Prince...

My friend, Brian, told me a few weeks ago that he knows some people in the Bay area. Unfortunately he is in Baltimore competing in a tournament and visiting family. His school does Hsing-Yi, Yang style Taiji, and White Crane, with the standing from Yiquan, but I remember him saying something about friends that do mostly Yiquan in the Bay area and Sacramento. I will talk to him as soon as I see him, which is usually about 3 days out of the week, but we're both out of town right now! Brian mentioned something about visualizations, but he did not say much about them. I'm going home in the morning and I should have a week to practice. I'll tell him I'm standing for 45 minutes and see if he wants to show me the other stuff or wait until I have a bit more practice. He is with Sifu Dug at that tournament, so I'm hoping he is getting some good info to pass on to our small group in Nashville!

http://www.kunlunbliss.com/faq.html I read this and had a question about how well kunlun meshes with practicing martial arts. Perhaps I'm nuking that last statement, but I first learned about Qigong and such as an extension of kungfu...I guess to supercharge your kungfu. For me, my initial reason for cultivation is to have a healthy body and to be a good martial artist. I don't want to look into a system where I might one day meet Max and when he ask "so why are you interested in Kunlun?" and I say,"so I can be good at kungfu," and he kick me out of the seminar for being honest. Anyway, I was hoping someone could shed some light on the subject. I really want to study a school of Qigong, or neigong if you want to be more traditional, from a martial artist. I guess this is why John Chang appeals to me, because he, according to Kostas, calls himself just a kungfu teacher.

Cameron you do Kunlun? Too bad I'm fairly new to this forum, I would have asked if you wanted to meet for lunch or something to talk about your experience. I've been in the Gwinnet County area all this week, but I'm heading back to Nashville this weekend.

To be honest, I don't know. My wingchun brother studies with a Taoist priest out in San Diego. He is the one that introduced me to cultivation. Anyway, I told him that I like Buddhism and know very little about Taoism, so when I moved, he told me to ask about Buddhist Qigong. Up until now I haven't asked about it, for some reason I just got the urge to ask you just now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_Boy Lin, do you know how I can go about learning Buddhist Qigong?

I got in an argument with someone that goes by the name "The Skeptic" about this kid yesterday. He called him a fraud because people can't go 3 days without water. I said whether he has been fasting all this time or not is not important, it's the hope that he gives people that is most important. Those are the first good pictures I've seen of him, all the other ones were about 3 years old. He looks like he is in great shape!

Okay, so I took the 5 minute challenge. It was intense! My t-shirt is damp, I don't think I have ever started sweating doing standing training. I did have to cheat, though. I listened to Feng Shui music on my iPod I had to stand another 5 minutes when I finished to let all the tremors work themselves out! I wish that I had remembered to bring my iPod charger with me, though. I'm out of town until Sunday. But yeah, I think instead of waking up at 5 a.m. for my kettlebell class, I would rather wake up and do kungfu when I get back...I'm still gonna work out with KB's, though. I have my own at home, but no heavy lifting-- I just want to drop about 20 lbs and get down to 160.

After looking at some of the other posts, I agree that you should take some business classes if you intend on having your own practice. Also a nursing degree would be an excellent idea. If you are a nurse, you can get a job anywhere! A man at my church is a retired nurse, drawing his retirement pension, and he is also working on the side at a private practice a few days a week making even more money! Depending on the area you go, yes, there will be a saturated market, and unfortunately, most people will prefer to see an asian person giving their treatments, so something you will need to take under consideration. I mentioned that I'm studying taiji under someone not long out of school. He practices out of his home and at a chiropractor's office until he can build up enough clientele to have his own practice. Also, after I hit send on my original response, I thought about recommending kinesiology. If I could go back in time 10 years ago when I was deciding on what college to attend, I would whisper to myself to study kinesiology. From what I understand, it is not very difficult to study, but I come from a family of science geeks!

It does not matter what you study, as long as you finish undergrad. To my understanding, finishing a school that teaches TCM will give you at least a Master's degree upon completion. My friend who teaches me Taiji and Hsing-Yi finished the TCM school in New Mexico and is a licensed accupuncturist. His undergrad degree was in Religion, but he also attempted to attend grad school for someone that studies the root of languages or something like that. My Wingchun brother studies at Pacific and his undergrad degree is in Engineering. So like I said, it does not really matter what you study in undergrad, as long as you finish. If you love Kungfu and such, I would recommend something like Asian studies where you can at least have the chance to learn Chinese/Japanese and be exposed to the languages if this is the route you are considering. Also some science and art classes may help with learning anatomy beforehand. I hope this helps!

I have no clue who the american guy is, but I posted everything I've been told about John Chang in this thread: http://www.thetaobums.com/John-Changs-1st-...dent-t5786.html I asked Jim to comment on it, but I really don't think he will log back onto this site. This conflicts with everything I have ever read online concerning Mo Pai. Either way, I would love to meet John Chang just to meet him, not to become his student. There are other teachers and other schools out there that don't even get discussed here. I would prefer to find one of them.

Weeeeellllll....if I'm not mistaken, Sifu Henry Look might be somewhere close by you.

I think you're trynna challenge me. I can stand for an hour, but I can't hold the postures for that long... my shoulders get extremely tired...from doing kettelbells. Brian says the muscles are too heavy for the joints, so I'd just have to take my time getting my joints to that point. Tomorrow I will set my timer for 5 minutes each posture and see how it goes, but I am gonna have to rest in the Wu Ji posture when my shoulders get sore. I'll tell you how it goes.

I think I got it from the Pammachon website. I sent it to a hotmail address that I will send to you in a PM.

I tried to e-mail Kostas back in early February to thank him for writing the books, but I never really heard back from him. I'm sure he gets lots of random emails from people that track down his school's website so I wasn't too upset. That's cool that you are his student, though. I had a question about the last part of his second book, on the meditation...not so much a "okay, so what's the secret?" type thing...I just wanted to know if I do some sitting and standing meditation along with my regular kungfu stuff will I be okay until I find a system of my own?

Dug Corpolongo in Albuquerque. He does not teach Yiquan, just the Zhan Zhuang. His Yiquan came from Henry Look. http://www.lotusdragon.com/index.htm Also, could you use another phrase other than "too weak to do the standing?" I know this is the internet and you have no way of knowing anything about me, but physically I'm one of the fittest people I know. I do have a bit of an impairment from time to time (ET), but I still manage to workout with kettelbells 3 times a week and dabble in wingchun/wushu/taiji everyday. When I first started lifting kettlebells, I didn't grab the 24kg and go to work. I had to start with the 12kg to learn what to do so that I didn't hurt myself. This is just the way I approach things, that's all. Next week, I will tack on 15 seconds and stand for 1:45 in each stance. I assumed everyone did it this way as I read the other day a guy suggesting to someone to add 2 seconds to their standing every day, so that by 6 months, they would be up to an hour of standing. At least my method is a bit faster! To me, this is like learning to swim. I don't have a swim coach or a teacher, just a big brother who has been swimming for awhile to make sure I don't drown. So I have to start with kicking from the side of the pool until I'm comfortable with the water, whereas someone else might dive right into the water. In the end, all that matters is that we're swimming, right?

You might like The Power of Internal Martial Arts and Chi by Bruce K. Frantzis. It's like a freakin text book, but full of good information on the Big 3 IMA's and little short stories about his experiences with other styles. I only have a very basic understanding, but I understand Taiji is being very yielding, Hsing-Yi is more aggressive, and Bagua is both. Hsing-Yi is more of a striking art, Taiji more of a grappling, and Bagua is both. At least this is the way BK explains it in his book. A friend who runs a bagua school says Bagua can be added to any art, but other people tell me bagua is too complex to be a complimentary style. I feel that way about I-Chuan, though as a lot of Wingchun families study I-chuan because most lineages have lost the internal aspects of Wingchun.

cool beans, thanks Scotty!

Scotty, that's kinda scary! I know very little on the subject of Magick, but I found The Magus of Strovolos to be a great read on Christian Mysticism. According to the teacher in the book, Christ was an Essene (something I have heard before) who practiced a form of mysticism that was taught to his disciples and passed down secretly because it was suppressed by the Church (naturally). Many of the methods originated from Tibet, I believe. The book was interesting to me as it talked about reincarnation, karma, the Noetic and Psychonoetic realms. It was interesting to me to hear Christianity discussed in ways that sounded very Eastern. I wish I could give more information on the book and the teacher. He has since passed away and his daughter distributes his teachings. I am visiting my mom in Atlanta and everything is bookmarked on my PC back in Tennessee. I can post some links if anyone is interested in checking them out when I get home next week.

This is cool stuff. When I get back home next week, I think I will finish reading Opening The Dragon Gate. I was finding it a tough read compared to Magus of Java. I would like to make one of those trips in the future, just to meet him. I guess, for me, it would compare to meeting Michael Jordan back when my life revolved around basketball.

don't know how I stumbled into this old topic, but Dr. Yang Jwing Ming's Root of Chinese Qigong sounds more like a textbook introduction on Qigong than anything. A friend of mine has been to several of his seminars and had dinner with him. His Taiji is influenced heavily by White Crane, and I've been told that if I should attend any of his seminars, that his Chin Na stuff is his best. From what I've been told by other people, he seems pretty knowledgeable on Qigong, but has not reached a high level or he just does not like to answer a lot of questions. Based on something he mentions in the Root of Qigong, I imagine that he sticks to his own particuliar style of Qigong and much of the other stuff he writes about is simply translating & explaining concepts.

I'm not violent, I have just always loved martial arts.

I have not seen Silent Flute, I will have to check that out. From what I have observed, I don't think one can draw the line and say "this person is a buddhist; that person is a taoist." when it comes to Chinese people. I guess because Buddhism and Taoism are so much a part of the culture that it's possible to see someone burn incense and bow before a statue of a buddha, but have bagua mirrors hung around the house. As far as Bruce Lee, all I know is that he was into philosophy and was really into the stuff that Krishnamurti wrote. He claimed that after he earned $10 million and achieved world-wide fame that in 1980 he would begin some sort of cultivation, but well, he did not live long enough for us to find out what path he would choose.

I don't tell anyone that they should or shouldn't join the military. What I will say is don't talk to a recruiter without doing your homework. I learned that the hard way. I went to the hardest school in my state, which is known for giving out low GPAs. I was told that I could not be a commissioned officer in the US Navy due to my low GPA, and I ended up enlisting. The instruction does not mention any GPA requirement for most officer programs. So I served 4 years in the navy making 1/3 of the salary that I could have earned which would have put me at almost a 6 figure income in San Diego, CA. Do your homework and talk to people before you see a recruiter. Second, someone said to study the MOS book. In the Navy, we call these rates. Learn about the jobs that are offered. I am guessing you have already taken the ASVAB. If you have a high score, you should be good, but if you don't know your scores, take your time when speaking with the recruiter. Ask them for your line scores, go online and look up rates/jobs/MOS and find out what you can get. In the Navy, we say pick your rate, pick your fate. I had friends on my ship, all day long they read people's e-mails. If some guys wife or girlfriend took porn pictures to send him while we're on a 6-month deployment, guess who got to see it? These guys were paid to surf the internet and browse e-mail all day long! Military life sucks, but it can be good or bad for you. Personally I hated my time in the Navy, but I had some of the best times I've had thus far in my life. If it were not for the Navy, I never would have started studying kungfu or learned about Qigong. I never would have visited Hong Kong or Japan. I never would have known that asian women could be so damn hot! On top of that, I have my G.I. Bill, which has been increased to $1380 a month for a full-time student, healthcare from the VA for life, and a my full VGLI life insurance policy for only $30 a month. and well...if things work out...I also may go to law school for free on the VA's tab. It's like anything else, it can either suck or it can be the best decision you ever make, I guess it is really just up to karma, but there will be days you wonder why the hell did i do this to myself?

I wish that I could make a suggestion other than wait for them to push through and see what happens. The Navy snatched my wisdom teeth out and undid all the work my braces did, causing my teeth to spread. My wisdom teeth were not causing any problems, but it is just a standard procedure when you join the military.