Cameron

Your starting to make me nervous..I don't know that I want to party with you and try to pick up girls in the city when I come out...you'll probably get me drunk and hook me up with an attractive transvestite as a joke or something.... *decides Plato is too weird to hang with*

You dare?

Glad to have you here

BTW..everyone..Buddy studied directly with BK Frantzis for like 10 years so it is a real honor for him to join our discussions..

We used to Instant Message all the time like 6 or 7 years ago. Remember I was living in Atlanta at the time and we would talk about your teacher and I was studying with Michael Winn at the time. You said something really funny one time on IM when I said something Michael said about Yiquan and I literally just thought about it and laughed to myself the day before you came on here. Wild coincedence/synchronicity

The way I see it your not in a position to be talking about "freedom of expression" in MA until you have "done your time" studying with an expert/master whatever for a considerable amount of time. I don't know how long you studied aikido..I did on and off 7 years..and I would still call myself a beginner of aikido. It's not about mimicking someones technique .When I would train in class with O'sensei's students who had near flawless technique at no point do I think "Ok, what is my expression of that?" my thinking was "These guys trained with O'sensei, lived with him at his dojo, for like 10 years..they probably know a little more about this than I do..I should just shut up and try to get something because if I can get just a little of what they had that would a success in my mind." It about learning the proper way to use your body. Maybe you can get this with rmax stuff faster..I don't take away the possibility..but the subtle movements of doing technique through the hips rather than using brute force or muscle, which is actually a trait of both BJJ and Aikido masters, the intricate and subtle timing involved that your only going to see with an advanced teacher and through hard training with other students, all that simply involves learning from eachother through repetitive execution of techniqe(kote gaesh or whatever) and then free execution, rolling..randori..going out on the street and challenging a dude to a fight

This reminds me of the shu ha ri form of studying a martial art from an Aikido master .Well, not from him but he talks about it. The first stage is shu which he classifies as self negation stage .It is a negation of the self since it is a period where you learn/absorb the art from your teacher .It's not about your personality and special contribution to the art it's about shutting up and following your teacher. The second stage, Ha, is about self affirmation. After a period of study(Let's say 5 years minimum) you learned all the techniques of the art pretty much and learned your teachers system. Now you can explore .You break away from following your teacher to becoming more of a martiala rtist yourself .You develop your own style of the art or unique expressions. Ri is the 3rd stage .He called this a stage of transcedence. You basically go beyond the teacher/student duality. Leaving behind thoughts of negation and affirmation. Basically your a master of the art at this point .You could probably teach your teacher something and probably be a teacher yourself. Rough translation but it's an interesting breakdown of the process studying MA seriously. Cam

I have nothing against goals I even got Plato into Fureyism he is just talking shit as he is prone to do every few months(Being a human/alien hybrid from midtown) I am just in allow everything to be as it is..resting in your being mode at the moment.. I could easily switch to a top 10 goals list mentality(doubtful though) and I don't judge any of it. It's all good man!

Dude....loosen up...Damn New Yorkers always have to get somewhere Seriously, the vibe in Az is more mellow..you would probably chill out if you lived somewhere else. I know because if I was in NYC I would probably be in that mode to don't waste my time! Cam(who does things for the enjoyment of them and doesn't have a problem with goals but does think there is more to life than goals). But represent that all you like maybe in a few years I'll come around to your Fureyism.

All of these ideas are worked out in the DOING of martial art. I couldn't imagine ever being arrogant enough to look at my BJJ teacher who can almost effortlessly do technique from diffrent positions and go "Yeah, you know I can just figure that out on my own". I don't really make too much of a distinction anymore between what is the best art nonsense. I asked the board whether I should do Aikido or BJJ but I had really already decided to stick with BJJ, you all just gave me some good feedback. But I don't think another art is inferior since IMO the most important part of ANY art is the TRAINING. Mind, Body, Spirit..Focus..pushing through personal barriers. And I don't like the narrow "what is your goal" approach so much anymore. It is very limited. Ok..you got a goal..now what..another goal..I only have one goal in MA now..learn the technique then forget the techniqe since it has become second nature. To be honest for BJJ it will probably take atleast 5 years to get there. If I started back at aikido probably another year or 2. So BJJ is definetly more of challenge for me..and that is not a bad thing.. It's a process..someone who just takes a few weekend classes can't understand what a real martial artist goes through and faces in himself. You can tell pretty quickly who the real ones are just by there presence..

ummm...It's an awesome workout and it's fun? I can handle myself in a fight from what I learned years ago at some point it's jsut not about that man. it's not about goals it's about training.

Interesting question. I would say all the basic qigong meditation enhance sensitivity to qi. The main difference between Bruces stadning and Ken's is Bruce has you go trhough in dissolving process. You dissolve from the top of the ehad to your feet level by level. Ice to water to gas. It's an interesting practice. I like Ken's better because it is based more on empty mind/zen .basically you sit and stand and just watch the quality of qi and presence. After a few months probably you will have developed a real sensitivity to the qi flow. For me when the qi is flwoing it is a feeling of warmth flowing through my body and a feeling of fullness of energy. Ken definetly talks about it in his book . And he adds some science and studies done at universities and stuff which I appreciate. Check them both out there probably both excellent anyway. Cam

WOW Dude..I literally just thought of you for the first time in YEARS yesterday. WOW.. It's you old buddy Cameron from Taoist IM days on AOL..or should I say Taojen

Bruce seems pretty solid. The guy I study with now studied with Bruce and teaches some of the dissolving stuff. It's definetly a cool apprach. I personally prefer Ken's appraoch and reccomend his book first as it does give the basics and more practices to work on. As well as dealing with sexual energy which Bruce's books don't really address as far as I remember. Except the water method one..something about Tofu or something... Still, I would jump at the chance to train with Bruce live and probably/hopefully will at some point. His path sounds very familiar in how he started with aikido and then internal stuff on his own before going to China. Definetly one of the big characters of the Taoist world. Your not Buddy Trip are you?

hehe..sounds good. I keep seeing you walking around the sundance film fesitival in a creative frenzy doing stuff Cam ps. Also, have you ever though about Architecture? Here in Scottsdale there is a super contemporary style. Some houses for millions carved out of the side of a mountain. Sedona is also a kind of mecca for artisst and architects. I could see you get into that easily if you wanted. Hell you could probably design crazy lofts for movie stars. Frank Lloyd Wright art and architecture is big here. Ever see his stuff?

I can see you as an art director or even cutting edge film director(if you wanted) I know your not in love with this country but you could probably express those views and artisitic sensibilities. I think Americans are pretty open to change or different options(even paying top dollar for them, LOL). Hell, most of our top actors and artists probably like hangin' in Europe as much if not more than America anyway so it's right up your alley. Cam

Probably because Tai Chi isn't a "workout" like Yoga can be. If done correctly I doubt Tai Chi is borning but more like a movement form of Qigong and internal MA. It's probably best it's not taught as much mainstream so it doesn't get completely watered down like Yoga is now.

I agree. I had an economics class a few months ago and asked that very question "is it possible the US could ever have another depression like the great depression?" My teacher said it could never happen .We have too many safeguards in place to prevent it. the economy as far as I can tell is very strong. Some of the people who talk like this beleive the world is run by a secret govenrnment of reptillian alien creatures and think David Icke is an authentic spiritual teacher. If you want to respect the views of a guy who thinks the Queen of England is a lizard(no, I am not kidding that's what he says) by all means but don't expect me to pay much attention to what you say.

You can play with it. I am mostly working with the foundation practices of sitting(in the book he calls entering tranquilty) and standing meditation. I would try doing it before gathering and after and see what feels more natural .For me going from yin to yang in the morning(stillness to movement) and then yang to yin at night(movement to stillnesss) is the way to go. So, brocades are a movement practice and standing is a stillness practice. I would do standing first in the morning and brocades after. Or do brocades at night followed by entering tranquility(quiet meditaiton). Bone marrow cleansing comes before standing because he calls it a purification system of qigong .He also considers healing sounds a purification ystem. You purify the qi before gathering new, fresh qi. I often just skip the purification stage though I like the bone marrow set. Cam

Oh really? I always heard Bally's Tao Chi Master's had a great reputation in the internal MA community. NOT!

LOL. Ime just kidding man .Though I suspect you secretely upset with me for choosing BJJ instead of Aikido and denying aliens existence.. Cam(who doesn't think the US economy is going to collaspe and the world won't end in 2012).

You need to put an ad in Tuscon personals "searching for Tai Chi teacher who got beat up". Hey, maybe he is your next Sifu!!

You must have alot of balls talking to me like that... *pwns self*

LOL@people who beleive in Aliens! There are NO alien life on other planets. In fact I DARE an alien intelleigence to show up and say they are from another planet to my face! It won't ever happen since they don't exist! If they do exist they have NO BALLS for staying hidden and not introducing themselves properly! But they don't exist so don't have an imaginary fantasy about aliens with no balls. *eagerly awaits alien showing up and giving tour of solar system and hanging out like in 80's movies*