Eric23

Which leads us to ask' "where did Tao come from?" Former Christian myself, have never been able to shake the deeply seated belief that there is more going on here than meets the eye.

I come from a Christian background (left a long time ago). Pastors in the past have made it very clear that claiming to be God is the highest form of blasphemy. Every person in the bible who made a claim to be God met a horrible end, proving the pastor's case, depending of course on one's view of the bible. These days I don't have a problem with saying "namaste" the divine in me acknowledges the divine in you. From my perspective, claiming that the divine is a part of you and that you are a part of the divine is a completely different animal than claiming to be God, omnipotent creator of the universe. There must be a little bit of dualist thinking deeply embedded in my thought process that sees myself as just a guy wandering on the face of a small planet called Earth that is one orb among hundred of thousands of planets floating in space, who's time is incredibly short in the grand scheme of things. It is amazing though, that I (you too) am a part of the universe, and that all if it is a part of me. Ian, I've had a few cups of tea throughout the day, they were all lovely. Hope yours was too

I take a Yin yoga class on Monday evenings. It is taught at a yoga studio located in a small shopping center in a major metropolitan city in the US. The owner of this studio, a lovely lady, has to pay rent and utilities for the studio. I know that the owner has a regular full time job and the yoga studio is an effort of the heart. My teacher is another lovely lady who teaches elementary school. She loves yoga and as school teachers in the US are grossly underpaid, any additional income for her is needed and greatly appreciated. I don't feel as though I am going to hell or causing my teacher and owner of the studio to burn in hell either when I pay my fee. The harsh reality is that it takes money to maintain a location for a school and that people should be compensated for their time. In my situation, nobody is getting rich, no outlandish promises are being made; there is simply teaching happening in a clean, quiet studio.

What have you got against comedy?

I prefer to do my yoga with as little clothing on as possible, or none at all, including shoes But that's just me.

As I mentioned in my earlier post.... Don't "do" the asana, let it do you. Go as far as you are comfortable to your edge, relax and breath. Allow gravity and the body position do the work. Don't force it. As you breath and relax you'll go deeper into the asana. Personally I feel that your sifu is setting you up for possible injury by putting a deadline in place. We finish every yoga session with shavasana (death pose) laying flat on the floor, meditative; allowing the muscles to recover from the stretching. This is a very critical part of the process. I agree with Starjumper that the extreme pose you showed on the first post of this thread is something that will take a long, long time to achieve and will probably not be worth the potential danger. Being able to do that type of asana will not really improve your martial art either. You should look into yoga for athletes. As a previous poster mentioned, it looks like you're after overall suppleness and general flexibility, a very worthwhile endevour. One other thing to consider. Yoga asanas are not designed primarily as a stretching exercise or workout. They do that, but the deeper benefit is that they open channels and massage/invigorate the various organs internally. For some of us there is a deeper spiritual component as well in the meditative aspect of yoga.

I don't think that you can achieve that sort of flexibility in a short period of time with out injuring yourself. Of course I am a stiff old fart. I have been doing various stretching and yoga since my days of running track in high school. I would say to start with the foundations and work into it at a steady rate listening closely to your body. Very important to breath through the stretching. If I've learned one thing in my Yin Yoga class it is to focus on breathing while in the asanas. Also, another important thing (really important!) to remember is that you do not "do" asanas; you need to let the asanas work you. I would agree with Taomeow that the Tibetans are a great foundation builder and good place to start. You might also look into the various sun salutations. I do not want to discourage you at all in starting a flexibility program. It is one of the most important and beneficial things you can do for your long term health. I just would hate to see you over do it and injure yourself, thereby discouraging you from pursuing flexibility as a lifetime activity

The United States Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard are not Bush's, or any other US president's "hired goons." Their salaries are paid by the taxpayers of the US with oversight by Congress.

Priceless!!! My birth certificate from about the same era, was typed with a manual Royal typewriter as were almost all documents in the early 60's. The above document looks like it is a product of a digital printer. That being said, I find it hard to believe that Mr Obama would have gotten this far if he did not meet the qualifications for president of the US.

I've participated in a few mail art trades. They were all organized on line and mailing addresses were exchanged by pm or email to protect privacy. It is fun to experience real, tangible items shared by another person who prior to the exchange was simply an identity in cyber space. Put me down.

Thank you Lin, Namaste

Wonderful thread Lin My problem is letting go. There is some deep seated part of me that has to have control. I can get to the very edge of complete relaxation, but never totally there before my ego (?) jumps in. Thank you.

How does one let go? Are there steps to be taken or does it just happen? Thank you.

The Bums have an ebb and flow like all things. If TTB seems off or different, give it a couple of weeks.

Zen Flesh Zen Bones by Paul Reps has a chapter that is the story you refer to, compete with the illustrations.

I had been focusing on the space between the inhale and the exhale for some time. My yoga instructor had us dissolve on the exhale and then pause. It's been a very nice change. I've also noticed that my belly expands on the inhale when first starting out. As I relax and let go the breath goes down deeper into my abdomen. Interesting topic, thanks.

Fellow geographer/cartographer here. If I may, where do you teach? My goal is pretty simple this year... Maintain

When I opened the pdf file, I got code, not letters. edit: OK, it worked on the PC at my office. The mac at home (firefox) wasn't liking it. Thanks Stig!!

You might consider doing them at different times of the day. I do Yin Yoga in the morning, a nice gentle, meditative begining to the day. After work in the late afternoon I do zhang zhuzng, a good energy pick up. So far so good for me at least.

The Chi Nei Tsang school in Berkley interests me, as does the entire field of body work. Maybe this whole topsy turvey mess with our development driven economy is happening for a reason (things are really slow at work).

I do the microwave thing at home because time is always an issue. Although I use filtered water and put the tea bag in the cup. The bubble issue with the water could be from unfiltered water. I noticed a definite difference in the look and taste after getting a reverse osmosis filter installed. At work we have bottled water with a hot tap.

I've been registered as a Libertarian for years. They have selected a 3 term congressman from Georgia, Bob Barr as the nominee for president. I really wish the Ron Paul revolution had caught on.

Thank you all for the input. What I have been doing is 8 pieces of brochade prior to zhang zhuang as a warm up. Perhaps its time to consider using shibashi as a warm up. Some of the movements seem very similar.

You know folks, there are other political parties functioning in the USA. I personally have voted "none of the above" for the past several elections. I sincerely believe that my vote was not thrown away either.

Could someone please compare/contrast the benefits of this Tai Chi 18 practice with Zhang Zhuang? A fellow on Youtube, Tai Chi Matt (from the UK) I believe posted a video of this form. I've learned the first six movements and enjoy doing them. I also have been standing hugging the tree for some time now. I like the movement of the Tai Chi 18, but don't feel the core development of the pole standing. Zhang Zhuang opens things up nicely and I can feel the core work, but the lack of variety gets to me sometime (hey,I'm a Yank!). Because the Tai Chi 18 is done standing, do you get the core benefits of ZZ? Thank you.