Ridcule of energy practice

[suninmyeyes]

Those kids in the park asking you about time...sorry it annoyed you,but it is funny situation.

I can imagine when i was a kid ,id probably do the same.Terrible,naughty,misbehaved,looking for a good laugh.Or just a kid?

World is as it is,either it breaks us down or we open up and welcome it.so soften up,awake the teddy bear inside you( ?! ).Go along and try and see yourself from their point of view and have a laugh.It is much nicer feeling.Or?

IMO it is important to change ones own attitude and adopt to enviroment as oppose wanting for ennviroment adopting to us.Be smart like a

Edit:good luck for the future,wish you peace

Edited August 4, 2010 by suninmyeyes

[Mokona]

These incidents wouldn't happen if the exercises were practiced at their appropriate hour.

 

For instance, if you go practice in the park at 5 to 6 a.m, you'll find many people that practice something related to health, be it jogging or whatnot, and maybe even have some interesting conversation... It's not empty talk, it's experience.

 

If you do it at a later hour,

 

- firstly, you won't have enough healthy Qi to back you up

- secondly, you won't have enough healthy Qi to back you up in your practice

 

Don't "shoot the messanger".

Maybe the universe is trying to tell you something.

 

It is recommended becuase it makes your practice synergetic - but if you feel that you can only perform at certain times of the day you you'd be off. Maybe I took you too literally? I just mean to say that the time of the day isn't the most deciding factor!

For giggles i'll mention that i've never had more or less trouble dependant upon the time of day, just for myself though.

[Teddy]

 

Did you say something to the 'fundamentalist Christian granny' after her outing?

Situations like these can become very interesting if one keeps calm, friendly and neutral. Will stir up the kid's view of her granny pretty severely, giving her a lesson about the world.

In what manner did she say it? Hateful? Fearful? Repulsed? Those nuances are important to find the right kind of reply.

 

 

She said it very matter of factly, like "oh by the way". Thats one of the reasons it was so shocking to me. At the time, I was feeling full of chi, very relaxed and happy, so I just smiled. Otherwise, I probably would have said something, but maybe its best that I didn't. I mean it was fairly obvious where the 'hate' was coming from in that situation, and where the 'love' was also. Little girl will pick up on this if she encounters enough similar situations.

[Mal]

Hardyg, why don't you make a little sign, attach it to a light pole, and take it with you to where you practice to stick in the ground behind you? The sign can read, e.g., something like,

"Greetings, passers-by! I know you want to know why I'm doing these strange things, but I humbly request that you refrain from interrupting me. When you do your own strange things in the privacy of your own home, you have a good reason for doing them, right?.. Well, I have a good reason for doing mine in the open air. I can't help it. But I still would very much like to be left alone while at it, just the way you prefer to be left alone when you do your own in the safety of your home. I request to grant me the safety of these few cubic feet of transparent air, because that's what I need around me while I do my thing, and respect its privacy, just the way I respect yours and don't intrude on you in your own space. Many heartfelt thanks!"

 

Or just get a t shirt. Hardyg mentioned Pratchett so perhaps something like

[effilang]

Normally when i'm doing stuff in the parks here in Rotterdam, NL - people are too embarrassed of their curiosity to even make eye contact. Most that do go bright red and scurry along like i just caught them on the toilet.

 

I on the other hand am like a little 5 year old and when i see something i go to it and look at it with my big eyes and normally say "Fascinating, Tell me more" or "What is this you are doing".

 

I think there is a barrier of weird cultural awkwardness that needs to be shed during these encounters to reveal a natural kid like curiosity that lies beneath. Most people i've noticed here want to learn and understand and are rather receptive.

 

The parks i go to aren't secluded, they are some of the most populated parks in town and you'll find people doing Yoga, others Capoeira, some practicing Kung Fu long staff forms, there is even one Asian dude who walks backwards through all the paths in the park while looking forward, it must be some sort of practice in awareness.

 

Which reminds me, yesterday i was on my bike crossing a bridge and i noticed this one Asian grampa sitting on a chair talking to himself and making strange gestures in the air as if he was drawing. Most people i assume would have thought "crazy old man", i stood at the end of the bridge and wondered to myself "what wonders could you teach me old man". I decided to leave him to it, since i don't speak Dutch or any Asian languages, but felt robbed of a potential experience, even if he ended up being just crazy - heh

Edited August 5, 2010 by effilang

[松永道]

One of my friend's teachers told him not to practice his Xingyi in front of people until he could, "perform like the emperor".

 

I've honestly found that my state of mind in practice shapes the situation. Yes, perhaps we just don't care, don't pay attention to what people say when I'm in the zone. Or maybe, that anxiety, that lack of self-assuredness attracts these bullies to us. A mugger doesn't mug just anyone, consciously or unconsciously, they find an easy target, someone who is already on edge, scared, loosing the fight against their own nerves. Easy pickings.

 

Now how not to make yourself easy pickings? Well,

 

Option 1: You could try using these encounters as opportunities not notice the imbalance of your mind and sublimate that qi-stagnating frustration into fuel for the task at hand.

 

Option 2: You could try another Daoist method and act completely insane. Sun Bu'er burned her face off with frying oil and posed as a mad beggar woman while practicing to attain the Dao. You could try dressing in rags, pose as a meth-head, coke-fiend, or some other fallen-through-the-cracks member of our society and use your frustration to chase down and spaz out at anyone who dares comment on your practice. That way you'll build up a reputation, vent your anger, and people won't dare talk about you within an earshot.

 

I'm serious. They're both legitimate options.

[Aetherous]

Another option is just to continue on as you are. People ridiculing you is a great opportunity for growth...plus you are stirring things up, exposing them to something unique, so in the future they won't be as ignorant. Also, maybe on a deep level they feel something from it, and who knows...maybe in the next year they will start noticing Eastern methods more often and eventually be led to their own path.

 

Keep in mind that the way a person feels, versus how they act with their friends in public, is totally different.

 

Plus, they are laughing (even if it's at your expense)...that is good.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Scotty

[goldisheavy]

If you stick your hand in the fish tank, you'll feel fish brushing up against your hand. That's OK and it shouldn't be something that has the power to disturb. Of course this is only true if you don't want to control the fish in an absolute way.

 

When people in the park say things, you can enter into a dance with them, or you can ignore them. Either way, to do it properly, whether you are dancing or ignoring, your mind has to be in a flexible relationship with other people's opinions. If you inflexibly, absolutely demand that people take what you are doing seriously, you will have a nasty vulnerability and one of these days someone will take advantage of that vulnerability (unlike those kids who limit themselves to harmless ribbing).

 

So, in other words, trying to be invulnerable is what creates the vulnerability. Irony, eh? If you allow yourself to be flexible, to be bent and reshaped by the opinions of others, you ironically become invulnerable.

 

Thus, a piece of steel or a piece of glass is subject to a shattering impact because they try to maintain their shape and refuse to let outside forces to reshape them. And a "piece" of air, or a piece of empty space, is flexible, it allows its own shape to be changed by other things, and is thus invulnerable. So vulnerability is the source of invulnerability. The weak overcomes the strong. That's a very basic Daoist principle. It's strange that you are practicing what is supposedly a "Daoist" practice, and yet you are ignorant of the basic Daoist principle. That just shows that energy practice is insufficient and in fact, can be a source of delusion if not careful. Be careful.

Edited August 5, 2010 by goldisheavy

[rain]

Very beautful thread, very beautiful questions and reflections upon

 

esp loved the mature insight on expectations...

 

when you have made enough space inside through emptiness meditation to hold this awareness in the space between your solar plexus and your heart you may be able to enjoy the freedom of

movement without measurement.

Edited August 5, 2010 by rain

[Spectrum]

movements measures without rules

[Martial Development]

One of my friend's teachers told him not to practice his Xingyi in front of people until he could, "perform like the emperor".

 

I think that is great advice. That, and to "change the channel" depending on whom is approaching you, and whether you want them to get closer or back off.

 

It may be in one's best interest to look, um, difficult. But crossing the line into apparent insanity--while in a public place--is not the best way to avoid attention!

[Brian]

...

[Owledge]

So vulnerability is the source of invulnerability. The weak overcomes the strong. That's a very basic Daoist principle. It's strange that you are practicing what is supposedly a "Daoist" practice, and yet you are ignorant of the basic Daoist principle.

Very judgmental of you.

Remember that I didn't open this thread with a cry for help.

[suninmyeyes]

 

The parks i go to aren't secluded, they are some of the most populated parks in town and you'll find people doing Yoga, others Capoeira, some practicing Kung Fu long staff forms, there is even one Asian dude who walks backwards through all the paths in the park while looking forward...

 

 

lol I love your guy walking backward,I know couldnt stop myself from looking if i saw him.at least for a bit.

There are various people practising in my park too.

[Taomeow]

lol I love your guy walking backward,I know couldnt stop myself from looking if i saw him.at least for a bit.

There are various people practising in my park too.

 

That's a taoist classic, by the way, and is practiced in conjunction with other reverse alchemical goodies -- reverse breathing, downward flow (shen-qi-jing), and even things like reverse morality (become useless), reverse knowledge ("the mountains are no longer mountains") and so on, the goal being to revert back to the beginnings, to the source. One of Longmen practices is to reverse the memory of your day before you go to sleep. Eventually you can do it with your whole life and beyond. Bass ackwards is a whole wide category of taoist alchemical tricks.

 

When I was three years old I distinctly remember chanting words backward to wind down an overly emotional state. E.g. "dog" for "god" (though in Russian it was a tad more challenging because words tend to be longer -- "akabos" for "sobaka" in the case of the dog).

[Spectrum]

Another option from ignoring observers or disguising your practice is to involve them by virtue of their presense. Learn to let judgements roll off or use them to the advantage of practice. It is always cool to hear a kid ask 'what's he doing'?

 

You hear everything from he's crazy to ancient energy power building. Ultimately it doesn't matter what other people 'think' when they see you. Can you changetheir thoughts?

Edited August 5, 2010 by Spectrum

[suninmyeyes]

That's a taoist classic, by the way, and is practiced in conjunction with other reverse alchemical goodies -- reverse breathing, downward flow (shen-qi-jing), and even things like reverse morality (become useless), reverse knowledge ("the mountains are no longer mountains") and so on, the goal being to revert back to the beginnings, to the source. One of Longmen practices is to reverse the memory of your day before you go to sleep. Eventually you can do it with your whole life and beyond. Bass ackwards is a whole wide category of taoist alchemical tricks.

 

When I was three years old I distinctly remember chanting words backward to wind down an overly emotional state. E.g. "dog" for "god" (though in Russian it was a tad more challenging because words tend to be longer -- "akabos" for "sobaka" in the case of the dog).

Never heard of that practise ,so interesting.Learning lots of good stuff about wicked Taoist practises here on the Bums.

As for remebering a day in a reverse,it can be a yogic practise too.

I know of someone who had been doing old school yogic training(dont mix with what is commonly preconcived as yoga)and having to learn to remember whole life and all people he ever met.And pray for them .This was a absolute must and torough work to deal /reprogram memory/ones own being .Same principle is used to access past lives afterwards.

[mike1234]

 

Did you say something to the 'fundamentalist Christian granny' after her outing?

Situations like these can become very interesting if one keeps calm, friendly and neutral. Will stir up the kid's view of her granny pretty severely, giving her a lesson about the world.

In what manner did she say it? Hateful? Fearful? Repulsed? Those nuances are important to find the right kind of reply.

 

 

Sounds like you refuse to give the same respect that you feel you deserve.

 

Replacing faith with another form of faith is a draw!

[Owledge]

Sounds like you refuse to give the same respect that you feel you deserve.

 

Replacing faith with another form of faith is a draw!

And how would you know whether I feel I deserve respect or how much of it?

 

And what would that other faith be?