thelerner

Thank goodness for purists who do go deeply into each system. People like me, see the video a few times, like it, and do it for years without going back to the video. I'm sure my order and movements are widely diverging from the original form and will diverge more unless I take a class. Thats not neccessarily bad, but if I teach it someone, there is a significant loss. In Taichi circles it would be near heresy. But the forms Michael teaches are relatively simple. Despite some tittles its not precise style Taichi. The energetics are more important then the exact mechanics. Matter of fact you can feel most of the effects doing them in your head. Michael P.S Posting a few new kids stories on my personal site here.

On a more serious note I find the names of Qi interesting. I've been working on sacred sounds. How and where sounds connect to your body. If you take a look at the names listed: Polynesian: mana Australian Aboriginal: maban Egyptian: ka Greek: pneuma Roman/Christianity: Spiritus Hebrew: ruah Inuit: inua, sila Leni Lenape: manetuwak Norse: seid Druidry: Awen Yoruba: oloddumare European alchemy and philosophy: aether, (or ether), quintessence Hindu philosophy: prana Arabic or Islamic: Baraka (or Barakah) Its no coincidence that many of the words resemble each other. Particularly the ones from the older cultures. Two syllables, one with an Ah. The Ahh sound is widely used as a warming heart sound. Uuuu is a lower gut sound that reverberates upward. Ennnn and Emmm's start in the throat and move downward. Most of the words reverb with power, some more then others. Thats my serious thought for today, expect no more from me Michael

Michael Don't underestimate the power of qi or ghee or chili con carnii. I've seen TM'ers triple there seated levitation with just one bowl. I also remember the story of an older indian woman who asked a famous swami how to reawaken her sex life. The swami said 'You're bodies must be full of qi inside and out'. 'Yes swami' she says and goes to the supermarket and asks for some. A week later she sees the swami and says 'The sex is great now swami, except we keep sliding off the bed and have to go to the washroom too much'

What? I always thought Qi was clarified butter? Michael

Nothing too myserious about it. Take the simple form on Fundamentals II. It starts with Ocean Breathing, which I believe he says he got from Walter Beckley, who has a video series on this simple move alone. In ocean breathing, I have a slight bend in my legs, both hands near my hara(belly button). As I breath in I straighten my body up and my hand float out to my side. I feel like I'm in waist deep water, being lifted by a wave. I imagine the water is peaceful energy, stretching to infinity. At the top when my in breath ceases, my hands & arms are stretched out to my side shoulder height and there is relaxation, I'm tilted a little back, relaxing on the wave. As I breath out, the wave goes away. My body collapses back toward its original position, but water/energy recedes deep into my center, getting infinitely small, til the breath is gone and again there is a moment of relaxation. Its pretty simple, but getting a sense of energetics, particularly the infinitely small was hard, though we had breathing techniques similar to it in Ki-Aikido. Another movement from the form is right left balancing. Standing comfortably, legs shoulder length, hand relaxed at side. As you breath in, feel energy moving up your right leg and up your right side. As the energy moves, your hands 'cup' and energy ball and move it along your side at the same speed. You stop the energy ball (and hands) at your right shoulder and look at it. Then the energy and your hands go down the right side as you breath out. Your look center the energy is center. Breath in, energy and cupped hands move up your left side, look left. Then back down, center and keep repeating. Whether its energy or just firing off nerves receptors, you will feel something moving up and down the sides, right up to your brain. Soon your breathing will come from the nostril of the side you are working on and you gain consious control over which nostril you can breath through. There is another movement in there called crossing the ocean which I find very helpful for my now infrequent back pain. If you look at the movements without the energetics, they seem pointless, just waving your arms with no real stretching or effort. But beneath them is the gold. I got a lot out of the form from the video, but also had an opportunity to practice it in a group with Winn. That also helped get a better deeper feeling for it. Though its a bonus and not completely neccesary for such simple forms. Personally I think the question of how much is imagination and how much is energetics is a good one. Though at this point, I think its imagination is the horse leading the cart(energetics). Michael

A chi gung form is more then a dance or waving the hands around. Beyond the physicality, beyond the proper extension, there is an energetic movement within it. Winns video don't just show him doing a form. He explains the movement and energetics. There is an emotional content to it. Without knowing the energetics, you only know the surface of the form. Sometimes they connect to you, sometimes they don't. Often you have to meet them half way, by steady practice before they click. I like the simple 5 movement form from Winns Fundamental II Video and the short Pangu form on another video. When you feel the energetics of them, its deep, moving meditation. I should take the time to learn the primordial Chi gung routine. If I got seriously sick I would do the Long Healing Chigung daily. I think it would help. I did Fusion with Masahiro, who was an incredible Taichi player and had great presence(didn't learn a lot of fusion, but his presence, the way he sat, stood, moved was impressive). Ron Diana died during that retreat and I had the chance to see Winn do his primodial chigung routine alone in the field. I'd seen Masahiro practicing Tai chi alone earlier that morning. Winn couldn't match Masahiros grace or expertise, but there was transcendent power to his movement and focus that brought a sacred sense to it. Michael

I think I bought it(on video cassette) two or three years ago at a tao mountain seminar. It was a longish form and I think I only used it once so I don't have a good feel for it. I'll have to dig it up and watch it while I still have a cassette player. I have Winns Healing chi gung video(renamed since?) which is very good in a kitchen sink kind of way. In that it hits so many facets of HT from sound, direction, color, organ its all in there. In one long form. Michael

Lets be more concrete and dictatorial in what we would have others do. Rid yourselves of ego, by serving me hand and foot, and prechewing my food. Rid yourselves of desire, by giving me your possessions- or converting them into chocolate, then giving them to me. Rid yourselves of .. actually the first two should be enough- for me..for now.. To be less dictatorial and more concrete, I'd say seriously try out a guided meditation series. For those drawn to emptiness style I'd say Rawn Clarks excellent (and free) series of Center of Stillness and Archaeous series. (google Rawn Clark). Its a unique combination of deep silence and a unique approach to the elements. For those drawn to Taoism, Minke DeVos excellent Tao Basics CD. 4 meditations complete with biaural sounds and sound effects leading through the most important elements of alchemical taoism. Microcosmic Orbit, Sexual Energy, Inner Smile (30 minutes) and Inner Energy. At around $15 its the best bang for the buck I can imagine. Look up Silent Ground. For those more modernisticals here, I'd suggest Anne Wise's Higher Performance CD's. 12 guided meditations based on brainwaves, with specific meditation on visualizations, creativity and healing. She has some good books out too. Highly recommended for anyone interested in energetic healing. Michael

My kids like being bounced. They lie head on there stomachs under the blankets on the bed. I put my hands on their shoulders and bounce them gently up and down. I'll move the bouncing down there backs to there legs and back up. Its seems to be an ideal massage to loosen them up for bed. Michael

Thanks Sean, that Living Community food site had some nice products at reasonable prices and great raw vegan recipies Michael

Well sure, I DO. Its just $99.99, but for you, just 91.50 an $8 and 49 cent savings. That will buy you lesson #1 of the Super Brain Charge Total Enlightenment system. Call (JKL) 555-1212 and have your credit card ready. The new course comes to you totally through psychic transmission. No need to listen to an audio or read a book. May I also suggest buying lesson #2 just $20 more. Remember level 2 Enlightenment is guaranteed. Swamimicaelguru

I like the taoist view we are living in latter heaven. Maybe not earlier primieval heaven, but a heaven nontheless. How much you enjoy it depends largely on where you choose to look and sniff. Michael

Typing Live to people is even better then the post card communication we usually do here. This Saturday and Sunday lets make an effort to get together in Live Chat. Meet the people you've been reading about. I'm going to be real busy on Saturday, but should make it on Sunday. Maybe we can use this post to update when we are, and when we expect to go on Live. Michael

That would be so amazing to go on. Even more so with your company. But I am not one, I am one of two, or maybe one of five. A month is probably too long to leave the wife and kids. Still it would be such a great adventure. How many lives are we going to get? Hmnnn Michael

So what? Don't knock a whole generation. At 41 I must admit I watched my overly fair share of TV and had a few blisters on my thumbs. and my parents and grand parents generation had there things. And were suitably thought of as young time wasting punks. It goes all the way back to Ug, the first cave boy. The stories my mom has of teaching public school in the early 60's are frightening. My Grandfathers stories of growing up in the 30's are death defying. Dots is everywhere, trying new stuff, thinking new great thoughts. Good for him. He's young. Time will settle him down, he'll find his thing, and go on to greatness. We oldsters need to fight against stuffiness. The thought that 'obviously' our way is best. The impulse to say 'stop you're going to hurt yourself'. Michael

Lets see. Yang energy pushes out, expands, is warm, aggressive. Yin energy receives, contracts, is cooling, more passive. I'd say you generate yin energy through simpler sitting or standing emptiness style meditations. Gentler forms of Chi gung and Tai Chi. Mentally being without judgement, staying centered and relaxed. Eating fruits and 'ligher' veggies. Be like water. Ofcourse one turns into the other. Take weight lifting. Lift a heavy weight, exertion power expanding- very yang. But the relaxation afterwards - can be very yin. It really is all about about balance. Balance can be had at the extremes. As long as you know when to stop and move towards the other end of the spectrum before you burn or ice out. Michael

SeanD, Thanks for the indepth post. I learned a lot from it. Many people here, certainly I, have a prejudice against the old fashion Guru model. Its so important to see other practices with more depth then a few lines of print. Yours Michael

In Ki-Aikido we'd do breathing exercises with a long 55 second to 1 minute breath cycles. It takes time. Different people have different comfort zones. In class the leader would be able to see clock. Clap, breath in, ten seconds later, clap breath out. Then slowly lengthen the time between the claps. We'd also slightly tilt forward on exhale, get straighter on inhaling, no conscious holding of breath. Get a clock and work on it. It will probably come faster then you think. It helps to beathe like a gourmet. Don't rush either end, slow steady sips, enjoy it, smile into it. Its the stuff of life. I have one CD from Silent Grounds that I was very disappointed in at first. It was on breathing rythyms and had no words, just tones. Maybe 60 different tones. 6-6, 8-8, 10-10..45-45. Tones going up for say 8 seconds, then coming down for 8 seconds. You were supposed to put it on repeat, and as you feel comfortable you move to the next longer tone. It also had holding patterns. 8-8-8, 8-16-8, 8-16-16, 16-32-16 etc. Where you hold your breath for the middle number. I've really learned to value the CD. A great and simple teacher of breath control. Michael

I rank as Agnostic. ofcourse. agnosticism 67% Buddhism 63% Islam 63% Judaism 54% Hinduism 42% Paganism 38% atheism 33% Christianity 25% Satanism 21% Its interesting and perhaps biased to see Islam put ahead of Judaism. There were 7 or 8 direct questions on Jesus, some double edge like, you think he's a prophet not a god right? Anwering No or yes is not in the right realm for me. Islam wise there were no questions on Muhammad per se.

I had wanted to collect katana's, but the only ones I could afford were WWII mass produced solid forged blades or older ones in bad condition. I decided to collect boken (wooden) instead. I was able to collect some very nice styles in different woods. Now that I have kids around I wouldn't be comfortable having long sharp objects around. Michael

I took Ki-Aikido for quite a few years. There were 3 regular Aikido classes a week plus a Ki class where we'd work on balance or breathing or ki tricks. One thing I liked about my instructor is he'd show us the tricks/techniques behind the impressive stuff. Too often Chi Gung teachers like to leave it as mysterious otherworldly. We couldn't do them on his level but we understood how they were done. Simple stuff like having 6 or 7 people push against you when standing or seated. Note 2 harder then 3. After 3 it gets easier as they interfere with each other. One neat thing he'd do is hold a staff with one finger right in the middle. He'd have two people hold the ends and push against him. Impressive, as always there is the relaxed extension at work. You can call it 'Ki' but its no different then how any good dancer holds there body. Similarly with any type of push trick, if you take up slack first, just a few pounds of pressure at the right moment, just before there force comes, people bounce back nicely. I think some people are more energy sensitive, and you can do more spectacular things with them. There was one Steven Seagal teaching video where he said, 'I'd like to see someone throw me without touching. It can't be done.' Yet in the video you'd clearly see his Uke, partner being thrown without touch. Part of it was-its better to go down early then get smacked and go down. Part was simpatico, they'd worked so long together that moves were ingrained. I think Ki can be used for healing and body heat generation, in some cases transmission of energy. Levitation? Only in universes far far away. Michael

I've been doing Winns version of HT practices for a while. Still listening to Minke DeVos's HT guided meditations. So the roots there old eastern shamanic roots. I'm doing more sound work based on Rabbi Coopers 'Ecstatic Kaballah'. Which is based on Abulafiah's work from 15th or 16th century. Vowels as sacred sounds that correspond to places (chakras?) in the body. This echoes the work from several old traditions I find. Chanting some short prayers(great in the shower). I do some emptiness meditation. Count my breaths for a while, then let go of the counting. Indian Vispassana? or Zenish? Michael Almost forgot, I've been into Rawn Clarks Archaeous series.

Heres another suggestion. In Eastern terms, Karma Yoga, in Western terms, charity. Volunteer to put in time to help others. For those hours you put in, they're about -not you-. Its putting yourself out of the picture and stretching ones self serving ego enough to let patience and graciousness in. Michael

Heres a question. How many of us floss? I don't. Well maybe once or twice a week. Michael

I think I'd still be able to lift the carrot Still, my Aikido sensei said a dirty trick used at one of his dojos was this. After pairing up the first person would execute a good throw. The thrown person would say, 'Very good throw, except this (example your left foot) is out of whack. After that, the person would inevitably blow the next few throws, there attention being on left foot. I don't think its a problem of the followers not being that good. I think its a problem or exagerating a founders abilitites, great though they may be. On the other hand. In the case of an Ueshiba(founder of Aikido), his touchless throws were at a pure energy transmittal level. I don't think he taught that. Matter of fact he was mostly a traditional see what I do then copy. Almost no talk or explanation. His longer speeches tended to be more mystical. The touchless throws we did were mostly psychological. A combination of good timing, psychological connection, and the reality of if you don't fall you'll be hit by a very solid hand. Michael