thelerner

Nothing wrong with hard training but don't cripple yourself, not now and not in the future with arthritis, a common, painful ailment for those who abused bones and joints in there younger age. It's a real bane for older martial artists. The second video shows someone hitting hard, full force, but he's hitting padding. That seems good. Imo, You can develop power without heavy calluses that come from hitting and being hit repeatedly. Intense is good, masochistic is not. At times its a fine line. Its good to talk to older members to see how well they're doing physically, what injuries they have gotten and are common. If you become a long time martial artist, no mugging will ever steal close to amount of money you've paid for lessons and (probably) no beating will match the pain you'll get if you've spent 20 years tearing down your body faster then it can repair itself.

My main information on Taoist reincarnation also comes from Michael Winn. And Taoism doesn't really have a 'bible' of must believes. So from him I get we're a collection of multiple souls, one or two reincarnate the others separate to find other gigs. In a Mussar class I was taking came a Jewish belief (note there are a couple) in a multi-part soul. Where one 'soul' is permanent and an aspect of God, others are shaped by the individual. Not that far from Taoism though none of the 'organ god' stuff.

The more generalizations a person has, the more black and white they see the world. Too often it leads to short hand thinking. Which may be fine when you're under the gun, but given time, spend it getting a little deeper into history, motivations and outcomes. Avoid when you can, falling into Them is bad, Me's is good thought patterns. Let me make a generalization here: Man is more rationalizing then rational and the internet is an awesome (&awful) tool for meeting like minds to find evidence that you are exactly right. Even when one is full of shit.

See, I think I am them. Not to the extreme, but its in me, lurking. Not to practice or encourage or feed such dark personas/emotions but its good to acknowledge that in different circumstances, perhaps extremes ones I am victim, aggressor, uncaring user. Worse, in minor ways, I am those every day. That I'd do well to stay mindful and stay out of such extremes. The poem also points to another truth. That the bliss of sun and soil, feeling a universal growth and warmth is also possible.

I am very moderate 40% of the time. Moderately moderate 40% and only a little moderate the other 40% livin' large

The poem in the OP made me think of this powerful one by Thich Nhat Hanh. It's sad, filled with pain but at the same time, its real and points to a wider maybe inhuman or divine perspective. Please Call Me by My True Name .. I am a frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond. And I am the grass-snake that silently feeds itself on the frog. I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin a bamboo sticks. And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda. I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate. And I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving. I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands. And I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my people, dying slowly in a forced labor camp. My joy is like Spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. My pain is like a river of tears, so vast it fills the four oceans. Please call me by my true names, ..

Wait a second. You had a teacher named Doctor Love? Whoa, that takes balls to go into the teaching profession with a name like that. Everyone must ask- 'What do they call you?' and wait hoping he'll say it.. so they can repeat it.

Welcome, we can use spiritual people with a good sense of humor. and thank you for the bum comment, its getting larger but is still shapely

<sigh> just tried to get tickets to Apogaea, the Colorado Burning Man regional. Sold out in seconds . I'm on the waiting list for the Michigan Lakes of Fire. We'll see what comes. I wish there were more regionals, even if they were done cheapyly and amateurishly. addon> 2 years later in 2019 I would make it to Apogaea. Lotta fun, cool people but strangely no camp fires or burning effigies big or small allowed, due to fire restrictions in the area. Still it had the spirit.

If you can't be with the ones you hurt, then help the ones you're with. or so the song goes. Sometimes helping others isn't so much about them, sometimes its not about making amends, rather its about changing the way you think and act. Moving to be a better person.

I'm more an orbit guy then chakra. I think the locations are important, I'll spend some time there but don't have any particular visualizations, feelings or in-depth theories about them. Just wanted to give people a place to write down there thoughts and practices on chakras. How much are they stressed in your system? How do you see them? Is open and closed an absolute or in degrees? How do they interact with the Micro cosmic orbit?

Ancient Japanese.. such training goes on, even in the states. The St. Louis Ki Society had special winter training that was misogi. After 2 days of martial arts, hands to hand, weapon and meditation including ye olde time Shinto chanting with iron bells they head for a running river (first weekend in January) go in, do ki-aia's, dunk a few few times, more ki-aia's. The first year I joined in, it was extremely cold, there was ice on parts of the river and a long walk back to the Inn. We were told the only way to get through it was to give the chanting meditation everything we had, leave no energy behind. Good advice, worked pretty well. Not quite meditating long term under a waterfall, but its getting to first base. Wim Hof retreats get pretty misogi-ish, haven't been on one of those, but I did Polar Plunge in 33 F Lake Michigan last month and in the final weeks of Wim Hof method you meditate a bit outside and jog around barefoot in the snow. So, some of that spirit is still out there.

We may want to bait it with some good thought provoking threads. ie, Why did you join? What do you hope to get out of it? What would the perfect spiritual forum look like? Do you have a special talent or skill? Something you've worked on for decades? What is the one important thing? Da Bums Coffee (& Te) Clique Cafe, sit, gripe, write great thoughts, repeat.

I ask myself 'What will my next thought be?' Usually that leads to silence, then I'll turn my senses to my body, see where its tense and try to relax it.

I never make generalizations about generalizations. except that one time.. addon> damnit Brian got to it first..

The Wim Hof is way different then the Ki-breathing done in many Aikido dojos. Wim Hof is 30 to 40 fast deep breaths followed by a very long hold done after breathing out versus the slow deep even breaths of Aikido, which tended to culminate in a one minute long breath cycle. Forcing is pretty much never a virtue in Aikido, but in the Wim Hof method you want to see how low you can go, alkalizing the body, physically hacking the brain and body with a specific kind of stress, that triggers a deep relaxation. Still, I'm wondering if I can combine the two somewhat. How far I can control the suffocation response or relax into it, which to me, means quitting earlier then I've been doing. The ultimate hope that through relaxation I'll equal or better my times versus trying to max out the retention phase through toughening it out as long as possible. Even then I'm continually telling myself to relax, be the peace.. Still there may be deeper peace in surrendering; giving up early. My assistant sensei used to say the feeling you get in meditation, that peace, is how one should perform Aikido. Though in general you take what you can get. addon> Thinking of Aikido and Wim Hof breathing.. During a winter misogi where we'd walk into a freezing icy river, dip down a few times and ki-aia repeatedly. If a person had trouble warming themselves afterwards the instructor would have them do deep fast breathing. Not too different then the Hof method.

Great graphics. Sometimes you see people drawing a large + under the person so its easier to see where the feet are and how they move. I liked the loose flowing figures from Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere might serve as good samples of martial drawing. If you use photos, I wonder if there'd be any advantage to highly 'posterizing' them, ie find a program/app that blends the colors (the filter is often called 'posterize') so the colors are less distinct, more posterlike. Note this might look better depending on the colors the attacker and defender wear, plus a plain very neutral background. In Ki-Aikido we had weapon kata's done singly, We also had Taigi's two person kata's, where there was an attacker and defender going through a set of moves to demonstrate the principle. They'd last 20 seconds to a minute. They were for weapons and hand to hand. Hand to hand they'd often show several defenses for the same attack. So they were kata's without the imaginary attacker.

Timed it today, its is certainly lower. one minute, a couple of minute twenty seconds. Shorter, but worth trying out for awhile. I also hold the inhale hold for longer then 15 seconds, usually between 20 to 30 seconds with a long, very pleasant and relaxing, slow exhale that takes about 7 or 8 seconds. Here's a question, when do you stop the long exhale retention breath? What are you feeling, how is your body reacting at that time? Not sure what benefit I'm getting from it, but you may want to try yogic breathing ala Silent Ground after the Wim Hof breathing. Inhale, long hold, medium long exhale, repeat. Patterns start with 8- 8 - 8, 8 - 10 - 10, 8 -12 - 12.. with longer holds and exhales.. like 8 - 22 - 16, 8 - 24 - 16, lately I'm working with the 9in - 36hold -18exhale. Its interesting. I've been slowly getting into the longer sequences. Next one is 10 - 40 - 20 and goes up to 14 - 56 - 28.. The can only do such extreme breathing rhythms after Wim Hof training. I get the feeling there is a good reward, maybe deep peace if you can get to the back end of the deep breathing. Cause you ultimately need to let it stop, be still and let the long breath cycle linger on naturally.

Welcome, honored to have you. Big fan of Master Chen. Hopefully I'm thinking of the same person http://wudangtao.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=52&Itemid=163 and http://wudangtao.org/content/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=57&vmcchk=1&Itemid=57. I've enjoyed reading his blog and his audio's and guided meditations.

It's not as busy as it used to be, but downtown Chicago at the lakefront and Fullerton is what I call the Chess Pavilion. A 3/4 dome with rows of concrete benches and chess boards. There's often a good crowd there. All kinds meeting and playing, young and old. The old Russians tend to be the champions, and they'll run gentle cons for new comers, betting a dollar a game. Keeping it close until they get bored at which point they'll wipe you out quickly. The highest players are usually playing speed chess, a game the average player can find hard to follow.

Whoops, somehow I put this in the wrong spot. sorry. Where to start.. Start on your butt. Sitting quietly, that tends to be a constant in most arts. Gain the ability to quiet the mind. Try to keep it quiet throughout the day, using thoughts as tools when needed, keeping it out of consciousnesses (that word made it past the spell checker!). As a beginner take time to explore whats out there. You don't need to be too exotic, certainly not as a beginner. See what connects to you. Some systems are standing, some simple movements, some complex, other chant.. some are very cerebral others are all about awareness. As with many arts, a great teacher is gold; better a great teacher on simple standing then a mediocre one with a complicated system. Exceptional teaching transcends any particular art. Do some research but don't go too crazy, doing is more important then exploring. There's a time to flirt and time to get serious. I mostly sit (influenced by Ya Mu's Stillness Movement practice), but I have bed practices- Wim Hof and yogic breathing, shower practice IHVH chanting, heck in the washroom I like Kap's Secret Smile when standing and Kunlun (occasionally) when sitting (particularly late at night) .. there are 2 or 3 chi gung forms I like.

FWIW, I'm changing my style of the exhale retention a little. Instead of holding out til I'm edging on frantic, the last few days I'm giving up earlier. Before I get the heavy diaphragm heaves and my body feels like its suffocating. I'm assuming this will shorten my retentions times at first, then due to better relaxation and less thought (which burns energy) will make for longer or at least pleasanter retention. Doing it the last few days but not timing it. I think by the 3rd and 4rth round I'm getting long 1 1/2 minute plus retentions, I think. Worth experimenting with. In bed in the morning I'm also taking the breaths slower, breathing in and out through my nose. Which forces me to go slower and less frantic. The yogic breathing I do afterwards is going well. I'm doing 9in - 36hold - 18exhale and its going pretty smoothly.

On the third hand.. Our society has a taboo against suicide, others don't. Once you've decided enough is enough, you've reached the end, it might not be quite so crazy to seek a 'holy' ending to ones life. To use ones death to delve deeply into ultimate void and show others what true selfless devotion is. They may well die in deepest peace or even ecstasy, will we be as lucky??

Very timely for me too. From the title I wasn't sure it was going to be a happy story. Thanks Aaron.

Welcome. Taoist parenting ideas would make a good thread. Raising 3 kids has caused me to throw away many preconceived ideas of how kids should be raised.