Maddie

Isn't saying that physical motions have not affect on your chi, like saying the physical motion of a generator has no effect on electromagnetic fields? lol

Greetings bums. I have some simple observations to make and wanted to know your thoughts.

 

I live in a rural community in Western North Carolina. Life is a bit slower than in the city and space has never been an issue. Having lived in Houston for some time, I do know what city life is like. With that said, it seems EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE has been affected by something lately that has spawned a change in behavior; rural folk acting out like city folk. No offense to anyone who lives in a city, but to me, the crowding in cities makes people unfriendly and downright rude to strangers.

 

Mind you, this is not a major change, but it seems everyone is on edge, defensive, ready for "fight or flight". I even see it here, on TTB forum. People I consider very wise, acting out in ways that I would never have thought. Or maybe I'm just overly sensitive and making connections that aren't really there. Again, no offense intended.

 

I believe in the "group consciousness" model. So, perhaps with all of the fear mongering and uncertainty out there, people are just reacting and acting out. I also subscribe to the possibility that consciousness can be affected by the earth, sun, galaxy, etc. As an example, during a full moon some people act out. However, this isn't your normal full moon "reaction"....

 

At any rate, is it just me, or is anyone else noticing this? Any comments greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Art

 

I just moved to Washington state from Fairbanks Alaska. Now of course everyone in Washington is impatient, grumpy, ect.. cause the greater Seattle area is a huge metropolitan area. But what suprised me was right before I left Fairbanks I noticed the EXACT SAME THING you just mentioned and was like wtf??? Previously Fairbanks had been much more laid back, and small town-sih. But the last several months I was there people seemed so angry, and impatient just like in a big city, except it wasn't one, and I have no idea why.

as far as I know Bodri and master Nan says qi gong is low level compared to emptiness meditation.that is not the same as it doesnt do anything to your chi.and that is also my opinion after many many years of both qi gong and meditation

 

Here is the article.

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"Yoga Yes, Yoga No" -- Physical Asanas Are Not Enough Because You Need to Accomplish Chi Stage Kung-Fu and Higher

 

 

After trying to get them interested for years, my friends are all of a sudden "Hot on Yoga." Great! Fantastic!

 

Is yoga good for you?

 

Yes, absolutely.

 

Should you practice it?

 

Yes, of course -- simple stretching, and particularly yogic stretching is great for keeping in shape, exercising, and eliminating back pain. In fact it's been proven to help eliminate back pain!

 

Can it help you get the Tao?

 

Well, now we have a problem. I have never seen or heard of anyone getting the Tao because of yoga. From yoga with breath practices and meditation, or from meditation and yoga, but not just from yoga alone. Not just from physical stretching.

 

You see, the physical part of yoga has to do just with the physical body. It is a type of spiritual practice only when you combine it with meditation but without that meditative component, it's just stretching, like Pilates. In fact, I even think it's better than Tai chi, often called yoga in motion, because if you have restrictions in your muscles or movements, you're always going to do the forms of Tai chi or other martial arts incorrectly, yet with yoga done properly you'll open up those restrictions and get rid of them. With martial arts, if the muscles are too tight you can just keep repeating the same mistake over and over again.To me, yoga is superior than many martial arts unless your limbs are already open and limber.

 

I've seen many yoga and yogic breathing instructors over the years and you know what -- no chi!

 

That's right, I've seen 20-year olds from India and people who have practiced yoga extensively for 30 or even 40 years and if they didn't meditate then they had no cultivation chi whatsoever, no matter how much yoga they practiced. In fact, I met one man who spent nearly two celibate years in a special Indian monastery where they only teach advanced yogic pranayama breathing practices and at the end of that period he could do all sorts of breathing practices, and move his chest muscles in all sorts of amazing ways, but he had some of the dirtiest chi we had ever seen.

 

Same with Indian yoga instructors who don't meditate! Yoga is not going to clear you of dirty chi.

 

You see, there's nothing wrong with yoga, but don't think it's enough if you want to spiritually cultivate. And don't read my message here incorrectly. If you want spiritual progress, then no matter how you look at it it comes down to meditation practice. The requirement for spiritual progress is, first and foremost, meditation.

The same goes for pranayama breathing exercises and even qi-gong. They're useless without the practice of freeing yourself of thoughts, which is meditation. That's the only way you learn to let go of the artificial things that stand in the way of the Godhead, and that's the only way you make spiritual progress. Sure yoga makes you softer and more limber and maybe even calmer, but without cultivating samadhi so what? Don't call it spiritual progress.

 

Now don't take this the wrong way, mind you. Yoga is great, it's wonderful, but it isn't enough. That's the message. Even in China the martial arts teachers found out that their moving practice wasn't enough for reaching the Tao. They next had to go to breathing practices, then internal energy practices (chi cultivation), and then finally to mind practices. They always ended up spending all their time in meditation, but after they had laid their foundation with yogic practice. Yet don't use THAT as an excuse to practice for 5, 10 or even 30 years without ever getting started at meditation.

 

Frankly, it all comes down to the mind.

 

Well, what about bodywork?

 

Bodywork is a way to get yoga stretching results in warp speed time. For instance, years ago one body worker friend of mine was visited by a famous Indian yoga master who practiced for several hours a day. He came to be Rolf ed (there are much better alternatives now) and when my friend said there was no reason to come because she felt there was nothing to do for him, he replied, "You don't understand, every session with deep bodywork is like doing a year of yoga practice, that's how effective it is."

 

So yes you can get lots of the benefits of yoga through bodywork sessions, but even then, body workers tell me that the results of their efforts will disappear after 6-9 months if you don't keep the released areas open and stretched ... or unless you meditate. As one body worker said when he worked on my teacher, "Gosh, his tissues are as soft as cotton" and yet because of his martial arts training, he could also make his muscles as strong as steel at will.

 

So we're back to yoga once again.

 

Folks, take up yoga. It's wonderful. It's good for you, BUT IT'S NOT ENOUGH. As I said, every single yoga teacher and master I've ever seen had absolutely no chi -- just a flexible body. If you really want to tread the pathway to Tao and spiritual progress, do the yoga practice for your body, for your health, for your sanity but there's no way you can make progress without your everyday hourly meditation practice.

 

Get to work!

 

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The above article was the one from meditation expert that I referenced. He is not saying that yoga is not good for you, but he does seem to imply that its only for the physical body, and does nothing for chi (which only meditation works on). But I don't think I agree with his conclusion.

Peter Ralston comes to mind

 

Wow I had never heard of him before, but very impressive. I'd like to see him in the Octogon :-).

 

I think perhaps the reason I want a Kung Fu guy to step up is because before I left Alaska I took Karate from this jerk Karate/BJJ/MMA guy, who was also a Fundamentalist Christian, he didn't do anything with chi at all, even sort of thought it was satanic (ah fundimentalists :-), and he thought my suggestions that Taijichuan was a very practical martial art were ridiculous. It got worse when he won a couple cage fights, then his head got really big. But never the less I kept studying Qigong on my own on the side (trying to incoorperate it into karate), even though he would make fun of me for doing so. So needless to say that in our last sparing match together when I knocked him flat on his back with a thrust punch / side kick combo it was quite satisfying. Of course he got so pissed that he said I was banned from sparring for a month. So I took the liberty at that point to just train on my own and not return there.

 

Sorry I had to answer this.. CMA don't train to the same intensity? Shaolin monks? Wudang?

 

If anyone is known for training hard.. They are.

 

Yes yes true, good point, but from what I have observed they seem to be more of an exception than a rule, especially when it comes to those who train in the United States.

Thats probably one of the best analysis of this topic I have ever read. I was hoping to get a more intelligent answer on this forum, and I do not seem to be disapointed.

 

But it does make you wonder why CMA do not seem to train to the same intensity as MMA?

I'm not sure if a topic like this has been covered here in Tao Bums, but its one that I have pondered a lot. I know this topic has been discussed a lot in martial arts forums but a lot of the disscusion is more emotional than objective. I have really wondered why you do not see Chinese martial arts (internal or external) in the UFC and other MMA events. It seems to be dominated most often by people who train in Brazilian Jujitsu and Muy Thai, and or wrestling/ boxing. In many of the martial arts forums they say its because Kung Fu aka (Chinese martial arts) are only stand up. Now that just shows people's ignorance of Chinese martial arts and/or the low quality of training in Chinese martial arts in the United States. As Dr. Yang of YMAA states all real Chinese martial arts utilize punching, kicking, Chi-na (joint locks) and wrestling (Shuai Jiao). So real Kung fu does have grappeling and ground fighting, take downs, ect.. So why don't we see it being used in the UFC?

Taking this a step further why don't we see any of the Internal Martial arts being used in the UFC? I've heard again and again that mastery in the internal martial arts is supposed to far surpas any of the external arts at a hight level. I would love to see an internal martial artist step up and show the world how its done. Why is it that we never see this?

Sometimes when I do qigong my saliva gets more watery and abundant.

The Jews are human beings but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts (Baba Mecia 114,6)

 

Jahova created the non jew in human form so that the jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non jew is consequently an animal in human form and comanded to serve the jew day and night. (Midrasch Talpioth p225)

 

A gentile girl who is three years old can be violated. (Aboda sarah 37a)

 

A jew may do to a non jewess what he can do he may treat her as he treats a peice of meat. (Hadarine 20b)

 

A jew is permitted to rape, cheat and perjure himself but he must take care that he is not found out so that Isreal may not suffer. (Schulchan aruch)

 

Jews may rob and kill non jews, what a jew steals for a gentile he may keep. (Sanhedrin 57a)

 

A girl at the age of three years may be betrothed by sexual intercourse. (Mishnah)

 

A heratic gentile you maay kill out right with your own hands. (abodah zara 4b)

 

Jesus is being boiled in hot excrament. Jesus mother was a whore and played the harlot with carpenters. (gittin 57a)

 

To communicate anything to a goy about our religious relations would be equal to the killing of all the jews for if they knew what we teach about them they would kill us openly. (libbie David 47)

 

That sounds like the kind of stuff Hitler and his pals would make up

Here is my opinion of the conflict between the Jews and Arabs in Palestine.

 

i myself have found that ashtanga yoga opens the chaneels makes you more flexible and qigong is standing meditation but astanga yoga you streath and you breath prana which are two different things so you see yoga is not meant for just flexibility is to unite mind body and spirit. i found that doind yoga can help your meditation practice and helps with full lotus

 

I can definately see how yoga would help full lotus, because I have been doing full lotus for almost two weeks now and its quite painful. Interestingly enough its easiest for me to do full lotus after karate, which of course involves a lot of stretching and movement of the hip and knee joints. Btw there is more to qigong than only standing meditation, lots of moving and streching as well ;-). But yea uniting body and spirit is definately what I am after, esepcially after so long coming from a tradition that separated them.

There is a connection between the physical and energetic in most cases.

 

Hatha yoga and its postures tend to focus on the physical aspect of the body, but there is always a spill-over to the energetic system. They are not independent of one another as long as you are physically incarnated.

 

 

It is considered that about 75% of energetic acu-meridians and points have a correspondence to physical myo-fascial (muscle and connective tissue) structures in the body. It is also suggested that the myofascia has crystalline structures within its matrix that can be piezo-electric in function, thus showing that the physical has intermediaries leading into the electro-magnetic energies of the body.

 

Any opening of the physical structures and creating length and space v.s. compression caused by the constant pull or effect of gravity on your body is going to open up circulation both of physical blood-lymph and on an energetic level.

 

 

Interesting reply. Actually one of the things that I first found facinating about Qigong was that it was possible to acess the energetic through the physical, which was totally a new concept for me as in the past I was in a fundamentalist christian group that totally denied the body, and put all emphasis on mind/spirit ect..

Oh I wasn't responding to your post in particular, but I've heard that saying so often, and since I did a research paper on it I couldn't help myself lol :-P

 

I've heard the stories about the Illuminati, but since by definition they are a secret society and do not display public documents or agendas then how can I confirm or deny if they are real or not lol.

blah blah blah, nice conspiracy theories. you would do much better by forming moral conclusions and arguing against killing through that route, then to spread those lies

 

Just speaking from a historical perspective, the German navy was not up to the task of invading the US. I know everyone says if we didn't stop Hitler we would all be speaking German, but if the German navy was not even up to the task of crossing the English channel to invade Britain then there is no way they could have crossed the entire Atlantic in numbers to launch and invasion, or even sustain one by supply if they did one. The reaons Rommel lost in North Africa is because he could not get supplied due to the problems of shipping across the Mediteranian.

I did a research paper for an entire semester on what would have happened if we had not invaded Normandy. My conclusion was that the Germans would have still not won the war because the Soviet Union was kicking their butt all by themselves. Of course if we had not done Normandy the war would have lasted longer, and the Soviets would have taken greater losses, but the Soviets were clearly beating Germany before we landed on Normandy (not taking anything away from the Normandy landing, it greatly shortend the war, and lessened pressure on the Soviet Union a lot) But Germany never was in a position where invading the US was even remotely possible.

Nonsense. William Bodri seems to be under the delusion that he has the final say for all spiritual practices and that his way is the only way. Now, you might want to clarify what you think chi is because it really is a loaded word. However, anything that increases sensory awareness of where your body is in space and where one's own skeletal support is, is going to lead to a more relaxed sense of being and joy.

 

Well yea thats what I thought too lol, but what I was reading what he said I was like "um thats contrary to everything I've read from many masters". Maybe he is of that opinion because he is a Zen guy, and they seem to really emphasize the mind to the exclusion of the body. But then again thats why Bodidharma developed MOVEMENTS for the Shaloin monks when he came there, cause they all just meditated all day and were in poor health, and they were Chan/Zen too hmmmm. I've heard it said that the reason the monks of Shaloin do kung fu (aside from it being used traditionally to defend themselvces from bandits/ or for tourists today) is because its a sort of moving meditation.

To a certain extent, you may be able to heal your wife with your qigong/IMA practice(s). But, if she is "weirded out" by concepts of energy development and energy healing...well... ... at least you know. And you can use this knowledge to direct your actions/reactions in the most appropriate manner. A boatload of compassion can help when dealing with others. And yourself too.

 

P.S. If having someone else bring home the paycheck for me means that I can practice more qigong, then I'm all for it!

 

LOL I don't get off that easy. We both just moved to Washington state and just both got jobs, thought I have not officially started mine yet, and she just started this week, but until then I sure get a lot of uninterrupted practice time :-). Yea I'm working on the compassion thing lol. ;-)

 

PS: Just wondering what a good way to deal with difficult people is?

It seems that you have found ways to deflect this strong psychic energy of your wife and her family.

 

Hmmmm I had not thought of it that way before, I just thought they were annoying lol, but perhaps thats why I do so much Qigong (which they hate lol) because I tend to feel really crappy around them, and Qigong helps me to uncrapify (is that word?) lol. I mean I had sort of realized their energy was negative, but had not considered it in the way you mentioned it, but after you mentioned that, it does feel a lot like a psychic attack almost everytime I'm around them (they don't like me cause I'm not rich lol). Too bad my wife does not do Qigong, cause if she is only around me for a while, she is much better, but just a little dose of them makes her way more like them. hmmmm

Awesome. I bet that is a good stress reliever and that practice instills power within you!

 

I would love to have rich relatives, to visit their plush houses. But, if they are shallow/materialistic/judgmental, I would find visits challenging. (Esp. if the TV is on 24/7. )

 

It seems that you have found ways to deflect this strong psychic energy of your wife and her family. Good for you. Is there any opportunity that your wife would be up to getting a highfalutin, high paying job? That is, if you don't find any harm to her "bringing home the bacon!"

 

She does have a job, but its not high paying lol. What she really wants is for me to get a high paying job so she does not have to work. To be honest I'd like this too, but alas it is not the case. I plan on trying to become a Naturopath, but that will take a while yet. And yes the relatives are very shallow/materialistic/judmental, but they don't watch the TV all that often, instead they love to sit around the table and gossip and judge everyone :-). They are they kind of people that think that if you are not rich then you are a moron, because "if we could do it why can't you" (they are immigrants btw) so why can't you stupid American succeed if we did when we came here with nothing blah blah blah.

Hi dmatt, Even when your checkbook register idicates poverty, your most important riches are not attached to dollar signs. Maybe it's time for an inventory of your deepest values. Nurture them without avail.

 

(FWIW - Your avatar conveys a feeling of power. I don't need to point out that many internal martial artists are powerful and rich beyond anything that money could provide.)

 

Good luck.

 

My avatar is Lyoto Machida, I'm a big fan, and I also do Karate :-)

I suppose the issue is more of second hand stress about money from my wife. She comes from a very large family, and all of her siblings are wealthy. My wife is a very stressed person, and constantly worries about money or the lack there of. We visit her relatives in their large houses, who take vacations constantly, and since this is not the case for us, my wife tends to blame me for our condition, and so does her family. So I guess I get tired of the nagging about what a looser I am because I'm not rich like them.

In addition I try to get my wife to do Qigong or some other practice to deal with stress better, but since her family are all super strict fundimentalist christians, they think that is evil and from the devil ect.. To be fair they seem to think most things are evil (except making lots of money lol). The ironic part is she won't do Qigong cause she thinks its evil and shes always stressing hard. I do qigong and face these things with a much more mellow attiutde than she or her family, go figure.

I know this wasn't the origianl topic, but it is somewhat related. I keep hearing about nocturnal emissions as a pretty common occurence, but I have only had one my entire life. Otherwise if I ever do have an "exciting" dream, it wakes me up.

I was reading meditationexpert.com and he seemed to imply that yoga asanas only made you flexible but did not do anything to your chi. Now I was kind of supprised to hear that because I had always been told that asanas and Qigong exercises / movements did work on your chi and meridians, not only on your flexibility. I know a yoga instructor and she said that sometimes people will have emotional reactions from doing various poses as an energy blockage is relased by the pose.

So my question is do the physical movemnts help your chi, and if so how so? If they do not then what is their purpose?

Well I guess the meat of the matter is that I'm sick and tired of always being poor no matter what I do

A few observations from a week and a half of full lotus sitting.

First of all it seems some days its easier to get into full lotus than others.

It seems easier to get into full lotus after karate.

Is it normal for all sorts of "issues" to start bubbleing up after you do full lotus a while?

If so whats going on? blockages clearing out? is so how long does this last? depends on the person?

Any other tips and insights about full lotus that are usefull / intersting, or to be forwarned about?

I've been wondering lately what exactely is jing. I pretty much understand chi and shen, but what is jing. I know its translated as essence, but that does not tell me much. I know its connected with sperm too, but that does not tell me much either. So what is it, and what exactely does it do?