Spectrum

I'm not sure how I feel about you asking me that. Seems like common verrrnacular would better suit seekers. Dharma Inititive? Truly?? If you can get your hands on a book entitled The Bodhisattva Warriors there is a section in there on the traditional somatic training that explains well the manifold deconditioning and unification process that the seeker undergoes in order to learn. The nature of knowledge is from the inside out in the art of chi gung. Also the aspect of maintaining an unbroken practice for successive generations is benificial for the advancment of the student seeker. IMHO All phenomenon is natural as the elements follow their course round our actions in this realm. Awareness naturally develops and deepens, the ripples in the pool calm and we can see deeper when quiet. There is a mystery there though, in that action and inaction are naturally linked. Consciousness and Sleep. Waking Life. Water follows the Way. I'm off toe find Destiny. (: Spectrum

Read the posts in this thread. They're hard to believe. ;o) This is the nature of consumption, not learning. This is the nature of observation and inquiry. No offense but talking about levels in chi gung is like belts. COmpletely artificial. Every has their unique signature. Your energetic fingerprint if you well that is refined through practice. YOUR Gung Fu. Your unique position in the lineage of humanities mentors & seekers of the Way. Good training & discernment to you, Spectrum Those who expect nothing are never dissapointed. Assumptions and expectations as to the phenomenon associated with practice is a waste of time. There are natural landmarks and signposts on the Way to the Ocean. One ocean, many rivers.

Belief is precisely what needs to be suspended.

What practice? Healing Sounds / Toning ? Please elaborate or provide a link for reference? Spectrum

.... I've reach critical mass. Time to shoot the documentary. Who wants in? Spectrum

All noted. Diet is a big one for sure. All appetites certainly. Hacked mapped and packed. I isolated some stills from a wudang form this morning you guys are gonna wanna see.

"Those who expect nothing are never dissapointed"

Live again. Break it. Break it down live. Find the people who JAM. Music is a universal language.

I think a series on neutralizing postures for internal arts would be relavent as well. IE. what to do when something doesn't "feel" right.... or just downright hurts.

Ok. I have projected a number of video journal layouts that coodinate the available people in my region, including some tai chi people, some healers, some competitors, all in the name of art. I'm wondering what the bums might have to offer. Especially in a preformatted video, would be EASY to put some interested themes together! For instance, myself for example, my wife shot a photo sequence for assisted backbending using a Balans chair. Original? Maybe... These chairs are GREAT for core development and I wouldn't give mine up for anything less than something better. I came up w/ a super low impact method for working back bends with minimal risk and maximum benifit. Then the memorex disc we used to shoot it went BAD! So progress towards reliable discs! Just thoughts to keep my mind ticking on this.... Spectrum

It's easier to keep the top side of the tank full.

I'll need a practice forum set up for the project to document some of the people places & practices. Spectrum

Check ebay for chinese landscape scrolls.

Trunk - exactly & more! Sean - will it be ok to plug the site? Others - I've been gestating a list of topics for more than a couple years... a range of grass roots topics. Internal/external movement arts, gung fu, etc, health & martial, sacred geometry, sound & acoustics, meditation, healing arts, etc. ALL w/ a Taoist / self defense & healing perspective. What do we want to see? What needs coverage... WHO needs to be seen? Whats the moral of the story? A day in the life of a Tao Bum? Peace Love & Harmony? Feeling better already, Spectrum

Probably a reference to opening the kua and then pulling the lower bow in and up w/ intention. Some rooting exercises have practitioners push the feet in all 8 combinations / directions.

Rooting skill that isn't sensitivity and redirection? It might not seem like it but whoever can do this moves, even if internally. It's easy to let a lingual understanding of reality obstruct what we believe we can do physically.

Yes. A good example of this is in TaiJi push hands practice when you encounter force/ struggle / obsticle you overcome by yielding to the direction of the force. (li) Another example is in wu ji standing practice, you relax and relax and relax into your most efficient state of balance.... Spectrum

Depends on the angle friend. First off would the hip push be linear? Or would you approach from along an arc? If someone yeilds to your will to move them you may end up on your.... Imposing your will on someones peaceful sphere can be a dangerous affair. So what kinda video do we want? Someone redirecting linear force from pushes without any major external postural adjustments? I'll look through my notebook for exercises that Sei Gung gave us to practice for rooting... interesting thread. Looking, Spectrum PS - I remember this one: From WuJi have someone push from the front slowly from soft to hard. Sink, root and redirect the energy. Have your partner SUDDENLY release, you should not fall forward.

Interesting article on walking: http://www.physorg.com/news103345240.html I don't "entirely" swollow this hook because there are classical texts that speak of the usefulness of gaits for dancing fighting and "strolling". Interesting article though.

Open discussion topic. Based on previous experiences with single pointed meditation techniques I am wondering what the popular notions / experiences are w/ "authentic crop circles glyphs and if anyone has experimented with using them as mandalas... Obviously if someone is on the ground there they can share their experiences from inside the circles as well, as I've read from multiple sources that the circles seem to manifest vortice type phenomenon and ley line phenom. Any bums on the the other side of the pond wanna share experiences? Spectrum

Stare at the center of a circle until the circumference dissolves, then go do your chi gung, or circle walk, or meditate and see what happens.

I have no idea what we're talking about. A series of thunderstorms came through this area, we get coastal weather so the texture of the clouds often amaze me. The other night my wife and I are bouncing off the walls and I'm thinking man why are we both being so intense, I kid you not like 1 hour later this thunderstorm starts rolling in, and it's really amazing, these clouds are rolling over at hill top level (coastal range) multiple small clusters of lightning seemingly going upwards instead of down it looked crazy. So like any taobum I thought what a GrrrReATE time to practice! Under cover of the porch of coarse of coarse. I did a Trinity of Standing Postures. I think some of the most profound moments where when psychologically everything is so quiet... so still... naturally pulsing w/ movement, potential, then wawawawawhahwhoom ozone is permeating your skin pores are opening dan tien sinking, did I just feel a tremor, wow I should do some taiji in this, kind of meditation experiences. The natural elements really do present enough information that I really feel safe in allowing my mind to fully relax into the sensory phenomenon, let go if you will, into a divinely inspired feedback loop. It's a little more difficult around people, (soft focus) because all the memes start highlighting the perepheral field. It's lovely to do group chi gung in rythmic sync for an hour, everything quiets down and by the end of practice everyone is buzzing. As the thunder clouds rolled over I wondered if I should have been practicing, seeming waves of static charge moved accross the surface of my skin, my hair rolled in goose pimples up and down my back legs down my arms, someone stirred the soup bowl. Oxygen... can you taste oxygen? The "permeability" of the experience I suppose is what surprized me most. I chilled the rest of the night practiced parts of the yang form to move things around, had a very peaceful sleep.

You know I'm just going to say to stand on one leg to balance left and right. Repeat daily. Tred Softly and carry a big umbrella... that kinda thing. ;o) Spectrum

... and here you are... at Tao Bums. <sideways smile>

These two thoughts seem intricately related. The "Practice" of any "Art" has it's fair share of "Missing the Mark". The goal being to be one with your target as the tension releases and the arrow looses. Knowing when to let go and when to ride the wave of tension is a key of non-action and action. Riding a wave of long term cultivation will produce results that don't go away with any "physical" energy releases, so I wouldn't worry about losing out. Just be consistant in training that produces results for you and the residual effects of this conservation will accumulate into longer term cycles. It's much like planting a seed and having to pull up weeds now and then. There are many small signs when you first start that will continue to grow yet dissapear seasonally and periodically. Feeling "ok" supplies an endless amount of energy for practice compared to feeling "guilt". If we fail to learn from our mistakes and refuse to make incremental adjustments towards improvement, then what we do in secret can mean more for cultivation then what we do in front of others. I believe there is a Moral Compass that exists here between Human spiritual development and the Universe at Large. Sex is perfectly natural and we are in the process of unlearning what has been taken for granted to be the only type of experience to have with the primary energy source of the body. No one gives you a map that shows all the paths in the forest, myth and fairy tales soon replace primordial consciousness and the heart beat of mum is replaced with the clock of the workforce. Sex gets thrown in on the weekends! Do we remember back when? Before we knew? Is it possible to kinesthetically regress? Perhaps these internal arts seem to specialize in bringing to the surface the memories that are important and slough off as the dross of refinement past traumas that conditioned the awareness to begin with. A kind of continual rebirthing process. Practice always produces multi-forked results, much like the path of the thunderbolt talked about on the Vajna thread. Sex can be practice. If your doing it you might as well breath with it. Where does the movement emenant? Ask yourself questions, quietly introspect, die to your former self and ride what is. I think only that dispelling associated illusions of sex and dealing with the actual "feelings in the body" you can avoid meditating or obsessing on fantasies that are unfullfillable. Its useful for genuine introspection. All this is only useful if your single. Having a mate is much easier in my opinion. Avoiding unfullfillable desires in general seems to keep things moving nicely, avoiding getting stuck on one thing, a non obsessive approach, having a gradual way to riding your energy cycles, knowing when, "it's time", and comfortably riding your down cycle (women forget that men have cycles too!), will produce a higher peak then off and on practice. Observation of your breath during what is percieved as a negative pattern will produce interesting mental effects, you'll find your way through the labryth as long as you relax and keep breathing. Flow with the Go, Let Go and Flow.