Sloppy Zhang
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Everything posted by Sloppy Zhang
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I know I keep repeating this across almost all threads, but seriously, "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body" by B.K. Frantzis teaches an excellent method to not only feel your energy, but release tension and blockages in your physical and your energetic body. You will start to feel how everything is connected, and you will eventually be able to directly feel how various TCM channel work is helping, and what areas you need to focus on. The fact that you can feel your own blood and the electricity in your brain means you have a good potential for feeling inside of yourself, which is perfect for Frantzis' method
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Thanks gold
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Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong. The book is a little pricey, but the exercises are simple, low impact, and will allow you to feel your own energy in no time, which is crucial for any further work in Taoist energy work or self healing.
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I don't have Hayes' kuji related DVD's, however I have some of his other DVD's on martial arts. He is an excellent teacher, and even in DVD form teaches very clearly and covers a lot of ground in an efficient, easy to understand manner. It's my understanding that Hayes was really interested in spirituality as much as he was in martial arts, so if he teaches the kuji in the same way he teaches martial arts, I'd say the DVD's are definitely worth the money.
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The Tao Bums. Wait...
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Wow, really glad to hear about that. Who did you train with? Nah, I don't think it was you as a "bad student". I've heard mixed things when it comes to internal development in aikido. Apparently various people within Aikido have had conflicting views on the role of "ki" development in aikido, what it is, and how to make the most effective use of it. I've also heard it's one of those things that is "discovered" rather than "taught". So rather than developing some system of exercises that will develop it naturally over the course of practice (like tai chi and other IMA's seem to do, even if you train in them solely for martial applications), in aikido it's one of those "the students with the proper attitude will get what they need to know." Not to say you didn't have the right attitude but.... you know it may also be something that some teachers don't even understand fully themselves, so it's just not talked about. Maybe that was an identical third message in the triple post? But yeah winpro, you've made a lot of good posts in the past but then go back and delete them
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Been reading "Opening the Dragon's Gate", by any chance Anyway, on topic... First learn to distinguish between the different energies within yourself. This can be done with meditation, introspection, understanding the elements, where they occur in the body, the emotions they are associated with, the organs they are associated with, etc etc. Then practice feeling various energies in other things- people, places, animals, plants, etc etc. Then learn to distinguish between the different elements within those other things, then find something that is most representative of the element you want at that time. Or find a Chinese teacher to tell you! In either case, both will be a long process. With the former you have to train yourself, and with the latter you have to gain the trust of the teacher to impart these secrets on to you. Good luck!
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The "ming men" is occasionally called the "door of life" or something like that.
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B.K. Frantzis' two part book series "Relaxing Into Your Being" and "The Great Stillness" gives an excellent introduction to Taoist concepts, terms, and methods in various traditions, as well as giving basic meditation exercises that you can do. It is oriented completely towards a beginner with nearly no prior knowledge of Taoism.
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I dunno, I'm a westerner and I just want what works. Look at UFC and the rise of MMA. That is a prevalent opinion. People don't care about what belt your is or what style your art is called. If you can make the other guy tap or kiss the floor, that's all anyone cares about. My first experience with "frauds" came from martial art frauds. Plenty of them could come up with some lineage, and even had it all on a drawing in front of the dojo. I was really serious into their martial art, really bought into the whole "a trained fighter can beat any guy off the street." I was real into the training and the discipline. Then one guy joined the dojo, and after a couple months started sparring. I was taller than most full grown men when I was 16, so I was picked as a sparring partner a lot. This guy dominated me. Really shook me to the core. Stuff I had been diligently working in, believing every word, was completely useless. Since then, I have put my spiritual seeking in the same as my martial arts seeking. I got into the internal martial arts, and when I started reading about the history of these arts I was really surprised, especially about tai chi. I had always thought of tai chi as this peaceful, relaxing art. A lot of people wrote about "flowing with conflict, not getting caught up." Then I read stories about Yang Luchan, Yang Banhou, Yin Fu, and others, and how these guys were "working hard" and "sweating" during tai chi, and how they fought all these people. I realized that internal martial arts were the same as any other martial art: martial. Spiritual seeking, cultivation, advancing to find "reality" has to have the same amount of discernment and no need for bullshit that any nitty gritty martial artist should have. It should all be reality tested in situations that are as real as possible. That really sucks. He won't be losing anything by trying. Can't comment on Santiago, but I felt a massive wave of energy just by looking at a picture of Max (I remember a picture of him was posted in a thread once). I watched a lecture video on the website, and got a similar rise in energy. He is one of the few people that I can honestly say I got an energy reaction from just by looking at, and that was enough to validate Kunlun, or at least Max, for me.
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So a little while ago I was taught a mudra in a dream. Now, I have started to use this mudra in my daily practices, but the other day was a long day, and I hadn't done my scheduled practice, and I was on the bus home, when I decided to do a little meditation, and I formed the mudra as I leaned my elbows on my knees, and the mudra was between my legs. It's not a real flashy mudra. However, I looked up a couple minutes later and someone across and off to the side from me (she was an older woman, around 50) was staring quite intently at my hands, I got a sinking feeling like I had just been "observed", I put my hands in my pockets and leaned back, and didn't use it for the rest of the day. The next day I used the mudra, and it had a very different feel to it- not at all as it had been feeling in the past couple of days. Now certain traditions and systems say that one must keep personal things, like personal mudras and things, secret, because when you use something like that it gathers power in a certain way, and if someone else were to find out about it they could tap into the power that you had spent so much work making. My question is.... am I just being paranoid? Was this lady tapping into my power (even if it was subconsciously), stealing it? Or am I just jumping at shadows? Is it still safe to use? The thing is that in the context of my dream, I was in a group of people all learning the mudra, so it does have some sort of a "group" component, but I'm not sure if it was meant to be limited to just that group... so I was hoping if I could get everyone's thoughts on the matter.
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Yang Lu Chan with Taiji, Yin Fu with bagua, and many others.... What was their accreditation? They walked into town and said, "I can beat anyone. If you don't believe me, step right up." Otherwise they said, "I practice martial arts." Other people said they looked feeble and weak, and were proven wrong. Martial arts has ALWAYS been about what WORKS. If you have a system that you think is better, you PROVE IT. Period. It's been fairly recently that people have made a big deal about lineages, about who learned from whom, about whether your technique is "internal", or "external", about whether you are a stand up fighter, or a ground fighter. A lot of that has to do with legality, sure, you can't just walk into town and challenge someone to a public duel in which one or both might have permanent serious injury or death. But there are plenty of avenues in which you can prove you have what it takes to win. If your taiji, for example, is so great, you will be fine in MMA. Your rooted power will prevent you from being taken down, and your ability to stick to and flow with your opponent means you will easily have them in a lock while they sustain a minimum of injury. Real martial arts is about proving you have the stuff. That's how it has always been. If people ask you on what grounds you have the right to speak, you tell them who you have fought and who you have defeated. If you want people to find out about your style, you show everyone what it can do. Pretty straight forward, in my opinion.
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The dissolving method taught by B.K. Frantzis in his book "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body" is the best, in my opinion. It is natural, can be learned by anyone at any stage, and can always be relied on to relax and let go of any excess energy, mental stress, physical stress, anything. It is your solid foundation and your comfy cushion
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I saw this article on AOL earlier today and it caught my attention: here. I for one felt really inspired and happy when I read this.
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There are several different types of sleep. Dreams occur during the REM stage, which is typically the last stage that we enter during sleep. In the REM stage the brain is active and the body is still resting. In stages prior to REM sleep, the the brain is at different levels of functionality, but is pretty much at a lot lower activity than in REM sleep. The body and the mind are resting, so you don't really dream in these stages. You need to get both kinds of sleep. Now, if you are doing dream work, you are really aiming to get that good quality REM sleep, as that is where a lot of stuff is happening. But if you are pushing it for a while, your body is going to need to get those other kinds of sleep, and eventually you will catch up and just go right to a deep sleep, no dreams. Also, as REM stage is the last stage you enter during sleep, the amount of time you spend sleeping is going to affect how many dreams you have/how clearly you remember them. Most people don't enter REM stage until about 3-4 hours after they start to sleep. And even then, not many people recall early REM stage dreams- your mind has just woken up, they are usually pretty fuzzy and not really coherent. Later REM stage dreams are easier to recall because your mind has been active for a while. So examine how much you push yourself to dream, examine how much sleep you have been getting recently, and any sleep patterns. Now in one of B.K. Frantzis' books he mentions that most of the time dreams represent stuff that creates blockages, or are otherwise things you need to let go of through the dissolving practice. What I take it to mean when I hear "high level masters don't dream" is that they have reached a point where they don't hold on to stuff that creates dreams, and their mind is still enough that it doesn't start generating things on its own. When their mind has rested and begins to wake, there is nothing to sort through, it has all been let go, so the master wakes, no need to dream. Needless to say, not a lot of people are at that point
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I'm going to disagree. If you don't believe in qi, taiji is nothing more than extremely subtle and efficient movement, control of center of gravity, sensitivity, and timing. If you do believe in qi, then the fact that you are alive means you have qi flowing, which means you can learn to harness that qi to improve your martial arts, regardless of whether you have the MCO open or not (though again, you'd have energy flowing through it at least a little bit whether you try to or not by virtue of being alive). I know the microcosmic orbit is a big step in qigong and overall energy work but..... I just don't see why so many people place such a huge deal on it.
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It was much more than two cents to me. Thank you very much
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If you could speak to an enlightened person...
Sloppy Zhang replied to awake's topic in General Discussion
Hm... I dunno. Not that I disagree with what you're saying, it just seems a bit... I dunno, a bit fishy. I mean, what's with enlightenment if you can't even perceive when you are confusing the hell out of someone? If you don't even have the empathy/sympathy to know what kind of teachings will be relevant for them, then have you been doing? Otherwise you are just an eccentric old man. Plenty of those around. Are they enlightened? I dunno. But then again, this isn't the "what is enlightenment" thread so..... yeah. I guess the question to ask an enlightened person is, "do you remember what it was like not being enlightened?" -
If you could speak to an enlightened person...
Sloppy Zhang replied to awake's topic in General Discussion
There are good points made on each side. In Franz Bardon's Initiation Into Hermetics, an important step for teaching is learning transplantation of consciousness- pretty much, you see the world from the perspective of any item, animal, or person. For a high level adept, it means you can understand how someone thinks, their personality, and, for teaching, how they think and what kind of things they will understand. If a teacher can connect with and understand with a student in this way, they can communicate everything. Then there are people who speak to the masses in ways that everyone can find meaning- be it on the surface or even at a deep level. The same message goes out but it helps everyone no matter what level they are on. A lot of people say that part of enlightenment is seeing things how they are, without all the covering up that everyone puts on stuff. So in some sense, even someone not seeking cultivation would benefit from a discussion from an enlightened teacher, as the teacher could reveal the universe to them. Then again, maybe the teacher is telling them things that they will understand only at a later date. So.... it could go both ways. -
Ah, I see. That makes sense, thanks Guess I've been missing some good opportunities for practice
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I asked fiveelementtao for his perspective on this issue, and he gave two great responses via PM: I followed up by asking on whether I should continue with using the mudra: Thanks again 5ET for the wonderful responses And thank you to everyone else who has contributed to this thread. You all really helped me out a lot. And of course, if there's anything anyone wants to add, feel free to
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Relaxation, attentiveness, visualization
Sloppy Zhang replied to Encephalon's topic in General Discussion
I'm not a physical fitness expert or claim to know how the body works best in athletics, and you might know more from being a trainer, but from what I can tell... Everything works better when you are relaxed. Even in sports requiring the most muscular exertion, the top athletes train to relax. If you are tense you won't be able to use muscles as effectively, and you will waste energy. The link to the fight science video from about a week ago on the "crane kung fu" guy had the narrator say that we can keep our body balanced more easily when we are relaxed. I've done some experiments with that and found it to be true. Same with mental focus. It's easy to focus on something when you are relaxed. As for how to get to that relaxed state.... you need to practice relaxing. All there is to it. Stretching and working out will give you a flexible body, but not necessarily a relaxed body. B.K. Frantzis has an article on that here But increase in physical activity can create a level of body awareness in which you figure out where you need to relax, and over time you learn naturally how to conserve energy and things as you go, which usually involves some sort of relaxation. But I guess I should also throw out there that "relax" doesn't mean "go limp". I remember I was in 7th grade when I first found out about wing chun. All my life I had done karate, which was very much, you know, "tough", right. So I went to this wing chun school and the guy showed me the arm position, held at 45 degrees to deflect blows. He said, "relax." I said, "okay." Then my partner threw a punch, and my hand flew back and hit me in the face The teacher was like, "relax, don't go limp! Firm, but not rigid." So when many people hear "relax" they think, "oh yeah, like you're going to sleep." And then their body goes limp. But it's not like that. I don't know if I could put it in any sort of category (like a trinity), as I don't know what it would be paired up with... but relaxing is very important. -
If you could speak to an enlightened person...
Sloppy Zhang replied to awake's topic in General Discussion
This. I've met a lot of guys who, if they don't claim to be enlightened, claim to have some sort of realization that is above everyone else.... and they fail in just being a normal person. Their speech is abrasive, they get stuck and obsessed in pointless and stupid stuff, they play childish mind games and all that stuff. I don't even ask these people anything, I don't bother talking to them, because they aren't anywhere near where I want to be. Before I get around to asking an enlightened person a question, I want to verify they are what everyone says they are (because from what I hear enlightened people don't claim they're enlightened ) and to do that, you have to do what Trunk said. After that... who knows, because I haven't succeeded in finding one
