Spectrum

"Standing, I bet, is a lot like hanging out in Reich's orgone accumulator box... you pull in lots-o-chi from the environment which makes one horny which delivers intensified orgasms" It only makes you horny if that is what you are currently wired to do with your chi. With that said it's a good sign that "all systems are go" if after practice you feel spunky. If you know how to circulate you can bleed off the charge and balance the system. When your learning you gotta have release valves with everything. It's only human. We're a bit paradoxial. It's individual choice though, what one chooses to do with their energy... "It is important to keep a record of everything you observe. " Sound advice. Spectrum

If your seeing rainbows during/after gung thats a strong clue your doing something right. What a perfect place for mediation, a mountain in which the sun is rising & mist all around. Feng Shui in action & stillness.

"You will HAVE to intergrate it sooner or later,Enlightenment wont allow for anything else." You could just go insane. It happens. It's important to have guidance from a teacher or mentor in spiritual matters. It seems easy for westerners to dualistically catagorize the three treasures without consistantly regonizing themselves as the medium of their art. Spectrum

"It has struck me that there is a gulf between the striving methods and the letting-go methods." I'm reminded of the saying "In Stillness there is Movement, in Movement there is Stillness. "

Wow nice one! I see them from 60 degrees, a lot less often then 90 degrees. heh

"But think about it. Is Enlightenment just a feeling we get in deep meditation?" See your Koans are starting to form already.

"Great movements are not as efficient as small movements. Small movements are not as efficient as stillness.Stillness is the mother of eternal movement" - Wang Xian Zhai

It's important in Tai Chi Chuan to know when to stop. That sounds very Taoist. Daily practice produces steady growth. Long and Slow. Like the breath during Tai Chi.

Yes. Clarification questions on terminology. Are these 6 directions made up of two horizontal and one vertical axis starting from dan tien? I.E. basic definition of axis in 3-d? I.E. cut an apple into quarters? up/down(1)-forward/back(2)-left/right(3)? Or is what your describing the corner points of a 3-dimensional double tetrahedon? A double tet is a good representation for tension lines spanning upper to lower vertices. I saw in the second video he was explaining how his step was a kick and the energy was to go horizontal so I'll assume at this point the basic definition of 3 aixs/planes. This basic transposition of principles between techniques seems a theme in most biomechanically competent martial artists. I.E. they can practice movements without hurting themselves, and can generate power through understanding the principles of movement which relate the human body to these primary directions. Personal styles and paths seem to very. But I'm very interested in talking about these concepts as well. Please share more. Spectrum

That guy has good kung fu.

Pre-emptive seems like you mean pre-action but not pre-thought. Isn't there some Tai Chi Classics to quote on this subject? That guy is Chuaned up. I like his proportional variability, not boring to watch. Nice arm forearm spirals.

"he would have to live his life in a cave for several hundred years." Jin, what kinda caves are you checking out up on Wudangshan? I heard the whole side of that mountain is nothing but cannibis!?!? You musta been hitting it ehh? (j/k) Fill us in on some details about that area and who else is training up there! Spectrum "The secret key is effort, repeated and sincere effort to develop oneself." Oh Gung.

Seek a defensive art. Tai Chi is a good choice. Avoid fu fu teachers who won't teach you the martial applications. Your sword has an edge, if someone runs into it while your getting out of the way they sent out what they get back. In boxing I think it's called being a counter puncher.

There are many times during standing forms of meditation in which the geometry of reality seems to jump out and make itself known. I'm reminded of an early mentor who pointed in the direciton of fixed point meditations in empty space. Wow was I surprised when I applied that fixed point practice to the mandala. The flux of seemingly static forms most certainly fed the minds of countless generations of seekers before us. Practice without geometry is a bridge without angles. Even Labann movement analysis in summary charts the bodies range within a double tetrahedron, or frames it as an icosahedron. Spectrum

Spirituality brought them about. God/The Universe/The Tao/Gaia/ & on & on has been alive and well for a long time, without any help from humans. Humans have been trying to get up/down the rainbow ladder of realization for a long time. It's nothing knew. I don't think TV is a good way to raise peoples consciousness vibration. That depends on your perspective. The mystical traditions of every major religious system has always had it's esoteric inner schools, and it's exoteric, outer schools. Those concerned with the inner processes have always been pioneers in the sense of breaking away from the external symbols to find their inner meaning. In this way Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu, they are all pioneers in the world of consciousness & spirituality. Pioneers generally gung it up. Doesn't matter the time or place. Bruce Lee named something that doesn't have a name. Human expression.

Bruce Lee was a synthesizer of style like Usheiba. Realization is a personal experience. Pioneers speak for themselves. Spirituality is alive and well without the likes of any culturally flavored structure or system, including words to define or catagorize. I wonder how much Usheiba charged for seminars. Spectrum

The field in which the history of human spirituality has simply floated on the surface of is far older then humans perception of it. I'd like to point out here that defining spirituality by the "masters" who carry it on is like defining the wonder of music only through famous composers and not playing the song yourself, or at least hum it! Why don't you assume good things about people? Would you rather have the grocery store clerk talking to you about mystery school fertility cults? Go up to any Seattle coffee shop, they probably will...

You should expound on this. Key phrase above that reminds me of Taoism: "observe and maximize the sensations of" steaming- as in the transformation of jing to chi? dimensional portals- slippping in between the vibratory seems? electricity- actupuncture is real and it's in you energizer bunny! Don't let out the magic smoke! colourless light- visual hallucinations/seeing in the spirit soundless sound-auditorial hallucinations/hearing in the spirit Fun post. Keep em coming. Spectrum

Where was this in China? The world is already changed as we know it. Those who seek the mysterious find the mysterious. Those who watch TV get a good dose of their much needed medicine for their mind. There has been plenty to find for years, without discrediting the experiences of your Sifu and his bermuda triangle like encounters, there has been a large body of evidence for travelers to ride upon for some time. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5...&q=2005+ufo "The people on TV..." can't see... disbelief is connected to the modern myth of television replacing the campfire knowledge of the tribal past. It's just a small window into someone elses intitiation rite, of which our western culture is seriously lacking in a seemingly fatherless generation. Unfortunately "art" is being judged by how well it's performed by cavemen beating on each other. I disagree here in so far as the internals are usually contrary to the consciousness condusive to consistant progress. The only thing anyone has to prove anything to is themselves. The mirror is what people need to look into, not another "reality" show. Spectrum

Those who arn't healthy in any art will fall to the wayside. It's not a matter of who's best today, it's who's left tommorow. Immaturity in any art falls away when met with the truth testing of opposition. Whether opposition is an opponent, a partner, the environment or yourself, you will either stick with it or you wont. The beauty of modern mma, and particularlly bjj is it's truth testing methodology. This i think has added value to the arts in general.

Manly P Hall wasn't a Taoist. He was a Mason. Big difference.

On the "effectiveness" of "IMA" vs. "MMA" : Shouldn't we also ask if MMA can be as effective at healing as the IMA?

I'm wondering what folks various levels of success is surrounding their search for or divining of any meditation places (actual physical location) in and around their everyday environments or (my personal preference) in natural settings. Once my primary practice was established and the relative "effects" of practice experienced on a consistant basis, or in other words, I developed a baseline, in geometry a plumb-line, I followed and observed the effects of practice in a variety of conditions & environments. Of these conditions and environments, what external conditions have been most favorable for the promotion of cultivation, chi gung, meditation, or any other pracitices classically associated with Taoism? Assuming that internal conditions (balance) are satisfactory to support training. I.E. no major emotional events, diet good, sufficient rest, etc. In everyday places around the city I've found that parks, and the tops of buildings or parking structures offer sufficient buffers for practice. Particularlly parking garages and other natural amptheaters produce accoustical anamolies that often 'spark' the fuse that leads down the processes associated w/ ego detachment and from at least my perspective, 'proper' practice. (proper simply meaning w/o monkey mind & mind/body union) Here I'm interested in others creative responses to maintaining a meditative practice inside a city, and the creative uses of what we perceive as mechanized for other... more enlightening purposes. I.E. turning the machine back on itself creating a feedback loop to ride. The resourcefulness of individuals set on a maintaining and cultivating never ceases to amaze me. In relationship to natural settings I'd be interested in hearing any storys about "breaking through" while in that one special place (no need to be specific), while under the influence of any combination of elements, cosmological alignments, hugging a tree, sitting in a cave, or any other set of environmental circumstances which brought about a qualitative differences in practice. Spectrum

Good words from Mr. Thorton

The push/pulling can also be a rooting exercise. The small weights at arms length is an excellent way to burn off/cultivate accumilated chi. Goood Gung. Coorciates the whole body mind. Don't lock the elbow, keep it relaxed. It helps to have a round weight w/ a hole. Look through the hole into the corner of the ceiling, arm at approx 45 degrees. Hang the weight on a hook coming from the middle of the corner. Do the work with as minimal as effort as possible. As your metabolism fires up the breath will adjust. Just my .02 It's a good exercise w/ sound results.