Spotless

It should be noted that a good portion of meditators will go off the deep end - just as many as those who have a drinking problem or any other addictive bent. If it is approached with just a small amount of study and caution - those with addictive personalities can actually cultivate their way out of addictions and the addictive bent entirely. Given the lack of knowledge regarding metaphysics in general in the west - we often jump in like a person on vacation - we want it all in a short time - we want the good stuff NOW. High vibration spacy meditation practice makes us feel like we are getting somewhere - and it has all the dangers mentioned above by -K- . The practice (of meditation, yoga, breathing etc) by and of itself lends us to a higher vibration even if we are practicing lower chakra meditations. Energy movement should include all of the chakras most of the time - specialized meditation is typically not focused on for at least 2 years (though I am not one to advocate timelines). It is extremely helpful to have a good teacher and group. Even the relatively large number of well respected but poor teachers are still very helpful in the beginning for helping students to practice the basics.

You can also imagine Earthforce energy coming up through the soles of your feet from the center of the earth or at least 100 ft down. You can draw it up into your first chakra and have it mix with the cosmic energy coming down through your crown, down the meridians along the spine and into the first chakra. Only bring up two % of the earth energy up the front channels and have it continue up and out the crown with about half bifurcating out the arms from the 4th chakra. The other 98% of the earth energy can descend back down to the center of the earth directly from your first chakra. This will eliminate the spacy problem. It is a great way to meditate in an overall balanced way. Sitting in a chair or in any good meditation posture.

Speaking from very clear experience as well - I agree. While we do experience things quit differently, the two are simply not the same.

I agree with this assessment of Crystal use - I would go further - you can really do some harm very easily with crystals - it can take a very long time to recover from. Most of the people that sell them have an energetic signature that looks very much the same as a "speed freak". Also - the use of Red as a vibration for energizing oneself would be very disorienting and pretty much the wrong vibration to work with. For the most part, I would suggest that instead of utilizing any color for an intense cleansing or change - think of what the vibration should 'mean" and it will automatically be the color you are looking for. Very few experts have even a clue what colors mean - it is practically wholly incorrect to attach a meaning to a color.

Great question about meridians - perhaps we should start a post?

Along this line of vibrational study you may also wish to try the following: Imagine a color vibration at the crown of your head. You might try a specific color vibration or a vibration bouquet of an approximate color vibration. I make this distinction because of the amount of judgement we tend to have regarding many colors. Much of it is mis-information and in any case - it is narrowing. You can also look at your crown to see the different colors that are associated with different mantras. Sound healing is not really so different from any sort of healing (healing in the sense of transcending a knotted pattern to one of a new paradigm) We hold a vibration (of any kind) and it will reinforce existing patterns and or "pop" obstructions to a full resonance. If you puck a string it will cause other strings to vibrate within a range of harmonies. If something is sitting on those strings it will tend to be vibrated off or it will stifle the vibration sometimes altogether. Moving the clutter on those strings is generally what is "cultivation". Habituation to our genetic propensities, cultural propensities and the "story" we have created is our sleep waking dream world - waking up from this is what most of this is all about. Mantras can vivify particular chakras and they can also help in "correctly" routing energies. Pain pictures in our space may have our energies re-routed around them or we may compress them into oblivion (for a time). chakras. We come to the table with all sorts of notions about Chakras - with huge amounts of mis-information - childish notions of what this one or that one does. Mantras, color meditations, Qi Gong exercises, Fasting, self-observation, intentional breathing, intentional mindfulness - these all will bring out awareness of the chakras. Partly because you will discover where you are centered - what chakras you tend to wear in your life and perhaps what chakras you tend to avoid. Learn to work on the full spectrum of vibrations - become neutral to all of them - none is better than another. In the beginning of practice it is very exciting to vibrate in the stratosphere - this makes the miraculous seem nearer - like we are really learning something. We may however be learning an addiction that is not helpful at all - intermix vibration - the lower chakras and the male body in particular hold great power in the more amplified lower vibrations and you will find the awareness of your body/spirit connection grounding. This grounded coupling of awareness is ultimately why you have a physical body - otherwise you would not be here.

Their is so much in this posting that is correctly drawn and clearly arrived at - it masterfully ferreted out a great number of handy techniques for mechanically remastering "naturalness", and I do not mean "mechanically" in a bad light. ""Although it CAN be an immediate miracle cure, I think energetic healing generally is only temporary because you can fix something up but the persons learned natural responses, eating, lifestyle, and thinking habits can revert energetic healing back to it's pre-healed stage very quickly. (My understanding of energic healing is putting the energy fields within the body back into balance). Days, Weeks, Months, or even just a couple of hours and the energetic can be out of whack again. If it's only been a short term problem then the balancing could be more stable and last a long time, but if it's been a long term problem and a habit or natural respone is deeply ingrained (a phobia for example, or ocd) then the habit of having this reaction needs to be addressed and this is the hardest part."" The above hits it squarely on the head - where it lacks is in what appears to be the subtle overall assumption that everyone just wants to "get healed and on with their life". Kind of like we are cars and when we get dented we just want the dent fixed - that we are not interested in learning how to avoid dents or learning real things about our predicament. Like the alcoholic that just wants to recover from hitting the tree with his car and get back to work. This is not always the case. For the most part - Western medicine and the Western patient do not attempt to heal themselves - but ONLY to fix themselves. You have high cholesterol so you take a medicine - (a medicine that says on the label: Will cause liver damage). You have a Hip Replacement because 20 yrs earlier you were put on medication that created bone/joint corruption. ""To me the energy is more like the icing on the cake. If the physical can adjust something between 0 and 10 using integers (full numbers), then the energetic can adjust 2.0 either side of a physical adjustment anywhere along that scale at 0.1 intervals. Energy is more refined and can balance to a higher level, but doesn't have the guts, yin, or same pushing power that the physical has to make big changes. To me energy is the intelligence to show you what needs to be done, it is supporting and nourishing, but it's easier and more effective to attend to the real meat and potatoes of it in the physical."" We can all look at a stubbed toe as a simple stubbed toe. But after you have stubbed your toe a thousand times you start to want to know why you keep stubbing your toe. Obviously your physical toe is hitting something hard and the physical pain is very real and so covering your toes better and not moving quite so much will indeed decrease the number of stubbed toes. BUT - then is dawns on you that this is how "Old" people start becoming Old before their time - they retreat from the world in order to stop the physical problems. The "real meat and potatoes" never were "physical". The path of the perfectionist is to construct a pole up their ass until they have a perfect posture, perfect diet and perfect mind. The result of this path is a very healthy well skinned quietly judgmental fully insulated robot. The physical is the icing on the cake - it is the wave on the waters surface - a nice curl on a sunny day - it is enjoyed only in moments. Moments that are rare because the :energy" is where ALL the action is and even those trying to understand that lose track of it - mesmerized by the waves. You speak about the various physical means to implement healing - about the quantum leap when compared to the energetic - such as a Hip Transplant. It is unequivocally true - and I am a huge fan of this - but it is not a quantum leap - it is just a tool and one Western Medicine is sooooo hampered by. Eastern Medicine is light years ahead of Western Medicine for one inarguable reason: Eastern Medicine incorporates both. You can have your transplant and use acupuncture as the anesthetic Western Medicine cannot come to grips with the deep ocean - it studies what floats on top exclusively. It makes dams and reroutes waterways. Puts up concrete and strings together barges. It appears miraculous over the last 200 years but make no mistake - most medicine comes from century old plant knowledge. You mention that you feel your pulse (I am assuming you are speaking of the 20 something pulses that one can examine as an Eastern practitioner of healing) - that you feel your organs - doctors don't do this in the West - but they do in the East. And you don't come to these abilities without closing your eyes. I have strayed from my point because you have not argued with the idea that diet and exercise and physical habits and thought habits are the habituation's that make energetic healings not "hold" - and indeed it is these habituation's that slow or stop most healing of any kind. But you then continue on to a conclusion that is short sighted though the foundation of your reasoning is not fully misguided: ""The physical is right there infront of you, it's plain and easy to see. Using whatever is at your means to help you is good too though, if you have good energy skills. I have seen others organ energies and felt them within my self, seen auras, etc, but that what at a time when i spent hours of time spent in meditation, time i just don't have, and am not interested in spending in seated meditation any more. Now i meditate throughout my normal activities, blended it into my life so i don't waste lots of time sitting with my eyes shut. I now realise that it is easier to heal by dancing, dancing through life doing different activities and eating different foods i am attracted to that balance me automatically. It is the easiest and best, but we are set in our ways and want to continue to do what is making us ill, even though we know it to be the case. We seek difficulty."" At some point you will look back at the above statement and it will look like a past life from many years ago where you took a fork on the road - a clear headed completely logical fact based decision to take what turns out to be a long detour. You will come back to this fork and open your old tool kit - and you will look at some of the "corny" stuff that was so effective in bringing about your most valuable assets. Whole chunks of your story, your supporting arguments, your mindset will fall away.

An acquaintance recently said she was not able to attend a Qi Gong class and texted me that she was in LA because her mothers life was in the balance. I asked her mothers name and that was all she gave me. I was not able to look in on her for about 4 days. I was able to see her clearly on her hospital bed. - she appeared to be in relatively stable condition - at first I hovered around her and then I plugged into her feet and sent an intense electric blue surge of energy up her legs and into her body at large. It was very intense and appeared to go throughout her body. After that I was drawn to her head area and looked deep inside - i saw a clear spreading of dark energy from mid-center of her head on the right side. very dark brown to lighter dark brown. I kept thinking stroke or something along that line. I passed this information on the the mothers daughter and she said her mother had a major stomach issue which required emergency surgery. I did not notice any problems in that area - I believe the mother was already past that issue though she had swelling and infection concerns. Within weeks it became apparent that her mother was suffering from some dementia - (and small ministrokes are often associated with surgery). The dementia problem has now become a very big concern at 4 weeks from my visit.

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An acquaintance recently said she was not able to attend a Qi Gong class and texted me that she was in LA because her mothers life was in the balance. I asked her mothers name and that was all she gave me. I was not able to look in on her for about 4 days. I was able to see her clearly on her hospital bed. - she appeared to be in relatively stable condition - at first I hovered around her and then I plugged into her feet and sent an intense electric blue surge of energy up her legs and into her body at large. It was very intense and appeared to go throughout her body. After that I was drawn to her head area and looked deep inside - i saw a clear spreading of dark energy from mid-center of her head on the right side. very dark brown to lighter dark brown. I kept thinking stroke or something along that line. I passed this information on the the mothers daughter and she said her mother had a major stomach issue which required emergency surgery. I did not notice any problems in that area - I believe the mother was already past that issue though she had swelling and infection concerns. Within weeks it became apparent that her mother was suffering from some dementia - (and small ministrokes are often associated with surgery). The dementia problem has now become a very big concern at 4 weeks from my visit.

Lots of great questions and many involved in the healing arts here. I'll do this backwards and tell of a recent healing that I did. I was not expecting to do a healing, reading or anything - it just came to my mind to look into a friends comment: A friend had commented that his father was dying and that it was a difficult passage - I asked him his fathers name. About a week later I was in a relatively long meditation and about 3hrs into it I remembered my friends comment so I looked in on his father and he still appeared to be alive. Quit suddenly and with ease I was in his fathers hospital room and speaking with his father as spirit. He was very lively and happy and forthwith in a valence of about 45 - someone who I would enjoy as a friend. His father was ready to go - but their was an energy we could not talk about that was definitely still holding him close - at first I got a P sound and then very clearly Patricia. I had not done any work like this for quite some time so it was refreshing to have it all moving along clearly - but doubt can be an element. I called my friend up on a lark that he would still be up around 10 and it turned out he was in his fathers room at the time. I told him what I saw and asked him somewhat timidly about a Patricia and I got dead silence on the other end. Patricia was his older sister and his father was the only one that called her Patricia - they had not spoken in 4 years and she had not come to see him during his time of leaving. I told him that I would bring the issues into the present and that his father was doing great. I then went back and brought the spiritual agreements between the father and Patricia into present time - symbolically like a handful of straw. Breaking the straw and seeing it burn and dissipate. His father left quite soon after that - though his body still took some time to finally rest. (my friend was very surprised by the whole event - he did not know I did any of this stuff at all)

Lots of Alec Baldwin and his wife

I have not done a search for this - but I am aware that many strokes every year can be attributed to yoga practice/meditation practice. The notion that you should not move from a painful position is nonsense and dangerous. Head stands are also able to create problems - (I used to do them everyday). No something talked about much. Sport "Yoga" is not yoga but has become so much of what is thought to be Yoga here in the West.

Great posting - thank you - like this part above in particular. I have been involved in only a few fasts with friends or relatives - in all cases that I was involved. they did the fast as I recommended including enemas and all of them experienced the fast pretty much the same as I do. My mother was about 70 and she felt very good on the 4th day. (she did a juice fast - I recommended that for toxicity reasons). This is a lady that smokes cigars from time to time. My other friends were all in their 40s and none of them had eaten well or been teetoetelers or non-smokers or drugless. During the fast all of those that were smokers had to stop smoking, if they drank they had to stop, if they were coffee people they had to drop it, if they like black tea they had to drop it, if they like illegal drugs and other drugs they had to stop them (with few exceptions) and none of them had a problem with these things and all of them were astonished at how much energy they had during the fast and how great they felt. The majority of those that fast do not appear to be very well prepared mentally. Fasting in this country is very different than fasting in say India. Also - very few seem able to do the enema thing here. Personally I just can't imagine not doing it for my fasting. I have tried to imagine doing the salt thing but conceptually I can't get past what I originally learned and the fact that I have always had excellent "above average" results. The state that you mentioned that I quoted above - it is perhaps the main reason I go on a fast. I don't fast for health reasons or detox - though that is a byproduct.

Regarding Positive - Negative and Neutral: Think : Hot Cold Tepid Think Don't Like Do Like Not Identified I think it is good I think it is bad I do not have an opinion (or better yet) It is Negative energy is not bad energy Positive energy is not good energy Think breath in breath out Neutral energy is the closest to what we might want to call "good energy". Almost all "love energy" has nothing to do with love. Virtually all "negative energy" is simply a vibration that is being judged. Black and White thinking is identified thinking. You may see energy that is "bad" and it may be another persons answer to their growth - it may be the most positive energy to enter their life. yin and yang - do you view them as bad and good? Neutrality is NOT tollerance It is no inertia It can be said that if you truly reach this state - you will be at once enlightened.

I would not recommend synchronizing my energy with one that I am healing. Their physical space is not yours and synchronizing is going to put you in trance. Start with Your house is your house - and their house is their house. I will assume they have asked for the healing - in other words - they said - "my roof is leaking" can you help me. Then you look at the persons house and say "I found the leak - would you like me to work on it?" They say "yes" and you let them know what progress you are making. When the work is finished - you let them know - you pull all of your energy out of their space if you had any in there to begin with and remove any of their energy from your space. It would be best if you are doing your healing/energy work with cosmic energy and not your own energy. When I start a healing I say Hello to the spirit - this often transforms the entire space of the person. Specifically I used to make a point of clarifying their space and mine. I start healings and I end healings - very clearly - I do not take them back home with me. If you do your healing work by matching energy and becoming one in trance - you will find health problems common. Save the idea of "universal oneness and love" for later - this is very premature at this point - and completely unneccessary. Channeling is a way of healing that I would not recommend. It is a very easy path to a false destination. It works, but quick-sand is everywhere.

I don't work with it anymore - If i were to bring in a being for healing purposes I would not be in a trance state. I would limit them to my hand chakras or limited access. It has not occurred to me to bring in a being for quite a long time until this question. Typically I do not want to be in a trance state. If I am doing some healing/energy work on someone, trance is not necessary - I can go where I want from my chair and watch what I do - I am able to let myself go and it is much more intense now. My young son plugs into me fairly openly but I have a clear sense of when he is in my head - my wife does the same - but this is not trance - they are attention points.

Trance and other beings - I did not bring this topic up because it is such a large topic.I have extensive knowledge in this area. One of the reasons that trance states are rightfully regarded with caution is the ease of interaction with other beings - interactions that you are not necessarily very aware of or aware of at all. I have personally witnessed more sincere seekers of the truth go off the deep-end working in Trance states and with beings and mediumship than in any other endeavor. Their is nothing wrong with trance states per se - it is a state one can be in and we often are - it is possible to argue that for most of our lives we are in a trance state - a state where we are highly suggestible to anything that supports our "story" and identifications. However - that said and not meaning to beat a dead horse: You may find that in a trance state you are able to allow a more lenient access to your space to beings who would like to work with you in and through your body. In doing so - they will often accommodate themselves to your space by clearing out stuck energies, raising the vibrations in specific areas or generally, and in many cases rearranging pathways that better suit their view of what you / they favor. Please understand the following points - you own your body and so you own the karma - they do not own the karma that you allow for them in your body. No being in the entire universe has even one ounce or shred of seniority over your body - and for that matter - you are a human - quite a special being you are. Virtually every being that will interact with you in this way is being done a huge act of openness and kindness on your part - it is not the other way around. 99.9% of the books written in trance and attributed to an "Angel" are either written by the actual persons higher self or by a being transcribing wisdom from the actual persons akashic records. Most people cannot have themselves but they can have an "Angel" - some "other" being. I preface with these observations because if you wish to work with beings in a trance state - you can set the ground rules and if they are not totally in agreement with your rules - tell them to take a hike! Your space - Your body - is your house - prior to letting them enter - you can tell them the ground rules like: Take off your shoes before you enter - do not move things around unless I ask you to - when you leave I expect you to take all of your energy with your and to put everything back the way you found it unless I have asked you to do otherwise. Beings can take any velance suitable to your predispositions - they can appear as a human, a ball of light, an angel, a fairy or what ever works for their intention. If you are willing, they can play with your space in amazing ways - it is just as easy to dupe you as heal you. If you proceed, I suggest becoming as clear and neutral as you can prior to going into a trance state. Set the ground rules with the beings - perhaps only allowing them into your hands or shoulders and arms at first. Speaking with them even if for you it is pretending to do so - it is very real and you will know this in time. When you are coming out of trance - do so very clearly - and them speak to them - ask that they fully disengage from your space. Tell them to put everything back just as it was - all settings to your natural settings - except those areas you may have asked them to heal. Specifically state that all agreements that you have made with them are now over and completed. In other words - show them the front door and say goodby. Just like a guest - you don't just allow them to hang out and come and go on their own. And you don't let them leave dirty dishes and food on the floor - or rearrange the furniture. At the end of a session with a being or group of beings, it is not uncommon to feel a surge of energy as you come back into your general space. For one thing - they have probably revved your space up considerably. Secondly, if they were doing energy work they did so unencumbered by a lack of seeing stuck energy that you may resist seeing and therefore hold. Some of these being are highly specialized - watching them work will often show you how to work - very fast and with no effort. In most cases as you become better at this - you will find that you are much better at it than they are - but you may not know this for some time. In any event - the exchange is exciting and you are actually working and talking with beings without bodies! Pretty cool stuff - and validating.

I have done a considerable amount of healing work. The forms I use requires no effort and are best done in as neutral an energy space as you can bring yourself to. If you can see the energy of the person then you are looking for areas where energy is stuck or you may be using Knowing and you work on those areas which need work. For the most part - you are moving out stuck energy or allowing energy to move through an area again. If you do not see - you will be happily surprised to find that from the very start - you can feel stuck energy - it will be the "cold" area or the "fuzzy dead" area or "static area", or "void area". In the beginning you pretend to see your energy field moving out from your hands somewhat like wide diameter lasers - moving stuck energy in the persons space out of the way and smoothing in the persons own energy to those areas. You are not really infusing them with your energy - you are adjusting their energy patterns to healthy full patterns again. This requires no effort on your part and you do not leave with any loss of energy nor are you intermixing their energy with yours. As you progress - everything changes - mainly - you come to "know" that your seeing is actually how you really do steer your energy. You come to understand it is not pretending. If you progress to the point of seeing clairvoyantly - you will find the next step - remote healing is actually very easy - remote viewing, remote healing all roll into one. Speaking to being often becomes the more important step - after that everything may take its own course. I am not ready to write a book on this just now (but I do have about 10 chapters done).

The subtlety of compassion might be seen in the word or vibration of "neutrality". Most "compassion" appears as identification - it is not much different that "hate" or jealousy. We can see a poor person and our reaction tends to be just as habituated as our reaction might be to say "a person driving around in a Hummer". Which is more sad - a spotless being with a truly phenomenal physical body cut off from "being" by total identification with power? or - a spotless being with a truly phenomenal physical body cut off from the "being" by total identification as a victim? Both have the possibility to awaken from their sleep - be jarred from their identification. One may have developed a vibration that attracts things and he sees the world as his oyster, what he will endure to awaken him my be the loss of a child. The other may be on a path of awakening, and he is being beaten down every time he gets up - because that is the way he hopes to finally wake up. If you travel you can see that in some areas the earth energy field is extremely vibrant and in others its like walking in stone. The peoples energy is just as different - in some areas the chakras are alive and vibrant in many of the people. In other areas most of the people only function in the lower 3 chakras. Any given person offers every reason to feel compassion for - whatever their identification is - how much of their story they believe in - are invested in - the robotics run the full gambit from deep superstition and distrust to blatant in your face "my way or the highway". If you are able to see the person behind the eyes and say hello to them - their is no difference between those considered successful and those with bare feet. Both will be equally surprised that you are saying hello to them. If you try to give to one who has quite a bit of "success" you may well get a "whack" of energy thrown at you, and equally if you try to give to one who has had "little success" you may have to pull them off of you. Try looking at the "fat" person without any judgement or a maimed person without any judgement, or an "Ugly"person without any judgement. or a disheveled person without any judgement. Most compassion is a judgement. Sometimes action on that judgement - typically thought-forms emanating from you to them - good - bad - full of advice - a complete tirade - soft - harsh. I don't think real compassion is possible if you have inertia in your seeing. The less you have of inertia the more near to compassion you can be. In most cases if you have compassion it is part of a goal otherwise it is pity - and neither is less mechanical.

I was just wondering what your age is? I only ask because I am curious regarding the effects fasting has on different ages - particularly toxic issues. 9 days on a water fast - Congrats - I do long ones regularly but it seems to be pretty tough for most. Ususally by the 5th day I feel incredible and it stays that way for the rest of the fast - often getting better day after day.

Regarding exercise - plenty of exercise is no problem at all - just don't overdue it. I did a fast in Hawaii one time and went swiming, scuba diving and snorkeling, hiking and pretty much everything. I found I have plenty of energy for long term exercise at a slow to moderate pace. Gandi did his historic 21 day walk / protest on a fast of only water - and he was a skinny guy to begin with. Bicycle riding is not recommended because you can become a bit spacy and spacial things can be an issue. IF your driving - check how you are doing before venturing out. by the 5th or 6th day you should be in a pretty great space! By the way - I don't usually end a fast because my body says to - usually I run out of alloted time and I have to.

I think you my want to reread my post and then remove yours - really - reread my post - it is about calling the false personalities (ego's) bluff.

Regarding Boredom: I was happy and surprised to see so many postings here stating their "boredom" dilema during fasting. Happy to see them be so up front and honest. I have done fasting for spiritual reasons - knowing that health benifits were just a positive side effect. For me fasting re-registers my natural flow - it is one of the most powerful ways to come off our habituations - to see the habituations - and to establish or re-establish a healthy natural cadence and stop the constant off gassing - lifeforce releasing fidgiting we do. I am often astounded at just how much time I have on my hands when fasting! It is hard to believe how much time we spend around eating - before, during and after. If you have the "boredom" factor - fill it! Ask yourself some questions: Who in you is bored? You have just added hours to your day - is this boring or are you driven to "do" or at least appear that you are "doing"! Do you feed the indulgent busy body and quit the fast early or do you add to your day - simple walks or two movies or bowling or having lunch with a friend - (wait - did I say "having lunch with a friend"?!!!?) I frequently have lunch with friends during a fast - I am not hungry in the least during a fast and lunch won't cost me a thing. Even if I buy our lunch - I'm only buying for one person. I cook for my family on fasts - I have a wife and young son - whats the problem - no problem at all. Try putting your fast together with Qi Gong or Yoga - everyday - your body is cleaning itself out and both of these practices wash your subtle energy systems - they can help you through the change from "staying busy" to being with yourself. If you must have a goal during all this "extra time" - make the goal being in the moment - which means - drop the goal - no goals - try "no inertia" moment to moment and simply let the day unfold. If you are really having trouble doing this - don't run from it - look at what is buzzing in your space - where are the ticks coming from? This is habit energy - unconscious routine habituations that are now sitting there right in front of you - learn from this - it is one of the greatest things fasting does for you!

Today we see in our literature regarding many things from the East - a very Westernized approach and morph. Many "Systems" have been developed here that part with some of the core teachings. This is also having a backlash in the East where practitioners look at their "marketability" and teachers often go in the direction the students want to go. Today all over the USA we see "Yoga" that is simply not Yoga - I have been calling it "Sport Yoga" - a workout using yoga poses, postures and a hint of breathing. A sprig of relaxation meditation and roll up your plastic mat - you are ready to go! When I read about fasting for the first time it was in the mid 70s and pretty much all of the literature included enemas. Now it is not in favor - but for centuries it has been in favor in those countries which use this for real healing - like removing arthritis, removing diabetes and a host of other things that they cure with it. Not long ago I attended a local talk on meditation by a person very proud of their long history of meditation. His teacher and so he himself now advocated meditation for no more than 5 - 10 minutes at the most. He gave several explainations for this including that the quality of the time spent meditating is far more important than the amount. It is kind of like the Atkins Diet - you want him to be correct! What he was probably unaware of or at least did not want to share with us was the fact that his teacher had openly come to the conclusion that Westerner's could not meditate for longer periods of time. The Teachers whole previous practice was long meditation forms but for the West he had dumbed it down - and he is a very popular Teacher / Guru here in the West particularly Europe. Look at Martial Arts - meditation was always the backbone of Kung Fu and the like - now students in the East come here from Shaolin Temple having just scratched the surface of meditation. Indeed - Kung Fu was created so that monks would have something physical to do but built upon meditative practice. We have "Masters" from the East that when asked about meditation are clearly dumbfounded by the question - they have never taught it here to their students - other than child forms of it - really simplistic sit with your eyes closed and compose yourself stuff (nothing wrong with it but speak to the students here - they generally don't touch real meditation until they are into their 40s if ever - and by then they do it for the wrong reasons - ie: to gain something like "more power". I am not at all down on the West and I cannot blame many of those from the East - A confident Eastern Teacher with a flair for marketing can make a very good living here - selling partial truths and lots of CDs. Take the time to read from the old texts - so very much of the new stuff is like a Starbucks Sugar Milk Coffee drink. Starbucks spends 80% on milk, 20% on Coffee. A great deal of the information we find regarding the spiritual path has been sweetened and thinned out - like elevator music. I am not implying the old "no pain no gain" thing - but what requires nothing from you is often a recipe for continuing our "waking sleep".