Sloppy Zhang

Yes, my curiosity is piqued as well at the researchers bit. Winpro, do you have any more experiences to share about the research institute? I mean if you are able to leave your body, go to other rooms, and have verifiable conversations with other people, I mean, surely you could do that same thing with, say, a deck of Zener cards?

Ultimate qi power, super abilities, and immortality. So..... a bit of everything?

For a beginner I'd say not to jump into chakra meditations or stuff. The way most people look at them (usually from some New Age resources as opposed to parts of specific systems that have a more solid structure to them) leaves out a lot of support that other practices give. Though not really tantric/yogic in nature, I suggest B.K. Frantzis' "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body". The sinking, scanning, and dissolving practices taught in the book are really excellent, and the longevity breathing that he teaches in the book as well is super good to incorporate in your practice every day. I experiment with some other systems here and there, but Frantzis' dissolving method is always what I start with (grounds out any negative energy I might have built up throughout the day), and always what I end with (gets rid of any potentially disruptive energy I have built up during practice). And whenever I have a scary experience, I find dissolving it to be the best Once you find out how to relax, and how to let go of any unwanted energy, then you can start doing more focused meditations. At least that would be what I recommend from my experience

I always point beginners to B.K. Frantzis' book "Relaxing Into Your Being", read through it and do the practices, then go from there. He gives a great overview of Taoism, talks about the similarities and differences and the end goals of some different groups of Taoism, of Yoga, while at the same time giving simple practices that anyone can do

The brain needs oxygen to function, not providing it oxygen isn't really that smart, in my humble opinion (even if you are "really open" or something). Obviously with just holding your breath you don't experience the same danger as you would choking yourself with something (as Scotty pointed out). Still, to me there's little difference between holding your breath to feel the bliss, and some 14 year old choking himself in a closet to feel the "rush". I think there is (or at least should be), a little more to the practice. Now I will say, however, that I have reached states in my meditation practices in which I seemed to stop breathing, which lasted anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. I think this is referenced in a couple texts (maybe the Secret of the Golden Flower?) about the breath being silent, or you not breathing at all. Except for me, it was a natural progression, from deep, even, continuous breaths (not holding), to suddenly feeling very relaxed and seemingly not needing to breath. I don't know if it was really me not breathing, if it was me just finding an equilibrium, or what. I don't TRY to get to that state. I just breathe deeply and evenly and meditate, and if it happens it happens. Now, if you go that way (or some other way) and naturally/effortlessly reach a state in which you "aren't breathing" (maybe you really aren't and maybe it just FEELS like you aren't, I dunno), I don't really care. But just "holding your breath"? If any 14 year old can do it in their closet.... um.... honestly I'm not that impressed. And, regardless of whether you will continue breathing after you pass out, depriving your brain of oxygen is still not a good idea, and I would hope most doctors would agree, otherwise.... I guess I'm wrong.

This method I think is in the Kunlun book..... I just remember thinking.... you hold your breath till you're about to pass out it seems..... There were a bunch of kids not too long ago choking themselves to get the "rush". A couple of kids died doing it...... Bliss practice? Or your brain cells dying from lack of oxygen? They're oh so similar......

Honestly, sometimes I wonder if some of this stuff isn't just a group of contortionists pulling practical jokes on the meditation community...... "if you bend over backwards and slide your head between your legs, you can connect your lower chakras directly to the higher chakras, so you can effectively jump energy right to the crown chakra. Of course, this is made even more powerful if you can do this upside down while interlocking your fingers and toes. You can roll down the stairs to add a movement portion....."

Spend as much time as Miyamoto Musashi did, doing what he did, then come back I bet he'd say something like that...... In answer, though, to your questions, I think this quote is best: "Accept everything just the way it is." - sound familiar?

Awesome

My best friend is a bio major, I have several friends that are physics majors, and a couple friends that are chem majors or taking graduate level courses in their fields. For me personally, I can't take those classes. I just don't get it, not to mention all the work and stuff that involves in it... just not me But luckily these friends can explain complicated concepts to me in easily understandable and, most importantly, RELEVANT examples. Many times these lessons have led me to various big and small revelations in my practice So I'm spiritually minded, but I am very grateful for my friends who can put up with all the science classes

In the thread about Andrew Lum, I asked SSTTinstitute (Dr. Hata), about the effectiveness of the art which he said would make MMA obsolete, that Si-Jo Patrick Moon could take on up to 8 people at once without breaking a sweat. Of course, only Patrick Moon can demonstrate this safely on others, as he is the Si-Jo (above Sifu I think), and he said that if anyone really wants to see it they should get a plane ticket and come to Hawaii, and that you could contact Dr. Hata through the SSTTinstitute forum. I can't go myself at the moment, don't know too many people who could as well. Anyway, rodgerj said that he's serious about cultivation, less so about martial aspects, but would still love to meet a master with the reputation of Patrick Moon, and even if Patrick Moon could blow rodgerj to the other side of the room with his skill, rodgerj would still stay there every day until he could overcome the challenge, because overcoming yourself is the greatest achievement there is. Seems there was some confusion, nobody really knew what was going on, rodgerj didn't like the tone of some of the posts, and yeah. This thread only really made sense if you've been following the other thread and read Dr. Hata's specific post... which I assume that by that point in the thread, most people didn't really care.

Well seeing as how your post was a reference to an ever growing thread with posts as long as novels involving people that most people don't even know or care about, I don't think most people got the reference I got the reference and thought it was a cool post

I have a friend who had swine flu. He went home on Friday feeling sick, on Saturday the doctor said he had swine flu, gave him some medicine, and said that if he didn't have a fever for 24 hours he could go back to school. He didn't have a fever on Monday, so he came back Tuesday, healthy as ever.......

You know what I like to do? Go back and read old conspiracy threads to see if that stuff has happened. I found an old thread a while ago here talking about how the New World Order would make their universal currency debut in the winter of 2008 at the earliest, and at the latest the summer of 2009. Well it's September, and I have heard nothing about a universal currency.

Seizure alert.

So, again, not to disrespect, but I don't know anything about the politics or who said what and who washed out whom and all that stuff. But one thing that was brought up was the superiority of this martial art. And, not to be offensive, but that's got to require some proof. The vids on the website don't seem any better than most Wing Chun vids people show as demonstrations.... but WC has a poor track record when it comes to stuff like, say, fighting in the UFC. So to say it's better than MMA and would render MMA useless, well, I'm gonna have to see more than some sloppy looking WC again, no offense. These qi strikes or whatever may be super good. But if they're so super good, why doesn't anybody prove it? You could floor pro fighters without breaking a sweat.... I mean, traditional martial arts had to establish themselves. Taiji established itself in actual combat (Yang Lu Chan didn't earn the name "unbeatable Yang" by not fighting). Baguazhang accepted challenge matches. Xingyiquan fought in challenge matches. Heck, if you want to go by "traditional old school rules", you couldn't even hope to run a school without proving your stuff. People would show up and say "who have you fought? How many times have you won?" and if you said something like, "our qi power is too much to use in the ring." They'd laugh and not sign up for your school. Again, I mean no disrespect. I'm on the east coast of the US, Hawaii is quite literally half a world away from me. Haven't seen the MMA Hawaii article. Don't know these members of the MMA community that respect Andrew Lum so much (are these like, karate guys? Some other TMA guys? Or guys who run MMA gyms?) I don't know anything about Andrew Lum or anything beyond what I've heard in regards to him teaching Max, and some dragon dancing. So, Sifu Hata, could you please elaborate a bit more on the martial arts aspect of your school?

Honestly? I'd get a book or some DVD's. They'll cost a LOT less than $136, you only have to pay it ONCE, and you'll get a good amount of material to chew over. Then invite some friends over to try and push you or something (so you can test out your structure, things like that) in a playful/experimental manner. Then if there are people offering seminars, try to make it out to one of those once or twice out of the year to fine tune some stuff. I definitely know what it's like to live in an area with crappy MA choices. I take the approach of learning from books/DVD's, then testing it out against my friends every once in a while. You get out what you put in, and if you are really determined and really take the teachings to heart, in my opinion and in my experience, it's doable. That said, you've paid, so might as well put your full work into the class But I would advise you to not stop reading. Learn as much as you can from the art. I dunno who this guy is, but if he acted like that on the first day, he might not give you full disclosure on techniques and where to improve. You're gonna have to do that yourself. But again, I don't know the full situation. Good luck in any case

Kind of nervous about the one year contract Might be kind of late, but did he tell you with whom he studied? Long years of being conned by smooth talkers have taught me, no matter what they say, ask for a lineage. If they can't provide it, if they can't name names that I can go and talk to people and ask around in the MA community that can corroborate their story.... then I just don't go for them. Secret lineages from hermit grandmasters? Hmm.... it would have to be real good material, and I wouldn't want to sign a year long contract at all. He could very well be teaching some wushu competition form of bagua-like prancing around, and won't teach you any real internal aspects. I dunno, not to place any doubts in your mind. Go for it

Forgive my ignorance, I don't know anything about the Lum Dai Yun lineage. The only reason I recognize Andrew Lum's name is because it has been brought up in past Kunlun discussions. Can you please clarify this statement? It sounds to me like you are claiming to have an art that is superior to MMA. I'd like to get clarification from you before I continue with my train of thought and post a response that isn't in line with your intended meaning.

I agree with this. Auto and oil companies killed the electric car when it first started gaining popularity because they hadn't finished milking the public, either getting them to buy oil or buy their cars. Now there are cars everywhere, some people have too many cars, people are taking a harder stance on oil consumption (especially foreign oil consumption), and they are looking into "new technology" (that was around a decade ago) to "lead the world into the future." Pssh, that will last as long until they find some new product to milk, they will halt all progress, wait until the market is over saturated with whatever it is they are selling, and the world is on the brink of collapse AGAIN, then they will invest in "new technology" (that again was around for decades) for the next new thing...... Anyway...

Makes sense, thanks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia This most likely. Sometimes that'll happen to me too, but just before it I'll have the feeling of tripping and falling, or of touching something, or I'll hear something, then suddenly I jerk up.

That was awesome Haven't tried shape shifting in lucid dreaming states.... my focus right now is just to move around in a controllable manner and interacting with things I see in my dream. But I will add this to my list of things to do

Hmm.... I prefer this kind of talk to Kunlun or Taoism vs. Buddhism