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.