soaring crane

It really is a perfect image.

Can it perhaps be this simple: US and allies don't like Putin and want natural resources in Ukraine US and allies deflate the price of oil, trashing the rouble and the Russian economy virtually overnight (as a demonstration of their power) and threaten to export weapons to Ukraine (because that just goes with the territory). Putin gets the message, agrees to a "peace deal" (Angela Merkel played middleman in this, but it's just an act). Oil price goes back up (Price at the pump here has gone up 6c a liter in the last week). Putin knows without doubt who's boss of the world and will cooperate in future (but put on a public show of defiance, to keep his office). Meanwhile, the poor Ukrainian people are hurting each other out of pure spite and pride, as a side-effect of western Realpolitik Does that seem plausible?

a Goatzelle!

hey, the goat looks lovely ... but what happened to the text logo??

I gave you five stars:-)

Well there's a surprise. Not.

xxx

xxx

removed because I prefer not to be associated with this thread. I believe this is the first time I've removed a post (might not be, not really sure) and I'm going to PM any member who quoted me and request they remove the quote.

~~~ mod message ~~~ be that as it may, it would be appreciated if this particular chapter of the intricate novel that is decibelle were left out of the discussions. This is a very sensitive topic and will inevitably lead down a path we don't want to take. Consider this a proscription against further discussion of DB's sex. ~~~ end ~~~

I noticed that also. Bonus points for that one! :-)

Hi I like it :-) One suggestion, make the random button persistent. And yeah, the original Richard Wilhelm should be available ;-) Regardless, thank you very much for your work and generosity!

Love it :-) My wife and I just recently finished watching the entire series, 49 dvds, and I have to admit to missing it now that we're done (she got the set for her birthday in July last year, so it's not like we didn't have a life between episodes, lol).

Lam Kam Chuen suggests watching the evening news, or a movie or something like that. I don't know if it has to do with enduring the pain, but maybe. Or maybe it has to do with giving the monkey mind a task while the body is permitted to restructure itself in peace. It's a difficult concept for a lot of us to accept because we think there should be a certain amount of reverence given to the exercise. I've done a lot of both, among many other variations (tree gong, for example) and when I look at it all objectively, I can't say the one is more effective than the other, not in the long term. It comes down to my personal preference, and that can change with the times, with the situation around me, with the seasons.

All I meant was that anyone can post in any thread they please, so long as they do it repectfully. Pretty simple concept, no? Well, not for everyone, it seems. The post pissing was just DB's poetic way of describing it. I think. I'm honestly not 100% clear on the definition of the term, and much less than 100% interested in it.

Hello Satyaloka, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us, you're a real all-rounder. Acupuncture school is going to be intense, I'm sure. Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TTB team

haha, Cosmic Ex-Pat is what I am. My (screen)name is Soaring Crane (which is one of the qigong forms I used to practice). I like the 70/30 mix, it's exactly what I meant, though I've never thought about it in this context. Thank you :-) Lam Kam Chuen does two standard things to finish a session -- first rub the back of the neck, and then rub the renmai (breastbone down to the abdomen) downwards, and then hold the hands on the lower belly for a short time. He says that's enough. Among other things, including the patting you mention, I gather first into the Tianmu (between the eyebrows), sinking vertically into the abdomen; then around the pelvic horizonal, into the abdomen, then hold my hands there and just breathe a while. Then very consciously bring my left foot to my right foot (really closing), and then just take a big step out of my qigong sphere into the world around me :-) A simple commencement ritual is also very helpful. That's when you step out of the world around you and into your qigong sphere, so to speak. Can be, among many other possibilities, as simple as first standing with legs/knees/feet together, hands on the abdomen, and then very consciously opening the left foot ourward to the shoulder-width stance, and the arms to the side. This brings you from being a single image of perfect unity to a yin/yang being with four limbs.

wanna mention what I feel is an outstanding product: http://www.oatly.com/ We buy and use the heavy cream for cooking, and it's just excellent. You can use it exactly like milk/cream and it's not expensive (considering the quality and low demand, and prices of comparable products).

Please send me a PM, in five years. That'd be the 10th of February, 2020 :-)

Hello Lao Bum, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us :-) Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TTB team

There's a new post in the welcome forum that brings up the "shibashi", 18 Taiji Qigong, it's an excellent starting point. Not a bad long-term goal, either.

ahhh, well, I feel that a good practitioner slash teacher is one who has reduced his own input to the point that the form flows unhindered through his core. Or her core, of course :-)

ahhhh... well, that's a classic, one of the big two, so to speak (the other being the Ba Duan Jin aka Eight Brocade). The 18-Figure Taiji Qigong (shibashi) that you posted is very common, and very wonderful indeed. The difficulty with these well-known forms is that there are many, many variations on the theme, and so it becomes difficult to locate the one you originally learned. You mention a set 1 & 2, but that was presumably just a feature of the instruction you had at the time. There are 18 exercises, the order is pretty consistent regardless of the variations on the figures themselves. If you look for a good dvd on the "18-Taiji Qigong", or "Shibashi", I'm sure you'll find either exactly what you're looking for, or a perfectly satisfactory substitute. And, if you look for a local teacher, you may have evem more fun :-)

I like that a lot. Your approach and your attitude are spot-on, imo :-) I would add one thing to consider: Extending your sessions might not make them more beneficial to you. Finishing at a time when you feel like you could on much longer is a tactic for briging that energy into your daily life. Simply incorporating a short closing ritual to your practice, and viewing that as a signal for officially leaving the practice and re-entering the "everyday" can be a good enhancement. It's like closing a door behind you when you leave a room. But you can of course experiment and see what suits you best! So far, so good, I'd say.

I wish I had known then that the form is the master.