Hello from Dalmatia

[Dalmat]

Hi people,

I'm a long term solo explorer of Qi Gong, living on seaside in Croatia, region of Dalmatia. Here  I have no one to talk about this topics and I'm really hapy to find this forum. 

If smoe one asks me who am I? I would say: a retired soldier, writer and, last but not least, a mountain climber.

In hope of a good conversation and information exchange take my best wishes.

[Earl Grey]

On 1/29/2020 at 12:14 AM, Dalmat said:

Hi people,

I'm a long term solo explorer of Qi Gong, living on seaside in Croatia, region of Dalmatia. Here  I have no one to talk about this topics and I'm really hapy to find this forum. 

If smoe one asks me who am I? I would say: a retired soldier, writer and, last but not least, a mountain climber.

In hope of a good conversation and information exchange take my best wishes.

Welcome. A few friends from the former Yugoslavia were members here before, and one of the best teachers I met for internal training is too, who is often mentioned here as a referral for his teaching, John Dolic.

[Dalmat]

On 23/02/2020 at 3:52 AM, Earl Grey said:

Welcome. A few friends from the former Yugoslavia were members here before, and one of the best teachers I met for internal training is too, who is often mentioned here as a referral for his teaching, John Dolic.

Thx Earl. Yes i spoted John at first time  I came to this forum. And I'm doing Fragrant QG right now. Maybe one day I'll collect money to go to Australia to learn the 3rd level.

[Earl Grey]

9 minutes ago, Dalmat said:

Thx Earl. Yes i spoted John at first time  I came to this forum. And I'm doing Fragrant QG right now. Maybe one day I'll collect money to go to Australia to learn the 3rd level.

 

He doesn't teach the third level.  

 

I am one of his close friends and students, so I can say that what he does teach is more than enough. 

[Dalmat]

Great!!

So I'll have to go to China for 3th level?!?

[Earl Grey]

2 minutes ago, Dalmat said:

Great!!

So I'll have to go to China for 3th level?!?

Nope—they don’t teach it to people who want to learn it. They choose who will learn it because only masters of the lineage will learn level 3. Just because someone wants to be a master doesn’t mean they’re going to give it to them. It’s too powerful.

[Dalmat]

Wow.

I don't wanna be a Master, I just wanna learn the 3th level.

I'm stil on first level, and I feel how powerfull it can be, but I also feel a big lack of hard cultivation. No meditations, no visualisations, no calming the mind, just waving with hands. I realy need the 3th level.

(I know that I put to many "I" in my post, but thing are as they are).

Edited March 8, 2020 by Dalmat

[Earl Grey]

17 minutes ago, Dalmat said:

Wow.

I don't wanna be a Master, I just wanna learn the 3th level.

I'm stil on first level, and I feel how powerfull it can be, but I also feel a big lack of hard cultivation. No meditations, no visualisations, no calming the mind, just waving with hands. I realy need the 3th level.

(I know that I put to many "I" in my post, but thing are as they are).

As I said: even if you want to just learn level 3, THEY WILL NOT TEACH YOU UNLESS THEY WANT TO BECAUSE IT IS ONLY GIVEN TO FUTURE MASTERS.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Earl Grey

[Dalmat]

I understand...

So I'll have to act...and find another, more suitable qi gong.

 

[Earl Grey]

6 minutes ago, Dalmat said:

I understand...

So I'll have to act...and find another, more suitable qi gong.

 

Nope—level 1 alone already is fantastic for healing. Level 2 is more for longevity and understanding. 
 

The system and likely anything else will reject you if you pursue the illusion of power and power levels over depth from foundation.

 

With this approach, you won’t go anywhere with any system.

 

Stick to what you have and level 2 can wait—some people train in level 1 for years before moving to level 2 and see why it’s so powerful already.

 

Level 3 is not for public consumption.

[Dalmat]

Thx.

But it's kind of boring this way, I need some kind of "fighting" while cultivating. I'll try to hold on, in may I'm expecting to move to level two, but I feel like soon I'm gonna need more "psychonautick" way of training. (sorry for my english).

[Earl Grey]

10 minutes ago, Dalmat said:

Thx.

But it's kind of boring this way, I need some kind of "fighting" while cultivating. I'll try to hold on, in may I'm expecting to move to level two, but I feel like soon I'm gonna need more "psychonautick" way of training. (sorry for my english).

 

You must be young and lacking exposure to the arts if you need something for fighting and aggression. You probably should go learn a martial form like Xingyi or Bagua instead, though the "power" you want that comes from standing in Zhan Zhuang and circle walking will likely not satisfy you too based on your stated desires.

[Dalmat]

On 08/03/2020 at 2:45 PM, Earl Grey said:

 

You must be young and lacking exposure to the arts if you need something for fighting and aggression. You probably should go learn a martial form like Xingyi or Bagua instead, though the "power" you want that comes from standing in Zhan Zhuang and circle walking will likely not satisfy you too based on your stated desires.

Haha, thx  Earl! I'm 49. 

No, by fighting I meant to stick with something, try to remember the flow, check the posture and gesture, breathing... In Fragrant Qi gong (what is great and I'm fascinated about it) it's just hand work, no effort, no concentration, I just check the stop watch.

And about my martial expereance, I started taekwon do with 7, with 17 a trained with Branko Cikatic (google him, he won K1 twice), after that Aikido, and now, pushed with midlle age crisis I'm doing som workout again.

I also tried Zhan Zhuan but... it was to statick for me.

Thx anyway!

[Earl Grey]

1 minute ago, Dalmat said:

Haha, thx  Earl! I'm 49. 

No, by fighting I meant to stick with something, try to remember the flow, check the posture and gesture, breathing... In Fragrant Qi gong (what is great and I'm fascinated about it) it's just hand work, no effort, no concentration, I just check the stop watch.

And about my martial expereance, I started taekwon do with 7, with 17 a trained with Branko Cikatic (google him, he won K1 twice), after that Aikido, and now, pushed with midlle age crisis I'm doing som workout again.

I also tried Zhan Zhuan but... it was to statick for me.

Thx anyway!

You are still young in terms of understanding if you feel a need to have something that you characterize as needing flow.

 

Perhaps you should stop Fragrant and switch to Flying Phoenix then.

 

Also, many people claim to know Zhan Zhuang, but 99% of the people I meet don’t actually know what it is but claim to do it regularly. Even people who study with BKF or read LKC don’t know it properly. If you learned ZZ properly, you would be like many practitioner students I know who have said things like they find it more exciting than skateboarding or roller coasters.

 

Don’t take my word for it—I still have a lot to learn and ten years is not a long time to study. And you may be 49, but some masters I know started even older than you are and simply worked hard.

[Dalmat]

18 hours ago, Earl Grey said:

You are still young in terms of understanding if you feel a need to have something that you characterize as needing flow.

 

Perhaps you should stop Fragrant and switch to Flying Phoenix then.

 

Also, many people claim to know Zhan Zhuang, but 99% of the people I meet don’t actually know what it is but claim to do it regularly. Even people who study with BKF or read LKC don’t know it properly. If you learned ZZ properly, you would be like many practitioner students I know who have said things like they find it more exciting than skateboarding or roller coasters.

 

Don’t take my word for it—I still have a lot to learn and ten years is not a long time to study. And you may be 49, but some masters I know started even older than you are and simply worked hard.

Thanks for encouraging Earl,

Flying Phoenix looks like something I could like. I've tried, or better to say I did ZZ for a few months, only first 4 postures (and I learned it from a book) it was nice and calming and also challenging.

My plan for now is to stick to FG, and see how the level 2 works and then try something with more flow. Phoenix it may be...

[Earl Grey]

37 minutes ago, Dalmat said:

Thanks for encouraging Earl,

Flying Phoenix looks like something I could like. I've tried, or better to say I did ZZ for a few months, only first 4 postures (and I learned it from a book) it was nice and calming and also challenging.

My plan for now is to stick to FG, and see how the level 2 works and then try something with more flow. Phoenix it may be...

You learned ZZ from a book. That’s why you didn’t like it as much: you were 100% doing it wrong. 
 

You need a teacher for these things. They aren’t for everyone for a reason.

[Dalmat]

On 10/03/2020 at 1:30 PM, Earl Grey said:

You learned ZZ from a book. That’s why you didn’t like it as much: you were 100% doing it wrong. 
 

You need a teacher for these things. They aren’t for everyone for a reason.

The book was the only way for me.

And it left impression that it will be enough to learn ZZ. But, it was just an impression, as I see and as You said.

[Earl Grey]

4 minutes ago, Dalmat said:

The book was the only way for me.

And it left impression that it will be enough to learn ZZ. But, it was just an impression, as I see and as You said.

You could also ask Dolic nicely to teach some Zhan Zhuang... or other qualified teachers. 😊

[Dalmat]

To be honest, it looks like bothering people. I newer thought about it. 

[gatito]

8 hours ago, Dalmat said:

The book was the only way for me.

And it left impression that it will be enough to learn ZZ. But, it was just an impression, as I see and as You said.

 

 

Which book?

 

The Way of Energy?

 

[Dalmat]

Yes, that book. Maybe an earlier edition, I belive that master Lam was on front page, but I'm not sure.

[Earl Grey]

10 hours ago, Dalmat said:

Yes, that book. Maybe an earlier edition, I belive that master Lam was on front page, but I'm not sure.

 

It's a good book, but even the best student I've met who learned only from that book has skill that is worlds apart from people with formal training with a good instructor and lineage. 

 

Granted, I also tell people that the book itself is better than learning from unqualified people who think they are experts...

[Dalmat]

Here - It was the only way. 

There is a Tai Chi group in town and it's the nearest thing to my interests, but I didn't like the way they are doing, and the teacher is actually an instructor. 

[Earl Grey]

3 hours ago, Dalmat said:

Here - It was the only way. 

There is a Tai Chi group in town and it's the nearest thing to my interests, but I didn't like the way they are doing, and the teacher is actually an instructor. 

What do you mean “your teacher is an instructor”? I know English isn’t your first language but this makes no sense.

[gatito]

23 hours ago, Dalmat said:

Yes, that book. Maybe an earlier edition, I belive that master Lam was on front page, but I'm not sure.

 

 

You will struggle to learn from the book in isolation, as it was published as an adjunct to a 10 part TV series.

 

Here's part 1:

 

 

From here you can locate the other 9 parts easily.

 

You've certainly rushed the learning process, as you could easily spend a couple of years building a solid foundation by practicing just the 8 Brocades, the warmups/cooldowns and the first two positions. These first 2 positions are demonstrated in videos 1, 2 and 3. You'll find all of the  8 Brocades demonstrated over the course of the 10 part series of videos.

 

Incidentally, I've been taught by Sifu Lam both in in his public classes and in private and I can assure you that it's entirely possible to distance learn using the videos and the book although, you may struggle because of your level of comprehension of the language.

 

One other vital point - Lam style ZZ is NOT considered to be meditation (by Sifu Lam). Do not attempt to meditate while practicing; it's actually better to watch TV. If you attend his classes, you'll be corrected instantly if you drop into meditation either accidentally or deliberately.