Prince...

That might be a good thing. I'm a little miffed about learning that you're required to wear these in the Kuoshu Lei Tai competitions.

I've never really chimed in on a Michael Lomax thread, but I ordered the book after Mike Becker's review. I read it in 2-3 days. I enjoyed the narrative portions, and Michael's commentaries at the end. I skimmed through the practice section as I felt that it would be better to go see Michael if I wanted to actually do Stillness Movement. A question that I have not seen anyone ask is how does this work for people studying IMAs? Many of us already do a standing practice. At the time when I read A Light Warriors Guide, I was standing for 30 minutes every morning, and 45 minutes every evening. If I were to stand for an additional hour, I would ask myself why not just practice more Yiquan? Anyway, that is my only gripe with the system, as I understand it right now. An acquaintance of mine posted a review on empty flower 2 1/2 years ago on Michael's seminar: My link I have access to a lot of medical massage therapy students, and I'm also considering enrolling in the program myself in the winter. If Michael is ever down around Nashville to see his students here, I'd be more than happy to inform the program director and attend myself in order to try something new. Anyway, I enjoyed the book, and I'd love to meet Michael in person. Unfortunately there is too much on my plate right now to attend the Terre Haute seminar. It sucks because I just left Louisville where I would have been only 2 hours away!

All of the major family styles have a 16 movement short form. I know the Yang style form, but I don't know it. If I'm doing it with a group I know it, but don't know it solo.

Standing for the sake of standing means standing for the required 40 minutes just to say you did it. A lot of people don't like our school (my Sigung's school that is) because it takes a long time to get "the goods." We don't start learning the Yiquan in our system (which we just call Hsing-Yi) until someone can stand comfortably for at least 40 minutes. I have the Lam Kam Chuen books, and his postures are a little different from ours. Our Hsing Yi comes from Han Xingyuen. I think Lam Kam Chuen gives great advice, and I was actually making great progress with his methods! I will probably go back to lots of Wu Ji standing. I have always carried tension in my shoulders. Over the summer when I was doing a lot of Wu Ji in the mornings before Taiji practice, I actually felt my shoulder joint fall into place. (I injured it playing basketball 10 years ago) Anyway, like my Sifu says, this is a marathon and not a sprint. Enjoy the ride. If you're interested in martial arts, the first time you feel peng will blow your mind. I admit that I'm not there yet, so I'm going to go read a book in my reading room (the bathroom haha) and do a little standing before bed. Every little bit adds up.

I wanted to address just this question. In my school we do not talk about Chi, chakras, MCO, or any of that stuff. My teacher says when people show signs of progression, he will discuss it. Since no one shows any signs, we don't talk about it. With that out of the way, my teacher also says not to stand for the sake of standing. I had a post on Zhan Zhuang back in 2008. One of the members of this board who practices Yiquan challenged me to stand for 5 minutes in 8 postures. I don't think that person posts here regularly, but my Sifu has some not so nice words for this individual. Standing too long when you're not ready does not help you. If you carry tension, you will carry even more tension. Relaxed standing for 2 minutes it better than standing for 20 minutes with tension. I am sure someone will object to what I've said. That is fine. We train for push hands competition, Sanda/Sanshou, and Shuai Jiao. If you have shoulder, back, and knee pains from standing too long, you will not be at your best to compete. As far as how long should one stand, and a law of diminishing returns, I hold that there is one. However the longer one practices, the longer one is able to stand before it is no longer helpful. I mentioned that I stood 30 minutes in the morning and 40 minutes at night for several months-- this was not helping me because I was not relaxed. For now, anything past 15 minutes is a total waste. My Sigung on the other hand...he stands for 6 hours a day. He has also been practicing Zhan Zhuang since my mother was in grade school. Sorry for the long post, but just something I wanted to share.

"I am that I am" really translates to something like "I will/shall be who/that/what/which I will/shall be." According to Karen Armstrong it was actually a Hebrew pun. In the narrative Moses asks the voice that appears to be coming from the burning shrub who he should say sent him, that is the response he is given. It basically meant "my name is none of your business." I always remember this when people sit and try to define things that are basically pointless: who "God" is; how the world came to be; evolution over creation; etc. Being comfortable in one's own skin is really what is important. Jane's book,"Possessing Me," really echoes this idea.

Ms. Li, I was wondering if you see students in the center in Atlanta to help them get going? I was more interested in the Dragon Gate school because I live close to you. It will be at least 5 years before I can think about travelling to study with Master Wang Liping.

If you're serious about teaching, put together a small practice group (that you will "teach" for free). Maybe some things you're doing will work better for some than others. If there isn't much of an interest in your area right now, are you sure people will be interested later if you were to develop real skills? Go to work, and save your money. Travel to seminars where you can meet people already teaching. Be willing to experiment. Whatever you do, don't go around calling yourself a master if you're not. If you have your own system, be sure to tell people it's a work in progress. The last thing you want to do is make a bad name for yourself because the martial world is really small.

All the astrological stuff mentioned in the Zeitgeist film concerning the New Testament is bullshit, just like this new take on the "Three Wise Men" narrative. The gospels are fashioned from sources in the Old Testament linking Jesus of Nazareth to other prophets. The two main sources consulted by the filmmakers were found to be bullshit. There is a $1000 challenge to anyone who can find sources to support the information presented in that part of the film. The source of the Horus/Jesus material was written in the 3rd century. Egypt was one of the centers of Christian learning at that time. I believe S. Achyria (sp) provided the information used in that portion-- her material was found to be incorrect. As to the wall of text responding to my earlier post-- I have no desire to engage in a game of "I learned more at Seminary than you did." Like I said...I don't give a shit who disagrees with me when I have not stated anything incorrect. You should have spent that time doing something else.

Before mentioning teachers or getting into discussions of style X and teacher Y, it might be helpful to find out where in Europe she lives. You don't need to develop Fajing or a good form to develop fighting skill. You need progressive practice towards developing fighting skill to develop fighting skill. If anyone wishes to disagree, start a topic on EmptyFlower or Rum Soaked Fist. Tao Bums is not really the right forum for this discussion.

Do both, but focus more on the standing than the moving. If you're strapped for time do one or the other because something is better than nothing. Hope this helps.

I'm not sure if I agree with you on the women being less likely to be naturally good at self defense and fighting thing as the girls for the most part were bigger than the boys where I grew up. Up until recently, the best Taiji players that I'd met were women. Unfortunately for me, I had very little interest in studying Taiji at that time of my life. Now I am kicking myself at missing the chance to study under the "US Queen of Taiji." No idea where you are, but my club does push hands twice a week and explores applications in every class. The key to exploring applications & self defense is having practice partners who are game for this sort of thing. My teacher says applications are only limited by your creativity, but here is a good source if you need a jump start: http://www.internaldamagetaichi.com/ Here is a preview: I would also take a look at Biliki's Kilap Hands DVD. If you are creative, you can come up with some flow drills using things from the form. We do a flow drill with deflect, parry, and punch all the time in class. Good luck, I wish more Taiji "players" had an interest in self defense!

Do I think Jesus of Nazareth went over to India during the "lost years"? No I do not. The fact is that ALL of Jesus of Nazareth's life is "lost." 3 Gospels say his ministry lasted for 1 year. 1 Gospel makes it appear to have been 3 years. I have known my Taiji teacher for 3 years-- if you asked me to write about his life, I wouldn't be writing very much. Jesus story is not patterned after previous Messiahs-- it is patterned after Moses. The miracles are patterned from Elijah/Elisha. If you want to go there, you'd best connect those prophets to "previous messiahs/avatars." If you want to study the Bible critically, you don't add things that are not written based on your assumptions of what you think happened based on outside material. That will get you an F real fast at my Seminary. When I start adding things, I am very clear to state what I think could have happened. Based on the Jesus presented in the gospels, he was an expert in the Septuagint which would lead me to believe he would have studied with Greek speaking Jewish scholars in Egypt. Of course since all of the Gospels were written in Greek, it really just means that when Jesus of Nazareth quotes "Old Testament" passages, the writer is quoting from the Greek versions. There are differences in passages in the Masoretic(Hebrew) manuscripts and the Septuagint (Greek) versions. At times the word shifts can cause the reader to have a different understanding. Matthew's Gospel is "The Church's Gospel" because it is the only Gospel to mention THE CHURCH (eglesia). No other gospel has the line where Jesus of Nazareth says to Peter "On this rock I will build my church." There is only the exchange between Jesus and Peter where Peter says that Jesus is the Messiah in the other gospels. All of this blabbity blah about the Roman Empire and the Church-- that's one side of the story. How about I persecute your ass for centuries? When the people persecuting you decide to fund your movement, and freely allow you to assemble, you will take whatever you can get. The truth is no heresy dies out completely. The Arian Christians went north and converted the Germanic tribes who later "sacked" Rome. The Nestorians became the Syriac Christians/Church of the East who spread Christianity all the way to China by the 9th century. Even Karen Armstrong writes that after Nicea, most bishops went back to their respective regions and continued to teach what they taught before the council met. This is what happened to all this lost/banned/hidden material-- MOHAMMED (pbuh). Christian learning centers in Africa? The Arabian Christians? The Western Roman Empire? Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula? Dhar-al-Islam. I don't care who agrees or disagrees with any point I make. There is a reason my professors were/are pushing me to get a Ph.D in this field. Whether I agree or disagree, I tell the whole story. (I really hate writing posts this long)

You can have a discussion on the Council of Nicea if you want, but when I was in Seminary, we read writings that showed most of the books in the Christian canon had already been accepted by most Christian communities. Were there other popular books in circulation? Sure there were. Even the author of some of the Pauline epistles cite books that were not preserved. My point is this particular manuscript is about a narrative that is only found in Matthew. So part of that textual criticism involves asking what was the writer of Matthew's source since "The Three Wise Men" does not appear in any of the other Synoptic Gospels. Does this agree with the Matthew narrative? If that's the case, why does Matthew have differences? If the original "Matthew" text contained a narrative that was more close to this one, when was it redacted? Since Matthew was in circulation a long time before 300 C.E. the only conclusion I can draw based on the evidence is that this manuscript was probably written after as creative "inspired" fiction. The Council of Nicea was not so much about "establishing" an approved theology-- it was really in response to the Arian controversy. The creation of the New Testament Canon and the Nicean creed were all a response to the controversy created by Arius. Everything I see about books being destroyed/concealed/banned seems to forget that the Bible was #1 on the list of banned books. Not everyone in the church is/was evil or had bad intentions. It was to prevent these crazy ass controversies and jacked up interpretations from spreading. The Catholic church no longer does that job and look at how splintered the Christian movement has become. If I don't like the church that I've been attending, I can say,"I went to Seminary, I know the Bible, I don't agree...I'm starting my own church." When someone doesn't like what I teach, they do the same. Someone from that congregation does the same. If you take a tree and keep cutting away from the trunk, eventually all you have left is dust. I'm not disagreeing that there were not Christianities that continue to exist even to this day. With that in mind, I still can't see any of those communities accepting this particular manuscript.

It's an interesting article, but that text is likely bullshit. It is roughly 1700 years old, meaning that particular manuscript was written in 300 C.E. in Syriac, not Aramaic. What it says to me is that some followers of Matthew's gospel likely encountered a community to the north of Judea along the Silk Roads/"Spice Route" who were likely to hear about all sorts of things from travelers. For whatever reason the community was compelled to become Christian, but they kept remnants of other traditions. When you start hearing about different traditions mixed, you have to start asking questions. First of all, Matthew is "The Church's" Gospel, so when you have a narrative text that is spun in a different light, you really have to wonder how it came to be. There are all sorts of tales spun off from characters in the Bible. At that time that type of fiction was really popular. Unfortunately people find it now and consider it to be some lost source that was meant to be hidden from the masses by the evil Catholic church.

I just placed an order on your book, Jane. I've followed your posts here and on EmptyFlower ever since you made the youtube video about IMAs back in '08. Looking forward to reading it, and I am going to recommend it to all of the MFT (Marriage & Family Therapy) students back at the Seminary I was attending.

This is a link to the Yang Chengfu Center in Winchester, VA. It's north of Richmond, but the woman who runs the center seems to be pretty connected. There is possibly a YCF center in Richmond, but this woman is probably the highest ranked person in VA. http://www.atoctaijiquan.com I'm not suggesting that you join the Yang Family Association. I'm a member, but I found that at the center where I studied, I had more theoretical knowledge of Qigong/Meditation/Taoism (and most IMAs) than some of the people teaching me. The benefit came from meeting other people in the IMA community in Kentucky. Of course I ended up moving back home with my first teacher who is just awesome. Anyway, hope this helps. Maybe you can attend the workshops or she can pass you along to some folks in your area. Also I think Park's Bagua folks are up around Richmond. (Park Bok Nam? You may want to google that)

Again to quote my teacher,"I'm not saying that Qi isn't real because it is, but the sooner you forget all about feeling Qi and the rest of that shit, the farther you will go with your practice."

I didn't think this was a serious thread until looking through the last few posts. I'm going to quote what my teacher said this morning in Taiji class,"I'm not saying that chi isn't real, because it is, but the sooner you forget about chi and the rest of that shit, the more you will advance with all this stuff."

Just shoot Brian a PM on emptyflower and tell him you're in the online Bagua group and would like to check out some of his classes in Murfreesboro (or he might be teaching in Franklin). His s/n is Aksijaha.

Not sure where you're located, but the gao bagua groups try to have a yearly meetup. If you're ever in the Middle Tennessee area, Brian's group (the owner of emptyflower) would love to have you drop by for a visit.

His work sounds somewhat like Paul Tillich and his writing about "the God above God" who transcends religion. Tillich says that all religions are an expression of god consciousness to reach the God above God who transcends religion. Where he shoots himself in the foot is when he says where he believes Christianity is the best way. Maybe he was saying the best way for him-- my books are still packed up in my apartment at Seminary 200 miles away. The problem I have with Abrahimic religions are that the concept of Heaven/Hell came much later. You have to ask the question of how Hades replaces Sheol in Biblical scriptures. It wasn't simply substituting a Hebrew word with a Greek word-- that's like substituting a BTFO Dodge for a Bentley, in a sense. The entire idea of Hades replaced the idea of Sheol-- and then a later shift occured because the average person would call me a liar if I said Hades is a nice play to be if you go to the Elysian Fields. Anyway, in 1st and 2nd Temple Judaism (of which Jesus of Nazareth and his followers began teaching at the end of the 2nd period) the idea of an afterlife was not widely accepted. You died, you went to Sheol. It was a shadow realm. That was it. Sometimes I attend AA and NA meetings as a supporter. One guy told his tale of how ministers were pissed off when he said he found God at AA when those same ministers were unable to help him kick his crack addiction. I told him it is because AA is real. When people talk about what they did to kick that addiction, they are talking about something that really worked for them. When a minister stands up and preaches how to get to Heaven? They are talking about a place they have not been or seen and may not even exist depending how deep they wish to go in their scriptures AND the history behind the scriptures. Sorry for the long rant, even though I've decided against ordination, I'm still a preacher/teacher at heart.

Good luck with the Bagua. I would try my best to get close to Kumar since you are doing his stuff. There is no money in teaching Bagua for fighting, but Kumar has proved that you can make a killing by marketing the side effects from legit IMA training to hippies, new age spiritual people, and the alternative health crowds. I would also try to get as much as I could out of the gao bagua stuff because those guys are serious when it comes to IMA. I personally know the person who runs EmptyFlower. He was teaching Bagua at an MMA school for awhile. Now he teaches out of his garage (with all the gear he scored from the MMA school and he's committed to improving not only his art, but his students) I gotta nitpick about something because we don't actually know what Yang Luchan's form actually was (or if he even practiced a form). You can tell from early and later pictures of Yang Chengfu that his stances were changed. Even with the "Yang Chengfu" form being practiced today, there are variations even within the Yang Family. In Kentucky I studied under one of Yang Jun's disciples. When I saw a student of Yang Zhenduo's older brother perfrom his form, the stances were lower and there were variations in the movements. From my research on Yiquan, it is my opinion that Hsing Yi is older than Taiji, and that it has buddhist origins. I don't consider Taijiquan to be a Taoist art at all. This is only my opinion. Although I practice my own personal Yang Chengfu form that includes aspects from the 3 teachers I learned under, the Taiji that I actually study opens with "Pray to Buddha." Not very Taoist sounding is it? The stances are 50/50 Yang Chengfu and an old Chen style. The postures are more Xingyi than Taiji, and there are Bagua influences throughout. Like most things when it comes to China, I'm not sure if you can really call anything completely "Buddhist" or "Taoist." Kumar talks about how in Hebei the Xingyi and Bagua schools collaborated. Even look at my Taiji form-- it has elements of Chen & Yang styles, Xingyi, and Baguazhang-- but claims to be the form that Yang Banhou taught. **this is the longest post I think I've written in over a year...groovy

Haha, told you! I'm sure someone turned their nose up at my advice. It's whatever... my tai sigung started practicing his Yiquan while watching the news. At 83 he stands for 5 hours a day. You gotta get the body there first, that's how I've been taught.

We don't practice those postures in Way of Power, also our hand positions are slightly different. My Yiquan comes from a different student of Mr. Wang. One of Yao Chengguang's students posted an article about eye training during zhan zhuang where he says to notice the things around you, try to follow falling leaves, birds, etc. There are visualizations that many schools do--some of them can be done with the eyes closed. My teacher says not to close the eyes until we reach a certain point. The internal phenomena that I've been told about is a feeling of fullness. I have not reached this point yet. Generally I hear it takes about 3 years. Of course this is all from the Yiquan community, and the only people I know doing this are concerned with developing peng jin for fighting ability.