Sloppy Zhang

There's nothing wrong with seeking power. The problem is that it's very hard to find a system that teaches power (directly). Hell, even if you want to learn a martial art to actually fight, to actually use it to have "power", it's damn near impossible. So many "reality" based arts are jokes, poor, unrealistic training. So many traditional arts have been watered down to routinely based forms, teaching roles and flitting around with no real goal of fighting. Combat sports are damn near close, but it's hard to find someone who says "this is how you do it in the ring, this is how you do it in the street." To find a system rooted in mysticism and "energy" that teaches power? Again, good luck. So many are focused on love and light and feel good happiness, that even if they agree power is necessary "in theory", they have no practical means of cultivating it. So many systems have diverted their theory from their practice. Or they have lost the original practice and struggle to reclaim the theory. So, hate to sound cynical, but if you're looking for "power", even if you are a saint and you've got the most angelic reasons in the world, chances are it's going to be damn hard to find. Not to mention that most people maintain such a dogmatic aversion to power that they go into an almost allergic spiritual anaphylaxis, and if they don't die on you right there (shutting you off from teaching) they're going to lecture you about what you "should" be looking for. Just thought I'd throw that bit out.... Now, on a more practical level. If you're looking for advanced methods of spiritual or energetic levels of power, you're going to have to clear the basic and intermediate levels. And the basic and intermediate levels are, as far as most can tell (without being initiated), pretty similar.

Isn't that a breach of the forum rules about respecting everyone and stuff...? Where can I torrent this Taoist toolkit for future use?

But what about the fallacy fallacy!

I think there are different levels and different situations. Perhaps one thing a good master can do is obfuscate the situation. A scared opponent can also not perceive things clearly. Wide eyed gullible students are the same. Untrained third parties even more so. There are certainly masters who have achieved a high level of physical skill. This can be seen in Judo and Aikido. For instance, look at Kyuzo Mifune: Truly effortless throws which seem on par with Aikido. This level of skill only comes from practice and LOTS and LOTS of real experience. Any chi necessary? Doubtful. It's physical skill and lots of experience. Now an older fellow who's good at misdirection can make it seem like he's using some mystical power when he's not. And can probably fool a lot of young people. There are also masters who have developed powerful energy and can use this to augment their skills. For instance, at internal martial arts. But there is a bit of a caveat too, because a lot of internal martial arts also have a HUGELY refined level of physical skill. Like, even if you JUST looked at their physical refinements, not even looking at chi, they are still HUGE steps beyond many less developed physical forms. So when you combine that, again, you are looking at something very impressive. And again, with a little misdirection and some talking up, it can seem a lot more mystical than it is. Then there are the truly mystical skills. Do I believe they are possible? Yes. Do I believe they are being used at any given moment by any given "master"? Not so sure. There are the kinds where they work more on someone who is more "open" to them. A student, or an energetically aware person might be more susceptible. But I also believe there are mystical powers that can be used on unaware, unwilling opponents. A discussion from long ago on this topic about Max doing it had a post, if I recall correctly, that this type can actually cause damage to the energetic structure of a person, so the demonstrations were always done on students. Maybe that's true maybe not. But it sounds reasonable enough if you believe it. Unfortunately means it also can't be tested outside of a real encounter, but then it's not a "test".

You have to realize that nursing is a pretty difficult gig and it's going to require a lot of dedication from you. A friend of mine is going through a nursing program now, and it's pretty rough. If you're treating it as a safety net, you probably aren't going to make the cut. Again, your business ideas sound pretty nebulous. Building assets and investing sounds good in theory. But then 8 months later you find out all your assets are depreciating and your investments are crap, then you have more liabilities than when you started! Business ideas about sharing? Um, internet? File sharing? Information technology in general? Our entire modern world is build on sharing. Just keep this stuff in mind.

Good luck. From what I have seen of the psychology department at my university, all of that stuff was considered outdated and general quackery. Maybe an intro to psych course went over those topics as a means of saying "haha, look at the stuff people used to think worked!" and then moved on. No one gave that serious study let alone practice (from what I saw). If you're finding a program that teaches that specifically.... uh, watch out.... it might not be as legitimate or respected or even accredited, and you might not have very much luck finding a good job... It'd be like the difference between someone who learned massage therapy so they could heal their favorite sports stars, and wound up working as a middle school gym teacher, vs someone who went on to be a full fledged doctor and healed their favorite sports stars.... In order to have a successful business you need to have a successful business model. That means you have to have a product or a service that you can provide that either no one else does, or you are providing it in such a way that it is new and innovative or you are providing it to a previously unreached portion of the market. It sounds to me like you want to start a business because you want to be a "business person". In which case, you like the "idea" of business more than you actually like whatever product or service you are hoping to sell. And I hate to break it to you, but you just aren't going to get far with that attitude. FAR more people make successful businesses not even INTENDING to become business people. They just do what they love, find out people are willing to pay money for it, and take off. People who want to do business just for the sake of doing business? Sorry.

What style of Tai Chi are you doing? How did you learn it? If you aren't practicing it with specific energetics in mind, then it sounds to me like you just learned the movements, and haven't learned it from a source that actually knows the energetics. Or, if you are, that source has not provided you with that knowledge yet. In which case, chances are I think you'll be fine if you do Spring Forest and Tai Chi. It doesn't seem like your Tai Chi will drastically impact your energetics beyond what it naturally does to tone and clear up some meridians, especially if you don't know it. Maybe space apart the practices for good measure (do some Tai Chi in the morning, Spring Forest in the evening, or vice versa). As for the computer thing- it's far more likely that it's something going on in your routine body habits. I recommend (always recommend.....) B.K. Frantzis "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body". Great book that goes into all the alignments necessary for qigong as well as general health and wellness. He also talks a lot about the alignments that get collapsed/blocked in our every day lives. Sitting hunched over at a computer craning your head and neck forward collapses the back of the skull which connects to the spine, so energy gets trapped in the head and can cause headaches, strain, general fatigue, etc. Fixing your posture and opening certain areas can really do wonders in terms of health, even if you do sit at the computer all day.

Not familiar with this school specifically, looked in at their website. Just some things to keep in mind- 1)Watch out for schools that teach all martial arts under the sun. Just one traditional Chinese martial art from a legitimate lineage is going to be PACKED with knowledge. With some lineages, more knowledge than you could learn in a lifetime unless you devote your entire life to serious, daily, near continuous practice. Take into account that some arts have their own styles of Qigong, application of Chinese medicine, and meditative practices.... it literally boggles the mind. So to think that you're going to be trained in not one, not two, not three, but four or five or six plus arts? Right. Keep in mind that if you're going on a group trip with training and all that, it's probably going to be pretty generic, you tour around, see the sites, and shake a few hands. But mostly get assistants and stuff checking to see if you got the form right. 2) Check the credentials of who's teaching. This page lists the teachers and who they studied with/under. I'm not familiar with some of their particular lineages. But basically, you should research the names and the lineages and make sure everyone checks out. 3) (Section 2 sub-section A) Read the wording very. carefully. Lots of people like to say "I trained with master XYZ"... which sounds awesome. But you don't know if that means "lived with the master for 10 years and trained daily", "commuted to train with that teacher one weekend a month and two weeks a year for half a year", "attended a weekend seminar once when he was 19 and studying abroad in China, after which he went back to Oregon where he cross trained in Wrestling and "spiced up" his training".... So, yeah, read the fine print. 4) Watch out for these "certifications". I know they say on the site that you get a certification at the end, and no doubt people will use these to run back to the States or the UK and go "I trained with master XYZ, here's my certificate!" But.... are they really doing quality control on these? How do they test if you "get" the material, the internal practices, and can apply them? It's really easy to say you're a Tai Chi fighter, but when push comes to shove you throw someone down using your Judo, then do a flourishing Cloud Hands and go "yeah, look at me!" or claim you're a Bagua master, then knock someone out with your big right hand from the old boxing days, then finish up with a palm change and go "check out that internal power!" So even if you're a good fighter, that doesn't necessarily mean you're a good "insert style here" fighter. Not to say that it's not a fun experience and that you won't learn anything. It's probably a great trip and well coordinated and I'm sure you'll get into places you wouldn't otherwise get into. Maybe it'll pave the way for future learning, for instance, if you really hit it off with someone and made a connection that you could come back later for follow up training. Just... Be careful. Check the facts. Check the styles. Check the lineages. Check the "certificates".

Good luck getting a legitimate career by doing that, buddy. Not saying that it's not a fulfilling path, not saying that it doesn't work, or that you won't be helping people. Plenty of people around these parts can attest to the powerful healings they have received from some powerful teachers/masters (I'd highly suggest you look into Ya Mu's teaching, for instance). But if you're worried about what people will think when you tell them you're a nurse, imagine what they'll think when you tell them you're a "qigong healer". If they even know what that is, they're going to associate you with some New Age baloney. At BEST you can tell them it's related to therapeutic massage, which is somewhat legitimate thanks to the popularity of sports, and the needs of athletes to have well taken care of body tissue. And even then, who knows how much money is in that. Maybe talk to Ya Mu about it, though it is kind of personal. Point is, several of your states goals are at odds with each other. You want to heal people AND have a legitimate career? Become a nurse or a doctor. You want to heal people using energy and qigong? Qigong healer and stuff. Want to do both? Do both. Ya Mu's suggestion was pretty much spot on if you're seriously interested in the healing path. But nursing alone is hard enough. You're going to have to really want it.

I'm going to float out the idea that college isn't COMPLETELY useless, but again, you should be using it for connections more than you use it for a degree. UNLESS your degree is in something very technical/specific that requires training and equipment you can't procure yourself, such as engineering, chemistry, biology, information technology, etc. But even IT is on the borderline. Many jobs hiring for programmers don't always require degrees, rather, they require evidence that you can perform a certain task. There are programming tutorials everywhere online. Programmers are notoriously independent and some of the best in the industry, even today, are self taught. There are plenty of open source projects to get you some experience and your name attached to tangible material, that as long as you stay on the ball, you don't even need a degree for that. Again, as a student, internships and volunteer opportunities are there. Plenty of businesses and larger corporations recruit through college campuses, and some of their entry level and management training programs recruit almost EXCLUSIVELY through college campuses. Talk to professors and hound counselors about internships. Talk to people, network, get your foot in the door, do the best damn work you can, know people, get people to know your name, get people talking about you, open up to them about your interests. Keep the grades up almost as a secondary (especially if you're in a liberal arts field). If it's a more technical field, again, the classes you take are about getting skills, and your internships/jobs should be about putting your name on projects. Again, being a "university student" gets people to consider you for off the beaten path jobs. They let you volunteer and talk to you about things without thinking about you as an employee (remember, employees cost money in terms of training, insurance, benefits, etc, university students are free, desperate labor). Make good impressions and you can easily get bumped into a career track.

Nevermind, don't really want to get into this discussion.

I just got out of university, and am about to start a full time job next week. Here's my advice: 1) If at all you have an interest which is practical, DO IT. Math, engineering, sciences like biology or chemistry, computer programming, stuff like that. I know you didn't quite list them, but if you're interested at all in them, take a class or two just to get a feel for them and it might work out. Basically, know the job market and prepare. Not sure where you're from, but everyone is saying that the economy is bad and stuff, but I see job listings ALL THE TIME for IT people, hard science people, etc. My friends with majors in that didn't have a problem landing jobs and PAID internships (while they were undergrad) 2) If your interest is business, concentrate in something that is grounded and, well, practical. For instance, at my university, the business major had a lot of different focuses. You could focus in entrepreneurship, management, accounting and finance, etc. Basically, coming out of college you're probably not going to be hired to be a "boss" of someone, so the management stuff ain't going to be too practical. Entrepreneurship? Eh, if you're going to start your own business, get something practical FIRST that you can build a business off of first. 3) From what I've heard, you need some education training beyond a four year degree if you want to do anything in psychology. Which is fine if you can afford it. If you're looking for a job after/during four years of education.... skip the formal psychology. Take some classes if you're interested. But don't bet on it. 4) And really, the most important tip which I should probably list first, when you're at university, make connections. I can't stress how important this is. ESPECIALLY if you are not a hard major that produces tangible, practical skills (engineer, science, computers, etc). Sounds terrible, but getting ahead can be more about WHO you know that WHAT you know. Get involved in clubs and activities. Ask professors about volunteer opportunities and research chances. Basically, when you're a student people will give you a break. Ask to volunteer and work for free for a semester or two. This gives you experience and connections (so many jobs, even entry level jobs, require experience). Hound your counselors or professors for internships for the summer. I don't know what your financial situation is, but don't worry so much about paid internships. It's important to get the experience. After that, keep it up in subsequent semesters. Make new connections, and if you know what your interests are, narrow them down and build experiences. Let people know what you're interested in. Keep your grades up and do well, and just keep at it. In your third or fourth year, it's very feasible that you can have a full time job lined up by the time you graduate. If not, then by the time you start applying for jobs you'll already have relevant work experiences which will help you stand out as an applicant. As always, do what you love, because that will help you do your best work. But do keep in mind that you will have to work at it to be successful.

I'm pretty sure he's had the jump on you for a looooooooot longer than a week

According to B.K. Frantzis, there are about 200 unique standing postures found in Daoist standing training. Consider the fact that Daoism has been a part of Chinese culture for thousands of years, influencing hundreds of martial arts, and it's easy to understand how different martial arts began using different postures that helped them the most. So one style of Xingyiquan might use certain standing postures because those postures work with energies in a certain way that said style of Xingyiquan likes the most. Xingyiquan is typically very "yang" in the sense that it is very outgoing, attack first so you don't have to defend, always attack attack attack, always moving forward (even in retreat). So the postures it uses are probably less on the "neutral" side where you balance your energy, and even less so on the "absorb/harmonize" side, and more so on the "project your own energy" side. If you're feeling awkward it might mean a few things... 1) Xingyiquan just isn't for you. Take up an art that is more about absorbing/redirecting, such as Tai Chi or Judo. 2) You've found a weakness, and Xingyiquan can help strengthen that weakness. Plenty of people take up practices that they do not feel affinity with. Maybe you are TOO withdrawn, TOO yielding, and xingyiquan can teach you how to be more projective and outgoing.

I would definitely check out Trunk's Alchemical Taoism site. The big critique that the site points out that I find spot on is there doesn't seem to be enough overt emphasis on the stillness/emptiness practice/meditations. They may very well be implied, but if you're just getting the practice from a book, you might not get that implication. The stillness/emptiness aspect of practice is important to make sure all the energies you work with get balanced out after, and it helps make sure that, as you start working with energies, you don't blow out your system. That said, there ARE a lot of details in Chinese energetic/medicine practice in general. The feeling I get from Chia's books is they can (CAN) tend towards encyclopedic. And it's easy for someone who's pretty analytic to get in there and try to analyze everything and do it all. So in the best case you're doing a bunch of mental stuff and effectively doing nothing, and in the worse case you are getting energetically all out of whack. Some practices (especially the sexual ones) are pretty high energy, and they DO work, but only for people who are appropriately prepared for them. If you've done the work, you might be ready. If you haven't, then you might get hurt. If you're studying on your own, and you don't have a lot of experience, you might get yourself hurt. As vortex said: "The key is to know what to take and what to leave from every source." And that just comes from experience. If there's something in Chia's material that interests you, look it up. For instance, the microcosmic orbit is something lots of practices work with. Not exclusively, but they do recognize it as a very useful path to circulate energy along. So it'd be worth reading up on it. Maybe try it out in your own practices. The sexual stuff might also be good to know about, even if you don't use it. If you're ever unsure, give it a read just to know. And if you're going to practice, practice a little less than a little more to avoid injury.

Ah, there's a lot of good, no, great anime out there. The problem is that once you watch/read the great series, everything else just seems.... meh.

On that note it might also be hard for the guy to open up too. For the girl I'm with now, she was really hard get to orgasm. She masturbated a lot and had never gotten off with a guy (I'm the third she's been with). There were a lot of times when she just didn't cum, or after a while, she just got frustrated sexually and didn't want to do anything at all. There is a lot of pressure on the guys' end to "be a good lover" and to "have the experience" to please women. So it might be easier for a guy to just bang her and be like "well you didn't cum, that's your problem." It's an ego saving counter to admitting the fact that you don't know what you're doing, that you're inexperienced, or that you don't know your partner well enough, all of which can be pretty embarrassing or depressing. So it might also help to tell the girls to tell the guys what they like and what they don't like. Which, again, requires opening up and putting things into words you've never had to put into words before. And guys need to not be so afraid of failure. But hey...

Don't take this the wrong way, but.... Sounds to me like you've got some control issues yourself. Like a need to "fix" someone so they operate how you think they "should"... in this case, being able to orgasm with a man rubbing/penetrating her. Just let her go at her own pace. Meditation isn't always the answer and even if it is, it's not always for everyone. If she's really wild and crazy and masturbates like a fiend, meditation might not be interesting enough for her. Maybe it'd be better to work on the types of relationships she forms. For instance, a series of one night stands isn't going to give her the opportunity to find another person to connect to and learn to trust. Instead, it'll give her reasons why NOT to trust someone, continue to fuck whoever comes along and to finish herself off before or after the fact. Or hey, maybe the med will help her and she'll really enjoy it and she'll be "fixed".

Wait, is that the one where a White Tigress gets a bunch of Jade Dragons to feed off of that caused a bit of a stir a while back? Never read the book, but remember a couple of people talking a lot about it. Certainly sounds different

She wouldn't have to do that. But you know, losing her powers was a HUGE potential plot point that could have led to a lot of character development (into the next season). For instance, she could have explored air bending to see how her spirit connects to the air, so that she could learn to rebuild those connections herself with the other elements. She might have to train with other bending masters/users to see how different people connect in different ways. We could see her use air bending to refine other aspects of bending (like how in the last series we saw Iroh use principles of water bending to counter electricity). We could see her learn to solve problems without bending, possibly uniting benders and non-benders (the Avatar represents everyone, regardless of their bending status). We could see how someone can have a strong spirit and still connect with the world and create balance WITHOUT tearing up the terrain.

The series is excellent. Great fight scene choreography. The bending has definitely evolved and changed over time, while retaining their original quality. The story is very good too. Only one season has happened so far. Book of air, 12 episodes, which just aired recently. Highly recommended. I was skeptical when I heard it because The Last Airbender had a good close. I'm glad I watched Korra.

Haha, don't worry about spoilers, just talk about it. If people don't want spoilers, they shouldn't come into this thread Who's doing that? Just call it like it is. If you want power because you want power because YOU want it, who cares? It's ego based, not spiritually enlightened. Whatever. Problems happen when you SAY you're doing it for spirituality, when you aren't. That causes delusion and lies and problems of all sorts. At the same time, Aang had his own issues to overcome. Earth bending was hard for him because it was opposite his personality. Fire bending was also hard for him because of his experience hurting Katara. Korra, on the other hand, was doing both easily since she was a child. Well it kind of helps that "she" just so happens to have thousands of years of avatars doing the work! She didn't get there herself. She didn't change. She didn't grow. She didn't have to grapple with the fact that she was a "nobody." She didn't have to live with the humiliation of being the Avatar in name only. Imagine if she went back to republic city and people found out she essentially lost to Amon. She didn't reach a point where she was herself regardless of her circumstances (which would have been MUCH closer to losing her ego). Nope. Instead, she cried about how sucky her life was and got free shit. Nope. She didn't cry herself into anything except a helping hand. She's not enlightened. She's exactly who she was before. Now here's something! How do you become realized whether you have powers or not? Whether you're with your friends or you're alone in the Northern Water Tribe? THAT would have been a compelling story. For her to say "fuck it, I don't care if I can only airbend, I'm going to keep doing my thing." But no. She cries. She rejects her friends and those close to her. Maybe. Yeah, it does. In fact, that's actually a GREAT time to meditate- when shit starts to happen. It's one thing to be spiritual and meditate and calm when things are going your way. But when your very sense of identity is shaken to its core? Uh, that's EXACTLY when you should be meditating. Not saying it's easy. But hey.

WARNING: Spoilers to follow. Korra isn't having nightmares because of Amon's ability. She's having nightmares because she's afraid of losing her "specialness". As nice as the whole "lose your ego" thing SOUNDS, what the series SHOWS is the exact opposite! Korra doesn't want to be a "nobody". If she lost her bending, she wouldn't be special. She'd be just like everyone else. Even at the end, where she just had airbending, that's all she was- another airbender. And even then, there are 6 year olds who are better airbenders than her! But there is only one avatar. Only one who can not only bend multiple elements, but, in fact, all four. Even though she doesn't have the skill to bend blood or bend metal, that's just a special form of ONE type of bending. No, she wants it all. Instead of thanking her lucky stars that she got off with some bending at all, when others had NONE, no, she had a whiny little pouty fit. She ran away when people opened their feelings to her. She didn't connect with her spirit at all. She didn't go into deep meditation. She didn't better herself as a person. No, she just cried about the whole situation. Then a thousand years of avatars showed up and gave her free shit. Wow. Desperation doesn't get you anything. Wanting something doesn't get you anything. Sure, intent, chi, whatever. But every day there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions(?) of people who want things. Desperately want things. Desperately pray and wish for and cry and sweat for and bleed for and fight for and live for and die for things. Things that don't happen. As much as they wish and intend for that rock to get lifted, no, that rock falls down and crushes them. Loved ones die right before each other's eyes while they are powerless to do anything. Why do some people get away when others suffer and die? Do some people just "want" it more? Bullshit. If there is something, it's something else. It's not intent. It's not wanting it. It's not desperation. Because plenty of people have that, and nothing changes. Isolate THAT, then you might have something. Might.

It could also be the type of lovers she's with, and the type of sexual acts they perform. I don't remember the exact statistics, but the average time for a man to get aroused and orgasm is about 7 minutes. For women it's almost 14. I've been with girls who almost take the better part of an hour to reach orgasm even when they are masturbating (they know how it feels and where exactly to touch). Now imagine having a partner, who can't feel what she feels, try to do the same thing. If she's with a guy and they are engaging in sexual activity, even in intercourse, if that's not what she's needing that night to orgasm, or if that's not what she's used to, then she isn't going to orgasm. Everyone is different and has different needs and different things feel good to them, even on a day by day basis. Some women can get off without penetration. Some can't get off without it. Sometimes it depends on how they feel at that moment. If a woman doesn't orgasm just because she's being penetrated, even if there's clitoral stimulation too, there's nothing necessarily wrong with her. Maybe it just takes longer for her (14 minutes is a long time to do something, even on a good day, and that's assuming you know what you're doing, it can take two or three times as long since you can't feel what she feels). It takes time to know someone and know what they like in an intimate encounter. If you're doing one night stands, or heat of the moment sex, it might feel good, but might not necessarily result in orgasm. Especially if the guy pounds away and cums when she's only halfway to getting fully aroused! A series of one night stands is hardly enough time to get to know someone. Maybe she'll run into a guy who's highly experienced and knows how to please different women, so he can try different things. Or guess what? Maybe he won't care if she gets off, and just cares about him. Sometimes it takes a long time, a lot of failure, and a lot of embarrassment to get to know what someone likes sexually. It requires opening up to someone in a VERY intimate space. Sometimes it requires you to verbalize things you never have had to verbalize (you don't have to explain to yourself what feels good and why when you masturbate, but you do have to explain that to your partner). If you're trying to get your partner to open up sexually, and compound this if they DO have issues, it might take a LOT of time to get them to be open, and a lot of time to verbalize, and a lot of time to experiment. And fail. And be embarrassed. And get frustrated. And get angry. Buuuuuuuuuut it's worth it. I think. Because orgasms are fun, and it's great when both partners can enjoy as many as they want from their partner

Practice the circle walking as taught in "The Great Stillness" by B.K. Frantzis. Just keep hands to your side as if you were standing. For more refined teachings on the internal components, look at "Relaxing Into Your Being" and "Relaxing Into Your Being". Yeah, it's all the basics. But if you don't know the basics, you aren't gonna get anywhere.