Rocky Lionmouth

+100 to body mechanics. Had no idea Karate crossed over to tai-chi type of expression at later stages! I'd even almost go so far as argue that body mechanics and knowledge is technique. Proprioception, balance, phyiological knowledge, flexibility and economy of energy in aspects of kinetic, potential, psychological, chemical etc. Knowing and FEELING as much as possible in every movement in relation to a creature or object. It's your body and if you use it right it wont matter what style you use, it's going to be just yours. A traumatically weakening experience is good, but it's easy to get caught in the desire of regaining what was lost, focusing on strenght rather that the other thing... Sometimes i think MA power come from surrender, throwing out every idea about fighting and power ever and really starting to look at what's going on. Letting stuff be what it is and adapting to it. Choosing ones battles, battlegrounds and weaponry wisely. Breath and sound is also part of using qi in MA. I havent studied kiai so i dont understand kiai but then again i'm pretty deeply entrenched in southern chinese kung fu, the way we "speak" is different. When it comes to boxers some seem more skilled than many martial artists because of the limited number of techniques they uses, at least from a jibengong standpoint: jabs, crosses and hooks (vertical and horizontal). It takes a special kind of person to endure and prevail the eventual boredom, but the simplicity eventually seems to open up huge areas for honing details. The only thing i feel is lacking qi-wise is their grounding, all that boucning around has got to be counterproductive unless it becomes so natural and minute that it crosses over to semi-levitation or dancing. It always comes back to feet and legs. I'm obviously exaggerating but cloud-feet and jumping arent the same thing at all. But then again boxing doesnt factor in any "below the belt" strategies at all so they make due with what they use. So strategy and tactics is also important. This is also qi-work in one sense, borderline shen-work. I've had similar experiences as joeblast describes, when the hit reaches something else. When i teach striking (hands and feet) i try to remind my students about the difference between impact and impulse, the former being more external/superficial and the latter usually affects the structure of the person being hit. Qi also comes in play with martial neigong, conditioning etc, the strenght/endurance in relaxed structure that is gained through consistent practice of "hard" qigong is noticeable. I've seen some terrifying examples of iron palm where people have turned their hand into this lump of rock-solid flesh and bone, thats not what i'm thinking about. I mean vise-like grip and fingers that feel like being poked with rebar without loosing sensitivity. Training to read, feel and relax into incoming force is also qi-work. I've felt my punch get deflected from the place it landed and the force i gave away came back at me from the angle i left exposed in the form of a thundering slap that made my upper body sing with nerve-overload. Not to mention hitting someone in their flying ribs only and painfully realizing they're solid like a tree trunk even when they werent expecting a punch to land there... Most of these examples are from people who've studied the same style for twenty years in their spare time so im not saying they're legendary. I've felt the difference between a regular arm trap and one that emplyed the thumb-index mudra to accentuate power/structure, the increase pain it produced with such a small change was huge. And... err... what was i thinking?

I stand corrected and am grateful.

Some of the wuotes are quite nice, but if i saw the attributed to Lao Tzu i'd be inclined to dislike them just for that. "Even a thousand mile journey begins with one step." showed up yearly in swedish pocket calendars as inspirational quotes on the week-spread, claimed to be either Lao Tzu (Chinese philosopher) or "Ancient asian proverb". Not anymore, someone (bless them Guan Gong for their determination and work) must have told them to lay off the romanticization and cuteification. Sometimes i find comfort in reading the DDJ, other times i find comfort in thinking nobody really does understand

I'm Sherlocking that LOA is an acronym for "Law Of Attraction" or something similar. In my head it made no sense that Trump would seek the aid of Vodu or Voodoo spirit work (nor that any Loa would grace him with any substantial help) and since i'm not familiar with the acronym i asked about it. I guess i could further explain myself and take up space and further disrupt the flows so i'll declare my query solved. *waves to immaginary person in the crowd and leaves awkwardly*

Are we talking about Loa as in the Vodun spirit pantheon? I had no idea he had a feng shui master on retainer. Makes sense, he knows how to use himself to his advantage, that smells like good personal feng shui

Winter is here. First sub-zero celsius rolled in today, forecast says first snow is tomorrow. I'd like to begin my three month hibernation, Bear Style, right now but since that would not fly with anyone besides me i'll just take out my sasquatchy fleece jacket and my bear-esque sweatsuit and be grumpy, as is my custom.

Interesting! There was a link below to another article called "Rise of the Tao" iirc, detailing around an "eye opening" ceremony performed by an abess from a quanzhen nunnery, very interesting also.

Bam! Great thread, i really needed to read this! Cha yi, cha dao, pin cha. That makes sense. A soft whisper in my ear (let's call it Late Night Sleepy Poet) tells me it's a metaphor of the three treasures but it'd be misrepresentative i'm sure I'm down for the coffee mystery lineage! Is there regalia involved? If no, i'm still down.

I only brew Ti Kuan Yin Lap Lap Hoa or Vanilla Rooibus. Never experimented with different waters, tap water is fine for me. The Ti Kuan Yin goes as follows: For halv a litre of tea i take five fistfuls of leaves minimum. Lots of leaves. When they're wet they should reach the brim of the pot. Never be stingy with oolong. Never a full boil, just almost. Rinse with half the pots capacity and never steep more than a minute. 1,5 minutes and it's already ruined. The large amount of leaves gives a strong flavour and aroma, hard caffeine kick and quick steep lets none of the bitter acidic Stuff out, i simply cant stand that taste and even a little tea-acid (no matter how strong the brew) f-s my stomach up like crazy. I've heard of people steeping for up to five minutes, all of my experimentation in that direction has been utter failure, undrinkable foxpoison. Expensive? Yes. Frugal? Not at all. Good? Unbeatable, to me at least. How often? Three or four times a year, i'm a coffee-drinker so tea is just for the experience and taste. Serve as is or with the tiniest amount of cane sugar. Rooibus sits for five to ten with a dash of milk and lots of honey, i drink it maybe once a month.

Tried something very similar a few years back and was very surprised with suddenly holding a ball that wasnt "there". Obviously something was there, i was busy making up explanations to this amazing magical force that i could summon at will. We only worked with feeling it gently expand and deflate in time with breaths, it was mesmerizing. I tried doing it with a candle standing in the center of this sphere, hoping to affect the flame somehow... After a few months of playing around with it i experienced a delusion when i realized this balls resistance was part of minute tensions and shifts relating to muscles and fascia (i think) in the back, the reistance between my hands was a result of the expansion of the ribcage when the lungs filled up and all that. No magic power at all, just a made up explanation of an infinitely mundae occurrence! The fact i was holding my hands in front of my belly was just highlighting a subtle movement. Disgusted with the exercise i never did it again, felt i was fooling myself and feeding a childish mode of wishful thinking... ahrem. Seems i discarded the content because the package didnt meet my expectations, i never even got to the qi part of the exercise This thread makes me want to approach the exercise again! I've studied breathing with relaxation in the years that followed the great delusion, studyimg unconscious or involuntary tensions and movements etc etc. I realize this ongoing project would never have happened without playing with that taji ball, in many ways i owe the practice a lot and i think it might be time to approach it with less hopes of discovering the closet to Narnia and instead hope to öearn more about qi, body and mind. Thanks for the reminder!

Well, of course not all can find their way through that door and there are many misconceptions and dead ends, as with many other spiritual endeavors. The results and their quality are as much depending on the seekers focus, effort and their place in the grander scheme. Well, foundation for me doesnt mean preparation for more advanced or "the real" stuff, that sounds more like a conmans version of a secret society. I think the foundation is like a users guide for setup and further learning, what an openminded and diligent person can extrapolate from basic training of many classical martial arts is limitless. It can apply to martial skill but also communication, life-skills, survival, internal skill, spiritual development. In so many words: creating a framework or toolbox that allows a more organized approach. I personally believe the warrior-thing to be a myth, appropriated for marketing and/or control. Attractive and flowery experiences are to be avoided if one has lofty goals, i agree In my opinion living naturally requires skill, knowledge and the wit to apply them. Going towards formlessness presupposes knowledge of form, i think this is implicit in the classics. Emptyness also, how can you empty if you do not survey what is cluttered and go to work? Most Taoist practices come with loud warning labels, the emphasis on foundation is there for a reason, because those who transmitted it know the perils and do not want us to go in blind or reckless. Its the same with psychotherapy. It will help and be worth it, but it will be a bumpy ride at times and the challenge does not lessen over time. **** End of rant

I see your point and agree. But... Unlike breathing, martial arts are no necessity and neither cultivate spirit per se, although there is a lot to learn from the article. The fact that one needs to stay honest about ones foundation-work and be mindful of the stuff that is "hidden" in the techniques. This, in as little i've seen of them, seems true for neigong, classical mo seut/wu shu, sitting practices etc. None of them lead anywhere, but all that hard work is not for nothing if the student and teacher are both smart. Even someone with no talent for using their martial arts for combat can learn many things beneficial to spiritual cultivation from it if their perspective and focus allow it. Being mindful of the fundamentals will aid in that... I dont want to argue semantics but imo nothing leads to Tao. It's hardly lost or in need of finding from what i gather. What needs to be unearthed from it's confinement is ones true nature, right? Isn't that the whole deal with the equinoxes, solistices, planting and harvesting?

+10 on this. Thanks for that article Gerard.

Thanks Sillybear for the translation! Often when i experience desire i later think i should have broken it down into components while it happened. Those times i do manage to grasp that bird in mid-air all i need is to try to see it from outside or at least acknowledge that my desire is unbalanced because of the perspective i percieve from isnt balanced, and so it becomes clearer. Then, understanding what causes desire becomes easier and when you know a little more of what drives your desires its easier to just let them pass. The more you that, the less they'll bother you. Because thats the issue right? At first we're unaware desire controls us, then we realize it and desire starts to bother but it's still kinda abstract. I'm obviously a fan of the "put it under the microscope" method, but it helps me avoid getting stuck or obsessed. Once it's taken apart and scrutinized it's easier to leave it behind. This, of course, ties in to ones daily state of being. If you're in a poor way then vulnerability is higher. Which tells you you can only do as good as you manage to pull something off each individual time you do it, just relax and do it again.

Lately my brain is seeing bad omens, potential catastrophies and unlucky signs everywhere. Flies in the libations in spite of the cover, rats moving in under a flowerbed right outside our house, unlucky number combos showing up out of nowhere, my amulet necklace breaking in perfect syncronicity when i realized a very frightening possibility, certain symbols or turns of words jumping out in a context that could signify a hidden agenda or danger, hell i even think people are speaking in veiled messages but that is borderline paranoia and nothing to feed. I'm not a very superstitious person even though i'm susceptible to symbols and their context. I've always figured stuff like that runs the risk of turning into an obsession rather than help, if someone out there is looking out for me great, it's just as likely that my brain is playing the old "create context and connection out of nothing" trick. It's not all doom and gloom though, i've had people and info pop up out of nowhere to help me avoid a few things thst could have been unpleasant. But all of these bad omens i see never turn out to actually mean very much if anything. What i'm interested in is to hear your experience with omens, "omens", signs and "signs". Humorism and seriousness is welcome wether separate or blended together. What are the signs you see? What are they telling you?

Cats folding in half... they only way i can see this with my Inner Eye of Sauron is what is dubbed "Cheeseshrimp" or "Shri Mp Asana" in my domus. It's when a cat starts having a nap propped up against something, like the back of a chair, with their legs stretched out. Then us furless honoray cats, who honestly suck at serving and delighting in spite of these thumbs we're so damn proud of, leave the room and return to find the previously propped up cat has now fallen asleep completely and slowly drooped forward with both front paws and head extended, resulting in a hilarious shrimp-like pose. I usually tell a Cheeseshrimper how silly its being. You're not a shrimp, give them back. You're a cat. Results vary. Below is not the shrimp, that ks just a seal beaing itself

Please veer as you see fit Sagebrush. It's never a good time for injuries. I'm a bit behind you on the years but the cautiousness has increased with experience. I fell 10ft from one roof to another once and only broke my leg, thats been enough to keep me respectful towards ladders and height.

Agreed, Aetherous, they're born of mind and only have the significance and authority they are given. GMSage points out an important point also: Active mental direction is good, but i feel the need to say it should not be at the cost of passive awareness. They are useful in balanced roles. True feeling, true listening, true understanding. Real understanding, real feeling, real listening. For me personally these signs jump out as hastily interpreted stimuli while in a receptive state, i.e. between thoughts. Being between thoughts isn't really a quiescent state since i often reach the latter by allowing the amplitudes to go through a sort of compressor, as in a compressor of sound. The effective variation of amplitude between low and high quiets down and that persistent puzzlepiece called distinguishing mind lessens it's own delusion of having an answer for everything. "Between thoughts" is more like autopilot, usually happens when i already need rest, approaching an instant of microsleep and whatever one of my senses picks up on is what yanks me out into the world again. Sounds make me laugh, images stir my deeply ingrained catalog of symbolism. The process happens within microseconds. I think the bad omens are frequent because i have a pattern of formulating crises as a focus boost, nothing wakes you up like imminent danger Like GJ from Top of the Lake says: "the body has infinite wisdom." If it wants to wake up it'll find a way. If one is careless or allows that particular strategy to become an automated response, then one can look forward to a lot of trouble to disengage that mechanism, the gross misuse of ones resources and the delusional perspective on reality that it entails. Sagebrush: I might have laughed myself off the road seeing a signboard broadcasting that! Interesting stand-off with the bird, i've had similar with birds, roedeers and one time even a fox. No poop was left but the situations have lasted everything from 30 seconds up to a few minutes.

Thunder! White Eyebrows! Too cute! Only exclamations! Clever kitty!

How do they fold in half? It sounds hilarious!

TM: Oh the indignation stemming from downpour, i get a lot of blaming glares and upset rants from both our cats. Never for firecrackers, loud kids and drunkards, just the rain. Maybe it's time to learn to talk to the local dragon and strike a deal? Wonder how that'll go over... I wish our cats would give us the satisfaction of showing off their expriments and solo-games, but alas: if we're in the room together then we play together too, no exceptions. No way, he picks up on cars that far off?! Wow. But how can he know about the tea? Must be telepathy. The earthquake thing sounds very handy, i'd feel safer! Ours can distinguish wether it's a known (and approved) person or not punching in the code on our apartment building gate. I suspect they've learned the different rythms people use since it's one of the few variables involved. Hahaa yes, hadn't thought about the ET intelligence connection but it makes a lot of sense. Human-compatible mind is spot on, i think they realized it way back when they just started hanging out with us. Some refer to it as self-domestication, i tend to call it squatting, symbiosis by choice or "giong native during a clever long con" depending on the cat in question. MTL: Haha yes, i can recognize the arrogance and pride. Pasa seems like a solid lump of gold from the pic!

Us wise ones usually are. Someone said cat is like "it's always gin o'clock somewhere". I've hoped many times to have a chance to meet Arsenio, Cesarina, Celeste or Sabina again but those powers that supposedly be havent been forthcoming. My dearest Picasso (inverted mackrell coat: deep black base with ocra stripes and bright pale yellow eyeliner) was as if Arsenio had raised and taught him everything he ever knew even if the former died a few years before Picasso was born, they were a little alike and two of my best friends ever. Sabina was my first cat, i bought her when i was 4, and she became the matriarch of a dynasty of cats that spanned to 7th generation descendents. We had 18 at the most during a single time, of which 8 were adults and 10 kittens dived into two litters. Common stuff i learned was distinct personality and individual inclination to socializing, females spraymark territory just like males and when a tight knit clan has multiple females with kittens they take turns watching the litters so the other can go for a walk. Unless they all got tired and left the unified litter with our german sheperd. She was resident kittysitter, a tradition first decreed by the second matriarch and they kept up during the generations until the dog died. Currently we have two. One is bonkers and borderline feral by choice, she's gradually lost her finesse in communicating with us but still does the basics like pointing at the window for us to open, or sit at the right side of the window, getting our attention and then turning her head towards the the fridge for food. We used to have a few tricks she and I but she's outgrown them, they're not fun anymore. Oh, yeah, she even has her own circle of human friends we didnt even know about until recently when one of them contacted us. Their only connection is our cat and now theyre friends on social media. Last night she started to mimic me when i jerk my head in the direction of the bedroom calling her, she wanted to leave so she started nodding towards the window (behind her) while making a short chirp i've never heard before. Usually it was just pointing and if ignored long she'd sing a little tune. This is also a cat who fetches us to solve issues she's not on top of. The second one is fat, has a wide and pragmatic vocabulary for communication. She's no foodslut, probably because of her allergy to complex proteines and is largely uninterested in foodstuffs beyond smelling them. She hates kids and most people (i raised that one good), she can communicate through signs and chirps not only a wish for her bowl to be refilled or to play or be petted, but specific wishes to play a certain game or other. Rubber bands game has it's own word, but you know if she wants to run after one or try to catch them mid air depending on posture or a chattering chirp (the chatter is not her hunting sound, they are different and used appropriately). Call me a dumbnut but the games are developed together and specific to the individual. Some of them are quite complex in rythm and one contains parts i still havent figured out yet. She hates going to the vet and eating medicine, and protests once against the cage and spits her medicine up once. After face has been saved she complies without resistance. We do suspect Fatty travels through time and space freely. Bonkers just hangs out at the cemetary getting high on catnip (not a joke) and comes in whenever she feels like it.

I often feel that angles of sharpening are left out of the conversations regarding edged tools and weapons. Standards and anomalies have varied much through ages and regions as much as between schools and idividuals as they do today with all the science and information available to us. Even ricassos seem to have wandered in and out of sword design even in china. Im pretty sure variation is visible on early human cutting and stabbing implements. Different tools for different jobs and all that. Provided one puts a little time into learning how it's pretty easy to make and maintain a consistent and even varied angle on a blade, even with the most low-tech stuff For example, i've understood the tradition i'm learning in prefers most of the blade being cutting sharp but only the tipmost 5th is kept razoresque, for Gim/Jian at least. Further down it's still paper cutting sharp and the last part is not at all dull: A friction dragging cut (over the bridge during a parry-counter for example) that starts at midpoint of the blade moving towards the hilt should cause and worsen a nasty laceration while the hissing sharp tip comes close to ones co-fencers head. If they move even a little, a quick peck or flick could cause a deep wound. Gim are gentleman weapons because you can incapacitate someone without mortally wounding or debilitating them permanently, should you want to. If on the offhand chance your oppoment is not one of the gentle group, the gentlemanly kill would probably be some form of deep stab to organs or a decisive slash-flick to the throat or femoral artery. Our gim have no ricasso and the 1/3 closest to the hilt is supposed to be sharp but sturdy enough to survive some serious contact. This, in my thinking at least, points to an degree of narrowing in angle of sharpening from hilt to tip as well as a slight taper of the blade profile, giving a sturdy structure that manouvers easily because the weight comes back to the hilt. Compare those proportions to the front heavy Dao, general of weapons (or is that the Gek?). While they seem to have been kept hysterically sharp too, the angle of sharpening ought to have been a lot wider near their point of percussion, much like a machete or even an axe. A narrow angle gives the advantage of deep cuts but get easily wedged stuck or damaged in denser materials while a wide one (especially if rounded) would cut and separate the material much quicker and increase the splitting potential rather than getting stuck. The latter would be preferrable for Daos considering all those cool moves that look great for lobbing of a limb: cutting muscle and shattering bones at the same time. Very generally, a general wouldnt be faffing about, killing someone is quick amd efficient, punishment by cutting an arm off is efficent. I'm not saying there's no finesse to them, just that their intended use and properties make for a very different approach. At some point people started putting a second edge along the tipmost part of a daos spine for reverse cuts, i'm pretty sure they would be of a narrower angle since a wide one wont cut very deep as easily as a gim. Unless you're a moron like me and accidentally drag your finger along the belly of your chopper and almost slice the pulp of your index finger off on a combined 75 degree edge. My trusted source says two handed drawing (including back carry iirc) is used in some southern traditions but i havent had the chance to ask for specifics as of yet, i hope to remember next time. The gim he advocates are reported to have been shorter than most commercially available today, making them quicker to handle and draw, easy to listen with (as in push hands "listenting"), hide along the arm and allowing better access to close quarters in battle. Long swords move slow and when someone is inside your radious there are few ways to get them back close to your tip. EDIT - fixed it because: Oh dear, a quick review revealed i basically sleepwrote the first incarnation of this post thinking it was an interesting tangent. At least it's coherent now.

Hear hear! All the best and auspicious days for you guys blackstar212

I so hope that guy isn't showing up with the early frost...