Franklin

here are some of my videos lots of stuff mostly martial arts, tai chi, and qi gong http://www.youtube.com/user/slikf Franklin

i just recently read a book: The Inner Path of the Warrior published by Line of Intent Books (Alex Kozma's publishing company) interesting because a section was devoted to inner sound and correlated the different chakras with different sounds if i remember there was one that was supposed to sound like bells and one that was supposed to sound like a flute note i also hear the ringing... (no other sounds though- need to practice more lol... ) FRanklin

i am probably not the best one to answer the question as i really do not have knowledge of his recent works to share (when i get some more money available for things outside of just surviving I will probably support Li Jiong and purchase his courses- I thought the information in his Yi Quan course was good ) i had purchased Li Jiong's Yi Quan course many years ago (i am an avid researcher of traditional chinese martial arts and cultivation) the version of the course that i got was before it was revised- the newer version i think he lists as 600 and some pages which is much larger than the course that I purchased that being said- the course that i received was very complete, and detailed the training in a very logical and easy to follow manner. unfortunately I can not comment on following the course myself- it was purchased for informational purposes- as i have my own practices that take up my time... but like i said it did benefit me and enhance my understanding of things some of the approaches to teaching material that were in the course I actually tried on my own students- namely introducing exercises to get the student to have a certain feeling and then using that feeling that was developed in another exercise- seems like a good way get people to understand what an exercise is about Franklin edit I spent a night reading the cultivation groups past discussion- there are many very insightful answers that Li Jiong gives to questions about the yi quan course- he seems to really want to answer the questions posed- and some of the answers were helpful to my own understanding of martial arts.. just thought i would add that

i would second this and add that yes there is a building tradition that still exists to some degree (one of my friends studies and teaches it) i say to a degree because i don't think people with this knowledge are called upon so much nowadays to design and build things... my friend calls it zahori art.. and it is based upon something like sacred geometry but the stuff in the books are lacking- the proportions for different areas will vary depending on the latitude of the place (it has to do with the angle of the sun... he said most older churches were built with this knowledge it means just being in a church (sometimes the church has to be activated to get the whole effect) can be a sort of meditation that will take you to higher levels... without you having to do any work- you just have to be there it all has to do with the proportions that are based upon the latitude of the place, where the structure presses into the earth in coordination with the proportion, and also what earth lines the building intersects... it is all very deep- i only spent an afternoon with my friend and he sort of blew my mind (the stuff he showed me but also what i experienced) the proportions of the building can activate different energies and their can be a sort of power spot that can transmit energy/information through the area as well anyways that is just what i understand about it after only one afternoon playing... and that was more than a couple of years ago so i might be a little wrong about certain things- you should always go to the source if interested this is my friend's website: http://www.zahoriart.com/ so i guess my answer was yes just being in a church can be a very powerful experience Franklin

does the center circle represent wuji and show how the taiji can be brought back to wuiji, or how taiji and wuji are related/interact? also i sent you a PM franklin

Hi Li Jiong good to see you back.. hope you will share some of what you have discovered.... I had purchased your yiquan second course materials a long time ago now... I remember also the clips that you posted some years ago showing the hou tien bagua... would be interested in hearing about your experiences practicing for these years... also how is your lineage related to ziranmen- you mentioned that your teacher is same generation as Du XinWu- and that they studied under the same teacher would there mutual teacher be the figure referred to as Dwarf Xu? how is the curriculum of your system similar or dissimilar to ziranmen? Franklin

i think one of the best books i have read on breathing is: Anatomy of Breathing by Blandine Calais-Germain has lots of great information about the anatomy and mechanics involved and a whole section of practical exercises (not only related to reverse breathing but pretty much covers all aspects of breathing) also describes how to achieve the control that I have heard BK Francis has- able to move individual organs (a function of only moving one side of the diaphragm (if i remember correctly) anyways it is not really a chinese qi gong book- take a look at the amazon links and search inside function i think the kind of information in this book is valuable for practitioners of cultivation and martial arts- not real airy fairy stuff or energetics but a good analysis and practicum of the mechanics and physical stuff (could give us all a good base line to discuss from or at least just understand better) i agree that reverse breathing is something that will occur naturally but i have also learned that when you train it consciously you can use it to strengthen and gain control of parts of the muscles and structure of the torso that you might not of otherwise franklin

i don't know about any working temples but i have heard that ritual and fu writing is alive and well in the US... ---------------------------------------- nice paper outlining daoism in north america (at least the more out in the open parts) http://www.daoistcenter.org/Articles/Artic...Novareligio.pdf title is "tracing the contours of daoism in north america" it talks about several of the people already mentioned in the thread it also mentions Sifu Share Lew who is a monastically- trained taoist priest who left china before the communists took over- he still teaches his system of internal cultivation- both privately and through workshops i have trained with him and to me he meets all the criteria that Dao Zhen pointed out (those were also the criteria as to why i studied taiji with my first taiji teacher ) i have also heard of some stuff in or around san fransico- this was a long time ago and my memory of what i heard is rather vague right now.... franklin

as an outside observer with no interest in anything besides this is mildly amusing i don't think the questions Gamuret posed are too much to ask or crossing any line if he is advertising himself as a Dr. or legitimately advertising or stating these other things then it is natural to ask for some specifics... now if different countries have different requirements for degrees then that would be fine but still if questions like the above are posed then it would not be hard to state facts coming from the outside as just an observer my take on this is that the Dr. and anthropology jist is supposed to lend an air of credence to the assumption of this line/training as being the "real deal" it is also interesting that "Dr." seems to be edited out of publicly available information franklin

sounds like a cool idea i would be in for some discussion to the extent that my time permits franklin

thanks for that Brian i think i will have to try this one out... apparatus training (traditional) has always fascinated me... Franklin

i also like the taiji boxing chronicle here are some more that i like and why (in no particular order) The Essence of Tai Chi Chuan: The Literary Tradition by LO, Inn, Foe, Amacker It is a translation of the classics but each statement is given a whole page. I find when i read it this way my brain can take in more- when the classics are presented in paragraph form the significance of each sentence seems to diminishes somewhat. also a book that you can go back and reread- my understanding always changes as i practice more Tai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions by Douglas Wile translations of some stuff that is not in the classics- some good stuff in here T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Meditation (Paperback) by Da Liu good little book- a lot of information- haven't read it in a while but if i remember it seemed to have a lot of information also contained in his other books The Dao of Taijiquan: Way to Rejuvenation by Jou Tsung Hwa one of the first taiji books i ever owned (along with the "The Essence of Tai Chi Chuan: The Literary Tradition") both were recommended by my instructor- large portions of this book seem to be translations of Chen Kung's famous book (Stuart Olson also translated portions of Chen Kung's book)- this book has a lot of information- but to me personally the best past is Master Jou ca do attitude that come through in the book- his stories about how he obtained breakthroughs, and that you can achieve progress by yourself are very uplifting to me... i think i could say it best is that his message is about self empowerment and that your progress is based on your hard work and understanding (no magic pills)... i also liked his ideas about learning from the stories of the old masters and putting them into practice also some tai chi books that are a fun read There Are No Secrets: Professor Cheng Man Ch'ing and His T'ai Chi Chuan by Wolfe Lowenthal some nice stories about Master Cheng Steal My Art: The Life and Times of T'ai Chi Master, T.T. Liang by Stuart Alve Olson a really nice read about Master Liang Franklin

Interesting thread... I ordered some books from Dr. Johnson a while ago.. (some of the Taoist Magic Titles) They were interesting but the shopping experience sort of rubbed me the wrong way- what happened is I live in the US Virgin Islands and ended up having to pay international shipping even after I explained that we are part of the US postal system(zip codes, post office, same rate as the rest of the states) I ended up getting a couple of the titles and they were interesting... i also liked his internal kung fu 2 volume set- many things were similar to what i learned from my teachers... I also liked the book- "Taoist Master Chuang"- i thought that this book gave a little better idea about taoist magic- because it included both information about the rituals and also some kind of personal stories about the people that are transmitting and performing this knowledge... although the ritual in this book is very complex and probably should just be read for informational purposes (it is about summoning the 6 Chia spirits -Mao Shan ritual and needs special implements like a sword that has been forged and given power to command the spirits etc.. and supposed to be fairly dangerous)- just checked the price online- wow that is high... of course all of these cover ritual (magic) as to what is taoist magic- what are the stations of the cross and mass... (just to give some background to what i mean- a friend of mine learned zahori arts which is a sort of western master builders tradition which entails both analyzing and designing physical spaces (in the old days churches) so that they could actually change stuff in the body- sort of just sitting in a church that has been activated can be like a meditation without doing any of the work..... so i am guessing that in the older days even western ritual might have served a higher purpose... just a thought...) my friends site-(he explains it better anyways-) www.zahoriart.com as for internal alchemy i like Taoist Yoga by Charles Luk Tao of meditation by Tsung Hwa Jou Tao & Longevity: Mind-Body Transformation by Nan Huai-Chin and also Taoist Meditation by Isabelle Robinet- gives a good overview of the meditation practicies coming from the Mao Shan tradition... Oolong- i would be interested to know where to get a copy of the PDF-maybe by pm if more appropriate... franklin

i haven't really sat down and written any out but i have some general ones floating about in my brain here they are in no particular order: get more consistent in my cultivation practice... (having a little one running about has made it a bit difficult for the past couple years to have a consistent practice- try to squeeze a bit in here and there though along with my martial training) I think I need to PM Sean and ask to have space on the protected forum- maybe if i keep track of stuff there it will keep me more motivated- (also from reading this forum for a while it seems like all you guys and girls are pretty serious and share in a very nice way ) grow some organic food around my place- need to make more raised beds and get serious on my composting- hopefully i will be able to document progress and goings on on one of my websites... but it would be nice to have fresh organic produce all the time- cut down on the grocery bill and eat more healthy... develop some business ideas so that they are no longer only ideas... (man that would be nice...) writing them down they don't seem out of the ordinary.... hopefully i can share more here in the coming year as well.... happy new year to everyone (the one right around the corner and the one in Feb....) Franklin

i have been lurking here for a while and i saw a forum topic i wanted to add something to... so i am introducing myself... my name is Franklin, i have been practicing meditation, qi gong, and martial arts since i was around 13 years old (by my own choice) i am going to be 30 this month.. I have studied with more than a couple of teachers... I teach Yang style Taiji Quan, Xing Yi Quan, Bagua Zhang, and Southern Shaolin (the Five Family style from Ark Wong) I have practiced different forms of meditation - Emptiness meditation - A Gate Meditation (energy is drawn through different gates of the body in a certain sequence) - The Xing Qi method of internal alchemy (qi circulated through the small cycle and the eight physic channels) - Yan Xin's Nine Step Childhood Longevity Method - a meditation where colors are circulated through the organs i don't claim to have achieved anything i am also an artist, you can see some of my photography here: http://www.cafepress.com/buy/franklin%20fi...archBox/x_0/y_0 and also have a degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine I will also mention one of my teachers here because since i have been lurking i have not seen him come up and searching did not bring any topics I got to study a little bit of the Dao Dan Pai (Taoist Elixir Style) Nei Kung from Master Share K. Lew He is a temple trained priest from southern china. Here is more bio information on him: http://www.jadedragon.com/archives/lew.html He does some really affordable workshops every year at eselan institute, well worth checking out if you would like to see what he teaches. ok off to post on that thread i wanted to add something too Franklin

thanks for the welcome the pictures were taken on the pacific coast highway and also at Joshua tree... there are more but i need to find the time to get my websites back online.... Franklin

i have been lurking for a while but saw this thread and decided to create a membership so i could post something because some of the instructions for the first step of the nine were posted i just wanted to add something from my personal experience : I learned Yan Xin's 9 step method from some friends that had practiced for a long time. I ran into some problems with the heart contracting part of step one. when i talked to my friends they said that that part had been taken out later because many people were having adverse reactions because of it.. also that the ending procedure is important- i knew a friend who started practicing this method and they would sometimes forget to do the ending procedure- they kept slipping out of their body if people wanted to try out this method there might still be some study groups practicing around the US... i think you have to take responsibility for your own cultivation but still teachers are good to keep you from making some mistakes.... Franklin