hyok

That was a very enlightening and engaging post, Starjumper. Thank you for sharing.

Sleep paralysis is very common. If I recall correctly, I think I read somewhere that nearly everyone experiences it at least once in their lives, usually in their youth. Regarding your beautifully well-written post, Stig, I think whatever you did, if it hasn't returned and you feel good about it -- that's it. I also think it's great that you were able to break out of it. I've experienced SP twice in my life: once when I was a teenager and was very fearful so decided just to go back to sleep hoping it would go away, and once after my third eye opening, and I felt no fear during the second one and was actually curious and excited, and was also able to break free from it. For some reason I know i'm never going to experience SP ever again because it's just not possible anymore. I know how to overcome it, and I think you do too.

No. It's mine! Just kidding. Sure you can use it. below is the code to add into your signature, or you can just right click on the image and save it on your computer for future use. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13/miguelt/yinyang.gif By the way, Romance of the Three Kingdoms was/is an awesome game. I played it for a month straight on Super Nintendo back-in-the-day.

Welcome, Ron. You'll learn a lot here from a great array of different personalities and backgrounds.

It's difficult to discern whether it's true or not because I did experience some remarkable things at the workshop. I explained what had happened to a mentor that I confer with on occasion and he said that this experience may be more tied to being in a group setting (apparently group meditation can be very powerful), but be that is it may, I can't deny that these physiological events took place. ha! I like how you see.

Hi Darin, It's been some time since your experience, so I'm wondering what you think the significance of the swastika is? I'm sure you have a few personal theories you've developed, if you care to share. Thanks in advance.

So you think there is some truth to it and there are also people who make it up?

Welcome Bridget.

lol. I wasn't really referring to you, Darin (altho it seemed like it). You've obviously found yourself one exceptional woman! to extend a bit from my last comment, i'd also add that from my experience it's easier to find someone to study with than practice with. i've known a lot of women into metaphysical subjects, but more the study of it than any actual practice other than yoga for exercise/flexibility as well as ouija board/tarot card type of stuff. PS - this isn't stereotyping. this is just me sharing my experiences.

That was fantastic! I feel like most women intuitively know this to be true, but for some reason the women i'm drawn to always seem to be under siege and capable of deflection... but i definitely think most girls would rather be eased into it, as opposed to "OMFG girl, ascension! Immortality! White Blood! F yeah!" lol.

First, may I say that being on this forum has been quite an educational experience in the grandest sense. I've been on other "metaphysical" type forums and witnessed a population of people that i'd describe as zealously desirous of being different, and those who seem excessively poetic in their vague descriptions of their knowledge. This forum seems to have a nice balance of objectivity, humility and just plain old being human as well as a bit of awkwardness, which can be a real delight. I've noticed though that there is a triangular focus within the subject matters that are discussed here. Namely, as the topic states, the Tao, the search for enlightenment and martial arts. For me, it has been nothing but the search for enlightenment and most recently the Tao, whereas martial arts is pretty much not in my scope of interests (at the moment). I am wondering if anyone can explain the relevance of martial arts, and even Taiji, in terms of inner-cultivation and enlightenment as well as the Tao. For example, I have been in a good number of fights in my lifetime, and in most cases won the fights but I never have had any martial arts training. Of course, these fights occurred when I was mostly a teenager and in college, but since then I have had absolutely zero conflicts come my way in my post-graduate years (i'm 35 now). In my experience, the guy starting sheet on the street most likely does not know how to fight. So I'm wondering, is the interest in martial arts purely for the sake of appreciating physical self-defense skills? Or am i missing something more? I guess what i'm looking for, if there is one, is a unifying theory that includes martial arts as a piece of the puzzle. Thanks in advance for your input.

"Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung-fu skills were the stuff of legend!" LOL. saw it last night and laughed my taobum off.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Darin. I know some people are against the idea of sharing spiritual experiences, but I think they should be shared with those who have a willing ear.

lately I've been thinking about the different practices out there, and I'm becoming very weary about systems that offer super-fast results as a selling point. I like results as much as the next person, but having been a businessman for over a decade, i'm beginning to see the selling points overpowering what may be a need for qualitative control as well as safety precautions in some cases.

Question for you Darin: Can you describe the physical sensation of kundalini rising? It seems you've experienced such and being that I've probably heard about a dozen different explanations and descriptions from burning to, as you touched on - spinal breathing, as well as spontaneous experiences, i'm curious what the physical characteristics and qualities of your experience has been like? Is it something you can do again with control or did it require painstaking effort? Was it painful? I was reading Kunlun last night and Max or the other fella mentioned kundalini rose one vertebrae at a time. *EDIT - awesome! found your 100 day journal. Excellente, my friend! Thank you for posting this!

Yeah baby. Zankou Garlic Paste Recipe Ingredients 6 cloves garlic 1/2 ts salt 1/2 c olive oil 1 juice of 1 lemon Instructions Active Work Time: 20 minutes This recipe, which has made the riverside restaurants of the city of Zahleh famous, is similar to the one used by the popular Los Angeles restaurant chain Zankou Chicken. * Grind garlic to paste in mortar or small food processor. Work in salt, olive oil and lemon to create mayonnaise-like consistency.

How does one begin to understand these things? (yes, i realize that is a loaded question, but can you at least point in a direction? )

I should add that it's been over 7 months since and things have definitely changed in and around my cranium. For instance, for a couple of months after the awakening, i felt a lot of pressure between my eyes, like a huge zit was about to grow, or like a person had a finger pressing against it. I also experienced various throbbing sensations around my head while meditating. Nowadays during meditation, whenever i see waves of light in my mind's eye, once it leaves the frame of my mind's eye, i can feel its energy flowing along the same path beyond my vision along the membrane of my skin. After meditation it feels as if i've got a magnetic weight hanging from between my eyes as well as the lower back of my head. These have been the physical manifestations, the metaphysical have been mostly in dreams - occasional psychic dreams, but mostly dreams where i feel a strong communication occurring between my personality and my soul. Also, auras seem to visible to me now, which is really f'n trippy. Another subject of note is the research done by Dr. Rick Strassman. I've read DMT: The Spirit Molecule in which he theorizes that at the point of death, the pineal gland, which is heavily guarded against stress, experiences so much stress that it releases large doses of DMT (dimethyltryptamine) and his theory is that when this occurs, consciousness is transported through a micro-wormhole in the pineal to another place in the universe. Many of the participants in the study experienced this, as well as communication with other beings. After reading DMT as well as Inner-paths to Outer-space, i attempted to brew Ayahuasca tea. Ordered bannister caapi as well as chacruna from an online botany company, but unfortunately the plants were too old and the potency had diminished so we didn't get the experience we wanted. Ended up being a complete waste of money. Also, two weeks after my third eye awakening, I experienced sleep paralysis, something I haven't experienced since I was a kid, but this time I surprisingly was able to break out of the paralysis, and as i moved to get up I saw what I can only describe as two smiling pale-green faced alien beings in my mind's eye. I still have no idea what exactly this means.

^it's about getting a foot in the door. Once a relationships starts, that's completely different. PUA deals with the superficial connection, beyond that the real adventure begins.

This discussion reminds me of a movie I saw recently entitled The Man From Earth. It's a fascinating story if immortality interests you because the writers took the time to really analyze what life as an immortal would be like. It's very engaging and definitely worth your while.

I apologize if i came off defensive, but let me explain myself in a more civilized and practical way... first, if we see "PUA" through the lense of branding, then we see it for something more than it is, which in its essence is the transfer of information, not so much different than coming to Taobums to learn and exchange ideas, or taking a workshop like Kunlun to help guide us to what we are trying to attain. For me personally, learning to craft my abilities to communicate with women in a courting fashion was developed by watching and analyzing other guys - guys older than I was who had learned their way; guys who were naturally charismatic and had naturally magnetic personalities, then by imitating and implementing their qualities to my own personality, i learned to find my own voice and my own way. This is what it is essentially all about. If you see this as being anything more or less than that, it is because you're looking at it through a lense of your own choosing. Furthermore many guys are not in a position where they have older male counterparts to analyze, thus the need for a PUA genre became necessary for men. Most of us were not born with an innate ability to attract women and communicate with them in a way that offers results. It's something all of us have to learn one way or another.

yeah, alright, so, like, where's the thread that teaches us how to give women the ta-O-face?

What exactly are you doubting? Reason i ask is that self-doubt covers a large blanket of qualities. For me, personally, i doubted my ability to stop abusing substances, i.e. alcohol, drugs.

Bruce Lee probably did more than any person ever in bringing Eastern culture to the West. He did this through showcasing the BadAss-ness of martial arts through cinema. I've gotta say though, he had to have had one helluv an ego as well as a strong desire to be famous to accomplish what he did. I'm sure the underlying drive to bring East to the West was prevalent in his motivations so i don't want to take anything away from his accomplishments because he truly was a gifted individual in more ways than just martial arts. I mean, just coming to the US and getting inside a very close-knit Hollywood at the time was a remarkable achievement in and of itself.

That's a completely biased and ignorant statement itself, but given that you're a woman and completely naive when it comes to the art of picking-up women, it's understandable. Natural game is the way to go as it incorporates your personality and fine-tunes the best parts of it while also allowing a guy to maintain his sense of self as well as a sense of Self-dignity. From my experience a lot of it has to do with just making the girl feel comfortable. In as far as fidelity is concerned, that to a large degree is based on the girl. Sure every girl has this beautiful perfect side to them, but if sexual faithfulness is important to you, then look towards her family background - how she was raised, her relationship with her father and how this translates into a need for attention and validation from men.