mantis

Staying still does seem to be a focal point of the teachings, as does the number 4. I'm not sure on the reason but the "4 hours" of training time is constantly mentioned in Opening the Dragon Gate. ie. Wang Liping's teachers taught him a new practice, he meditated for 4 hours, and so on and so forth. It'd be great if we could get some input

After increasing the intensity and duration of my stretches I can now get into a fairly deep, stable full lotus. I'm going to try and sit for 5 minutes everyday and increase by 2 minutes every week. We'll see if nothing breaks

Interestingly enough I kind of "feel" this in a way. As China's economy continues to flourish they're very much so trying to get rid of the "old" China and just want to become another America (as much as they say they hate us). What music do they like? American music. What films do they like? American films. What food do they like? American food. In the West it seems to be the opposite...a lot of us are disillusioned with the dog-eat-dog capitalist mentality that we grow up with and the emptiness that immediately follow after realizing that earning more capital just for the sake of it is not how humans should live, we've turned to the spiritual life. I'd like for you to elaborate on your statement, though, if possible. Thanks.

I attempted a no hands full lotus and to my surprise, I have succeeded. What do you guys think about my foot positioning? Click here Don't want to embed as it's a huge pic, I took it with my phone. Keep in mind that I'm leaning forward a lot in that photo so as to capture my legs.

I haven't attempted the full lotus for a few days to give my knees a rest as they were a little sore from my over enthusiasm. I am however noticing the increased flexibility from stretching so often which is great. I'm focusing heavily on the hip flexors/piriformis, I can get my legs straight down in the butterfly pose now.

Can you post a picture of yourself in full lotus? I'm curious what yours looks like.

The truth is most people making all the fuss in this thread wouldn't practice, at least not enough to make any progress. Some people will, people who probably shouldn't have this kind of power or ability in the first place.

I keep telling myself to ignore this thread yet I can't. What makes you think they want the Mo Pai open? It's clear (or should be clear enough) that this school is very secretive and picky with who they decide to choose. 1 in 4 Americans suffer from some kind of mental disorder and I would not be surprised if that figure is much higher. I don't think John Chang's master made a mistake in not allowing the path to be taught to Westerners.

Sometimes, the old has good intentions.

I lifted weights for 4 years, recently stopped and switched over to calisthenics/cardio. I'm following a routine in a Navy SEAL book that I used in the past with great results. Its basically just push ups, dips, pull ups and sit ups. I want to eventually incorporate handstand push ups into the mix. I don't do any direct leg work as I have naturally very large legs, the 4 years of heavy squats didn't help in that regard either.

This is a really good stretch and she has a perfect full lotus - I envy her, motivation to achieve.

Are you still doing KAP?

I could only see how this would work in a group environment, the vast majority simply cannot break the pain barrier (myself included).

Take it easy, you only get one pair of knees.

Anyone here been successful at tackling Mandarin? I'm using the Pimsleur audio tapes as I wish to visit China in the near future, perhaps as an English teacher for a year or two. I used the Pimsleur tapes for French which I picked up easily due to already knowing Spanish but Mandarin is out of this world. The tones aren't all that difficult (yet) it's just hard to remember.

Are you in Beijing as an English teacher? I plan on going down that route and although I hear you can get a job without a 4 year degree I'd prefer going with one for reasons of longevity (in case I want to stick around longer). How do you like it so far?

Very cool, I'd like to visit Thailand in the future. Ditto what Mokona said, stories please .

I understand all of this and don't want to come off as taking a higher moral ground - this is the first time (that I'm aware of) that a master of John Chang's caliber skills have been publicly displayed. It eases a rather large burden that we have when we sometimes ask ourselves "is this guy the real deal?" My issue with all of it all is that the lineage is, effectively, dead for non-Chinese. You have one American who can't guarantee you progress, can't guarantee you'll come out OK (as in, you don't die), and is not even allowed to teach. Do you see where I'm going with this? The last time I spoke with Jim he himself was at a complete standstill and was looking for other teachers in China since he has nowhere to go. I'd much rather study under a teacher that won't discriminate against me based on my race and will allow me to progress as much as I can, based on my own dedication and merit. If this was my highest priority at this point it'd be Wang Liping.

While impressive, singing a song and being fluent in a language are two completely different things. Do you speak Mandarin?

You bring up some excellent point and these are my concerns. People are wasting time and money in a system that has been shut down to the Western populace, Jim knows this so why is he still trying to make a buck? He can't tell if your dan tien is 10, 20, or even 90% full and thus has no idea if you'd be ready to move to the next level or not. I guess people seem to have forgotten that practitioners have died doing these practices, is it really a surprise it's kept a secret? There have been complications when people perform the meditations correctly under a teacher, which Jim is not mind you. I still have some of his emails in which he basically just talks trash about John Chang and that it's OK for him to teach. That sure as hell isn't the kind of guy I want as a teacher.

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If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn so much about Thai superstitions and beliefs? I saw the little ghost houses in that Thai ghost documentary posted here but wasn't aware how widespread it was.

I don't know which documentary you saw but the one I watched mentioned that he was very, very pissed off about that being shown to the public. It was far from an exhibit as you so calmly put it. The rest of your post is just basic Western-entitlement speech. There are lineages you will never be accepted into just because you're not Chinese, deal with it. He knew he was taking a gamble the second he boarded a plane to Indonesia. The second part of your post is just outright nonsense - he IS accepting students and that's all this book is intended for, to farm more gullible people into paying him money. Jim himself is stuck at level 3 or 4 or whatever for eternity so I really don't understand why anyone would study under him since they will never amount to much, if anything at all. There is a legit Taoist master publicly accepting students from any corner of the Earth (Wang Liping, in case you aren't aware) for a reasonable price but people still want to dabble with what they're not allowed to. I'm baffled.