sean

Ok. If Body Flow was a foreign language, the Body Flow tapes teach you the alphabet and grammar and build some example phrases, whereas Prasara is like picking up a really handy phrasebook. With Prasara you can memorize these useful key phrases and start speaking the language and over time start picking up insights about the language through intuition. You will probably not get a full understanding of the language, and may not even be able to grasp the perfect pronunciation for the words in each phrase, but maybe that's not what you are after. You are not trying to move to the country that speaks it natively, you just want to drop by from time to time. Body Flow is more of a committment. After you graduate you can start creating your own phrases. You will be able to pick up Prasara more rapidly and understand it more deeply as a masterful piece of poetry spoken in the Body Flow language. I like having both. Honestly I haven't explored Body Flow as much as I would have liked, but now fiddling with Prasara is making me go back and review certain pieces, which I then take back to Prasara. Sean.

IMHO it's not as simple as a scientific calculation of X amount of energy and "spiritual progress" lost per Y grams of semen. I think there is likely a somewhat measurable physiological loss of nutrition, plus the energy your body has to go back into recooperating this loss. An article in the illustrious, peer-reviewed Vice magazine () claims that: One ejaculation contains the same amount of proteins, vitamins, minerals and amino acids as eight ounces of steak, ten eggs, six oranges and two lemons. In my view, the subjective experience of energy loss from ejaculation, for example, feeling low afterwards, depressed, tired, weak, wimpy, not as "whole" or integrated, etc., has a lot to do with the context of the ejaculation. If I am just rubbing one out to trashy porn in the minute before taking off for work, there is a huge felt drain and it carries over into the next few days. If, on the other hand, the ejaculation is in the context of an hour of deep, sensual lovemaking with Lezlie, where I allowed my body to be very relaxed, particularly my abdominal, psoas, anal ... all of the muscles in my LTT ... and really sank into the experience of Blissful union, not focused on ejaculating as a goal at all, in fact being perfectly ok with stopping and not ejaculating, but let's say this time ejaculation slowly, very very slowly, arises, and I keep relaxing the muscles in my anus, legs, and abdomen that are trying to twitch and tense and clamp to bring it on faster ... eventually though, the orgasm/ejaculation just roars forth spontaneously and outside my will ... ok, let me tell you something, I am NOT tired after this. I am not distracted from my desire from Freedom. I am not apathetic toward my cultivation practice. Quite the opposite. I am one happy camper with zero noticeable side effects. Actually, if anything I notice a more energized meditation practice. My point of contention with the jing-retention issue is really based around the distinction between waste and investment. Obviously the original intention of ejaculation was for it to be an investment into the creation of a new offspring. A child that would ideally eventually work building, maintaining, protecting and furthering the family. So the Judeo-Christian and also apparently the Taoist views are that non-procreative ejaculation is always a net loss in some way. But based on my direct experience, and also my intuitions, I'm not convinced at all that the only way to invest your seed (outside of procreation) is to work toward an ideal of preventing it's escape from your body. Just my two cents. Sean.

(1) Room Impregnation By breathing through the lungs and pores of your body, you inhale vital energy. With the power of your imagination, press this vital energy into your whole body to the point that it radiates dynamically. At this point your body should be like a luminous power, a focal point or burning point. You could easily make the statement that it is an individual sun. With every inhalation, increase the compressed vital energy as well as the luminous power and fill the room with it. With the help of the emanating energy (radiant power), the room should literally be as light as if the sun were shining. It is possible through repeated and continued exercises to illuminate a dark room or a room at night to such a degree that the objects in the room can be seen well, not only by the practicing student but also by the unitiated, because the light of the vital energy can be materialized by this method into actual daylight which in reality is only the practice of the power of the imagination. The magician will not be satisfied with these phenoma alone, for he knows very well that the vital energy possesses a universal character. Not only is the vital energy a carrier of his ideas, thoughts and wishes, but also the manifester of his imagination. He can attain everything throught his vital energy; however, to realize this is a matter for the plastic imagination. When the student is filling his room with his emanating energy, he must also imagine what he is trying to accomplish - for instance, that the room will be cleared of all astral and magical influences or that these will vanish, or that not only will the magician feel health and well in that room, but so will anyone else who enters or remains there. Furthermore, the magician can impregnate his room with the wish for proper inspiration, success and so forth in all his undertakings. Magicians that are further advanced have the ability to protect their rom, and the moment unwelcomes guests enter it they become restless and do not want to remain. Such a room is impregnated with the notion of protection and fear. ... When exhaling, the magician can return the accumulated vital energy to the universe and retain the emanating energy or the luminous power in the room with the help of his imagination. He also has another possibility: through his imagination he can project the vital energy directly from the universe into the room without first accumulating the vital energy in his body, especially when he has reached a certain level of proficiency in the accumulation of vital energy in the body. He can impregnate the room in this manner even with his own wishes. There are no set limits when the imagination joins forces with will-power and belief, coupled with a firm conviction. ... Since the power of the imagination knows neither time nor space, this work can be accomplished even from the greatest distance. In time, and with the aid of this technique, the magician will be able to charge any room, small or large, far or near. In respect to his ethical development, he will only entertain good and noble things and through this his might will be limitless. Practice makes perfect! From Initiation into Hermetics by Franz Bardon Hand typed from the book. Can you feel the love? Sean.

You had set this poll to disallow replies ... when I tried to reply it told me I didn't have permission to, but seeing as you asked a follow up question in your post I assumed you didn't intend that so I made this topic open. I was a vegetarian for two years, between ages of 17-19 (approx). When I started eating meat again it was so profoundly grounding that I compared how I felt beforehand to feeling like I was going to float away ... I won't even consider going vegetarian or vegan again unless I find proper nutritional support and deeply grounding practices. In this vein, Mike Mahler really seems to be on to something. Sean.

Week one winding to a close and I was too damn busy to immerse myself in it enough to feel right about moving to week 2 so I'm just going to hang out in this thread for another week. Cam, really cool post re: Fusion, etc. I've been stalling at the CKF4 level for several months now and as much as I hate learning from tapes I think I might slap down the cash for Winn's Fusion material. Honestly the concepts behind Fusion and of balancing emotion was one of the larger appeals this system had for me so it's curious I've been dragging my feet for so long to get into it. Sean.

Leo, did you bulk up a lot? I'm interested in strength gains but I like remaining relatively thin and wiry, so I try to avoid anything that adds mass.

Yoda, I'm really glad you are digging this stuff and unpacking it. I can't wait to get some stuff off my plate so I can study this site more in depth.

I do Body Flow. I love it. I think it translates really well to BJJ. My take is that Prasara is the Body Flow methodology applied to create 5 specific, very interesting flows in the spirit of Yoga vinyasas. I think there are pros and cons to approaching Body Flow from the Body Flow tapes themselves vs. Prasara and I'll get into it if you are interested. Freedom by Degree is the mastery level of Warrior Wellness and add's some clever refinements and diagnostics. Sean.

I use it pretty frequently. I wonder a lot if it's physiologically dangerous though. Intuitively it doesn't seem like it would be good to kink a thin tube that semen is trying to shoot through. I'm interested to hear what others think.

Cool post Neimad. I think I subtly view Bliss as being "higher" somehow, but your view is an interesting reframe.

Agreed. Even the Tao needs a good belly laugh. Sean.

Farooq, it's a pleasure to be here with you. Your posts are always filled with warmness and I enjoyed reading your intro here. I have always wanted to travel to the Middle East and on in to India, and now I know to look forward to blinding heat, spiritually profound bivouacking, and mosquito bites. Welcome! Sean.

Hey, Ed. Somehow overlooked your intro here. More English blokes. This is great. I'd say you are already doing some very powerful alchemy by just simply meditating every day, following the breath, bringing compassion into the heart. The foundation of all cultivation IMO. As far as Taoist alchemy, I second freeform in recommending Winn's Fundamentals 1-4. And you can borrow many, if not all of these from The Tao Bums Library. Welcome! Sean.

Hmmm... I use the word fun to refer to more to sensual pleasures I derive from external activities. Like, "that party was fun". I use the word Bliss to distinguish an experience of pleasure that feels more subtle and seems to arise from a deeper alignment with the Tao. Like, "Bliss began to arise in my abdomen 20 minutes into ocean breathing". Just semantics though. Heh... I just noticed, it's funny to switch the way I use the terms ... "That party was really Blissful." and "20 minutes into that meditation, some fun started arising in my abdomen." Sean.

I do full lotus from time to time. It doesn't so much hurt my knees as it does my ankles. A few weeks ago I think I did a 45 minute sit in full lotus and I guess I was really out of touch with my body because it took me almost another 45 minutes to get out of it. LOL!

Yoda, is she able to have an orgasm without any clitoral stimulation at all? Lezlie reports similar experience, that "blended" orgasms involving both penetration and clitoral stimulation are more satisfying, more full-body. My skepticism in Frost's view is that he seems to be saying that women who have difficulty reaching orgasm through penetration alone are headed for some kind of trouble. Anatomically that is like criticizing men if they have difficulty climaxing through a hand job that only touches the shaft. It's the old Freudian notion that "neurosis-free" women should be able to have an orgasm without any clitoral stimulation at all. I think that women who experience orgasm without direct clitoral stimulation though are, 1) just more aware of/sensitive to indirect clitoral stimulation and 2) rare. Sean.

Hey bitch .. I don't have that deep a knowledge a rap, but I really like J-Live, Eminem, Biggie, Dr. Dre., and Ludichrist (off the top a my head). Nas is the shit too, dog. I'm kind of over the Beastie Boys style of rap but I used to like them a lot. Paul's Boutique was their best IMO. Dude, how dorky am I trying to sound ghetto in this post? I do live in Oakland though .... Beeeaatches! Sean.

Hmmm.. I'd be curious to hear more about the context this statement is in, and Dr. Frost's elaboration on it. It reminds me of Freud equating clitoral orgasm with neurosis and it's an old old view considered a misconception and even sexist nowadays. IMO it was probably just based on ignorance of female anatomy. The clitoris is much larger than just what is externally visible and actually extends inside of the vagina as well. There is decent research to suggest that female orgasm without at least indirect clitoral stimulation is very rare, and exceptions to it are not based on "lack of neurosis" but just simply genetics. Sean.

Welcome to The Tao Bums, Yun. I'm glad you like the site, it's my pleasure maintaining it. I'm curious, if you don't mind me asking, what does your handle mean? Cheers, Sean.

Haven't caught that yet. Is it on DVD? I don't watch TV but I'll rent/buy DVD's of good shows. Especially HBO stuff. Did you check out Carnivale?

To add to Yoda's worms, here is a page with a table listing several authors variations on the sounds: http://baharna.com/chant/six_healing.htm Spyrelx, maybe you will find a cool Bear variation on Dr. Xue Zhi Wang's Five Animals tape. Then you can lend it to us afterwards. I've heard good things about it, it's been on my to buy list forever. Sean.

Haven't even cracked it yet unfortunately. Really looking forward to it, I just want to get a few more books off my plate because I get pulled in too many directions. I will let you know though, definitely.

Especially the two of them together, I didn't think of that at first. LOL!

Hair Breathing Part 1 Hair breathing is ok. I don't get a lot out of it though. And I've never been able to get much out of saliva charging / swallowing exercises. I'm probably doing them wrong. Standing Chi Kung I knew that the term Chi Kung was relatively recent but didn't know these exercises used to be caled "Yang Sheng Shu", which means "The art of nourishing life". Cool little bit of history. Stilling the Mind I really dug imagining the Sun smiling into my third eye, then down to my Heart, then down to my LTT. From so much Sun and Moon gazing, practices that involve these energies feel very real to me. Activating the Three Pumps and Aligning the Shoulders I didn't really get this. Is standing with your back straight against the wall really proper posture for Zhan Zuang? It didn't feel natural to me. Standing with Your Arms at Your Sides This was fun. And also humbling since I haven't done standing meditation in awhile. I set a timer for just five minutes and spent most of it subtly correcting all the intricacies of my posture. I found that paying attention to the background sounds in my environment really deepened this practice for me. Such a simple thing too. By the end of the five minutes my hands were tingling but not from Chi, I think from poor circulation probably from bad posture in my shoulder/neck area. Sealing the First Gate Closing the tip of the penis doesn't make any sense to me at all. Is this really anatomically possible? I thought there were no muscles in the penis. It's just an organ. Can someone help me with this? I did a google search and found this interesting article, but I still have no idea how to close the tip of my penis off at will. Any pointers? Tommorow I'll go deeper into these practices and also start on The Fire Element practice. G'night, Sean.