where to start?

[DiamondEyE]

What can I do without a teacher?

Not that I don't want one, just can't afford extra expenditures at the moment. I'm in college and every dollar counts.

 

Anyway I was thinking of just doing Tree Hugging.

 

I do energy work but it's from the vajrayana tradition.

[thelerner]

Two weeks ago we had a similar question.  FWIW here's a link to that thread- http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/41888-the-dao-of-the-poor/?p=707125

[Marblehead]

Yes, hug some trees.  And some ladies too if you get the chance.

 

Energy work is good.  Meditation is good.  Tai Chi is good.

[roger]

What can I do without a teacher?

Not that I don't want one, just can't afford extra expenditures at the moment. I'm in college and every dollar counts.

 

Anyway I was thinking of just doing Tree Hugging.

 

I do energy work but it's from the vajrayana tradition.

 

Be a good person.

 

That's far more important than formal practices.

[Seatle185]

Well you can always search around your area for free classes, i was actually really suprised to find in my area that there are alot of free taichi in the park classes or yoga get togethers. While this isnt formal instruction from the teacher, you can try to pick up a little, and going around the class and talking to long time practitioners for tips could benefit you some.

 

And i agree with roger as well, building virtue is very important and when the time is right everything will fall into place.

[awaken]

What can I do without a teacher?

Not that I don't want one, just can't afford extra expenditures at the moment. I'm in college and every dollar counts.

Anyway I was thinking of just doing Tree Hugging.

I do energy work but it's from the vajrayana tradition.

You can do anything.

 

No limit.

 

You can feel tree, sun, stone, the most important is yourself

 

Put down all the expectation

 

Just feel

 

Last for one or two hours a day

 

You will find you really don't need a teacher

 

Trust your feeling

Edited January 29, 2017 by awaken

[Marblehead]

I love your confidence but there are still a few things I can't do. 

[awaken]

I love your confidence but there are still a few things I can't do.

 

What things?

[Marblehead]

What things?

 

I still can't fly or do wallboard work.

[awaken]

I still can't fly or do wallboard work.

Ha, are you serious?

[Marblehead]

Ha, are you serious?

 

Only half way but I really can't fly or do wallboard work well.

 

But then, as far as my inner essence is concerned, I am pretty well established.

[s1va]

I still can't fly or do wallboard work.

 

I have flown numerous times.  I can fly anytime I wish.  It's very easy.  

 

Here is the secret (you can read this, if you take the oath of secrecy and not reveal it):  I buy a flight ticket and board the plane.   Then I fly.  It always works, consistently.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Cauvery

[dawei]

you're here.... that is a good start 

 

tree hugging is good... you can focus on what your working with and bring consciousness and intention into it.  But then some gazing is worth considering...  there is nothing to focus on but expansion.

 

I would vary what you do, explore it to understand yourself and life more... and the unknown aspect becomes more known

[taoteching99]

I have flown numerous times.  I can fly anytime I wish.  It's very easy.  

 

Here is the secret (you can read this, if you take the oath of secrecy and not reveal it):  I buy a flight ticket and board the plane.   Then I fly.  It always works, consistently.

If the plane crashes then what would you do?

[Marblehead]

If the plane crashes then what would you do?

 

Die.

[s1va]

I have flown numerous times.  I can fly anytime I wish.  It's very easy.  

 

Here is the secret (you can read this, if you take the oath of secrecy and not reveal it):  I buy a flight ticket and board the plane.   Then I fly.  It always works, consistently.

 

If the plane crashes then what would you do?

 

 

I see multiple scenarios, happening.

 

1) If the plane crashes, then I have landed, right?  So, that flying ride is over, like other flights, it just ended in different way. 

2) The plane crashes, so what?  I may not have crashed.  It will only matter when I crash.

3) Assuming, it is a collision on air,  I would still fly, as per physics, the law of inertia

 

Finally and most importantly, I am still here.  None of the planes in which, I flew,  ever crashed.  We are speculating on an unknown scenario.  If and when that happens, you will be the first person, I will report, as to what happened. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

There is an interesting bit of news story just 4 days back on headlines in BBC.  This skyscraper window cleaning worker fell from some 47th floor and lived.  He literally flew to the ground, with the gravity, their estimate is 120 miles per hour when he crashed.

One article talks about the odds or survival in a scenario like this. Odds of surviving 3 story fall: 50%.  Ten story fall: NONE (0%)

"Only half of the people who fall three storeys survive. From 10 storeys almost no-one does. This is the tale of a window cleaner who survived a 47-floor fall from the roof of a New York skyscraper."

 

"By the time he reached the ground it's estimated he would have been travelling at more than 120mph"

 

 Yet, the guy lived, still breathing, giving interviews.  The doctors were just dumbfounded, they have called it a miracle.  One doctor has said something like, this must be the work of some higher power. 

 

I have seen another youtube video where a small plane crashes.  This was caught on camera.  One would have thought the pilot was dead or injured severely.  He opens the door and calmly steps out, as if nothing has happened.  So, who knows?

 

Here is the news story that just happened 4 days back:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39114931

https://www.theweeklyobserver.com/story-glass-cleaner-fell-47th-floor-survived/12475/

 

"Speculation continues as to how he survived. By holding tight as he fell, did the scaffolding take most of the impact? Did the scaffolding somehow surf the air? Did Alcides Moreno bounce off the side of the building on the way down, slowing his fall?"

 

Edited to add:  This was on BBC headlines 4 days back.  And on some other news sources. I thought it just happened then.  Seems like, it was before. 

Edited March 14, 2017 by Cauvery

[AussieTrees]

Die.

Survive?

Many disasters have survivors,only seldom no survivors.

[thelerner]

Sorry DiamondEye, as you see on the forum there's always someone pointing 'Squirrel'

 

As far as the latest intellectual conundrum:

I'd unbuckle my seat belt, get out of my seat and get ready to jump high just before impact

and so far so good.

 

kidding, i'd unbuckle the seat belt, run to the cabin, knock politely, enter, tell them I have 3,500 hours on Flight Simulator and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron and it'd be best if I took over controls of the falling airliner.  I am (according to the games) both a senior Flight engineer plus a Red Team Flight commander who's killed more tie wings and womp rats then anyone else alive.  Squirrel. 

 

 

kidding

actually, the best advice is less time reading forums, more time practicing..

but where's the fun in that.

[cold]

I agree whole heartedly with Marblehead hugging ladies or women (the distinction betwixt the two remains unclear to me, I consider the description interchangeable) a lot more fun and beneficial than hugging tree's.

 

Now I am much discriminating when it comes to tree hugging, as often a thorny issue arises. 

Knowing the species and cultivar* and its inclinations are paramount when close encounters of the botanical sort are anticipated.

Variety* is after all the spice of life!

 

*Cultivar or variety as employed by signatory countries to UPOV Convention.

I have been a tree hugger longer than a lady lover.

My first love as a inner city child was a honey locust tree, a truly thorny relationship!

Edited March 14, 2017 by cold

[taoteching99]

Irrelevant...

Edited March 15, 2017 by taoteching99

[silent thunder]

I'd start with what you love. 

My energetic potential bloomed by losing myself in pursuits that energized love and metta.

Nature.  Kung Fu.  Theater.  My Gal.  These were my big four.

 

Nature was it for me as a child and this love only grew as I did.  Tree climbing, rock climbing, hiking and swimming... dear god, looking back, thousands of hours of swimming.   I would empty my physical cup out on the trails and energy would fill the void...

 

I spent every spare moment with my gal.  We debated and challenged each other on every topic imaginable and we made love almost non-stop for years, (yea this one will tweak a few folks here, but my experience is that with a connected partner, energy builds in love making, not depletes).  We met when we were quite young, 19 neither of us were looking for a relationship as we were studying at University and my plans were to spend my life traveling and performing Shakespeare, Ibsen, Checkov, etc on the regional theater circuit.  Three months after meeting her, I knew I'd still be doing those things, only by her side. 

 

We would spend days in our little apartment, with brief forays out to the pool, or to acquire more food.  We had no television and no furniture, other than a few blankets and pillows on the floor and stacks of books.  We even ate our meals on stacks of books.  I should add though that sex was never a casual thing for me.  I've only been attracted to two women in that way this life.  Those were the only ones to engage me that way and I've always been energized by love making, not depleted.

 

That empty apartment was akin to a blast furnace of vital energy. 

 

I read and studied.  I read every book I could lay hands on, on just about any topic and fed my monkey mind.

 

When finances permitted it, I found a local Kung Fu school and trained.  When finances ran out, I took what I had learned and practiced that over and over again... empty apartments are great for that. 

 

In short, I lost my self in love.

[Papayapple]

looks like my delusional dream of what I'll soon become

[Phosphorose]

haha - this topic has derailed in so many wondrous ways.

 

You can also make sense of what you are doing, and what you can do more of by separating it into necessary parts of yourself that you should work on for maximum progress.

 

This is dependent upon your cultivation goals, but essentially:

 

1. Purify your energy
2. Build the energy
3. Circulate the energy
4. Purify the mind
5. Tonify the body

Tree hugging - not sure exactly what you are doing, but I'd assuming mixing your energy with the trees. This is great at purifying, building and circulating your energy. If you do this enough you should have good results.

 

Vajrayana - you are likely doing a lot of visualization. Am I correct? A big practice on that path is assuming the form of a god. If this is what you are doing, then this should take care of much of the mental purification.

 

You can incorporate some practices such as chi kung to circulate and build the energy more, and also help to strengthen your physical body - which is remember intertwined with your energy. I've had good success with Spring Forest Chikung, and it's fairly cheap. You can also find free videos online.

 

Hope that helps. 

 

___________

 

spiritmapper.com

Find, share and learn about Earth's most sacred destinations.

[Mig]

You don't fly, the airplane flies so you just sit there during the flight

[Gerry]

There was a day some 50 years ago when I had the insight that rocks were just another form of energy.  Stored solar energy.  Not receiving.  Not giving. Just there. Over time this has evolved my understanding, relationship, with Tao.

 

I recall conversations with Christian friends when I tried to ask them if Jesus was in all things.  My sense of jesusness and most of their  beliefs did not correspond well.  I tried very hard back then to find a sense of consciousness that imbued all thing with Being. I do not feel that way anymore.

 

What is is. What is not is. The source of what is and is not is not Being.