Yoda

Matt, Good suggestions. I think primordial chikung would hit the spot. I've been doing 2+ hour sessions at night as I don't want to fall asleep with a loaded gun under my pillow, but the sleep deprivation was doing me in. PCK is a quick prebed practice that won't keep me up. I just did a PCK and got 10 hours of catch up snooze and I feel much better. Thanks! Yoda

I can attest that retention plus inner frown isn't a good match. -Yoda

I don't think it makes a difference to us users, if it makes your life easier as a webmaster do it. I thought the sign in at Scott's forum was hokey. -Yoda

Sean, How about a "taobum's favorite practices" or a "reviews" section. Standing, sungazing, retention, MCO, WW, running, etc and they can be reviewed by individual members like books get reviewed on amazon. That would be great for people just visiting the site. They'd see my sungazing rocks post and then someone else's sungazing is insane post and it would be a great way to sort out the pros and cons and potential pitfalls of a practice. I don't know if we should include a star ranking or not as I bet all the potential freakout practices would rank low compared to the soothing stuff, but it might be fun. Or maybe rank several different categories like power, ease of use, safety. As we've all been to amazon, we'd be used to the format. -Yoda

I've been practicing retention for 5 weeks, 3 days and 27 minutes and have discovered that the extra power from the heated jing improved my distance by 20 yards when I kick the cat. Very funny! You definitely captured the spirit of the practice! If Sean goes for it, the reviews should mention how much experience the reviewer has had with the specific practice. Maybe even weigh a 3 star vote from a 10 year veteran of a practice more than a 4 star vote from a 60 day newbie. -Yoda

Great point and great analogy. I think there are a number of energy masters from the worlds of business, sports, music, and misc life that have never heard of sexual conservation of energy but very naturally apply those principles to their passion. A rock star who follows his passion which draws him away from society and sexuality so he can pour it all into writing his music. And then when he's done with that and he's on tour he f*cks his brains out to try to dissipate the chi overload he gets from 70,000 screaming teenagers. So he is applying natural principles to his advantage without ever reading the Tao te Ching. Living a happy life, smiling and laughing is the sign of free energy flow. Also, I think that warning signs of getting overloaded by a powerful practice show up in grumpiness and discomfort long before physical symptoms and external manifestations rear their head. I try to honor my feelings first, but if I bump into a more material manifestation I always look back and see that I have ignored my feelings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Speaking of negativity, I'm in the middle of some grumpiness with my retention practice right now. And I need to find a solution before the manfestations take shape. I'm presently blaming Mrs. Yoda (keeping it inside) for not being my sex slave, as she couldn't sustain the level of activity that I was pushing for she was getting sleep deprived. Meanwhile, I'm trying to groove on the joys of celibacy--lots of stargazing, music, powow blend, healing sounds, keysound at night, etc. I'm enjoying myself, but this blame keeps flaring up. Potential solutions: call off the dogs and take a break from the practice. It'll work, but I'm not ready to surender quite yet. My replacement, hopefully non-hemorrhoidal, aneros is probably about a week and a half away. Maybe that thingy can give me a few super Os and I'll be at peace again. An idea I got from Mbanu's post goes something like this: I'm doing all the physical stuff I can think of and that I'm comfortable doing which circulates jing and also burns some of it off. How about jing burners like caffeine? I've really gone to town on the stuff in the past, I've got the jing to burn, and its starting to breech my inner levees... why waste my hard earned life force on a piece of kleenex when I can burn it into extra energy in daily life? Thoughts? Mrs. Yoda's complaint was that I wasn't letting her sleep enough. So I ordered her a bunch of "how to sleep" books--maybe I can make the sleep I she does get to be more powerful, so she'll have more time for me. Regardless of her, I've gone from sleeping 8+ hours a night to 6- hours a night since I've started retention. Max keeps saying that the less sleep you need, the better. Mbanu and others say that getting sleep is key and a good thing. Intellectually, I really am okay with celibacy, so maybe it's the fact that I'm not sleeping as much that's making me grumpy and the retention is only indirectly responsible. Maybe I should force myself to sleep more? I'll read those sleep books that are in the mail to see if I glean anything from them. It's crossed my mind to slip some benadryl into the kids in the evenings so they konk out giving us more time together, but Mrs Yoda would catch me. She'll only allow me to use this trick on long car trips. Should I download scat porn to cool my jets? I'm open minded here, so all thoughts welcome. -Yoda

I like Matt and I think that his critics are half jealous, half put off by his aggressive marketing. I've learned a lot of cool things from him, even though I don't practice his methods. After Plato panned his sex course, I'm not much interested in Matt's chikung. If Lars Short comes out with something, I may be in the market for it. In my experience, if an internet guru like Matt is offering information at over $100, I can often find the same thing at amazon for under $40. Just like his sex course didn't seem to break new ground, I doubt this course does either. You should get it, though! -Yoda

try searching mirror or mirrors on the HT site, there was an interesting but inconclusive thread there a few months ago.

Trunk, The problem that plagues chikung is that it is so powerful... It's scary to think that one's darling practice could be undermining one's general well being. Sean's right--I've followed several other well-mannered forums--us taoists are total wack jobs. And to think that we do it methodically to ourselves day in day out. Add that to all the brilliant yet insane masters on the market, and grandma's simple living takes on a certain appeal. I think your well-phrased critique of retention applies to other high power drills like standing, iron shirt stuff, sungazing, microcosmic orbit, kundalini drills, 5 yogas, etc. Winn brings up examples of dopey zennists and Bodri brings up examples of fried taoboys and I think there's a valid perspective to both sides of the debate. Sungazing guru Hira R. Manek says that retention is very beneficial but that it will naturally arise as a practice and that one shouldn't force retention as a discipline. I'm not sure if my growing interest in retention is "natural" or if I'm simply more capable of making it happen at this point so that makes me excited about it. I certainly have some bugs to work out with the practice. Concurrent with one of your suggestions, I've been going through a celibate phase for the last couple of weeks and sleeping by myself just to smooth out the ride. I do think that it's good that internet users have access to these warnings that readers of Chia's Sex book don't have. But then again, if they get serious about it, it's quite likely that they'll get more info online. Just having that awareness is huge. Also, spending time with soothing practices like exercise, Warrior Wellness, healing sounds, quiet sitting, stargazing, being under a tree, etc are a good idea for anyone active with the more firey stuff. Another great thread fellow taobums--damn we smart!! Some scat porn and we'd have the whole picture. Great Post by Plato on HT btw, he just got electrocuted by robertpeng.com. Sounds fun. Spyrelx, you should check him out. He's a lesser Kan and Li master, apparently. -Yoda

I know what you mean, and there are many legitimate reasons for blowing off some steam, but I'm not sure you'll find any Buddhist scripture or commentary to back you up on that statement. For the practitioner of the 5 Yogas of Naropa and the likes in the classic texts, being highly rev'd was such a prereq, that blowing your bodhicitta even once was considered to carry the bad karma of killing a fully awakened Buddha. The one monk I talked to who practiced the 5 yogas on a three year retreat said that he was extremely horny all the time even without exposure to the outer world. He said that horniness was an intentional part of the process and, yes, it was maddening and uncomfortable as hell. He did spend a lot of time in stillness type meditations, though. Maybe the problem you are referring to isn't in being too rev'd, but not spending enough time in stillness practice so the energy can find its way to the deep center and is rather forced to attack external targets with even more ferocity as seemed to be the case with Master Ron. -Yoda

Trunk, I'll be the first to admit that your knowledge base is deeper than mine... But, is there really a danger here? If the taoboy overdoes it, won't he just have a wet dream to even out? I've heard some Hindu retention teachers say that wet dreams are the natural safety valve for the practice--that it's self regulating that way. Like with other powerful practices like standing and sungazing, I think it's a good idea to be respectful of them--if you overdo it, you can overload your circuits and get into serious psychological and physical trouble. That doesn't mean that standing is bad or even that hours of standing a day is bad, but that level of practice will destroy a normal person. If you want to advance, you have to turn up the heat. Just do so slowly. If it doesn't feel good, don't do it. Thanks for stepping into the debate! -Yoda

Fun thread! It seems to me that being constantly rev'd is a prerequisite to force one's mind past duality. Blake said something like, "the path of extremes is the way to wisdom." Revving so hard that you can't fit it into your world like Michael begging for nooners then eventually for tea time, etc... there gets to be a point where your world can't handle your energy level and you have to lift the needle off the record at some point or get kicked off taobums in the case of Master Pottymouth. While we have a body, the bottom line experience will always be a mix. Chod seems to be the experience of intensifying experience to the point of extreme duality which sort of short circuits the whole thing into non-duality, like Blake's observation. The story of Milarepa meditating in the cave and getting attacked by invincible demons comes to mind. Milarepa tried to fight them off with the best mantras and the most wickedly powerful magic going, but they weren't deterred at all. Finally he just got exhausted and said to hell with it and threw himself into their mouths. I forget what they did at that point, but the act of surrendering the fight and flight game neutralized the situation and the demons either disapeared or everyone became friends. Anyone remember? Something like that. Yoda

That's what Suzuki Roshi was trying to express.

I've given to Heifer International. It's totally cool... you can give your Mom a flock of chickens or a share in a bull or something--they'll send her a card. Makes a fun gift. It's neat to know that there's a pig you have sponsored out there somewhere. Take charities with a pinch of salt, to view another person as a 'charity case' is a disservice to your own vibration. Nobody needs your help. As the Sufis say, everyone is an accomplished master from well before the creation of this universe... everything, including painful death, is a precious growth experience. In my view, we aren't a pack of losers stuck on this rock due to bad karma, original sin, or by random chance. One of these days, I'll practice what I preach and see only the devine in people. Suzuki Roshi said that the way to attain enlightenment is to train yourself to see people as perfect gods and this world as a perfect heaven. Then my energy will freely flow. -Yoda

how they play it off when they do fuck up great observation. That's a superpower, for sure.

I've been diggin Warrior Wellness bigtime!! It really is quite relaxing and allows chi to flow more freely. For this reason, I dug up my "Morning Chikung Practices" by Chia and tried it today. I didn't really get into it the first time when I originally bought it, but the movement portions are similar to Sonnon's so that gives me a good starting point to relate with it. Then Chia does some bitchin vacuum breathing--stand in double shoulder width horse stance, exhale all the way, stick your tongue out, suck your stomach up by a vacuum breath and churn your guts. Then do a few sets of the same while tugging on your dick. On inhale, you stand up and relax and catch your breath. It rocks. A bunch of saliva swallowing, light teeth knocking, light kegel breathing, burping, embracing the tree breathing drills, turtle standing, laughing organs, breathing while squatting, etc. The usual Chia grabbag. It's a good program. I'll definitely add the vacuum dick breathing to my morning set. If anyone is interested, I'm happy to loan out this program when I'm done reaquainting myself with the program, but I definitely want it back. -Yoda

Hey, breathing through the holes of the sacrum is a good drill. It's basically the same thing as Lin's anal breathing, but less distasteful in its implications. Good as a general practice and as part of sexual practice too, also goes well with white skeleton meditation. Breathing through the sacrum during sexual stimulation draws the energy away from the balls and perineum and helps wick the sperm up and out of mortal peril. -Yoda

Fun vacation!! Scotland next!

Osho mentions that most people flow their chi down the spine, but the master moves their chi up the spine. That goes for fluids, too. He mentions exercise, and inverted yoga postures, and darkroom practices and meditation to help the flow move up to avoid pooling in the tailbone. That's sort of "reversing the flow", yes?

Trunk, I don't understand what 'reverse' and 'forward' means. I think of it as pressure building up from below as a 'push' and real passion as a 'pull' perhaps what Matt is referring to as suction. Do explain. -Yodster

Matt, Now that I've been strictly retaining for awhile, I am definitely in the market for a couple of Super-Os. I still need to exchange my Helix for an MGX, perhaps that'll help. I read a Conversations With God quote the other day in Office Max of all places (Some CEO trainer was quoting it): The more you pleasure yourself, the more you will pleasure others. The quote wasn't specifically sexual, but it certainly fits. Plato said that long term use of the aneros has made him a great lover, but he didn't unpack that statement. Also, I'd be interested in the "aaahhhhaaa" of Kan and Li as compared to the "aaaaahhhhaaa" of the keysound. Thanks for any thoughts! -Yoda

Any ideas for a modern retelling of Kungfu? Chia says that taoist priests would get girls to shake their booty in front of them in special private rituals... got me thinking of taoist priests driving around with puppies and candy in the school zone... He better be a good fighter, or he won't like the cultivation partner the judge offers him--as the Bodri gang would say, prison jing is too dirty to transmute... I got a vision of David Carridine in the prison showers surrounded by hairy suitors. Kungfu II. That would be the backstory, and his post-release he would take upon himself his superhero role as the ultimate crime fighter. Or maybe some teenage boy awaken ancient kungfu memories while working his aneros and he sets off to beat up evil doers but suffers spontaneous whole body orgasms around the house that take him back lifetimes while his mom looks on with concern... Any brainstorms? Maybe a story based on Master Ron fighting the chemtrail illuminati mofos?

sure.

that could account for the fact that people tend to gain weight in the winter, myself included.

Trunk, You've been trying every ab drill out there--have you tried roman chair situps? If so, what do you think? I've not tried them much, but I'd imagine that they are good for psoas health. Pavel really pushes them in his Joint Mobility book as the solution to lordosis. Some people say that doing standard situps shortens the psoas and increases lordosis. -Yoda