King Kabalabhati

I agree it's a good read. It helped me understand my own crisis concernng the interplay between me/women.

Every man should read this book.

 

I was blown away by the amount of knowledge that is contained in this book. It codified and put forward ideas and concepts about the interchange of yin and yang (women and man) that have been bouncing around in my head for years but never truly understood.

 

 

-This book is brilliant.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Way-Superior-Man-Spiritual-Challenges/dp/1591792576/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311262462&sr=1-1

This was great!

THank you!

I only use tap water for ice, but I been reading/researching that ice is really bad for you?

Drinking ice cold water gives a cold shock to the organs, harms the kidneys, dilutes the digestive fire and thus lowers the immune system. This according to Ayurvedic sources like Dr. Vasant Lad's books.

It's easy to guess that immunity could benefit from less sugar, less ice cold drinks, Qigong and rebounding. Raw food is probably not necessary but you could increase the amount of raw vs. cooked.

After a long life of improper habits it's not a quick fix to lift up your health. Persistence is the key. I liked what Goldisheavy wrote.

 

My personal theory is that doing a lot a balancing excersices with out doing much building excersices used qi in the balancing process, but did not build any more to replace it.

 

Yep this is why a complete Qigong/Neigong system is recommended. You will get a good mix of balancing, cleansing, building and shifting your vibration.

dbl post

Is this the dude that rails against wimpy chi kung?

 

I've only heard of this E.L.O. technique recently. Is it for real?!

It SEEMS very real indeed. Makes me wonder how much of each emotion I have / have had stored inside. Gone through some pretty intense phases of cleansing myself, now I don't really know if there's a lot of old junk left or not. I guess I should go to mr. Clyman to find out

The most often occuring feeling I have (can't identify the emotion for sure, anxiety or worry maybe?) is a "restlessness" in the solar plexus area. I actually feel it right now. My anger has become much more manageable and "lighter" as my practice has progressed. Sadness is not as common as it used to be, usually just before the full moon I get a "blue" day or two. I don't get as many feelings of "release" through Qigong and meditation as I used to.

I've always found this stuff interesting but extremely complex and chaotic. Think I don't understand a thing.

 

When I think of energy, I mostly think about mental fitness, by good diet and sleep and workout. But lets say that I've not slept well, which is often the case, what would a Tibetan Buddhist do in such a case to get refreshed and regain energy? A regular guy would drink coffe or red bull, another would get some quick workout, some may take a cold shower or was their face with cold water.

How does a Tibetan Buddhist become energised? He does understand energy afteral, right? Or is a Tibetan Buddhist not allowed to use such knowledge to his own advantage.

Maybe do some bellows breathing and yoga stretching? And then realising he's late for work he'd grab a red bull and be gone.

Thanks for a most inspiring thread.

Hey, that's not fair!!!

My tantien is only 0.2% full and so I won't be able to preserve my personality after May 21st!

Goddamn, the doomsday must be delayed until I reached 100%!!!

Man, that's only Level One stuff.. You'll have to harness the power of the Thunderbolt and that's Level Four.

Love, Neigong Nerd

I guess not too good. I'm working on it, though I don't go to the gym because well.. right now I'm doing the Strongfortism thing and seeing how that goes. I also think it's better for my kung fu that I don't go. I stopped it but I started again. Once I'm done I'll go to the gym but just do lightweight training. Doesn't mean I'm not aiming to get strong though. Some of the most strongest people are lightweight trainers because they put focus in their practice, dynamic tension, do it slowly and with muscle control.

 

So yeah... as for my diet well I'm kinda skinny on my limbs and such.. I also lost a lot of muscle since I changed my diet because well it's hard to keep up and to do it RIGHT. It was either low carb or low, I chose low carb... but that means I still need some carbs every 4 hrs (less than 20) or else I'll lose muscle, and I also want to stay in ketosis.

 

it seems though that my protruding belly is due to a spleen issue and/or water retention. Bloating distension type, the skin around there isn't too thick. Then again it could also be visceral fat which is more common in males than in women because they accumulate fat more in their extremities and just under the skin. I eat quite a bit of fatty foods so maybe it's they are slower to digest. I'm only 150-4 lbs or so...

 

I'm going to have to incorporate some walking... and mild running (my knees). Just to sweat, my TCM prof said sweating is the best thing for excess dampness.

 

Yea.. my scoliosis too sucks.. it seems I can't stand up straight no matter how hard I try. Talk about it's effects on my psychology too... But I am working on it.

 

Hang in there brother, keep doing your exercise and try to think positive. For me your diet sounds a bit strange.. I don't think you should try to stay in ketosis. Scoliosis is something to take to professionals but also you can do stuff like the plow yoga position.

All in all I would suggest simplicity but I guess once you "know too much" then it's hard to be simple anymore.

BTW I have quite skinny arms and wrists, I often meet girls with thicker arms than my own.. It has been an issue for me but doesnt seem to hurt my love life too much.

I have known a number of female spiritual practitioners..

 

the most spiritually successful of them all are .. unmarried.. have no kids.. and who completely dedicate their lives to true spirituality.. some of these successful ones remain in the outside world working as spiritual counselors/advisors.. some of them serve in temples..

 

on the contrary.. those spiritual practitioners who are married and have kids.. are prone to emotional tantrums and imbalances.. which inhibit their path to enlightenment..

 

you clearly do not know what you are talking about..

 

the age of change has arrived.. and man must realize that he can never find happiness through marriages and children..

 

man can never ever find true happiness in their other half..

 

this is a true fact which almost none can accept .. almost no one dare face the truth because...

 

no one possess the necessary courage to face the enormity of The Tao/The Universe/The Creator all by themselves..

I think you may be right. But then I have a brother who had no family, no girlfriend, not many friends either. He would do pranayama and yoga but most of the time he spent on the computer. Eventually he ended up marrying. Curiously enough he found his wife through the internet from Brazil. So yes family life will take a lot of your time but it's only one of the distractions that prevent you from being in stillness for prolonged periods. I think conquering loneliness through meditation can be the greatest challenge and maybe impossible for those that aren't "chosen" for it. But I wish you good luck on your path.

 

So how does a person overcome heartbreak? Friends and liquor. Hasn't changed for thousands of years.

This is funny but true. I would choose beer over liquor though. Moderate drinking could also help with finding friends or bonding with them, as long as you don't get (too) pathetic

Oh OK. Full moon again.. I was wondering why I was so emotional these last two days, then all of a sudden, all was well again. Everytime the moon gets full all "symptoms" disappear. There often seems to be a kind of change or a mental step that I take during these days due to the emotional "charge".

Just as an anecdote that touches this subject somewhat...

I divorced a while ago. Both me and the ex-wife are at our 30's. Now am seeing a 24-year old girl. Very young eh?

My wife's new boyfriend is 21

:D

(the lesson: freaks don't care about conventionality, and there's plenty of em out there)

if you can achieve siddhis, you will understand and experience how all this great mystery is without even sacrificing an iota of your time and energy to your kids and spouse..

 

there are .. slow roads and fast highways..

 

i will choose the fast highway.. even if i do crash and burn, i will still choose the fast highway..

 

not even crashing and burning can stop me now on the fast track..

Yes, it's all about me, me, me, isn't it?

Sorry couldn't resist.. By all means just crash and burn on the fast lane and see where it takes you. I don't mean to criticize your path, I just don't fully understand your attitude when communicating on a forum such a s TB's.

I am glad you have realized the limitations placed on yourself by your spouse and kids..

 

I am sincerely sorry that you have to go through such hardships..

 

99% of the world's populations do not have the capacities to realize such limitations unless they have been married themselves..

Yeah.. At the same time I'm very aware that things could be MUCH harder. At least I have SOME time for myself. And my day to day living is usually quite happy with challenges I can handle. It would only take a handicap or another kind of serious health issue to make this a VERY tough situation. And today I get to see my girlfriend who is very good to me.. So yeah I'm blessed.

I no longer need to comfort myself with thinking like "but family life IS cultivation of sorts" etc. because it is just what it is.

I am a (single) father of three and ready to admit that family life seriously curbs my practice, making serious Qigong progress next to impossible. Another thing is I'm not sure if I would be practicing at all without this situation since I was really desperately searching for a means to survive and live happy in a challenging reality, surrounded by these... people who want my time, my money, my energy, everything.. And still get mad at me all the time and even call me stupid and lazy though I'm the only one providing for them

Family life makes cultivating stressful.. I can never be certain if I can get time for my session or finish it when I get it. Right now my boy has a cough and he's very easily alert in the eary morning so if I try to sneak downstairs he will come running after me. Oh well, today I have a 2-hour train trip I will surely put to use.

OK I'm speaking from a single father's point of view. Had I a woman who was into the traditional roles, who would like to cook and clean and look after the kids, then I guess this wouldn't be such a hard path.

Depite the obvious limitations and bummers I'm often feeling grateful for the special kind of beauty that this life has shown me. Maybe I can take this experience to my supposed next life (which begins in the next 10 years as the kids grow, haha) and then go for the serious cultivator's path. I sure hope I don't need another family guy experience to move forward

Good point, adept.

 

Hi mal. Do you have a teacher that can give modifications to any improper alignments you may be unknowingly generating? Just curious.

If you don't stand for very long periods and you stand in the relaxed wuji posture then I wouldn't worry about that. Much more critical is the "office desk" or the "home laptop" posture

edit: right now I'm in a terrible slouched posture, I gotta get up!

you were doing so well. Don't cling to that "p.s" like a bit of floatsum, let the jetsam go

 

 

Just this

 

 

 

I was also thinking "oh, so he didn't learn anything after all.."

After a couple years of self reflection, I've realized that I got a lot of hate in me. Hate as a result of fear, insecurity, anger and resentment. Hate that causes subconscious snap-judgments about people who I perceive as dumb or somehow below me (leftover class-based crap). Hate that erodes friendships and family relationships (you should see what it does to the romantic realm!), and makes getting along with people quite a challenge. I gradually cut people out of my life and tada! now loneliness visits me with ever increasing power.

 

My brief experience with CBT didn't seem to help since it is mostly self-focused. While searching for therapists, most set off a heavy aversion "fuck you what do you know" type of reaction. I've tired of self-help books, but I'll be damned if I resign myself to these feelings and their source.

 

I've come here looking for practices/meditations that might help dissolve hate. Any suggestions?

Any style of Qigong / Neigong / meditation that raises the vibrational rate of your energy body should do. These usually involve some form of "emptiness" or "no-thought" meditation. Get a teacher if you can, if you can't you will probably find help from systems like Spring Forest Qigong that can be learned from books/dvd's.

Smiling at your heart through the day and "softening" it that way should also help you let go of negativity, the vibration of your smile is relaxing and comforting.

Stilling the analytic mind and thus giving more power to your consciousness should speed up the process and possibly make it less painful too.

I wish you more love

-

Thelerner said: "Same with boredom, shielding ourselves & kids from boredom we hide from understanding ourselves, wasting time on the trivial, because it entertains and distracts us."

This I've been pondering.. Now I'm not sure whether I should think of boredom as some kind of pain from lack of inspiration. And whether I should really be inspired all the time or just accept boredom when it comes and also realise that there's not necessarily anything wrong with doing something just for the sake of avoiding being bored, hmmmm...

It could be a question of tolerance, I mean my children clearly experience boredom as something a bit painful while I can easily take it to some degree or be entertained by things much less entertaining, if you know what I mean.

Wait, did I type all this because I'm bored with housecleaning and want to avoid it? YES I'm outta here

Pain. Is.

 

I intensely disagree, for the most part, to the "pain management" with drugs mentality. IMO drugs work very well for acute pain situations, not chronic or long-term pain situations. However, in terminal situations I agree with their use. Also I highly question all that seems to be assigned to pain in many of the terms expressed here. Next I'm sure someone will be assigning "chakras" to the interpretation of and purpose of pain.

 

Yes pain can be a great teacher. But it also can be a great detriment to true spirituality.

All the causes? Trauma is the main cause. Pain is there to call attention to the trauma. It is not there so someone can "work through" the pain but because nerves are sending a signal that something is wrong.

 

I was going to say something similar. Pain IMO was not "given to man" as a means of enlightenment, although some may find it useful for that purpose. Some will simply be stressed out, depressed, debilitated by chronic pain. It is surprisingly often not cured by western medicine, only medicated for life just to be tolerable.

In the Mo Pai tradition, according to Danaos Kosta's books, an immortal is someone who has succesfully fused Yin and Yang (heaven and earth) Chi in their dantien. This means they can take their Yang energy with them when their body dies, so they take their emotions and personality with them as well. There is no talk of a "spiritual embryo" though. Either it's a different technique or just the terms used are different.

Generally, the ability to eloquently go on at length about spiritual topics, and it sounds genuine, rings true for the listener (as Tolle can do) means that he has the attainment, not just faking it.

 

While my criticisms of Tolle are the same as mentioned, that he pretty much copies Taoism and Buddhism, and paraphrases it, waters it down for safe western mass consumption, and that theres no hardcore practises that will actually help, I myself enjoy listening to Tolle.

 

I also tend to recommend his books to those beginners, even to those people who think they merit a more heady author, like some famous Indian mystic, and maybe think that Tolle is only Campbells Soup. Why? Because your typical Westerner is really messed up, depressed or completely ego-driven, and/or heading in the wrong direction to the 8 worldly dharmas. It takes alot of gentle reprogramming to get a reset in direction towards spirituality, and Tolle is very good at this.

Yeah I agree it's good to have different flavors and levels of teachers around. What Tolle is saying IS in fact kind of hard core if you REALLY put it into practice. I don't believe many of us can, and he himself is probably just an adept of it.

Boy I like this form of exercise. First I tend to do similar focusing as I do when walking, concentrating into the lower dantien when inhaling and expanding way out when exhaling. Then after a while it starts to feel more natural to just stay in the LDT, it feels more "solid" or "obvious" as the body (and mind) softens and loosens from the bounce. I no longer get any nausea after rebounding, just a good energetic relaxed feeling.

"The Heart Sutra" recited by Chunyi Lin goes very well with bouncing