relaxer

Thank you, Ya Mu, for all the good information. If I might ask another couple questions: Would you recommend the non-folding Needak over folding model? My intuition tells me the folding model might be a little weaker in the longer run. Currently, I'm a starving artist, so I don't have a lot of money to throw around. I'd like to get it right the first time. Also, at what point, sequentially, in the practice should rebounding be added. My current practice consists of zhan zhuang and the taichi long form. Would rebounding after a standing and taichi practice dissipate the energetic benefits? Thank you for your time! ben

Anybody? Makah' da bouncy bouncy n likey likey?? Nobody likah' da bouncy bouncy? You likah' da juice?? ehhhhhh He likah' da juuuuuuuuiice. (Sorry to bring this to the top again, as it's not as interesting as debating whether or not someone should or shouldn't enlarge their spear...hehe Still curious though...) ben

Yeah Mr. Lazy Cloud. I'm curious too... Particularly because so many people seem so adamant about its health changing benefits. I get a bit skeptical though, because I haven't read anything articulate enough to back the claims. The old "silver bullet" alarm is going off. That said, it seems to make a lot of sense. Many of us are sedentary in ways that the human organism was never meant to be. Rebounding might simulate healthy body movement and resistance without chewing up ligaments and joints. I'm really close to just getting a lil' tramp and bouncing with her for a while. ben

Rock on, man. My teacher said that standing is like writing a book. If you miss a day at the beginning, it's like starting over. It may be imperceptible at first, but pretty soon, as the daily practice adds up, bit by bit, day by day, the pages become thick and the practice takes on a strength and energy of its own. Every little bit adds up... By the way, I saw that you have kettlebells down as an interested. I just started taking a class every Tuesday about a month and a half ago and I'm pretty blown away. I just purchased my first one. Do you work out with them often? How have you enjoyed them? ben

Thank you for the information. I find that it takes me about 5-10 minutes to "settle" and at about the 20 minute mark I feel quite thoroughly relaxed. This is just WUJI standing, without adding any postures. I've gone up to an hour before and haven't felt any ill effects. Where is it that tension begins to build? In the hips? What does your teacher mean when he says "do not stand for the sake of standing". I stand because it feels good and seems to be the most profound and simple practices I've ever encountered. I guess I just resonate with it. Thank you for your reply. ben

Well said... I live with two roommates that games daily. I can't help but get the sense of large amounts of energy being dissipated. Where are the real questions, the real pursuit of the heart's curiosity? These games are by nature so repetitive, so simple and mundane compared to the intricacies and subtlety of walking in the park or the woods. BOOOOOOMMM, NEW WEAPONNNNN, HEAD SHOTTTT....again...again...again...soma....soma....soma... It all seems like such a tranquilizer. Here and there, fine... But too many are addicted to binary code. Pick up a piece of clay, a crayon, or stack some rocks. Relate to your body, to the dan tien, and not some imaginary world through the tips of your thumbs... BUT it's better than crack, i guess...

I've just gotten into working out with kettlebells and it's pretty amazing. It focuses on movement around the center. It works the body as one unit, it doesn't isolate. Careful: In my experience, it's like Viagra the morning after... The force is strong with the morning pine tree.

Thanks for the good info, Leopoldson. I've been practicing embryonic and reverse breathing as far as my sitting is concerned. I've also done a lot of sitting with just placing my awareness on the lower dan tien. In your experience, does one nourish Shen better than the other after cultivating Jing with standing? Thanks!

Dorks can be very good. Thanks, guys, for the vids and good info. I can already tell that rededicating myself to the simplicity of standing has reinvigorated my practice. I'm keeping it simple, not moving through and of the arm postures (holding the ball,etc) and just staying in pure wuji standing for about 30 minutes after doing my Taichi stretches in the AM and PM. I'm finding this a good amount of time for now, but as I move forward I will look to increase to an hour. Somebody mentioned doing some sitting after standing. My teacher, conversely, once recommended sitting before standing. What seems to be the benefit of sitting after standing? I think it may have had something to do with sublimation, but I can't quite remember. Any experience here is appreciated! Thank you for the encouragement and advice. Thanks Red Phoenix. I'll stick to Taichi for now, but there is a real resonance with BaGua that I'm looking forward to exploring once my practice is ready. ben

Thanks for the input! I really like the suggestion above about breaking the form down into different static "standing" postures and then very slowly with much awareness bringing them together. That's something I'll definitely give a try. ben

Thanks guys, for the input. Good question. A brief history might give a little more sense to my statements. I was a wrestler as a little guy through high school. I feel that established/forced a very in-the-body perspective for those very formative years of my life. After that, I tended toward very physically demanding exercise routines. I lifted weights hard and biked long distances. I grew tired and bored of such routines. I started getting more interested in combining my interest in truth with my physical discipline. I first looked to yoga and went directly into Bikram yoga, one of the more intense varieties, taught in a 105 degree room 26 postures each done twice for 90 minutes total. I loved it at first, but doing it everyday soon took a toll. Something didn't add up. I wanted something that I could fold comfortably into an everyday practice that would jive with my evolving intellectual understanding of "truth". I started getting interesting in non-duality, advaita, etc... Soon after I met my teacher, Jon. He taught me basic standing and gave me Lam Kam Chuen's book Way to Power. I trusted him and did what he said, standing everyday, even if it was for a short period of time. Even from the beginning, I felt an incredible potential in the deep relaxation of standing that I had never experienced in yoga. Yoga seemed very full of fire to me, while standing felt more like water. Slow to heat, but sustaining. Yoga would pick me way up and then drop me off - BAM and I'd have to take a long nap to recover. Standing left me energized and more sensitive to my body in a way I had never experienced. It felt as though the monkey mind was somehow quelled. as if I was relating to existence from more of a single point rather than a galaxy of revolving and warring planets. Keep in mind, all of this was very subtle. I can't remember having any glorious come to Jesus moments or wild chi balls coming out my third eye. It just felt right. It was a coming home, as if something in my heart said, this is what you need. I guess my pump was primed. I was bored with western exercise, and something about my relationship to yoga was becoming inauthentic... I do sometimes wonder though, if doing Bikram yoga everyday for 8 months prior to standing helped to break up some blocks that aided in my appreciation of Standing's subtlety. I'm sure it must have. I'm coming back to standing now after many months of focusing almost obsessively on Taichi. It's just been a short time, but I feel the same single-pointedness, and gratitude for the practice as I did when my teacher, Jon, passed it onto me. I'll let you know how my experience changes when it does if this thread is still alive. You said that your experience was not so immediate but amazing, nonetheless. I'm really interested in your experience if you're willing to relate it! Thanks for your reply. ben

Hi Everyone. This is my first post. I'm sure this topic has been brought before, so I apologize if we get into some repeating, but I've checked the archives and I'm just not finding the info I'm after. I'm seriously considering 100 days of celibacy. I have a healthy respect for the power of the practice. I'm been doing standing meditation for 3 years, and I've been doing the Yang style long form (taichi) for about a year. Currently, I do at least one round a day of the form, which takes about 20 minutes, and I do 15 minutes of reverse breathing in the morning followed by 15 minutes or so of deep "natural" or abdominal breathing, both while sitting in half lotus. In the past, I've attempted Mantak Chia methods of sublimating sexual energy while masturbating, however, I've found them difficult to figure out, as I've always walked too closely to the edge of orgasm and 5 times out of 10 end up spilling my seed. I guess my question is this: Is my current practice alone enough to successfully sublimate the excess energy (assuming that my practice is of good quality)? Or is it necessary to sublimate through masturbation practices? I am active and have a high sex drive. I find it difficult to go 10 days without release. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm turning 30 soon and I started practicing some of this back in my early 20s at which time I probably did more harm than good. I'm finally ready to do it right, to keep it subtle. For some reason, my path has led back to this, it seems to keep popping up. It makes a lot of sense that 100 days of retention would be a great step towards refinement, one that I am willing to make. Would you recommend it? What would you say the main goal of the practice is? I'm striving for balance and integration. I love my taichi, standing, and sitting my practice, they bring me great joy. I am not after any powers or ability to do this or that. I am just simply and sincerely interested in practices that can enhance and beautify my time on earth. The taoists continue to astound me with their incredible wisdom. Since is has their approval, it's something I'm really considering and would like to know more about. Thanks a lot for taking the time. relaxer

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Great point about getting to the heart of why I want to do this. For me, it has to do with integration and balance. I look back on myself in my teens and most of my 20s as sex obsessed and out of balance. Maybe it's in reaction to a current relationship in which sex is a central thread that holds it together. I love it, almost too much, but I can see the damage done by too much focus on it. I want depth and not just sexual entertainment anymore. I want to learn more about myself and sexuality through a deeper looking and not just continuing the trance-like normalcy of jacking off every couple of days. It's parodical and contradictory that in order to remedy obsession, I would choose to do the 100 days of RETENTION, it just seems like another form of obsession in a sense, another form of idiocy... My life experience might say otherwise. I'm an artist and did a 2 year apprenticeship. I was forced to work in a certain obsessive way 14-16 hours a day, 6 days a week. It was hard and ridiculous in many ways, but it brought clarity and wisdom to my experience in a way that few other things could. I guess I see retention as a reset button of sorts. A way to get to a clearer image of why I'm here and what I'm doing. I hope all that blabber makes sense. Thank you guys for your insight. I really appreciate it. Man... I knew something must be up with Mantak Chia methods... I'm glad to hear that a good taichi, standing, and/or sitting practice can sublimate sexual energy successfully. I had no idea that stimulating the fluids made them useless. That makes a lot of sense too. Great INFO! Thank you. If you have any links or suggestions for reading, I would be much obliged. Take care. relaxer

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Great point about getting to the heart of why I want to do this. For me, it has to do with integration and balance. I look back on myself in my teens and most of my 20s as sex obsessed and out of balance. Maybe it's in reaction to a current relationship in which sex is a central thread that holds it together. I love it, almost too much, but I can see the damage done by too much focus on it. I want depth and not just sexual entertainment anymore. I want to learn more about myself and sexuality through a deeper looking and not just continuing the trance-like normalcy of jacking off every couple of days. It's parodical and contradictory that in order to remedy obsession, I would choose to do the 100 days of RETENTION, it just seems like another form of obsession in a sense, another form of idiocy... My life experience might say otherwise. I'm an artist and did a 2 year apprenticeship. I was forced to work in a certain obsessive way 14-16 hours a day, 6 days a week. It was hard and ridiculous in many ways, but it brought clarity and wisdom to my experience in a way that few other things could. I guess I see retention as a reset button of sorts. A way to get to a clearer image of why I'm here and what I'm doing. I hope all that blabber makes sense. Thank you guys for your insight. I really appreciate it. Man... I knew something must be up with Mantak Chia methods... I'm glad to hear that a good taichi, standing, and/or sitting practice can sublimate sexual energy successfully. I had no idea that stimulating the fluids made them useless. That makes a lot of sense too. Great INFO! Thank you. If you have any links or suggestions for reading, I would be much obliged. Take care. relaxer

Hello Everyone. My name is Ben and I'm just getting started here. I'm excited to join the community. I practice Yang style taichi daily and also have put a lot of time into standing meditation. I dabble in sitting from time to time, but I'm partial to my taichi practice for now. I've been sitting a bit each morning, sticking to abdominal breathing. I found that when I was younger I was maybe a bit too eager, throwing myself into moving energy throughout the body without ever building up a sensitivity to subtlety. My standing and taichi practice has helped with this, but as I progress, it's as if I realize more and more the depth and potential of the practice. The more I "know", the more I open into a realization of the depth of the unknown. I'm here to learn and to give anything that I might be able to offer to help you all on your paths. Thank you very much for reading this. I look forward to sharing with you all! ben