Dainin

Hi Markern,

 

After reading your post, my feeling is that you might benefit from integrating savasana (the yogic corpse pose) into your morning practice. Do not try to control the breath in any way while doing this, just relax your body and breath and sink into the ground.

 

Since the beginning of the year, my usual morning practice has been 10 minutes deep breathing (the AYP Spinal Breathing Pranayama), followed by 25 minutes of zazen (counting breaths plus attention to nasal air flow), then 10 minutes of savasana. I usually do a longer session on weekends. I save the qigong, tai chi, and other more energetic stuff for a separate session at night. I haven't run into any problems with this schedule.

 

You are now doing energetic practices throughout the day. It might be beneficial to you to concentrate your energy work into a single daily session and allow your system time to relax and integrate this work during the rest of the day. It works for me...perhaps you'll find it helpful. Good luck!

Didn't the pharoahs also have a serpent projecting from their headdress near the third eye?

Let's not forget swimming either!

 

There is a system call Total Immersion which focuses on swimming faster with less effort by improving form and technique for greater efficiency. It's kind of like an aquatic version of the "Chi Running" book. In fact the two authors sometimes do workshops together.

 

I remember watching Ian Thorpe swim in the Olympics a few years back. His form was so smooth it looked like he wasn't trying that hard, yet he was winning medals.

The page seems to refer to "Her" and "She" starting with upper case letters. If that's not an indication of Her divinity, I don't know what is!

 

Personally, I've always kind of liked the "Blonde Asian" look, going back to George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" video years ago!

I think I've seen the Light! Where do I sign up?

 

 

God's Direct Contact

 

 

Hallelujah!

The logic of your conclusion is unsound. You are generalizing from a small sample.

 

Here is another small sample, based on one yoga teacher and some of his students:

 

T. Krishamacharya (the teacher): deceased at age 100

 

His students:

 

B.K.S. Iyengar (age 90, still alive)

 

K. Pattabhi Jois (deceased at age 93)

 

Indra Devi (deceased at age 102)

 

 

Each of the students became teachers and developed their own distinct style of yoga,

they were not all doing the same thing. Nor was it genetics, Indra Devi was Argentinian

not Indian.

 

I'm sure other people could provide similar lists of very long lived IMA and qigong

masters.

 

In either case, the small sample can't be generalized to the general population of

practitioners of these arts. It would take a properly conducted research study with a

control group to draw any conclusion about this. A more important question in my

opinion is how is the quality of life for practitioners vs non-practitioners.

 

Good luck...

You might want to look into an early 1900s system called Strongfortism (after Lionel Strongfort). It combined bodyweight exercises with light weights:

 

Strongfortism for the Martial Artist

 

Strongfort's courses from the Sandow Plus website (This site has a lot of interesting old courses besides this, and another good one is the Maxalding site, which has the Maxick material).

 

A lot of the movements remind of things I've seen in yoga and qigong, with weights added.

 

Strongfort lived to be 92, for what's it worth.

 

Good luck to you.

A few years ago I went to qigong workshop in Miami with tai chi master Wei Lun Huang. He did a stretching segment, and he was able to do the full split with his chest on the ground. Another student in the class was able to do the same thing. I was impressed, they both had the flexibility of senior yoga teachers. During the break I asked the student if he practiced yoga, and he said no, just kung fu. So it appears that there are various methods to attain this level of flexibility.

 

I've read some good reviews of a book and dvd by Thomas Kurz in regard to achieving the splits. I think he uses weights in addition to stretching. There is also a booklet entitled "Becoming the Lotus" for sale on Amazon that has some routines that are supposed to lead up to full lotus. I forget the author's name...

Well, I'm not sure if either should be the starting point for a beginner to tao. Reading Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, and learning to meditate might be better. But since you've asked, I would say both. Generally speaking, many qigong forms can be learned (not mastered) fairly quickly, and you can begin practicing and benefitting right away. Tai Chi takes much longer to learn, and a lifetime to refine...it's a long-term commitment. Many start, but do not continue for long. But it's very rewarding if you have the patience to stick with it. In my opinion, the two practices complement each other, and indeed many or all schools of tai chi include various qigong forms, both as warm ups and stand alone practices.

Would touching the finger tips and the toe tips together in this pose create an energetic circuit? I remember one of my teachers saying there were "ting points" at these locations...not sure if a transfer would occur if they are brought together.

As a kid back in the 70s, I remember seeing pictures and film clips from the People's Republic of China of large numbers of students in formation on athletic fields going through a standardized exercise routine. Usually there was a scratchy sounding tape playing music and a woman's voice calling out the exercises (I think).

 

Is anyone here familiar with what this routine was? I'm guessing it was probably calisthenics, and not qigong or martial arts. Know of any sources that describe the routine, or maybe a video? Thanks in advance.

From a health standpoint, the conclusion I've been reaching is that whether vegetarian or non-vegetarian, the one of the most important things to do is to eat foods that actually exist in nature, or as close to it as possible...vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, wild fish, grass-fed animals. I think there's some merit in a mostly raw foods diet therapeutically, but maybe not over the long-term (although some have done it). This also means no flour, sugar, refined oils, etc. Fast food is awful (even if you sit in full lotus!). You'll have to work the animal rights piece out for yourself.

 

I just watched Obama's speech...not bad, but of course no mention of preventive measures that could be taken. So much chronic disease is preventable in the first place. But I guess requesting affordable non-toxic food, water and air, and truth in labelling would make me a socialist!

 

The amount of money spent in the US on "soft drinks" and coffee is astronomical, yet they deliver virtually no useful nutrition, and are probably actually harmful...These massive addictions are not only tolerated, but laughed about ("America Runs on Dunkin"). Imagine if all that money was spent on healthful choices instead. I suspect there would be a huge drop in healthcare expenditures

I noticed Mr. Primack did not answer this question. He probably didn't see it so I'm pasting it again here.

p.s. Also wanted to say that it's a good idea to limit the number of smoothies or juicers to at most two per day. Most Americans get too little fiber in their diet as is and juicing compounds that problem. When you throw out the bulks of pulp made in Juicers instead of eating it you've also thrown out all the phytonutrients it contains that do not get squeezed out with the juice. For that reason I don't think Juicing is a healthy practice. It's always better to eat the real vegetable or fruit than only the juice or smoothie left behind.

 

 

Hello Serene,

 

I'm not Jeff Primack, but I've taken his courses and can answer this. Yes, Wim Hof is the same guy that does the cold endurance feats. He uses a tummo breathing method, that he taught to the Supreme Science instructors, and Jeff teaches it in the level 4 class (not yet on dvd). The smoothies that are discussed in the course are made with a BlendTec 3 horsepower blender, and all fiber and phytonutrients are included. No pulp is discarded. I got one of these blenders after taking the course, and I'm very pleased with it. There is a web page "Will it Blend?" where they use the blender on things like cell phones and golf balls. It's pretty funny. I do think juicing plays an important role in detoxification, like during a fast, but the smoothies can be used daily to support health.

Become a traveller of both time and space...all will be revealed.

No, not the Springsteen album, but a recent book by Christopher McDougall: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen. This was one of the most interesting books I've read in a while. It is partly about the Raramuri (aka Tarahumara) people of Mexico. These folks have a traditional game where they kick and run after a wooden ball through rugged canyons, sometimes covering up to 200 miles in a game. In the mid 90s a promoter brought a few of them to Colorado to run in the Leadville 100, a mountain ultramarathon. They swept the top places in the race...while wearing sandals made of old tires. The next year, two of them came back and finished first and second. The guy that won was 55 years old! The promoter was a jerk, so they haven't come back since. The story picked up more recently, when a group of Americans journeyed to Mexico to race with them there.

 

Other threads in the book deal with the importance of running in the evolutionary biology of humans, Bushmen hunting by running down animals, and the importance of going barefoot. This last point was very interesting. Apparently there are studies that show that expensive running shoes with more padding, motion control, etc., cause more injuries than inexpensive ones. I had also recently read a post on Tim Ferriss's blog about the Vibram Five Finger shoes which went into this point as well.

 

For the past year or two, whenever I tried to walk fast for exercise, my feet and ankles would hurt like hell... I was a decent runner 15 years ago, but am now old and fat. After reading this material, I decided to buy a pair of the Nike Free running shoes, which are supposed to be like going barefoot. I've been walking in them for a few weeks and have had no pain. Also, my posture feels straighter, and the kwa area feels open, instead of collapsed. So far, so good! Anyhow, none of this really has anything much to do with Taoism, I just wanted to recommend the book to anyone who might be interested.

Do a search on Masanobu Fukuoka and "seed balls." You may find his ideas to be of interest...good luck!

I see reptilians all the time. Especially lizards. It's part of living in Florida. Sometimes they crawl under my front door, and tend to stay along the walls. I think they are geckos. They've never bothered me while I was meditating, or tried to attach themselves to my chakras! I usually try to catch them and let them go outside, sometimes I just ignore them.

 

Once had a small corn snake come in after a hurricane, and a couple of times the braminy blind snake, which is the world's smallest snake. These are an exotic that came into the US with potted plants. Strangely enough this species is all female, there are no males! There are also curly tailed lizards in the parking lot, and big iguanas near the canal a few blocks away. These are more non-native species. I've also seen alligators over there on 3 occasions too.

 

None of the reptilians I have encountered seemed bent on world domination. I don't think they were members of CFR, Bilderberg, or the Trilateral Commission. None looked members of the Bush family, Rupert Murdock, or QE II. They do seem to have a good appetite for insects though.

I believe that these finger stands are not themselves One Finger Chan, but might be a "skill" made possible through the practice of it. There are some instructors in the US that offer training:

 

Angela Lee: History of Shaolin One-Finger Qigong

 

Center for Tibetan Qigong Napa Valley (scroll down)

Is there really benefits for being a Vegetarian?

 

It depends! It's possible to be a vegetarian and exist on french fries and pizza, but it wouldn't be a very healthful diet, would it? There are health benefits to eating a natural vegetarian diet with an emphasis on vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and beans. There are definitely environmental benefits, as noted above. If animal rights are important to you, that's another benefit.

 

The conclusion I'm reaching is that what seems to be most important is to eat things that actually exist in nature (or as close to it as possible), as opposed to being concocted in a lab or factory (or bakery, sorry!). The more processed it is, the worse it seems to be for you. If you consume animal products, aim for the best quality (wild salmon vs farmed, grass-fed beef vs feed lot).

 

Why not try it for yourself and see how you feel? That is what really counts, not the opinions of others.

Dr. Roger Jahnke is from Santa Barbara. I'm not sure if he still sees patients or just teaches, but if not, I'm sure he could give a referal.

Just my opinion: Try to establish a regular time and place for practice. Make it a part of your daily life, like brushing your teeth. Don't make assumptions about what is supposed to happen, or pass judgment on what does. Don't be too impressed by experiences. In the words of Dr Morris (and Patanjali), "Keep going, keep playing!"

Awakening through Playstation, eh? I guess I was born too soon!

 

Everyone here is going to have a different perspective on what is good for beginners. I would suggest that if you are going to do any qigong or other methods that involve moving energy, that you balance that with either zazen or vipassana meditation. Some books I like on these methods are:

 

Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante G

 

Everyday Zen by Charlotte Joko Beck

 

Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau

 

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

 

Jack Kornfield has some audio stuff on vipassana.

 

Dao de Jing makes a lot more sense for beginners than the Taoist Canon. Get a few different versions to compare them. Make things simple, don't get bogged down in a labyrinth of complexity.

 

You can learn some basic qigong sets from DVDs. Some that I like are by Dr Jerry Alan Johnson, Francesco Garripoli, Dr George Love, and Ken Cohen. It's almost always better to learn from a teacher in person though. And for tai chi, a teacher is absolutely essential. If you are interested in hatha yoga, I would recommend learning from a certified teacher of the Iyengar method first, so you develop a foundation of good habits. Then try some different systems to see what you like. Good luck and keep things fun!

This result has been found among many species. See:

 

Calorie Restriction Society

 

The key seems to be finding nutrient-dense low calorie foods. From

what I've heard, people who adapt this as an ongoing lifestyle have to

spend a substantial period of time eating every day. Periodic fasting or

cycling low calorie days may be more practical for most of us outside

monasteries. There was a book about this called "The Alternate Day Diet"

a few years ago.

The Advanced Yoga Practices web site has a free systematic course of lessons that cover many aspects of yoga: meditation, pranayama, bandhas, asana, diet, tantra, kundalini, etc. There is also a forum where you can ask questions. A lot of this is information that you would generally not get by attending a yoga class in the west, where the emphasis is mostly on asanas. Good luck and have fun!

I'm not sure if this will be of use to you, but Allen Pittman's last book, Walking the I Ching is about a linear form of Gao style Bagua that has 64 movements. Each corresponds to a hexagram.