Yoda

Interesting-thanks! Like walking over hot coals, the practice can hurt you if you are too extreme or are afraid of it. Also, the basic practice can be toned down to keeping the eyes closed, just watching the sunrise itself then looking at the ground towards the sun, etc and pick up on much of the benefit. Just like they say, the energy charges up the solarplexus which is very supportive of the emotions and of other practices. But I think it's important to put out very serious warnings about the practice and that it's not for everyone (anyone???) Maybe Hira at solarhealing.com is overstating the practice in a way that may be dangerous. Could be. Living off sunlight is a seriously far out claim, after all. As Pavel says, "kettlebells can be EXTREMELY dangerous--use your head, Comrade!" Let Uncle Yoda take point on this one! If Sean wants, he can even delete these posts, and I can clam up on it and that would be fine. Didn't know about the ironmind attachments for the COC--thanks! Just working on getting better at pistols, maybe gripwork in a casual manner, but am not ready for the one arm pullup for awhile. "Old Jack" on dragondoor trained himself on them at age 65--so there's plenty of time! -Yoda

I had a dream last night where I was doing pistols for reps effortlessly with my left leg. Wow! That's a goal of mine--to do them like I'm a kid just playing with them. Lots of earth energy. Good to do a set of them or cossacks, or airbornes b4 meditation. Grip strength. That's another big one. Pavel says that grip training stimulates the entire brain/body organism due to all the nerve links to the hand. If one were to only train the grip--just have one lying on your desk or in the car you'll gain strength throughout the entire body. You educate your brain how to generate tension and focus. Mrs Yoda can close a Captains of Crush #1 gripper w/ no training--she's definitely a freak!! When I first got one, I could close it, but I had been doing many months of kettlebells which really develops the grip. I got a #2 and begged her to train on it, even Pavel asked her to start, that she might be able to be a female grip star --I had planned to exibit her during Highland games and so forth but she didn't show much interest. I never got the technique book on how to close the grippers, but I got fairly close on closing the #2 before I put strength training on ice. With WSM and sungazing, I'm getting more operational energy and want to do some strength training with it. The magic of strength training is that unlike most other endeavours, it only requires a few minutes a day over the years for incredible results if you follow Pavel's approach. So it's a great side hobby. While I've maintained most of my pistol strength and one arm/one leg pushup strength , I've lost my grip strength. I can barely close a #1. It's back on my desk! -Yoda

If you aint a Buddhist, you don't have to worry about it!! Max and Plato are beyond our help, but you're doing fine, just talk to your master about the birds and bees, he'll set you straight. Even w/in Buddhism there have been very high level Buddhists from all the major traditions that got lucky, and what was Jesus doing hanging out with prostitutes anyway??? Use the force, Jedi! -Yoda

I vote for Ron's approach and even Bodri has said nice things about Jolan Chang--could be a nice compromise. Happiness is an asset for making progress, so it might could be a net positive thing even from a pure Buddhist perspective. BUT... if you insist on duking it out, I have read from HRM and several followers that sexual desire "just goes away" at intermediate levels of sungazing. That has not been the case for me, but I'm only at day 7. I think the energy of SG might be related to that "fire visualization" practices I've seen mentioned by Bodri to reduce sexual desire. -Yoda

Nice. I'll try debraining! For the first time in years, I'm actually sitting and meditating--WSM has made it fun again! My practice looks like it's shaping up with ZZ standing/sungazing in the day and WSM at night w/ everything else on ice. -Yoda

In a year or so? You are more bullish than I! I'm extremely optimistic: I do believe HRM, and I believe that he is allowing himself to get tested by western docs, so I do think that the cat will get out of the bag--that there could be a real revolution in thinking, at least within spiritually minded circles, that will really help people progress more quickly in their practice life. I told Mrs. Yoda that I've finally done it--I've found a hobby where there are absolutely no books written on the subject!! The risk factor was an unanticipated bonus! My first goal with this practice, is to make my thoughts more consistently "sunny". My favorite sentence at www.solarhealing.com is the one where he says that negative thinking will simply "go away." -Yoda

I'm stoked you like the practice! It's a gear that I've never experienced before. Those are great prices too--my little 4th quality 33" Mr Thrifty is decent quality--nice bones, the floating ribs are a bit tweaked but it's okay. I'd love to hear your reviews on WSM. -Yoda

We got it all! I don't think any of us are married exclusively to one particular teacher, and even within one teacher's system there's a lot of picking and choosing. Not every practice Bodri or Chia laid out is right for everyone. I'm doing WSM, but not So Cream, I'm doing primordial but not weightlifting with my nuts, etc. Spyrelx is right--there's a lot of direct "jacking up the chi" practices in Bodri's system: 9 bottle--it turns you beat red after all--that's revving the jets in my book! Japa practice is also a very directive practice too. In general, Bodri's stuff is gentler--like WSM--you aren't *moving* chi, but you are igniting, concentrating, collecting, and it allows even distribution which sets the stage for the next phase of abiding in sunyata. -Yoda

iherb.com and pbiv.com Nattokinase--between what Bodri says, this forum's reviews, and my limited experience of it--it's awesome. It feels a bit like gentle niacin. Give some to your girlfriend/wife an hour or so before going to bed. (Bodri doesn't mention that trick--that's a taoist application!) Nature's Pure Body--Cameron says it's good, Bodri says it's good...I'm assuming it's good, but it hasn't gotten rave reviews from the Bodriites around here that Natto has and I haven't really tried it yet. I haven't been doing the "nine bottle breathing" pranayama but that's another one. I think Plato cut and pasted the practice somewhere. The essence is to breath in deeply and hold it as long as you can while in a relaxed state and repeat a total of 9 times. 1xday. In my mind, the above with WSM are the "Basic Bodris" that even non-Buddhists can groove on. -Yoda 8)

Max, I'm glad you'll check into it! Do you buy HRM's no-eating claim? I do, but I'll have Ron kick his ass if he's lying. As Ron will tell you, it's unhealthy to kick a guru or even an ex-guru's ass-- definitely contract it out. Actually, cloudiness might be an asset at least in the beginning--by HRM's method it takes a full 30 days of daily practice just to watch a five minute sunrise. It's been cloudy a couple of days here, but even just watching the clouds in the approx direction of the sun I'm picking up some nice vibes from that. I'm allowing myself to spend more time than the HRM 10seconds method if I'm 'cloud gazing' which turns it into a standing meditation practice (Sunyogi Umasankar does it sitting) and getting used to this here footbuzz phenomenon. I feel that "I" am up to handle more energy, but physically, I need to ease very slowly into the practice. Yesterday, I had my 5 year old daughter look at the clouds (Even Mrs. Yoda said it was safe) to see if she could feel the chi, and she kept falling over laughing hysterically saying that it was very funny chi coming from the cloud. Now, I have no idea if she thinks my new hobby is goofy or if she really got a rush from it, but she laughed so hard I'd like to think that it was geniune. -Yoda 8)

Here's a cool link about "sunrise yoga": http://www.videlinata.ch/w_sol03_gb.html#lever -Yoda

Not much is said in general on sungazing, but HRM the solarhealing dude says that sungazing is important to activate the pineal and the other glands, also sun on the big toe boosts the pineal. His pineal gland is said to have been scanned and several mm larger than average. Once you've established healthy gland functioning, then you can do darkness work w/o harm or deterioration. But he says it's harmful to do before this stage and is recommended for only extremely serious yogis. There's really not much on this subject. My friend, Theo, is off to India to find the 37yr old sunyogi who is said to outdo HRM by not sleeping and drinking either! What catches my attention is that both of these guys have made some serious attainments in just a few years (if these claims are true). I'll pass on the report if Theo is able to track him down. I'm hoping he'll have a chance to swing through Egypt and scare something up on this subject as well. I like practicing in the light and in the dark. -Yoda

BobD- Since you are a fellow Bodri fan you should check into some of his other innovations. Like Nattokinase. If you haven't tried it, put it on the list. You have to take it for a few days to really feel it. Just one bottle has long term benefits, so it's not a long term expense. Same thing with Nature's Whole Body program that's sitting on my shelf. Right now, I'm halting them until my practice finds some stability. Bill strongly endorses both products as meditation and health boosters. -Yoda 8)

Good work!! It sort of makes the inner smile an official part of the practice to get the blessing of Bodri. 8) Very high praise, too! If it's daytime I go outside/to a window for a few seconds to charge up on solar energy to better shine my bones. In general, sunning creates brighter bone practice. -Yoda

So they mention in zhanzhuang that practicing outside is better. I thought it was b/c the air is fresher, but now I think it's b/c you can catch the sun's energy. My ZZ practice is more consistently high voltage if I'm using any of the various sungazing methods plus a groovy foot buzz that I've not experienced before. Like with sperm retention, I wonder why no ZZ teacher had brought it up before??? Coming from a Tibetan tradition, Taoism/Chia etc is badly organized and that can lead to problems BUT it's very open--at least you can find the answers if you look for them. In the Tibetan tradition you are on a need to know basis but it's harder to get in over your head or fly off on a huge tangent. -Yoda

Here's a free 83p ebook on sungazing--mostly FAQ but does mention variations such as sunbathing, looking at the sun through closed eyes, etc. He's very fixated on reducing and eliminating eating and sleeping. Claims that the brain works better on zero food, etc. If for some reason that does not work: > 1. Go to www.lifemysteries.com. > 2. Click on Forums > 3. Select: Sungazing (you may have to register and set up a login ID) > 4. Go to: Files and Downloads. Select Living on Sunlight e-book. > Click on download. > This sunrise was cloudy but I stared at the clouds and did ZZ standing--another really good foot buzz. this evening did a very short ZZ standing while facing the sun but not looking at it--it was about 45min before sunset. I'm going to try the add another ten second per day program right at sunrise and treat the sunset as a makeup session if the sunrise is cloudy. Treat it as a modified standing practice, see what's up. Then chase it with some WSM. -Yoda

contact [email protected] It's been donated to taobums, I don't need it back, just cc it to the next request. -Yoda

A non-taobum friend has it and I've asked him to send it to Jsrit whereupon it can stay in taobum territory. I'm not sure if it's at jsrit's yet. -Yoda

Interesting, isn't it? I've never seen anything like it. Beautiful Skin has just the steps of the practice but not the discussion/history section. Max suggests spending half the time on the emptiness phase. There's another version Bodri e-mailed out where instead of turning to dust you visualize burning up in a ball of energy with the mantra, "Om Ah Bee Lahh Hong! Chit!" to emptiness. Totally badass! -Y

Many of the sungazing websites mention gazing or sunbathing while standing with bare feet. There might be something to that--this morning I was watching the sunrise in the comfort of my car and this sunset while standing barefoot. Quite a difference! the morning felt like it was filling up my head and it was nice but the sunset was extremely groovy--I felt the energy charge up my head but then flow down into the bottom of my feet and it felt great. Also, it took only 5 minutes of standing barefoot to get into the groove of the experience. I did a basic holding the ball in front of ltt stance and looked in the general direction of the sun (about 30 degrees away) during the last 45 minutes of direct sunlight. I looked below the sun, to the left, above and to the right switching every minute or two. Three hours later my feet are still tingling nicely. :shock:Yoda:shock:

Thanks! So if you were practicing WSM for one hour, how long would one shoot for the last phase? -Yoda

In the Tibetan tradition, that last phase is not where one hangs out for most of the practice. It's my impression that phase I is 3%, phase II is 96%, and the wrapup phase is 3% in terms of amount of time spent. I've been treating it as a wrapup and I prefer the ball of fire conclusion that Bill sent out in his email recently. Thanks for any thoughts! -Yoda

That's great that your Dad is into it--it's unusual for somebody of that generation to experiment with this kind of thing. What I've done for the last sunset and sunrise, just take in the whole scene the way most people do--direct, gentle sunlight is hitting my retina but I'm not focusing on it. Seems to be safe enough. Approx 40 minutes each. Subjective results after two sessions: my brain feels brighter and my WSM visualizations are brighter and more energized too. THe fact that I actually woke up to do this in the cold on 6 hours of sleep on a weekend is an achievement in itself, too. An idea from solarhealing.com--keep a two liter bottle of water in the sun all day then drink it for solar charged water. I'll experiment with this area. I'm able to achieve moodiness even while being great with practice, retention, etc and searching my memories, I've been consistently happy during phases where I've worked construction, been outdoors a lot, etc even without any hotshot practices going on, so this might be an important component for me. Obviously, I'll soon fold in WSM and standing at the same time. (I've already folded in WSM and primordial--I just set up two visualizations at the same time--it works! The Tibetans do simultaneous mandalas/visualizations all the time, so I've known about this, but have never tried it before. -Yoda

the solarhealing.com dude says that sunbathing eliminates the need for food! Reportedly, many have tried his course and said that they still need to eat. Don't worry, Yoda will solve this one! -Y

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