Rocky Lionmouth

The window shopping thing doesnt have to be detrimental, the important part imo is to not bring it to lessons, but you seem on top of that already so never mind Also, i think videos and books are good reference, ChiDragon makes good points, but its also important not to indulge ones own intelligence too much either, its easy to see a solution for a situation that is pretty good but not seeing the mistake in a broader context. Even though the form contains the system entirely in its every movement, some of the simplest things are not at all explicit unless you've learned them already, or at least thats my experience. Best way to learn the tricks is to make mistakes and have your instructor notice them, and over time it'll start to make sense on its own. Im a bit jealous of you getting started into it, all the fun you'll have discovering it

I fully agree, rereading my post its ripe with the shock i felt at the refreshing bold stuff of this monk (whom i admire and thank for sharing), i didnt know the Jesus Prayer was so popular. Good stuff i guess! But hey, my relation to and trust in christianity was thoroughly damaged early on, there was a lot of guilt being passed around at the time, everyone had their share to eat. I left church at the end of my teens and i've only returned to attend peoples funerals and weddings because even secular people stubbornly decide to hold them there, and what i hear today wether protestant or catholic (never been to an orthodox function im ashamed to say) is exactly what you describe: a generalized and impersonal model of relationship with an allegedly petty and technically anal divinity to whom you've been indentured to by those who came before you, and all around a heap of hypocrites ready to point fingers should someones frightening and disorderly percieved weakness (defined by consensus) be revealed wether they be in the flock or outside. The mistrust, the frear, the lofty judging from people ready to squeeze your hand and wish God Peace upon you. Lets just say i find these "holy" people downright scary. I respect christians and their right to truly find salvation in their belief and community, dont get me wrong, but i'll have none of it. Rumis old saying about love and the barriers we ourselves build against it is still true, but some are tempted to lead you by the nose right into adulating and obeying them just because you think you dont know how to love, or what the real way to follow is. The same people hit you with their right hand and caress you with the left and everybody says you should be ready to suffer like that poor guy who got nailed to a wood contraption because people couldnt help being dicks, because its the noble thing to do, scores nice points in the tournament. Everytime someone says to me that God is Love i want to march out in indignation because it often a man in a position to dictate all the rules who says it, there is no resting in the idea that he'd never be up to no good, if he werent he wouldnt be standing towering over everybody else trying to convice you otherwise. Sorry, i didnt know i still felt this strongly about it, ill post it anyway, not trying to rain on anything or anyone, this thread is interesting but somehow it rips old scabs right off for me.

Sounds like a total keeper, you got a good look a lot of important stuff on your first lesson and its always a good sign a teacher imparts the basics of her/his skill before moving on to what people often mistake for "the good stuff" or the "real" stuff, imo its the other way around really. A tip: dont rush ahead of what your instructor is showing you, the internet is great and all that but the less you bring with you to a lesson, the easier it'll be building a good communication and trust with your instructor. What is said about too many cooks is true about martial arts teachers as well. Have fun!

But there are religious people who subscribe to taoism and some deities are taoists in tradition while others belong to other pantheons, or at least thats how i understand it. Some are popular in more than one tradition, like Guan Gong who is revered by both taoists and buddhists if im not mistaken. Theres a part of me that wants to say "people pray to the gods that suit them" but it sounds a little derogatory and thats not how i mean it Edit: what i do mean is that theres a practical aspect to factor when there are different deities available, but thats my speculation.

Heres mine, its long and detailed, sorry. Im not sure if it has a name, its more some things i've picked up from my schools sitting in quiet meditation. Cultivate your empty state of mind, the one that comes from when you relax, focus and listen to your body. Dont worry and dont be eager or happy or angry. You're not there to accomplish, or work through something: you there to study your body. You need large quantities of data, dont get stuck on one feeling or being able to reproduce that exact same thing as last time. Listen to your body, dont fidget with it, dont force, dont visualize. If you feel tensing up somewhere try to understand how and its cause and then relax that part if possible. If no, never mind, focus on the whole of your body instead. Stage two: Try to find your pulse (as in heartbeat) inside of you, hows that feel, does it stay there or does it move? When you can comfortably find it somewhere in your body, see if you can find it elsewhere or make it move (slowly) from say your palms to your forearm? Can you find it deep in the belly? If so good. Practice finding it in your belly. Let it travel there. Breathe into the pulsating area for a while, then stop. Stage three adds to see if you feel warm or/and tingly anywhere. If yes listen to that sensation in different parts of your body. Try to find it in the belly, let it if possible mix in with the pulse, breathe into it. Do this while doing abdominal breathing, start with natural (fill and empty) relaxedly. Later go for reversed breathing, even more important to be relaxed while doing that one or youll be lifting your chest and shoulders, tensing up your core excessively, upsetting your sitting muscles,legs or torso from the effort and tension. Useless, take a little break or go back to natural breathing. Upper torso should be as still as possible, you want the compression in the belly area. Sit on a chair or stool as far to thef ron that your "junk" is not on the chair. If you'd have no pants on it would be "airing out". But please, wear pants. Legs wide (thereby creating a good support for the pelvic area and torso), knees at a minimum of 90 degrees, more is ok, you thighs should be horizontal and the small of your back should be straight. Hands resting on your thighs. Dont slouch. Erect spine without exaggeration. Open eyes good, closed eyes can help an empty mind at this point, maybe. Tounge to the palate att he good old spot, nostril breathing only. Shut your mouth, breathe slowly. Breathe softly, make it silent with time. After a while of getting the silent breathing down start to do vigorous breathing, hold your breath for shorter periods of time, on inhale or on exhale. Feel how strong and heavy an inhale can feel and how fluid and liberating an exhale feels. But always have soft, silent breathing as your go to place. Also, it can be good to slowly tense around the perineum when the mabdomen moves inward, and again slowly relaxing that tension whe its gling out. After a while you can start to help lift the pelvic bottom muscles at the same time, getting some added compression on breathing in during reversed breathing. Smiling a little helps also, lips should be together. You'll look silly but only to someone who looks longer than a second or two. All of this should, in my humble opinion be supplemented (if possible) with core strengthening external exercises such as tight belly push ups, jack-knives etc etc. And plentiful stretching in the core areas as possible. But not directly before or after sitting and cultivating emptiness and breathing exercises, who instead can be preceded with a short walk and mild and relaxed stretching and loosening exercises to get the blood flowing better without raising the heartrate. Dont get sweaty and dont overstretch. Also some back strenght exercises can be good to complement all the push ups. The more i slack off with the physical exercise, the jerkier and more forced is my abdominal breathing, as is the level of smoothness of feeling and of the empty state of mind. To me, this is my best building up, getting to know and energizing the ldt, it has helped me increase sensitivity and overall energy. It takes time, its boring as shit sometimes, but regular practice has given me a lot of insight i can use in my qigong and kung fu.

I dunno about conditioning but i do disagree about true practice. I hear what you are saying, dont get me wrong. Im sometimes sad that im not more prepared to prioritize my training and practice in front of other things, but to say that todays world is more demanding than the ye olde world, seems unfair to everyone involved. Today many people have spare time and holidays, unthinkable until not so long ago. Some are more privileged than most of course. I think true practice is a slowly reinforced psychology and sneaking in as much as can be done without overdoing it. There must be rest after work, i feel immensely lucky im not surviving with tending fields and stacking up a firewood stash to last all of the coming winter from daylight to sundown, you know? I'm so lazy i'd never practice, it'd have to be monastic life or bust. I can relate to the shame of meeting ones teacher and not having done as much as one would have liked. Im meeting mine this next weekend and theres tons of stuff i havent done. But i have "all" week ahead of me at least to go over some points and the stuff i got wrong last time hahah!

Hear hear! Edit: I've been thinking that the true daoists sages oughta be perfectly ambidextrous, unifying the two "halves" completely. Ideally having the same handwriting with both hands, if so inclined.

Im a southpaw too. Practice has made me 75% ambidextrous so far, that doesnt go away. What does go away is the idea that holding a yang-ish position to practice. We're not perfect theoretical machines to which the simplest formulas of causality apply without omitting important details. The strict regime isnt always better. At least not for me. I try to do something every day but end up doing something five days a week more or less. Yes, some "achievements" will fade, some stay, some become better after a break. For me its quick, i drop a few important steps down the "ladder" (in a pretty Escherian sense) in a matter of weeks, but the long term effects of a supple body, relaxed shoulders and core, abdominal breathing habits have a shelf-life of length i dont care to find out. A break in practice can also help you highlight new and interesting aspects about you and your practice when you start again, stuff you might never notice if you dont suspend your routine for a spell. I know people who have stopped alltogether and they seem fine except that they always want to start again but never find the time and place for it, causing some discomfort. Also they have lives, kids, careers and other material clutter that impede their journey. Me, i have an assortment of hats and live under a bridge, works great, its rent controlled and the neighbours are fine.

As has been said already: dont push. Its easy to get frustrated or disillusioned, but remember that youre still sharpening your senses. How often do you practice? Too much practice can hinder, especially if you're in a phase of hitting walls. Doing something different but related could be a boost, the tai chi ruler sounds like fun! I can also highly recommend "walking meditation" or "mindful walking" as some call it, its really all about just trying to walk as slowly as humanly immaginable and then some. A good measure for the first time is five meters should take at least five minutes to walk, but 10 is better. All the while breathe deep in your abdomen (natural or reverse, as long as its relaxed and unforced), notice your muscles, bones, tendons, blood, heartbeat etc. Being relaxed and using as little effort as possible are key in this. You'll be zig zagging a little bit from shifting your weight, this is good. Walk across a room back and forth once to begin with, keep your eyes looking at the opposite wall. Walk more if you feel like it. Watch out though, time really flies when you get in the zone with this. No fancy moves or weapons involved sorry, but its a nice practice that helps with sensitivity.

I know a traditional feng shui master and he explained to me that the wine thing is only for taoist gods. Buddhist gods drink tea and water, absolutely no wine since buddhists cant drink wine, it'd be disrespectful. Giving a taoist deity water instead of wine can be considered being stingy or not properly respectful even. Interesting theory on the lefthandedness thing, i've been thinking about the older roots of the secret societies also but my source is out of reach at the moment so i cant ask him either :/

Nice one! Remember to offer him wine and incense, he likes a little wine i've heard.

Breathing with abdominal motion to gently massage the organs and help the lungs expand all over, gentle exercises to keep the joints relaxed and well lubricated are key to leading a daily life full of energy. A relaxed and adaptive mind is kept with meditation, wich also brings bigger self acceptance and gentle positive reinforcement. Much of the immortality and long life talk as i understand it is to maintain a high energy level and use it to grow and develop through life, just like an infant. Taking care and saving your energy includes not only meditation and qi gathering exercises, but also not putting too much or too little strain on the infrastructure of mechanical and chemical energy in you body: dont wear your joints and heart out by doing super-hard cardio and play soccer every day for five decades, you're going to hurt yourself in the long run. Consuming the hip joints or damaging the knee tendons is bad qigong no matter how many reps of tai chi you do every day. Same with meditation. Dont neglect your body in favor of these fantastic immortality exercizes that promise divinity embodied and zapping lightning from your forehead. Whats the use of being immortal if your limbs athrophize and you have to be fed and cared for by nurses?

Ehrm, of the monks i know (various catholic orders) some are ecumenical and have knowledge and respect that there are other views and religions and encourage to seek similarities without forgetting that the holy roman catholic church is the truth. This esoteric christian thing is pretty far from mainstream, im surprised he even speaks (let alone admits to doing it) about his path if hes an ordained monk, it is considered blasphemous by most within the clergy and amongst lay-people. As far as catholicism goes, what that monk said makes him a misguided heretic seeking hidden things in the light. What i was force-fed with as a christian is that esoteric teachings and research are distant fringe activities, officially not recognized by the church and therefore also partially considered asd devilish attempts to corrupt the holy mother church's sacred doctrine, an affront to christ and his sacrifice for all of mankind. Fascinating read tho, but do your friend a favor and dont mention who he is if you say this stuff to other christians, i smell disciplinary action in the wind.

Thats the whole point of fear (and all emotional responses) imho, to bring and expand knowledge. To me a healthy relationship with fear will make me explore the frightful experiences so i know what i fear and why, but im on the great "surrender to yourself to know and accept yourself as is" loop of the ride so it makes sense to me to sayt his now. Who knows about next year? I can distance myself fully from all emotions i guess, but it slowly kills me. I'd rather have them as counsellors than not. (What follows is not directed at Mr. Marble but just musings around the op...) So if its egoitistical or not is of little import in the next round of questions, why is egotistical an adjective you want to append to self defense? Purposely killing someone who's trying to beat you up, id call that egotistical, but punching the lights out of someone who wants to hurt you for whatever his own reason, isnt all that egotistical in my book, that managing consequences of letting something go even further than it already has... Or something. Ive never had to defend myself in adult life but theres been plenty of talking some drunk fool down or try to leave before the situation got heated in the first place, but thats even more egotistical because i dont want to be in legal trouble for hurting someone or getting banned from my kung fu for ending up in a fisticuffs i helped make happen. I might even take a punch or two just to be rid of the whole situation because i dont want to deal with whatever would come out of me responding. I've never met someone who made explicit his intent to end my life, idk what that would turn out to.... Rant rant rant Edited to clarify and make sense.

To me fear is important, its one of the most useful survival tools for many speices, its encoded very deep and when listened to from a calm state of mind fear delivers crucial information about oneself and ones surroundings. Terror and paranoia ototh, that'll make you look and smell like prey.

If you look at all the people who would be hurt by someone hurting or killing you its not so very egoistic. Taking care of yourself is by extension being able to take care of those close to you, everyone matters to someone and pain is usually shared, unless people around you are serious sadists or psychopaths...

Thats at least how i remember it ^^ Always with the questions, often asked with some form of "i forget" or "you see i cant for the life of me understand..." The film is amazing in my book. Word! Its gotten a lot of fluffy admirers (i get sicky when cute people talk about feelgoody cuteness like cuteness is an accessory) but i really like it for the sharp twists between terror and harmony, so many terrible things happen and he's always able to position and time his actions like a superhero.

If you're into the pondering philosophical air of Mr. Falk i can recommend that Wim Wenders movie, i think its called Wings of Desire in english, the original title is "Der Himmel über Berlin", late 80s.

Great! I've been on this track too a couple of times, especially for how people relate to him, he kind of comes off like a disguised drunken immortal or something every now and then, popping up, asking weird questions and being underestimated until the very last moment. Also his apparent erratic connections, he always seemed to be investigating himself as much as genuinely seeking answers about others whereabouts and activities. If not more.

Exciting thread with all manner of niceness i need to revisit because halfway i blew a reading-logic fusebox, reboot and return i shall! Meanwhile i found this http://www.fourpillars.net/pdf/ic_landscape.pdf on here a while back, i like it a lot.

It goes with robes well also, the whole ensemble is both classy and extravagant at the same time. The current one has also flawless accessorizing, his watch game is tight, the possibilities are intriguing! Lets just hope he doesnt do a Castro and shows up in a tracksuit. Hats aside (much as it goes against me), i was more taken by this piece of news than i originally thought. Most of all i like the fact that he dismantles an institution in one fell swoop, but also i feel a sense of pride, maybe the bodhisattva is of the mind that "ah, they're good for now, i dont need to involve myself in this process at this point." He'll come back and discover we burnt the house down but we've learned a big lesson. I get moody around now, we're up for elections in my country this sunday. Four year cycle, this shizzeit over here is going to be boiling with petty bad sportsmanship and soon the DL is taking a leave of absence, the pope wont budge and bonafide neo-nazis are in parliament in germany. The dao treats everyone like a straw dog right? Happily, she also gathers in impopular places, i'll find one out and wait for her there.

But most definetly you'll get a hat, and i shall envy this and therfore return to samsara, to realm of hat coveters. Repeatedly, i suspect.

Thats a relief

Hey Marble! No condition other than an old broken foot that healed weirdly and possibly adhd, but i just seize the opportunity when im about to fall over. Also, going with the force (yielding) it when it happens, just to se how far it can be pushed without faceplanting. Yours sounds like not so very fun and games though my friend. Another friend of mine had that exact same thing, she had low blood pressure and iron deficiency but i hear it can be caused by other stuff too. Well yes, awareness and clarity, but the relaxation part helps, also with emotive issues. Its easier to respond naturally and appropriate to the situation and its involved components when one is relaxed. I can be aware and clear, but tense up and im all over defensive mode.

I've been studying myself while being off balanced lately, as an experiment. Everytime i was about to fall over i found that the sooner i just stopped trying to fiddle with my face muscles and do jazz hands (people slowly keeling over do this a lot), directed the force to my supporting foot and found myself standing in a position that to my mind was impossible to keep upright in just tenths of a second earlier, giving me ample time to use head or leg to counterbalnce the klutzery i was doing before. Relax and go with it and i find its not very hard to stand there. If it were on a ledge wherefrom falling to a dismembering death were the scene im pretty sure it'd be not as easy to quit flailing for balance and instead just balance myself. Its taken a lot of stumbling and crashing into doorframes but really. Non action promotes listening.full body listening gives you data about the parameters of your immediate situation. But then i know very little about basically anything (not being coy, the great and vast holes in my data concerning everything are very real) so im probably just operating offa that old bias and prejudice i call knowledge. And yet when pain is inflicted on by say stubbing your foot on furniture, in so many cases we can only experience the pain "located" there. Their other foot is just fine so it falls out of perspective, you're not listening to that are you? Youre not registering your face either and it is going to feel all tired and weird because of all the cringing. What good is the cringing doing? Sorry im off ranting again... Been away too long, got excited. Good thread this one!