Ian

Lawks! Is it just me, or is this curiously reminiscent of kunlun black hole energy?

I'm going to be restarting my morning standing on a daily basis. Just 30 mins to begin with. Anyone fancy a bit of daily standing, of any type or duration, so we can form a mutual encouragement group? Answers on a computer screen....

I can't bring myself to attack you personally. But I will mention Australia's recent visit to India. Singing: "Two-nil, two-nil, two-nil, two-nil, two-nil, two-nil, two-nil, ..."

Ha ! Yes. The style of meditation I practice frequently makes people very noisy. On our summer reteat this year we had one chap who sounded like he was channelling an extroverted Japanese prison officer. Constantly. People would actually crack under the strain and scream at him to shut up in mid-session. And it certainly wasn't easy. It was just about possible, though, to realise that the aspect of me which got distracted was not the aspect of me I was supposed to be "with" during the process. And therefore the noise was actually a continuous assistance, in that it pointed out EVERY time I wasn't home. It's infuriating, to realise how poor one's application is. But very useful.

Agreed. Thoroughly.

Thinking about sex. Basically. Absent, not now, wanting, striving, thinking. Abstract, heated.

My teacher works full-time as a healer when not teaching. And when I say full-time, that's up to thirty half hour sessions a day, for up to seven days a week. The first time I met him in 2003 I asked him "What stops you getting the sick energy of your clients?" He gave a big grin and said "Nothing at all! But it helps not to be afraid." For us he says to treat no more than one person a day and to spend the same amount of time working on solo practice afterwards. After about 10,000 hours practice we can think about working as healers... He says it's pointless trying to protect yourself from crowds, as this will make you closed and tense. Far better just to work on yourself and not think about it. On the other hand I've seen another teacher show that closing down your own field is very simple. Just imagine you're 13 and you're on a late night train full of drunks and you don't want to be noticed. Acting like that will reduce your energetic field down to very close to your body. I've seen it demonstrated with dowsing rods.

Impermanence is a good object. There's also emptiness. As Daniel Imgram says: "It doesn't last, ain't real and doesn't satisfy." Though I must admit I've never heard a doctrine of unsatisfactoriness.

A stroke, usually, is the body shutting down one whole side to prevent the blockage there being fatal. I would recommend a movement I know as butterfly shake. This is a movement of the legs, done sitting down. If only one leg can be moved that's enough to start with. If the patient cannot move themselves, their leg(s) can be moved manually by someone else until they are able to. The movement is simple. Sit with knees and hips at the same-ish height. Feet close together. Allow the knees to fall apart sideways, pause for an instant, then with as little effort as possible bring them back together. Pause for another instant, let them fall again. That's all. Hands can be away on chair arms or palms down on thighs. In latter case hands, and arms are just passengers and do nothing towards the movement. Ever so gentle, flushes the leg meridians, do as much as possible. No visualisation, no directing energy, no particular breathing. Just feel the physical sensation as much as possible. Hope it helps, best wishes, Ian

I rather think this might be the important part of this thread.

I agree with all the nice stuff you and others have said about him, but this? The Michael Winn I knew was the last person you'd describe as humble. But it's been a few years, so maybe..

I think that's the crucial line. Maybe it would help to examine the mechanism by which you allow their energy to affect you. Like super-closely...

It becomes very simple if you can but look at it a certain way. In the red corner: lust, thinking, mind, pornography, projection. In the blue corner: love, polarity, attraction, presence. Pornography is thought, creation of mind. Thought deals in absence, the unreal, projection, desire, that which is not actually happening. Pornography is so prevalent because it is one of the most basic and direct, one might even say honest, expressions of mind. To resist it is to resist the self, the karma, that which is not real, present. No wonder people find it difficult.

I think the main obstacle is that science tries to be objective, but reality is subjective.

Thank you for your gift. Interesting time to ask. Facing a big decision in the next year or so. Generally, I know what I need to do. Practice more, be less timid, and start seriously expanding myself and my provocative opinions out into the world. Clear out the old liver and dump some Ian on the environment. And not wait for my mother to die before I start doing exactly as I see fit. But how do I imagine it? I don't, yet. I'm kind of aware that everything, including my own decisions, are just going to happen. Incubation period. Watch this space. Again, though, thanks for the question. (And of course thanks everyone for all the further good wishes since I last acknowledged them. )

Thank you, kind sirs. Not sure about growing old, just yet. The atmotsphere here is helpfully juvenile. I've just received a cake from my colleagues bearing the legend " Happy Birthday Bumhead" and tonight we're all going to see a "tender love duet for dancer and mechanical digger" So if I keep taking the Shou Wu Chih maybe I can postpone adulthood another ten years or so...

I just got internet hooked up on my home computer, which is a little old one I usually just use for writing. And the screen isn't big enough for the whole Taobums window. So I scrolled over to the right to be able to see the whole text of posts. And I realised, as I kept going down the laziness thread, that I was reading posts without knowing who wrote them until afterwards. And it's better that way. I'm much more open-minded about what is written because I'm not viewing it through the filter of what I already know about the person posting. Try it, peoples !

I love trees. Haven't spent much time with birches or beeches, but I know some very nice pine trees in Oxford, a very agreeable sycamore at my Mum's house, and some splendid plane trees in London. And just recently I met some very nice olive trees in Barcelona, including three just outside terminal A of the airport, which, nicely, must have been preserved during construction as they are way older than the buildings. Trees have been a bridge for me. I have found it very difficult over the years to connect with stuff outside me, but eventually, about a year ago, I managed to tune into to streams and trees. A bit. It continues to develop. I had an experience with a pine tree in the parks a few months ago which was like holding hands happily with someone who had no issues of their own. Small tips: Notice the difference in the energy of the same tree morning and afternoon. Try deep abdominal breathing with trees. I've met at least one that joined in. Definitely cultivate a relationship. It's worth going back to the same one. They rememeber you. Having said that, a few trees just aren't friendly. Move on.

There is a book, If I remember correctly, called "Natural Alternatives to Antibiotics", by someone called Mckenna. A bit more mainstream than much of the above, but good for grannies etc.

Maybe the experience of surrender varies according to what it is that you have to stop doing? And maybe men find it really tricky. I do.

The only worthwhile fact I think I know is that contrary to the initial impression I had for ages, the ming men is apparently forward of the spine. Still quite a way back, but not at the back. And that's all. Seem to remember Hagar having good stuff on this...

This may not be for everyone, but I can vouch that that chap who wrote it is very real. Appallingly proof-read, at least the copy I had, may be better now, and if you're not in England you may need to email them about postage. But anyway, have a look. I wept. Book details here Previous stuff I posted about the man in question here (Smile, you particularly will want this, if you're doing Vipassana style stuff. Not a how-to, but some important insights. In fact, if you pm your address I'll buy you a copy) Hope everyone is well, Metta, I