dwai Posted March 14, 2021 1 hour ago, forestofemptiness said: WTF? TL;DR it please? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forestofclarity Posted March 14, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, dwai said: TL;DR it please? Basically, it is a step-by-step to go from qi ball to the "qigong state of mind" so you can "swim." Sort of a back door, cheater's way. Edited March 14, 2021 by forestofemptiness 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwai Posted March 14, 2021 1 hour ago, forestofemptiness said: Basically, it is a step-by-step to go from qi ball to the "qigong state of mind" so you can "swim." Sort of a back door, cheater's way. I like Rasmus' videos -- it is more-or-less congruent with Temple style methods (except for his hermetics descriptions)... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forestofclarity Posted March 14, 2021 1 hour ago, dwai said: I like Rasmus' videos -- it is more-or-less congruent with Temple style methods (except for his hermetics descriptions)... I like his lo-fi, to-the-point approach. One of the early "spiritual" books I bought was Initiation into Hermetics. There was a joke about it online, because it was supposed to be a gradual, step-by-step program. But then you look at it, and it was like "Step 1: Become Perfect at Meditation." 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forestofclarity Posted March 15, 2021 I also found this to be helpful: Quote The ‘secret’ then, is to relax, let go of tension and hard force, to be soft, as Wolfe Lowenthal continually reminds us. The problem, Professor Cheng maintains is that we lack faith in softness. It seems counter intuitive. https://www.longrivertaichieng.org/peng-and-jin.html 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwai Posted March 15, 2021 1 hour ago, forestofemptiness said: I also found this to be helpful: https://www.longrivertaichieng.org/peng-and-jin.html Yes, that's what we're taught in Temple style as well. Abandon strength. haha even with the way my brothers and I do fajin, my Sifu laughs because we like to put a little "oomph" at the end. It is very hard to give up using physical strength. The worst of the lot (at doing that) are those who have cultivated hard martial skills over the years -- that's why when training internal martial arts, it is a good idea to eschew all other external martial arts or strength training until a certain level of proficiency is developed. BTW, when my Sifu bounced me for the first time, it was like how Rick Barrett described in his book. It was his fingertips lightly touching my chest, and then the next thing I know is I'm peeling off the front door of his home several feet away -- all I felt was fingers, wall and my mind couldn't comprehend anything in between. It was as if I was suspended in midair and the earth rotated and hit me in the back. He was standing on the edge of a staircase leading down to his basement, with his heels hanging precariously close to the edge. When he did that, I was afraid that this "frail 65-yr old man" might topple backward to his basement. And then he told me, "make as strong a stance as you can". I braced myself...and flew away... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forestofclarity Posted March 16, 2021 7 hours ago, dwai said: Yes, that's what we're taught in Temple style as well. Abandon strength. haha even with the way my brothers and I do fajin, my Sifu laughs because we like to put a little "oomph" at the end. It is very hard to give up using physical strength. The worst of the lot (at doing that) are those who have cultivated hard martial skills over the years -- that's why when training internal martial arts, it is a good idea to eschew all other external martial arts or strength training until a certain level of proficiency is developed. It all seems like quaint metaphors and lovely expressions until--- it doesn't. Quite literal. There are certainly levels of skill. On the one hand, there is an element of body alignment, physical mechanics, and physics, such as using the ground for leverage. Some teachers become very skilled at this physical level. But the level where you can distort perceptions or control movements with barely or no contract is another level. It sounds so phony and ridiculous until-- it doesn't. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwai Posted March 16, 2021 59 minutes ago, forestofemptiness said: It all seems like quaint metaphors and lovely expressions until--- it doesn't. Quite literal. exactly! It literally is what they (the masters) say...how they describe it and how it works. 59 minutes ago, forestofemptiness said: There are certainly levels of skill. On the one hand, there is an element of body alignment, physical mechanics, and physics, such as using the ground for leverage. Some teachers become very skilled at this physical level. But the level where you can distort perceptions or control movements with barely or no contract is another level. It sounds so phony and ridiculous until-- it doesn't. Yes that’s why critics ridicule it as “woo woo”... until they are on the receiving end. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forestofclarity Posted March 16, 2021 (edited) 13 hours ago, dwai said: Yes that’s why critics ridicule it as “woo woo”... until they are on the receiving end. To be fair there is also a lot of "woo woo" nonsense out there as well, IME. Edited March 16, 2021 by forestofemptiness Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwai Posted March 16, 2021 2 hours ago, forestofemptiness said: To be fair there is also a lot of "woo woo" nonsense out there as well, IME. Fair enough Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwai Posted March 16, 2021 BTW this is Master Waysun Liao's free lesson on Taiji ball development https://www.taichitao.tv/programs/taichi-connect-engineering-a-taichi-ball-master-waysun-liao-4192020 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
