2008.07.12 13:00 - hypnosis, meditation, and no more kava

The guardian for the meeting was Dakini Rhode.  The comments are Dakini's.

Adams, Dakini, Fael, Pia, Quilty, Rajah and Sky shared our teatime with first-time visitor Jussi.

Fael Illyar: Hi Rajah, Dakini :)
Dakini Rhode: hey!
Adams Rubble: Hi Rajah
Rajah Yalin: hi all, Namaste
Fael Illyar: Oh, you've got new clothes, Rajah :)
Dakini Rhode: water is nice and cool!
Adams Rubble: Hi Dakini, you fell in ?
Rajah Yalin: yep I do :)
Adams Rubble: Looks nice Rajah
Dakini Rhode: haha Adams
Quilty Bookmite: Hi Rajah. Hi Dakini
Adams Rubble: I'm always falling off bridges
Rajah Yalin: hi Quilty
Dakini Rhode: hi's all around the table...
Dakini Rhode: waiting for faenik to say he likes wells...
Quilty Bookmite: :-)

We discussed Rajah's travels.

Rajah Yalin has been out and about a lot.
Adams Rubble: He's nice and safe on the shoulder
Faenik loves bridges!
Dakini Rhode: how interesting, what has Rajah been doing?
Rajah Yalin: political tensions going on in my RL land causes me to be away a bit
Adams Rubble: I am sorry to hear that Rajah
Quilty Bookmite: Back in a sec...
Dakini Rhode: oh that is really too bad
Dakini Rhode: have you travelled then?
Rajah Yalin: well I did go to the states and the bahamas last month :)
Rajah Yalin: but since then I've been here at home
Fael Illyar: Hi Sky :)
Rajah Yalin: hi Sky
Adams Rubble: Hi Sky
Dakini Rhode: hi sky!
Sky Szimmer: hey there!
Fael Illyar: Hi Pia :)
Adams Rubble: I like your outfit Dakini :)
Adams Rubble: Hi Pia
Dakini Rhode: ty Adams :) zen archer today
Dakini Rhode: maybe i can hit closer to the mark :P
Adams Rubble: I will have to be careful about what I say :)
Dakini Rhode: Hi Pia :)
Dakini Rhode: haha no worries Adams
Adams Rubble: Have things calmed down a bit Rajah?
Dakini Rhode: i threw out the quiver
Quilty Bookmite: Back. Sorry about that. RL called.
Rajah Yalin: well, its mainly over next months elections
Dakini Rhode: how sad, trouble in paradise
Fael Illyar: that's politics for you :)
Dakini Rhode: will you be affected by this election?
Rajah Yalin: probably
Fael Illyar: affected?
Rajah Yalin: they're going through some technology changes also and all our phone numbers have changed
Adams Rubble: that could be chaotic
Fael Illyar: Yes, very
Adams Rubble: It is good to have you back, Rajah
Rajah Yalin: yeah I dont like the random internet outages :P especially during PaB..
Fael Illyar: I've seen phone number changes too but those were such that you could work out the new number with a simple rule.
Quilty Bookmite: Yes, we did that here a few years back.

Thankfully the SL green tea has not been affected by the ban on kava

Rajah Yalin: the economy is slightly lowering since the US has banned its sale in kava
Dakini Rhode: we did?
Adams Rubble wonders what her government has gone and done now
Rajah Yalin: its because the europeans wanted the whole plant and anything other than the roots is toxic
Rajah Yalin: we only use the roots
Rajah Yalin: 3000 years of use, i think we've learned.. ;).. ah well enough about that.. PaB!!
Dakini Rhode: does this mean no more kava kava in our herbal teas?
Rajah Yalin shrugs.
Dakini Rhode: sad all around :(
Rajah Yalin: you can stillget it from the internet but the US banned it from markets
Adams Rubble wonders if the administration was worried someone was going to give THEM a tea made from the other parts
Dakini Rhode: haha Adams
Pia Iger: tea terrorists.
Dakini Rhode: yes, i see my Tension Tamer tea no longer has kava
Dakini Rhode: i'm sure it di
Dakini Rhode: d
Dakini Rhode: catnip now
Adams Rubble: catnip?
Dakini Rhode: yes!!! can you believe it?
Rajah Yalin: im surprised you didnt notice.. kava has that mucky taste..
Rajah Yalin makes a BLECH face.
Adams Rubble: you'll have all the neighborhoods cats following you Dakini
Dakini Rhode: i think there was only a little there...
Dakini Rhode: haha
Dakini Rhode: i have a few living with me here
Dakini Rhode: no wonder they sleep on my bed
Adams Rubble: :)
Rajah Yalin: ;)
Quilty Bookmite: Wikipedia: Kava has been consumed heavily as a beverage in the south Pacific for around 3000 years with no reports of liver problems. One study has reported that when kava preparations are made with the root of the plant no toxicity is found. However, in one study some changes in liver function are noticed. The effects are temporary and reversible when discontinuing kava use. Although kava root does not cause liver toxicity, there is evidence of health concerns among heavy drinkers, including poor nutrition and a rise in liver enzymes
Tea Cup whispers: Tea Time!
Quilty Bookmite: Sorry. Just sharing my reading. :-)
Pia Iger: Hi, Jussi
Jussi Zapedzki: Hello.
Adams Rubble: Hello Jussi
Rajah Yalin: hi Jussi
Dakini Rhode: you lured me onto the internet, quilty
Rajah Yalin: lol
Dakini Rhode: hi Jussi :)
Jussi Zapedzki: My first time here.
Rajah Yalin: kava is an everyday thing here
Quilty Bookmite: :-)

Jussi joined us, and Fael explained PlayasBeing in Finnish while the rest of us watched for key words.

Fael Illyar: Iltaa Jussi.
Jussi Zapedzki: Iltaa.
Pia Iger: the t-shirt says?
Jussi Zapedzki: Onko tämä yksityisluontoinen tilaisuus?
Fael Illyar: ei ole, vapaa osallistuminen

Quilty Bookmite: Reading the Wikipedia page just confirms what you are saying Rajah. People who drink it the traditional way suffer no ill effects.
Fael Illyar: Jussi's shirt says "Lazy man, in your service" on the front.
Jussi Zapedzki: Its a commercial for the band which had a live performance here in SL earlier.
Pia Iger: thanks., see the back of it
Rajah Yalin: yep I remember (at the time being a kava farmer myself) when the Europeans wanted to buy the whole kava plant and stick it with all these chemicals and things
Fael Illyar: Jussi, this is a play as being meeting. http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/
Quilty Bookmite: Lovely. :-) We always like to "improve" things. :-)
Jussi Zapedzki: Uh... Hieman tuo englanti takkuaa tällä kertaa...
Rajah Yalin: the thing is that Europeans live a much faster pace lifestyle, they dont want to spend all their time preparing it, they want it instant
Sky Szimmer: sorry but got to run! cheers!
Fael Illyar: Ah, suomeksi on hankala osallistua kun ei muut kuin minä puhu suomea.
Rajah Yalin: so they put these things into it to make it a pill
Adams Rubble: bye Sky
Pia Iger: bye Sky
Jussi Zapedzki: Kerrotko ihan lyhyesti idean suomeksi. Voin sitten kyllä kokeilla englanniksi osallistumista.
Fael Illyar: Tällä hetkellä keskustelunaihe on vähän ohi aiheesta, mutta yleensä täällä keskustellaan eräänlaisesti ajatuskokeesta. Osallistujat tekee 15 minuutin välein "pysähdyksiä" joiden aikana pyritään vain olemaan. Täällä sitten keskustellaan siitä mitä huomataan.
Dakini Rhode: hey i say 15 minutes there
Adams Rubble: :)
Dakini Rhode: *saw
Adams Rubble: and sitten
Fael Illyar: Sorry, he wanted short description in Finnish :)
Pia Iger: me,too,what a relief
Dakini Rhode: very nice :)
Adams Rubble: yes it is :)
Rajah Yalin is glad to know they're not conspiring against us.
Rajah Yalin: ;)
Adams Rubble: Faenik is a conspirator
Fael Illyar: Ja lisäksi keskustellaan siitä miten tehdään niitä "pysähdyksiä" ja muustakin kaikenlaisesta.
Jussi Zapedzki: Kiitos.
Jussi Zapedzki: You have pretty interesting experiment here.
Quilty Bookmite: Care to join us?
Jussi Zapedzki: Very much. My english is a bit bad thou...
Quilty Bookmite: Much better than my Finnish.
Rajah Yalin: I think it's good
Fael Illyar: Have a seat :)
Dakini Rhode: you have a translator here :)
Dakini Rhode: now we better talk about being...
Quilty Bookmite: Welcome. :-)
Adams Rubble: Welcome Jussi
Jussi Zapedzki: Thank ou.
Jussi Zapedzki: you.
Fael Illyar: I hope I'll have time for other things than translating :)
Rajah Yalin: 4 minutes to discuss PaB. GO!
Dakini Rhode: indeed, Fael :)
Rajah Yalin: :P
Adams Rubble: :)
Dakini Rhode: maybe we can just STOP! haha
Jussi Zapedzki: Maybe ill survive some how :)
Dakini Rhode: :)))
Dakini Rhode: would you like coffee, or tea?
Jussi Zapedzki: Green tea would be nice.
Rajah Yalin: lol talking about my life took up a lot of time
Dakini Rhode: please do have some :)
Fael Illyar: Jussi, onko sinulla kokemusta minkäänlaisesta meditaatiosta? tämä on hiukan samankaltaista.
Jussi Zapedzki: Itsehypnoosia on tullut kokeiltua. Se lienee jonkin sortin meditaatiota.
Adams Rubble: We learned something we didn;t know Rajah :)
Fael Illyar: Taitanee olla.

We discussed similarities among hypnosis, meditation, and other mind training technigues

Fael Illyar: Jussi seems to have some experience with self-hypnosis, if that's close to meditation.
Dakini Rhode: interesting to explore...
Jussi Zapedzki: I had a problem as a student with my concentration. I looked for help for that by self-hypnosis.
Rajah Yalin: how did that go?
Dakini Rhode: did it help?
Fael Illyar: Did it help?
Quilty Bookmite: Self hypnosis is something I tried when I was at university. I don;t think it is quite the same.
Jussi Zapedzki: It helped a lot.
Pia Iger: nice
Fael Illyar: how do you do that?
Jussi Zapedzki: After that I have learned some NLP-teqhniques.
Quilty Bookmite: I think meditation would also help with your concentration.
Jussi Zapedzki: It is kin of relaxing beyond the normal limits...
Jussi Zapedzki: And concentrating to one single thought at the end.
Fael Illyar: The way I do the explorations (I called it "pysähtyminen" earlier) is that I try to drop all thoughts and feelings for 9 seconds. Then continue what I was doing (or not, depends)
Jussi Zapedzki: That sounds enlightening and refreshing.
Dakini Rhode: both your practice, Fael, and self hypnosis, are a way of training the mind and using the mind
Dakini Rhode: last week we explored some ways each of us practice during our 9 secs
Quilty Bookmite: I think for me the state of mind feels different but I admit I have had very little experience of self-hypnosis.
Quilty Bookmite: The concentrating on one single thought sounds similar though.
Fael Illyar: Jussi, does thinking without words ring any bells?
Jussi Zapedzki: I think theres not really a big difference between those two.
Jussi Zapedzki: Yes it does.
Pia Iger: Jussi, how long is your relaxing?
Jussi Zapedzki: It depends a lot. It can be anywhere between 15 seconds to 30 minutes.
Jussi Zapedzki: And sometimes I just fell asleep :)
Dakini Rhode: :)
Adams Rubble: :)
Dakini Rhode: well that is relaxed :)
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Quilty Bookmite: BRB
Rajah Yalin: k
Fael Illyar: If you're interested in trying stopping every 15 minutes, the way I remember to do it is that I have a bell sound that plays every 15 minutes.
Jussi Zapedzki: Do you gather up often?
Fael Illyar: Yes, 4 times a day, 1,7 am and pm SL time.
Fael Illyar: that is, 11:00, 17:00 and 23:00 EET
Pia Iger: anyone is welcome to join.
Fael Illyar: and 5:00 but that's rather early or late, however you want to look at it :)
Jussi Zapedzki: My usual time to get up.
Pia Iger: wow.
Fael Illyar: yes, I agree, wow :)
Rajah Yalin: thats about the time i get up too, sometimes the time i go to bed haha
Dakini Rhode: haha Rajah
Dakini Rhode: i
Dakini Rhode: am a 5:30 riser myself
Quilty Bookmite: Back
Fael Illyar: Oh also, these meetings are blogged, do you have a problem with your name being included there?
Jussi Zapedzki: You have many people gathering usually?
Dakini Rhode: or one hour after :P
Jussi Zapedzki: No, I have not.
Fael Illyar: Sometimes many, sometimes less :)
Rajah Yalin: we usually have about as many people as you see now. around 1AM SLT it can be a bit dull though
Dakini Rhode: how can it be dull if you are there?
Fael Illyar: it's not surprising to have only 2 people during the 1AM, SL Time, sessions. (11:00 EET)
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Rajah Yalin: dull as in not many people
Adams Rubble: yes not dull otherwise
Rajah Yalin: the toktok is never dull :P
Adams Rubble: sometimes the small sessions can be the most interesting
Quilty Bookmite: That would be about 9 a.m. my time. I'll have to give it a try some time.
Fael Illyar: Yes, those often get quite interesting :)
Fael Illyar: especially since if you're alone, the other peson will be Pema :)
Quilty Bookmite: I am on holiday next week so will likely have more time.
Quilty Bookmite: Ah! I have yet to meet Pema although he has IMed me.
Rajah Yalin: Pema is a superhuman :P
Fael Illyar: Ah, then you really should show up on one of those meetings :)
Pia Iger: Quilty often comes on 1pm, when it's Pema sleep time
Quilty Bookmite: I will certainly try. :-)

We discussed introducing meditation to the children in our lives...

Quilty Bookmite: My daughter doesn;t like me being on the computer when she is up and about. :-)
Rajah Yalin: I think he is an hour behind me so it would be 6:00 in the morning his time
Quilty Bookmite: She likes to sit on my knee and have a book read to her.
Pia Iger: She made good choices:)
Jussi Zapedzki: I can understand that. i liked it too as a child.
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Rajah Yalin: my daughter always tries to take the computer when im on lol
Fael Illyar: Although, if I've convinced someone else to come one the 1AM meetings, that'll make it minimum 3 :)
Jussi Zapedzki: You have pretty wings, Fael.
Quilty Bookmite: Mine likes to press the buttons. :-)
Fael Illyar: Because I've been there often lately :)
Fael Illyar: Thank you, Jussi :)
Quilty Bookmite: She probably makes more sense than me.
Rajah Yalin: i'm usually at the nakamal at that time Fael but I will try sometime
Rajah Yalin: how old is your daughter quilt?
Quilty Bookmite: 17 months
Pia Iger: already reading?
Quilty Bookmite: No. I do the reading. :-)
Rajah Yalin: ahh I have 2, Kirin is 15 and Maya is 13
Quilty Bookmite: Teenagers. I have that to look forward to. :-)
Rajah Yalin: enjoy while their young lol
Quilty Bookmite: We have, hopefully, another on the way.
Jussi Zapedzki: brb
Rajah Yalin: okay
Rajah Yalin: I love them
Quilty Bookmite: Good. :-)
Quilty Bookmite: Having a child is the best thing I have ever done.
Quilty Bookmite: I learn so much from her.
Dakini Rhode: ah children, our best teachers
Quilty Bookmite: We have a small meditation room in the house. We both bow as we go in...
Quilty Bookmite: My daughter has started copying this.
Rajah Yalin: I have them into meditation and things - most kids their age think they will go blind for meditating
Quilty Bookmite: Not heard that. :-)
Quilty Bookmite: But I haven't seen many teenagers meditating.
Quilty Bookmite: I don't think I could have managed it at that age.
Jussi Zapedzki: BAck.
Quilty Bookmite: Welcome back Jussi
Rajah Yalin: I started seriously around age 14
Dakini Rhode: i was very lucky, i had a high school english teacher who taught us zen buddhism
Rajah Yalin: wb Jussi
Jussi Zapedzki: Thank you.
Dakini Rhode: until he was let go :P
Quilty Bookmite: That is good! I didn't find Zen until I was in my late 30s.
Rajah Yalin: I was taught by tourists from Australia when I was 10
Dakini Rhode: i don't think i understood very well, but i did try
Quilty Bookmite: Ah. not so good. I hope it wasn't for teaching meditation.
Dakini Rhode: parents complained
Quilty Bookmite: :-(
Dakini Rhode: altho i heard he was let go because of his beard
Rajah Yalin: my mom always said 'me tink i stap smokem grass' when I talked about meditation
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Pia Iger: what, of the beard?
Dakini Rhode: this was in the dark ages, Pia
Quilty Bookmite: the 1970s?
Rajah Yalin: teachers can't have beards here either
Adams Rubble: It was darker before the 1970s Quilty
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Rajah Yalin: and I mean 2008
Dakini Rhode: indeed, Adams
Quilty Bookmite: As someone with a beard I wonder if I am less qualified to be a teacher.
Dakini Rhode: 70's brought a lot of changes
Rajah Yalin: they have to dress nice and most teachers are male
Quilty Bookmite: Dressing nice doesn't include having a beard. :-)
Rajah Yalin: when I grew up Vila was the only school
Quilty Bookmite: I never liked beards until my wife to be persuaded me to grow one when we were on holiday.

Having things to attend to, we bid each other farewell.

Dakini Rhode: noticing the time, i should mention that our hour is over
Quilty Bookmite: Thank you Dakini.
Quilty Bookmite: I really must go.
Jussi Zapedzki: Thank you for letting me in.
Fael Illyar: Bye Quilty :)
Dakini Rhode: but of course we can stay, i just won't be logging the chat :)
Pia Iger: bye, Quilty
Adams Rubble: bye Quilty
Rajah Yalin: I should too - meeting a friend for breakfast in 15 minutes
Dakini Rhode: thank you for joining us, Jussi :)
Quilty Bookmite: Bye all.
Adams Rubble: Bye Rajah
Rajah Yalin: take care all
Rajah Yalin: Namaste
Jussi Zapedzki: Bye.
Pia Iger: Have a good one, Rajah
Dakini Rhode: yes do take care :)
Rajah Yalin: bye :)
Dakini Rhode: Namaste
Fael Illyar: Bye Rajah :)