daojones

I gotta open my kwa! I've got really tight pelvic area, which is perpetuated by tight back and legs and jaw/neck problems I was wondering if anyone could recommend exercises/stretches?

I am curious as to what people who frequent this section of ttb are studying and practicing and why. It just seems like such an amorphous subject area to me and i am trying to get a handle on it. Is it practical, does it provide a philosophical, ethical, or metaphysical/cosmological paradigm? What would you call what you are studying/practicing and why? (For bonus points)

I'm looking into taking Moringa. I am unsure about the best form to take it in and am unsure if its worth taking. I heard it was better than spirulina, as there are no potential issues with heavy metals. Am just looking for some bums experience with Moringa - how did it help you? why did you take it? what form?

Interesting point from the TCM perspective. I wonder about the veracity of super food claims..how much actually gets absorbed and such. I picked up some pills of moringa. Will report back if anything is interesting.

I noticed this trend over the years that I nearly always date girls born within a 10 day span in July. Was wondering if anybody knowledgeable in astrology or other related field could explain why/what is the relevance of this for me.

Ya, I agree about the development thing. I am now ready for a new type of girl though, or perhaps almost ready. What's next!?!?

I am looking to find more info on how the alchemical coniunctio oppositorum process works and was having trouble finding resources. Was hoping somebody could make a suggestion or perhaps has something to share. The context is that I am doing work in/on my psyche and I think understanding this process would help me move forward in resolving my 'opposites'.

Hey, Thanks for sharing so deeply your troubles. Based on your writing, my perception is that a core issue is self esteem. While your concern with physical appearance is likely an aggregate of other things going on in your psyche, it seems to me that low self esteem is the driving force of other negative components of your psyche. I think low self esteem is really really common. If it wasn't, there would be many more happy people in this world. Don't worry, it really doesn't matter worrying is a waste of energy, most of the time. Perhaps working on acceptance would help. But then you may come into the problem, that accepting yourself is hard b/c you may not look at yourself positively. So then your challenge is to also work on yourself to be the person you want to be, on a deep level, and then acceptance may come easier. I think all the issues described tie in well with becoming a man. This is the journey. For me, being a man means only I define what being a man means. This is actually complicated, but on a simple level I find it both to be true and helpful! However, given our situation as humans I can learn a lot from other men because there are general categories of needs and psychological factors that are shared. For example, women. The male wants the feminine, but wants it in different ways for different reasons....comfort, sex, etc... What are your needs? What are your needs as a man? I think manifesting will makes a man, or that this is a core male trait. But this is difficult and requires inner work to know and recognize your will and also external work of skill development to help manifest it. I think being in touch with emotion/feeling is essential. As well, a spiritually oriented life is also essential. Caveat emptor, things that are essential, should feel essential. It may be a mistake to pursue certain things just because someone tells you to. Feel into yourself, into your pain, into your body. For me getting in touch with body is essential, but perhaps you need a more intellectual pursuit - I don't know. Find out where you are balanced and imbalanced...proceed accordingly. Kick a$$

I have the same problem! I find the less I eat, the less hungry I am...but this eventually leads me to get sick. At the same time my awareness and sensitivities skyrocket. And the more I eat, the more hungry i get. Seems to be intractable problem...

Im interested in learning a new language and was looking for input from our community on the most effective and efficient way of learning. I'm interested in any methodologies, as well as tips/tricks you have used to help you learn quickly. I really like memory methodologies as described in the book moonwalking with einstein.

Thanks. I understand e difficulties.I'm looking for innovative methodologies or techniques.

Heres an amazing violin blues solo from Frank Zappa's Hot Rats album. I think this is one of my favourite solos ever.

Perhaps the dichotomies presented by posters here were true in the past, but i think here is a 3rd way and i think many people are living that lifestyle. You need to be cunning and wise at the least. Look around for this type of thing: www.tropicalmba.com

I was wondering if anyone here has successfully been able to heal and unify their psyche from dissociation. This is a huge issue I am facing and have made strides, but am currently attempting to stare it down Getting in touch with my body and getting grounded helped, but it didn't deal with the fundamental problem - there is a split in my psyche. It is difficult to bring into the present because when I touch it, fear reactions instantaneously come up and are overwhelming. I am now trying mindfulness breathing meditation which has been very effective, but I just cant seem to get the core issue - the dissociation which has created the split and the barrier in my psyche. I come to impasses with meditation where I try to stay present but just can't. I get carried away by it. One thing I have tried is to let the fear kill me, which helps. There is strong family and societal conditioning that need to be dissolved in order for me to get through this. Was wondering if anyone has had success in dealing with this type of issue and what methods/techniques they used.

Thanks to everybody for the great replies. I am travelling and havent had the chance to respond, but am grateful for having the amazing community here. Seems like the only place where I fit in I did a buddhist meditation retreat for 2 weeks. This helped tremendously. I love stewing in my own energy It really helped me get in touch with my own rhythm. I think this is very important for dissociation. I got a hold on energy patterns and deep problems in my psyche. Although the truth is, I find it very hard to differentiate between energetic patterns and psychological dispositions at this point. Is this possible?!?! Through meditation I realized the dissociation is protecting my psyche. It cant handle with the fear, self-hate, shame, guilt, and anxiety. Thus, split. Dissociation leaves me feeling I am in some sort of void and very out of touch with myself. The regiment of the retreat and the silence in my mind from the breathing really helped a lot and I could realize what was going on. That being said, physical activity is definitely necessary. Dealing with dissociation is very much a balancing act, you need different things at different times. I have liver qi stagnation and a solar plexus blockage/problem (I am really interested in the relation between solar plexus and individuation and will make a separate post for this). These are key components to the dissociation and are part of a general existential/psychological problem - I doubt I am the only one with such obstacles. I found this amazing article published in the journal of medical acupuncture that explains dissociation and liver qi stagnation through the perspectives of jungian psychology and tcm. You can read it here: http://www.paradoxpublishing.com/assets/files/publications/articles/aama/vol-13-1-compartmentalization.pdf What worked for me: One part of dissociation is that I would experience such strong emotions like fear, that instigated physical actions that made me dissociate (eating too much). I didnt even experience the fear, just the desire to eat. Meditation slowed down the process and I could deal with the fear by allowing it inside me and experiencing it. I was killed many a time in various gruesome ways and I felt good after! I think dismembering is part of the rebirthing process. Massaging my own feet Get a good schedule I agree with thetaoiseasy. It is good to get in touch with nature and just live your life. However, my psychological blockages prevent me from doing this. I cant have fun. I just want to do serious things. I think this is related to the solar plexus blockage. Also, having external boundaries. So important and I am working on this a lot. When in group situation I tend to lose myself and meld with the group consciousness or whomever is the most dominant in the group. Working on boundaries I feel also relates to the solar plexus and is important for containing myself and not dissociating. Jetsun: the water meditation sounds interesting. I will look into it. I think we have similar blockages btw. I had intuited that soul retrieval was the right thing for me before you posted! I think I have a shamanic path weaved into my life and am just discovering it. I will definitely pursue this. And yes, you are correct tons of childhood stuff. Also, Turtle Shell talked about anchoring. This is key. For me, I can't anchor the way he mentions, it just doesnt work for me. I need to anchor into ME. My needs, my breath, my body. me, me, me See 9 seconds in: Creation: yes, I agree with you about courage to enter. Dissociation takes a long time to heal b/c its modus operandi is to stop you from entering the battle. I would imagine anyone on this forum is a strong warrior and once entering the field would be able to succeed in their healing journey. What characteristics about your teachers helped you (if you dont mind me asking)? I will look into subliminal meditation. I think it looks good and should help.

Ahem, now to my defence: What I did not clearly elaborate in my post: Inner space is a great book. It is loaded with important concepts and lays out the system. This book and his other entry level ones like the ones linked to in a previous post are great for getting into the rabbit hole....but its a deep hole. Inner space, for me, was like getting a set of concepts without context and application. It is very abstract. It contains a lot, but much more study is necessary to make something of it. books like yetzirah are just way to complicated to actually get what is being said in such a short book and in a translation and without a teacher filling in the holes. I tried studying it and had a lot of supplementary materials both in Hebrew and English and still could only come away with speculations about what was actually being said. I think it is a nice book, but will not get you anywhere by itself. Turtle: I had heard a line of thought that moses learned Egyptian mysticism during his time as a prince of Egypt...perhaps this is where the idea is from? Not sure what kka ba ankh means, but in a nutshell in Hebrew kabbalah means received...implying an oral communication and a mystical reception of divine things and stuff

This is a difficult topic. You could spend much of your time researching what is pure kabbalah before actually getting into studying anything. There's cabalah, qabbala, and kabbalah - each representing some group: gnostic, tarot, golden dawn/hermetic, and Jewish. No idea what the difference is between all of them, but I'm sure within each group there are subsets of thought and schools. I would agree with Dainin about the site he recommends, probably the most accessible you can find.also try the walking stick foundation. I dont want to be discouraging but reading aryeh Kaplans books will almost certainly not get you anywhere. And reading original texts straight up is a waste of time....these are very complex texts. Please note this would all be Kabbalah. I've not read any kabbalah Centre stuff but would be curious what they're view is.

searching old posts on here has yielded great things. I can usually find relevant info. Finding RJs posts left me laughing non stop! Where is this guy? Most forums have stickies for high quality posts/common questions. It would be amazing if we had that here, or some guide of sorts. Alas, back to the search button

I would be interested to hear him elaborate on the mechanisms of mind control. Does he ever talk about this subject?

How come you're not intersted in Mantak Chia?

I'm interested in learning about personality typology within the context of the 5 elements/phase theory, as well as how the elements manifest through physical characteristics. I have some basics down, but am looking for a book or resource for more in depth study - has anyone studied this? Is this a normal thing to study?

I like the concept of landscape and tendencies. Yes, it is much more fertile and alive then a typology. I like chinese medicine as opposed to other non-western practices because I like how it has a system and therefore has strong explanatory power (I feel this is very western of me). I will check out Nourishing Destiny. Intuitive party tricks! Hooray

I don't think it necessarily has to be slavery, but I would say in western society wage slavery occurs. I'm going to give internet biz a shot - I'll let you know how it goes!! Slavery would seem to imply that a person is forcibly being prevented from meeting other needs. I think the force can be explicit or implict. Many people are slaves to themselves. And I think they like it. I would highly recommend reading Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom (otherwise titled fear of freedom). Most people like being slaves to themselves and therefore wage slaves. Perhaps a mass exodus from inner slavery would result in a revolt against wage slavery. I think realizing one's spiritual and other needs gives the impetus for change. If a person doesn't realize these needs, they think their wage slavery is beneficial for them - in a sense they are right, but also wrong. I think technology has provided an amazing way out of the rat race.

MBA?!? Craaazzy. Definitely get a few years of experience in a field before you even consider it. Depending where you are in the world 50k for an MBA sounds average range. Why do you want an MBA?

Change at hand looks interesting, although I am skeptical of palmistry that isn't related to any sort of system - what are your thoughts on the authenticity (see: things that work) of palmistry books? Mila, thanks for all the info! Would definitely be interested in some reading suggestions.