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Does anybody believe there was a time when, with adults, this unlikely step was the common step?

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One of the most common problems that hits many real seekers hard is the fact that very quickly ones energy takes a big gigantic leap. Yet the teachers rarely teach that much of the dietary guidance is not so much because of the inherent spiritual goodness of certain diets - it is precisely because once upon the path you really MUST regulate the fuels you take into the body and understand that poor diet and many perfectly decent foods are now rocket fuel and firecrackers.

 

Not dissipating your progress is key - and with this influx of energy so must be the accompanying sheparding of your intake.

 

For many men the testosterone is nearly impossible to control - add poor diet control and the new found energy and you've got constant unabridged rioting.

Edited by Spotless
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Spotless,

 

Would you be so kind as to outline more specific dietary guidelines for us seekers who are in the throes of a major energetic shift ?

 

I already eat what I consider to be a healthy diet - a largely Paleo- Mediterranean organic style, but always interested in hearing advice from those who are deeper on the path,  

 

Thanks

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Spotless,

 

Would you be so kind as to outline more specific dietary guidelines for us seekers who are in the throes of a major energetic shift ?

 

I already eat what I consider to be a healthy diet - a largely Paleo- Mediterranean organic style, but always interested in hearing advice from those who are deeper on the path,

 

Thanks

I view diet as including what one takes in through their eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin and also on a range of more subtle levels but for the sake of length let's take a look at solid and liquid food and drink - and a few extra honorable mentions:

 

Everyone's body is different but apparently their are about five body types - I am no expert on this - I concentrated on my own body and its systems.

 

My body was greatly affected by testosterone so if I played around with porn then I was pretty much in a hopeless state most of the time. It was clearly necessary to steer clear of it and greatly limit my personal activities in this regard. I found that after a few weeks I would gain control quite well. I never actually practice abstinence for any great length of time - perhaps a year or so.

 

Many people practice when they are fairly young and do it in the evening - then go out to a bar. For me the two together did not work and for many it is a great dissipation of most gains just made - in this case my energy would go through the moon. Alcohol is also a depressant so if you happen to be fluctuating from highs to lows this is also not good - I did not have this problem. (Though I do not view myself as having been depressed much, I did consider suicide almost daily for a good 30 years of my adult life)

 

Sugar drinks - soda - juice - organic and completely fabricated - no difference - for some sugar at this time is rocket fuel so ice cream at night can blow a hole in any practice and make it impossible to get up at 3 or 4 am when it is such a great time to meditate.

 

Eating late - for many it just drags the body down and creates sleep discomfort as well as restless sleep because of the late night protein. If you are heady like myself then your are susceptible to the buzz of news and ideas whirling about in your head - eating late keeps this buzz alive. Best not to partake of buzz late at night or food - meaning don't read the paper then, don't listen to hate radio or outrage radio or positions on children starving in Slovenia - no buzz going into the night or it will carry you through the whole night.

It's like taking in a big slice of ugly just prior to sleep.

 

We treat our bodies like a beast of burden - we whip it in the morning with a wad of caffeine, chug down some carbs and race to work - crash when the carbo load dies and drink more coffee - this is not a good scenario. If you have set up the previous day well you would have good sleep, meditation from 3-5, sleep again from 5-7 get up feeling like a million bucks and need nothing to get you going but a few deep breaths and a cat around your neck.

 

Vegetarian is overall a good way to go but vegan is much better for a great many of us. Cheese is incredibly greasy and heavy and at some point in practice certain things will drop by the wayside for nearly everyone. In my early years (teens to 2os) I was a vegetarian and it worked well for me for a time. Then for a decade I ate anything partially because of money issues and partly because I had reached many levels and was in a more experiential phase with them than practice.

 

At a certain point in my practice things just started to fall by the wayside - alcohol was simply and completely a downer and so I did not quit but simply had no interest in it what so ever. Meat (my bloody great love) was also a downer - lowered my whole vibration and felt oily - it dropped by the wayside as well - though I still have a bit here and there if my body wants some - but their is no satisfaction in terms of taste or texture - it is not particularly pleasing anymore and it can really sit on ones tongue.

 

For a good many of my early years it was not uncommon for me to be talking with someone until 5 or 6 in the morning if it was about metaphysical things. If you meditate frequently and eat well and retain most of your energies (by not getting drunk or having explosive emotional reactions or not propagating a reactive mind) then you do not need nearly as much sleep as most people do.

 

Herbal teas and good food combining along with supplements if needed or found to have efficacy and slow burning natural foods will be best for anyone practicing.

 

Fasting is a perfect way to learn about your body and recalibrate it to its natural calm state. From there you can slowly add up to your normal diet and see which things effected you as you ramp back up. Look for patterns and changes related to your consumption of everything. try not to kid yourself - if your favorite thing is not good for you then drop it like a hot poker.

Edited by Spotless
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The more you practice the easier it is to follow good diet and good patterns of behavior primarily because it is hard to do lots of practice on a poor diet and bad habits and also because if you are really practicing a lot you are motivated to be in the moment with it.

 

One the other hand I did at times - often long years of time do just about every form of the opposite outlined above - sex to the rafters, drugs, booze and very fast living. We are incredibly resilient - if breaking patterns is bearable then practice will see you through anything.

Edited by Spotless
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This is great, Spotless. You need a blog or Youtube channel. There are many out there disseminating more nonsense than you can imagine on the web. We need more voices like yours writing and speaking for a larger audience. Just a thought.

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The more you practice the easier it is to follow good diet and good patterns of behavior primarily because it is hard to do lots of practice on a poor diet and bad habits and also because if you are really practicing a lot you are motivated to be in the moment with it.

 

One the other hand I did at times - often long years of time do just about every form of the opposite outlined above - sex to the rafters, drugs, booze and very fast living. We are incredibly resilient - if breaking patterns is bearable then practice will see you through anything.

 

Everyone's body is different but apparently their are about five body types - I am no expert on this - I concentrated on my own body and its systems.

...

 

Many people practice when they are fairly young and do it in the evening - then go out to a bar. For me the two together did not work and for many it is a great dissipation of most gains just made - in this case my energy would go through the moon.

...

 

Sugar drinks - soda - juice - organic and completely fabricated - no difference - for some sugar at this time is rocket fuel so ice cream at night can blow a hole in any practice and make it impossible to get up at 3 or 4 am when it is such a great time to meditate.

...

 

Vegetarian is overall a good way to go but vegan is much better for a great many of us. Cheese is incredibly greasy and heavy and at some point in practice certain things will drop by the wayside for nearly everyone. In my early years (teens to 2os) I was a vegetarian and it worked well for me for a time. Then for a decade I ate anything partially because of money issues and partly because I had reached many levels and was in a more experiential phase with them than practice.

 

At a certain point in my practice things just started to fall by the wayside - alcohol was simply and completely a downer and so I did not quit but simply had no interest in it what so ever. Meat (my bloody great love) was also a downer - lowered my whole vibration and felt oily - it dropped by the wayside as well - though I still have a bit here and there if my body wants some - but their is no satisfaction in terms of taste or texture - it is not particularly pleasing anymore and it can really sit on ones tongue.

 

For a good many of my early years it was not uncommon for me to be talking with someone until 5 or 6 in the morning if it was about metaphysical things. If you meditate frequently and eat well and retain most of your energies (by not getting drunk or having explosive emotional reactions or not propagating a reactive mind) then you do not need nearly as much sleep as most people do.

 

Herbal teas and good food combining along with supplements if needed or found to have efficacy and slow burning natural foods will be best for anyone practicing.

 

Fasting is a perfect way to learn about your body and recalibrate it to its natural calm state. From there you can slowly add up to your normal diet and see which things effected you as you ramp back up. Look for patterns and changes related to your consumption of everything. try not to kid yourself - if your favorite thing is not good for you then drop it like a hot poker.

 

 

Good food is good food. Different bodies need different good foods. Some need meat and cheese, others need raw vegetables. Some people get fat from eating salads, but lose weight with meat and cooked vegetables. Theres no need to spend ages meditating or even fasting to find out what foods you should be eating, TCM already worked that out thousands of years ago. Fasting or meditating can be a way, but one could spend years in testing and sampling different foods that are already clearly defined in their properties. As are the 5 different body types / or element domanance in a person's body.

 

Anyone interested in food can have a look at my website http://tcm.asthmainchildren.com.au/dietitian.php that has details of foods and which element each food strengthens or weakens. Don't know your element? Do the 20minute questionaire and find out at http://tcm.asthmainchildren.com.au/TCMDiagnosis.php . I programmed these websites but using information from between heaven & earth TCM book and Mantak Chia's websites.

 

This is eating to balance the body, whereby the spirit enters. Food is physical, coarse, strong and directing when it comes to working with the life force. Using TCM we have scientific proven ways to become more enlightened and we begin to follow the spirit unconsiously. Of course there are some discrepencies, and one can not 'always be correct' when following TCM because it is physical, there are contradictions, unlike when directly following the light. But we have something to work with, we have rules, we have data, we have a direction to head, there will be the result we are heading towards... that is we have the 5 elements, we have tao.

 

Einstein said things should be as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler. Using TCM we can alter the complexity and simplisity to the task at hand. This is why i love working with earth energy, from the ground up.

 

Learning to eat according to those sites above is like getting the results of meditating without meditating! It is certainly one of the keys to living the way/tao. One can balance out (to some extent) alcohol drinking, excessive exercise, and whatever other imbalance one may enjoy. We had a couple in Australia who were 65 years old, had recovered from cancer, and ran around australia in a year. Australia is a huge country with desert and everything. It equated to a marathon every day for a year. 65 years old! recovered from cancer!! That is insane if you ask me. They were vegan, but i figure their strict diet kept their bodies in balance while they were doing excessive exercise. I rekon if they went back into a nursing home a little meat would be benefitial.

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This is great, Spotless. You need a blog or Youtube channel. There are many out there disseminating more nonsense than you can imagine on the web. We need more voices like yours writing and speaking for a larger audience. Just a thought.

 

I agree. You should make a website or blog, even posting what you've already posted online in taobums onto it all in one handy location.

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Recent changes:

About 2 months ago I felt like the Michelin Man - he looks tubular - I felt tubular:
I had huge columns of energy up my front channels and up my back channels as well as both side channels and my arms and legs, hands and fingers - it was an incredible feeling - my fingers bristled with energy out several inches. I was a walking bristling group of energy fields that extended outwards of 18 inches from my skin. My head was in a separate magnetic field - one that I have had for some 40 years but it was now much larger and more intense - very bright and noticeable to a number of people - it had a cool lightness to it and brightened everything.

The energy columns were bristling but they were constricted somewhat at the ends though all were joined well.

Then one day a few weeks later while sitting in bed - poof - the constrictions between the separate energy centers released and everything fused as one. The "bristling" nature of the energy fused, lightened and fluidized.
It was something like a water ballon but with very fine lighter than water energy in it all.

Within a week my (lower dan tien) LDT and (middle dan tien) MDT looked like bulbous watery balloons out about 20 inches and well intermixed with each other though still deciferable as separate with overlapping energy - again this went - poof - and deflated as the energy flushed upward into the (upper dan tien) UDT and surrounding head region.

Within a week the perimeter of my head from above my ears to about 18 inches up and outward has been continuously alight with a fine light energy. The front of my head from around my teeth to above my forehead / top center of my head has a bulbous fine light watery fluidic water ballon that is visible and often pictures float into it from others nearby.

It has always been my nature not to pry and look at others with clairvoyance and other abilities without their specific permission unless it was necessary because of danger or other reasons of immediacy - but now a great deal of knowing and seeing is happening without any attention on my part.

Within a week a deep awareness of the energy within my system has gone now all the way to the center core of my bones - the sensation is always with me - at first the feeling of my teeth where they are anchored into my skull and jawbone was prominent as well as the deep connection with my legs. The leg connection has change everything considerably and now the feet are a prominent factor in all Qi Gong practice on a much more detailed and specific level.

Recently plastic surfaces and other non-organic surfaces have become vivified - no different from organic matter.
Sight now regularly includes deep in-body sight - without effort or deliberate looking.

Morning practice of the most simple type is now extremely empowering - even a minute or less.
I am happy I bought my huge gong with the help of an inspiring video by Soaring Crane - it is a wonderful way to greet the day and I can stand in front of it and the feeling goes deep and through me.

 

Added:

Just a clarification regarding the word "poof" - the energy change was very smooth - not a pop or push in this case but more like opening a pillow case full of air and the air oozed up or out. This was the case for the energy releasing upward from the LDT and MDT. 

 

In the case of the fusing of the different energy columns - it was a very smooth "poof" - the "joints" just smoothly gave way and within 10 seconds their were no joints.

 

Also - an energy formation occurred above my head.

Edited by Spotless
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During the time in which all of this recent post took place I was working hard to remove certain proclivities of my residual nature/personality - huge chunks of it fell off several years ago and that took some time to settle into. As remaining portions reassembled (or never left) it became obvious and it took some time to devise better more skillful means for removing the patterns.

 

It was easier in that I did not resist them - but pesky in that they were persistent - and some of them were "not my thinking" - in other words they were never actually a concern or problem of mine but they kept "being with me in thoughts and in resistance".

 

I decided to tackle each one during Qi Gong. I simply kept in mind a pesky persistent pattern during each session - and to my great delight and surprise - they were removed within one session each!

 

Ever have a persistent 40 + year voice leave your head in one 1 hour practice because you intentionally did something that completely worked? Voice is not actually the correct word for what I am describing because it was not like kicking out an entity.

This same practice has worked on a whole host of what are referred to in India as samskaras (character flaws) - I am quickly becoming a more delightful and patient person, regaining the patience I used to have and even more. I have been able to remove a good amount of the sharpness and curt reactionary residue while in this process of unfolding.

 

I always worried that one could be stuck with it and that it needed to be nearly perfect prior - I think the only thing one needs is an awareness of the patterns and the knowledge that they are very much discardable in a very final sense.

Intentional suffering works well in consciously inducing the heat needed to bend away from patterns that dissipate - on this side of things work progresses at a pace that is very different.

 

I am anxious to see if this newfound technique can work for others - it has been absurdly effective and quick.

Time and space are questionable - a conversion to frequency is occurring.

Edited by Spotless
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thank you for your last two posts, it sets me to thinking, to reflecting whats happening to me with your text as kind of ' new/ other'  perspective.

Edited by blue eyed snake
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Spotless, when you say tubular like michilen man, do you mean belt channels? I know you said thrusting channels too, but im wondering if you feel spiralling belt channels around you more prominent or the vertical channels more prominent. I guess the goal is balance but with me the vertical channels definately feed the belt channels energy. That's to so say my vertical channels are usually more dominant until i feel a pop and they all even out in pressure, or i intentionally connect the vertical with the horizontal but the balance is more short lasting when i do it myself.

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Spotless, when you say tubular like michilen man, do you mean belt channels? I know you said thrusting channels too, but im wondering if you feel spiralling belt channels around you more prominent or the vertical channels more prominent. I guess the goal is balance but with me the vertical channels definately feed the belt channels energy. That's to so say my vertical channels are usually more dominant until i feel a pop and they all even out in pressure, or i intentionally connect the vertical with the horizontal but the balance is more short lasting when i do it myself.

Please be very careful about putting words into my mouth.

I said nothing about "thrusting channels" yet you say "I know you said thrusting channels too".

 

I don't want to get into the engineering aspects - I have never been an advocate of engineering ones energy - it presupposes that I know my highest outcome and the best approach for my growth through reading and listening to the bafoon in my head and manipulating things.

I am old school - the basics done often and frequently for long periods - all else will appear in an organic and natural way.

I have never done "lite" practice - it has either been quite intense or not much at all.

The basics go straight to where the energy is needed - and they succeed in what they are designed for every time.

My "basics" have changed over time very little though they have much less effort in them than before and they are often so quick that I cannot exactly say what it is I am doing - it would not make sense.

 

Each channel I was referring to was about 1 foot thick or more - I don't think we are talking about the same things in this sense.

Edited by Spotless
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Intentional suffering works well in consciously inducing the heat needed to bend away from patterns that dissipate - on this side of things work progresses at a pace that is very different.

 

I am anxious to see if this newfound technique can work for others - it has been absurdly effective and quick.

Time and space are questionable - a conversion to frequency is occurring.

 

well, i'm very much a beginner but I do recognize something here.

 

I never believed in subtle energy, to me it was new age nonsense... then, something happened in my life that released ( and, looking back, dissolved) eh, well, i think it's honest to say that it was the most pivotal part of suffering of my life. Very shortly afterwards, i began to feel very strong energy. 

 

That lead me to revise my former convictions and go look for a teacher. It took some years before i was ready to find him  ;)

 

Since that time much more has happened, even though at a beginners stage, subtle energy has become a normal part of my life. Lately i found that i had the idea that, ever so slow, channels open and widen a little. But when you go to ( and through!) old pain, things can indeed pop open all at once. This has happened several times now. And it does feel as if i shift to another plane in such transitions. Not say they are like those of spotless, but the feeling is the same. Like graduating from kindergarten to primary school versus getting your doctorate  :D levels are different, but principle is same

 

By now i have some ideas on the relationship of eh...perceived/ relived old pain and the channels that open/ blockages that dissolve. But i do not feel comfortable to share that on a forum. It's very tentative too, more like a slowly connecting with new layers of my being.

 

My teacher wouldn't put it the way Spotless does, but it feels to me that the underlying meaning is the same. And maybe i will once reach a point where the knowledge Spotless shares here will become useful to me. On the other hand, by now it is so clear to me that breakthroughs happen through ( the re-experiencing, its not really that, i lack the words, but it is a going through old pain) of pain/suffering that this insight could come all by itself. But for now I'm just satisfied in walking, step by step, falling back, regaining myself and walk another step.

 

Big differences with the story of Spotless:

first, I do not choose which pain will be opened, it presents itself. Something in me knows what is the best order to 'do' things.

second, because I've lived for half a century gathering and building unhealthy patterns, every breakthrough is accompanied by a lot of bodily suffering, pain, swellings, itching and illnesses. (That may be something that can easily be overlooked by someone who started on their path young and with relatively low levels of pain and blockages)

 

But the fact that going through suffering is the 'pushing/popping point' that makes me feel sameness in the experiences.

Edited by blue eyed snake
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Just a clarification regarding the word "poof" that I used in the last two of my posts - the energy change was very smooth - not a pop or push in this case but more like opening a pillow case full of air and the air oozed up or out. This was the case for the energy releasing upward from the LDT and MDT. 

 

In the case of the fusing of the different energy columns - it was a very smooth "poof" - the "joints" just smoothly gave way and within 10 seconds their were no joints.

 

Also:

An energetic formation above my head occurred.

Edited by Spotless
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I never believed in subtle energy, to me it was new age nonsense... then, something happened in my life that released ( and, looking back, dissolved) eh, well, i think it's honest to say that it was the most pivotal part of suffering of my life. Very shortly afterwards, i began to feel very strong energy. 

 

That lead me to revise my former convictions and go look for a teacher. It took some years before i was ready to find him  ;)

 

Since that time much more has happened, even though at a beginners stage, subtle energy has become a normal part of my life. Lately i found that i had the idea that, ever so slow, channels open and widen a little. But when you go to ( and through!) old pain, things can indeed pop open all at once. This has happened several times now. And it does feel as if i shift to another plane in such transitions. Not say they are like those of spotless, but the feeling is the same. Like graduating from kindergarten to primary school versus getting your doctorate  :D levels are different, but principle is same

 

By now i have some ideas on the relationship of eh...perceived/ relived old pain and the channels that open/ blockages that dissolve. But i do not feel comfortable to share that on a forum. It's very tentative too, more like a slowly connecting with new layers of my being.

 

My teacher wouldn't put it the way Spotless does, but it feels to me that the underlying meaning is the same. And maybe i will once reach a point where the knowledge Spotless shares here will become useful to me. On the other hand, by now it is so clear to me that breakthroughs happen through ( the re-experiencing, its not really that, i lack the words, but it is a going through old pain) of pain/suffering that this insight could come all by itself. But for now I'm just satisfied in walking, step by step, falling back, regaining myself and walk another step.

 

Big differences with the story of Spotless:

first, I do not choose which pain will be opened, it presents itself. Something in me knows what is the best order to 'do' things.

second, because I've lived for half a century gathering and building unhealthy patterns, every breakthrough is accompanied by a lot of bodily suffering, pain, swellings, itching and illnesses. (That may be something that can easily be overlooked by someone who started on their path young and with relatively low levels of pain and blockages)

 

But the fact that going through suffering is the 'pushing/popping point' that makes me feel sameness in the experiences.

I agree.  While various katas of "psychosomatic calisthenics" for cultivating qi might theoretically work for some people...I've slowly been finding that releasing blockages (intentionally or not) restores your natural qi flow that can then function more freely and perfectly all on its own.  Similar to the Daoist/Dzogchen general viewpoint, our perfect state is our natural default state...when unimpeded by all forms of intervening artifice.  So, it doesn't really need to be "built up"...so much as unimpeded and then fully revealed/unhindered.

 

In short, it's more like simply unclogging your pipes, than trying to manually push water around everywhere you want it to...(which doesn't work anyways if your pipes are clogged).

 

I think all those forms work (best)...only once you've already unclogged your pipes.

Edited by gendao
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My experience with consciously doing stuff rather than letting it do its self is a bit like sitting straight and having good posture. After doing lots of qigong my back automatically becomes straight, and there are aspects of my posture and way of thinking that change too. These things are shown to me, but then by replicating those same things when i haven't done qigong for a while speeds up getting back to that point. The same occurs with energy direction and flow. The first time i needed to watch and be shown by the chi, then i could just do it. Its not as some may think that things are forced or pushed, its more like letting the chi teach me then replicating it without the chi in the physical makes chi come. I think perhaps its like static tai chi.

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Or maybe a bit like how the lungs work. The lungs have no muscles, but when the diaphragm moves down it creates a vacuum so the lungs expand and bring in air. Lots of things in the body work in 2 way fashion. Its worth working on both.

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Hey spotless, a question. I've seen some pretty powerful correlations between the Sun and the 3rd Eye in my own practice. Was wondering if you could comment on this? 

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Starting a fast tomorrow and thought some might like to follow the progression - not sure yet if it will be a water fast or a fast with vegetable broth, vegetable juice and some fruit juice as well.

 

It will probably not be too long as we have yet another vacation planned even though we live in a vacation land (we have an 8 year old and trips to various rites of passage must take place - we just did Hawaii to see Grandmother, then the Giant Redwoods - drove thru one - and now Mnt Shasta - he was conceived in Yosemite).

 

All the travel and all the changes within have called for a break in the peace of a fast - cleanup and empty - so many big heart expansions and wonderous energy. A fast is calling.

 

Spent the last two days eating a bit sparse - have not really "prepared" for the fast but have done it many times before - so I am prepared in that I go into it with no worry and no angst and no need to read up on what to do.

Edited by Spotless
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Yes - that is the plan - daily:

 

First note:

 

Normally I plan the third day to take place on a day with no schedule - however this time the third day is on a day with a scheduled Qi Gong class. I am scheduled in 7 classes a week in addition to private work.

Edited by Spotless

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I have found that the sun resonates between the eyes. That is where you may be able to feel it on the body when you do sun practices. Not quite the third eye. But close.

 

Yes that was what I was refering to, between the eyes.

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