cheya

Songs, Thank you for the heads up on Cissus. After checking it out on the net, I am astonished that I never heard of it. The testimonials and research results are amazing. I ordered some for a friend with long term debilitating rotator cuff injuries on both sides. He also has a knee injury, metabolic syndrome, a history of long term cortisol use (due to colitis) with resulting muscle loss, all of which cissus may impact along with the rotator cuff injury! He's struggling to work construction now, and he said he thinks he feels better after just two days on the stuff! I'm trying it too for hand and shoulder joint challeneges, but nothing as severe as my friend's problems. If it can help him, I will call it a miracle! Thank you! Is anybody else following up on this?

Hi Janus, Not for everybody, but my fav is Nine Nights with the Taoist Master, by Waysun Liao. It is easily the most coherent and meaningful translation I've read (and I've read quite a few since Liao's translation got me hooked) and the most relevant to chi practice. Check out the reviews on Amazon and see if you get intrigued like I did. I've actually read it about ten times now, a new record for me for any book.

It's the only pain killer I use, and that, rarely. They also have a PM version to take before sleep. The herbal combination inhibits COX 2 enzyme but leaves COX1 alone, so no side effects as with BigPharm pain killers, and it supports healing rather than interfering. Do take it with food as directed, as taken by itself can cause stomach discomfort.

Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor had a stroke, offering a unique opportunity to study her own brain function. The stroke was in her left brain, leaving right brain function pretty much intact. Her report is fascinating for those interested in how our brains influence perception of energy and every day reality. Exerpt from transcript: "And I lost my balance and I'm propped up against the wall. And I look down at my arm and I realize that I can no longer define the boundaries of my body. I can't define where I begin and where I end. Because the atoms and the molecules of my arm blended with the atoms and molecules of the wall. And all I could detect was this energy. Energy. And I'm asking myself, "What is wrong with me, what is going on?" And in that moment, my brain chatter, my left hemisphere brain chatter went totally silent. Just like someone took a remote control and pushed the mute button and -- total silence. And at first I was shocked to find myself inside of a silent mind. But then I was immediately captivated by the magnificence of energy around me. And because I could no longer identify the boundaries of my body, I felt enormous and expansive. I felt at one with all the energy that was, and it was beautiful there." Watch the video: (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:44.) http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229 transcript link: http://blog.ted.com/2008/03/jill_bolte_tayl.php#more Here's a review of her Lulu book: "Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story of recovery and awareness -- of how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another. "

Hi Mewtwo, Don't know if this will apply to you, but years ago I found that my blood sugar was triggering anxiety attacks, often straight out of sleep in the middle of the night, no nightmare required. Mine were easy to take care of: I had to give up caffeine and sugar, and eat frequent small meals containing protein and some fat (cheese, eggs, meat, fish, sardines, peanuts) along with a SMALL amount of carbs. When you eat sugar and caffeine, your blood sugar rises and you feel great for a little while, but then your blood sugar takes a dive and you get the shakes and get emotional or emotionally unstable. When your blood sugar falls, your body dumps out adrenaline to crank your blood sugar back up, so your heart starts beating fast and you may start sweating. Then, if you're like me, you start saying "What's wrong? What's wrong?" and start making up stories about what might be wrong to make you feel so bad! It's enough to really freak a person out!!! Finding out about blood sugar was a huge relief to me, knowing that it was only that I'd screwed up my blood sugar and triggered an adrenalin release. No story needed. Easy to fix. Just take some deep slow belly breaths (to calm down the fight or flight response) and go eat a protein snack. Also, sitting around while you're having an adrenalin rush will just make you nuts. Nature means you to burn that adrenalin off. After you eat the snack, get some serious exercise, go for a walk up a hill, anything that takes some physical effort. Good luck!

Hi Steve, There may be a difference between being interested in a discussion and being extremely interested in discussing a particular book. The process of voting might be draining the energy of people who really want to talk about a particular book, and not necessarily one that anybody else is interested in...yet! Maybe there'd be more participation if a person who really wanted to discuss a book just started a thread on it, describing the book, why he wants to discuss it, and what his interest in the discussion is. (Not that TTB discussions ever go the way the person starting it might anticipate!). Send up a trial balloon on a book topic, and see if it flies! Seems like the process of voting dampens the energy available from a person's interest in particular books, which may be the real interest/motivation/energy that actually fuels discussion. You could try taking the voting out of it and just find ways to facilitate individual passion/obsession with a particular book lead and direct the process.

It's more of an overview. For me, the best description of the water method is in Relaxing Into Your Being, another great book.

Hi Cam The Chi Revolution is an excellent overview of the world of chi, the most comprehensive intro I've read. I've been doing Frantzis' Energy Gates set for a couple years now, so most of the information was not new to me, but this is definitely the book I'd recommend to friends who are just starting out and want a big picture overview of the whole territory (well, a lot of it anyway). He's got a great introductory exercise set at the end of the book that introduces Longevity breathing, energy scanning (dissolving) and concludes with 3 exercises from his Dragon and Tiger Chi Kung set. I found these exercises effective and chi-full, and a great impetus for my Energy Gates practice. The first exercise is for balancing both side of the body, the second for opening the heart, and the third, freeing trapped chi. I liked doing the exercises so much that I got his new instruction manual (Dragon and Tiger Medical Chi Kung), which details all seven exercises. The three exercises from The Chi Revolution are the EASY ones! The new one I'm learning now (Dragon Looks to the Horizon) is the most complex of the set, a real challenge to coordinate. Frantzis breaks complex movements down into small doable pieces, and I feel the energy powerfully when I do the movements individually. But attending to the chi when I'm trying to coordinate my left and right hands and feet all doing different things is really a trip. It's been a great incentive to learn to just laugh at myself without being discouraged. Each day I get a little more of it together.

For me, "just" walking doesn't increase chi much, although I do feel good after it. But I do use walking as a chi building exercise. The difference hinges on whether I'm paying attention to the chi (for Buddy, "sensation") in my body as I walk. If I stay very present and keep my attention in my feet and legs, I have the sensation of energy welling up from the ground, filling first my legs and then gradually the rest of my body, and gradually starting to course through different parts of my body in gentle waves. As soon as my mind strays, I am "just" walking again, and have to start over, focusing on my feet. If I can keep my mind occupied in tracking sensation in each moment, I often get so full that I find myself at what Raymond Sigrist, over at apophaticmysticism.com has called "The threshhold of Grace", which borders on the ecstatic. It's just grand. One of my meditation teachers taught that chi can only be accessed and increased in the present moment, that is, when mind is strongly focused in the present. That is my experience. So my guess is, it's not so much which exercise you're doing, but more your ability to stay intensely focused in the moment, which determines whether you end up with more or less chi after the exercise. I also think that tai chi and chi gung and the other "energy arts" are uniquely designed to increase both energy and flow of energy (unlike western exercises, which are more about muscles than chi). So, doing the energy arts, you get much more chi bang for your time/focus buck. (Please note that I'm in kindergarten, if not preschool, in these arts.) Of course, if you exhaust yourself in any activity, you're not likely to have a net chi gain. So maybe any activity that keeps you intensely focused on the present moment (without exhausting or injuring you) would greatly enhance chi. Skilllful surfing has got to be one of those. A side note on chi walking and processing strong emotion. Sometimes I'm emotionally upset, very angry or grieving, when I start my daily chi walk. In my head, I'm told to walk it out, to allow the emotion, but to stay focused on the upwelling chi sensation in feet and lower legs. NOT easy when you're freaking out! But when I am able to do that, the emotion often changes to pure chi, just strong energy moving through my body, no angst, no pain. A similar thing has happened a couple of times when I'm getting Rolfed. Intense pain suddenly changing to feeling like the rolfer's hands are just pushing a huge wave of energy/chi/sensation up and down my leg. Has anybody else had experiences with intense physical or emotional pain morphing into strong chi sensation? QUOTE(Buddy @ Feb 5 2008, 10:30 PM) "This is why you don't feel tired after walking." Come on. When I had cancer waking made me extremely tired. Even no, with sciatica it does, because my muscles have to compensate. No need to talk about qi here. C'mon - it's relative. Cancer alone is going to drain your qi, as well as other health ailments. Not the walking itself, per se.

Hi Ian, Could you expand a little on "getting intent mobilised in the limbs"? Thanks

Did you drink extra water before/during this bath? Especially if you put epsom salts in the bath, you can get REALLY dehydrated, low blood pressure etc., and your body needs fluids to cool itself. I don't drink as much as Mantra, but I do at least two quarts with any hot bath. Also, once after a hot clay bath I had a similar reaction when I coated my dried out skin with lotion before I had cooled off. Very bad idea. Body couldn't cool off properly, and I nearly went into heat stroke. Hope you figure it out!

I've stayed at the mansion, and it is pretty nice, but not nearly the same opportunity for single rooms. Some of the rooms sleep five! They're large. There's also a basement dorm that was a little funky 12 years ago when I was there, but I actually liked the basement best! Check on the size of the mansion meeting room, though. It may not be as big as you'd like for thirty odd people to ah, bounce around in. The octagon, on the other hand, may be way bigger than you'd like. It is a very nice place. A friend who has been there more recently stayed in the mansion and said it was a little moldy, even though he liked it. He said he heard from a number of people that the barn was a much nicer facility. He says"beautiful grounds, understaffed with very nice people, the mansion is awesome inside where they've done restoration, a little rough on the outside. GREAT food! Mansion dining rooom is really sweeet. See if they have the same gourmet natural food chef. He was amazing. Main house has no AC. The group he went with has gone back again." All heresay of course.

My figuring was a little lower for Claymont, more like $165-$170 for 30 folks, but I may have missed something. Looks like the barn building has 27 dorm rooms (doubles and a few triples), don't know if they squeeze folks into fewer rooms or not. Even so some folks would have to double up. Add the $300 for the two day seminar, and it may not be less expensive than Omega! Has anybody projected the pricing at the Rising Phoenix retreat at Loyola?

Welcome! And especial thanks for that coffee story!

I vote for Asheville! (Easy for me, I live here.) I could find a place for it (give me a time frame and estimated size) and help get it publicized. How big are we talking about here? Want to keep it smallish (<25), or bigger? How many TBs would come to Asheville? (Careful, you just might want to stay!)

Hi Vortex, I don't know how to put pictures up here, but you'll find a gazillion images of the sphenoid bone from many vantage points at: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&...mages&gbv=2 If you close your nostrils and blow hard, the pressure would have to go out your eustacian tubes and could possibly mess up your eardrums. NOT recommended! (Holding one nostril closed and blowing gently is a good way to pop your ears if they get stuffed up descending from high altitudes.)

Hi Oliver, Just out of curiosity (since you are into Frantzis's and Robert Bruce's work), have you checked out Waysun Liao, or at least his book Chi: How to Feel Your Life Energy? This book, for me, is more about WHY you want to feel your life energy. Bruce's Energy Work is way more effective for me at the how part. But I know I may be back looking at Master Liao's DVDs again in a few months or years. I had the Energy Gates book and video on my shelf for TEN YEARS before I started doing the exercises two years ago. They have been amazing for me, and I know I'm still just scratching the surface. Master Liao's teaching novel, Nine Nights with the Taoist Master, has been a real doorway into the Tao Te Ching for me. Just curious if you have checked out the third of my current "gurus". (Of course, two outta three ain't bad!) All the best

I have a general idea, and maybe someone who knows more about it will add more. A butterfly-shaped bone called the sphenoid goes through the center of your head, accessible on the outside only at the temples. The main body of the sphenoid lies mostly behind and somewhat above the sinuses. Actuallly, checking a skull here, the top back of the throat is largely sphenoid, and the back and outsides of the eye sockets. Looks like spines from the sphenoid stick down into the top of the soft pallette in the backof the throat too. If the sphenoid's sitting at an angle, so will be your ears and eyes, and the sides of your brain compartments will be of unequal volume. Most of the cranial bones articulate with the sphenoid, so if it is out of balance, so is every other bone. I guess the skull would be kind of torqued. Cranio sacral practitioners move that bone in various mostly indirect ways, but it's difficult to get any effective leverage. (It could also be so delicate you would not WANT to get any effective leverage!) Inflating balloons in the sinuses, or in the nasal canal itself, however, could definitely apply some leverage. It would expand the sinus, pushing against...what? Looks to me like a balloon that would not seriously interfere with breathing would press backward and upward against the sphenoid, the part of the bone accessible looks like it's about 45 degrees slant going down and back.... I'm gonna have to check this out with some folks who are more cranial savvy than I am...

Thanks again, Agarta! And one more question. Did you have a stategy re where to put the balloons (on the website they talk about evaluating the skull.) Did you just do everything you could reach? Do you need to know where the sinuses are specifically? Sorry to ask so many questions, but this REALLY got my attention! Thanks

Thank you, Agarta! How amazing. Are you talking about blood pressure bulbs like on a blood pressure cuff? Did you gerryrig something from a blood pressure cuff? What did you use for balloons? How did you get major movements from your skull bones naturally, and how do you measure changes? Did you have a particular problem you were working on? Did the changes translate into the rest of your body, like balancing spinal curves or leg length differences? This is so interesting! One of the things that got my attention on Howell's site was a woman's testimony that the cranial work had caused remarkable improvements in her vision. And how bout the bit that "the brain expands to full capacity"!!!

. Hi Agharta, I HAVE to ask! How did you do this? Are you a doc or medical person? I've done finger work and many neti pot treatments, but that in no way makes me feel like I could inflate little balloons up my nose. Blood pressure bulbs???? How did you know when to stop? I am so curious!

Hi Laotse As a bodyworker, I never heard of NCR, so I tracked it down. The before and after pictures are pretty impressive, some major changes after as few as four treatments. But the TREATMENTS!!! They put little balloons up your nose to inflate them in the sinus cavities to move your sphenoid bone around! Eyow! Other possible strategies.... Cranio Sacral technique can address sphenoid balance, but maybe not as effectively as NCR. As far as I remember, Frantzis just talks about intentionally relaxing the cranial plates when doing the spinal stretch. St. John Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) has some novel treatments for cranial rebalancing, and osteopaths probably have some effective treatments as well. Rolfers will work up your nose (and mouth) with their pinky fingers to affect the connective tissue in your head and rebalance that way. Personal experience, this threatment hurts a lot. NCR's balloons may be more comfortable! That has got to feel really weird, though, balloons expanding n your sinuses! You can work your own (external) cranial fascia by gripping your hair (gently!) and pulling. When the fascia relaxes, you can pull harder by just tightening your grip. When you're completely comfortable with pulling straight out, you can turn your hand to torque the fascia. Do it all over your head. (Best time for me is waiting at stoplights. Does look a little weird....) This really improves blood flow in the cranial fascia. Improves hair growth. If you don't have hair to pull, you can press and push adjacent fingers in opposite directions. Not as effective as pulling on the hair, but some men in my NMT class had returning hair regrowth in their balder spots using that technique. Oh yes, also, you can pull on and torque the ears � again, gently! You'll know you're being effective when your scalp or ears tingle and get hot due to the increased blood flow. That's all I can think of... Anybody else?

Welcome Korpo! TaoBums is where I found out about NEW! Glad to see you over here! Hope you'll chime in on some of these discussions, as I've learned a lot from your posts over at astraldynamics. Cheya

Hi Dwai, Welcome! As part of your interest in the phenomenon of Chi, have you read Master Liao's books (Nine Nights and Chi: How to Feel Your Life Energy), and also have you checked out the free feel-your-energy tutorial at astraldynamics.com? These resources have been tremendously helpful to me both in chi practice and in understanding WHY I'm practicing (besides the fact that I just love it!) I'm interested in how your understanding of the Vedic tradition is helping you to understand the Taoist traditon and the phenomenon of chi. Care to expand a bit? All the best, Cheya

To me, it's not that real awakening overrides desiring. It's more that the perceptual mode of desiring blocks the perceptual mode that leads to awakening. The Law of Attraction keeps you focused on what you want to attract, your desires. The Tao Te Ching, (Chapter 1, various translations) says Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one sees manifestations. --------Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, 1972 So the unwanting soul sees what's hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants. --------Ursula LeGuin (1998) Send your desires away and you will see the mystery Be filled with desire and you will see only the manifestation --------Talbert McCarroll To me the desire/desireless, manifestation/mystery conundrum seems a bit like looking at those pictures of figure/ground reversals: you can either see a vase, or the profile of a woman. You can't hold both interpretations in your perception at the same time. If we can see EITHER the manifestation OR the mystery, but not both, it sounds like we won't get very far in perceiving the mystery if we allow ourselves to be seduced by our desires, especially, perhaps, the successful attainment of those desires promised by The Secret. Looked at this way, focusing on The Law of Attraction looks like a massive U-turn on the path of realization. Cheya