Trunk

I've used it for an avacado pit, (I was a little worried dropping it in there but it) works fine.

Welcome aboard, Brett! You might check out my site (all free, and link below in my signature) for a quick over-view of the body-practices part of Taoism.

Links?

Also quite possible that the prostate itself is swollen, from what you've said, probably a whole lot of tension all through that area. Aneros has a forum where you could get more informed responses to your concerns.

I'm not saying this is the way this guy is doing it, just one way it might be done: A lot of push hands is not force; its being profoundly integrated, its subtle. Most people hold their body together with various non-integral tensions.. that have little (if anything) to do with heaven~earth. Much of development is to let go of that, and promote heaven~human~earth integration. Like most of cultivation, a lot of is has to do with doing less. In push hands, you learn to feel the other person, you feel where they are non-integral (where they have no true power) and just give a little shove there. Its deeper than the person is familiar with feeling, certainly deeper than their habitual tension holding patterns, and the tension holding patterns give way. They sort of relax in a way that they're unfamiliar with. The result is that their body loses strength (even if the person is a weight lifter etc), falls back a little ways and needs a few steps to recover structure. ie, It could be more subtle than if you gave someone a physically hard enough shove to send them back some dozen feet or so. As I said, this is just one way that it might be done, and certainly I can't speak for what that teacher is doing. Again, I encourage you to look at the teacher's body in sections. Watch from his belly to the ground for a while. Then look at the shape of his back for a while. Then look at how his back connects to his neck & head, for a while. What do you see? Then look at those sections of the student. The kind of repeated, detailed corrections that you might receive from a teacher like this - studying in person over a long period of time, are just so valuable. The things that we do by habit, under the level of our awareness that are warped into our structure, are difficult to see and correct on our own. Personal study with an accomplished teacher, consistently, over a long period of time!

Its interesting to watch different parts of their bodies. Look at one guy from belly button to feet for a while, then the other.

Cool. I've read stuff something like that.. somewhere before. I haven't bought an aneros (yet?), but I have started using the blunt end of a plastic brush (that no one else uses, and that I clean thoroughly) several times a month. I'd found that I had a lot of tension locked around the prostate and seminal vesicles. I'm now of the opinion that its really healthy & important to do this every once in a while. Here's the paragraph that I put on my site a while back:

I gotta chime in on this, too. My experience is that that are quite a number of low profile very advanced teachers. Authentic, sincere, blow your socks off, real deal Teachers with anywhere from 5 to 50 students showing up for class / events. That's where, personally, I've found the best opportunity to learn. I readily acknowledge that there's some serious heavy-weights that are very popular (the Karmapa, for example), the skillful means to studying with someone like that is to meditate upon him or her from where ever you are, receiving inner teachings from a distance. At least, for me, I'm not attracted to crowds of multi-1000's. Selling sensation and marketing it as spirituality.Sowing the seeds of confusion and suffering.

The review board is very, very cool for most areas - but awfully political (or something near that word) re: teachers. Hypothetically, let's say there's a widely known and popular teacher on that list that I think is not worth a rat's ass. I'm way too pc to put up a review, give them zero or 1 out of ten, say why, append my name to the review - for all people to see for all time. Maybe all you rowdies would, and maybe I'd even applaud you some for it (if the reviews were honest and well spoken).. maybe I'm missing the boat and the opportunity of this.. Opinions?

Maybe a 2nd thread on how to manage the detox and body adjustment to blended & raw diet. Seems common that the blending creates and/or releases too much heat. Solutions? Here's my ideas so far: yin blends less greens and yang fruits more roots and yin fruits example, today's blend: gou qi zi (lychi berries), he shou wu, almonds, dang shen (Codonopsis) - all soaked overnight carrot gradual blend only several times a week, and eat good healthy food otherwise raw, nourishing, not blended - I think there's something about blending that liberates a zing! that's too much at first - personally, I've been eating a lot of salmon sashimi (raw salmon cut up and soaked in lemon juice & soy sauce for 20+ minutes). Eggs & other stuff could be on the list. detox, circulation & ventilation - drink plenty of liquids - exercise for circulation (walk, jog, swim) - acupressure, & joint exercises Interested in feedback & tips, as I am just learning about this. I guess an even more basic question is: Is the heat thing from blended raw just a detox & adjustment phase, or is it a danger that will always be there with blended raw?

I was reading Yoda's blog, and was inspired to go out and buy a pretty stout blender. Now looking for more reading on raw food, raw recipes for blenders (already got Max's and freeform's soups from Yoda's blog). Any links appreciated. Oh, and I own "We Want to Live" and am diggin into it.

Tsongkhapa is the bomb. "...bestow blessings, that we may achieve The wisdom of ecstasy and void conjoined." - Seventh Dalai Lama

I like the splash that says "Now with 28.7% more credibility!" The guy has a sense of humor about himself and his site.

Probably the tastiest ch. herb is lychi berries (pin yin: Gou Qi Zi, latin: Fr.Lycii Chinensis). They are super nourishing, full of all sorts of really good stuff. They're sort of like extra-nourishing red raisans. --- later edits --- In Los Angeles Chinatown, they're like $4-$7 / pound, depending on quality. .. and, btw, good idea to include soaked-overnight ch.herbs in blend, that I otherwise would not eat raw. * puts some he shou wu in bowl w/ water *

Chia's IS123 has some similarities to authentic systems, provides some topic introductions, but also has a lot of mis-direction (some quite dangerous, some not) and a lot missing: there's nothing like studying with a good teacher, long term, in person. (Sure, get what you can from Chia's videos, but be careful not to hurt yourself with his IS1 and I would recommend you search elsewhere for authentic training.) Tendon changing is a big part of the puzzle. The fascia, and also the joints as nexus of connective tissue. "Tendon" is code for "connective tissue": fascia, tendon, ligament.. actually, going into the bone is part of the culmination of that. The bones get addressed in a different way than the usual muscle-bone leverage thing. But, yes, you're on the right track that "tendon changing" is a BIG part of the puzzle. --- later edit --- I've only had a little exposure to Scott Sonnon's work, but it looks like his stuff is innovative in working the connective tissues & joints (though his system doesn't have the heaven~earth part of it). Might effectively complement your tai chi (or other internal MA). A simple tip that goes a long way is to warm up all of the major joints (ideally through circular movement) at the beginning of each qi gong / internal martial art practice session.

A friend told me about this exercise, I found a picture of it on the web. Duck Walk Place your hands interlocked behind your head and squat down, with your back straight, you then walk forward in a squated position. http://www.precisiondocs.com/~altaoism/images/SquatWalk.jpg

Online, here. http://www.rmaxinternational.com/home/

Glad that Chris chimed in, cause I hadn't a clue! (Hope both you & your wife are eating well during this pedal-to-the-metal time, though.) Wow!

Congrats, Hagar.Good to hear from you.

Yikes! (Stolen (scroll down, right under the picture), with an acknowledgement.) Occured to me that JrH & HS would be the best time to learn this one, 'd really help integrating adolescent power smoothly.

I wonder if my L'Equip R.P.M. would blend an avacado pit. I threw one away today, and thought about this issue. It was a monster pit; the idea of eating one is pretty new to me. If (any of) you eat an avacado pit, I want to hear about it! --- later edit --- btw, I'm getting so much out my blended food! I am totally sold. My energetics are smoother, I can feel channels are being opened. All really good. Only thing (as Yoda already mentioned) that sometimes I feel rev'd and I find that I need to take some breaks and eat some heavy food every once in a while. Definately my body is changing for the better, quickly, as a result of blended + often raw diet.

Neimad, You've really inspired me to check out Sonnon's stuff more! Trunk

Well, it looks like I'm late to the party with this one. But I'm really diggin' it, its kickin' my ass! - and looking fwd to getting smooth LTT breathing while walkin low.

What product and/or linked article?

Here's a qi gong variation of kneeling ab-wheel. Kneeling, you roll out a very modest distance - enough to engage your abdominals, but not nearly anywhere so far as in actual strength training. While holding that position, you then breathe down through your abdominals, in a sort of moderate version of scrotal compression / Dr. Lin's sexual chi kong breathing. Experiment with moving the ab-wheel several inches in either direction, and repeat. Further experiment with the breathing method in wheel positions incrementally closer to the knees, to as close as several inches (keeping some pressure on the wheel so that the abs are engaged). That's it. The obvious purpose of this training is to be able to maintain healthy jing flow, and top~to~bottom integration, while in the midst of abdominal muscular contraction. This has applications in smoothing out arousal. CAUTION: You'll find that once you get the jing flow really through the abs, that you'll relax and your strength will give out to some degree, so don't put yourself in such an extended position that you'd put your back in danger when that happens. Again, this method is a qi gong variation, not strength training - so don't get all macho about it and extend the wheel to your muscular limits. Just go out about half as far as you would for strength training. Oh, and here's me workin' on the ab-wheel (Just the regular "kneeling ab-wheel for strength", I don't go out quite as far for the qi gong variation.)