Yoda

It just occured to me... know how taking asprin or motrin gives tobacco or alcohol, etc more of a kick? Why not try it with other stuff? If I can remember to do this tomorrow morning, I'll take some asprin before sungazing. The blood thinning action may help circulate the energy through the entire body. May come in handy for practices that focus on the ends of the spine like sexual cultivation and sungazing to ensure that the joy juice gets centered and all that. -Yoda

Micheal Winn has said that standing and sungazing, while very powerful, pull in a lot of raw chi that is very hard to digest. Hearing that has got me thinking. Here's Chia saying the same thing: From pp. 17-18 of Secrets of Love: " The early sages observed the natural process of the raw chi of the universal elements--sun and earth, food and air--being transformed into ching, or sex energy, and in the male stored as sperm... the Taoists believe that you can use any substance or force that exists in the universe to feed the process of cultivating your spirit, and thereby free yourself of th limitations of your animal body. Everything has energy in it, and human consciousness can absorb that energy if it so desires. But some substances are easier for the human body to change into a usable form than others. For example you can absorb the energy from eating a good hot meal more easily than you can by sitting on the beach under the sun--the solar energy is too raw and powerful to be easily digested by the body... the major difference between food energy and sex is that sex energy b/c it has already been refined and produced inside the body, is much easier to digest or absorb than a raw substance like food. Food must be broken down and connected before it supplies useful energy. Sexual essence is already in a state of readiness that is linked within milliseconds to our hormonal and nervous system.... We spend an estimated 25-40% of our chi energy taken in through food, air, and sunlight just to manufacture this sperm energy. " I find practices like standing and sungazing benefit by some sort of digestive practice like walking or running barefoot. I'm sure there are other very good digestive practices out there. Otherwise, I get a irritable and restless if I overdose on standing or sungazing. In the past, I'd just blow my jing just to stay in balance--but that nets me zero in the long haul. I have noticed that raw chi practices are a very bad idea to do during times of stress or difficulty. Lam Kam Chuen warns people not to stand if they are having emotional challenges and urges other activities like taking long walks and talking to friends. He implies that the energy of standing can make things worse. Importing raw power can amplify negative vibrations if they are present. Thanks to Cam for helping me focus a bit more clearly on this subject. -Yoda

Thanks everyone! My brother is flying in from Phoenix this weekend so we'll have a low key party. I was going to go out to the gay club for some dancin' but my brother can't handle it. BTW, Yoda is 1950's straight--never even 'experimented' in Jedi school or anything... but I draw too much attention to myself in straight clubs by dancing unconventionally, and possibly badly, but with all the dry humping and drag queens, etc I travel well below radar in gay establishments. -Yoda

Matt--happy birthday to you too! Cam--You mean I missed half of the practice and spent all this time reinventing the wheel? Don't answer. Spyrelx--It's my understanding that lots of things just pass right through us without any resonance, but who knows? Jess--I thought I felt it wag, but that could've just been vertigo. -Y

Trip, Killer ap! Winn would say to count in from the pinky to the thumb. I'll check it out. -Yoda

I think that Matt's original Combat Conditioning and Beyond CC are both good, but there is plenty info out there on combatconditioning.com and the mikemahler.com site for free. Maybe Mike's site is down at the moment. I haven't really gotten into them like Cam has, though, so he's definitely the taobum expert. -Yoda

Hindu squats rock. They are great for an instant recharge throughout the day. -Yoda

Looks bitchin. The strap that holds the canoe to the top of my car shall presently incarnate to a higher calling! -Yoda

kewl.

"I see dead people... that's some good shit!" Only very rarely. Lots of fun. I've been known to behave irresponsibly on it, for which I have pretended to repent. So there is a risk factor. One fond memory is of clam baking in a tent on the highest point in Jamaica and we kept joking that we were the highest dudes on the island and we just couldn't get over the double entendre. Whenever I get high, I prentend that my joint is an Imperial Starship. -Yoda

I wasn't amused by the last two movies, but it sounds like this one is good. Did you like it? Did they get my good side? -Yoda

I just googled american spirit and they do still sell the pow wow blend. I just haven't seen it around. Didn't find any yellow pouches, but the red is organically grown. Their mapquest showed a gas station down the road that sells it, so I'll look for pow wow there. -Yoda

Red? Yellow? Uh oh, I've been missing out! I can't find powwow anymore so I've just been smoking the Blue pouch. Should I get some reds? What's your address, btw... I'll hook you up. -Yoda

At $62, it's a good price too. 5 hours audio, 3 hours visual, and a workbook. I own about 4 copies of his Way of Qigong. I'll check it out at some point. -Yoda

Just sungazed this morning after taking Motrin and didn't notice any additional benefit. I do intend to get some willow bark and roll it into my American Spirit tobacco. They used to sell it that way... their Powow blend. Death by asprin? While I'm extremely excited about dying--all the people I've known who have died say it's a blast-- I'll do my best to savor this life too and I won't overdo the asprin intake. -Yoda

I'm glad to see this. We need more sungazing gurus. The two Indian chaps are a bit extreme in their presentation of the subject and the Solargy crowd seems secretive. More inedians writing books is just what the doctor ordered. -Yoda

Anyone know where to order the book? Is it in english? Thanks, Yoda

Just read in this week's Science News that giving an additional 20mg of zinc to grade school kids daily ***doubled*** their rate of learning. The commentary said that a gain like that suggests that the normal American diet is deficient in zinc. Remember, taoist athletes need even more doping than the average dude. -Yoda

Well said. Sometimes it seems like I'm just reinventing the wheel on this stuff. BTW, the Norwegian descent girls I know including Mrs Yoda have extremely strong legs. We're talking on par with a college linebacker. Maybe it's the rock up there? Is this true, or is my small sample (3) just off? If this is correct, do the men have strong legs too? Also, Mrs Yoda can close a Captains of Crush #1 w/o training--so maybe it's all-over strength. Thanks, -Yoda

Hagar, I was hoping you'd chime in on this one. (I like to think of any traditional healing/well-being program as that culture's qigong practice.) Pavel and Steve Maxwell say that cold water exposure is stimulating and beneficial in short doses, but too much will wear you out. -Yoda

Here's the actual article, pretty stunning that the 20mg zinc kids learned twice as fast. It sounds like we should trade our school system in for some good multi-vitamins! " Zinc supplements can help children learn certain tasks, a new federal study suggests. Because nearly all the children already had diets supplying the recommended amount of the mineral, the findings suggest that "the recommended intake may need an adjustment," says study leader James G. Penland of the Agriculture Department's Human Nutrition Research Center in Grand Forks, N.D. Penland recruited 209 boys and girls to drink a 4-ounce glass of juice at the start of school every day for 10 to 12 weeks. He randomly assigned the children to groups that would receive either plain juice or juice fortified with 10 milligrams or 20 mg of zinc. The lower quantity constitutes the recommended zinc intake for these children. At the beginning and end of the trial, Penland asked the children to perform a battery of tests on a computer. Children who drank plain juice improved 6 percent on tests of their memory of abstract images. However, those getting 20 mg of zinc in their juice improved twice as much, and those getting 10 mg fell somewhere in between. Zinc fortification also raised scores on remembering lists of words and on hand-eye coordination, Penland reported at the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego earlier this month. " The article doesn't get into the details of the study to the extent to fully back up my doubling claim, but I'll take the "twice as much" to at least mean that this is a significant boost and worth being mindful of. I've noticed in the male potency enhancement pills in the vitamin shop seem to feature zinc as well, so it might not be a bad idea to keep an eye on zinc. -Yoda

but keeping it below the solar plexus... what about the robust Russians and Scandinavians? Sure, you loose a few to heartattacks, but the reaper would've figured something out sooner or latter. I'll try the baths, though. -Yoda

Cool practice! Why below the heart?

Let's party at inner earth tonight!

Following Osho's lead, I'm exploring the "ahh" sound on exhalation with meditation, exercise, and sexuality--mostly subvocally. Aside from being relaxing, a natural sound of pleasure, the heart sound, driver of the keysound, etc. it encourages the body exhale more fully which is a pillar of Osho's philosophy and practice. Osho agrees with Sonnon's exercise philosophy that focusing on fuller exhalation greatly increases endurance, strength, and so on by reducing craving/tension in the nervous system. From the mantra perspective, it is simple and natural enough that it seems to drop away or minimize after it has done its job. Osho says that any word that ends with "aahh" works like "allah" or just plain ole ah. -Yoda