Yoda

Actually, on a more serious note, I don't think it is dangerous to mix negativity and energy generation/circulation practices for the average joe. He/she will naturally drift away from the practice in time if they stay in the funk. It's just the hardcore joe who has serious discipline will eventually take ill or become a warmonger.

there's usually a sheet of plexiglass that guards the converting party these days, so Plato should be in good shape, but point well taken.

Higher than Gods and Gurus and Avatars is the Rock Star!! I don't even have the vaguest idea how to play the guitar, but I'm a bitchin lyricist when I'm in the groove of it. I have a friend in Phoenix that I can write songs for someday and he knows how to play the guitar. John Denver and the monster mash guy are examples of starting from the lyricist angle. Rock star is all energy, but comedian is more mental and philosophical which is more my turf and wouldn't require as huge of an energy transformation on my end but it's still not in the immediate future. While musicians have done much more for adult human vibrational evolution than has any other profession going including scientists, gurus, soldiers, and politicians... perhaps scientists really are number 1 here... but I like to think rock stars are it. For me, comedy might be the most effective positioning. If it never happens, I won't sweat it, but that's the plan! -Yoda

While taking an outdoor, cold shower at my friend's cabin, I tried the "Campsuds" he had and it actually got me clean despite the cold water!! He said that the brand is important, but that any outdoor, camping type store would have it. In the meantime, I grabbed a bottle of Joy from the kitchen and am using that. (I went through a phase where I just used Joy for body and hair for a year or two and it worked out fine.) It rinses fine too. BTW, here's my pal's website: mattz.com far out, huh?

another benefit to having a hand held shower attachment is that I can introduce the cold water more slowly and with more control--helpful for the times I'm not fully in the mood. Or just hit the sexual center and call it good, etc.

Eric is in jail??? I'm glad for his sake that he left his Uzi in the car, but it sounds like he may be angling for his transition pretty soon. Plato, if you are still in contact with him, get him to be a Buddhist--it sounds like he needs to muster out of energy work asap. Kids... don't do energy cultivation if you are feeling bad--I've heard that advice from a number of chikung gurus and this is a good example of what can happen. And it might be wise to balance energy work with meditation even if you are feeling good. -Yoda

I would like an anatomy book with photos like that! I'll keep my eyes... peeled.

I'm glad it went well and I'm glad you are staying on the right side of the pain chi.

At my brothers in Phoenix, he had a shower massager thingy and no... I didn't get around to cultivating with it (short visit after all) but I did discover that it is a great tool for cold shower therapy. Like Master Ron mentioned and studies to back him up, if you plunge yer balls into cold water you'll generate a nice hormonal release. Cold showers get much of its power from this and using a massager head to focus the cold water on yer nuts seems to amplify this effect. Water isn't that cold in Phoenix, so I'm imagining that this could be effective even in the summertime possibly. Ron sits in a cold bath but I'm thinking that this could be a timesaver. -Yoda

Thanks for the link!! -Yoda

On a related note, there's a great thread on HT: http://healingtaousa.com/cgi-bin/tpost.pl?smessage=4245 Winn says not to obsess on the stimulation/retention axis (I'm the posterboy of that) but rather on simply opening up the ltt and mco then retention becomes 1000x easier. If it's 1000x easier, then that's got to feel pretty durn natural. For the first time, I'm getting serious about tailbone squeezing, mco, etc so I'll find out. In the past, I've thought that one had to intensify the sperm pressure in the system to force superior energy flows and I still believe that there is something to that approach, but I haven't (permanently) gained that much ground with it, so I'm willing to try a different approach. -Yoda

I'm back from Phoenix! Had a great time. Speaking of which, I got to try Cam's Dad's 10lb clubbells. They seemed awfully heavy! I'm certainly not used to whipping that kind of weight around like that. Even 5lbs in intuflow sounds heavy to me. I've been considering buying some vintage indian clubs 1-2lbs being typical as an extension of WW, but I'm eager to get an easy overview of Sonnon's work that Intuflow promises. They say it further develops the WW material. -Yoda

In Secrets of Wilder, Yogani says that holding the breath and depriving the body of oxygen forces the body to find and release other sources of energy. Chia says the same thing. What he added was that this was a release of sexual energy into the body. The jing to chi button and is essentially the gas pedal for how fast you want to go and you have to be careful to follow your inner speed limits.

another ayp nugget. When doing sitting practice whether energy cultivation or meditation, sit on your heel or a sock to apply pressure between your anus and pubic bone. Goes great with energy cultivation drills like mco or anal squeezing. Takes some getting used to to mix with meditation but can be done with good results. I'm just getting started with this one, but it seems to increase sexual arousal and assists in the transmutation. If I'm too revved during meditation I won't use this technique. It's a good tool. -Yoda

I've wondered how to pack as much fitness into as little time as possible and I've wondered about the benefits of yoga vs running. Now I've discovered jumping rope bridges both worlds easily. It's like running, but it keeps me in one spot to play with kbs and dumbells and a nice spot to do ww, yoga, pistols, etc. Easy to do circuit type training and jumping rope provides the cellular-level and organ-level stimulation that is hard to get from sources other than running. -Yoda

I sensed that Lozen was using WW as shelf help. Well, once she's done with the transcriptions about how @#$@#$ my practices are she should check em out. Jetting to PHX tomorrow! -Yoda

oh, just that it simply jiggles the cells and tissues of the body which is good 4u. I do the five Tibetans and warrior wellness. Sean can lend you WW and/or freedom by degree and you can google "five Tibetans" there's also lots of yoga routines out there on google too. WW really gets the chi flowing, and 5 Tibetans is a nice condensed 'power yoga' workout. I'm still enjoying the thumb mudra. -Yoda

It looks like "Sonnon's Greatest Hits" album! I can't wait!

Does sound like a fun translation! -Yoda PS Here's John DuCane on the subject of knee injuries http://www.dragondoor.com/qigong/news/arch...injuries_k.html

On Farooq's recommendation, I'm reading The Secrets of Wilder by Yogani of "Advanced Yoga Practices". Fuckin Rocks! If you like the AYP website, this is da bomb. It takes all the practices of AYP and puts it into the context of one person's life. Due to the different perspective, many of the practices are actually easier to understand, particularly the sexual ones. New articulations on the finger block, vacuum breathing while twirling the abs, how to sit on your heel or a ball to intensify sexual energy, new angles on the iam meditation, etc. I'm not done with the book and I'll finish this review when I am done. It has a similar feel to Way of the Peaceful Warrior and Celestine Prophecy where the plot is simply pedagogical. Unlike these books, Wilder is very practice specific. Where Peaceful Warrior said he couldn't have sex period, Wilder explores the many avenues to harness this power in a sexual relationship. The story feels loosely autobiographical to me, which is also fun. He's also a barefoot running fan too! For any high school athletes out there, here's a cool tip: play with yourself for a full hour before your sporting event with full retention and let 'em have it! I would always meditate before my soccer games and I did extremely well with it. I was a superjock due to the fact that I was always in the right place in the right time rather than having supernormal athletic abilities. I could always sense where the ball was going. Had I meditated AND played with myself, I would have had super abilities too! Of course, away games would be more challenging! Maybe a discrete vibrator for that. I'll leave my gentle reader to address the particulars. -Yoda Actually, all this talk about meditation and energy practices boosting athletic ability reminds me of Body, Mind, and Spirit by Douillard that Thelerner lent me. According to the author, 2 20 minute TM sessions per day enabled him to reduce his training by 50% while actually improving his triathalon times. Actually, by his description it sounded like he had been overtraining but at least the meditation helped him see this.

To get into the AYP program, I have to adopt some sort of regular 2x day mco practice and I've been trying squeezing the perineum and/or tailbone on the inhale, exhale, between breaths etc. I'm still experimenting, but I was just able to get my tailbone to have contractions using Trunk's protocol. That was pretty cool. Also, squeezing on the bottom of the exhale is nice in that it cuts the hyperventilation that I often run into when exploring mco. Here's a quote from Chia's Taoist Secrets of Love: Taoists regard the sacrum as a pump which will help to hold the sexual energy coming from the scrotum and transform the energy at the same time it gives it a push upward. It's like a way station that refines the ching chi as it circulates in the body. p72 The tailbone looks like a radiator. Perhaps it radiates overload energy into the ltt? The contractions I got were from squeezing pretty hard (tailbone only, not perineum) at the bottom of the exhale, and I've had success sitting, lying, and standing. With standing being the easiest. Keeping Dr Lin's ideas in mind, that muscular tension draws chi towards it, the visualization I'm using is that the tailbone tension sets up a vaccuum and when I relax the tension and breathe in the chi gets easily sucked up to the third eye.

On his morning chikung dvd, he says that if you hold your breath you begin to draw in chi from the air through the skin. Yogani says that breath holding pulls sexual energy from the bottom of the spine into the bloodstream.

WW has rocked my world, so I've been interested in Sonnon's other material and this looks like a good overview. -Yoda

Bill is the Matt Furey of meditation. Lots of marketing and very smart cookie too.

It's open to debate, of course.