@Duff – I agree that having a lot of practices makes it hard to track results. I often get torn between my desire to have something shift and my scientific instinct.

For example, my scientific mind says “Just stick with acupuncture for X months so you can figure out if it’s helping or not.”

But then my healer mind says, “Combining techniques on the energy level can unstick things from different angles. Why say no to additional forms of help?”

And then we have a long discussion, to which no conclusive answers yet exist. But I will report back. My scientific mind insists that I at least document *that* process, so there will be much material for posterity!

@Bill – thanks for the laugh. I’m hoping your teacher didn’t *really* make you smoke cigars and eat Krispy Kremes. Sounds suspiciously like some of the Shadow Yoga people I know.

The yoga teacher in me wants to say something profound like “many paths”, blah blah blah but actually I totally can’t say that. Going through cycles of poison and purification — beloved by some but really not the healthiest pattern in the world.

Teach the body to expect abuse and it will always expect abuse.

That’s what I think.

But yeah, I suppose the principle of balance is a good one. And anyway it doesn’t really matter because if you start doing Shiva Nata, the patterns will all get a lot louder and more visible.

And your body will get very clear on what’s useful for it and what’s not. Hope that helps … :)

Funny, the source of my question was that my teacher was all down on Reiki. He felt it clogged the pipes, unlike his superior qi gong/TCM. But whenever he saw a qi blockage in me, he made me do the fire dragon for four hours and then smoke cigars and eat Krispy Kremes, so maybe it balances out.

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I tend to combine lots of practices. This sometimes has the effect of not knowing which practice gave which result–violating the principle of having a scientific practice.

While combining practices can sometimes give synergistic results, they can also be too much. I tended to get addicted to the highs of practice, so would combine lots of them and blow myself out. Nowadays, I have 2 main practices, but do them more regularly with a long-term view. It seems more sane that way.

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