ben

Well said. I would also add look after your health. Health is everything, without it life is shit.

Size means nothing in a fight.What is eye poking?? Eye gouging would stop most attackers unless maybe they were on hard drugs like meth. If you know how to choke the wind pipe you can end a fight- tiger claw really works. Plenty of martial artists have delusions of power, unless you have tested your self on the street then you don't know the worth of your system. In my experience training in Chinese styles has been invaluable. Footwork, speed, power, always targeting the head and vital points and most importantly you learn to fight without damaging your health- chinese boxing is practical.

I have only trained in Chinese martial arts. Southern Mantis, Tian Keyan Ba Gua, Hsing I. Currently I am studying Wu style tai chi , yielding is the skill I now want to develop. I have been in a lot of street fights , including an altercation last year with two guys, I have never lost,I have taken hits and been stabbed but I have always been able to defend myself and walk away. I would always avoid going to the ground in a fight, ever seen someone get their head kicked in while being held down? Not pretty. If you can find an authentic teacher any CLASSICAL fighting art will give the means to defend your self because these systems were designed for the battle fields i.e. to maim or kill. To put it bluntly, in 'sport' you can't claw your opponents face/eyes, knee them in the balls, choke them to stop blood supply to the brain, strike with short power to damage their organs.If your not training to develop these skills then you are not training in a realistic martial art. Have any of you faced a guy with a knife? Southern Preying Mantis, Hsing I, Baji Quan, Ba Gua , Tai Chi , authentic Shoalin develop short power strikes that can seriously maim or if your skillful enough kill an opponent. In my experience this is the skill that counts on the street. Respectfully....I am not a master, I still have a lot to learn, peace.

Andrew Collin's book : "From the Ashes of Angels" is a very interesting read. It is about the Nephilim or giants who are refered to by a number of different cultures. Now I can understand people's skepticism regarding a race of giants but this book puts forth a very convincing argument that a race of giants did exist. I personally believe that they (Nephilim) did exist but may have died out or were killed off by humans. There have been discoveries all over the world of elongated skulls and some tribes in South America deliberatley induced there craniums to develop in this way as it was considered a sign of regality. Curiously there some depections of Lao Tzu with an elongated forehead. My feeling is that a deeply ebodied spiritual process may eventual cause one's whole physiology/anatomy to change, maybe with a bit of help from some external technology like the Great Pyramid...more guessing or nonsence.. When I contemplate the depections of Akhenaten I get very strange feelings, my energy levels intensify briefly.Don't realy know what to make of it but I feel these beings were very,very powerfull. As they say: absolute power corrupts absolutey.

Hello, coming to this discussion a bit late but... I have had a quite a few visits from different beings over the years. For instance I had a group of greys visit me in 1997/98 (last year of school, needless to say I got shit grades). Almost a sexual incounter with a female alien being, insect beings, nordic types, currently dealing with a shamanic form thats effects include visits from Asian people who can shape shift into preying mantis beings.. Very intersted in the depections of some of the ruling elite in Eygpt such as Akhenaten and others rulers with elogated skulls. Don't have clue what it all means but I have a feeling the true history of our species is far more complicated than any of us can imagine. Perhaps we are in quarantine on this planet. There are still so many un-knowns.

Hi, I have only been using the I Ching for a very short time and the ONLY translation I have used is by Stephen Karcher called the " Total I Ching ". From what I can gather a lot of research went into this edition, Karcher claims to have fused the early shamanic and the later confucian version together. It is very in depth, with a long introduction on the myths and rituals of ancient China that are intertwined with the I Ching. To be honest I bought it because it had good reviews on Amazon but I have found it to be very usefull guide in my life. I am also very interested in getting Master Zhongxian Wu's translation 'Seeking the Spirit of Changes : 8 Days to Mastering a Shamanic Yijing Prediction System.' You can check out the description on his website masterwu.com, looks very cool. Using/studying the I Ching is something I neglected for years (hot headed martial artist) I regret that.

In my expericence there are some horrible people who won't think twice about resorting to violence. I think that pacifism is a nice sentiment but idealistic, with out my martial art training and a willingness to use it I would of been severely injured. I train to fight. Last year I was stabbed in the hand in Barcelona , I did not think twice going ape shit. Hope this dose not make me sound like a bone head. Chow for now.

Hello again. Sorry to take so long in replying I have been busy. Also I had some trepidation about viewing the responses to my post e.g. get help you nutter.... so thank you for your understanding. The lineage holder of the form is Master Jiang Nan, I believe he lives in Beijing. I learnt the form from a teacher in Wales, U.K. who had learnt it from Master Jiang in China. The teacher in Wales is affiliated with Micheal Winn and the Healing Tao organisation. I am NOT affiliated with Healing Tao but have studied some M Winn's chi kung DVDs in particular Wuji Qi Gong. I found Wuji Qi Gong to be a very empowering practise and since learning it I have kept an eye on what M.Winn was up to. In 2008 Winn claimed to have learnt a new form that he called Seven Star Step Shamanic Qi Gong, naturally my eyes lit up and I made a resolve to learn it. I actually flew from Queensland, Australia to U.K. to learn the form- so maybe I am crazy..ha! I intend to start practising it again when I have more time to explore the effects. The funny thing is, after all that what happened from practising the form insects and some crazy, crazy experiences I miss practising the form, it has such a unique feel to it. By the way I live in Noosa, Queensland Australia and would be happy to teach it to any one wishing to learn it but make no mistake it is very full on. Ben

Hello everyone, I wanted to share some experiences I have had with a form I learnt. The form is Chinese in origin and involves stepping out the points of the Big Dipper constellation in a clockwise square formation while making various mudras and chanting. Supposedly the form was passed down through female adepts and is of shammanic origin. When I learnt it I honestly thought it was a con, I know a lot of chi kung forms and this one seamed silly, their was no obvious effects. I persisted with practising it daily and soon enough some very odd things started to occur. Firstly, I started having visits from female looking beings, and other beings wearing masks, some of thease "people" looked very old but definitely Asian. No big deal, I have had a lot more crazy shit than that happen so I kept practising and eventually animal like spirits started to visit or merge within me, culminating in a praying mantis spirit bonding with me - bizzare. This last event was quite disconcerting particulary because it was a insect, it would sit in my chest and sing..! the other beings of Asian appearenece stared to shape shift into preying mantises when they appeared and then shift back to their human form...well you get the idea, crazy stuff. I decided that I wanted a normal nights sleep again and I stopped practising the form, eventually things setteled down though I still "see" them sometimes. I don't have a clue what to make of the whole experience, it was very shamanic you could say but I felt like I did not know what I was playing with, also I run a business and have enough to deal with. Chow for now.

Very well said Vajrahidaya, I for one enjoy reading your posts.

I have never heard of this but interestingly I have had quite a turbulent day with strong emotions coming up. I only did a brief qi gong session in the morning and spent most of the day in bed- on my day off.

Hi, I've been learning Tai Chi from his videos and would definitely reccomend them. The best Tai Chi form I've practised .

My family have not been very accepting of my practise. A lot of people think it is strange how someone can go introverted for long periods of time. I find these periods of isolation to be very nourishing for my own practise but it is hard to do this when your sharing a house or living with people. I get comments like ,' it's weird for young man not to be socializing or chasing girls' etc. What people don't understand is that celibacy is very dynamic in Taoism and for me the periods where I have gone 'solo' have been deep explorations of sexual energy. Gotta cruise, bye ben.

Hello, I have been plundering the Tao Bums for wisdom for a while now so I guess it's time I gave something back. My name is Ben.Ringer and I am 24 years old. I was living in Australia but have recently moved to Brighton U.K. where I am enjoying the partying and the seagulls. I have had a passion for religion, mysticism,the occult, martial arts,dance etc since I was a wee lad and currently I am enjoying playing with Taoist alchemy, Wu style Tai chi and 'spontaneous practice'. I feel forums like this are important as they address the need for spirtual friendship . Sometimes I have felt like my interest in cultivation has isolated me from my family and my friends, partly because of there ignorance and partly because of a lack of skill on on my half on how to intergrate my practice smoothly. It is soo-oo important to chat. Chow 4 now , Ben.

Sorry that I take a long time to reply, I do not have access to a computer at the moment. Sean the dance styles I have studied are salsa, contemporary (lots of pretending to be a tree!) and a little bit of Jazz. I came to dance late after having team sports shoved down my throat in school. The best thing about dancing is that it is a great way to meet girls ,though I have embarrassed myself plenty of times. I think balet is beutifull to watch, I recall a T.V. documentry which said that balet dances sustain more injuries than football players. I know from my own experience that dance plays havoc with the knees. ahh i have only a 2 mins remaining chow 4 now

Cool. If you come over visit Noosa Heads, it's a beautifull beach town north of Brisbane. Now I feel home sick, bye.