GreytoWhite

OK I was thinking of something else... Al Franken was so young.

Ross, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx are about the only places I can ever find pants short enough for me - 29" inseam. Luckily since I lost weight the XS exercise pants I found fit rather well.

I just finished these books in the past week. http://www.amazon.com/Body-Language-David-Cohen/dp/1847090036 I didn't think much of David Cohen's book about body language. It was not new material to me and almost the same information can easily be found on YouTube. http://www.amazon.com/Long-Earth-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0062068687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400807502&sr=1-1&keywords=the+long+earth http://www.amazon.com/Long-War-Earth/dp/0062068695/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400807524&sr=1-1&keywords=the+long+war The new series of books from Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter feels as if Baxter is rehashing his manifold material with a bit of fun thrown in on Pratchett's part. Overall it was enjoyable but I feel that Pratchett's collaboration with Gaiman in Good Omens was a far superior work. I am currently working my way through the Pimsleur Portuguese I course. After a frustrating experience with Duolingo for the same language - they use a computerized voice that completely lacks intonation and I had a hard time understanding it - the Pimsleur course is a relief to hear natural voices. I recently tried Fluenz Mandarin but the dictionary and the answers did not always match for the intonation marks and it became extremely frustrating trying to figure out what answer it wanted instead of the correct answer. Hopefully they fix it in a newer version, I rather liked the user interface and their leverage over immersion approach is helpful at first.

Honestly mate you probably need to be there. Accept the situation for what it is at the moment and try to get through it as calmly as you can. From your posts and chats it seems to me as if you may be manic, sometimes it is best to simply be quiet and listen when things like this happen.

Sound works fine for me, embedded and on YouTube.

Also it may not be the same beautiful experience from one time to the next even with the same person.

Sorry you had to be subjected to that.

Oy this right/left brain shite is bad science mate - just a hypothesis that got taken too far. No need to keep it around. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130814190513.htm

He Jinghan is a Yin baguazhang master through the Gong Bao Tian lineage. He spent 20+ years with Gong Bao Zhai and has also pursued other arts such as Yang taiji and xingyi. I did not like his books but everyone I have spoken with who has met him holds him in the highest regard. This flavor of Yin bagua has largely retained its Luohan flavor. Here is Master He's kung fu brother, Michael Guen (a figure of controversy), performing their cannon fist form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0DSnGQtqL4 The pao chui form the GBT lineage does is similar to Fu lineage's leopard form and apparently it may have come from Ma Gui.

Aye, He Jinghan represents a very interesting lineage through Gong Bao Tian. At one time they had the qing gong or "light" skills in full. I don't think the acrobatics are taught any longer though.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424151833.htm These U. Cincinnati folks crack me up, trying to draw parallels to virtual objects and online interaction. If they just asked nicely the elders could have told them the purpose - magic. Granted some of the elders are tricksters at times and may just give bullshit to appease the annoying White man. Ya gotta get FUCKED UP with these guys, party hard before they'll tell you the real deal. Xtabentun and cigar aftertaste the next morning is rough on the tongue.

http://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Own-Religion-Instructions/dp/1938875028

No surprise to me now but I when I first learned of Vietnamese enmity toward Chinese people it was very interesting. I was the Engrish-English translator for a Vietnamese language search engine startup about six years back. The founder said one day, "Hate all Chinese. Too much war in China through years. Much blood in soil, Chinese all bastards, eat hate and killing. Take Vietnam business and buy all land. Need to get Chinese out." The odd thing to me was that many of the ethnicities that are "Vietnamese" originated in China and if you understand Cantonese and Mandarin you're going to get about 2/3 of the Vietnamese language.

I don't know any of these people, just Internet searches. There are a bunch of instructors in NYC for internal martial arts and I'm sure some of these will be able to help you with neidan. Tom Bisio is well regarded - I liked his Liang style Bagua Concepts DVD. http://www.internalartsinternational.com/qi-gong-nei-gong/ BK Frantzis has a list of his own certified instructors. This fellow seems to be the senior instructor for your area. http://www.energyarts.com/instructors/taichi-qigong/new-york/craig-barnes Frank Allen is well regarded for martial arts and also teaches qigong. http://www.wutangpca.com/ If you want to learn Sam Chin's I Liq Chuan and its accompanying meditation here is a good option. The fellow also learned from Tom Bisio and Yang Jwing-Ming. http://internal-arts-training.com/classes/ This fellow's lineage sounds like he could teach you some Indian or Zen meditation. http://www.wumei.com/index.htm

I would be interested.

I have found that some IMA artists and teachers are good at their game of push hands or maybe even have some good qinna but once you start striking many crumple under pressure. Having fought A LOT through childhood and adolescence and good friends who were full contact tournament champions in most of the arts that make up modern MMA to spar against taught me just what a fight is about - damage. One does not always have time to let off that full spinal wave and body rotation to get out a fa jin. Someone trying to hurt you doesn't care how good you are at push hands. There are MANY useful drills in the IMA but one needs to polish the stone. FIGHT with your taiji, bagua, or xingyi - preferably from day one. My taiji teacher could wrap me up like a pretzel then throw me 10 feet but because he was a very small man I was still able to get an occasional head knock in. He trained judiciously and quite hard under some of the biggest names in Chen shi but they didn't teach him how to deal with a street fight. His body mechanics are damned near perfect, can express fa jin in almost every part of his body, and is one of the healthiest people I know but were we truly fighting in some of our sparring I may have knocked him out in the first exchange. I learned that regardless of body mechanics, serious training, there will always be someone out there you will struggle against for some reason. We need to train our skills but also face other people who train things outside of our specialties. Mad respect for folks like Tim Cartmell who have gone out, learned neijia very deeply and then continued to learn more from other arts instead of staying a big fish in a small pool. If you can find some folks who are friendly and in other styles I highly recommend playing around and sharing what you know. I met a fellow shortly after I started training taiji. He mentioned he was a 7 dan in tae kwon do, had trained some Serrada Escrima, and that he rather liked bagua. After a few pushes back and forth and finding myself in utterly compromised positions where my neck was about to be snapped we really got to talking. I came to find out he had trained extensively with B.K. Frantzis, Xie Peiqi, and a few others in the Bay Area. One thing that he stressed repeatedly was that the internals are great but the normal physical must be developed for proper fighting usage. Many of the best internal masters were experienced in external arts and/or did manual labor for a living.

I heartily disagree that you will ever get to standing properly on your own. Without "loading" a posture from a teacher who can show you what skills you are trying to achieve "just stand" is nigh on useless. Zhan zhuang is not just standing and imagining - you are supposed to be doing VERY specific things in each posture that need to be corrected and tested. In my opinion DVDs and books are only good if you have had instruction in the past from a qualified instructor or have an instructor who has recommended certain materials.

Is there a reason this is pinned? Nothing special said here.

Chillin'.

Hey guys just wanted to let you know I'm starting a practice group here in Sacramento. Feel free to contact me. http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cls/4404044089.html

I saw this guy being interviewed on the local news recently. http://www.feedtherightwolf.org/