neimad

yep, i knew those details. however i have been informed that there is a way around this, and that is by cooking using extra virgin olive oil at very low temperatures and by adding the vegetables immediately to the oil, rather than letting it warm up on it's own. coconut oil, of course, is another option as it is extremely heat resistant.

hahaha yeah man, *hugs* to you too. thats sweet to get the pass, i'd love it that oppurtunity, lucky man. getting there to do the cert seminar will be a HUGE investment for a work-shirking bum like me. however worthwhile, as should i find myself living in a city, or any place that you still need regular income to exist, i will fall on my hopefully instructor ability and combine that with a diploma in nutrition and perhaps counselling and make a business for myself.

mmmm, i miss the smell of a woman. *sick of being single* i also miss getting to watch a woman dress in the morning, something so beautiful about the way women dress themselves. i'm not sure what you are saying here? regardless of what oil you use to cook meat with, it's not the fact that it becomes hydrogentaed... it's about the coating it creates in the meat and how that interferes with the ability of the stomach acid to digest it.

not me... winter is just starting!

don't worry sean, you aren't hurting my feelings or offending me.... honestly, i don't know if it's possible to hurt my feelings anymore as i don't seem to have feelings in the same way i used to. i'm interested to find out though and really test the extent of my current stability. *looks for the next woman to break my heart* i was just expressing that i didn't think it was necessary to lower yourself to the level of sarcasm for the purposes of the discussion. i also understand that i am like a walking advert for CST, but thats just cos it's my current passion. it happens when people are really into something, and especially so with me. i dig the training and it encompasses pretty much everything i was looking for (except the meditation aspect which i already had, and the sexual aspect which i am still working out for myself). prior to CST i was doing some chi kung (5 animals frolics) for daily health & mobility, but got real bored with it real quick. i was doing self-resistance and isometric training for strength, but also got bored with it and didn't find it satisfying. and i was going to yoga for the flow and flexibility aspect, and i enjoyed this but i also felt there was something missing from it (the creativity factor). then, thanks to you (sean) actually, i found CST. intu-flow (originally warrior wellness) replaced the chi kung, and i find it more fun and enjoy the levels of sophistication and the incremental progression that is occurring. clubbells replaced resistance training, wow so so so so much more fun! and way more applicable (plus no more DOMS!!) body-flow replaced yoga and i truly dig the creativity and ability to go ahead and create my own flows. i wouldn't consider myself a cult follower, and i don't agree with everything said... but i give it the benefit of the doubt and explore it to either validate or invalidate it for myself. i have read heaps and heaps of the articles, and in this particular case - martial arts - what scott says resonate positively with me. i have had experience with technique driven, reaction based, context specific martial arts and it was unsatisfying so i gave up. i have also had a chance to explore, even though my experience is still new, the opposite.... response, mechanics and non-context martial arts and i enjoy it way more. i'm getting benefits out of it that go far beyond martial arts (into emotional and psychological) in a more profound way than ever occurred with my previous studies. so for me, this is the way i want to train..... whether it makes sense or not. if i am doomed to failure, well i get to learn that through experience but i make a choice to enjoy it. take it easy brother, and no offense taken.... hopefully none given either. p.s. oh yeah i intend to get to a cert seminar next year hopefully... maybe i'll catch you there? how'd you get the pass?

i'd be happy to have a train with you where i ever that way. your right, it shouldn't be any different.... and you could slip yourself into that mentality while in class, it's just difficult when you are doing the same technique from the same attack repeated. it just creates a rythm that is "reaction based" to use scotts article. combine that with a teaching methodology that is so strict about "this hand goes here, and this foot points this way, etc" and you are heading for stagnation. if you want to become spontaneous in application, then you need to train spontaneously (using 'you' here as the whole general you, not you in particular thaddeus). other people make the claim that you study the basic, solid, technique for years before heading into spontaneous exploration...... but that just means when you get to that stage you now have to break down that habit of being reaction-based and stuck in static, solid technique (or in the case of more aikikai style training - as i was training iwama - you are still training the same way... probably with an even more compliant partner... it's just done faster, is all). i haven't trained aikido in quite a while now, but i felt i got a pretty good understanding of the techniques and they are still there. sometime i will find people to explore that in a more spontaneous manner, using more cheng hsin/RMAX methodology. i should have been a black belt by the time i finished, but i stopped bothering with gradings at nikyu and my training slowly tapered away from 4 days a week down to none, where it is now. it's all still there now. if you ever get the chance i urge you to train with either peter ralston (this stuff will blow your mind! it's very ontological as well as being martial - some of the games we play are just plain bizarre... but very fun) or with any RMAX flowfighting instructors and you'll find it's exactly the kind of training you want, i think.

do you cook your meat in oil? cooking meat in oil or fat causes it to be very difficult to digest (even good oil like coconut or olive) and it can build up and get gunky in the intestines. i've started cooking my meat in a pan in a little bit of water, or in the oven also with a little bit of water and am finding it goes down so much easier! and again.... i bet you do smell good *takes a nice long whiff* haha.

look, i'm not arguing that there isn't an alphabet to be learnt before you can create your own words.... my problem is with the methodology of learning it. this is where we have a misunderstanding between technique and mechanic. i'll try and use an example to illustrate my point: in aikido there is a technique called "kotegaeshi" which is a type of wrist lock/throw. the way it is trained is we train it repeatedly from the same attack (which may vary) i.e. we train it from a straight punch to the chest, or an overhead strike. thus we have a 'technique' we have a "when aggressor does this, you do this" scenario. the problem is that an aggressor never acts within the contexts of how we train, and we always train with compliant partners. what we end up training is someone elses definition of a reaction to an attack.... we are training how to be someone else, the particular teachers interpretation of the person who created the art. we are training to be them. the alternative is still involving the same wrist throw. but this time we dissect it and we investigate how the throw works. the throw works when the wrist is turned a certain way which essentially causes a chain of tension along the joints to lock up the elbow, shoulder and hip. we create drills to explore this mechanic and to explore how to displace an opponent by locking up the joints. we then explore this with increasing levels of stress and sophistication. there is no "if aggressor does this, we do this" scenario.... there is only an awareness of how someone can be displaced and neutralised through locking up of joints. we have within this a myriad of oppurtunities and learn to respond to each situation appropriately within the unique and ever changing event it is. what happens is that we are creatively exploring this for ourselves. we come to own this particular set of mechanics for ourselves by learning to express it in our individual way. we get the ability to create our own techniques based upon those mechanics inherent to human movement. it sounds and seems so similar, and it is. the only difference is the methodology of approaching the training. it's the difference between learning by rote, and by learning by questioning and forming opinions, hypotheses and theories and getting to test them for yourselves. learning through exploration. learning by rote you can pass an exam that requires memorisation, easily (as many of my uni exams did... i don't learn by rote though, so i never did well in these) but try and write your own opinion formed essay after you have been learning by rote for so long.... good luck to you! life (and combat) happens in the form of essays, not in the form of exams that we can walk into with a head full of facts devoid of any real understanding. in art class in high school do they ask you to paint the same picture 1000 times so you truly get the mechanics of brush stroke, texture, colouring, shading, etc? no.... we analyse the mechanics as seperate entities and then go ahead and explore them in our own creative way. if its going to be called martial arts then it needs to be treated as art. it needs to be a creative exploration of individual expression..... for that is what art is. it's not science, it's not mathematics.... it's art. why go to battle with a bunch of techniques in your hand, when you could go there equipped with the ability to create your own at will? if you are content with fitting into someone elses mould, that is your choice and i would never dream of trying to dissuade you from that. for myself i don't like being forced into a mould, i'm a funny shape and i don't fit.... no matter how hard you press! and lastly, was there any need to resort to sarcasm? i already think you are intelligent so there is no call to try to belittle me just because my opinion differs from yours. take the high and mighty ground if you like, but i'm not an opponent to be cut down... i'm an oppurtunity to learn and investigate, thats all. thats all anything ever is. for me i am very grateful for this whole discussion, it has enabled me to clarify a whole line of thought that was just waiting to click into place. so thank you for that, and blessings sean. p.s. this whole dialogue was in relation to the study of aikido... in BJJ there is a little more freedom of expression, however there are still restraints... from my point of view.

you calling me a hippy??? hahaha i think every human being is a 'natural einstein'. we all have that infinite potential.... yet are conditioned out of it. i'm in "allow everything to be while actively pursuing it all" mode. i allow my feelings to just be, i allow coincidences to just happen, i allow situations and circumstances to dictate my direction.... yet i also have goals that i actively pursue, just for something to do! i love the paradox! p.s. your quote, cam, i like it..... thats how i feel now. i was watching a show the other week on happiness and at the end they went around asking people on the panel if they were "happy". i thought about this and realised.... no, i'm not happy... cos happiness goes hand in hand with sadness and i got none of that. i really feel like i am in that good place beyond happy and sad.... i'm not sure what has happened to me, or how and i'm actually really baffled because i have none of the other 'symptoms' i would consider to go with this kind of thing (like super powers, extreme ability to do amazing things, multidimensional consciousness, psychic abilities, etc) yet there is something so very different about who i am and how i feel now that is uncomparable to how i was previously.

too true.... it's about how you as an individual approach it, what you feel like you are getting out of it and how much you enjoy it. in that sense there can never be a best style, only a most suitable one. i go with plato on the goals stuff though, had no idea it was fureyism though! i've just found that having an idea of goals, and even having them written.... brings them to fruition. suprisingly some goals i wrote down some time ago, then completely forgot about.... have actually been met! i think the voicing, or the intent of them, was what enabled me to meet them. always new goals, always moving forward, never stagnant. have fun with the BJJ

huge variety of sources, too many to even begin to compile a list. how do they make organic talc powder? isn't talc a mineral.... not a plant? how do they farm a mineral organically? just did a search, found this stuff http://www.organicformulations.com.au/talcum_powder.asp is that it? looks like it's "non-talc" powder

i bet you do smell nice.... (no sarcasm intended) but hey, as you said.... you live in the desert, so i guess you are just gonna have to live with it p.s. talc powder is really bad stuff too.... leading cause of ovarian cancer

back to this too.... some of the best art is from the people who break the rules, who go beyond what the conventional techniques are...... progress only ever occurs when you play outside the rules. to stay within is to eventually stagnate. it's not that there is no technique, it's about realising that technique can't be rehearsed for the moment..... how do musicians come up with a new song? do they practice an already made song 1000 times? what??? they learn the mechanics of music, they learn the notes, they learn how they go together, and then they experiment and jam.... they get out of their own way and they flow. there are definately rules, there is definately a framework to build within and off of, that much is obvious. however that can only ever take you so far. if all art was trained in the same way traditional martial arts were..... there would never be anything new, just constant variations of the same.

i trained technique based martial arts for years..... i've trained aikido and i've trained BJJ too.... i know i haven't done any of CST's martial arts, but from what i observe the art i'm training, cheng hsin, is very similar.... so i have similar experience and from my experience, my cheng hsin training is nothing like what i was doing before.... in that it is so much more fun, exciting, creative and worthwhile IMHO. i grew bored, very very bored, with technique driven martial arts.... before i even met CST i felt i was getting nowhere and the lack of sophistication and the rote learning of it was extremely tiresome. i did rote learning all through high school, i did rote learning at uni, and rote learning in martial arts too.... *yawn* it gets very very old after a while. i like the whole concept of mastering my own style... neimad-fu so to speak, and i always sought to apply that in my aikido anyway, but the whole framework was still too constricting. granted BJJ has more room for creativity and sure it can be effective within the context you are training, i have no argument with any of it. the only argument i have is with the methodology of training, that's something for you to investigate as you continue with your own training and you, as always, are free to explore that for yourself. intuitively i also feel scott's approach is also worthwhile and for me i want to investigate it. i know you have a problem with the whole CST at the moment and thats cool for you.... for me, i have seen more results in 6 months of training CST principles than i could have ever expected... so i have trust for it and choose to explore further. i agree that i am discussing ideas i haven't yet learnt to apply, i'm taking them on a faith basis and that's cool, i'll admit to that.... i seek to explore it and make the distinction for myself and i'll get back to you then. and don't talk to me about semantics.... you are the master of them!!! p.s. back to your previous post.... technique is not 'form'. form (to once again elicit a groan, and quote scott sonnon) is the integration of breathing, movement and structure. technique, by my understanding, is the application of a specific response within a specific situation. it is limited by it's very nature to a single possible application, in other words... it is context specific. yes i'm using someone elses words, but i'm only using them because i understand them through my own experience.

this is what i was gonna say but i went to lunch and someone beat me to it. investigate why it is you stink? seeing as the quality of the food you eat determine what you smell like (although if you are detoxing from previous poisons then you'll stink from that..... as i am currently). also if it's just the smell you are worried about, try the essential oils. it's like a natural and beneficial form of cologne. also the miessence brand, as i said, has a great range of deodorants that are entirely natural (not sure if they are in the US tho). anything from that snopes site i disregard immediately. i take anything from that site very lightly indeed. anyways regardless of the evidence, it's pretty obvious that conventional deodorants and anti-persperants are synthetic man-made chemicals and as such they are detrimental to our health. we are a part of nature, anything that harms nature to produce, will harm us in it's use.... the two are inseperable. aluminium is also a toxic heavy metal to our body, WHATEVER you put on your skin finds it's way into your blood and your body. a very good rule don't put anything on your skin that you wouldn't put in your mouth

already found two! cheng hsin & flowfighting..... i'm studying cheng hsin and am gonna start learning about flowfighting too. but true... it's pretty rare to find those goals in a MA, but it's about how you approach the training more so than anything. dancing is cool too (looking to take up breakdancing shortly ) dunno about the mace tho...

i agree that aikido shouldn't be a technique based martial arts..... and likely when originally taught, it wasn't. that's been lost somehow so now all people train are techniques, when really what we want to be doing is using those techniques to understand mechanics and principles of movement..... i.e. blending of forces, etc. unfortunately i have never seen it taught that way, there is always a technique and a compliant partner. i have had ideas of trying to take up instructing it myself and using it as such.... to explore the mechanics of movement and how the 'technique' happens as a result of the movement, and not the other way around. unless it's implicitly trained this way, only the really intelligent and creative students will truly 'get it' which is where i think transcending the technique comes from..... one finally 'gets it' after all those years of technique, in that there is no technique and only movement. movement creates a technique, in that sense (as stated often in aikido) there is infinite techniques. again it's not aikido that is flawed, it's the training methodology. plato, i like where you are coming from here.... again back to the 'goals'. what is martial arts to you? for me i want to train it for several reasons (and i'm just offering this as example): 1. movement based (partner version of personal movement practice, like a dance) 2. deepening relationships (it's just another type of relationship, one that if learnt to engage in effectively, carries over to life in many ways). 3. sense of self-security (second rung in maslows hierarchy). 4. creative exploration (the way i want to study MA is about creative exploration, and not about rote learning of techniques..... i have given up all rote learning since finishing uni, it has no place in the human experience. so it just becomes another venue to express my infinite creativity). good enough for ya plato???

then sweating is your method of keeping cool. trying to stop it will likely cause you to overheat somehow (unless you want to take up panting? hahaha). or use anti-perspirant, it's your choice.... but they are all aluminium based and will go into your mammary glands, so be consciouss of that.

i like scotts discussion of 'mechanic' as opposed to 'technique'. a technique is generally a whole series of movements designed to counter one specific attack. see the problem with this? it's applicable only to a limited range.... a mechanic however is how something works. you can explore the mechanics of a punch and then take that to be your own and flow with it. you can take the mechanics of a joint lock and make that applicable under any situation. but to train a set technique, well you are setting yourself up for failure. i used to try getting my aikido techniques to work on friends and family, but they never did unless the complied or i 'muscled' it through cos i was stronger than them..... a persons reaction to a technique is NEVER the same in real life as it is in training. plus when you train sparring in whatever art you are training, you are training with a partner who is used to those exact same techniques and has built in cooperation (whether they are aware of it or not) to those particular techniques..... so when they occur they'll just go with it, because thats how they have been training.

biggest problem with aluminium based deodorants is you spray it under your arm and the aluminium (for women) goes straight into the mammary glands.... biggest cause of breast cancer - deodorants!!! miessence is a company that sells good deodorant, all based on essential oils. but you can also just straight up essential oils (rose oil, ylang ylang) for the nice smell. as for the sweat.... let it pour out, the body wants to sweat, so let it! why try and stop a natural function? an analogy would be that you don't like the smell of your poo so you take a product to stop going to the toilet..... what would the effect of that be???

i've thought about it.... however i don't think it's really applicable to humans. the clubs work for CST as our hands are designed to hold and move weight. if you could hold a weight with your foot (i can hold a soccer ball with my foot ) then.... perhaps you could work this way and get the same kind of training effect. however our legs are designed to hold our structure upright, in that sense best circular strengthening exercises for the legs would be ones that utilise the weight of our own structure. for that you can't get any better than "body-flow" exercises! as well as things like the 4 corner balance drill, trinity squats, etc. there are also clubbell exercises that become a lot more lower body orientated (although every clubbell exercise will utlise the legs to some extent as two of the 7 principles are leg drive and hip recruitment) such as adding lunges, squats or side-steps as well as things like rockits. just my opinion only here.

yup... several students from my dojo went to train in japan. they said the training was incredibly hard and rough..... so what? it's hardcore.... it doesn't detract from it's flawed training methodology though. you'll just end up with more injuries and more traumas to your body that you'll eventually have to do something else to remove. thats why i like cheng hsin, and also RMAX (gonna get into flowfighting as soon as i can, will buy the softwork DVD and form an informal training group) because it's not about being hardcore. it's about becoming efficient and effective, and you don't need to have the heaven beaten out of you to get that! in actuality, doing so just makes it that much more difficult to become efficient and effective (effortless).

scott sonnon has many articles that outline exactly why this is this the case.... here is just one: http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/29/sonnon8.html aikido is a context, reaction, technique driven martial art. it's not 20 years you need to master the technique.... it's 20 years you need to transcend technique and welcome flow. why not just train flow?? techniques just don't work. i spent 5 years studying aikido, the teacher was great, the techniques are great..... but it just doesn't work because it's impossible to apply a technique in a live situation. you have to repeat a technique thousands of times to 'wire' it and then you have only 'wired' it for that particular situation (i.e. overhand strike). the training methodology is flawed. it's not about it being "airy-fairy" as it can be incredibly hard, just ask anyone who has trained in japan.... it's just another technique based art and flawed in it's presentation. that's not to say an aikidoka cannot become an amazing fighter, but i would say it happens in spite of his training, rather than because of it due to the nature of the particular individual. i stopped aikido before i even read anything about flowfighting because i became dissatisfied about the methodology and felt it led nowhere and i got bored because of the lack of increasing complexity and sophistication. as to how cheng hsin is different..... well cheng hsin is entirely principle based. we are viewing fighting as a relationship. cheng hsin is a way to study how to be effortless and have effortless relationships at all levels, fighting is just one of them. we rarely ever train techniques and when we do it's more about using a particular mechanics to study a principle. mostly we play games to explore the principles. i view it more as an ontological pursuit than a martial arts, in that i am studying the nature of myself and how to be effortless. there really is no comparison between the two, they are completely different things. aikido could be amazing and effective, but the whole training methodology would need to be radically changed.... and then, is it still aikido??

yep... that's pretty much the biggest problem with aikido. the problem is it's a HUGE problem! however, it is common to pretty much all traditional martial arts. learning techniques is just not an effective or efficient way to learn.

i voted BJJ. having trained aikido for about 5 years i can pretty convincingly say that unless you are prepared to dedicate at least 20 or more years to 'transcend' the techniques..... then it's a waste of time. it wont teach you to be a better fighter, which i have now come to understand is what martial arts is about. WAIT. before i hear about the 'art' part of it and using it as a path.... the goal or martial arts is to make you a better fighter. the implications of which set up a level of physical security (second step in maslows hierachy) and enable you to build off of this in your own personal spiritual path. without the competitive/sparring aspects of martial arts, you are missing a huge key to becoming a successful fighter. aikido is lovely in it's ideals..... but they are just that, ideals that may or may not be met in a lifetime of study. a lifetime. about the only really great thing about aikido is the ukemi. BJJ is still a technique based martial arts, but there is more levels of freedom in the free wrestling that takes place and the competitions (of which i advise you enter to truly progress). for me i am not going to bother with any martial art except those that are entirely principle driven. i study cheng hsin (www. chenghsin.com) and am going to get into RMAX flowfighting by looking at the DVD's and finding some people to 'play' with in the sense of an informal training group. reading all the articles in the circularstrengthmag really gave me a lot of insight into how and what makes a martial art successful and efficient in a reasonable length of time for learning. BJJ has it more than aikido does.