Sloppy Zhang

Well I dunno much about Flying Phoenix specifically, or what it's supposed to do, but more generally- Getting rid of expectations is a big one. Because if you set yourself up for something, and it doesn't happen, even if something DOES happen, you'll miss it and be so fixated on what "should" have happened. That whole mental setting also prevents you from recognizing new things as they happen, because instead they get suppressed by your oppressive mental atmosphere. If you are doing slow, repetitive arm gestures, well, for a moment, forget about the qi. Make it physical. Relax into it, and let the movements gently get your body into movement. Get the blood flowing. Breathe. If you're outside, try to enjoy the atmosphere. Even if you're inside, enjoy breathing. Really try to feel the breath. Feel your body, feel how it moves and changes. Relax into it, physically and mentally. The irritability and agitation could very well come from where you think it comes from. Hopefully, if you can change your mental outlook, it'll help you get into the practice, and make you feel like you got something out of it. Also, I dunno if this is a flying phoenix thing, but maybe pull back the level of practice. I don't know how long everything is supposed to take. But rather than doing everything all at once in one big go, do one thing once. 15-20 minutes, maybe an hour. I dunno how much experience you have prior. But there is a law of diminishing returns with these things. You reach a point where you are getting optimal benefit from something, but going any further than that puts a strain on the system, and can actually be counterproductive. 2-3 hours of qigong or meditation can do wonders, but only if you've trained and practiced enough to be able to get the most out of it. If your mind and body aren't prepared for a 2-3 hour run, then you're just gonna frazzle your system, and any gain you get from it in the first 15-20 minutes is going to be crushed by your persistent practice. It's a marathon, not a sprint. A slow and steady pace guarantees you a finish. Trying to sprint right out of the gate doesn't guarantee you anything, especially if you aren't a seasoned runner.

Based on a couple of my past experiences, I've found that negative emotions are just not sustainable. Hatred for something either fizzles out, like suddenly you stop and ask yourself, "what is this really getting me?" and then all at once you let it go, or it literally breaks down your body- so you've got all that hate, and you want to channel into something like, say, your martial ability, but you are incapable of actually DOING anything with it, it's effectively useless in accomplishing your goals. On top of that, hatred breaks down so many interpersonal relationships (especially if you go the above mentioned martial route and start beating the crap out of people, whether they deserve it or not), that unless you've got the means to be 100% self sufficient, you have essentially made your environment unlivable. The best you get is nobody wants to interact with you, and the worst you can be is everyone actively either hates you, or wants some kind of righteous revenge for your past despicable deeds. As far as instilling negative emotions into other people, well that's not very sustainable either. Fear usually goes away with an improved understanding. So maybe you'll catch one or two people off guard with your fearsomeness. But as word spreads and people try to figure out what your tricks are, eventually they're going to figure out what your trick is, and that knowledge alone with dismiss most of the fear. Then you get back up to the above problems of the sustainability of negative emotions, and the level to which you are self reliant (can get shit done with your own power, no tricks, you vs. everyone else). So forget abstract morality, a reliance on "dark side" stuff just is not PRACTICAL. But you could conversely argue that excessive "good guy" stuff isn't reliable. Plenty of nice people get taken advantage of by not nice people. Plenty of times you give and give and give and everyone just selfishly takes and takes and takes and you get nothing from it. So what do you do? I'm still working on the answer to that myself. But keeping quiet, reserving judgment, and being observant of everything at all times goes a long way. You might see someone doing something, but not know their reasons for doing so, your first pass might be completely off the mark. You have no idea how relationships are going to change over time- a friend one day could be your enemy the next, and your enemy one day could prove to be a valuable friend down the road. Be respectful to your enemies, and choose your friends carefully. A mutually favorable relationship with a former enemy could be ruined because of the overtly brutal way you handled things in the past, and a friendship in which you were too open with someone could haunt you as they use what they know to exploit you and others. As far as good women being attracted to bad men, and people who are attracted to opposites in general, I'm not so sure that those are the same thing. As I have written in many of Non's threads, women, and people in general, are attracted to confidence. Each person has enough of their own problems, they don't want to hang out with someone who's always going to be a downer and emotionally dump on them. They want stability. So they seek confidence, as it's a reflection of "wholeness". At least, that's the THEORY. In practice, there are a lot of insecure people who MASQUERADE as confident. The "bad boy" stereotype is one. Not a person anyone wants to be around for very long, but projects the confidence and capability of someone who is successful. Someone who can provide, and someone who can take you to new places (in the world, in a relationship, etc). Of course, as many people find out, relationships with these people are not good in the long term. Might be a fling, might be a high school/college thing, might be a rebound thing. Marriage/long term partnership? Doubtful. Now some people are very good at faking it, so a lot of people can get fooled for a long time. But eventually the curtain gets pulled back, and everyone sees how they really are. Maybe times are tough, maybe they betray you somehow (in a romantic relationship, this might be cheating on you, on a friendship, it might be betraying your confidence somehow). So you go on to the next guy. The confidence is what people seek out. Now you can have TRUE confidence. The capability combined with the compassion. You don't have anything to prove to anyone because you are completely aware of who you are and who other people are, and what's really important in life. But again, some people are good at faking it, so especially for people who don't know they are looking for the confidence, though they subconsciously know when someone has "something" to them, it's hard to tell.

And on that note, this scene gives me goosebumps every time: Great musical score, great scene. Luke plays into the dark side in order to defeat the dark side, but then realizes that it's a trap! Hate begets more hate? Violence begets more violence? He cuts off the same arm that Vader cut from Luke not too long ago. Parallels with family, the family legacy, etc etc. Powerful stuff!

Hmm, it's a tough question, and depends a lot on what you're looking for. (skip to bold for practical checklist suggestions) I'm not too familiar with where that person is coming from, but some tai chi schools focus on "health and wellbeing" and "universal togetherness", while others are pretty straight forward martially oriented. The health and wellness aspects only go so far as becoming a superior fighter with a superior machine (your body), and drawing as much practical effectiveness out as a problem. Then you consider everything in between, and you've got a lot of potential options. To that extent, some things can be VERY different. I've read accounts that there was some commotion when Chen Fake started teaching Chen style openly, since it looked so different than the popular styles, like the Yang style. Apparently some people said, "oh yeah, tai chi relies on the whole peng, liu, ji, an and things like that, how does Chen style do them?" And Chen Fake was like, "what?" So people started thinking that Chen tai chi wasn't actually tai chi! Then I believe it was Chen Xin, who recorded a lot of the forms and techniques, who said that Chen style tai chi reflected the changes of the eight trigams, so it'd be a lot more like bagua! (though apparently Chen Xin was more a scholar than fighter, and I do believe scholars had a familiarity with the I Ching, but I digress) I've read some rather interesting theories on how and why Yang style tai chi differs so much from Chen, at least in the popular forms that most people know. Some attribute it to Yang Luchan's genius, others to his exchanging of techniques and experiences with other styles, and others to mixing and transmissions with techniques which originate from Wudang. But then others argue if you look at the forms practiced by the main members of the family back when they were well known fighters, how they issued power, and things like that, then the chen influence is obvious (guys like Yang Banhou were especially brutal in how and where they administered force). Asking what the difference is between any one style and another (especially different lineages/traditions/branches of the same style) requires a lot of research and examinations of the nuances and the people who shaped the style. And even within one style/lineage, there are going to be different people who focus on different things, and in different ways. So short of that I would suggest to examine it like you would any other prospective school (martial arts or otherwise): 1) Are their goals in line with your goals? 2) Do they have a systematic level of training which allows them to reach those goals? 3) Is there evidence that the training works- do the students show progress, and if so, how long? Is it across the board? Are there suspicious outliers? (for instance, 2 senior students are really good, the other senior students aren't discernible from an average person, and everybody else has been there with no improvement) 4) Can the teacher walk the walk, or just talk the talk? 5) Do you feel comfortable there? Can you put lots of time in there? 6) Is there room to grow? As in, are the teachers and students MUCH better than you, or just a little? How much progress would you make there? Will you be challenged to take things seriously, or can you float along with minimum effort? I'm sure a few others could be added to the list.

Interesting and informative post there, ninpo!

Well I'm just repeating what's been said. I think that the ultimate judgment should be you and how you feel. I think there are some practical considerations that should be undertaken. When you practice qigong or meditation, your mind needs to be still and your body needs to be open. If you've got something which is constantly going to mess with your mind and your body, it's not conducive to the best practice. If you live in a cool climate, and it's cool outside, and you're practicing, and then a cool wind blows, well, it's going to affect your entire body, and if you're trying to balance stuff out, then it could mess with your concentration and overall togetherness. Then again, a warm breeze on a warm day could make you feel like you're being wrapped in a comfy blanket, and make you feel warm and secure in your practice. And if you like the cool air, then a cool breeze could be refreshing and balancing! Same could go with rain and stuff. I think there is something to be said for experiencing all parts of nature. You know how it goes- words of advice get codified then passed down then adhered to strictly with little to no thought. Sort of like, you should wear layers if it's cold outside! It's just common sense, probably shouldn't read too much into it. Once you got a practice down, and can tell how it affects your body, then you'll be in the best position to decide what's what, I think.

I've heard it to, with qigong and tai chi. Don't remember specific sources off the top of my head, but I'm sure you could find it mentioned by Yang Jwing-Ming in his books, as well as some tai chi books, like the one by Yang Chengfu and Fu Zhongwen. I might have seen it around when talking about standing tai chi practice. Might also be in the Qigong for Health by Dr. Baolin Wu.

Awesome stuff!

People see what they want to see.

(emphasis mine) You brought it up Oh, is that an excuse? I really don't like the word, "excuse". All too often it is used to belittle and dismiss concerns which are, more often than not, quite legitimate. They are only "excuses" to the outsider who fails to understand someone's position. Rather than dismissing someone's position as an "excuse", it's far more constructive to talk to them in rather literal, grounded, specific terms about how to go about achieving your goals, rather than these nebulous statements like, "they will find a way." Perhaps you could make a thread for "grounded in the physical reality logistics of getting money together on a tight budget and making changes in your life to allow for the pursuit and practice of legitimate practices from teachers who are outside your normal social and geographic spheres." Or something to that effect. And I must reiterate the thing about assumptions- the most insidious assumptions, the ones which REALLY undermine our ability to understand one another in subjects like this, are the things we don't even examine. Having a car. Having a credit card. Having a cell phone. Having a computer (maybe people get on TTB from the public library!).

Remember- ALWAYS keep your goals in mind! MAINTAINING A STABLE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FAMILY! Your goal is NOT to "win". To get them to admit to being wrong. Your goal is NOT to convert them to your belief. Your goal is NOT to have them accept your belief system. Your goal is NOT to educate them on the nuances of your practice. As others have pointed out, many of the core teaching of Christianity are wonderful and in line with many others. But religious dogma gets in, and people start flipping out on each other because of the details. Don't get into that. Stick with the overall messages. I suggest rather than saying, "yes, I agree" or something which could be seen as patronizing, say "I see where you're coming from." and "that makes sense." Some might even go so far as to lie, and say, "ah yes, I'll start doing that right away!" but deception may not be the best. If they offer to read the Bible with you, or take you to some services, take them up on the offer, and speak about all the positive aspects of it- good message, good atmosphere, wonderful groups of people, insightful messages and things of that sort. I wouldn't go with Seth Ananda's strategy right off the bat- because usually these things DON'T last for several hours right off the bat. It's usually more of a "oh, I see, hmmmm......" as they judge you initially. Later on if it gets more heated, well, then they can go through all the steps of the denial, anger, weird acceptance, etc etc. If you try it right off the bat, and then, oh look, the evening news has disrupted our conversation in the "anger" portion, well then the last thing they think of you is them being angry at you! As for things like this: Fundamentalists have construed that position to mean that I will not change unless the divine personally shows me. As in, God/Jesus has to go out of His way to do something, and if He doesn't, then He won't get MY stamp of approval, as if my stamp of approval is the only thing that mattered! Instead of my being seen as open to new ideas and willing to follow new things if the appropriate steps happened, I became seen as the egotistical center of the universe, where I'm the final authority on whether or not something is real, and divinity must appease ME and MY opinion (concern yourself not with whether or not the divinity would actually have a hard time with this!) Trying to be "clever" in pointing out contradictions and stuff usually works to my detriment as well (I was raised Catholic, so I already know a lot of the responses to things like that, and in more than a few cases, the source of contradictions are perfectly understandable, and there's no reason to push on a point that we both understand- not good for friendly conversation!) Basically, tread carefully. Remember your goal. It's not to win. It's to survive, if not at least amicably, to get along rather well considering a severe difference of opinion. Depending on the extremity of their fundamentalism, your "round 1" goal is to show them that you aren't a nut, that you are mentally stable, that you aren't possessed, that you don't practice strange rituals or invite potentially evil forces into your body! As others have said, try to use equivalent terminology. Don't say "I meditate, which is sort of like contemplation." Because a fundamentalist already knows what meditation is- emptying your mind to allow the devil to get into you! Trying to convince them otherwise is going to fail! So use equivalent terminology right off the bat. And on that note, always let THEM define the terms. That way they can't go back and say, "that's not what contemplation/prayer is, you wouldn't know, you aren't Christian." Ask them what they perceive to be the correct practice of going about contemplating God's word, or the mercy of Jesus, or things like that, and then use THOSE definitions when explaining your own practices.

[edit] On second thought, nevermind. It's not a conversation I want to get into. My overarching opinion on all matters related to this issue: Keep it real. And remember this. And this. I'll reiterate my first post: I think that it works (and anyone who's kept up with my posts on subjects like this knows my issues ), but that the method is incomplete, and that it is everyone's best interest to find a complete method that teaches the underlying workings on how stuff like this works, otherwise you could be messing with some serious stuff, both in your own life and the lives of others (and the greater universe).

The point is that we get into trouble when we start making assumptions, when we presume to know someone's situation, especially over the internet, and then start making generalized statements about them. "Well I drove X hrs to meet my teachers." -> Maybe another person does not have a car. "Well I saved my extra money to fly to China to meet my teachers." -> Maybe another person lives, literally, paycheck to paycheck, or is unemployed. "Well I made time in my schedule to fit stuff in." -> Maybe another person is busy 24/7. "Obviously you don't care enough, because if you did, you'd at least try to do half the stuff I did." -> I don't think there are many people in a position to accurately gauge that for a person. Question the things you don't question, that you assume to be true by default, and you find there's a lot of ways that things can vary beyond your own scope of experiences.

You'd be surprised.

Driving is always easier when you have a car, isn't it?

Tried it, and worked frighteningly well. The thing that I don't like about it is that you are too disassociated, not involved enough in the mechanism of it. If you can't perceive energy, where the universe is heading, how things are progressing, then you have no idea what it is you are screwing up for whatever offhand reason you want. And I don't like that. So I never tried the method again. And for the record, I practiced the method with 100% skepticism. I was not actually expecting it to work, and that's part of the reason why it bothered me so much when it FAR exceeded my expectations, again, to a frightening level.

Likewise!

Peep, slang for "person". Peeps, multiple persons, "people". Example - "I spent yesterday afternoon hanging with my peeps from thetaobums".

If you don't mind my asking: what perspective are you writing from? Like what tradition/system are you pulling this from? What kind of (and I don't like using this word) "mythology" are you drawing from? Who's become a god? What god has fallen back to earth? How would one become a god? What siddhis have you seen to make you believe in this? Who had them, how did they get them? I ask this because there are a lot of assumptions in your posts, assumptions about how the world works, how things should be, and about how things turns out. By examining where you are getting these ideas, it helps deal with the issue. As an aside, in a couple of posts, Freeform (the user) has mentioned that there are different types of practices, "building up" and "taking apart". It seems to me like a lot of stuff in your posts has to deal with methods of "building up", which causes a lot of problems. Perhaps you should look into a method which involves "taking apart", break down the assumptions you have, take away the things that trap you. You might feel better.

But see this viewpoint is coming from a goal oriented perspective- you are asking yourself "what tangible thing do I get from this?" You answer "nothing", and so conclude the activity is meaningless, "futile and a waste". Yet I ask you to look at the process that goes into it. The process of, "this is what I'm told I can do, how do I break out of it? Can I try this? What about this? What about this new combination?" Now take the process you see while playing a video game, and apply that to business management. Apply it to a new play in a sports team. Apply it to military strategy. Human relationships. Entertainment. ANYTHING. And you allow for innovation and new creativity. Movement and life rather than stagnation and death. As for your suggestion of football, I believe I, and a few others, have already offered a counter point- that your ability to carry that out relies on the proper timing, for instance, whether the weather allows it, and the spatial concerns, for instance, whether you have friends available to play. Many people have friends who move away, or are in situations in which stuff like football isn't an option. Video games allow for that entertainment. But AGAIN, again again again again and AGAIN, I must stress that it's about being able to make good decisions. There is a time for gaming, and there is a time for not gaming. As with anything else, you reach a point of diminishing returns. Where you play so much that any benefits you'd receive are outweighed by detriments. But where that point falls is different for each person and position, so unless you have a proper understanding of the context, it's impossible to say one way or the other in all cases. There are certainly situations in which choosing to play video games is the less desirable option. But there are situations in which strictly adhering to a dogma of "video games are pointless" is going to leave you missing out on what could be a very enlightening experience.

It's hard to say what something's goal is, but something I'll say for video games, and people who consider themselves/are considered "gamers" is that (in my experience), after examining something, they test its boundaries. I sent that around to some of my friends, and we all did the same things- we got the mechanics down, okay, shift to put on clothes, okay, go to work, okay, I see, oh, the same day, day in, day out, okay, that's nice.... hehe, what if I go to work naked? Oh, I can? Sweet. Oh, what if I go the other way, oh look, a bum. Hm, cool. Go where you aren't supposed to go. Do what you aren't supposed to do. Is it outside the box thinking? Is it a reflexive reaction to disobey when someone tells you to do something? I dunno. But it leads to non-linear thought and outside the box thinking. At least, it's what I'd like to think

Oh my gawd, that game was AWESOME!!!!! Okay, here's a tip for when people play: the routine is fun, but find ways to break the routine, do what you AREN'T "supposed" to do, and cool things will happen SPOILER ALERT! (for those too lazy to figure it all out on your own) The old lady in the elevator tells you things at the start like "five more steps until you become a new person" or something like that. This is a clue. There are different ways to can go about your day, and after you accomplish certain things, the counter will go down. After going down the elevator, go left and talk to the homeless person. After going down the elevator, go right, and you can get into your car. Press shift, and you can get out of your car. Move to the left or right and go to the farm, pet the cow, get back to your car, and go to work (I discovered this by accident on my fourth day). In the parking lot of your work there is a tree with a single leaf on it. Wait around a bit and it will fall. Press shift and pick up the leaf. Go into work, go to your cubicle, sit down and work. Then wake up. Or you can walk past your cubicle and jump down and commit suicide. Either way, you'll wake up in your bed the next day. Go to work naked, as in, don't press shift to put clothes on. Your boss will fire you. Of course, you'll wake up the next day and go to work! Sometimes I didn't turn off the alarm. Sometimes I'd turn the tv on or off. After you've accomplished everything, you wake up one morning and everyone is gone- your wife isn't there, the bum isn't there, the elevator lady isn't there, your boss isn't there, none of the workers are there. Even the cow is gone.... run to the far right of the balcony, and witness someone jumping. That ends the game. Of course, that's not the point, but if anyone wants to see all that happens, yeah. There's a lot of detail in the game. (the whole process took me about 10-15 minutes). WONDERFUL.

HA. About every 2-3 weeks, without fail, there is at least one new masturbation thread. Been that way for a while. Not going to be offending many people with it. Do a search for some past threads for longer discussions. As for me, I say do what's natural and what feels healthy for your body. Some people do some pretty crazy things to impose the whole "don't lose fluids" thing to their body, and they wind up screwing it up and causing a LOT more harm than good. My best advice is to just ejaculate when you feel you have to. Because it's meant to come out that way during sex. I think that different traditions/schools have different methods for dealing with sex (because as you say, it's a natural part of life, so a tradition dealing with living life would include a chapter or two on sex) and various techniques, but they have their own trick, and a proper method of handling/balancing/circulating/releasing the energy when the situation calls for it. Since there is a big risk to your body, I'd say to find someone who can teach you a FULL method of dealing with sex, and by that, I mean a full method which addresses ALL aspects of health, of which sex is just a part. Unless you pay EXTREMELY close attention to your body, and know when something is going wrong, then you might be able to get away with it, but only with lots of trial and error, and plenty of failure. Retaining the way you describe is just a very small part of a very small part of cultivating the energy of the body, as a result, it is partial, incomplete, and if I had to guess based on what's happened in the past, if you're lucky you're only going to screw yourself up to a point that you can fix it later on with a more comprehensive, balanced method.

Just speaking for myself here, I typically don't hold stuff to people very long, especially on the internet. I've agreed with plenty of people in one thread, then vehemently disagreed with them in the next. Unless there is a long term, significant trend which dictates a type of post that is repeatedly made, I treat each post as just a post and each thread as a thread, doing my best not to carry too much baggage from one to the other. Maybe it's not applicable in this instance, but perhaps something to keep in mind. If I have the right to change my mind, and act differently in one post or one thread than I do another, so do other people. I'll address each with whatever response I feel it best deserves from me