soaring crane

well, in my case, it was quite the opposite. And I struggle to see how someone as demonstrably intelligent and sensitive as you could possibly conclude that the man was anything but a psychopathic liar and cold-blooded war mongerer.

I don't follow. The term "root" is synonymous with "hell"?

Teachers say "imagine" a ball because it gets the hands in the right position. If I say, "imagine a big soap bubble resting on your hands, hold it on your palms, form your hands just as you would if the soap bubble were real, and your fingers slightly spread as though there were little bubbles between them, now lift them all to chest height, be gentle not to pop them ... ", it's because I want the movement to be just like that, the muscle tension to be as minimal as posssible, the attention to detail to be as great as possible. I don't really want people thinking about or imagining soap bubbles. It's a mental tool with physical applications. Hence, a way of strengthening the connection of mind and body. Likewise, "scooping water from the ocean floor". Or "painting rainbows on the sky". Or "looking through the wall, out over the horizon, beyond the mountains, past the edge of the planet, to the stars ... ". The purpose is to create a physical situation that suits the exercise at hand. I tell people very directly not to get lost in the imagery. Do not ever drift off into Lala land with all the pink unicorns and golden dragons. Keep your eyes open, your feet firmly on the ground. Or, ok, just one foot, depending on what we're practicing

well... what experience have you got? I would honeslty expect a $7,000 crystal to be able to help with something like this. No joke.

haha no worries

Do not have the time The time it takes the herons To take to the sky

Well, not really so funny. The one I remember was a war-mongering, blood-thirsty psychopath. One who intentionally hobbled peace talks because they would have interfered with his presidential campaign (without a Viet Nam war, he couldn't pretend to campaign as an anti-war candidate, hence, more war) and one who was livid at not being permitted to firebomb civillians and illegally mine harbors (which he did anyway). One who broke so many laws no one yet has been able to compile a definitive list of his crimes. It isn't often that that Richard Nixon is referred to as a moderate who ended a war. And when he is referred to as such, well, my head spins and I make sarcastic comments in ye Olde English.

I only had one thought.

Really? Must be another Richard Nixon.

To whom dost thou refer?

That video reminded me of these guys: really sad.

That's a pleasure to read. I'm very, perhaps sometimes too, humble and willing to let my participants (I don't like the word "student") feel into the qigong we do on their own, and to then let me know what they experience. I'm very interested in their perspectives and always have in mind that I'm working with adults who have busy lives and who have come to these arts late in life. So, they each react a little differently while walking along the path. I don't teach martial arts and so don't emphasize perfect form in every aspect of every motion; I'm not qualified to do that (that's the kind of instruction I look for when I'm a participant in a workshop) but I do go very deeply into the core movements (rooting one leg while the other becomes lighter, for example, and doing this from the middle, turning from the hips/pelvis ... ) and look for that in my people. That's the kind of things I'll 'correct' and really stress during a session. And once they get that down, the whole "flapping the arms in the air" i.e. the cool stufff, takes on a different energy and opens itself a little differently in each person. It would be incorrect and disrespectful, and a sign of insecurity and failing on my part, to force people into my mold or to lie to them and tell them that my way is the only way.

Just let him come to Germany

I was looking for a good place to save this link. http://www.cracked.com/article_21660_5-unknown-people-who-secretly-made-all-your-favorite-music.html

Hi and welcome Juilong I've been involved qigong and a host of meditation approaches for I guess about 17 years now, and last year started walking the circles :-)

yes, it can be, if you make it into a sport. The trap with any shoulder rotation exercises is that the shoulders go up, but they don't come down. In wuji, don't just let the arms fall to the side. Let them fall, but turn the tips of the elbows gently outward, to open the armpit kua.

You don't achieve suppleness in the shoulders by introducing tension into them.

To the OP, I would add that the lack of any credible, publicly funded, independent media outlets in the US is always a major factor in anything that seems incomprehensible to outsiders, and insiders alike. I mean when it comes to understanding political events and the very bizarre phenomenon of so many Americans seemingly eager to vote against their own best interests. For example, low income demographics who are vehemently opposed to organized labor. If, for example, the unions have been corrupted over time, it would actually not be difficult to clean them up and get them back on track. But that's never an option. The corporations, with their lackeys in the various governors mansions, have actually succeeded in spreading the propaganda that organized labor is in itself an evil that is worse than... Worse than what? Zero protections? Sounds crazy, I know. But there ya go. The power of the media.

No, that's not it. That amendment opened the floodgates that resulted in the mega corporations we know today. The case involving the Southern Pacific Railroad had more influence on the economic situation of today, and everything that's wrong with it, than arguably any other event in recent (or even ancient) history. It set the stage for the introduction of the Super Rich and made the executives of US corporations virtually immune to any penalties for their actions. See recent news involving GM cars and the deaths they caused, for one egregious example out of what I suppose are thousands.

Take a look at the 14th amendment to the US Constitution and its historical significance. That's where it all began. I'm referring to the (in)corporatism of today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Incorporation_2

My prediction re Republican president: they'll field a bunch of unelectable screwballs who will then proceed to tear each other apart in the primaries. The Democrat wins by default again. That'll presumably be Hillary. The Republican Senate win this time was not quite as dramatic as it's been played up in the press. It will probably go back to the Democrats in two years. However, in a one-party system, none of this makes much difference to the ordinary citizens. The most significant thing of all are the Supreme Court appointments. There should be a couple vacancies soon.

Oh yeah, got my first guitar when I was 13. played it intuitively for a few months before going for my first lessons. If had had a good teacher, he would have told my parents that I needed a lefty guitar. But I had a musty old crusty curmudgeon of a teacher and he forced me to turn my guitar over and hold it right-handed. I had been playing it with the bass strings on the bottom, like Dick Dale, baby. It's because of that move that I never progressed. And can't play lefty today.

I chose ambi because about the only thing I don't do left handed is write / draw... I suggest a fourth category, something like "all screwed up because forced to learn to write with the right hand when young"

well, would you be willing to a short summary of the main points necessary to make a really decent wesite with WP? Which plug-ins, for example? And maybe more importantly, which NOT? :-)

Maybe everyone in the US has already seen this, I don't know. But I just bumped into it while searching bagua vodeos, haha. Blew my mind, seriously: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RghMwEvJ5TQ