Trunk

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Posts posted by Trunk

  2. Posted

    2 hours ago, silent thunder said:

    Both of my traditional lineage teachers heavily downplay MCO.

     

    .. when the foundation is ready ..

     

    Any clarification on what the foundation is?,

    from your perspective (influenced by the background you've mentioned), to the degree that you feel appropriate to share.  Perhaps in very broad outline.

     

    My view is that we are going through a profound shift, over decades, in the popular-Taoist culture - on what the emphasis, order of approach to the inner work.  Always interested in hearing educated views.  :ph34r:

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    If you experiment with a spectrum of

    pressing firmly <~> not quite touching

    (addresses the spectrum of physical <~> subtle)

    points along the center line

    while breathing in & out (slowly, with focus, fully) at that point ...

    (as demonstrated in this video)

     

    I think that you'll find it'll help you with activating acupoints along ren as well as bringing circulation, attention, and articulation to various musculature that might be unfamiliar.

     

     

     

    • Like 1
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  11. Posted

    @Needhelp,

    The other benign (won’t hurt) & beneficial supplement I’d recommend is any one of those “greens blend” powders.  When the chemistry was researched here in the community, the plant chemistry is beneficial.  .. I think @thelerner is maybe more familiar with that book?, called “Cupid’s Poison Arrow”, was it?

    The lumbrokinase is strong, won’t hurt, and important.

     

    Past those, it gets more nuanced (beyond what I’d feel comfortable giving advice for) and longer term work.

    Go gradually.  Don’t force things.  Tune to harmony.

    A *good* doctor of Chinese medicine *might* help; a bad one’d hurt.
    Be discerning.

    good luck,
    Trunk

    • Like 2

  14. Posted

    On 1/21/2024 at 7:59 PM, Trunk said:

    Wow.  Stunningly beautiful pictures.

    The banner has already been completed, with a green dragon in a style & size that works with the banner...

     

    However, the dragon pictures are so so cool;

    keep sharing!

     

    - Trunk

     

    TDBs banner has been completed and this thread has transformed into sharing related art.  :wub:

     

     

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

  22. Posted

    16 hours ago, f-man said:

    ..

    I think it's already pretty advanced stuff to have energy pooling there. If you try it too early, you just get frustrated because of the stuck, hard feelings down there.

     

    .. ensure that the blocks for deeper, lower, meditative breathing are gone. First learn to walk, then run.

    ..

    Empty The cup before pouring new tea into it. This lays the foundation for the rest of stuff!

     

    Dovetails very much where my mind was going ...

    What are the stages of experience that we are experiencing re: LDT - breathing?

     

    I think that the practice of 'following the breath', + some sort of opening the body in conjunction with breathing + stabilized attention, is assumed to be already established.

    And then the breathing in the LDT can be felt as physical and unrefined as mud.

    ... all the way to very refined consciousness integration, and everything in between...

    from physical to very subtle.

    It's interesting navigating the changes, and see what changes occur over time.

  23. Posted

    indulging in redundancy, resorting to art

     

    to illustrate further, from the viewpt of dantien as integral with the One Light

    goldenflowercleary.jpg

     

    in a very simple way, what are the mechanics to get that to happen?

    jadesutra_deep-center.jpg

     

    - jade is both hard & soft, so represents being "well blended".  all the work we do to prepare ourselves.

    - the hole in the center is the small quiet deep-center, and has a special relationship to "pervasive awareness at large" (they're the same)

    - the diamond is a "bindu" and has deep resonance with Vast Awareness

     

    Then there's the process:

    - resolutely resting our attention in that quiet still space

    - blending the elements into the center

    - let them dissolve there

    - stay there for a while  :)

    ensoemptinessdeepcenters.jpg

     

     

    (click a picture for whole art essay, JohnDaoProductions.wordpress.com)

    • Like 3

  25. Posted

    Ok, I'm kinda honing in on a more focused answer to the subject line of this thread ...

    - much in agreement with what some others have already said, just getting there through my own messy thoughts -

     

    The book Tsongkhapa's Six Yogas of Naropa tr.by Glenn Mullin talked about (what I call) the deep-center - where the major chakras intersect the central channel.  A still quiet space where the deep alchemy between personal and transpersonal.  The Tibetans talk about it in that book something like this:

    "the wisdom of conjoining bliss and emptiness"

    and their basic instruction for what to do in that space,

    "enter, abide and dissolve".

     

    61RQ2+uy--L._SL1200_.jpg

     

    Typical of the Tibetan system, there's tremendous surrounding complexity in that book, and it's part of a head-spinningly extensive training system... but that one simple part of it is key and clarified a *lot* for me, in a lot of directions, re: a lot of practices.

     

    The territory that I kinda think a dantian is?

    it has that (above) at it's core.

    +

    ... and all of the layers of being and physicality fluently integrated.

     

    That's the short of it, for me.

    and points to an endless process.

     

    p.s.

    And one of the best tips I've heard re: quality to aspire towards is "silk breathing", your LDT breathing like silk for entire cycle of the breath.  From Master Kim of Sundo.org.

    • Like 1