Yoda
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Everything posted by Yoda
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Spyrelx, I think it has real worth, no question about that. At least for me, there's a learning curve. The nice thing about it vs the keysound is that it can be done during dual cultivation so the learning curve won't be boring. That was exactly the stumbling block for me and the worthy keysound practice. BTW, you've said that you are a long-time retention dude. You should unpack your experiences/wisdom at some point. -Yoda
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Having strong focus is a huge advantage. Second best is to do something daily. I'm more in the second camp, but that's good stuff too. I'm enjoying the questing aspect of it. -Yoda
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Fun site!! I enjoyed the T Lobsang Rampa article. Interesting that a plumber could reinvent himself like that. I always liked the 3rd eye surgery idea. The webmaster really likes Amma. I have a friend who really likes Amma too, but he doesn't do anything for me. I sorry he didn't try to rate the Buddhists! -Yoda
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WW is easier and more enticing for me than the 5 Tibetans, but I'll do a quick spinning before a WW set as the spinning is fun and easy and gets those chakras humming. Sean--Interesting about the detox effects you got. It sounds like you like the WW better on the whole. I actually find the 5T harder and more exhausting while the WW is easy and energizing. I would think that a condensed WW would be less taxing than the 5T. It's both effective and enjoyable--my two requirements. -Yoda
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I haven't listened to this recording, but I'm familiar with Tibetan death dissolution meditations. It takes you through the stages of a death that assumes a gradual and conscious transition. It's only moderately useful, in my opinion. The elements dissolve in certain stages which creates unusual feeling and sensations. But the actual experience of it is rather weird and even for Rinpoches. It's good to know that there are peculiar sensations and that these can be relaxed into and accepted as a normal part of making a transition to non-physical. The important point is to make peace with the transition to non-physical in the first place. Get it out of your head that death is a "penalty." If you do that, then your vibration towards your future transition will be cleaned up considerably thus paving the way to have a rather nice, fast transition experience and not get stuck in long draw out dramas in hospital limbo land. The Tibetan's believe in samsara and awful things happening in the bardo where any meat eating animal gets reborn to long lasting hell realms. If that's where tweety the songbird goes, you don't want to fuck with it. I believe that they are wrong about samsara. The hell realms that they are describing are also part of the transition experience, just the same way that dream visions are part of the process one goes through as one lets go in order to sleep. And these can be happy, sad, whatever. But once you are through, you are through. The ghosts that people see aren't the spirits on the other side, they are trace energy patterns left behind--so there aren't shackled motherfuckers moaning "Ebenezer" on the other side or anything like that. If you don't like the prospect of returning to the non-physical realm, you ain't going to like the sensations involved in the process. If you are looking forward and excited about returning to the non-phys realm, then you'll find the whole thing greatly abbreviated and exciting. -Yoda
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the thing I liked about the old way was that you could very easily see and read the most recent posts, but upon reflection the new way has some good advantages that are worth it. -Yoda
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Great post from HT forum: I would suggest the best basic book to start with would be "Transform Stress into Vitality" by Mantak Chia. This "ancient" tome is one of M. Chia's first and probably purest books about the most basic of the healing tao practices. As time went on, it seems layers and layers of complexity and theory were laid on top of some of this material. As evidenced by the appearance of the encyclopedic book "Awaken Healing Light" which is probably 2.5 times as large as that which preceded it "Awaken Healing Energy through the Tao". This book can be found for sale on this website. Code B03 and ISBN 0-935621-46-6. The material covered is concise and in my mind very clear. What is covered is 1. The inner smile meditation 2. The Six healing sounds The inner smile meditation is really the primary foundation practice of the healing tao system. It seems very simple, but in my opinion can, when practiced regularly be a fine method of relaxation and foundation for steady meditation practice. One of the concepts which is easy to grasp intellectually is that it is common in the modern world for their to be a great split between the mind and the body. Inner smile, with it's exploration of every part of the physical body does wonders in my opinion in bridging that split. This is one of the very important concepts of Taoist meditation, chi kung and , Nei kung practice, the establishment of consciousness deep in the body. the concept of making a connection with your center, your earth, being grounded. All of these flow from integrating your consciousness more fully with your physical body. I suggest you get the book and learn the whole meditation by reading that section. Then, what I did, way back when I was a beginner was to record my voice reading the steps of the meditation. Then I could play it back and go through the steps myself. This is a good process tolearn and it will cement the practice in more thoroughly by hearing it in your own voice. Also, it fits with your budgetary considerations. The second part of this book covers the six healing sounds. The healing sounds exist throughout chinese culture in a myriad of forms. I think that M.Chia and M.Winn have a distillation of this practice which will engage the various aspects more fully than other methods. Practicing the sound, with the movement, with the color and organ all combined are quite powerful once you learn to summon all the pieces together. I find that other systems are not as fully integrated. Many teachers approach this practice as only sounds alone. I find the more you can incorporate simultaneously, the more will happen. This practice is more akin to chi kung and the inner smile is more akin to meditation. They both take your attention into the body and take you to a level of integration with the body which are very beneficial. I know you have particular issues which you have alluded to, including strength and stamina. I suggest learning the inner smile as I have described and this can be done while lying down, though one should strive not to fall asleep while practicing, it is not harmful at all in this practice. The six healing sounds can require a good deal more energy, but you can take it slow. emphasis on the meditative aspect of the resting phase between execution of the sounds will allow you to proceed at your own pace. Also, it may be helpful to you to practice the lung sound a lot at first and emphasize drawing down energy into your body to be stored in your kidneys. This is the activity which the lung controls and it can and should perform the function of charging your batteries (your kidney function) which have been taxed, by your own description of your situation. IN addittion I would recommend Michael Winn's chi kung fundamentals as well. Especially the practice of Ocean breathing, which will help you connect and charge up your vital center of gravity - Tan tien. These are simple practices, but they can be profound in their affect if you do them with committment and consistently. I think Chi kung teachers all emphasize the importance of the cumulative effect of daily practice, perhaps even more so than other teachers of healing methods. I agree with this as well. Good luck. Craig Many great thoughts. So I dug up the book and re-read it. Good news: kidneys are associated with curiousity and desire to learn. My kidneys are quite the bookworms! I have been skipping the postures and resting/smiling between sounds--so I'll add those in. Just did a session, then smiled at my balls for awhile, and it was great. Tonight was a no-nookie night, so the happy balls hit the spot. -Yoda
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To clear some of the furniture stowed in the basement in order to have more room to move around, to use an analogy of M.Winn. Eventually healing sounds and inner smile should clear up enough stuff to allow a sense of peace and stillness. This is an important piece of the practice which I think may be overlooked by those who emphasize "Stillness practice". The emotions and physical body holding patterns are the origin of distractions from still ness. it is necessary to clear the space before it can be still. AWESOME SHIT!!!! This is exactly what I've been approaching in my own practice but I didn't have the concepts in place. Prior to the above post the closest thought I had on this front was from Osho who said that one shouldn't practice stillness meditation if they don't exercise and move much. You'll just sit there and ferment stale and stuck energy thereby feeding negative thought patterns. While I think there is benefit to stillness meditation on its own, adding physical exercise and drills like the healing sounds really helps. I've had much experience with stillness sitting where I was either completely gone and blissful or was conscious and thinking negative thoughts. I really had to go far away from normal consciousness to find peace. Between exercising regularly and healing sounds, I'm learning to be consciously here-and-now peacefully and happily to a much greater extent. Great posts, Craig! -Yoda
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I'll definitely miss him. I can't quite follow what's up on taobum.com--it looks like it's even encrypted or something. And it doesn't appear to be worth wading into. Plato and Max still post on HT. Ron still does, but not in a conversational tone. So that's it, I'll have to say goodbye to my pal, Ron. I'll still preach his message before he went insane. I really do owe a debt of knowledge to the guy. He did seem to be losing his marbles though. Sean had a tough call to make, but it made sense. I think it makes sense to love somebody as your brother but not want to deal with them. In the unlikely event that I find myself in LA, I'll hang out at the observatory and look for a jogger wearing a rasta hat and introduce myself and see if I can get invited over to have tea with Ron and Mrs. Jeremy. May you find victory over chemtrails, dude. -Yoda
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Not the first time I've brilliantly reinvented the wheel! Good to hear the results were so dramatic. It seems to make my morning cardio buzz last longer through the day. -Yoda
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When I've done a lot of cross legged sitting, my back tends to have trouble too. I don't think of it as anything more than that. Just sit on a chair or back off the practice and go more slowly. It's frustrating, as the practice doesn't feel very physically challenging, but there you have it. Get well soon! -Yoda
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Here's a cool application of healing sounds that came to mind after chatting with Lozen re: feeling tense after weight training. I love training with heavy weights, but I get tense if I don't do a lot of cardio along side. Right now, I'm trying a hybrid approach I got from googling "dragan challenge"--basically doing step ups while pumping 5lb weights a few times a week. And very gradually build up the weights. I've noticed while watching Survivor that the super buff weight lifters can't do jack out there. Anyways, the idea is something I picked up from rereading the Chia transform stress into vitality the other day. He recommends doing a quick practice of the healing sounds after any sort of vigorous exercise to cool the organs and distribute the energy. Very nice suggestion. So what I'm up to, is either run or my step ups, then warrior wellness, then healing sounds then inner smile standing about an hour total in the morning. Then in the pm, sungazing followed by healing sound standing then inner smile standing maybe 20-30 minutes total. Then before bed, foot massage, healing sounds and inner smile while lying down. Maybe 10-20 minutes total. A great come down practice, and soothing for the nerves. -Yoda
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Trunk, kickin' post!! I always liked the MA focus as it's very rubber-meets-the-road, but there's too much fighty baggage that goes with the territory. I think learning to heal oneself and others has the same tangibility without the clogged up defensiveness and cumpetition. More posts like that would be great! -Yoda
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Craig, That post really put together a lot of things for me. Thanks! Yoda
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"Demons are simply bodhisattvas from different dimensions." (That's one of my fav quotes from the Mahayana Scriptures. It's either from the Lankavatara Sutra or the Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti) -Yoda
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Sort of to prime the pump for an eventual practice I'd imagine. Good approach, novel too. -Yoda
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Hey... if my weiner is sad about taking the day off, maybe I can sit down with him and share our feelings and chat and all that. Before kids were in the picture, I'd draw little eyes on my weiner and he'd chat with Mrs. Yoda in sort of a Muppet voice. Then we'd do a three-way. By honoring his individuality, he seemed pleased. I've been calling him Smeagol recently. I thought that was funny, but it has hurt the little guy's pride a bit. We'll find him an honorary title or a name with more dignity. -Yoda
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Cool quote: Carl Jung originated this procedure. His idea was to take a sensation, feeling, even an archetype, and imagine it to be a living being with whom you can converse. This procedure is effective to the extent that you can translate your personal feelings and intuitions into a visual image which you then see in front of you, hear, and/or sense. This mental construct is real in the same way that feelings are real. But feelings and intuitions often have vast and unknown depths. Part of their power is that they are in touch with things of which we are barely conscious. Therefore, the being we visualize is not artificial or without power. It has a voice which can speak from the depths within us. Put another way, it resides in a part of our brain we hardly ever use. At the same time, the point is to use our conscious mind and our own questions as we converse with it. Dialoguing is an active exchange between two different levels of consciousness. A psychologist who engages in this process is, in a sense, acting as a magician performing an evocation. The only difference between the psychologist and the magician is that the magician's concentration is carefully developed. With his eyes open, he can visualize anything he can imagine or recall as if it is actually in front of him. This is quite easy because he has practiced visualization for decades. And the magician may also use, at his discretion, various ritual techniques which he has discovered amplify his feeling of being connected. To distill some more thoughts on this subject into one thread, the practice of automatic writing while pretending you are channelling a silly animal like a duck gets you past your inner sensors, then daily practice quickly writing two pages of near gibberish eventually opens one up to new experiences. Natalie Goldberg has similar suggestions in Zen Bones. -Yoda
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Noni didn't do anything for me, but green tea has rocked my world. Google "tea diabetes". -Yoda PS, I only tried a cheap brand of Noni, so that may have been the reason.
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I have similar commentary, I scanned it, but my posting attempts have failed. I'll e-mail it to whoever just send me an e-mail to kyleb@ird$en at bellsouth.net. -Yoda
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Lozen-- A dry tradition! My Rabbi said not to waste seed b/c that gives birth to kids on a psychic level... I sort of understood that as wasting psychic energy. Excellent point. I hadn't considered that angle before. -Yoda Spyrelx-- I just caught up on reading the healing tao forum. How about you tell us how long you have retained and I'll tell you about Winn's imaginary friend. -Yoda
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Lozen-- the question of whether or not women were honored is a tricky one. I know a Hasidic Rabbi who is very loving and honoring, but his flock is way back in the 1400s when it comes to feminism--women are bald with horsehair wigs, sit in the back of the temple, don't participate in the service, get arranged marriages, etc. All this in Denver, CO! I love the guy, he's an amazing enlightened teacher who honors women, but the manner that gets expressed is a bit retro. The tradition would claim that all these practices came about as ways to honor women... right. I think a lot of other traditions are busy trying to slap on a happy face to their cultural red herrings too. -Yoda
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Well maybe all those cultures revered menstration, but I think there's a good chance that there's a lot of recent apologetic revisionism going on. Women were not thought of very positively in Christianity, Judiasm, Hinduism, and Buddhism, etc so the philosophy re: menstration would reflect that. Eve, suttee, can't be enlightened as a female, can't show your face in Islam and on and on. It would be delightful if I were completely wrong about all that, though. Fortunately, all that does seem to be changing quickly. -Yoda
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"I see dead people... This is some good shit!" -Scary Movie So I like to chat with dead people in the obits from time to time and I've been looking for a change of direction from just straight up lising and selling real estate and whala I found chocolate in my peanut butter!! I can buy and sell houses from dead people!! God, I think of the most obvious things sometimes. I'm too damn smart. Dead people are chatty, nice, pleasant to work with, not laying any more earthbound trips on you or anything. Just plain good folk. I know what you are thinking... the other side is guarded by attorneys, doctors, and priests... I have considered this. Actually, it's an advantage. There's so much murky existential/legal/medical voodoo out there that probate sales is a relatively overlooked way to make a buck for both investors as well as real estate agents. Of course, focused attention is needed and there is "competition" as they allege on the nature shows. But it's a hot angle. There's a nice $3 overview article on bobbruss.com if anyone is interested and Creating Wealth Through Probate by James Banks is a good intro on amazon and he'll personally respond to your e-mails if you have questions. My brother is an attorney in Phoenix and he has told me that this is the way to go for years, but it finally clicked. -Yoda