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Hey,

Here's what I've been doing if you're curious:

I sit cross-legged on the ground on three encyclopedia volumes or small cushions. So my behind is higher than my feet. This helps your spine stay straight so you don't fold forwards or backwards. Perhaps, in time, I'll dispense with this as I stretch out. I pretend a string is attached to the very top of my head and pulls me straight. My hands are in my lap.

If I don't have cushions or any other props, I sit on the floor cross-legged, and I place my hands on my knees and pull slightly to expand my chest.

When I meditate I "stay with my breath." This usually involves feeling the sensation of air passing in and out of my nostrils. When I inevitably realize my mind has drifted, I take a passing look at what my mind was doing, then gently and firmly bring my attention back to the breath.

When I first started, I could only handle five minutes at a time and then I became anxious. Now I'm up to 15 minutes twice a day, which I've been doing for a few months. I'll up it again eventually. It's taken awhile for my body to get used to the stillness and the posture too. I usually do a couple minutes of stretching before I start. (yoga sun salutations)

In any case, regardless of position, method, stretching, whatever, as I see it, the important thing is just to do it! To put in the time and toss the details if they prevent you from meditating.

I work with energy separately from meditation, though energy sensations are almost always present when I meditate.

So that's my current take, for what it's worth. Book-wise, "Meditation in Plain English," and "Breath by Breath" were useful to me, but I learned the most just by doing it. There are of course many other styles of meditation.

All the best,

Mark

Hey,

Personally, I do a quick warmup before using circuit type stuff. (Brush hands and feet, do full body bouncing.) Then I just go for the circuit. If I'm not "feeling" the circuit to my satisfaction, then I gently feel and work with bouncing and brushing around my body for a little bit to get some sensation going.

Anyone else?? I'm curious what other people are doing too. How do you feel when you're finished? How do you feel if you don't do energy work for a few days?

Mark

If you're feeling pressure in your head, lightheadedness, a headache, uncomfortably full, or anxiousness, make sure you're breathing slowly and deeply into your abdomen *while* you're doing NEW. I've found I often constrict my breathing when I concentrate.

Stretching, rocking on the ground, exercise of any kind, and eating will help diminish the above feelings if you happen to get them.

These are the only problems I've had. I went to qigong for a few months (gentler) and then went back to NEW with no problems. I think long-term, simple breath meditation, as well as physical conditioning, helped to "condition" my energy body for NEW.

All the best,

Mark

One of my friends limited all carbs for a period of time and began to have extremely vivid dreams. I didn't think she was for real, but I did the same while experimenting with my diet.

When I go too low on carbs my energy body becomes *extremely* sensitive and active, and I have trouble falling asleep. When I finally fall asleep, I too have very vivid dreams. I also had what I think were two very short obe's during a four day period.

Now that I've found a reasonably healthy (=low for me personally)level of whole grains the activity and sensitivity seem to still be there. I think detox and diet has a big effect on obe activity. Plus, if you have allergies, a detox/healthy diet will allow you to breath through you nose during attempts and you won't have stuff dripping down your throat.

Details, details...

Mark

quote:Originally posted by boomyboomy

kampersdream,

That's very interesting about the dairy-acne connection. I do drink a hell of a lot of milk - about two pints a day. It is skimmed milk, so not much fat. I did a search on Google for acne and dairy, and some interesting links came up. I'd always assumed milk was good for me. I think I'm going to stop drinking milk for a while.

Thanks,

Boomy

Yup, afaik, skim milk is the worst kind of milk you can buy. There's not much left that's digestible, and your body doesn't know what to do with it. Try a search on mercola.com or a search on google for "real milk" maybe.

I'm a health nut. Can you tell?

Mark

RB didn't post that often. Well, sometimes several at a time in spurts, then he'd go back to whatever he was doing.

Who remembers the really old forum before this fancy new one even existed? I was only around for the last few months of that sucker. I think it went back quite a bit.

Mark

quote:Originally posted by boomyboomy

I do eat a hell of a lot of baked beans. Also, I find it gets worse after a night out drinking. And also after any kind of sexual activity []

Yet the doctor refuses to acknowledge these are the problem, because 99% of the world eats and does all that without getting zits.

Annoying, because I like all three of the above things. []

Ok, people are just going to love reading this thread.

One summer while down at school I ate mostly organic canned beans and normal meat. My teeth turned gray. It was disgusting, and dentist, etc, had no idea why. It came right off, teeth shiny white underneath, which meant it was some sort of secretion of something my body was trying to get rid of. We don't eat beans correctly these days. People throughout the ages soaked them for a few days, putting them in new water after 24 hours. This broke down all sorts of indigestible stuff.

Might want to toss the beans just for say three weeks and see what happens. Can always start eating them again.

Mark

quote:Originally posted by bomohwkl

Both reverse osmosis and distilled water are just PURE WATER. If PURE WATER sucks material out, then, both distilled and reverse omosis water should. The misconception of PURE WATER sucking material out is becuase it DETOXIFIES the body from unwanted toxic materials. Mineral waters contains too much inorganic material water which our body CANNOT assimilate. If we can assimilate inorganic materials, we can 'grow' like hydroponic but we cant, only vegetable is capable of assimialte inorganic minerals.
The living prove of someone is still alive drinking distilled water for more than 70 years. There are a few books about water written by the guy.
http://www.bragg.com/company/about_paul.html
Although I should emphasis that food is important too. But the water has the fastest effect (within a week u can see the different!!) and little commitment. I find kifyre diet couldn't follow for ages...as my friends all eat all sort. However, my belief is WATER is more important than FOOD, as our body consists of water the most

::shrug!:: There're arguments both ways with respect to the safety of distilled water. Guess it works for some people. (Great!)

Regardless, I'd just drink much more water, and only water. Most other liquids out there dehydrate you even more (coke and pepsi) or have too much sugar (coke and pepsi) in them which defeats the purpose.

Food-wise, you are what you eat. 99.99999% of what you see when you look at someone, acne and all (sorry!) is what they put in their mouths. It only makes sense to put in your body what's been going in for 3,000,000 years as opposed to stuff people started eating in the past few decades or so (processed food) or even the past few thousand (grains and refined sugar).

Mark

Diet-wise, your best bet is the nutrition plan found at http://mercola.com. My skin just *glows* now and my lips no longer chap. Basically just do the best you can with limited time, money, etc. No candy, no sugar, no white bread, no soft drinks, no french fries, no hamburger buns. You probably especially need more protein and omega-3 fats--walnuts and Carlson's fish oil capsules.

(Spring water, yes. Distilled water, no--it'll suck minerals right out of your body. Reverse osmosis is ok. Glass bottles are better than plastic. Hard PVC plastic is better than soft plastic. I think the food is much more important though.)

This is what I do. (mercola advice) I think it's all for real, for what it's worth.

All the best,

Mark

As long as we're discussing augmentative technology, you guys have to check out this site:

http://www.alexchiu.com

It's hilarious, but then you read the testimonials and start to wonder. [][]

(Again, I'm thinking back to The Body Electric and then Cross Currents by Becker.)

All the best,

Mark

Hey Rob,

After I make it through finals and graduation I'll be home for a few days. I'll dig up the q-link and figure out whether I want to sell and how much. (Most likely yes and not much.) It's the square one on the far right of the three, below the Ally picture. (Thanks for the pictures, Boomy.)

Just FYI, my father corresponded with a woman who's in a Kabalistic prayer group that supposedly talks to angels. (shrug) I have no idea how this came up, but the woman says they asked the angels about the q-link and the answer they got back was "alien technology, don't use."

Seems too coincidental to even be true. Or maybe the simple fact is that it is true. I have very minor twinges and pain points in  my chest when I first put on the q-link or the other one.

I'm remembering back when I first tried the q-link. After a few hours I obviously couldn't handle it on my chest and it went into a drawer. I eventually tried again and it was in my pocket for about a week. It made me agitated and irritated whenever my attention turned to it. When I was finally ready to transition to chest, my father brought up the angel story with minimal prompting. At that point I was like, "That was a message meant for me. bonk it."

Mark

Interesting stuff. The one with the crystals is the link I posted (the one i have now). I've still got the q-link buried away somewhere in my room back home. I wouldn't mind lending or selling it at some point after I'm done with finals.

Mark

You've inspired me to try again. Woo, tingly. This is what I've got:

http://www.bioelectriccompany.com/Page.asp?NavID=28

If you do a search for "bioelectric shield" a bunch of resellers come up. One decently sensitive person seems to like this brand. They appear to be on the up and up.

I still can't decide whether it's a good tingle or a bad tingle. I'm worried I'm going to distort a chakra or something.

Mark

Very interesting. I've had a q-link and also another pendant which uses a few crystals "to make a better fit to your personal frequency band." Both have an immediate effect on me when I put them on. A sort of buzzed, woozy feel. Slightly good, slightly bad, so I never leave either on for long. But, then again, I'm always afraid these things will screw with my energy field so it could be my imagination.

Thanks for the HHG tip. Cute name. I'm adding it to my list of things to build and play with over the summer. (I have the orgone accumulator handbook by James DeMeo (www.orgonelab.org) coming in the mail as we speak.)

You think this stuff is for real? I've getting (allowing myself to be) just sensitive enough to feel like I can judge whether something's coming off of these things or not.

I just recently realized, even as much as most scientists deny it, that there probably really is an EM component to all of this. (See the Body Electric by Robert Becker if anyone's curious. If you already believe, and don't care about the science, don't worry about it. )

Mark

quote:Originally posted by Fat_Turkey

Hmm well that would make sense why some people say that silencing your entire mind or stopping all thought is impossible and not a wise thing to try. Thanks for this idea - this'll make my approach to mind-clearing excercises 10x easier.

Later
-FT

You're welcome!

I believe complete cessation of thought is possible. Ken Wilber purportedly demonstrates this ability, flatlining an EKG (except for delta waves), in his book/journal "One Taste."

Mark

quote:Originally posted by Fat_Turkey

Yes I sort of agree...can't say completely, though (don't ask). I first started to do mind-quieting/silencing when I read through PPSD and read that it is an important skill in core image removal. But he said that we have to silence internal dialogue, or what the Easterns call Monkey Mind. I think this is the subvocolasition you're talking about.

Question: Does the subvocal part of your mind remind you of constant things? Is it like a voice in your head when you're reading a message somebody posts in a chat room? If so I'm right [|)]

Well it is easier to practice when you know what to practice with.

It's not that practice makes perfect, but perfect practice results in stronger progress.

Later
-FT

Yes, monkey mind, reminders, and IM's--I think it's all subvocalization. I don't know for sure, I'm still playing with this idea, but it seems helpful. It might not be totally clear cut.

Try reading IM's while counting (whispering, mouthing) or saying a vowel sound like "eeeeeeee." See if it feels different from reading them straight like someone's speaking to you.

Mark

Now that I've got the basics down, more or less, here's what I do:
(note, i'm still improving the basics, but i'm doing this too)

1. Create an image in mind (a triangle, for example)
2. Firmly hold down subvocalization. (or i sometimes count, as above)
3. Firmly maintain (or create in each moment) the triangle, to the exclusion of all else.

Experiment with adding some *mental muscle*. Make sure you keep breathing and don't tense any real muscles.

So that's a form of meditation. Maybe it can be modified slightly for projection.

All the best,

Mark

There's whole bunch of things going on in your mind at any one time--what are you trying to silence?

As far as I can tell, here's what most people have:

1) thought stream
2) subvocalization
3) emotion/sensation

As far as I can tell, what most of us are working on is silencing subvocalization. This is the little voice in your head; it's not *you*. This is most people's "reading voice." When most people read, their throat, lips, and tongue make micromovements different from speaking only in magnitude. Fast readers utilize the thought stream--from eyes directly to mind.

I believe that projection requires silencing subvocalization and leaving the thought stream alone (or perhaps focusing the thought stream). (Subvocalization involves micromuscle movement, therefore utilizing the body, therefore locking you in the body.) I forget the exact quote, but Frank has mentioned that his mind is "clear but very active" when he is projecting. (Again I forget the exact words, but that's the gist I picked up...)

How can you separate out what's what in your head? The best way is to practice reading with the thought-stream alone. Then it's easier to differentiate this activity from subvocalization. Count rapidly 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10... out loud *while reading*. Quickly, you'll be able to read while counting. Now, count silently to yourself *while reading*. If it's light material, like a novel, the words will flash by faster and eventually you'll be able to bring in imagery, etc. This is utilizing the thought stream.

I've just begun practicing this; I still count a lot. But all you need is to get the gist of it, the feel of subvocalization. Then you can *turn it off* -- this is the silencing -- much easier when you know what you're silencing.

Subvocalization feels more linear, one word after another like speaking. Thoughtstream is --bam!-- whole sentence/concept at once. When you're trying to silence the mind, and a full concept rips by, that's probably the thoughtstream. And then when you think, "dammit!" to yourself, you've just subvocalized.

Now, on to speculation. You've only got one mouth, but your thought stream can probably subdivide. So, once you turn off subvocalization, you need to focus your mind, bring all the separate streams together. Probably maintaining an image or concentrating on a sensation is best. (If you use a mantra, you risk activating subvocalization!) Another thing to focus on? Projecting! This is concentration, bringing your mind together to one point, one task.

(The difference between subvocalization and the thoughtstream was made clear to me from: http://www.trans4mind.com/speed_reading/)

Let me know what you think, people!

All the best,

Mark

For what it's worth, the book Meditation in Plain English differentiates between pressure on nerves and actually cutting of circulation. According to the book, tingling and legs going to sleep is nerves and isn't something to worry about. But I don't know for sure! [] One thing that has helped me is adjusting my legs. There's actually several inches of variation, moving your feet closer together or farther apart once you legs have already been crossed.

But I'm just beginning. Only a few months now as well, limiting my sessions to 20 minutes. I haven't run into any major leg situations yet.

Finally, several traditions claim the ideal posture is lotus, yes? I've been using www.howtostretch.com and doing a little stretching each day. I'm shooting for lotus in a couple years. [] Maybe a little stretching would be useful to you too?

Best of luck,

Mark

I believe Tibetans have been creating little demon-looking constructs to protect stuff for thousands and thousands of years. I don't think it's a new idea. With respect to "blasting" people, I'm pretty sure that's been around too in some form or another too... in some sort of martial qigong or martial art.

Mark

I haven't gotten past green yet either. I have not given up hope. Good luck and please keep everyone posted!

Mark

A friend of mine started getting tingling hands during tai chi. She'd never experienced anything like it before. This has progressed as she has taken up yoga. I think she's been doing maybe three months now. I find stretching and pilates type exercises fantastic for relieving energetic pressure and just improving overall flow.

If you're taking a class, I'd recommend just following the teacher's instructions without adding anything. State of mind is important and if you're trying to do extra, you might lose some benefits of the practice. (My friend isn't trying to develop her energy body, it's happening on its own.) However, nothing wrong with playing and experimenting after you've gone through once following directions--adding NEW, different focus, etc.

Yoga cultivates body and breath awareness. Awareness kindles the energy body.

Just my two cents,

Mark

This article describes a series of simple eye exercises that have worked for many people.

I know most people don't like a whole article being stuck in a post, but I wanted it here for future readers in case the original goes offline. Sorry! The original can be found at: http://www.yogajournal.com/health/79_1.cfm

-----------

20/20 Vision Quest
You can improve your eyesight by regularly performing this series of simple exercises.

By Cybèle Tomlinson

When you look at Meir Schneider, founder and director of the Center and School for Self-Healing in San Francisco, his striking eyes are what you see first. The left eye angles slightly inward and is somewhat murky; the right one is focused and alert.

The fact that Schneider is able to see is nothing short of extraordinary: He was born cross-eyed with microopthalmy (a small eyeball), glaucoma (excessive pressure on the eyes), astigmatism (an irregular curve of the cornea), nystagmus (involuntary shifting of the eyes), and cataracts (an opacity of the lens). At the age of 6, after enduring numerous painful and unsuccessful operations, he was pronounced legally blind.

Schneider credits his restored vision to his practice of yoga for the eyes. These techniques are based on the Bates Method of vision improvement, developed around the turn of the century by ophthalmologist William Bates, who believed that eyes which were capable of deteriorating were also capable of improving. Over the course of his controversial career, Bates developed an extensive training program for the eyes. He argued that the eyes must be relaxed in order to see well.

Schneider began the Bates Method at age 17. He practiced relaxing the eyes for up to 13 hours a day. "The results were so dramatic when I began to work on myself," he says. "Seeing light—when it happened—was such a dramatic thing that nothing could stand in my way." At the same time, he also discovered how to relax his body and move more freely. Eventually, Schneider gained enough vision to read, walk, run, and even drive.

Since that time, Schneider, who holds a Ph.D. in healing arts, has made helping others with vision limitations his life's work. He began by concentrating on the eyes and then moved to the whole body, aiding those living with muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and polio.

The Psychology of Seeing

Schneider's techniques are remarkably simple, but you have to be able to abandon your preconceived notions of what eyesight is and how it works.

Seeing involves not just the eyes but the brain. According to Schneider, "Seeing is largely a function of the mind, and only partly a function of the eyes. There are 80 to 110 million rods and 4 to 5 million cones with which the retina senses light. A billion images are produced in the retina every minute. But the brain can't assimilate all these images: It's selective, and determines how much of a picture you will or won't see. It also determines how clear or how fuzzy your vision will be." For instance, when you're bored, your mind tells your eyes not to look, and after awhile that's what happens: You stop looking.

However, there is a demand to see, and in order to do so, we often squint, strain, and stress the eyes. We further abuse our eyes by reading late into the night, watching television, working long hours on computers, and focusing for too long. "How you use your eyes determines their structure," says Schneider.

Yoga for the Eyes

Schneider begins his own eye program with palming, massage, blinking, and shifting—exercises which should be done in a relaxed, effortless way. If there is tension in the body, then the exercises will only encourage current habits. In all exercises, keep your breathing deep and full.

Palming.

Palming, which was originally invented by Tibetan yogis, is done in darkness with the palms cupping the eyes. Palming soothes the optic nerve, which is often irritated. Sit in a darkened room with your elbows leaning on a table. Relax your back and shoulders, rub your hands together vigorously to warm them, then place your palms over your eyes. Don't press the eye sockets and don't lean on the cheekbones. Visualize total blackness, the most relaxing color for the brain, and breathe deeply. Let the blackness permeate everything: your eyes, your whole body, the room you sit in, the city, the state, the continent, the planet, the stars, the universe.

You may see all kinds of lights, which is an indication of irritation in the optic nerve. In fact, you may not see total darkness until you have completed several palming sessions. Palm for as long as is comfortable.

Massage.

Rub your hands together to warm them and then rub the fingers up the bridge of the nose and across the eyebrows to the temples. Find the grooves in the eyebrows and massage them. Then rub the fingers from the nose to the cheekbones and to the ears. Finally, run your fingers across your forehead. Facial massage helps dissolve tension in the eyes, bringing them to a more relaxed state. Massage of the face, head, and body can facilitate this process.

Blinking.

Often our tendency is to fall into a kind of myopic stare, especially when under stress. This strains the eyes unnecessarily. Blinking helps keep the eyes moist and tension-free, and increases circulation in the eyes. Begin reprogramming yourself by opening and closing the eyes very softly and gently. Then visualize the eyes blinking. Imagine that it's the eyelashes which open and close the eyes. Breathe deeply. Apply this technique whenever you look at something, gazing in a soft way and blinking frequently. If the eyes are behaving in this way, then they can't be tense.

Shifting.

This involves flitting the eyes rapidly from detail to detail and encourages the eyes to engage with the world and pick up on more details. Normal eyes shift naturally, making many micromovements per second.

Shifting works by engaging the macula, the central part of the retina, which is responsible for clear, detailed vision. By moving the eyes frequently, more information comes through this part of the retina, thus providing the eyes with more in-focus visual information.

Practice by moving your eyes from point to point on whatever you're looking at. Forget the name of the thing you're seeing, and look at its individual parts. Never strain or force yourself; always look with "soft" eyes.

According to Schneider, there are many people who have healed their eyes using these exercises. One woman came to him after being blinded in one of her eyes by flying glass. After she did three long palming sessions—each lasting several hours—she could see light and shadow with her blind eye. In her other eye, her vision went from 20/16 to 20/6.

Another dramatic case is that of an elderly pharmacist who was referred to Schneider after surgery for macular degeneration. The surgery left him with damage to his central vision, thus causing him to see images in multiple. These images were fuzzy and had no depth; the pharmacist's vision measured 20/400. After working with Schneider for six months, his vision was 20/25.

Most of us, thinking these eye conditions are inevitable and unchangeable, simply opt for corrective lenses. But there is a danger in taking this route, because glasses encourage the shape of the eye to remain the same. "Yes, you put on glasses and you can see 20/20, but with time you come to depend on them," says Schneider. "People believe that vision can only deteriorate, not improve. But eyes can improve, and they do improve, given the right conditions."

Resources
Self Healing: My Life and Vision, by Meir Schneider (Penguin, 1989).

The Handbook of Self-Healing, by Meir Schneider and Maureen Larkin (Penguin/Arkana, 1994).

Meir Schneider's Miracle Eyesight Method, by Meir Schneider (two audiotapes, Sounds True, 1996).

CybËle Tomlinson is a writer and yoga teacher who lives in Berkeley, California.
Mar/Apr 99

This article can be found online at http://www.yogajournal.com/health/79_1.cfm

quote:Originally posted by kampersdream

thx kifyre, i've already bought HANDS OF LIGHT by barbara brennan and a quick read indicates i have alot of work/studing ahead of me. i think i will check out quantum-touch, it sounds like something i am more familiar with. thx for the tip.

Hey kd,

You're welcome!

Yeah, Hands of Light is a handful, isn't it? Aside from whether her clairvoyant observations are valid or not, her exercises for development are very vague. There *are* specifics, but for the most part, as you know, she essentially says, "just do it."

Easy for her to say, right? She's obviously gifted. For people (like me) who need a little more help, there are much more specific techniques and practices available, with short-term, easy to verify goals.

For example, if you do NEW you will start feeling *something* within a few months if not seconds. The book Quantum-Touch focuses on feeling energy *now* as well and directly applying it to healing. I recommend looking for resources that promise modest to big results that have *specific* steps to realize those results. If it looks good, try it for a few weeks or months, and it'll either pan out or it won't. They'll either be quite right, partially right, or wrong. But you gotta test and see for yourself!

I also recommend some form of meditation to build mind-strength. You can probably find something about breath awareness or insight meditation on the web. You just want the bare bones. (Ask in this thread if you can't find anything, if you're curious. I'm sure other people have a bunch of recommendations too.)

Have fun!!!

Mark

quote:Originally posted by kampersdream

thx tom, if the other person 'believes' in energy healing then its much simpler. what can one do if the other person(my wife) thinks im going off the deep end []. i read a repost of a post by r. bruce posted by kifyre on RP EYE SIGHT HEALING and that explained alot and that may answer part of my question. i have been doing NEW energy raising for a couple of months and have just begun to work on my primary centers. is it too early to begin to think about helping others? if so how does one know when they have the experiance/energy to start. thx for all of your help
-kd

Hey kd,

I recommend the book Quantum-Touch by Richard Gordon. The style is *very* similar to NEW and it's all about healing through energy transfer. Great tips for getting maximum flow, and it'll give one answer to your question.

Mark