silent thunder

Wow... what a truly awesome synthesis of the essential. Thanks!

I found a solid, basic book for working on tactile visualization. It might be useful. Energy Work: Robert Bruce http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Work-Secrets-Healing-Spiritual/dp/157174665X It's focus is on using physical stimulation to engage attention with a physical sensation. No mental image projection. Once the attention is on the sensation, the stimulation is removed and you use your attention to continue the sensation. Simple exercise: Lay your left hand on your lap, palm up. Take a soft brush or the fingers of your opposite hand. Close your eyes and gently brush your palm and fingers. Focus attention fully on the sensations in your left hand. Do this for one minute, or until you are fully focused. Stop brushing the hand. Now brush the hand with your attention and focus on sensations. Once that is established you can begin to play. Change the speed, direction, nature of the touch etc. I find that using tactile visualization often brings about very clear mental imagery, but I don't seek it or feed it. Eventually you will just put your attention on the palm, or joint, muscle group, organ etc, and the response will be clear. Energy flows where attention goes. It's a solid book of fun, simple exercises, explained by a great guy.

Wow do I love this place! Deep bow of gratitude to you all. The forms I use daily, both use RAB and NAB: Relaxation set, static set, energy ball stance and some energy moving stances use NAB. While dynamic forms RAB is used. We run energy in both directions, oscillating as the form progresses. In one form, we start at DT, inhale and run up the Ren channel to the Bai Hui, exhaling down the Du Channel ending again at DT. This continues for a few cycles and then we change course, inhaling and running energy up the Du to the Bai Hui, exhaling down the Ren channel ending at DT. As I understand it, the use of running up the Ren Channel and down the Du channel, (which was described as going in reverse) is a bit like pushing your hand against the current in a river and is very useful for clearing blockages and opening the channels. A bit like priming a pump before unleashing the joy-fury of my attention-directed, uber love, energy-powa!

I equate power to Wu Ji. My experience of power is not yin or yang until I define it, or fill it with intention. The desire to attain and grasp power can be harmful if out of balance, i.e. am I obsessed and it interferes with my balance? But the desire to attain power can also confer the ability to relieve suffering, so here is a desire, yet it can result in benefit. The methods I go to, to attain power can be harmful or helpful. But the raw energy is neutral, like a tool. I don't find it to be yin or yang until I try to 'understand' it or 'make sense' out of it. Harm or Heal... are two ways of experiencing the same force. So for me, it seems, often it's just my perspective that determines how I experience it. Or it's the intent with which I encounter the energy that determines the experience. But that experience can change and is fluid. Harm may become heal etc. For me, a good example is pain and pleasure. Two experiences of sensation. I lived with chronic pain for decades and was able to manage it quite often and function well. Other times, not at all. As a child, sitting in class, when I was bored, sometimes I would take and push a pin into my hand. Just a bit, until it got uncomfortable. Then, as my curiosity rose (how far could I go?), and as my friends reactions were egging me on, I started to see how far I could push the pin into my hand without suffering (I was no superman). Or rather, I could feel the pain, but could I find a place where it did not bother me. In my mind, I would stare at the spot I was inserting the needle and I would try to find the center of the pain. If I could find that center, I could go into it and through it in a way and the sensation I experienced in my hand was not 'pain' it was a level of sensation I could get used to and so my experience of it, was not one I avoided. Often, there was no real experience of pain until I went to remove the needle, sort of breaking the trance and then feeling it. I found this tactic immensely helpful when dealing with intense training and pain from chronic body issues. Just a few weeks ago, I was working on a show and an old propmaker shared his definition of pain that really resonated with me and it applies to power for me as well. Pain is a level of sensation, deemed to be unacceptable. I would venture that cultivation, philosophical study of the Tao or any spiritual pursuit, or any interest at all, is based on child like wonder. Foster that spark and when it flames, keep the flame in balance and it will serve well.

Well met. I find the most rewarding experience I have, is re-connecting with others; nature, animals, art, random moments with strangers, deep hours long coversations with friends. I say re-connect because that's what the connections feel like to me. Even when I connect with a 'perfect stranger', the moment the connection is struck, there is a deep familiarity which is profoundly unifying. That's why I'm here, to re-connect, share knowledge and have some awesome discussions. I don't recall the first moment I was introduced to the Tao, but its impact in my life has been like a huge stone dropped in my pond. I am profoundly grateful for the handful of teachers who have shared knowledge, experience and love. My world has expanded as it has become simpler. I live in California with my seven year old son and my wife of 25 years. Some of my experience with the Tao: Countless hours spent in the wilderness. Kung Fu and Taoist Practice Master Zhou Ting-Jue: Fire Hands Qi Gong - Wu Tang California Master Lawrence Tan: Tan's Dazzling Hands, Shao Lin, Jeet Kun Do : NYC Master Richard Huang: Shao Lin, Jeet Kun Do: NYC Master John Kim: Chung Moo Quan: Minnesota Favorite Taoist Authors: Lao Tsu Alan Watts Joseph Campbell Damo Mitchell Mantak Chia Looking forward to swimming in these waters.

Wow, thanks for sharing that!

I have vivid sensory recollection of entering samadhi as a child. Complete loss of self in the moment, in the now. All subsequent work has been to find and open that gate again...

Superstitions are fascinating to me, how they differ in cultures, how they're the same. When I later found out about the superstition regarding the number 4 in the east, that moment really set it in my memory that some folks take that stuff very seriously. I used to be a professional stage actor, during the 80's and 90's, and had regular fun tormenting superstitious actors by saying 'Macbeth' on stage while rehearsing or before a performance. The superstition around that one is legendary. You never say Macbeth on a stage, or in a rehearsal hall. Instead you say 'The Scottish Play'. If you mess up, you must go outside, spin around counter-clockwise 3x and spit over your left shoulder, then knock and ask permission to re-enter. If not, you risk 'cursing' the show. I grew out of that particular mischief after making one actress cry before curtain. Her logic might have been sketchy to me, but her suffering was real. Superstitions had a cool lesson for me. One day while living in NYC, I was thinking about how ridiculous one particular superstition was, (I forget what), but my resulting thought was...'hmm, what makes that superstitious thought any more ridiculous than the one I'm thinking now?' I chewed that bone for a while...

That number 4 thing was just so freaking bizarre... I mean, cartoons on acid bizarre. I now see it was a way to test who would be open to blind submission. Looking back it was such a great thing to have happen. I learned some Kung Fu there, but really, I learned how to be awake in that pursuit.

Nice! Thanks.

Really need to start making this myself. Great reminder. How often do you use it?

My breakfast is usually hot lemon water, breathing with intent and stretching. Lunch varies, most days 4-5 a week. I'll make the following smoothie and divide it into two portions. I drink one at around 9 am and the other around noon. 1 ear of corn, cut off the cob 1 fuji apple quartered (for space) 1/2 lime, peel off the green leaving the pith (the green is just too bitter for me) 1 avocado with the pit (3hp blender a must) 1 medium beet 1/2 cucumber w/peel handful of strawberries 1" of ginger 3 sprigs of mint 3 sprigs of cilantro handful of goji berries Dinner varies. We eat some chicken and fish, but in moderation. No red meat or pork. Lots of salads, steamed veggies, brown rice, lentils, beans, soups.

I agree, what a treasure here! Lots of gratitude for all the contributions here.

Very cool DragonScholar. I'm not familiar with the specifics of zhan zhuang, but I know I get great response in my standing work. The Pillar of Light is one I use often, but haven't tried it in the morning. I think I will, it sounds like a no brainer.

Seriously love that first sentence! I've had success using food as medicine in the last couple years. Had a run in with a serious irregular heartbeat and while the raw diet didn't cure that, I incorporated a high phytochemical diet of raw fruits and veggies and nuts after finding out that my old course of actions was setting me up for some bad juju down the road. In 90 days I dropped my blood pressure and got off the meds they had started me on. Also, bad cholesterol down, good cholesterol up, blood sugar down and dropped about 20 lbs. Food is either a strong source of medicine or a slow form of poison. Cheers Mate!

Man I miss coffee! When my wife makes her morning cup, like she is right now... I'll often grab it from her and stick my nose in it. Such a blissful smell. I cut out caffeine two years ago due to a heart issue and went to lemon water for its alkalizing properties. I really appreciate it now, but that coffee smell always tugs at my heart.

Namaste, thanks for the open and focused responses. Talk about the re-connection bell ringing. Didn't expect the Chung Moo Quan story to be coming out in my second post but here goes. pythagoreanfullotus, deep bow for your attentive and quick response. I count my time at the Chung Moo Quan studio to be rewarding, but not entirely positive. As a rule, I don't relish sharing dark stories about people, but I share when it is relevant to growth. I don't enjoy swimming in dark energies, though I don't shun them when they reveal themselves. I don't enjoy speaking of, nor to I celebrate the dark side of people, but in some cases, we meet people for no other reason than to know who we don't want to be close to us. Chung Moo Quan was my first experience in martial arts aside from Bruce Lee and the movies. I walked in off the street, with a swollen face after having been ambushed and beaten. I was a sophomore in high school and had recently moved to a new school. One morning at my locker I was kicked into my locker from behind. I was grabbed and spun around and within the first few seconds my eyes were swollen and having no knowledge of, nor real desire to fight, I had little response but to put my hands up and take the beating. Two days after the attack I walked into the Chung Moo Quan studio that was two blocks from my house and staring at the instructor, feeling like the elephant man, said. "I never want this to happen again." I studied at that studio for two years starting in 1985, until the experience that drove me away. This is the only 'negative' experience I have had in Martial Arts and even though it was my first, I knew it was an anomaly immediately when it happened. None the less, it made me gun shy to study again for some years afterward. Turns out it was one of the more beneficial lessons of my life. For while it is the teacher's prerogative to accept the student. Learning is an active process. The teacher does not open your head and pour in knowledge. The student must reach out, grasp the teaching and incorporate it. It is the student's imperative to choose his teacher with care and wisdom. The student teaches the master as well. Going into my second year of study, I excelled and was offered 'special' classes. To say these classes were intense is an understatement. I have never experienced any teachings like them since. Intensity is not negative in itself. The forms I studied were solid and beneficial, but something else was odd and it became very apparent not long after. To be fair and honest in retrospect, I benefited from the skills I learned in these classes and I was never physically hurt while studying this style. I still use one of the mental forms from time to time, for building Qi and opening channels. What drove me away was a bizarre encounter, not with Master Kim, but a secondary instructor whose name I don't recall. My classes had been getting steadily more expensive which stood out to me in the back of my mind, yet I was doing well and having no real knowledge of how this whole process worked, I trusted it. One day, I had just completed a solo class and was asked by my instructor when our next class was going to take place. When I responded 'next Tuesday at 4 o'clock' I found myself sitting on my ass with the wind knocked out of me. I had been double punched in the solar plexus. The instructor was standing over me saying, "You will never say that number in this place. You will say 3+1. That number is bad luck. We do not say that number here." I was dumbstruck. I changed into my street clothes and left. I never returned. It wasn't that I was physically damaged, but I knew that this teaching was not for me. The pure absurdity of the incident, sucker punched because I said the number 4? I knew in the anchor of my being that this was not for me. While Master Kim may be very skilled, his methods did not suit me. While I didn't seek out another teacher immediately, I did continue to use what I was taught to that point and and so I still honor the teachings I received for what they were... not suited to me, but still beneficial on a certain level. I hope this is coming across as I intend it. I bear no ill will nor malice to Chung Moo Quan. I recognized that this teaching was not compatible with me and I moved on. It was several years later when I heard about the story you posted pythagoreanfullotus. I was not all that surprised. It brought back my experience and cemented in me the deep understanding that undertaking study of this kind, entails a responsibility by both teacher and student. It was several years later, after moving to NYC that I began to study again. I would never again just walk into a studio and ask to be trained after that experience. I would have to meet my teacher through someone I knew, someone I trusted. That teacher was Sifu Richard Huang and based on following these instincts, I found a teacher who embodied that which I most admire in people... kindness, gentle nature and deep, calm power. Like I said, I don't share this story often, but it's value is undeniable to me, so I share it with no malice and with an open heart. Namaste.