Trevcaru

Yeah, good book.

Well the first thing i do when i am interested in what someone is teaching/saying on the subject of tai chi is look for videos of them to see if they have any skill... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ9QZ_IAdTw I would disable my ratings too if i had such a ludicrous video. This one is going on my tai cheese compilation. Although, my last video on 'side to side' inguinal crease development must seem pretty ridiculous to a lot people, heheheh.

Here is a short video that may help. This is a Wujifa practice which helps develop the inguinal creases. If your inguinal creases (or kua) is frozen, like on almost every single person i have met (even those who practice tai chi), then the dantien can not connect to the rest of the body. This practice may look simple, but it is very profound. We can sit here all day talking about chi, and energy and bringing the chi down from the heavens and filling the dantien, but if there is no physical development (which is the explicit manifestation of the metaphysical) then you dont have anything. This is my opinion of course. I see so many people who claim to be chi kung, tai chi, yoga practitioners, teachers, or the like but have no physical manifestation of their 'abilities'. I hope this doesnt offend but instead encourages others to go a step further. Here is the video. Let me know if you find this useful. It may help to have some skill in Zhan Zhuang before training this 'side to side' exercise.

This is how i see it, maybe this will help. The problem is the 'doing something'. The animals mind has a quality of being empty when they 'arent doing something'. We as humans, on the other hand, have created a movement in the psychological area... but it is a gap that can not be filled. There is no achieving psychologically; the achieving is an illusion that the mind has created, not realizing that it is a gap that can not be filled. On the outward... we can fill this gap. We achieve feats outwardly such as building a house, or obtaining food, but inwardly does this movement have any meaning? There is no becoming psychologically. Meditation (can be) the realization of this... it does not matter, because it is observing; it is not achieving. So meditation comes into being when it is observing this desire. And it may be that it is beyond observing that movement inwardly (that strife, conflict) and it is observing the ten thousand things (like the animals state[for lack of better word]). Yes, thought has its place; even in the animal world. But they have not brought strife inwardly... in other animals it remains on the outward. Achieving inwardly is meaningless. Meditation is like the peels of an onion falling away. Achieving something inwardly, which is what you are trying to do, is conflict and the utter definition of division (in the sense of human conflict). So we must ask ourselves: Are we trying to become kung fu masters, or gurus, or whatever it is that we aspire to become in order to escape what we are? Or is it that we see all this disorder and out of the awareness of that disorder something else is born, which here, we are calling meditation. Animals (besides the human ones) do not aspire inwardly... they are empty of this movement. They have not brought achieving, strife, inwardly. Inwardly it has only created this division, conflict.

Suppressing desire is another desire. Control is desire. When we ask, 'how can we get rid of desire?' this is born of desire. Any movement in any direction is desire... so i ask, is there such thing as stillness? When the mind is capable of asking this question isnt that the end of desire? We have the desire outwardly which is functional, practical, useful. I want to build a house to live in, so it takes time to build it. But does desire have a meaning inwardly? Instead of asking, how do we deal with desire, how do we suppress desire (cause maybe you also have come to the point where you see that all its doing is causing havoc when used inwardly)... but instead we question the whole of it. I see the contradiction of becoming greater, of becoming more, and therefore i question... does desire have a meaning inwardly? What if there was no movement in any direction? I feel anger or pain... and there is no movement inwardly from what is. What happens? If we see the conflict, dont we ask? not intellectually, but actually... Do we find out? Its not something that can be given to you, or some hypothesis that you meet life with, is it? This would simply be the same movement. Thats why you find out if you are interested. Not interest that is born of desire to be free, but interest that is born of seeing the whole of the conflict.; of seeing that any movement inwardly is conflict, is dead. Then another movement can take place. One that is not born of desire, but is constantly moving, because it is completely silent. Not moving in a certain direction. Not, 'i am sad, so i strive to be happy'. Another movement that is immediate, in the most literal sense of the word. Not.. 'i will become happy if i do this or that' because there is no strife involved, no achieving and this allows one to have every option available, but it takes none of them. In this instant is all the potential... the source. Sure there is action. but it is not the action that is born of desire, of becoming, of strife. Yes! So im questioning movement all together. Well put. We think we are fixing pain by running to happiness, nobility, courage, or whatever... but it only ends up prolonging it, burying it.

Yeah, if you want to actually learn internal martial arts, you must stand at least an hour a day(around 40 minutes for health). Otherwise your just slow dancing, imo. I have never met anyone who has an ounce of skill that doesnt stand. Its hard when beginning internal martial arts to know which teachers are proficient and which are not. Usually beginners judge teachers on meaningless feats, or they think their forms look pretty. And if thats all you want to do is look good and get out of the house maybe, or you enjoy the cardiovascular benefits, then thats all you need is someone who has learned by watching videos or practiced for 5 years and are teachers, like over half the teachers in usa. I would heed old man and baguakids advice. No standing, no adjustments from the teacher(and you should be getting plenty of adjustments that put you in some pain) then best to keep searching. I dont know how, as a teacher, one could teach a class and not give personal adjustments unless they dont understand it themselves, or they just want to keep you in the dark. Internal is very elusive to the uninitiated. I was giving some adjustments to some guy last night who had been practicing chen style for 8 years... he didnt have an ounce of skill when i pushed with him. I worked through some tensions in his arm, got him into one of his chen postures and he was eating some pain, i wish i had a camera, he looked great. He told me afterwards, "i have been studying for so long... i would have never understood what internal was without the adjustments you just gave me." he told me he never received adjustments from his teacher. I told him "that must be why your form is so bad". He wasnt offended, and we had a good time. If you want to learn to dance why not take a dance class? This is what i tell my prospective students (i use that term loosely, in Wujifa we are all considered school brothers).

Awesome post. I am very happy to share, and learn what others do as well. I think anyone who is very much alive shares similar interests in this. -At night before bed, i shut off the lights in the living room, and walk with my eyes closed to the bed. Stepping slowly, i lift my foot off of the ground so it remains parallel to the ground at all times lifting, and placing it in front. Never 'falling' into the next step, or 'jumping' into the next leg. The motion can be stopped at any time without having to adjust for balance. (this is a simplified explanation, but still useful) -Opening any door, like daochild; the same principle as the previous (no falling) applied while pushing it or pulling it open, or closed. Allowing the connection to run through every part, and never leaning. -I use the shower to clean the body of course, but also i clean the mind (semantics... 'who cleans the mind?). What i did was placed a small bell in the shower, hanging from a string. When a thought arises, i ring the bell. Its not necessarily to rid myself of thought, but i am aware of the thoughts and when they arise. -When lifting an object, allowing the muscles to elongate instead of contract, this connection runs through the whole body when done correctly. These are only a few, its melded into my life. There are many others, but either too dangerous, or too complex to post on here. Maybe you will find these as useful as i do. If you are interested in a very elaborate explanation of opening and closing the door, i have a post on my blog that goes into dantien movement when applying force and how it differs from using a (certain kind of) wave-like motion (That is very commonly improperly taught as Tai Chi). There are a few 5 second videos on there illustrating the theories of movement. Anyone interested in push hands, fajin, or the like may find this useful as well. Dantien Movement and Falling Force Again, thanks for sharing.

Here is a Wujifa video for anyone who is interested in dantian training. This video deals more directly with the inguinal creases (the kua), which is essential for internal martial arts and allows the opportunity for the dantian to have the freedom to manifest. Very essential, looks basic, but very profound.

"the sacrum is 'allowed' to relax 'down' by relaxing the lower back (This is different than tucking and take a while for some to get)." -Rick Taracks (founder of the art of Wujifa) In the art of Wujifa, standing meditation is one of the most essential practices. The dedicated students of the main school, called the School of Cultivation and Practice which includes myself, train zhan zhuang for 1 hour every day. If you would like to read a very good article regarding tucking please read The Concept of "Sit Down" in Wujifa Standing... I believe the article is at the bottom of the page. It should definitely be worth your time if you have any interest in Zhan Zhuang.

You may eat too much at one sitting, or maybe it is the food that you eat. When my diet is consistent and healthy i will go for weeks without having to fart. But if the urge comes, do it. It may feel awkward at first because of your social conditioning, but after a while it wont be such a big deal. You might try and justify it or rationalize why its acceptable to your ego for a while, but in the end theres nothing there besides the relief from getting all that fermentational gas out.

Agreed, the confused mind chooses. This may be helpful... See the bottom post.... Intention, Desire, and the Functions of The Mind

Have you possibly always had this tension, and only now you are capable of feeling it? There is what i call acute psychosomatic tension related 'illness', which is similar to what many new agers give themselves to purport an image to themselves of kundalini awakening. Or there is also awareness; say for example that a teacher tells you that you have a lot of tension in the throat area. This leads to more awareness and what seems like a hex by the teacher because eventually your throat feels sore, but really it is just that you are capable now of feeling the discomfort that you have been choosing to ignore for so many years.

In regards to the symmetry i can explain it as it was explained to me by my teacher. When the artist first begins to place the brush on the canvas there is a lot of paint, as the brush continues on the path the paint slowly dwindles from the brush, until it reaches the end of where the artist began to draw the circle.

What i mean by 'arranged' traditionally, is that you werent able to choose your wife or the wife her husband, the parents in their 'superior wisdom' chose for them. Of course they didnt have night clubs as we know them today, then.

Marriages were arranged traditionally. More modern techniques can include going to highly populated areas at night time, such as bars, night clubs, or party events. Theres also a lot of online dating sights that are geared for meeting up with the opposite sex and they are searchable according to various preferences you may have regarding religion, height, or smoking habits for example.

I practice doing the dishes cause they are dirty. Closing the gap between intention and action one dish at a time is only a byproduct of seeing that they are dirty.

Jesus must not have gotten the secret right. He was considered perfect by many, but he sure attracted a lot of shit. What about Ghandi? Well, i guess he didnt know the secret either... The Dali Lama? Hmm that one could be debate-able, heh. Maybe if they would have focused on happiness more they would have had easier lives? i dont think so, the whole thing is just silly pandering to get your nut off on desire, the way i see it. To put it simply, GIH said, "If you understand what's causing the intense desire, that very same thing is also what's blocking that desire from manifesting!" So, basically it annihilates itself. Anyone striving for attraction is repulsing that thing they are striving for, so why would you use this law of attraction if it was true in the first place? I know, i know... to get off on seeing reality magically reflecting your mind states. Throw some sparklers and some chocolate cake in there and woo hoo you got your self a party. Hitler had it made... mansions, money, success and wheres his karma? Oh right, he will pay when he comes back as an ant, so he will have to collect more food than the other ants to fix his karma. How come he didnt have a shitty life, i mean, he had it made all the while with such hate in his heart. LOA, i dont buy it for a minute, its just another karmatic system people have invented to separate intention from action; the observer from the observed. Now if your talking about sympathetic resonance, thats an entirely different phenomenon, and it is not law of attraction.

Well, you will never actually 'forget' it. But its an experience that is in the past now, and in some regard it stays with you; like a pathway that has changed its course. It is irreversible, and so there is no need to cling to any experience you may have had. This is very important, i feel, because the past is continually being emulated by thought via filters that the mind overlays in the perception. This kind of strife is not freedom, but imitation of course. So, my comment is easily read and easily heard, but it is important to see the danger of imitation. Like a friend says, "begin again anew". Theres no need to worry about 'loosing' something you have experienced. It is rare for the mind to see that the past is already lost to time and so it imitates, and creates, and accumulates experience, and all the other things that come with desire. When you saw these things, were you emulating, were you imitating? Im guessing not, so this is why i say forget about it in this context.

I think you should forget about it.

ZZ is used to integrate/interpenetrate/connect the entire body and/or mind. You may hear a lot about whole body movement, this is practically essential for any internal martial art. I would recommend standing meditation for at least an hour a day for 3 years before training any internal martial art. But even standing meditation requires a qualified teacher. I had someone ask me for adjustments who had been practicing for over a year with no teacher, he had pretty much wasted a year as far as internal martial arts are concerned. Maybe he saw some mental aspects that come along with sheer discipline from his practice, but little more. There was good reason that they taught aspiring students only ZZ for 3 years before teaching anything else. Even master yao (yiquan) would have me stand 3-5 hours a day. Im lazy, but also its ok to tone it down quite a bit the more integrated the body/mind/intention is, i practice ZZ a little over a hour a day now. I have been practicing ZZ for 6 years. Only recently has my current teacher really started to show me much of anything else. But looks like you are on a good path finding interest in ZZ. Its definitely worth the time, i can say that now. Will internal always be that elusive place on the other side of the river? There is no substitute for hard work. You get what you put in. No magic, no shortcuts.

""Emptiness of which compassion is the very essence Is only for those who see the futility of wanting enlightenment." supreme ultra-mega god of superiority and maximum awesomeness trevcaru

You have nothing but a memory of something you are now calling enlightenment. And so now, you strive for it, you define it so you can experience it again, so you can hold on to it, right? And so you go about trying to assimilate the enlightened experience.... But i think it is more important to see the flaw in the approach than anything else. The approach is the running.... everyone is doing the same thing, i have nothing, im not 'enlightened', and never claimed to be. Im a man, like you discussing, in sometimes what may not be the best way, the nature of enlightenment. The problem i see is this, we have this idea of enlightenment based upon our experience, and now we want it to happen again. It was so wonderful, so liberating.... and the mind yearns for that. Listen closely, the yearning for that is exactly what enlightenment is not. Do you see what i am saying? If there was no yearning there would be just what is there. The whole activity, the whole wheel with the mouse, any movement towards this freedom is exactly what freedom is not. You may not like paradoxes, but the truth is there regardless. Enlightenment is not something you can put in a bag and 'have', is it? We see all the things we think are good, like enlightenment, hapiness, maybe a little bit of compassion, a little honor, and we create our 'grab bag of freedom', the gurus, the priests, the religions, they all tell us we must strive, we must obtain enlightenment, but i am saying it is impossible.... enlightenment must be a byproduct, the release of when we are able to step back and see the futility of running on the mouse wheel, the futility of strife and of becoming, which are the same thing. If i am striving for enlightenment, it is because there is something i am afraid of right? I put this filter of what i believe enlightenment is, maybe from a past experience, or what i have read, and i go about my day searching for that, striving for that... i feel aweful, my life is a mess in so many ways, so i go about through my day searching for my freedom. My girlfriend breaks up with me, so i go about and search for happiness, my brother calls me a sissy, so i strive for strength. I have my accumulations of all these various things, these ideas, from memory of what i believe is freedom, or enlightenment, and i strive for them. The more pain, the harder i strive. The more lost the more i strive. So we have accumulation... the accumulation of all the various things we think are good for us.... but all these things are blocking our ability to see are they not? i have the memory of the 'tough' guy, my brother thinks im a sissy, so i want to be a little tough, and so i emulate. I have the image of the enlightened, cause i feel like a fool, and so i go about with this filter of the enlightened as well... and all the millions of things i have overlaid in my perception, and i go about my day searching, creating, becoming this thing, these many ideas i have of right action. This process warps the body as well as the mind, limiting it by the filters it has overlaid in its perception. And we do this like a mouse running on a wheel, never stopping to question the process of running cause we dont have the energy, which is the freedom, to step back and see this entire process at once. To see the entire movement of accumulation at once. We see that fire burns, and therefore there is no questioning, no choice, if we burn our hand we immediately take our hand away, there is no time, no becoming.... we dont need strife, or will power. But the key is that we have seen, truly seen the action, the hurt of it. Now, if the mind is able to step back, and with that great amount of energy, able to see the whole process of pain, of strife of becoming; i dont mean striving for freedom, i mean, when it is able to step back and see that the strife is becoming, then isnt that the end of it? If it is able to see the whole process, that it has been running on this wheel of becoming in every attempt to free itself.... isnt that the ending of it? If i see that my hand is burning, do i accumulate non-burningness? Must i go about my day striving for not-falling-off-cliffness? Of course not, its silly. So why when we have the pain from the psychological, when we have our feeling of insufficiency, we run to enlightenment, or we run to freedom. Freedom is not something that can be striven for is it? can you see this whole prcoess? Maybe if you have been looking in your own life and not accepting what i am saying, or rejecting... we have seen, that any movement towards freedom, is exactly what it is not. Now... if i was to say, "if you have experience, throw it out!" then this is the running in the wheel again, is it not? If i was to give you a formula to meet your pain with, are we not doing the same thing? i say this for the ones who are not following along so well... if you ask me at this point, 'well what do we do then?', are you caught up in the process of meeting the unknown with the known?

i see you brought balloons with you as well. but maybe the clowns need to dance.... right? Your candy is more bitter than mine. Some people are lactose intolerant, right gold?

Who said anything about bliss? and "gets smaller"... is it possible for there to be no gap? and if you were to tell me, should i believe you? And if you wanted to show me, could you? And if i wanted to experience it, could i? now i think we are getting somewhere.