first of all, im going to say that I am intrigued by eastern practices, I do yoga and wing chun martial arts... I love pranayama breathing, but still, I am not enculterated to fully grok (grasp) the eastern philosophies. I do not know much about african stuff. I have read massey's work on ancient egypt mythology, and I love the IFA cosmology and culture that is made famous in nigeria and spread throughout the african diaspora in religions such as cuban and puerto rican santeria and lukumi, and brazilian candoble, trinidadian shango baptists... and the fragmented, re interpreted, recombined, and deeply personal world of voudon is fascinating, especially when looking at its ancestors among the fon and other people (the names escape me at the moment, but I have some nice books)

so if anyone knows about AFRICAN mystic/shamanic techniques, feel free to enlighten. All I have really studied is the works of Na Im Akbar, a psychologist and professor of black psychology. He tries to show african descendants of slavery how to reclaim their identity in the context of what he percieves as a traditional african cosmology... I recommend his books highly!

Recently, I am getting into native central, north and south american shamanic practices because they seem like they mesh well with our western/european/capitalist mind frame... Jung is a great guru, so is krishnamurti and Castaneda and Crowley. I have not begun to read other indians, buddhists, or Rumi, who I cannot wait to read.

so what is wrong with eastern stuff?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

By all means, give eastern stuff a shot! Yoga is beneficial even if one isnt necessarily elevating all their shakras and acheiving the highest enlightenment! SO are eastern martial arts, breathing excercises, meditation work/theories, and philosophy.

But westerners (europeans, americans, canadians, hispanics, people in colonized countries (to an extent), westerners in foreign countries (to an extent) and anyone that has been signifigantly enculturated into western states of mind, will find it difficult to really master or comprehend eastern stuff.

Try it out!

Talk to people that have done it for years. Unless they are lucky or very good, chances are, they canot clear their mind or experience the one ness that they seek. It is just not part of our culture or frame of reference or developed mind state.

It can be done and grasped, but it is exceedingly challenging for non easterners to do this and succeed.

Are there results to be achieved through becomming envolved in eastern practices. SURE!

should we discuss that stuff in this group? SURE!

But the focus is on techniques developed by native american (north, central or south) shamans, as well as european and american gurus and thinkers.