Trunk

The 9 bottle wind is similar to "vase breathing" in the 6 Yogas of Naropa system. The point of alternate nostril work is to open the thrusting channels, left and right. (Later, through meditation, the energies of those opened & filled channels are brought together into the central channel.) If that's the case, then you'd breathe down the left side when inhaling through the left nostril, straight down through the left middle, through the major organs on that side as deep as you can go. Similarly, right side for right nostril. Glad to hear a correction if I'm wrong on this.

It was definately the same unique noni-juice bottle, so - yup!

Generally beneficial, imo. If it gets to be too much, cut back on your practices for a little while. During formal practice (at least over the course of your week or so), its important to work out your whole body, at various levels, pretty thoroughly - which will gradually diminish the expressions being of kinks. Its all of it, though: Grace, kinks, and just good fun. Also, eat healthy.

Welcome aboard!

lol! The beauty, and great advantage, of these online discussions is that it really takes half a dozen or so very different views to get a rounded look at any topic. Dig it.

Wow. Excellent, excellent post. Thanks for sharing.

Top 10,001: 1. I'd have to say that core channel practice (deep-centers, bindus) and how that connects with emptiness & light is #1. 2. In my current view, the 10,000 practices are in support of, leading to, that. And are all good.

Peter, Nice post! Curious: How has that been going for you? Interesting line of investigation. I look forward to reading your future posts (if you are so inclined) as things progress. Trunk

Its impressive how effortless much of it is, at that level. The coordination, leverage, take over. His handsprings, etc, do themselves to a large degree. He's not muscling-through a bunch of heavy clunking around. Wow. (And i saw that noni-juice bottle at the end! )

Plant It Herbs

There are the meditative states where breath stops, or sometimes nearly stops as one approaches those states. It goes to a very rich deep place. Could be that you are going that direction during standing meditation. (?) In any case, what you are doing seems to be working for your body, and that's the main thing. When your body is ready for something else, things'll shift, and then something else will be right. There is some physical integration that comes from doing the lower belly breathing. It does tap into the more physical layers, and so integrates.. whatever you're working with, with that. For me, the lower tan tien is more and more the pivot point from working with earth energy through the legs and the higher energies that are drawn from the upper. It could be that some moving work, especially in which your legs are moving (and so the ltt engaged) could be complementary work in which its more natural for you to do lower belly breathing. Trunk

The new local phone book arrived on my doorstep today, with Ronald Reagan on the cover! I couldn't believe it, I burst out laughing. Found a picture of my American hero on the web, printed it up, glued it over RR's mug. Nifty color printers. Trunk

Lately I've been standing in very natural stance, arms at side - a little out to the sides (what Yoda has referred to as "gun-slinger" posture). I keep my breathing centered in the lower tan tien, but I allow my meditation to migrate amongst the three centers (power, love, wisdom).. Allowing the energy to move there as seems natural, doing some refinement at the center, and resolution into the deep-center of each. I find that this approach is providing much easier, more fluent, and more coherent, integration. I've been thinking for some years, now, suspiciously - that all the time just on one center (lower tan tien) is a somewhat silly approach. Experience is confirming, for me, that a three-center approach is more fruitful. Allowing for the fact that the lower energies are denser, so there is generally more time spent refining the lower center. And that the lower center is a good basis for breathing. But to include the love and wisdom center energies in the curriculum, in the blend, is just balanced and healthy. Trunk

Experimentation is a very important part of learning, whether entirely on your own or as part of studying within a system. And, if you're on your own, its likely that you could enjoy some learning, some integration. And its worth while, rewarding even; there are lots and lots of people cultivating on their own (well, at least qi gong and cultivation in general). But what gets produced, compared to learning within an authentic lineage of Tai Chi (or Xing Yi, or Ba Gua), there's no comparison. There just isn't. And I'm not just saying the orthodox line, here; this is based on observation.

Yeah, and that's just the tip of the iceburg with this guy. He goes beyond beyond, and just keeps on going. He had a hilarious promo video on his site some years ago (maybe still there?). He was promoting his qi gong services with 10 times the vigor and a fraction of the class of a used car salesman. I showed it to my teacher at the time (who is a very funny guy), and we laughed our asses off. It was like an SNL take-off on a qi gong ad. Astonishing that it was really an ad in earnest. Wow. This is the first guy I think I've just railed away at re: character online. I don't like this guy. Dat's a fact, Jack.

That's Gary Clyman. His body shape looks like he has some development, and the martial stories about him are impressive. But he has the most loud annoying childish temperament of anyone I've seen. I bought one of his videos some years back (all of his products are $pricey!$), and I couldn't stand to watch more than 1/3 of the way through. His personality is that bad. I threw out the video.

I've never been very flexible. Stocky and bulky, I've always had to have some regular weighted exercise just to warm up and relax. So the ideas of qi gong that works the muscularture (like 1-legged work) and "loaded stretching" are interesting for me. Bridges are currently beyond my ability, but i'm curious to inch towards it. Saw the ad for Pavel's "Loaded Stretching" and have been experimenting with a variation of the stretch shown on the DVD cover, but with arms extended above the head, careful to evenly load the full back (not stack the load in any one place). Any of you bought the DVD? Reviews? Then, as a counter exercise, this: (which, btw, I got from here.) Curious about what any of you guys who are bulky/tight do for stretching that suits you. Trunk

WHY did you have to SAY THAT?!? (Now I'm thinking, "What kind of a creature is a Yoda?", and "What do their peckers look like, shaved?" All I know, is I don't want to know!)

Wow! Good work! Inspired.

"Hsi Lai" means "to the West". I happen to know it 'cause there's a "Hsi Lai Temple" (Buddhist) here in the L.A. area. Its a large beautiful Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights. Actually, the largest Buddhist temple compound outside of Asia. (No relation to the person who wrote that book.)

I just started doing the ab.wheel, standing. I do it up to a wall, to stop the wheel at the angle that I can handle. An unexpected benefit: I find that the strong tension that it puts on the lower ab works the attachments of my abs to my pubic bone, and is effectively releasing some stagnation there that I've not released through other methods.

Yup.

I find that if I get in a some stretch like that, and practice lower tan tien breathing (gently, but expanding~contracting all the way around), and some k1 breathing - it produces really interesting results.

Didn't see one in that shot, but I get the idea. Don't think I wanna buy the ball for just that one thing, but might as I get more into it and think that'd be the thing to get me over the hump. For now, I'm gonna review Furey's material that I have - and maybe visit my local yoga studio for tips.

I think the Tea Garden has an herbal formula, that includes He Shou Wu + other herbs that direct the effect to the scalp, called "Hair Tonic" or some such. Tea Garden website You can call their 800 number and talk to an herbalist. Don't know if its really effective or not. Noni juice testimonial for hair loss Dunno 'bout it for this either.