Yoda

my guess is that you are talking about the "5 rites"--- the whirling dervish, downward dog, etc. 5 rites http://www.mkprojects.com/pf_TibetanRites.htm I've had great success with this set in the past, and would like to get back into it. -Yoda

Peter, Are those 6 exercises the "5 rites (plus #6--retention) or is it more like the yogas of Naropa? Thanks, Yoda

Found some good stuff re: barefoot walking in the articles section of barefooters.org This was written in the early 1900s in England perhaps--full article entitled 'barefoot league.' Fun to see a Victorian Taoist! The reason for this is, of course, that through the soles of the feet, which are the best absorbers of the finest of solar energy, these young bodies had been drinking in the very strength of our sun's body while his heat was being radiated from the asphalt or Downs, which were simply charged with it. And so it came to pass that very soon their bodies were charged through and through with the most potent of all physical vivifiers; every call was alive with its virtue, and, through the intensity and swiftness of these vibrations, the activity of the whole economy of their nature was so heightened that really wondrous effects in the beauty of health were soon evident to all who had seeing eyes. "Oh, the joy of touching the earth! Oh, the delight to feel your tread, your grip of earth!" was the invariable utterance of every initiate after the first assay. And so it truly is, for the earth loves the tread of the human foot, and the foot loves the contact of the earth. For here, I feel, there is a very serious service of Love. Ay, every tread of the bare foot of man or beast is to the body of Demeter, our good Mother-Earth, as a kiss of filial love, and is grateful to her. And through this tread we give to her of our human virtues or magnetisms and she, in return, gives us of her virtues even in her kiss. For she loves those who love her body. Ay, she loves and blesses them well. And she gives them all the choicest good they are able to receive from her rich bounty. And they are blessed indeed. Thus do we receive through the bare foot, not only the finest of the sun's energy, but also the virtues of the body of our earth in all its manifold richness and power. Much would I now say concerning this were I qualified. But I am no physicist in the ordinary sense of the schools, and I leave it to those who are qualified to do so. But the physicist who can so discourse must be, first, a free lover of Nature, and, also, an open- minded student of the finer forces of her life, both occult and manifest. To such I can surely promise in this realm an inexhaustible wealth of beauty whose sane sweetness will never cease to fascinate and satisfy. Such are the rewards Truth offers to her lovers. And only such lovers are worthy of the name of Scientist. The soles become so tough, not necessarily hard, that you can walk over stones, thorns, and other broken surfaces with impunity and even with pleasure. Yes, it is a positive pleasure for me to walk over a roadway of crushed rock, the gritty feeling being just as a delicious spice to the appetite of the foot. Why, as children, we could run over the dry channel-stones of the bed of the river Tummel, and even now I walk as comfortably on the gravel of the Brighton beach as on the paved street. Now this is saying much, is it not? And surely a hardihood, a sweet health of body, soul, and mind, is something worth possessing. We Need Hardihood Yes, we need hardihood, sweet, strong, sane, chaste, noble hardihood. Ay, we sorely need it even now, hardihood of nerve and muscle, of flesh and blood, of heart and brain, ay, more hardihood of mind and soul, of will and desire, even hardihood of our whole nature, animal, human, and divine. And that this great and holy hardihood is very greatly increased and intensified in us through barefoot walking must be so evident to all who have had this chat with me, that I need not now tell you why is should be so. The Manifold Nutriments Obtained for the Body through Barefoot Walking All the parts of the earth's surface on which we tread will fulfil a particular service of life for the health of the body. Thus if we walk on the young and living grass we shall receive of its fresh and living, yet soothing, virtue. If we walk on the mountain turf, hot in the sun's rays, we shall receive of the very strength of the mountain, ay, of the power of its soul or genius and of the sweetness of the airs of the mountain side. And, if we only have the incorruptible, deathless vitality in us so that our flesh fail not, we can, by walking even in the deep of winter over the dry, grassy braes, swept by the north wind, win from Boreas his hidden and potent heat. If we walk in a pine wood, an oak wood, a birch or a larch wood, we shall surely receive of the peculiar virtues of these fragrant creatures of Life; and we may become so sensitive that we may taste the difference to the tread of the foot in each of these woods. If we walk on the sands of the sea we shall, in like manner, taste the various qualities of the virtues of the salts therein. Thus, if we walk on dry clay or mud, we shall at once recognise that the nutrition thus imparted to our nerval body is finer or more comforting than that conveyed through rough sand or fine shingle. And I would say here that I know of no finer physical exercise for the toning of the jaded nerve than quiet and deliberate walking on dry sea mud or sand if we are in the hot days. If you walk on the mountain's rocky sides you will absorb of her various elementary virtues, and they will nourish your finer body. If you walk in a hill-burn you will taste the life of the trout of the hill-burn; and what taste is more exquisite? It is only to be compared to that of the mountain lamb, whose joy you will taste over the grassy braes. And I you wish to know even for once the fine intoxication of the radiant energy of the sun, you will soon get it by walking over the sun-baked pavements of any city, how grimy soever it be. Wondrous is the bounty of Nature! And these are the ways by which we can taste the fine sweetness of the life of her children. Surely such ways are preferable to killing them! Now I do not profess to give here the innermost rationale of this most subtle process of reinvigoration, and a hint at it must now suffice. I believe that what is known to the occult physiologist as the etheric body is affected, being both quickened and nourished by or through the finger energy of the sun's heat. But, as this theme would lead us into a realm with which I have no need or desire to familiarize myself at present to any special degree, I shall not ask you to follow me into its mysterious ways, even did I feel qualified to guide you therein, which I cannot say I do. Yet shall we say what we do know to be fact. The Curative Powers of the Sun's Heat And now for a few words on the curative powers of the sun's heat. Of these I have already written more than once, but it may well be repeated here that there is no regime, so far as I know, for the cure of ordinary rheumatism to compare with the absorption of the solar energy by the soles of the feet. The heat of the sun is the drier up of all damps, ay, often psychic damp as well as physical damp! For does it not then stand to reason that a prolonged flooding of the fine cells and tissues of the body with the radiant stream will assuredly dry these acrid damps out of the tissues and cells? For the virus of rheumatism may well be spoken of as an acrid damp. Of this I feel sure, though I am no physiologist; and I have learned from much experience. For I tell you that I have been allowed to bring about the cure of very severe rheumatism through getting the patient, after pledging him to a fleshless diet, to walk barefoot on the hot ground or grass or pavement. Not only for ordinary rheumatism is there here a simple, safe, and pleasant cure, but also for those much more serious nerval disorders classed as neurasthenic, so manifold in their modes of expression in our day. I consider this to be a more serious service of the sun for our health than the cure of rheumatism, for who is more to be pitied than the victim of this most subtle disorder? But this subject is too vast for me to do more than merely hint that in the judicious use of uncooked, especially fresh rain-water, fruit and other live foods, combined with this use of the sun's heat, Nature hath put at our service the best means for the restoring of these fine nerval bodies to their normal condition of sweet life. And of all this I have spoken fully in Corpus Meum. In short, we can well say that, for the general health of the body, nothing is more vital than that we care well for our feet, even unto the simple habit of washing them every night before we retire to rest. For in them is the physical basis for our understanding, and it is well to enter the holy place of the recreating Presence with a clean mind. And so much is implied in this that we may now close by saying: If ye would be well in your whole body, see well to your feet. Let us Go in Peace And now we have had our little tete-a-tete as we have walked barefoot together over this fair land of our nativity. Literally, our shoes have been off our feet; literally, we have been in the continuous contact and gentle embrace of the good body of her love, our gracious, our beautiful Earth- mother, Demeter. And in this constant and most vital contact we have entered into and enjoyed the most holy, most natural, most sweet, and most real communion with the Innermost o' our cosmic Being. Thus have we broken the Bread of Life together; thus have we eaten the Body of our God. Thus have we drunk of the one Life- stream, even in the radiant energy of our own living sun. And this living sun is the most true and most beautiful symbol of the Holy Sun of our life, even the cosmic Presence and Nearness of the Absolute, the Incomprehensible, the Unnameable. And this radiant energy is the most sacred symbol of the strength of the Holy One of our blessedness whom we name, for the very sweetness of the sound, the Christ of the Ages of our Race. Thus, having eaten of the Holy Substance, we have received into our innermost the very Essence of the One. And thus have we, in the several degrees of our human nature, and in accordance therewith, become divine. ADDIO I HAVE for some time past been daily tasting the delight of working the fallow land. I have been trenching the "lye," i.e., the grassy field in which situate "Kelmscott," the Vegetarian Home for Destitute Children at Wallasey, by Liverpool. I have thus been preparing the fallow land both for the growth of their vegetables and for the little gardens which I had long promised they should each have. Thus truly delightful work has given me much to ponder. And out of this reflection has arisen a desire to write a treatise on the values of all useful and productive labour for the health of our whole nature. This truth was first brought truly home to me at the Netherlands, Redbourne, Herts, where I tilled the land for some two months in the company of my dear brother in service, William Thompson. And my present experiences have only confirmed my then conviction, that, for the fulness of our health, labour of a useful and productive kind is absolutely necessary. Specially is this so, I find, with manual labour, and of all manual labours, it is, I think, specially so with the tilling of the land. For we are the children of Demeter, the good, the kind, the beautiful Mother of our earth-bodies. She has been, and is, gracious unto us, and we do owe her a debt of love, or, at the very least, of gratitude. And if we cultivate her beautiful body in the spirit of love or gratitude, we thus pay her our dues. And we shall assuredly find in this gentle service of love to her body the precious reward of life, life and ever more life: ay, life sweeter, finer, fuller as the years go by. I have long time felt that the majority of our nerval and mental disorders arise from our neglect of this most sacred duty, and that they may be both prevented and cured through this holy exercise. Well, dear comrades of the Barefoot League, I promise you we shall yet talk more fully together on this most fascinating and highly significant theme, than which none is, I believe, more pregnant with power for the healing of the manifold disorders of our day. Yes, Life is sweet. God is good. Addio, Addio, Addio!

I now have a deeper appreciation of that boy!! -Yoda

Awesome post! I'm trying to figure out what planet Peter is on, and that was very helpful. Thanks, Yoda

A number of interesting points. Winn always has a cool nugget or two on every topic... I love Winn's many positive insights and often ignore his many mini-warnings. Reading Peter's Blog, I'm getting a better feeling for the plasticity of energy practices and systems that seem to thrive on certain fundamental principles but don't seem to exactly fit any one system's spell book. Peter has really benefitted by cultivating such an open mindset. Too many mini-warnings might could hamper this kind of creativity. If you keep your practice fun-based, you'll naturally stay away from practices that can undermine your health and well-being. -Yoda

I'm cycling through all my past exercise routines seeing what grabs me these days. I've stumbled upon two improvements on Matt's excellent royal court program. First, for everyday training don't keep track of reps just track time and tempo. Counting reps to high numbers is distracting to me. Also, I'm doing hindu squats as photographed on combatconditioning.com site with the rowing motion of the arms and that's pretty cool too. Haven't been finding my kettlebells that fascinating anymore. Too bad--they look really cool! Looks like I'm gravitating towards general poweryoga stuff. Maybe I'll put my own sun salutation routine together. -Yoda 8)

I looked at John Peterson's book on amazon and it's extremely well reviewed--but just looking at the website should do the trick. Just think of hindu squats more as stretching and mobility work than conditioning. Ron has posted in the past that hindu squats saved him from knee surgery. -Yoda

Bob, this is a hotly contended subject, but I believe that hindu squats are generally good for the knees. Most of the world's population sits in the full squat position--so it's a very natural motion and position. Having had knee surgery--don't force anything. Just like with anything else, if it doesn't feel good, don't do it. You've gotten this far without squatting, you'll do fine without them too. Whatever you decide, start slow--just a few easy reps here and there to see if you like them. Russians swear by them too. Pavel recommends 100 per day for knee health but he doesn't advocate doing big numbers like Furey does b/c he believes that 500+ is just too much--there are other exercises that are safer for extreme reps. I am doing a couple of easy sets throughout the day right now--as an energizing practice or before meditation to get the juices flowing. I still haven't gotten back into the 5 Tibetans--I'm envious of you! Osho is a big fan of spinning. Those three exercises are almost magical, but I've never gotten in the groove of doing them in high reps--too damn hard!! Keep us posted! -Yoda

cool link. I liked the sensory deprivation info--goes with Osho and Chia's dark practices. -Yoda

Abraham's my boy! He got my head out of the karma-samsara zone. All positive thinkers pretty much ditch the karma thing and have some version of the law of attraction. I'm pretty sure that Ernest Holmes coined the phrase. The newer tapes are better, as Esther has dropped the accent. -Yoda

So I've done 2 barefoot runs and will take a day or two off to let my newly used foot muscles recover. I used to run with my friends in college all the time, but haven't done any since. It's an extremely powerful way to feel the earth--very uplifing. Both runs have been very positive experiences. All those nerve endings in the feet light up the brain! Interesting about technique--you notice a shitload of sensitivity and nerve activity when running barefoot... I can't explain the technique but your body will instantly remember it and adjust per terrain, etc but it's ball of the foot first by an instant--it would look like a flat foot landing on camera and feel flat footed in shoes but it's not. I flipped through Chi of Running before, and the barefoot technique may be what he's describing--not sure. They say it takes about 30 days to fully adapt to the groove, build the foot muscles, develop the skin, etc. -Yoda

I'm reading stories where runners run short distances barefoot every week or so just to heal injuries and keep their feet healthy. Also many special forces soldiers in Vietnam tried and liked operating barefoot--heightens sensitivity. Pavel recommends strength training while barefoot--it actually makes you stronger. Without cushioning, your feet can tell what's going on and send feedback signals to the brain that help recruit more muscle. Hence, padding in shoes is a thing of the past in the powerlifting community. The barefoot runners make a similar argument that all that padding dumbs down our feedback and shock absorption systems--allowing for poor running technique and setting the runner up for being more injury prone. I'm drawn to the special forces argument that it puts me in touch with the earth. -Yoda

Here's another quote: Today, few runners compete barefoot. However, in Asia and the Americas, entire communities live on their native lands without foot protection. In Northern Mexico, the Tarahumara Indians are well known for the amazing long distance running ability without shoes. In South Africa, Budd's native country, children are raised to run and play rugby barefoot. Proponents of barefoot running argue that it is the natural way to run. It is pleasurable, safe, healthy and has many beneficial effects. Medical studies suggest that many foot problems that afflict civilized shod people are non-existent in barefooted populations. For example, athlete's foot, bunions, hammer toes and black toes rarely occur in unshod people. In a 1990 article in Sports Medicine, Stevens Robbins examined the effects of athletic footwear on chronic overloading in runners. He observed that the system of soft tissues and bones that make the foot constitute an extremely complex machine optimized for locomotion. When the foot hits the ground, feedback from the sole activates a series of muscle contractions to dissipate the shock. By insulating the sole from the ground, footwear diminishes sensory feedback and interferes with the natural function of the foot. By absorbing part of the shock, the cushioned shoes deceive the foot into complacency, causing an even harder impact on the feet, resulting eventually in injury. Thus, state-of-the-art highly cushioned shoes create chronic overloading by interfering with the foot's shock-absorption mechanism. Robbins concluded that the ideal solution to foot injury in shod populations was to run barefoot. Running barefoot also changes the characteristics of the underlying skin. Rather than hardening and cracking, the sole develops into a half-inch thick layer of leather. The thickness and smooth consistency contribute to protecting from puncture as well as providing some shock absorbency. At the younger ages, pediatricians observed that shod children had a higher incidence of flat foot syndrome than children who went barefoot. They concluded that shoe-wearing in early childhood was detrimental to the development of a normal arch, and recommended that children under six years old partake in barefoot activities. (end quote) -Y

Check out the April 10, 2005 discussion on dragondoor.com forum--there's a great thread on the subject. Here's what one barefoot runner says on DD: "Most people as children ran in the summer months barefoot with the speed, ease and freedom that only a child can have. Running barefoot, you can at any age, have this regained youth. " I did one mile barefoot on the pavement last night just to test it out. Surprisingly, wasn't hard on the skin, but it'll take a bit to get used to the technique and the muscles involved. I'm glad our ancestors were able to run, btw. I always wondered about that! Every time I would run barefoot with my heels first, I'd wonder wtf was up back in the day--how did they do it?? Answer: they ran, not jogged. Jogging was invented by Nike. I haven't run in a long time. If I'm not running with a pal, I felt that there was no point to it. Barefoot makes it the elemental activity that running was "intended" to be. I'll do another 1 mile tonight. -Yoda

Neimad, Congrats on that! Just like "all diets work" all positive thinking methods work too, but it can be a trick to learn how to fire them up! It's my understanding that as one progresses in chikung, meditation, etc, many of the thought patterns taught by those books becomes second nature and good stuff manifests on its own without much deliberate effort until you are having so much fun that you don't care as strongly what shows up. Something like that. Lots of AZ energy here! Good to see that. -Yoda

Definitely get an Arizona Gazetteer. Arizona is fun to cruise about. Fey canyon in Sedona is bitchin. Great vibe and not overly popular. I've camped all the way at the very end, up and to the right is a cool perch. I think the trail stops just a bit before that. Squaw Peak (they renamed it to something else recently) is one of the top four oldest rock formations in existence on the surface of the planet. Very old, very hard, very powerful rock--meditate there and let me know what you think. What the hell, watch the sunset too. The rock of Camelback and the Tempee area is nothing like it, so don't worry about them. Deer Falls on the north slope of the Grand Canyon is a must hike too. Give yourself a full day at the bottom to enjoy it. The guitar player for the Reign Kings is my childhood pal. They play in the Tempee area. Governor Janet is a family friend, but not close enough to bail you out of shit so try to behave. That's the tour! Thanks for inspiring many pleasant memories! -Yoda

I owned Gama for a bit. I have the original psychocybernetics around somewhere. I'll flip through it again when it surfaces. My take on all the new age, positive thinking stuff is that there is a key secret ingredient that all the positive thinking masters were blessed with, but many others must work to develop... you gotta feel good about the desire in question. If you are consistently excited about it and jazzed, it's gotta come to you. If one's emotions tilt towards fear or despair then nothing good can come. It's challenging to get past our negativities and that's where Bodri type meditation comes in handy--it's easier to stop thinking than it is to think positively. When you stop thinking you stop jamming the signal and allow a bit of the answer to come. jmho, Yoda

Hey Sexy, I've heard that the Mind Power program is very good. Plato would lend you his copy. I understand that it's pretty compatible with all the positive thinking stuff available on amazon for fifty sense a book. He probably throws in a breathing practice to do while doing an affirmation or something along those lines. If you get it, please review. -Yoda

I actually used to do a fair amount of tonglen. The meditation is very beautiful and it generates a spirit of resourcefulness and invincibility and softness, etc. This meditation only works with certain philosophical mindsets. Works with Trungpa's, works with Osho's, would definitely not work with Winn's nor the standard taoist quest for immortality paradigm. Nor does it work with a samsara/negativity based worldview as is found in much of Buddhism in my humble opinion. The bone crushing *samsara* of Buddhism is very hard on the lung spirit, kidney spirit, etc. Doing tonglen while feeling depressed by samsara or the belief that life is bad might be bad if you dwell on the fact that you are not helping the zillions of folks being reborn in the lower realms very much. That will work against the spirit of the meditation. You are tugging in two different directions. The successful Buddhists--the ones that have found real joy and happiness in the world are the ones who have won this battle. Tough fight. Interesting point, though. Many of Osho's meditations and philosophies would be rejected by most systems. The darkness stuff isn't too popular, nor is his tonglen, nor is his general rave reviews that life is good and selfishness is good, etc. Doing darkness meditations or tonglen with the view that life is good, that we don't have to resist evil and that we don't have to change ourselves or the world and suddenly those practices aren't dangerous anymore. Otherwise, they are devil's food! According to Osho, that is the essence of tantra--there is no badness... it's all goodness. -Yoda PS--now that I'm grocking the darkness thing, these cloudy days aren't bumming me out anymore/as much. Dark is good... Of course, I'll still hope for a clear sunrise!! I guess I'm hoping that darkness meditation will allow me to take in more sungazing--still parked at 15 minutes.

Here's a cool one from his meditation book: inhale golden light from the universe through the head and then filling the entire body. Exhale and imagine cool blue-black darkness coming in throught the feet and fill the entire body. After a few months, sexual energy will no longer pool at the bottom of the spine. Also, he reminded me of tonglen meditation--breathe in negativity from the world and breathe out love to the world. He says to play around with different techniques until you find a few that really click and do those. He did lots of darkness meditations during his schooling years and had a very hard time making it to class--they make you very lazy and accepting. Light meditations have the opposite effect. -Yoda

Sean, I would have put sungazing into the chi camp, but I'm open minded. Why jing? For a sungazer: Jing--sperm retention, and your exercise program chi--sungazing shen--meditation (circulation and quiet practices) for a non-sungazer: Jing--retention and exercise chi--sexual cultivation shen--meditation for a non-practitioner: exercise, sun exposure, and relaxation. -Yoda

Great thread! I've not held a real job since my priest gig gave out 10,000 years ago... How'd you manage that, Yoda? Simple... I made it my policy to die before the age of 30. So I could joyride my kidchi into the ground and repeat. I couldn't make further as I would invariably run out of sperm and die. This life, I ran into a High Lama who insisted on giving me a long life blessing and I took it without thinking it all the way through... So this time I just got depressed, but didn't die. Like what Ron said, you need a strategy to stay happy past 30. -Yoda

Cool! Can you order DMT online I wonder... So Taoists believe that we come from and return to the stars... and the big dipper stars correspond to chakras... and that darkness practice helps make sexual practices easier. (Osho says the same thing re: sexual practices--maybe I'll try some melatonin) Since sungazing, I've been ghastly about sexual practices--I'm not inclined to do them, when I do I suck at them, etc. I thought I could use sunchi to outrun the effects of jing loss. This might help. Sounds fun. I'll continue to mess with sitting in the dark to see what's up. -Yoda

Mrs Yoda has no idea what I'm up to either, if it's any consolation. Don't invest in training unless you are passionate about it. Better and cheaper to get on the job training. Maybe volunteer at a hospice, hospital, retirement home and see what you think and network from there. -Yoda