bronzebow

Breath retention. Holding the breath with chi - whatever you want to call it. Best 5 minute recharger I've met.

Wing Chun can be good depending on the teacher and how they train you. William Cheung teaches in my city, but the training isn't how it used to be. NY Aikikai? If that's where Sugano teaches I'm not sure what you mean by physical. It seemed really soft and non-martial to me. Personally I'm not into Aikido anymore, too much passive aggressive bs to wade through to find the decent stuff. Systema may compliment your tai chi. I've heard that one of Vlad's old time students Rob Green has a group he trains with "under the radar." Haven't met him myself but he's meant to be good.

I agree with that. I've not a high level but I've started keeping those cross tension lines into more free form movements and have found that even at my relatively low level I can begin to practice more techniques. Actually it's pretty beneficial now for me to train my body to keep these connections more than in just the simple 1 or 2 movements I was doing before. But whenever I want to go deeper I go back to the simple movements.

I love stillness meditation, for all the health benefits touted with a lot of the meridian/chakra stuff I still say stillness rocks! lol

Warrior of Stillness by Jan Diepersloot is also pretty good. Lam Kam Chuen's other book "Way of Power" too. Both have a martial thing going on but I've found these perspectives to be valuable to health practices. Putting your back to a wall initially if you don't have a teacher or someone to point out things is pretty good. With the tuck the pelvis thing that is written in some places, I was given the advice to just relax the lower back and pelvis area and allow the lower back to naturally relax and flatten. This helps my belly breathing heaps. I got a copy of Ken Cohen's breathing somewhere and he mentions imagining your lower back area expanding slightly when you inhale(as well as the belly). Helped to relax my back a lot. Hope that helps some.

Any of you MAer's seen this dvd? Thoughts on it?

Karen have you found the other resources more effective? The basic algorithm that i've used on the emofree site has given me pretty iffy results.

That's cool I respect that.

Has anyone got any experience with this man's meditation system of self-inquiry? Is it similar to Vipassana or something else? Hmm... I seem to have a lot of questions on this board lately http://www.shivayoga.org/html/home.html

It was explained to me that meat like the animal carries it's energetic frequency, emotions etc and that eating the meat we carry the frequency. While I think meat eaters probably carry more of the animals stuff they also get to learn how to transform those energies and emotions. I've met a few fruitarians who have a very clear energy but who've also told me that they find it hard to be around groups of people for too long, that they can't deal with other people's anger etc - then if they switch back to a mainstream diet they feel more "solid." I've also met people who just charge their food and work to get all the suffering out of it and put love in. I'm currently on a vegetarian diet - the main difference I'm feeling is that my digestion is heaps quicker.

Why did Kumar regret bring Liao over?

Anyone ever practiced or felt Seichim Reiki? I've read differences in the method but what's the difference in effect?

Anyone read Yang Jwing's book on marrow washing? Any good?

Great thanks for the recommendations people.

I've been discussing and experimenting with several friends from various martial arts and we're working with the internal six direction tension which seems to be congruent within most martial arts at the higher levels but particularly trained within the IMA. I was always taught all the esoteric terminology which didn't always sit right with me, but have been interested to know that a few buddies who use Sanchin, and others from Daito Ryu, Xingyi, Muay Thai and Yiquan use exactly the same "six directions." I've been talking to a mate who trains with akuzawa and he's basically concentrates on nothing but getting these connections fused in. What I'm curious to know is if other MAer's here have begun dissecting and using their own stuff to get these same connections and if so what are you doing? Here are akuzawa's clips:

Regarding Akuzawa's group their basics concentrate on the six opposing directions of left/right, up/down and forward/back. One exercise is similar to that shaolin exercise where you push both hands out to either sides, fingers straight up and slowly lift the leg from the kua/crease. At the same time the shoulder blades are down and pulled toward each other. The opposing tensions create a feeling of a cross in the back which they concentrate on keeping throughout all their movements. Of course after fusing this structure to some extent they can lose the form as you observe with the teacher himself. They use similar exercises for the up/down and front/back, then work on using them in movements and applications. What interested me about Akuzawa's stuff is that a lot of the exercises use high degrees of tension and not a lot of visualization and the like. Been meeting people on other boards who are talking about developing the skills without the form also which is interesting. What MA do you study Spectrum? Yiquan guys seem to say something similar to this. The Akuzawa guys interest me because they work with high levels of tension in their foundational training. It could be argued that they are non-internal, but they seem to apply internal effects very well. This is why I'm interested in discussing this on the board I'm wondering if people from other arts like shaolin(or others) use tension to create some sort of internal structures.

Well ever since I came down south from up north I've been walking the Bagua circle by myself. Looking to find a teacher and get some Roushou happening. So anyone know of anyone good down here? I've met two teachers but upon closer inspection there's no Roushou - ever. On second thoughts if there's no decent Bagua what else is good down here? For the record I'm probably more interested in internal arts than external arts but what the hell if it's a good teacher it's worth checking out.

Since we're on the East side too it may be worth checking out John Chow. He also does Escrima. A guy on Empty Flower recommended Andy Green up in Clifton Hill for Bagua. Work out more when we meet. Looking forward to crossing hands with a fellow Bagua player. Us other melbournite MAist should have a meet and exchange ideas etc.

Cool thanks for the replies guys. For the record Freeform Melbourne is a good 10 hour drive from Sydney but you know thanks for sentiment. I've checked out the dude you mention Marko Vesse - those guys are pretty cool, how's that clip of one his students letting a 4 wheel drive slowly run him over? Insane pressures they're developing in the torso. Thanks for the contact Cloud Recluse - I'll quiz Mark further on the details but while I'm here let me know if you guys practice much push hands or sparring? Also got an email yesterday for those that may be interested with these Ziranmen guys www.ziranmen.com - Liu Jing Ru is very good so theres decent lineage there for the Bagua.

My teacher was trained by a guy called Hieu Doan who has some pretty cool stuff at his site: www.thepathofpower.com I like the manifestation and realization techniques there. Pretty cool stuff at www.E-Budo.com See someone already mentioned www.emptyflower.com - but I second that! www.russianmartialarts.com is pretty interesting Enjoyed Dan Millman's new book "the Journey of Socrates" he seems to bring in quite a few Systema references there.

I was wondering about those reviews. I got the book about a year ago. There's some good stuff in there, but the technique is more challenging that the author seems to make out. Personally I prefer Jack Johnston's key sound. I find it easier to connect to but that may just be me, I mean it seems like there are people who have left reviews on Amazon who have had pretty amazing results.

Yeah I agree with that. Lately though I've been getting a lot more out of standing than sitting. I find it lets me feel my fascia expansion and contraction more. What sort of weighting to you favor grandtrinity? I've been moving into 100/0 can only do 10 minutes though before I fall over.

"Surely getting kicked in the nuts doesn't hurt that much." - my ex gf.

Good to be here! Thanks for having me! Love meditation, love personal development, love martial arts, love yoga, love women - yep, I'm having a good day!