Antares

No everthing is need Neikung. They have Kotodama and Mushin and that is enough to touch the Tao, one still devlop Aiki and can fight in old age. There is no energy cultivation the access is directly Mu, the emptiness - more I am not allowed to tell about these things except to get this things shown is rare I don't know which lineage you refer to. My sensei only mentioned that there is Kotodama and when I asked him about that he said nothing back to me, he just had nothing to reply. I stand it is not internal MA or I admit it is half way internal MA. I do not know what is Kotodama exactly but there are so many other IMA and Taoist cultivation systems that I asked myself what was the point to learn that. How one can call it MA if people after 10 years of training have no ability really defend themselves if it happens to fight. I know they say that they teach how escape fighting and I agree with this but it is too slow method of cultivation and I did not understand what is the method of cultivation. You see where I am coming from... When I left my first sensei for another one just to see the difference I was shown that almost everything was WRONG in application and he showed exactly why it was wrong. Second sensei has REAL experience in contact MA but first one was saying he is bad teacher and teaches diluted aikido. This is just example how it is easy to be confused in this stuff if you don't understand application of real MA. They will say a lot about how they good but in reality it is kinda fiction. And Kotodama does not do anything special for me to engage in it. There are many other methods even in IMA like bagua or wing chun and I am more interested in these arts. But one needs much time and efforts for the art to gain benefits. It is the question of time you spend for it. To train 10 years to learn Kotodama... I do not know. May be somebody just likes it but... if it happens to fight aikidoka has small chances against good boxer. This is just my opinion and in no way I want to offend other people. Both of my former senseis are in most direct lineages after O'Sensei and I have doubts somebody knows Kotodama and it's real application.

and If it CAN replace then why not to replace it and start cleansing not waiting until you are on certain level? Too much cleansing is bad I presume

Can you elaborate why I should not try to cleanse myself right now and wait until.... And why plants protein can not replace the same amino-acids of animal protein?

Can anybody elaborate here why plant protein powders can not replace animal protein intake? I have read Ya Mu's blog where he advices to take mix of organic soy milk and whey protein. I am not sure that soy milk is healthy to be honest but would like to give it a try. (Or mix cacao drink with organic soy protein plus a dose of plants protein powder). These "mixtures" have all vitamins including b12. I have been taking organic raw plants mix in powder for a while and I eat cheese sometime and feel no bad at all. What could possibly go wrong with it?

You have to go to China, find them and shoot and see who is more cool. If they allow this. Lol

Dorian, stick with WP manual and LOL! Mo Pai authentic? Can you bring Mo Pai authentic scriptures to the world? I am registered on Wu Lui Pai forum for years and I know everything what it is discussed there for years. They have authentic teacher and they do not believe that sitting is correct method of cultivation. As it was criticized by many Taoist masters such as Chang Po-tuan and immortal Lu Dongbin. Please read authentic sources if you are referring to classical Taoism. That is why they call WP qigong self proclaimed master

As for acid / alkaline... There should be balance. If you go only veggie it will make you alkaline sooner or later. That is why they suggest eat a little of animal products. But I believe that vinegar must help. Every morning drink water with little of vinegar.

What is the classical Taoism? It is only metaphor! Grain to be meant as food in general i.e. eat less. It is one of the sense of the metaphor. Second one is that not to fall in mundane world of passion and so on... I have read good article on this where was explained that this is only metaphors. Yes, grains do some harm. But it is such grains as white rice and wheat. Avoid it. All other grains must be soaked in the water prior to cooking.

Which monks or Chinese school transmitters you talked about WP? People often want to believe what they want to believe. If somebody wrote nice book about WP it does not mean it must be TRUE. And I am done about WP.

Dorian, what is connection between Mo Pai and Longmenpai? Is not you lumping things together? I do not know anything about Mo Pai and I do not care honestly about Mo Pai. It might be such the fiction as Carlos Castaneda's yaqi's warriors. So many people believed in that stuff and in Tensegrity. If you are one of those who believe that sitting meditation is alchemical method then I would suggest you to learn authentic texts. If you like Wang Liping go ahead. 3000 $$$ flushing down... If no one in Longmen knows Wang Liping what to talk about? You can believe what you want I don't care

As for BKF I agree. It is only some mechanics as well as in taichi. That is what I am talking about. I agree that this is just only forms of qigong. As it was mentioned above it is working with postanatal qi. There are few methods of cultivation as far as I know. Neidan and neikong accumulate prenatal qi. And martial qigong use it for fighting skills. People read books on bagua (BKF) and taichi and they buy it as high forms of cultivation methods. Because nothing to compare with. Real masters do not disclose it openly. I contacted one of the BKF's instructors in the past and I was badly impressed with his communication skills and he did not say how it works for him regardless I asked him few times. But anyway it is better than many other calisthenics like taichi and external MA akin to karate, aikido, and so on... But there are some very advanced MA schools. What they call old school kung fu which have alchemical methods of cultivation. This thread is about taichi. I just was thinking to practice it and now I think I won't do it. And I wanted to hear other opinions on Ya Mu's words that MA forms have "attached karma" to it. Hmm, many authentic Chinese masters practiced MA as part of the their path. I think that point is in balance. There should be not only MA forms but some internal methods as the core of a system. Another point is that taichi what we know now is kinds diluted method of cultivation. IMHO

Who is Jim? What kind of levels you are talking about? Wan Liping claims to be patriarch of Longmenpai sect. The person from Wu Lui Pai sect was asked few times about Wan Liping on their forum and he asked few patriarchs in China (of Huanshan,Wudangshan sects and others ) and no one knows there who is Wan Liping. I would give a link on that thread but it is not in English. More over that Wan Liping teaches only qigong in form of sitting meditation as far as I know. This is not authentic alchemical practice. If you believe that WP is cool then go for his seminar. I will not for sure. And this is my last post about WP

There is another problem with veganism. Not only B12 or nutrients. It will make your body more alkaline. What is bad for stomach and colon. And I suppose it can make one to much yin. Because plants and fruits that vegans eat are mostly of yin quality (water). Somebody against grains here. TCM considers grains as one of the most balanced food with neutral and balancing qualities. And it is good source of protein. So vegans should take vinegar to reduce alkaline issue. I am thinking to go veggie and have a look how it rocks. But I will be taking whey protein with a supergreens powder and fish and ghee oils. They say that the point is to build healthy micro flora that can produce all what a body needs. But it's not just to go veggie. Primarily important to keep healthy diet with no alcohol, no animal stuff at all, no sweets, no ketchups and so on... Not easy but possible. And one MUST cleanse all the body. Kill parasites with special herbals and maintain healthy micro flora. Only this way of strict regimen. I suppose that whey protein and supergreens powder have all nutrients that body needs.

I wonder... regarding building foundation of BFP arts energy. So I have decided to go on with FPCK practice as I have been doing it every day for last 4 months. And I was reading about BFSYG too and practiced it for awhile but I think it is better to cultivate something one in the beginning. Sifu Garry says that it's better to start with only 2 static meds and understand how they work. What is diff with FPCK? Sifu Terry says that it's better to start with minimum of 3 standing ones and 2 seated ones at least. I am doing all meds from vol.1 in the morning and all meds of vol. 2 in the evening. Also I just taught first med. from vol.3 and will add it to the vol.1 & 2. I suppose vol.3 works more with kidneys. I have not noticed that vol. 1 and 2 helped much with my kidneys yang deficiency. I think until I resolve it I won't go much ahead

CHEESE!!!

Flying Phoenix Martial Form? What are the benefits I wonder?

The question is if you can get ALL nutrients from vegan diet. I doubt. A man needs at least 80 grams of protein every day. I personally eat twice a day. So I need 40 grams of protein for every meal. How much plants to eat every time! Stress for digestive system and much of starch

Why are you talking of Wan Liping? As far as I know he is fraud. Good example of how people believe to new agey teachers and give them their money! Few years ago I wanted to attend his seminar. They sent me email with the request to pay 3000 $$$ for 3 days seminar. I sent my request to the branch of authentic taoist sect and I was replied they nobody knows who is Wan Liping in China, no any monk, no any other taoist. Many people just trust to promotion and engage in what they do not understand As for taichi I personally believe it is diluted in the most cases. But BKF is good example of authentic wushu lineage. Also I would say Stuart Olson seems to be good teacher in authentic lineage. They teach both form and qigong. But there are so many other forms of qigong that I think I stick with another no martial qogong/neigong system. Because another non martial system might be more advanced of cultivation IMHO

But how does it relate to this thread? In horse stance i breath deep and slow. Can you do this while doing cardio exercise? My heart beat is normal but in cardio it should go up. The idea of cardio is to increase heart beat and pump the blood, no?

Pure Truth, can you share how you practiced? Did you start from level 1 two meditations? And what is the neichia?

No, they both are direct students of direct Uesiba's students who stayed with him until he passed away. The reason why I call it new agey because there is no neikong as such. No meditation, no breath practice. My main teacher used such terms as "stay in the moment" (i guess he read E. Tolle much), "extend your chi" (how one extend it if one does not have a clue what is chi)... This is not internal MA. Not worthwhile to compare with authentic wushu. And was invented recently. I do not think any other teacher teaches any better. But I admit that there might be few high level aikido teachers. Do you have good examples? And as this thread is not of aikido and is about taichi I would say that in the most cases they teach diluted taichi akin to calisthenics what people do in parks.

Try to eat meat every day for few months and then not to eat for few months and you will see the difference. I did eat meat and fish every day last year. I forgot about practice and only was thinking of sex and was in depressed state of mind. Plus alcohol and so on....

I was thinking like you after 1 year of practicing Aikido. Once I met a guy who was black belt and he said that he left Aikido for Yoga. The reason as he explained was that it was not really applicable. And I had been doing A. for 1 year and as we were told it was only beginning. And I thought that that guy missed the point with A. And I came to the same conclusion after three years. USELESS. Close to new agey stuff on the market - love, non violence... The point then why to train it? All attacks there in the way no one really would attack you, no one grab like they train in Aikido. Yeah. It might happen that somebody stupid would grab your wrist and wait while you doing something to him... Better to spend this time for qigong, neigong... I did 3-5 classes a week. And then I changed teacher to see what is there else could be. I came to another more advanced sensei as he claimed and it was slightly better but still far from real application against REAL attack. I completely discouraged in it after a man who did that fo 12 years said he has no clue how to fend off face punch!!! And he said he is doing it for qi development. May be somebody likes such kind of training but it is not for me. Better to do qigong. I think it is more important to free the mind from violence. But why then to practice MA? Also my sensei teached Taichi forms and qigong. No one benefited from it for years. Uesiba was adept in Japanese Tantra first of all and MA was kinda training for him. But now people think that that Aikido was his main path. He invented Aikido only at the end of his path, but it was HIS unique path. As for M. Uesiba he trained in Aiki Jutsu and I think it how he got his skills. Only HAVING REAL experience in CONTACT MA one can understand and use Aikido. If one has no any clue about contact MA then it is only philosophy and business. You can be no violent doing qigong or yoga or just gardening, or playing golf. But if you have 20-30 years for Aikido may be it is your way, I can't judge here. The question how far you can go with it. I would better study bagua. Aikido is too much new agey

There is the point. It is still martial art. I personally had been doing "internal" Aikido for few years within the "lineage". And realized it was useless and waste of time and money. In the beginning teacher was saying that was high level martial art. But after few years he said that it is not the MA and we should not think that somebody going to attack us as it crude thoughts . And I did not understand what I was doing. Another day he said it is the art and one should visualize something in real life. And I could not realize what I should visualize. How somebody attacking me? And the real application of that MA was useless. It was not MA and it was not qigong, it was much closer to calisthenics under the mask of IMA. I am not sure about Chinese IMA. May be it is quite applicable if you are lucky to find good teacher but something says to me it is rare chance to find one. I understand what u saying that IMA is neigong. But there are many other not MA neigongs and qigongs. And in the most cases so called IMA are nearly good calisthenics with some forms of qigongs. And it might be waste of time trying to mix qigong with MA forms. Better to cultivate something one edited for grammar

As far as I realized the main idea of the article is that energetic of qigong is more subtle than from IMA. And I asked myself why I wanted to learn taichi or any other MA forms? Any qigong is lifetime commitment and imho it is better to commit in something one and make it perfect. Why do many people want to find an IMA master and learn from them? Is not it coming from supposition that somebody going to attack them?