Yoda

Good shit. http://www.geocities.com/advancedyogapractices/108.html I've had one spontaneous kechari mudra experience which lit up my third eye like a 100 watt, so I know this is for real. Never been repeated, though. Anyone currently able to lick their brain, let me know. He says that Kechari is the reason there is such a thing as a blissful celibate. He claims that the bliss from Kechari beats anything you can find in tantric sex. Sounds like it blows the aneros out of the water. I gave my frenum its first snip. No blood, just a bit of soreness the day after. God helps those who help themselves. Who's in? -Yoda

still hacking my way through flesh... this could take awhile. I'd say 3 months absolute minimum to get to stage 2 from where I'm at which is perhaps halfway through the soft palate. I'm doing the stretching too.

Spyrelx, both in terms of health problems as well as actual longevity 75 lbs over is better than 10 lbs under. Until recently, there's been a lot of bogus science which has misshapen current actuary tables. Ian, I second the death question.

I looked up his book on amazon and it looks great!! He studied with Rolling Thunder??????????? Kick ass!! Maybe that's why he's sane--he's not a jumpy thoroughbred. I'll post a review when I get my copy. -Yoda

That's the elephant that's standing in the living room... why are they all so frickin insane??? Ken is unusually level headed for a guru... it's bizarre. Ask him what practices have led him to this rarified attainment. -Yoda

Or just play it out loud while you are gone for the weekend.

Chia cooler than Cohen? Chia has the sizzle to be sure, but in terms of linear thinking and useful teaching skills, I would say Cohen by a lap.

You rock, Lozen! I had written him a letter to visit us here, but I see he's honoring his liver and staying offline. I would also love to hear Ken expound on sitting vs standing. Ask him if you are allowed to write up an article based on your call to post here. Maybe we could interview other teachers too and post articles. Just a thought. Great work! -Yoda PS, his thoughts on tobacco too. I haven't read his native american book. Is it good?

Spyrelx, Read the Obesity Myth. Great book. In short, being over weight is not actually a health problem. It's better to be 75 lbs over weight than 10lbs under weight as far as health and longevity are concerned. Obviously, gross overweight where you have trouble moving is not good. Bad science has supported the popular notion of the ideal body type until recently. Just like scientists used to discover reasons for womens' or Africans' failings. This seems consistent with what I've read on Taoism. Being heavy could be an asset for a practitioner in order to be grounded. Having said that, I'm working on digging up my 6 pack soon. -Yoda

Ken, I was hoping you'd visit! Like Grand Trinity, I'd like to hear your overall take on the Winn-Chia approach to practice as that approach has been formative for us here. Also, I'm sure you can pick up on the vibe at this site and I'm sure that could inspire a comment or two. Any thoughts on sungazing would be appreciated as well. -Yoda

So the main practice of AYP is to say Iam to yourself while sitting comfortably. It's quite nice. So I then flipped to the back of the book to do the souped up mantra that is expressly warned against and gave it a shot: shree shree iam iam om namah om namah. Doesn't sound dangerous does it? One of the themes of AYP is to open the 3rd eye before you monkey with the crown chakra. I can see that in terms of pranayama/chikung drills and I have a friend who has very bad crown chakra problems so I see fit to stay away from crown type chi drills, but I figured a few mantras couldn't cause any trouble. The problem with experimenting per AYP is that there's a delayed response to some of these practices and you can suddenly find yourself a hurting pup in daily life. So I tried the megamantra for the last week and yesterday I flew through a red light Fortunately, nobody was killed... nor hurt... nor even in the intersection with me but the only other time that happened to me my brake cylinder had died. That level of spaceyness could only have come from a bit too much dialation upstairs. So it's back to iam, but it's fun to see there's a kick to it! -Yoda in Hyperspace

nice quotes!

Michael-- did you just come back from the ashram??? Learn any cool chi tricks, stretches, etc?

That's a whole can of worms. Having kids changes you, but it's hard to say which is better. Positive aspects in both camps, and I'm sure it depends on the individual. A study was done of female cats before, during, and after motherhood. Before motherhood it took an average of 7 hunting attempts to succeed. During (and after) motherhood it took 3 attempts per success. Like with everything else in life, if you really enjoy your kids, it'll heal and transform you. If you don't enjoy your kids, it'll wear you down. -Yoda

Prime time tv is pretty ghastly. Even if you a watching something fun, the commercials for the CSI type shows are over the top ghoulish. I've heard that fewer and fewer people are watching tv in favor of the Internet and video games. I can see it.

Dorshugla, Good to have you here! -Yoda

As of a few years ago, they were still advocating pregnant women to drink Guinness in Jamaica. One a day actually would be healthy imo.

This is me for the past couple of years: revv up, max out, back off, repeat. Whether I'm sungazing, standing, doing sex practices, pranayama, etc or some gnarly combination thereof, it's always the same story. That then spills into my inner life, social life, financial life, etc. Fun for awhile, but I'm ready for a change. Now with ayam meditation there is a sweetness and love component that exists independently of how revved up I am. I'm thinking that this is the balancing factor that I've been looking for... Then I can *really* gun it! -Yoda

Farooq, You need kechari more than I do! -Yoda

Any kriya yoga tidbits are welcome. Did you take a Yogananda form, or through another lineage path? AYP alludes that specific ltt work has martial and health benefits, but isn't needed for what he's shooting for. He says that the key imbalance that you run into amongst yogis is that they send energy up, but never send it back down and that creates a problematic imbalance. He doesn't know how to comment on MCO as he hasn't done it, but he wonders if it would activate the crown chakra before the third eye chakra is developed as the energy is sent over the top of the head. If so, then it could be a problematic practice. Most MCO practitioners don't strike me as imbalanced in that way, and if there is a parking spot for the energy it is the third eye and the perineum (at least by my understanding) so there you go. By developing a good "up and down" practice you automatically develop the ltt, so maybe the debate isn't really a major concern. AYP talks about targeted bellows breathing where you imagine powerfully moving chi with bellows breathing over the course of just a few inches where there may be some sort of blockage. In my mind the two big blocks in the body are the whole ltt plus the top of the spine. Kechari solves the top of the spine connection definitively and that just leaves the ltt conundrum. I'm stoked that you are having fun with kriya. how far can you get your tongue? We should have a first to the brain wins race. -Yoda

mmmmmmmm.

Killer post!!!! All rats listen up!

Dream practice thrives on sperm retention and zinc/B vitamins. I've also had good luck with using some sort of foot vibrator or meditation type practice right before going to bed. I actually own a lucid dreamer machine that flashes lights into your eyes when you are in REM sleep. Never totally got the hang of it, though, I always wondered what was up with the flashing lights all the time. Didn't often make the connection. Casteneda, Winn, and Master Ron all say that dream practice depends on the power of strong intention before going to bed. Just keeping a written dream journal is a good start at becoming more mindful of dreams and more conscious in dealing with them. I'm not doing formal dream practices right now, but that is on the to-do list once I get some sort of long-term retention policy stably in place. I am enjoying extremely nice dreams these days, though. When you consistently dream something on a regular basis that means you are 70-80% complete on manifesting that quality, experience, etc. It's beneficial to go to bed in a great mood even if you don't care about dream practice. Sweet dreams! -Yoda

If I can figure out how to use the aneros 24/7 or stick my tongue up my nose, family life should be smooth sailing! I'm thinking the tongue thing is probably more convenient. My theory is to just to focus on their strengths and praise them as much as possible and then get out of their way while carving out some me time. I tend to feed my kids lollipops. The key is to be *really* into kids or to be married to somebody who is like Mrs. Yoda. She's good with the kids all the time and knows how to work with Yoda's chi-manic ways. I've watched Super Nanny a few times and it seems that the problems that people run into is having more kids than they really could handle and then they drive their parents nuts. When I was single, I really had convinced myself that I was quite the bodhisattva, but family life revealed my compassion had its limitations. I think marriage was designed for an era where people didn't live much past forty and feared God. I'm not sure it still has any validity for today's age. My inner life and hence parenting have become "smoother" and more methodical since taking up meditation a few weeks ago, so I hope this trend continues. With Mrs. Yoda's skillful editing, I'm a fun dadster with an overall "good" score. I'm hoping the tongue trick for bliss on demand and meditation for smoothification will bump me up to Super Nanny levels. That's the plan. As I stated to Hagar, the new Taodaddy to be, I was terrified of having kids originally. Now I think that kids are little crazy wisdom rinpoches and we'd like to have more if and when we convince ourselves that we could deal with it without going completely insane. FWIW, I believe there are benefits to spacing your kids out to 3 years between them to make things more managable. -Yoda

Stop playing with yourself!! I can't reach, I'm jealous!