more often... see a movie, shoot some hoops, live a little." Me--"You are right, of course... would you say twice a week?" (that's my guess ) My brother--"None of your business, actually" Me--"I'm your brother, I need to look out for you... " And so forth. I'm around 2-3 times a week which isn't optimal for the long run. Whenever I bring a new practice on board like the 5 Tibetans, diet change (more juicing), primordial recently I slack off a bit until I get used to the new energy of the particular practices. Ideally, 1x a week seems to be best for one of my ability and interest level for long term. My experiences with longer term retention are exciting, but not perfectly conducive to the tranquil happy vibe I've been focusing on recently. Imo, the guideline for any practice level should be how it makes me feel in daily life and I'm going for more tranquility over excitement these days. Over the last couple of years, I've been doing an hour of practice a day. If you count exercise, it would be 1.5+ hours a day of practice. I'm of the opinion that after Ron, Max and Plato have been the most hard core practitioners around here. If you are ever stuck in line while shopping, it's a fun game to guess how many orgasms a week, if any, those in line with you have. Speaking of which, I just learned of license plate scrabble... take the three letters and make words that incorporate those letters in the same order. Give yourself 10 points for easy words and 50 for good words and 100 for exceptional words. That's a good one too. RJ could play chess in his mind and I think that level of mentation is a good sign of retention feeding one's mental powers in a nice way.

Trunk, thanks for bailing me out on the spinning thing! Cat, when the time comes, I think I'll toss the Chia type books and leave the Deida on the shelf and leave it at that. Hagar, cool story! Is Avatar on network tv?

Burn a worm for the rest of us!

Actually, getting a magazine like Yoga Journal or Runners World can help keep nice habits together. I do read Yoga Journal in the library every so often. I get Runners World. Mrs Yoda gets Harpers and NY Times. We both read National Geographic, Discover, Popular Science and sometimes Scientific American. I'm going to subscribe to Scientific American Mind at some point. Sounds cool. Have subscribed to Mother Jones in the past. Mrs Yoda gets a quarterly poetry magazine, but I forget it's name. It's a standard one. She'd like to submit poetry to a magazine someday. It's great that you and Two Trees and Michael and Plato are active writers!! I'd like to be an active writer at some point. Daddy Yoda has just written a book recently and would like to write a book someday too. I'm keeping an almost daily journal... so that's a start! My next carreer will involve daily writing in one form or another. Oh, and I get PC World. In this issue, it says that blurb.com and lulu.com are good to know about for anyone interested in self publishing. It sounds like lulu.com is a better deal and your book will be sold on amazon.

I've had a chance to check out the drills. They are simply a misc collection of Winn's favs that he's run into and not an hour/day routine or anything, so that's good. A couple of my favs are simply walking around in the kneeling position and the other is sitting on the ground with your legs out in front and spread apart comfortably. Then you lean forward and grab or slap your K1 points below the balls of the feet and drag your fingers along the insides of your legs as you lean back to vertical. You synchronize with the breathing, inhale while leaning forward. Those were cool. Kidney and ear massages, and also lying on your back and move the toes "up and down" which jiggles the whole body. Very nice little practice ideas. Then it was kidney pumping that Thelerner detailed above, Cosmic swimming dragon and marriage of heaven and earth which is also on the fundamentals dvd. Very simple stuff. I'll check it out. -Yoda

Thaddeus, Primordial isn't from Chia, and the teacher who it comes from has a very pleasant aura about him-- he's on the dvd. I'm not suggesting that you can mindlessly wave your arms around and get enlightened, but you can wave your arms around and experience a very unique and powerful energy flowing. When I do Primordial with in a distracted, mindless manner the practice is irritating. When I do it with just a hint of mindfulness, it is very nourishing. It's a totally different vibe from other cultivation practices that I have been exposed to, so it's an interesting animal. It has such a strong feel of lineage, that it's worth experimenting with imo. Thelerner's second exercise posted above is one of the sexual qigong drills on the dvd, btw. -Yoda Pietro, This month's Discover magazine has an amazing article on epigenetics and how by running mazes, the "dumb" rats may be changing(???) their genetic material. (!) There's some mention that by eating onions and garlic that this genetic manipulation can be enhanced. Which suddenly gives more credence to the claim of an herb to reverse aging, etc... that the expression of certain genes can be squelched or enhanced. Of course, nobody really knows jack about the situation... that's why God created Taobums. Here's the wiki on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetic_inheritance I'd respond to the wiki article that this insight does open the door to Lamarckist theory and I believe that in the years to follow will prove that Lamarck was right. The Discover article points out that Darwin was at least partially a Lamarckist too! -Yoda

http://nyctaoist.com/ Pretty intense approach, Plato!! I'll check it out, though. My front channel has been a tougher nut to crack. I just ordered a bodyball from the mini Ma site and the prostate cradle. For Yogani fans, I'm thinking that the prostate cradle looks different from siddhasana due to its shape. I'll report back after I've tried it.

What I got is the "Sexual Vitality Qigong" DVD only. The Primordial is seriously good shit. It's not mystical how Winn got it... he just went to a seminar and learned it and realized its potential. He then met with the same teacher during one more class just to clarify a few points and to videotape the teacher. My copy is in the taobums library for anyone who wants it, but I haven't the foggiest idea who has it. Winn says that if he could only do one practice, this is it. So that says something. It's not "really" a taichi, and it can be picked up fine on all levels from just a dvd. It has powerful lineage energy. I think I figured out that I can best do this form very first thing or last thing of the day and it works for me. Even if it's not an everyday practice, it's cool to do in order to integrate the energy of a home, area, city, etc on occasion. He had recently suggested doing the sexual vitality qigong and then chase it with primordial, and that's what got me interested in the Sex Qigong and to do it immediately prior to primordial. My thinking is that combining the two together like that can straighten out a few of my sexual wires as primordial unwinds energy deeper than you can usually do with most qigong forms per Winn. Max, I do throw my kidneys a daily bone, but I'm always tinkering under the hood!

When I have a chance to check it out more in depth, I'll give a review.

Michael, That's a great idea! I'll do it. -Yoda

Trunk, Interesting about prepuberty training. My kids are 3 and 6 and your post inspires me to give them massages/reiki/etc more often. I've already started as a bedtime ritual. It'd be great for them if I can keep this up as a long term thing. -Yoda

If you haven't read Trungpa's Shambhala, it's a great book. It covers warriorship without focusing on struggle or fighting. Also google the 4 enlightened actions: "pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying." Something I had heard once, was that it's best to focus on the pacifying and the enriching and leave the destroying on the periphery. Same with peaceful and wrathful deity practice... most growth occurs with peaceful type practices (and attitudes)... so that covers the Tibetan angle for you! If you are shopping around for taichi forms, check out Winn's www.taichi-enlightenment.com. Winn's form has absolutely no martial application, but it's an amazing form he stumbled across.

Great thread idea! I've thought about it, and I'd say that the first most important thing is to remember to follow your bliss and the second most important thing is to remember that doing so isn't always pretty... Some people can offer kind words or meditate, but some people need to steal their little brother's toy car then lie about it to their parents. By any means necessary, baby! -Yoda PS, pretty wild about running a non-profit sans a car thing! Mrs Yoda hates cars, she'll dig that. Everyone should click on Wayfarer64 to check out his art gallery... very cool!

happy bday!