thelerner

Minke de Vos has a great set of guided meditations. I especially like her Basics CD. It has 4 meditations, 1>Energy Med-about 11 minutes reverse breathing, expanding the energy ball etc. 2>Deep Body Smile-28 minutes, fusion oriented, looking into the major and minor organs and making peace w/ them and there energetics and a fabulous 'brain wash' sequence. 3>Microcosmic Orbit 12 minutes -Excellent it w/ its use of biaural music and sound effects she leads you from micro to macro and ends w/ gathering and centering the energy. It gave me my best experience of the orbit. 4> Sexual Energy -14 minutes, amazing, energy packing, breath retentions, mixing and circulating sexual energy w/ smiling energy and running them up and down the orbits. Sexual gods mating(ala Yudeloves stuff). Its the only guided meditation that has ever made me actively sweat. It may be called Basics, but it gets pretty advanced. I really like Michael Winns CD's, but they tend to be long, philosophical and kitchen sinkish. Minke's stuff is short and experiential. Her Fusion I double CD is great, indepth sound color emotions its all in them. Her breathing CD's, Retention, Circular, Deep breath are all outstanding. I collect guided meditations, and hers, are priceless (and inexpensive!) if you can get them. There's a link to the Silent Ground center on LINKs (on HT site), but too often Minke is doing other things then selling her CD's. Luckily I bought a few at Tao Mountain and sent her a check later that year to send me anything else she had on hand. I'm very glad I did, I really dig her stuff. Oh, other good guided meds. Bliss Trips- great trips particularly the Earth trip, though the Air one is great to experience Lucid flying(google Bliss trips). Anne Wise's Mind Series, a cheap course on brain wave training, including powerful healing guided meditations trips(Yoda, look into her book 'The Awakened Mind, indepth description of healers-taoist through evangelist and there recorded brain waves). Kaishan Golden Shield Chi Gung has an amazing Longevity Med. which has a powerful bone washing as well as taking you from an infant to 220 years old and back. The Chi Nei Tsang has some great meditations for Bone Washing and laughter meditations. Peace Michael

The Sphinx of Imagination that free from mentioned looked pretty interesting. I ordered it. A relaxing hypnotic, mythical journey. I'll give a review after a listen or two. Michael

How did the interview come about? Q. what are 3 simple things everyone should do? Q. Do you think society is evolving spiritually or its the same old same old?

Marriage gets a bum wrap not because of the strained male/ female dynamic, but because its simply hard for people to live w/ each other with out driving each other nuts. That goes double w/ children. Unless you have quite a bit of experience with them before hand, you tend to fantasize and project perfection onto them. Set up false expectations and forget what a dopey kid you were back when. Daniel Reid said Children were the best teacher of the tao but no one take the time to listen to them. True. The stuff that causes the most conflict is the non consequential stuff, time to go places, time to clean, don't poke your little brother etc. Having kids is a form, not of reincarnation, but incarnation. Little you's, newer, younger updated models, running around trying to figure out the universe. The thoughts you had, the wants, the insecurities, the dreams, all there. A chance to be better then our parents. A chance to light a fire that burn through 1000 generations. ya da yada. This thread is to discuss the young'uns. The proper care and feeding. A few of us are so blessed. How do you feed yours? I have an 8 year old vegetarian, who doesn't each most vegetables. He'll eat apples, carrots, pizza and PB&J's. Oh and whole wheat waffles for breakfast. And fries, he loves fries. Thankfully my other 2 are omnivores. Its late, must sleep Peas Michael

It was great, except I had to cut my tongue off. Kidding kidding That was way back in 90, when I quit my job, started in the Carribean Ashram for 2 weeks, then back packed and bummed through Israel and Europe for about 4 months. Some of the best times of my life. The Sivananda Ashram on Paradise Island (by Nassau) is still there I think. Great teachers, 2 yoga classes a day 2 meditation classes, all mandatory to keep out dead beats who wanted to use them for a cheap vacation. I became a secret guide to the Bob Stark Casino hotel. Sneaking people out at 11:00, gambling and seeing risque shows, sleeping during the 6:00 morning meditation. Living clean and vegetarian during the day, then debauchery at nite. When I wanted to stop people kept dragging me back as 'the guide'. Girls who were about to go to the Arctic as nurses wanted to be taken to the casino. A guy about to make vows at the Kripalu yoga center wanted a last wild fling. By the end I just wanted to get into the yoga, but I was living a wildy dualistic life. My posse would tresspass at Club Med, chase people out of hot tubs by folding there legs behind there heads and floating like dumplings in boiling water. The yoga was good, the food was very good, they served 2 large meals a day. Best were the vendors on the beach. They'd crack open a coconut, pour in pineapple rum and some ice. Such forbidden treats were delicious, and you could get 2 for $5. Most days yoga was done on a platform right on the beach taught by orange clad Swamis. Kids were allowed, some yoga babies were roaming free. There was an entire high school yoga club there at one point. Michael

I was looking for a cheap Carribean vacation when I stumbled onto Ashrams. On paradise Island there was a Sivananda Yoga Ashram where $35 bucks a day bought food, shelter and well yoga lessons. I'd never done yoga, but a $35 a day all inclusive sounded great. It was so great I stayed an extra week. One part of the yoga was called Karma Yoga. It was simply doing work, most often hard around the Ashram. It was maybe the most valuable part of the trip. Working hours, 3 or 4 each day, no reward, didn't have to. Very valuable training. Having a kid is the most wonderful opportunity for Karma Yoga. Others might feed ghosts, but we have hungry living souls wanting 20 hours a day. The opportunity for selflessness service is there always. There's something good about that. It gets us out of Me and Mine, and into service. Helping others w/ often little thanks. Less me and the IMPORTANT THING I'M DOING NOW and more tie the shoe, wait 5 more minutes, more water, less oatmeal. Its good non ego training. Michael

I'm a bit of a sceptic myself. I was at Tao Mountain and they had a healing (?) demo w/ Dirk Oileak (mispelled). He was showing his 4 dimensional healing technique. He had 3 instructors up there. They spasmed and shook most of the time, one literally bouncing off the table. Also people in the audience were being visibly shaken by whatever it was(looked like massage) that he was doing. Somehow being either a sceptic or energetically dense kept me from feeling what ever was going on. Another time I was at Tao Mountain and one of the woman was a cranial rebirther. I've always been like ..right blame crap on something that happened 30 years ago at birth, who can prove you wrong. Again the person spasmed, was clearly in a deep trance, ended up in the fetal position and had experienced a 'break through'. Matter of fact another guy had gone into meditation room at nite, spasmed went fetal, and had a major break through. As always I'm on the sidelines observing. I don't think bliss or enlightenment or break throughs come head first. Ultimately we have to close our eyes and jump. Though maybe I'll just peek a little. Michael

The first part of the 'contest' where they push against the master and he redirects it easily is pretty standard stuff. Most teacher level Aikidoists and Tai Chi people do it all the time. No biggy. The touchless, spastic stuff is--in my opinion somewhat loaded. Meaning if you or I did the punch, we might well fly back, but not do the spastic dance. Again, higher level stuff, there's a timing secret, if you move centered at the right time, people will bounce off you. To do it consecutively and confidently is higher level teacher stuff. But not that uncommon. The spastic dance after the bounce may well be explained by qi energy. But it is usually only so spastic w/ old students. You see fantastic touchless throws in Aikido, but its easier to do them w/ your own attackers. My sensei talked about teachers who'd throw attackers who were 20 feet away from them. But they could only do it because there was such a strong connection between each of them. It wouldn't work on others/outsiders. My teacher loved touchless throws. One story he has is demonstrating touchless throw in class and having a judo person say it wouldn't work on him. My teacher said, well lets try it. The judoman attacks gets whammed in the face and goes down hard. The thing about my senseis 'touchless' throws were, we went down early so we wouldn't get smashed. Sensei Eley's mind body control was such that the power in his limbs held the power of his entire body. You couldn't move him or his hand. There no give. Any person in the way of his swing, was moved. We knew it, and if it was coming our way we'd get the hell out of the way as fast as possible. Usually a ducking roll back. Its not exactly phoney, but the fact that 'untrained' people wouldn't spaz out (IMHO) is omitted. My 2 psetas Michael

I've gotten into a nice habbit of walking w/ my daughter as we both listen to an IPod through a splitter. Its great to walk and introduce her to the Beatles and The Bangles and what not. Her favorate song is Chesney Hawkes 'The One and Only'. Its a great way of sharing. Michael

Here is a very well done online FREE course on Lucid Dreaming and its got a lot on the working on the twilight zone between sleeping and wakefulness. www.geocities.com/lucidmetro/coursetable.htm#TABLE%20OF Its called A Course on Consiousness. Its worth studying and printing out. I always end up w/ bad insomnia when I work too much on Lucid Dream work. That said I just found the 'Sleeping Chi Kung' CD from the chi Nei Tsang Institute. I ordered it, and I don't know if I ever listened to it. It has an interesting 9 Turns and Sleeping Loop directed practice that guarantees sleep. Something about twirling your tonque around your mouth and 'feeling' the same circling at your tan tien. I'll try it tonight Michael

I think step number one is limiting the self concept of I. These days I'm not trying to fight it so much, but when 'I' feel or think something disturbing, I'll hum uuuuuuuu and try to feel it flow up and down my center. The You sound reminds me to move away from the I concept. Michael

Its funny but I've always considered Guiness to be like mothers milk, that and Boddingtons. Actually I've read its recommended to nursing mothers by Dr's in Ireland(not my recommendation). Michael

I was hoping to get more thoughts on retention. I see three possible paths for retention. First sexually active (though non ejaculatory ofcourse) that is very yang. It gives energy, hormonally and energetically. Fail and you overheat and overload. The other path is purification. Non ejaculating and diminishing all sexual thoughts and desires. From diet and Cold showers to visits to the local morgue to witness the fleshs degradations. Is this more yin, contemplative. Fail and you go into a mental ping state, hate the opposate sex, become colder. Then the third path, inbetween, where you get neither extreme. Does my analogy make any sense? Michael

I was just appreciating what great exchanges there are on this site. Its really world class. Its shows the best of what the internet can be. Discussions of experiences and ideas. New things learned, new friends made. I can't imagine the amount of work it must do to create and keep it running. Sean you've done it, you've created something really special here. It hasn't always been easy and is usually pretty thankless, but you had a vision and brought it to life. My thanks. Michael.

Put enough chocolate chips on something and and most kids will take at least one bite out of it. I don't remember any allergy issues when I went to school 30 + years ago. Wow have times changed. So many allergy issues, the worst being Peanut. One of my kids friends has it so bad the mother leaves us w/ an emergency shot whenever the child comes over. Another friend can't sit near someone eating a PB&J sandwich. Nasty stuff. Thankfully my kids are picky not allergy prone. I don't really believe in reincarnation but I wonder where my 8 year got the idea to become a vegetarian. (he's a subclass, a dessertarian) Me and my wife aren't big into meat but I don't think he has any friends or acquaintances who are. Past life habbit? He certainly looked like a buddha when he was a baby. He was so plump and he'd laugh and laugh, w/ a sound like a bell. Now he's a thin, mean green nintendo playing machine . Michael

This is about as mundane as you can get. Here is a great and simple oatmeal cookie recipie. Fast, no flour, pretty healthy and flexible. Good for care and feeding of kids and adults. Its from the back of McCanns Irish Oatmeal. 2 Cups McCanns quick Cooking Oatmeal 1/2 cup Light brown sugar 1 egg 4 tablespoons vegetable or Canola oil 2 tablespoons maple syrup preheat oven to 375. lightly greaste baking sheets. Mix he oatmeal and sugar in a bowl. Add egg, oil and maple syrup and mix well. Wait 15 minutes for absorbtion. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown. They'll harden as they cool. Throwing in chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, coconut, even a bit of flax seed, work real well. It only makes 10 to 12 cookies, but it doubles easily. And if you too many you'll only eat'em faster. Michael

Answer. Yoda- IMHO powdered psyillium seed will help you lose weight. Its near calorieless fiber that fills up your stomach. It'll make you more regular and help balance out blood sugar. Q> If its so good helpful why aren't YOU thin. A> Who said I'm not thin? Why I ought to.. Peas Michael P.S. as people have found its not the best tasting. So capsules may be the way to go. PPS. Daniel Reids fasting program used a drink made of distilled water, psyillium seed(powdered), fresh lemon juice, maple syrup and hideous tasting bentonite clay. There are a couple of miracle fasting diets that use similar lemon drinks. PPPS The 2 times I went on his fast I lost 8 to 11 pounds in 5 or 6 days. Ofcourse fasting is not the way to lose weight. Much of it is water loss. In the long run you'll never escape the basic axiom of eat less, exercise more, stare at the pee and drink up the sun

Nice

Actually the 'herbal secret' to long hardiss smooth torpedoes that require little or no toilet paper is pretty simple. Its psyillium seed, the stuff thats in Metamusol. Because it tastes so so, I find its better to swallow it in tablets. They've available cheap and generic. Take 5 for a day or 2 to see how you handle it, then a few days w/ 5 in the morning 5 at nite, take w/ lots of water. By the 4rth or 5th day wallah, toilet time is quick and output is amazing. I find taking the capsules for about 5 days, makes for about 2 weeks of smooth sailing. The tablets also work well as an appetite suppressant. There are some more expensive fiber/colon tablets around that have some herbals in them. They're fine, but its the bulk psyillium that is the work horse. Most people eat only a fraction of the recommended fiber we should. Peace and poops Michael

So in taoism the tonque is connected to the heart. Interesting implications if you look at it that way. Ofcourse you can only take metaphors and such connections so far and sometimes drop the entirely when you're working from one system to another. The brain stimulation aspect of this intriques me though. This morning I was run energy from between my eyes to the back of my head, back and forth. Then doing the same w/ between ears. Trying to awaken the 3rd eye, or pineal gland or amygdala or crystal cave, or what ever there to be woken up. So far its still pretty empty Peas Michael

I've read 9, its 13 if you count seeing the movies. I'm really impressed w/ Steven King. He has more listings there then anyone else. I think he'd like that. Michael

Even MORE IDEAS. Just in live chat with Matthewqi and Cameron. I wish there was a little flashing light or blink in the corner when there are people in Live Chat. Too often people are there and no one knows about it. Just a thought. Michael

What has helped my orbit is the chi gung form on Michael Winns Fundamental's 2 video. It uses whole body movements to open up orbit and other channels so its not so much a mental game only. Its great to do outside. I'll usually follow it up with his simple Pan Gu form, I forget which video that is from. Listening to Minke's Tao Basics guided meditation really helped me get a better feeling for the orbit. Its one of the 4 meditations she has on that CD. Its great sound effects, biaural music. She takes you up each point front and back. Then has you run a single pearl up and down for a while, then 2, then many. They move faster and faster around the orbit until they become a liquid spring, at that point you let your breath push the orbit around, finally sitting back in the tan tien and watch it flow. Later she leads the orbit into the macro, through the legs and arms. On the same CD she has a sexual energy meditation w/ packing, tonsil breathing, sexual energy moving up, smiling energy moving down. Its the only guided meditation that actually can bring me to sweating. Michael

We probably have about 30 or 40 pages right now. If we could ever intelligently edit all the various posts. One unusual technique might be throwing spaghetti style of journalism. Throw the best linked posts together, then slowly let people edit and add to them intelligently. It is to bad we need security from pranksters on it, but we probably would. Michael

I hope we get to see some pictures Michael