thaddeus

It's hard to comment on the video. There isn't anything obviously wrong with what is said. After a certain point, one can't 'see' anymore. You have to feel the person. I've seen some footage of him and have a few things to say. First, I know he is demonstrating, so certain things have to be exaggerated and certain things have to be left out. There are certain things regarding the stepping and general kwa movement that I'm in no position to say is 'wrong', it's just very different from what I've been exposed to in Chen Style. What do you mean by articulated rotational development? On Bagua and guando..I'm not sure. I would *guess* that if it's used, it's a later add on. I think guando is used on horseback in the battlefields and I believe there is some historical support for the chen family to be involved with that..i'm not so sure the roots of bagua involve battlefield fighting..but i'm not really sure. T

Congratulations...we're all very proud of you! T

I've always admired drummers. I'm curious about something though, when you are drumming, what would happen if your mind wandered and you started thinking about a problem you were having yesterday? Isn't drumming about experiencing the moment..no thought, if you will.. I don't really know, just guessing that perhaps you may already have found your practice..it's about allowing, just being. You don't need to keep adding more practices and collecting exercises. Use your drumming to wake up. T

yes..it's good stuff. http://www.01248.cn/hunyuan/index_en.asp I don't believe calling it a cross between qigong and taiji (quan) is accurate. The two are very different things. The body can only move in so many ways, so the movements can be similar to someone who is not knowledgeable. Feng is supposedly super humanly strong, so this stuff works for him. T

What's the raw stuff like? I bought what I thought was raw stuff (fairly cheap btw) but when I opened the bottle it was hardened (like coal). So I thought perhaps it was bad, and there was no way to really get it out without breaking the glass. But if this stuff needs to be 'powdered' then maybe it was ok? T

Meow!

This the guando: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_dao It's pretty heavy and to wield it, you need a very developed dantian and kwa. Training with the guando will force proper body mechanics or you get hurt. I've never seen a wu or yang stylist train with this weapon, so their movements tend to be linear and horizontal. Another good training weapon is the long pole. I don't mean a spear without the metal tip, it's usually much thicker and heavier. I've seen some variants of Yang use this also, but not in the Wu stuff I've seen. I could be wrong, so take it with a grain of salt, i'm just saying I haven't seen it. T

It's hard to get and retain the students..13 classes a week is alot to fill with 10 students, realistically it's probably more like 2 or 3 students per class. Then you have to pay for the studio time.. T

No. I find it's erection enhancing effect to be subtle. Korean ginseng extract or gingko biloba are far more powerful and immediate. Funny, cat, from your posts I assumed you were female... T

Green stuff is critical..whenever I notice a downturn in energy and/or libido, it correlates with skipping the greens. Which greens are you taking? I'll either get fresh vegetable juice or some kind of wheat grass powder in pinch.. T

Doesn't this belong in the robot thread??? all kidding aside, the wu style is actually a pretty good style to learn taichi from. The minimal arm motions let's one really focus on the spirals. That's one drawback to chen style, because although chen style has all the necessary ingredients, I think some practitioners move too much and lose the silk reeling power. They try to make the form look pretty and force the circles. The problem with Wu, is that (imnsho) it's an advanced form and it takes time to get there. If you practice to look like that outright, then you may be a young person, but you will move and look like an old man (same for the chen man ching stuff out there). We don't really see examples of young robust Wu stylists often as role models. Also without guando (big knife) training (and i'm fairly certain Wu doesn't have that) I don't believe the style is complete. It will miss a critical nuance of dantian rotation that is missing in alot of the chen derivatives. The dantian rotation is three dimensional and should move with ease in all directions. Alot of Yang and Wu is two dimensional and flat. T

yes..very easily..try putting your feet together, it's a little trickier with the balance..check out wall squatting on the internet..i think chilel (sp?) people do alot of them.. T

Just lots of tidbits, nothing terribly new. We all know the kidneys open to the ear, but he was recommending massaging them and flicking the fingers on them until they get hot and stimulated..things like that..i have to dig it up for more specifics..just saying it's a good read packed with lots of info. I just don't want to start a practice based off a book..too much room for error and misinterpretation. T

Hey, sorry I missed this..I did write something a few weeks back. But basically, I like the idea of absorbing energy of the sun. Something I had been doing on my own, but really the first time I saw it outlined like this. I liked it because it had a lot of medical information in it regarding, for example, the ears and the kidneys. It's packed with info...my only issue with it is that I didn't want to jump in and start a practice based on a book, I just decided I was going to keep my eye out for the guy and see if he had any workshops anywhere. I also usually keep my eye out for systems that aren't associated with Chia and his network. T

Pretty cool right? I've been climbing the walls. Do you think there is a negative effect to this stuff? I wonder if it's doing anything to hormones, etc. T

I know a guy in chinatown (nyc) $35 for 1 hour. I think acupuncture should be a lot less than something like massage because the acupuncturist spends very little time with you during the treatment as opposed to a bodyworker that has to work the whole time. T

Why do you think Shi Ming is in the same category of trickery as the other two? The spoons and fire, to me, are blatant acts of trickery. The stuff shi ming was doing, again in my opinion, is largely self deception as well. I can do some amazing things with people who are 'sensitive' like project my chi into their bodies and make then bend over or feel tingles, etc. But guess what, they are creating this themselves, because if I have them close their eyes so that they don't know what I'm doing, it hardly works at all. And this was the result of a famous test done by a teenager for school no less. She had all the test subjects indicate if they felt 'energy' from the reiki or whatever healers in the study. Most of the time, they indicated 'yes' or 'no' accurately. When he healer was hidden from view such as with a blindfold, they were UNABLE to detect any sense of energy. The supposed martial arts student who was trying to 'throw' shi ming was shameless, i agree, how stupid did that look. But again, he was studying for a number of years and fell under the spell. So even though it's 'fake' I do not believe Shi Ming believed it was fake. I think he really believed he had these powers. The ironic thing is that we all do..we all can do what Shi Ming was doing. T

How come we don't hear about any of his students? I took a learning annex class with him...was more interested in selling stuff than providing any information..btw, I think all those learning annex "classes' are really infomercials. Sad part was looking at the class members, lots of people that want to believe..i mean LOTS..'you're thirsty? I have some water, but pay me alot first..buy all these CDs and maybe you'll get it'... I am curious about the electric thing, but this guy is out to make a buck, no doubt about that..hate to burst the bubble..40 bucks for the 3 hour CD is not a bad investement..take one for the team and check it out..my prediction is it's a whole lot of nuthin. Don't really feel like throwing out 200 bucks to check him out privately either..can do alot of other things with it than line his pockets..already spent 60 bucks or so for the workshop and it was a total waste of time. I'd like to hear of only one student who can manifest something..means more to me than a celebrity endorsement. T

What causes a person to do this? How does he do it? I'm guessing that we probably have stored the location of things (maps) in a certain part of our brain. Then if you ask someone to do something like recall something when they were 6 years old, it might divert attention from the landmark. Would be cool if things worked that way, do you have any insight into how he might do it other than a willing accomplice? T

Actually that was one of my questions..we alluded to this before..alot of masters are able to generate an electric shock from their touch..Koichi Tohei was one..do you think bone breathing would lead one to have this ability..to extend the electricity that is felt inside to the outside..I feel some kind of piezoelectric effect must be going on and building up. The building up of Jing is also very interesting..Does Bodri base that on anything? Does he say anything about ejaculation affecting that at all? Thanks!

ok, so what do you think of the bone breathing stuff..what kind of results have you gotten from it? I've been playing around with it on and off.. T

I was impressed with this book..it's a little gem. I wanted to keep an eye out for workshops with the guy because following the book leaves much room for error...but I think it's worth it.. T