Ryan T.

I'm sorry if this upsets you. But you have no idea that if you had not been doing what you had been doing that you would have even been in a position to to meet those people or have that insight. If the Buddha would have been poor and suffered all of his life would he have ever ventured out to seek what he found. We do not know. I do not condone the use of drugs but I also cannot condemn another's path in spite of what I "know".

I agree completely but without your own experiences doing that you would not be able to pass such insight on to others. Your path brings you to right now, enabling you to see a clarity that others may see using the experience of your eyes. That is why I cannot just throw out a blanket statement of drugs are bad. I just don't think things work that way.

I would have to agree and disagree to some extent. As a general rule, I don't think people should use "mind-altering" chemicals for the explicit purpose of engaging spiritual experience. That said, I spent many years doing just that and without those experiences I would not be here today with the ideas and values that I have. My drug experiences made me who I am today, good and bad. More good I hope. I would also say that the vast majority of what we do...eating, drinking, emotional/intellectual relating to others, physical exercise, meditation, etc. has chemical effect in our bodies and brains. The process of life is a series of chemical reactions. It is not just that but it is always that. So I do think it is important to value it all and see how it can fit the bigger picture. I would never recommend someone take ketamine. It's a cat tranquilizer. But I wouldn't recommend someone drink high-fructose corn syrup based sodas either. I am sure plenty of the members here drink them though and have a definite impact of the chemical make-up of their brains/bodies. And I would not say that drugs in general cannot lead to some level of spiritual awakening. I just don't think you can maintain the awakening or reach a very high level. But for some, for many I would say, it is the foot-in-the-door that gets them on a spiritual path. Not everyone has the same path to walk.

I would also say that diet is specific to each individual as well as where that individual resides as well as the time of year. I am personally much more a fan of "energetic" eating and basing what and how I am eating on the season. But fundamentally I try to stay away from higher glycemic foods, I especially try to limit or avoid grains as much as possible. This "Warrior Diet" is interesting. It isn't much different form the "Paleo" or Mercola's "No Grain" diets. I think it really just depends on what you are trying to do with your body and in your life, in terms of activities. One thing that they have been finding over and over again is that the surest way to increase a person's life span is to decrease the number of calories they consume. BTW, Master T.T. Liang ate Twinkies all the time. He lived to be 102!

Has the vast majority of this thread been relevant to cultivation? I think not. Such harshness I see in these threads. Considering what we are talking about do we really need to all get so belligerent. We can agree to disagree, yes? Nothing wrong with a little sarcasm and snottiness is there?

"Our whole existence is nothing but a long apprenticeship to enable us to survive the disasters that come either from without or within us, until the quiet hours of the evening, the sunset, and the good death, for which, during this whole long life, we have been secretly prepared through the return within the advancing of time." ~Kristofer Schipper: The Taoist Body(page 214)

This is what I use as well. Actually, I use the Samba 2. It has black stripes instead of white and its tongue is quite a bit shorter. Terrific shoe for all elements of T'ai-Chi.

This whole conversation reminds me of Kwan Sai-Hung. Does it matter if everything comes together regarding a person's history or training? Just because a teacher's stories don't necessarily match with reality does not necessarily invalidate the teaching. I personally like my schools ability to trace its various lineage paths. So it is where I go and who I study with. For others this is not so important and that is fine. But those who study under those teachers should be careful not to be an apologist for those discrepancies. To me it reeks of insecurity. If that was my path to follow I would be much more like "this teaching might not have the transparency that you desire but I have seen tremendous results and growth in my practice so I know it is valid".

I would go into nursing. Having a blend of the west and the east would only be of benefit to you. Also, TCM can be a fairly saturated job market depending on where you live and even if it isn't it doesn't mean you can make a living doing it. Unless a person has unlimited resources they should look at school as an investment. At least with a nursing degree you would be able to make a living no matter what and once you started your TCM training you would always have sick people around for diagnosis. Plus, being able to be of use in an emergency is such a great gift. My $.02.

Maybe start with a meditation practice, mindfulness or some type of concentration practice. This is free and has quite a bit of useful information! And if you don't already have a good version of the Tao te Ching you should invest in that for sure. On another note. Don't be so ready to give up your identity to what the doctors/psychiatrists say about you. I was diagnosed at quite a young age with maladjusted personality disorder and a few other things. The last time I saw a psychiatrist they said I was bi-polar and tried to put me on a mixed cocktail of little pills. I opted to not go that way. I chose to look into these Eastern practices. I was also a pretty hardcore drug-addict for many years. It took me a while to start to have any type of normal head-space. I say find a practice and stick with it for a time and you will see miracles, especially in your concentration.

I just love when the internets gets all retribution-esque! Not everyone has been around the block as much as everyone else. I agree about respecting a teacher's family, privacy, space, and such but I would have to say inquiry/knowledge is a good thing. In fact, it is what this forum is for. People ask questions when they do not know the answers.

The Magus of Java!

This is a link to Shu-Kuang Press. It is not the 108 form but the 150 posture Yang form as taught by Master T.T. Liang. It was created at Twin Cities T'ai-Chi Ch'uan Studio with Sifu Ray Hayward(one of two lineage disciples of Master Liang) doing the form by section and postures with many applications. I do not feel the imbedded video does the DVD justice. Also, is Sifu Paul Abdella(Master Liang's other disciple) performing San-Shou in 2007, again with Sifu Hayward.

And how many nonagenarians are on YouTube? Not many I would imagine.

Yes, do form every day! Dedicate yourself to doing at least a full round of your form a day(I personally do the Yang 150 posture form circa Master T.T. Liang twice a day) and you will reap great benefits. You can also break your form down into very small pieces. Do it fast, do it slow. Go for smooth, go for detail. There is so much in T'ai-Chi Ch'uan. It is so huge. Once you get into weapons and push-hands and san-shou there will plenty for you to do. Learn your whole form as taught, then teach yourself the mirror of that form. We T'ai-Chi practitioners have a lot on our plates!

I know I am going to sound a little preachy here but I do think this is valid from what I have seen thus far... You just recently started your T'ai-Chi practice along with quite a bit of other stuff, from what I have seen on this forum. It seems to me you are experiencing what many have experienced, I know I have and still do at times, which is the desire to collect more and more spiritual practices. I have seen this called "spiritual materialism". We try to collect as much as we can instead of really focusing on what we have and trying to perfect it. I am guilty of this all the time. I have this huge longing to go full throttle into Liu Ho Ba Fa but in reality I have barely scratched the surface of T'ai-Chi. So I try to discipline myself with just my T'ai-Chi practice, a few body resistance exercises and meditation. That is actually quite a lot. Save for what is important to you but analyze why these things are important. Remember mastery is about the journey not the destination!

This is Hsing-I. Hsing-I can do wonders for a persons T'ai-Chi. The practices relating to the 9-jointed Harmony are very useful. But I see nothing on your Sifu's website regarding Hsing-I. There is specific information relating to I-Chuan practice. So I would imagine the intensive would be on that instead of Hsing-I.

Northern 7-star Praying Mantis also does a good job with the interplay of hard and soft. And what Jing Attig says it true. If you slow any style down and look for the yin/yang elements you can get T'ai-Chi-like results. One main thing that T'ai-Chi does is concentrate on the whole movement, not just the beginning and the end. It really is about the journey...not just getting there.

Also, read and watch "Into the Wild' by Jon Krakauer(film by Sean Penn). It's a good example of what can happen when you think you are prepared for anything but nature proves you wrong.

My beliefs on internal vs. external training aside, the best overall body workout I have found are the Combat Conditioning exercises offered by Matt Furey. The Hindu squats, Hindu push-ups and back-bridges will improve your core/body strength as well as your flexibility beyond belief. If a person gives just those 3 exercises a total of 25 minutes a day, he will be amazed. And the beauty of those exercises is that you no equipment other than your own body.

Agreed!

We will have to agree to disagree on part of this. My understanding, and this is not just an intellectual understanding, and belief is that at it's core T'ai-Chi(and all the internal martial arts) are about power. But not muscular power. The power comes from various sources. Chi, 9-jointed harmony, using your opponents energy against him and solidly trained techniques in sensitivity. But it should always be soft. Why else can a 70 or 80 year old internal guy throw a much younger, stronger external guy. I've seen this and I have felt this type of power. It has nothing to do with muscles. Maybe I am misreading what you are saying but as I read it it seems counter to core ideas of the internal styles.

And I would mention Grandmaster Wai Lun Choi. Although it mostly backs up what you are saying, I am reminded how Grandmaster Choi started with the harder styles, Lama in specific. But what I have read is that he sought out the internal styles due to the level of energy depletion he felt after his hard style fights/training. He seems(and this is all paraphrasing) to have felt that the body mechanics were all off. There wasn't a whole body connection. But he did find that in the internals(specifically Liu Ho Ba Fa). I only mention it before because I don't know if a lot of people give the internals their due. And I think most start with the hard training as that is much more available. Plus, it is a lot easier to train the hard. It takes a lot more patience to train the soft energy. And it is no coincidence that most that find the internal after starting with the hard rarely go back. Ultimately it all depends what you want of/for yourself. I just always try to emphasize that everything is there in T'ai-Chi!

Cheng Man Ching?

How dedicated to your T'ai-Chi practice are you? And how far along are you? If you are doing form several times a day you will be getting your T'ai-Chi as well as your meditation. Qigong can well be a part of your form practice as well. And I ask how far along you are because weapons training(sword, knife and spear) will give you a tremendous upper body workout. Keep in mind that some of the greatest internal martial arts players did no hard exercises at all. It was all about "the soft overcoming the hard". Of course, if you want these practices to be separate that is your choice but that is really the beauty of the T'ai-Chi system. It really has everything you need to achieve perfect health. I am not aware of what may be the best times to be active according to TCM. I have a life in the city which does not necessarily allow me have the ability to make such choices about when I can train.