VCraigP

Scotty I think you and TM agree with the perspective of your last line here. I also think that many are not reading TM's posts carefully. I do not see her advocating for or against smoking. I believe she is advocating for seeing the subject clearly and trying to discard the Politically correct filters. I don't smoke. Both my parents did and it wasn't good for them IMO. Sure TM may have hijacked the OP's question, but I agree that this subject has all sorts of baggage which needs setting aside in order to see the subject clearly. anyway...TCM view of smoking tobacco is? anyone... I am sure there must be an opinion from someone actually trained in TCM. Also, "All IMA masters smoke" ??? My award for the most egregious generalization of this thread so far. I wish I could comment about the effects of smoking according to TCM. I too am curious to know the answer to that. Craig

I give you a minus for particularly pointless, troll-ish, self-absorbed, hijacking, de-railing comments out of resonance with the spirit of TTB and that add nothing to the discussion or the community

increasing your capacity to conduct, transmit and store Qi. I think this is a better way to express the concept of "developing Qi". Of course this goes hand in hand with discernment of different types of Qi. External Qi, Protective Qi. Internal Organ systems Qi. etc etc ad infinitum.

Good Idea! Which brand do you use? I advise just getting powdered Eleuthero root. avoid the extract, it is cheap(read as BAD) and processes out much of the beneficial aspects of the herb. Walking, was the first simple thing that came to my mind as well. Re learning Taiji and or Qigong. There is bad, good, better and best. Bad is to do nothing at all. Good is to try something, anything you can get for free off of the net. Better is to get actual books, DVDs to get solid instruction, especially if not MA background. Best is to find a teacher, support them, ie with actual funds, and having placed that high value upon the instruction to practice diligently what you learn. Both Taiji and Qigong require gongfu. Diligent and steady work over a long period of time. Craig

Once again TM pulls from her bag of Un-Orthodox history, my favorite kind. Craig

Hi What form/source are you taking the Reishi in? What form did you take the cordyceps in? Just curious. Craig

Fu Dog Not really my place to answer this question, but... Ehmeishan is a sacred place to both Taoists and Buddhists. Flying Phoenix was developed by a Taoist. Ehmeishan was sacred and occupied by Taoists first before Buddhists took it over. That pic on Sifu's website is modern Ehmeishan with a Buddhist icon of quite recent vintage I would guess if Ehmeishan follows similar historical pattern as other sacred mountains of China in the last few decades. Therefore I conclude from this that unless Sifu Dunn is also a buddhist scholar he might not know what that statue is which now sits there. Then again, I don't know what he knows... FWIW Craig

Sifu Dunn Sorry I missed your reply til now. You've surely defined what true Kung Fu looks like in practice. Hard work, steady training, perseverance = achievement. thanks for the detailed reply. Craig

If he is the only one then that means that you don't know what you are talking about either. Self cancelling statement. brilliant.

I am happy I provided you with some amusement. Care to provide further constructive contribution to civil discourse here? Craig

I give you a minus for particularly pointless, troll-ish, self-absorbed, hijacking, de-railing comments out of resonance with the spirit of TTB and that add nothing to the discussion or the community

Emotions arent Polls about emotions are. I stayed home Craig

Love Bagua. Used to have a teacher in the Bay Area who taught me basic IMA principles and Basic Bagua and Hsing I. Circle walking is fantastic and a really great qigong in and of itself. Bagua taught me to move and hold structure under pressure. I am really just a beginner, but the basics sunk in pretty deep. I adopted a lot of what my upper body learned into other more external martial arts I was doing at the time (TKD) and made me more effective at that. now that I have done "big dipper walking" with my Taoist teacher I think I "know" that Bagua, especially circle walking came from Taoist practices. Like Winn says, Qi likes to move in spirals. Bagua is all about that. have fund and lets us know more about the BKF Bagua mastery program. Craig

TaoMeow has said a lot about ginseng. Despite my inclination to advise against just throwing one herb at a complex situation (there is no other kind, nothing is simple) I advise to use Eleutherococcus Senticossus, aka Eleuthero, aka Siberian Ginseng. Get it in a tincture form ideally. Dont buy standardized extract. If pill form just get pure powder with nothing else. eleuthero is a great mild tonic which was one of the primary Adaptogens the Russians were doing research on since mid last century or so. It does not carry the same overheat issues as Panax Ginseng. It has been scientifically proven effective for so many things. Should be easy to find in any health food shop. good luck. Craig

Just kidding, or am I? This thread continues to make me chuckle. Craig

Hmmm I think you covered a lot in this little PS paragraph. I think, based upon what little I have read about ley lines that they are WAY more than hinted at in lore more than 100 years old, and not just created out of whole cloth by "a couple of dowsers". also, despite your attempts at discourse, your approach does seem subtly challenging and denigrating of the mans work. 5ET does have a history and has described a preference of limited engagement which he has kept to here quite consistently for some time. So good luck going further with this dialog. PS of my own. Maybe you could start a thread about Chinese Geomancy and how Ley lines do or don't exist. Craig

I don't know who MPWAY or Electric Gravity are. But... MPWAY has been dogging Electric Gravity since his first post back in July!!! What's up with that? Craig

Looks really interesting. Nice to see you are going somewhere in your research. I can recall some time ago when you mentioned that which seemed to be the seed of this book. Well done. I encourage all to check out 5ET's website supporting this book. Seems like a ton of info available for free. PS - And we wonder why Mr Denney is so reluctant to enter the fray here Craig

Most of the qigong material Master Wu has taught out is from the Ehmei lineage. I don't believe he has published any videos of Wudang Longmen Pai material. Craig

FireDragon Good clear description of an Orthodox approach to the Healing Tao system. Standing Qigong is an essential prerequisite to working with Sexual kung fu. If doing sexual kung fu prior to any serious work in Healing Tao or any other system is a BAD idea. By serious work I mean months and months on basics. One thing no one yet posted was the goal of moving BEYOND the power lock method. These are training wheels designed to get your energy under your conscious control. Power lock is not the goal, just a stepping stone to be mastered then discarded. I believe with proper preparation the power lock stage can almost be bypassed entirely. But that means ALOT of proper practice, much as described by FD above. Craig

yes you are getting close to what I think I was trying to say. How many modern people have any inkling whatsoever about real combat arts before gunpowder. Fighting bandits, maybe wild animals. Living in nature. Living off of the land. Being trained according to your masters absolute will, no choice in the matter. Actual death matches. Two masters go into the wilderness, one comes back alive. does the fact that one cannot find a willing and fully capable IMA to prove to all the skeptics what they want proven (whatever that really is) actually indicate that IMA are not capable of developing true superior power? Its a mystery. But hey we all know MMA is superior to all that has preceded it and that the western scientific paradigm has already solved all of our problems. also acupuncture doesn't work and qi isn't real either. Craig

Hmmm bring it on. right now your posts elicit a response more like reading an entry in the dictionary. Not really conversation starters which is the whole point I think. so, yes, I dare you to start an actual conversation. But I guess you have your plan, so, we'll see. Cheers Craig

Could this be the oldest discussion topic on the internets?? My view is that Taiji is potentially devestating. however I don't think one student in 10000 is afforded the opportunity to really develop and be exposed to the full curriculum of Taiji training as it had existed in the past. This means that Taiji players rarely develop to their full potential. Probably more people exist in China who have experienced that level of training, but I doubt that proportion is very much higher than 1 in 10000 also. And there is a reason this is the oldest discussion topic on the internet. Words can never finish this argument. Craig

Thank you Immortal for life. Another in a series of detailed jumping off points for research. what's next? How many are you going to do? Craig