Cameron

NICE!

I feel it is more about the teacher first than martial art. You can have a good martial art with mediocre teacher or mediocre art with great teacher. Also, if your going to be doing it long term it should be enjoyable. Some dojo give free classes to try it out. At very least I would sit and just watch classes and diffferent schools to feel the vibe of the place and teacher. Also, the students, I have been turned off some schools from the students. The school I train in has a very relaxed and laid back energy but the training is hard. Also, having had a BJJ teacher and also having more laid back qigong teachers I would personally find it hard to back to calling someone sensei or sifu or master every sentence but maybe that's just me. The MA and meditation teachers I am attracted to basically see themselves on the same level as there students just having fun and training together. Cam

It depends. Ken might have already known who is good at what. For example, Jessie already knows BJJ well enough and it looks like most of the guys on the team are already exprerienced. Also, you can make the argument that your can't really teach that much BJJ in 2 months or whatever and it's best to focus on conditioning. People don't realize the guy Ken brought in is a top nutrition and strength coach so he wil probably be teaching them alot of other stuff besides diet. As far as I remember Ken has never been submitted so it's an interesting philosophy. Just get them big and strong and brawl. Also, Tito brought in a top BJJ guy but he doesn't have the years of experience coaching Ken does. Ken is more like a father figure coach Tito is more like a friend who can beat you up. It will be interesting.

A big thread on meditation and physical training. Of course, there is more of a pro meditation, pro 'Qi' stance since Dragondoor started out as a qigong recource before introducing Pavel. Also John Du Cane is obviously very pro qigong. However, there are clearly some guys who are very anti the type of meditations many of us here do. http://forum.dragondoor.com/training/message/397005/

Since we are really going deep here I wonder if anyone wants to address the flip side of the coin of morality. Sure we are all on "The path" and following a so called spiritual way but what about people not following the path. Does going outside the borders of percieved ethical action and morality lead to suffering? If so, why is this? I more or less take the Taoist and zen view that everything is connected so when you have negative thoughts or do "bad" things this causes a kind of invisible energy that has an effect on your karma. But is this just more hocus pocus or do we we really feel how powerfully we can effect eachother and the world? Have you ever found engaging in "unethical" action caused your life to be damaged spiritually or in other ways? Is there room in spiritual practice for unethical or morally corrupt action or does this absolutely have to be cleared up first before a person can have an enlightenment experience or connection to the Tao etc. Pretty wide open just say what you feel without judgement.

I would create them in my imagination and literally get lost for days Video games sort of took the place of that when I got the first nintendo system. Instead of create worlds with my imagination and play in them I could watch it on the screen and interact with a controller. Martial arts became a gateway to start using my imaginaiton again for awhile but not like when I was a kid. I wouldn't be able to hold a job if my imaginationw as still like that! I also did poorly in elementry school since I would bring this right into class. I would be 'spacing out' thinking of other worlds or whatever instead of what the teacher was talking about.

The plot thickens! http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/04/geo...a-bush-and.html

My friend, the grudge between those two is what got me into UFC in the first place

Is Pavel ready to sell you some kettlebells!?

Sean, I notice I can better understand your posts after having a beer. Sorry, carry on with discussions.

Glad you got a job for the holidays Max! Think he can beat Fedor? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4mzu5-NPFs...ch=Iron%20Shiek

sexy NYC chic...

Adyashanti might say allow yourself not to know. Really get into that not knowing state and realizae that is the truth. Then this not knowing state eventually reveals a true understanding. The very act of trying to know or understand something implies a seperate knower to understand that which is known. IMO this is illusion. But it can be fun to a point.

Sleeping "I have to have eight hours of sleep. I can go on six hours for one night, but then I have to have eight. Sleep is huge. I go from one show to another, but I find a way to get enough sleep. They have to move the call time, they have to do something, because I have to have sleep. You have to give your body a chance to recharge." Isolation tank "I have a Samadhi isolation tank heated to 93.5 degrees. It's soundproof and completely dark, and I go in there for a couple of hours at a time, You don't realize how much stress you carry around in your muscles and tissue until you lie in this completely buoyant environment. After about 15 minutes, you stop feeling where the water is and where the air is. It's like floating in space. I come out completely energized." Yoga "The first time I ever took a yoga class, they couldn't believe I'd never taken one before because I'm so flexible. My girlfriend's a yoga fiend, and she got me into it. I thought it was going to be silly, but it's a great workout." Breathing "From jujitsu and yoga I've learned to focus on my breathing when I'm stretching. The key is taking in a deep, long breath, then pushing it out long and slow. When you control your breath, you control your heart rate. Being conscious of your breath helps when you're nervous or stressed. Breathing is such a huge part of life and the proper functioning of your body, but most people don't think about breathing. They just let it happen."

The opposite of having a nice afternoon..

Hi Crocodile Hunter! Or should I say G'day Mate!

Scott is all class.

I don't bother talking about my workouts in realationship to spiritual practice since I have seen them as one for a long time now. When I briefly practiced with Roshi John Loori in NY I learned about his Eight Gates of Zen system which basically says everything you do is Zen. Whether it is actually doing zazen or work or art or body practice or study of sutras. Whatever it is you are doing in your life is a potential gateway to the gateless gate of zen satori. But I also always heed what Loori said about enlightenment. He said, even in the golden age of zen in China, when the Emperor was a Buddhist. Even then, very, very few people practiced zen(much less became enlightened). So, it's nice to talk about with friends who have the same kind of views but to bring this kind of stuff up with other people who have there own highly developed systems and concept(read:your debate with Scott) For the most part I don't bother as it would seem like a waste of time. But just like you said, ANY practice can become a gate to experiening the primordial witness and ultimately breaking the egg shell of the SELF. Whatever doing martial art, yoga, or gardening.

I don't think so Michael. There were serious issues Sean had with Scott(I wasn't aware of them) involving his views on his system. I always take the view that it's the guys system, it's his website, he can say whatever he wants on there it's not my business but Sean knew Scott better and Sean is into "all the unneccissary qi stuff etc"(obviously) so had something to say. Scott more or less ignored Sean's questions and referred him back to his own system as having all the answers. Then it got ugly. I don't think it was a mistake or bad timing. Actually there is no such thng as such. Perhaps lack of awareness or listening to another in the present moment would be better. I think if someone is in a 'bad mood' or looking for trouble your better off taking a month off from posting. I don't think either Scott or Sean sounded that way though Scott did say he just came off a 3 day workshop or something.

I am suprised Max didn't tell us about these before. In this one Bill talks about aliens and how ancient cultures already knew about them. And how Buddha knew about all the different universes and classified them. He has other articles on here that I don't think are on his website. Pretty interesting reads if you have the time. http://www.aumara.com/espirit-center/modul...rticle&sid=1354

Oh, unless I am mistaken it looks like Scott erased the thread?

I wasn't serious. Change the flow of thread to Taoist morality your take on sexual yoga, or how to win friends and influence pople as you like.

Go the the Bill Bodri articles thread and you shall find answers to the questions that you seek.