Bubbles

Hello, I would like to have my name changed into XP . Many thanks !

Sorry to see you leaving TDB. Hope you will come back someday.

Is there anything running behind the scenes of TDB that you won't tell us about, dawei ?

Although I too am curious about my ancestors, I would think twice before giving my DNA to any company, whatever their privacy policy may be at the time I use their service. Just saying..

It can still be found on the web as far as I know, but I am not sure it is worth the trouble.

So, can I have my name changed back into 'bubbles' then ? I actually miss it. Thanks

Not only that, but I do think Sifu Terry should keep that for private students (which I am not btw). Giving away a lot of informations -even the seemingly exoteric ones - can have the opposite effect of the one expected: it may feed ill intented discussions based on consumerism and spiritual materialism.

Hi rideforever, I have several DVDs from Master Liu Xiaoling and specifically the one on Liu He Ba Fa. IMO, it is more a DVD for a demonstration of the form although Master Liu Xiaoling is breaking the form in several parts on the DVD. But it is obviously a very subtle art and I doubt one can even get the basics of it unless one has already a background of years of Chinese Internal Martial Arts. On the other hand, I find his DVD on Xingyiquan very good. Of course, you can't really learn with a DVD, but you can get some taste of basic xingyiquan footwork and drills. I am not sure he is still teaching. But I am a fan of his Xingyiquan. To me it is a special area of expertise of his. As far as Liu He Ba Fa goes, don't be surprise to come across very different forms of it. There are a lot of styles. I don't have the DVD by Terry Dunn so I can't comment on it, although, his Chi Kung DVDs are very good.

Hi everyone, (1) If I were to sign up to a Kung-Fu or Chi Kung class, I would just go there, meet the teacher, look at his credentials, participate to a free class and decide. Whether my teacher's teacher has been involved in some controversy seems irrelevant because what I am here for is Kung Fu and Chi Kung not Sunday school: I mean the actual stuff (the actual 'gung') not the psycho drama around. (2) I can see that people just love controversy but I have very hard times figuring out what good does it bring. Sifu Terry did well to help separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to the abuse of GM Doo Wai's name. Actually, simply reminding people that GM Doo Wai has been incapacitated for 10 years and therefore unable to teach would have been enough to convince the average Joe that the ausar thing was a scam. So what is the purpose of putting him under attacks or at least suspicious scutiny because he went further (partly upon the TDB mod's request) ? Sifu Terry had already put in his website the authorization GM Doo Wai gave him to teach FPCK. So it all boils down to whether one is willing to trust him as a teacher given all the objective and only relevant facts already available when it comes to learning Kung Fu and Chi Kung. (3) GM Doo Wai, Sifu Terry like everyone of us have their own history and path. I would be curious to see what would come up from everyone's past upon some digging. "And why beholdest you the mote that is in thy brother's eye but don't notice the beam of wood in your own eye" Matthew 7:3 I find Sifu Terry is showing patience and is cooperating beyond what he actually should (while I can see what is his interest in this blog, he doesn't owe people any of the answers he willingly gives here). On a side note, I was briefly in contact with Sifu Garry Hearfield and Sifu Christer Wretfors a few years ago. Sifu Wretfors accepted to teach me. I dropped the training. Not because he is not a competent teacher, but because he actually is a competent teacher and asks his students to train like beasts as Sifu Terry graphically put it. GM Doo Wai's Bak Fu Pai is real Kung-Fu, not armchair training. People can always question the teacher but when it comes to martial arts, the truth is in the training not in the psycho dramatic talks that flourish on the internet. My only contribution.

SandroFV If you are already able to practice 2 hours a day, then I suggest you practice 6 meditations instead of 12 in two distant sessions (for example, one in the morning, one in the evening) so that you allow yourself to immerse into each of them. It may help. I find strange your search for logical criteria in selecting meditations. By practicing 2 hours a day, did you find yourself more energized, having more mental focus and clarity, being more joyful and willing to engage into your daily business? If yes, having a criteria to select meditations seems of no importance to me. I would just pick some meditations randomly and practice them as the guidelines say and change them after some time because in the end, you must go through all of them. If you don't see any tangible benefit after your 2 hours daily practice already, then why bother about a logical criteria? A logical criteria won't deliver you anything more. I would keep that to the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid), it suits me well. Take care.

Hi SandroFV, I am sorry to see that you have hard time figuring out how to practice. Let's look at the training schedule (http://taichimania.com/trainingschedule.html) : ****************************** Training Schedule 1. Learn and diligently practice one standing exercise and one seated meditation at a time. 2. Master each exercise so that you can do the breathing sequence and the posture and movements from memory with your eyes closed. 3. For an intensive start: practice one standing and one seated meditation everyday for two weeks. 4. After two weeks or longer of practice, add the next standing and seated meditation appearing on the video, while continuing practice of the first two meditations. 5. Then after two more weeks of practicing two standing exercises and two seated meditations every day, add the next standing exercise and the next seated meditation. 6. After you have increased your practice to three standing meditations and three seated meditations, practice this combination daily for at least two months. This can take between 50 to 70 minutes a day. This training time can be broken up into several sessions spread-out throughout the day. 7. Now begin another cycle of practice starting with a new standing meditation (Number #4) and new seated meditation (Number #4) everyday for two weeks, and repeat steps #3 through #6. 8. Continue with more cycles of this "step-up" training until you have practiced all the exercises in Volumes One through Three. The latter standing exercises are much longer forms than the introductory ones and require more time to learn and memorize. Go slowly. 9. Once you have learned all of the meditations, and can feel the different energetic effects that each one has, select your favorite exercises (one or two that have the most pronounced effect on your energy level and well-being) and practice them daily for six months. 10. After the six months, you can scale back your practice of your favorite exercises to once a week. Then pick up another two exercises that you feel are similarly powerful and effective and practice them daily for six months. 11. Practice the standing long form meditation called "Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation" (on Volume Three) as regularly as you can for vitality and strong immunity. This long form meditation is the capstone to the system. 12. In summary, learn each exercise following steps #3 through #6, and then master your favorite Flying Phoenix exercises-and ultimately the entire system-by practicing each one daily for six months. ******************************************************* From point 3 to point 6, we can see that: - you should start practicing one standing and one seating meditation for two weeks at least, then add another standing and seating meditation and then again adding one standing and seating meditation until you practice: 3 standing and 3 seating meditation per day. You should do this for at least 2 months. From point 6 to point 8, we can see that: - once it is done you set aside these 6 meditations and follow the same process with all the others meditations of all the DVDs from volume 1 to 3. Which means that you should always pratice no more than 6 meditations per day. So it is not about practicing 8 hours a day. From point 9 and 11, we can see that: - after learning all the meditations from wol 1 to 3, you can choose the meditations you like most and practice them daily for 6 months; then rotate with other meditations. - you may also add the long standing meditation from vol 4 (there is probably a typo about this in the training schedule). Hope it helps. Happy practicing

Just checking in after some break from the TDB. Thank you Kar3n for your time as a mod here but above all, thank you for being the loving person you are. I can't say more.

I know next to nothing about exorcism but I have read somewhere that proper Taijiquan was considered by Taoists as a legit ritual of exorcism. It is probably not helping at all, but I thought, that as far as energetics are involved, it was worth mentioning. You have in it the self-help part, the energetics part but to do it properly you still need a lot of the background part.

Old song, new version

Why wu wei wouldn't be on topic? Going against the Tao is straying from wu wei. So it can begin from having an ego interfering with what the situation requires in the moment. This is indeed not moralistic: sometimes what is to be done is killing a snake, sometimes not at first sight but when it comes back, somtimes not. It can't be decided upon a rule because it is all immanent to the situation. That's why the real life example Brian gave is excellent. Everything is different, each situation is unique and has to be dealt with according to its internal justice which means finding the equilibrium point (which not static at all). But for that one has to have lost any egotic view. At least that's my understanding. That's also how I understand the advices given in the Huangdi Neijing when it comes to health and longevity. What follows the course of Nature benefits from her. Health is for the body the slowest way to die.

It doesn't have to be some idealistic statement. Many things-human deeds- are against the Tao, but they are long-lasting as phenomena and in their effects because there is a lot of people willing to maintain them. Does it contradicts the statement? Not sure, as going against the Tao has some cost. And if you look, the cost has been HUGE.

I do think it is our world as Yi is not an external set of values called morality; Yi is about energetics.This is multi-layered. I always suspected that Qi deviations were not just that. They do have a Yi deviation component. Often, correcting the Yi is enough to heal some Qi deviations. I saw it first hand and I found sometime after this small essay. The immoral has to work harder and for different results.

My limited experience is also that, in order to properly cultivate Qi, one needs morality: the physical basis requires the moral one because it all stems from the heart.

Go ahead Roger and read carefully what Marblehead wrote: he said in a very simple and clear way what most of us take sometimes a lifetime to understand. This is why cultivation is most needed: to support and nourish this fresh start every single day and dry up the unconscious part of us. It is work, but it is also a love affair with the ultimate potential of women and men.

Hi Spotless, Thanks a lot for this thread. I have just finished reading it. Be well

Being mindful to what you are doing and to the surroundings is enough of a healthy practice while driving your car. I would keep reverse breathing for a time of formal practice. Besides, Reverse breathing is not a stand alone practice, it is part of larger systems and should be considered done accordingly.

Looks like you don't really care about what Descartes meant, you are more interested into taking a sentence out of context and use your critical thinking on it. Cool, knock yourself out, it's fine.

This is not critical thinking, this is ignorance of what Descartes wrote and why. I am not angry at all, it happens that I have studied Descartes extensively so I know what I am talking about. Everyone can use critical thinking, but the basic requirement is to know what you are criticizing. Edited for spelling

You should do some homework and actually read and study Descartes' works before posting such an inappropriate comment.