Yoda

Quite right, Neil's stuff is cool, but simply didn't change my life. Tried that cloudbursting? It always works for me on small clouds. Makes me wonder if small clouds are always disapearing. The new aneros is still in the hangar. I'm scared to be disapointed. Also my almighty sex drive crashed when I stopped my retention project. I'm thinking I should get a moderate retention 1x30 days to give the little guy a chance. My running program also crashed when I stopped the retention too.

Harry, Don't worry about not "being able to sleep during lungtime". There are plenty of organtimes who don't ever get to hangout in sleepytime and they do just fine. I'd focus on general tonic stuff like exercise, green tea, etc. -Yoda

I've tried the Iam meditation a few times now. Sometimes I'm better off with the healing sounds/smiling business, but I've had two very nice sessions with it. I haven't been much into sitting meditation for awhile, but I hope to gain it back as a regular practice. I did a sungazing/hs, primordial chikung, Iam progression this evening and it was ***extremely*** groovy. To top it off, my sister magically appeared from TX in a surprise visit for a couple of hours right after I finished! Good stuff!

I bought Neil's material after reading a review that promised super orgasms made easy. Didn't work for me. No need to buy the material, Sunshine has unpacked it. Try it during sex and see if it works for you. Neil said to stimulate the front tips of the amigdala. Just rolling up the eyes and imagining light in the third eye is an easier visualization that accomplishes the same thing. I think Neil has simply rediscovered the ajna chakra. Beats sticking something up your ass. If it works, that is.

Spyrelx, Isn't the bad chi hot? I figure it should rise. It'd be a kick to do the healing sounds while you are blowing up balloons for a birthday party for someone you don't like. Or upwind of an enemy. Just a thought. -Yoda

to fully open this can of worms, here's Ken Cohen's sounds lungs see-aaahhh kidneys chrroooeeee Liver shuuuuu heart ho spleen hooooo triple seeeee Perhaps it's more the intent plus the act of inner vocalization sets up a vibe plus the posture all working together, but the specific sound vibration isn't as important. Like with sexual energy, the sliding keysound haaaaaAAAAAhhh sound moves the vibration up, but so do other sounds esp sliding sounds. Maybe the sliding sounds are better? Chuuuuwaaaay better than Chuuuu for instance.

Matt, Peter Falk isn't posting much these days, but I'd suspect he's in your club too. -Yoda

Just tried his "IAM" meditation. It was cool. I did a phase of meditating on the sound of "IMA" awhile back. I definitely like this one better.

I read two of his books. I like his do-it-yourselfer attitude and he makes his practice look very everyday, normal, no big deal. I liked that too. I believe I remember him saying that activated kundalini folks are wild at parties.

Oh, I don't know my Pulp fiction characters. I remember the brains on the afro, and the gizmo dude though.

WW seems to, in Chia's words, 'open the joints so the chi can flow in.' There's a specific joint centered buzz you get from it. I'm sure there's another buzz associated with specifically stretching the muscles as in yoga.

I think more important than actual practices are one's beliefs. If one thinks that life is fun then unfulfilled desire aka tension will be translated as excitement and a way to have more fun. If one thinks that life is a drag, then each unfulfilled desire is just another nail in the coffin. Energy practices, meditation, etc are a way to raise one's vibration temporarily to induce greater insights/prajna/small to big satoris which supports a more permanent belief structure/better scripts to serve as a more long term platform. There's a lot of talk about big transformative experiences, but the game seems to really play out on the moment to moment positive or negative insights of life. That's the whole compassion/wisdom or 5 yogas/mahamudra paradigm in Buddhism.

I've been thinking of Glenn Morris' thoughts that enlightenment is simply a biochemical process that's very natural and just takes a bit of getting used to, but doesn't completely change the game of life. His words resonate with Guy Johnson and Matt's posts about kundalini awakening. I liked the doorknobs breaking off in Glenn's hands. You are still chopping wood and carrying water--the same thing, just a larger aura. Or as one zen dude said, you still walk, but just one foot off the ground. I'm also thinking of Kumar's assertion that if you only master sending energy up to the head, life will be glitchy for you. You need to master sending energy down to the feet. A harder, more mundane task, but worth it. From Opening the Gates. I have a friend who's head chakra is totally lit up--can do all the siddhis, amazing insights, etc but he's not in touch with his feet and it shows.

Day 2 of 5T!! WW first, 5T, and then I'll gradually fold in more Pilates drills as my tummy gets stronger. Threw in the shoulder stand for good measure. And chased everything with primordial chikung. Didn't do any cardio type stuff this am.

Well, as long as I keep moving I should be able to stick with it. Pilates for Dummies is a good book.

Craig's remarks in this thread are very good: http://www.thetaobums.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=775&hl= The inner smile is the meditation aspect of many taoist systems, I'd imagine. As Craig says, practices like the 6 healing sounds make room for the smiling vibe. Spyrelx--do the 5 healing sounds standing and the 6th plus the smiling practice lying down. That helps me relax and smile. If that doesn't do it, then just think of anything or anyone that makes you smile and then circulate the energy through the body. When I'm just standing, I just visualize happy light shining from the organ in question and I often picture the organs smiling like in the books and then when I lie down I get more into actually feeling it.

Whatever he says it is it is. I sort of think of anything vaguely chikungy as taoist yoga. It's like the label "Hinduism" it's extremely vague.

I would say to master spinning first, then progress to rolling. I don't know much about rolling, but it sounds more difficult. The 5 Tibetan book says not to overdo the spinning, but the dervishes seem to do fine with lots of it.

Whatever the lineage, the 5T rocks. All lineages get made up somewhere down the line. In my mid 20s, I started getting gray hairs and I did the 5T for awhile regularly (maybe 2 years) and the gray hairs totally disapeared. Got those results w/o sexual restraint too. Now at 37 they are coming back. Some people say sungazing can reverse gray hairs but that hasn't been the case for me. I keep saying that I'll get back into the 5T, but I think I really will now that I'm in the habit of doing the Warrior Wellness set. Just tack it on and then throw in some Pilates perhaps. Just googled around to refresh my memory of them. Breathe in as you raise the body, the deeper the breaths the better, and the monks did them with their eyes closed. And don't forget to vacuum breathe for rite #6 to slurp the sexual energy. The Colonel says to do it only if you are practicing sexual restraint, but I've heard the drill taught by many w/o this caveat. Apparently in Secrets of the Fountain of Youth book 2, they talk about the history of the 5T. Perhaps that'll clear things up. Some of the amazon book reviews of the Secrets of the Fountain of Youth book one were fun to read. -Yoda

You've contacted him recently? Awesome!!

I tested as Jules, but in real life I'd be Mr. Pink.

Actually, there is no background whatsoever for the 5 Tibetans. None of the Tibetans I have spoken to know about this set and Sean said that it may be more of a Russian tradition. The Colonel's student thought that Russian wouldn't go over very well b/c of communism so Tibetan would be a superior label. Perhaps mixed with some whirling dervish inspiration. That's as much as I've figured out. If you learn more please report.

If Pilates turns Trunk into a pottymouth, then I'm in. I found a cool DVD...Classic Pilates Matwork http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...product-details Looks like it's a little bit beyond the supermodel zone. Just for the sake of my pride, of course. My new gameplan is to master pilates, then sperm retention, then start going to pilates classes and have all the girls get mesmerized by my sea of chi, make them dress in white gowns and start a sungazing cult. Quite the healing vision. -Yoda

Trunk-- Yours is definitely the best taoist website out there. I like this quote: For these reasons, it is very important to establish a healthy abdominal region early on - especially in a system that stores sexual energy and sets up an alchemical cauldron in the lower tan tien! Unfortunately, the Healing Tao's original progression of practices did not include a sufficiently comprehensive and safe set of practices to prepare the abdominal region. (The original Iron Shirt 1 packing was too aggressive [see this website's Iron Shirt section for gentler approaches], and the meditative approaches don't sufficiently address physical blockages.) Since that time the HT has come up with some additional practices that address the abdomen, but the new practices have still not taken their place in the formal sequence of practices. I'll check out Tao Yin at some point, there's a new tao yin book by Chia just out a couple of weeks ago. Anyone have it? I'm just starting the Warrior Wellness material which is very similar to Chia's morning chikung stretches, which he says addresses the psoas, kwa, so I figure I'm getting the basics rolling. -Yoda

I think "bliss trickle" is a good rule of thumb. Bodri also says that you should be smiling. Sounds like inner smile doesn't it? I prefer feeling based navigation systems like inner smile vs. intellectual style guidance like Sogyal's. Bliss is simpler, easier, and more instinctive and harder to loose the signal. -Yoda If you aren't relaxed enough while sitting or standing, try lying down.