Yoda

Witch, Well said! I would consider your approach to be a main practice whereas this drill is just a 3 minutes a day, while in the shower kind of a thing. Your pal, Yoda

I'd say it's kundalini that is the tricky thing to deal with regardless of the particular practice mix. Gopi Krishna is the classic case study of the madness and symptoms that can come up if the kundalini chain reaction gets out of control. Any time you are doing kundalini exercises like ayp's spinal breathing, you have to be mindful of the problems that can arise and to back off the second anything does. advancedyogapractices.com is a great resource for anyone interested in grounding techniques and self pacing. AYP says to go slow and practice grounding techniques Here's a list: Back off or quit practicing, take walks, showers, hold a black rock, spend time outside, get some sunlight, have sex, massage your feet, do squats, jump, take a run, hug a tree, incorporate the principles of periodization into your training, back off/quit particular herbs or supplements, staring at a candle flame, praying for grounding, praying to the earth, "looking" into the center of the earth, adjusting the Vaastu/fengsui of your home, cleaning your home, carrying a black stone in your pocket, singing, dancing, eating meat, cooked tomatos or other heavy foods, eating more often and in greater quantities and reduce raw foods, make an angry post on taobums, shooting anger out of your eyes like in the 8 brocades, take some magnesium or minerals or clay etc... *anything* that makes you feel better... go by feel, not by any prescription. Reread alchemicaltaoism.com I know that Kundalini activity is tricky and that Kunlun sets up an type of energy flow that I'm not accustomed to from my past experience... so you won't see me doing spinal breathing anymore, for instance, but I'm not going to research exactly what gets messed up by trying it. I'll just take Max's word for it. If somebody is happy with their Kundalini practice, there's no need for Kunlun and vice versa, so no big deal.

I am of the opinion that one has to choose between Kunlun and kundalini/MCO type practices. Can't do both. But you can do stillness meditation and standing with Kunlun very safely and other practices like mantras can be done during the same 24 hour period, but just at different times of the day.

welcome to taobums!

I Rock on!! Welcome to taobums!

about darkness under the eyes. Doesn't that have something to do with capilaries breaking or something? I chanced upon that subject while googling one day and it seemed like an easy fix through either topical or supplements, but I forget the details but it sounded like an easy one for a google cure.

I would love a greater degree of searchability around here!!! After spinning off a separate Kunlun forum, I think this is the top priority. Sounds like Sean is a seriously busy guy, though, so I don't know where that leaves us. I think there is a tremendous amount of useful information here that doesn't get to see the light of day that it deserves. I like the thought that taobums could be *the* wiki of Asian esoteric practices one fine day.

Welcome to taobums! Definitely check out alchemicaltaoism.com. Personally, I like to contract the tailbone area and not messing with the PC area so much. I also think sexual benefits should be more of a secondary thing and not the main aim of practice, but that's just my opinion.

Second that. It's also very inspiring that you feel that Kunlun has helped your art, too. Last year, I decided I was going to be a writer. I even bought a special book to write in, dipped my pen in coffee and all the little tricks, but nothing happened! Good to know that a few years of Kunlun will fix the situation.

Gloria, I've been hoping for more long term Kunlun perspectives and experiences, so it's an honor to have you here! If you feel like unpacking the whole "duo" thing, please do. Did you actually do kundalini practices or did problematic kundalini activations come up through Kunlun alone? It sounds likely that Max and Chris and our taobum webmaster, Sean, will put together an exclusively Kunlun website to further reduce Kunlun/Kundalini interference. As you can tell, we fight like cats around here. Yours, Yoda

If you can shrink a big disease by 70% you'll have no problem shrinking the little dis-eases too. The fact that they are coming to your attention is a sign that they are next on the cutting block. Congrats on your achievement!

Oprah just gave the space for his new book on her book of the month club, but I think she had endorsed the PON too.

I had high hopes for RP based on his fund raising records, straw polls, and signage in the cities I visited. It turned out that he just has a disproportionate number of very ardent supporters, but not a large number of us. Sort of like the Howard Dean campaign. I'm not following the race too closely anymore, but I hope Obama beats Clinton and McCain wins on his side in order to leverage the best of the front runners.

I had a road trip like that and it all worked out. We thought it was pretty amusing that we couldn't find NYC! One of Cam's teachers once commented on this subject that "Eternity is a long time..."

So I've been fondly reminiscing about RJ and thinking about the Black Sun after watching Thunderbolt of the Gods where it was mentioned that the black space around the sun is way hotter and radiant than the visible sun itself and had to pull up an old RJ classic post. Anyone want to share other RJ gems, please do! RJ: OK, TO KEEP DA ALERGY AWAY I HAVE TO DRINK 3-4 CUPS O PISS A DAY. IF I STOP DRINKIN DA JUICE, DA ITCHIN N SNEEZIN SLOWLY CREEPS BACK. BUT IF I DRINK 3-4 CUPS, MY EYES CLEAR UP N ALL ITCHIN N SNEEZIN DISAPPEAR. AINT THAT COOL? FUCK DA DOCTORS!! I AM MINE OWN DOCTOR!! TWO NITES AGGO I WAS A-THINKIN ABOUT ALL DA SUNGAZIN TOPPIC RAIDES BY DA YODAMAN. SO I WENT TO SLEEP WITH DA INTENT O MEDDITATIN ON DA SUNGAZIN ISSUE IN ME DREAMS, TO GET A BETTER IDEA ABOUT IT. WELL WELL, AS SURE AS IT CAN GET I DREAMED I WAS SITTIN ON DA BEACH IN FULL LOTUS POSSITION N I STARTED GAZIN AT DA SUN THROUGH MY EYE-LASHES. THEN I KEPT STARIN AT IT WITH MY OPEN EYES. THEN DA SUN BLINDED ME N ALL I COULD SEE WAS DA BLACK OUTLINE O DA SUN. I CLODED MINE EYES N I STILL WAS SEEIN DA BLACK OUTLINE O DA SUN. SO I WAS BLINDED BUT ALL I WAS SEEIN WAS DA BLACK SUN. SO AFTER A MOMMENT O PANIC, I THOUGHT OK, NOW I AM GONNA STARE AT DA BLACK SUN. SO I WAS BLIND, IN A FULL LOTUS POSSITION N I WAS STARIN AT DA BLACK SUN INPRINTED IN MINE RETITNAS. SO AT THAT TIME I FELT I WAS SEEIN DA *SOUL* O DA SUN. WHILE DA SUN IS BRIGHT, DA SOUL O DA SUN IS DARK. MY FEELIN AFTER WAKIN UP IS, ALL PHYSICAL LIGHT BE ONLY A MEMMORY O DA TRUE CLEAR LIGHT. DA TRUE LIGHT BE DA INTELLECTUAL LIGHT O TOTAL AWARENESS. DA PHYSICAL LIGHT BE ALWAYS MIXED WITH DARKNESS. THATS WHY IF YA KEEP STARIN AT DA SUN, DA SUN WILL TURN BLACK. ONLY DA INFINNITE TAO BE INFINNITE LIGHT. RJ

Can't help you there, but welcome to taobums!

Well, actually, both my parents are lawyers and so are my brother and his wife. This apple did roll, though... I'll try to keep an eye peeled for drunken, rioting Cricket fans... I've heard stories!!

Satyagraha, AYP is advancedyogapractices.com there's a book and a forum online and it is *the* website for standard Hindu yoga and the many nuances it has. The website recommends balancing stillness practice with chakra practice, resting after meditation, doing grounding activities, and most importantly, reducing practice time if things get too weird. AYP guidelines seem hard to apply to Chinese practices like Kunlun or standing meditation, but reducing practice time, grounding the energy after practice and resting a bit before jumping back to daily life seem to be applicable. Most of AYP practices I'm not ready for, but it's good to know about them. TI, Just brainstorming... I've heard it said that there's a black sun out there within the normal sun... I was reminded of that when I watched "Thunderbolt of the Gods" recently and they said that the temperature of the surface of the visible sun is 6,000 degrees but that in the black space surrounding the sun "shines" at over a million degrees.

I think that this has been discussed before. Under amaroli I think. Pietro said that he knew someone who died from the practice, but I'm of the opinion that it's harmless and good for the head chakras, but I don't have long term experience with it. For anything far out and Hindu, advancedyogapractices.com forum is your best bet for more info. Depending on your gender, flexibility and endowment you can just hose your head out power-neti style, which would be cool to see on youtube. Good luck. Yoda

I was just reading about ancient Athens and it really struck me how similar their culture was to the modern American one and how we've taken it up to the next level. The Athenians had a lot of extra time and money to spend lots of time gossiping, preening, working out, playing, chatting, philosophizing and arguing... but every so often the war machine would carry everyone off to do battle here and there. They weren't considered the best soldiers, but their money made for a really spiffy navy which could usually handle it or resupply the city during siege, etc. (Males would spend 18-20 in the military and be on reserve until they were 60. Average longevity for males was 44 and females earlier.) Now days, we have all the leisure time and the war machine going simultaneously and no danger of Spartans showing up on the border or anything. Gravy situation. (Reading history really makes me appreciate what I have!!) One interesting thing, it appears as if the most important things in Athenian life were health, looks, and money (and military victory when that sort of thing comes up.) Where's love and family??? I haven't been able to decipher whether they simply didn't write about it or if they weren't as into it. I read a quote taken from a trial of an Athenian who said, in an attempt to make his family look proper, that the females of his household hardly even ever saw the males. That's pretty wild!!! Sounds like they weren't as into love and family. Basic home design did separate males and females and their socializing was completely separate. And those Spartans... they were a totally crazy crew... boys would be drafted into harsh military training at age 7... But the women were ignored to the point of being fairly liberated and could do whatever, wear whatever, etc as long as they were harsh on their young children. Some Spartan women engaged in hard core sports. Wild times.

Cam's Mom wears combat boots!!

Falling on the floor is a great attainment!!! Good to know what I'm shooting for!!

So Max isn't a big fan of the huge city, but it would be fun to get him out to the east coast. Anyone have good ideas of a nice, small town setting that would be fairly convenient for everyone? I keep coming up with Charlottesville, VA and Athens, GA. Charlottesville has a nice, gentle vibe, a super pretty drive to get there and is a very easy drive from DC and is drivable from Philly and NYC if people can take some time off work or be willing to skip the Friday night lecture. Athens is within an hour and a half from Atlanta and is also another great setting. I'm thinking that we have more Kunlun interested people in DC and NYC than Atlanta, though.

I like it, thanks!

welcome to taobums!