Yoda

I gave Cam a Sam Tam push hands DVD-- it's either a miracle or a hokey scam. Bill Moyers "Power of the Mind" series showed a taichi master 'electrocuting' 20 assailants. There clearly are fake vids out there, but I believe there are real ones too. I think the Sam Tam and the Bill Moyers ones are real. Plato said that he got electrocuted recently but a healer in NYC, so that's a data point. Sam Tam said that push hands, is very healing to both parties and makes you smile and laugh. If it isn't fun, then it isn't being done correctly, no matter how powerful the chi. Sam Tam was very gifted in using his chi to attack people, but an old Chinese man in Vancouver tottered up to him after seeing his push hands and told him that his chi was good, but his shen sucked. After that moment, Sam Tam set out to make his opponents smile and laugh. Very similar to the inspiration of Aikido story. The Bill Moyers assailants were all smiling and laughing too. Difficult footage to get the mind around. Best if experienced first hand, obviously. I had a small, female Aikidoist throw me around like a rag doll in Phoenix after college. That was pretty cool, but I kept thinking that she was great in these very formal attack runs I was doing, but I wasn't convinced that it would work 'in real life'. Still, it was fun and I smiled and laughed per formula.

Sean, Healing vs Hurting in the name of detox can be applied to practically any cultivation practice out there and usually the answer is D, all of the above. To mix business with pleasure, to maximize one's "net bliss" is the way to go. The practice has to be net pleasurable in the here and now. Don't put it off till some other day or you might waste a lot of time going too hardcore with stuff like sungazing, retention, standing, etc. Just hypothetical examples, of course. -Yoda

I was eating donuts and did crack a beer or two. Didn't seem to help at all. I guess I just need to cut back. I think it was when I started going after raw spinach that I started to overheat. I suppose I might be able to get used to it. Perhaps move to Canada or something. Hopefully, it'll calm down. My chemistry is rusty... does salt really neutralize an acid? I thought that a base like baking soda neutralizes acids and the byproduct is salt? (Max has been right so often, that I'm gunshy about disagreeing with him anymore.)

"Put that chicken McNugget in your mouth and stop throwing'em at your sister."

TM was okay. It's just mantrayana and you can find the secret mantras online. Google TM secret mantras or something like that. It's based on your birthday. You can google all the secrets and exposes etc too. Like the yogic flying mantra, etc. I'm back into mantra meditation through AYP and I enjoy AYP better--it's free online, the mantra is similar to my TM mantra but nicer, and it is more flexible so you don't run into the same problems as the above post says. I think many of the ideas, studies, programs of TM are extremely cool and quite pioneering, but there's that common slightly culty aftertaste.

Babies don't have the focus of a CEO, rockstar, or Guru, but ***nobody*** comes close to the openess of a baby. They are the closest thing to free spirit on the planet. People like holding babies to get some free energy work!

Pietro, thanks! Another topic: food combining. I've noticed that there are folks here who believe in it. I've read Fit for Life a long time ago and I've ordered it and a copy of Raw Secrets and will report any results. One reviewer of Raw Secrets says that many raw people have ho-hum results at being raw: better than the average American diet but not constant megaorgasmic bliss as advertised. The two missed boats (per my surfing) is lack of greens and proper food combining. I can totally see the importance of greens, or as Max says, 50% fruit, 50% veggies, but I'm not convinced re: proper food combining. I'll keep and open mind, and look into it in the meantime. -Yoda

Max, What sort of fruits would you add to a brocolli/kale/spinach type of a mix to even out the taste? Do you ever blend cabbage or celery? Pietro, What is the Pritchard remineralizing formula again? Freeform, Where do I find miso mix? Thanks, Yoda

In this girl's world... size matters!

It's in From Russia with Tough Love, but I'm sure it's mentioned several other places and at the forum too. I don't know if it's one word or two. It's my impression that Pavel got it from John, and John got it from his qigong studies.

Same as the 'dragon walk' of Dragondoor qigong.

it's a killer set that I never actually stick with for more than a couple of months. I got a new book, "the healing art of qi gong" (nice intro type book) that has a nice articulation of the 8 brocades. Is there anyone here who has done the 8 brocades currently and done so for the past 12 months? I'm of the opinion that all mobility programs deliver the same basic goods. Agreed? It's not as complete as Intuflow, but it's more mellow/contemplative. Something Sean said that has stuck with me is that the lineage factor even for something fairly simple like a stretching program does seem to matter. By doing something that has a long history like sun salutations or 8 Brocades etc does tap one's mind into a more contemplative stream.

nice guy syndrome is the way to go. Usually though, when people talk about "NGS" they mean not enough aggression. Meditate more to up your synchronicity and savour-fare and you can be more aggressive in pursuing your goals.

Hagar, Women find good fathers to be very sexy. Makes sense. The thing to remember is that after around 4 months, things get a lot easier. My interpretation of this is that it takes about that much time for the newborn's spirit to get comfortable with having a body. Until you get to that point, it's hard to keep your vibration very steady and positive. After that, it's much easier. You are almost there! Raise them like wild Vikings, so they'll have the energy to live more passionately. -Yoda Pietro, I agree about not shielding kids. Can't be done anyways. By shielding them, you are sending them the message that you don't think they can handle their own life and you undermine their confidence and aggression. -Yoda

Awesome review on the show!!!

nice poetry!

I'll lay off the whole relative humidity thing, but I thought it kinda worked nicely as a subtopic...

Am I the only one here with a hot sister? Come on, people...

Like a tao brother should.

come on y'all... work with me... haven't you heard of siblings with benefits?

Let's not keep secrets... that wrestler boy is Cam.

I'm thinking that a dietary change would take more than one month, though. The recent human study on calorie restriction lasted for about 6 months and it sounded like they needed the full term to see the DNA regeneration take place at least in the most modestly restricted group. I'd imagine that healing would continue for years. Just a guess, though. Somehow, I have it in my mind to be able to eliminate using deodorant in one year's time. And to be immune to athlete's foot by then, too. I'm thinking I'll be able to roll in poison ivy in 3 years time. (won't deliberately test that) On my recent retreat in the woods, I noticed that the people with the healthiest lifestyles and diets reported greatest resistance to problems with poison ivy. (everyone stayed safe on this account) A theme amongst these rawists is that rawism is the bomb for skin related issues.

The Crystal works for me too. The thing I'm curious about is what Mythmaker and Chris brought up... I've read several times in my raw food research that armpit funk is a sign of a poor diet. Now these guys are like Mythmaker and eat extremely raw. I'm nowhere near that at the moment. Mythmaker, I'm assuming that you don't need to use deodorant? Max implied in a post to me that his odor situation has been improved by going raw.

Maybe Sean and Lozen can team up and create the Taobums Mortuary. *Need an urn for your favorite immortal?*

cool thread idea, btw.