thaddeus

That would be cool..why not.. Right now i'm in a negative frame of mind regarding 'joining' schools--like what spectrum and grasshopper say about the pecking order stuff. T

I'm not sure about Marcello's school, i'll google it. I meant Renzo's school is the best, it's the biggest and has convenient hours and a good stable location. T

I have some new thoughts on this because I'm going through the same thing right now. Overall, I would have picked bjj because it would complement my taichi training. But the problem in new york is that they all seemed to have banded together and require lengthy committments. Gone are the pay as you go options. Renzo's school is hands down the best, but the running the business part ruined it for me. Aikido is also cool, however, the dojo politics and self delusion starts to really grate on you. Some of these non-competitive hierarchical martial art dojos are just forums for certain types of people to play out their fantasies..and it's annoying to see it and experience it. Another thing that killed bjj for me are the grueling pre-training workouts. Most of my injuries in the past were from the non-professional 'warmups' after a 10-12 hour office job. Authentic Shing Yi would be pretty cool, but where are you going to find a real teacher of it, anyone who runs a public school is probably not any good. Despite my utterances in the past, I find myself drawn to Ichuan, but I don't believe there is anyone out there who can 'teach' it. Tuky Lam pretty much says everything there is to say about the training, you just have to do it and learn on your own like the founder did. That's just a dump of my thought process right now. I'm looking for something too. I think bjj would give the best workout for health, fitness and overall strength. But findind a school that works for you..hmm... T

Take in less calories than you need. It's the ONLY way to lose weight. T

The only thing I can add to your searching process is that Cardio increases inflammation in the body, so you need be mindful of that and eat and rest accordingly. Moderation is probably key. This is the reason behind the paradox of why so many high profile runners etc. die of heart attacks. T

Witch, what's the deal with caffeine and dopamine? Thanks, T

I'm convinced baldness has everything to do with inflammation and less to do with androgens. Try a low carbish diet, and lots and lots of fish oil and see what happens.. T

If supplements worked, no one would have gray hair..it's that big of a deal.. imho.. T

Hi Spectrum, reason why I mentioned Chen style is that Yang is supposed to be done evenly. Chen has more variety and fajing meaning more sound potential. Of course the styles have been completely bastardized, i'm just saying that the original intent of Yang style (from the majority of expert opinion) is that it has the difficult stuff of the original chen style removed. Depending on which camp someone is learning from they will either agree or disagree. I've come to agree from my experience of both styles and exposure to teachers. T

What is the problem with coffee especially with regards to dopamine levels? I've read about studies where caffeine is supposed to raise dopamine levels. The only problem I see with coffee may be the adding milk/cream and sugar. Milk has already been shown to nullify some of the beneficial effects of tea on the circulatory system. T

One approach to the healing sounds that appeals to me as being very taoist is to do the chen taiji form with an audible exhale. The healing sounds will be done naturally with the movements. Chen style has reverse breath that is tied to the movement (store/release) more so than other styles and the varying tempo causes more variety of sounds to be created. T

something to consider is brewing your tea in a clay pot..there is a shop in nyc chinatown that makes the pots with clay from china..forgot the name, but there is a special region for this stuff. Prob a good way to get some of them trace minerals and clay benefits. also, chinese herbs and soups are supposed to be cooked in a clay pot. T

i remember reading once that it's not uncommon for allergies to get worse as we get older, is that true? T

No, it's very wise..thanks.. T

This is a good thread. Here are more thoughts. A calf wants to suckle. But at the same time, the cow, which is full of milk wants the calf to nurse. In fact, there is a saying to the effect, 'more than the calf wants to suckle the cow wants him to nurse'. When we manifest with intention, I believe we are basically asking the universe, god, for something. When the ego gets involved, the ego wants what it wants on it's own timescale. The ego gets worried that it might not manifest or the ego feels it needs to 'do' something to make it happen. Incidentally, I believe this is how sin and evil manifests into the world--when the ego feels the need to act. If we just let god or the universe bring it to us we would not 'sin' or cause anyone else harm. It comes when we don't expect it and it comes in forms we may not expect. I believe this is true detachment, and true egoless. When we want to control and direct our lives the way we want it (basically ego in it's ugliest) we are trapped in the dream. The greatest thing we can do is not only attract for ourselves, but attract for other people to be happy. When I take care of my neighbor and not just myself, then we are really getting somewhere.. T

It's a virus..there's been great reported success with hypnosis/imagery and wart removal.. fwiw, T

Later edit..let me put my thoughts together better..but the claims in the book are incredible. If you like detail and hard factual information, you might not like the way it's presented. T

what is the one thing?... i'm glad you started this thread, cause it's making me think about that..'what's the one thing i need to do in this lifetime'..and then..why the heck am I not devoting all my time and energy into doing that. hmmm T

I remembered there was a link between heart disease and oral bacteria: http://www.sdm.buffalo.edu/news/19990312_bacteria.html

Of course, replace the word 'oil pulling' with placebo and re-read the article. T

agree..someone should pull the numbers on the amount of people killed by alternative 'experts' and self medicating.

It might be worth taking a fresh look at the life of Jesus and what he was doing and saying. Very interesting perspective on intention, healing, manifesting, and relationship to the creator. You two may not be as far off as you think. Just my two cents, T

I wasn't referring to the price of the book..it was my poor attempt at some humor..nine nights with a taoist master sounds a bit painful..hey, I thought it was funny. T

Ouch! who wrote that one? T