thaddeus

Dreams help define us. We don't always have to achieve great things. I'm sure there's a spiritual parable in there somewhere

in the end, this isn't so bad, the dream served a purpose..imho.. T

people need to be tricked into training. if you felt it would save your life you would do all the training you need. if you read biographies of great people, they often had to overcome some great obstacle such as a sickness, poverty, bullying, etc. If you have no reason other than it's something you 'should' do, then, yeah, you probably won't train much. T

Doesn't Judiasm have an extensive belief in angels? T

are any of you guys aware of Yamuna body rolling? You might want to check out what she's doing.. T

Following your path should be joyful. Who here honestly feels joyful? What does it take to become joyful? T

Hi Craig, I know you wrote alot of points but this one stuck out for me. See, many of us take the homes we live in for granted. But at some point in the past, they would be considered mansions. Everyone can live in a 'mansion' There is no scarcity. The haphazardness and inequity that we see out there reflects a person's ability to accept abundance. Most sane people have limits or a sense of shame. Remove the limits either through insanity, justification or just awareness and abundance should flow. T

This is my favorite: http://www.tuochatea.com/tuocha/minipu-erhtuocha.htm smooth and delicious...plus fun to make!

I think because when you want stuff only for yourself, then you become fearful of losing or sharing it..

nice work! notice how when you raise your arms you are pushing up from the ground? It's hard to write that in the instructions and definitely will not be seen in the photos. Same for how your arms come down. But it's really important to get that right otherwise one is just flapping arms up and down..my two cents is that the video will be more effective than the photos--and more effective than the written instruction (unless you go into that detail). T

hmm..which came first fear or selfishness?

I learned the basic 5 elements of Xingyi years ago and recently have been trying to remember them. Been really experimenting with Santi posture and the movements between switching sides..for those familiar with xingyi, I'm doing a movement that resembles Pichuan but just getting into santi and staying there until i feel it's time to move. So then I start to think, "wow, I really like this, I need to get back into training..let me start to look up some xingyi teachers and systems"...but get this, there's lots of stories throughout martial arts history of people who become great repeating one stupid move over and over and over. There's a certain level of honesty and integrity in training like that. So I'm thinking, "what else is there to really learn?" Another form? Another movement? Everything is in this one move..how I get into it, how I change in it and how I get out.." So my question is..what else is there to really learn? We just need to know one movement. The rest is really just academic. T

Do you mean envy or romantic jealousy? I think both are rooted in a feeling of lack--not enough to go around. If you really knew there was enough for everyone, you couldn't feel jealousy, it just doesn't make sense. T

I guess the pictures would clear up any confusion, but it's not clear if your arms are straight up in the air for #1. It sounds like they are..and the whole transition to that point..maybe a side shot? T

Cool questions..what's your source on Taoists advocating anything? The way I understand taoist philosophy, there is no for or against. Cultivating the body is for lengthening the opportunity on earth for achievement. Good thoughts.. T

An excellent question. Another way to ask this is..'what is the common denominator of all training?' You got some great answer already, so you can't go wrong. Some additional pointers, though..if you consider what is the common denominator of all training is to cultivate a state of mindfulness, present moment awareness. It's a basic fundamental of all training. Internal martial artists call it a part of the 6 harmonies..another word is Yi or intent or heart mind. So do that well, and you have everyone beat because it's probably the most important thing. The next is to cultivate a relaxation of the muscles and transfer awareness to the connective tissue. Nothing really esoteric or weird in that, but it's another basic fundamental. This 'peng' that arises when you allow forces to travel the path of connective tissue to the ground and back and not so much tense muscles gives your movement power. Again, cultivate that and you have everyone with a teacher beat. Just my two cents, T

Try some bodywork like rolfing and see if it helps.. T

That's the good question. Actually I've seen and experienced both approaches..I've had taiji teachers who usually run through the whole form and expect you to pick it up. They may do sections at a time, but they won't dwell on a move too much. I personally like to 'get' a move before I move on to the next. However, I've also seen and experienced teachers who milk students this way. I think each approach has it merits and it's faults. With regards to taichi, it's probably best not to focus too much on one movement in the beginning. Most experts would agree the first step is the choreography, the alphabet, so to speak. You don't want to work too much on the letter A, for example, because you don't really know what you're doing. The basic shape is enought to start. I think one has to pay the dues and muddle through the form the best they can, and then start working on individual moves. And then keep refining it, and then exploring the deeper stuff. This may sound contradictory to the 'one move' thread, but we're talking beginning stages here. I'm just talking physical gross movement here. A beginner doesn't really know enough to say, practice single whip a thousand times. If anything, it will reinforce a bad habit. But in any case, my point was that the brocades are not supposed to be exact or complicated. The goal is to stretch the area of focus..so simple a caveman could do it!! Anyway, that's just my take, take it with a grain of salt... T

I'm talking off the top of my head, but I think the tradtional way was to do 8 reps of each except for the last one which is 7 bounces..never heard a good reason why the last one is only 7. Here's what i was taught to concentrate on for stretching: 1st: lengthen torso area (affects triple warmer) 2nd: lengthen Pec area (affects lung) 3rd: lengthen Sides (affects spleen-improve digestion) 4th: between shoulder blades (looking backward-ease bad emotions) 5th: head and tailbone stretch apart (reduce heart fire) 6th: Punching --tense whole body-(makes whole body strong)..but i felt worked liver (angry eyes) 7th: kidney area (forward stretch-focus on that mingmen stretch) 8th: Bounce on heels while rubbing kidney area So, I was taught, the important thing was getting the stretch, not the many nuances of getting there.. T

The 8 brocades is a very simple stretching exercise. I'm assuming you're referring to the standing version. Do all 8 moves. Each one is a stretch of a different area of your body. So you need to do all of them. Don't look too deeply into this form. It's an external physical form, just stretch. It comes from the shaolin temple and was designed as a beginner's exercise. Use it as a warm up for your other work. Have fun! T

Hi Wayfarer, I'm not sure if you studied taichichuan in depth? Relaxation means returning to the wuji state, a state of balance. When attacked, if you're following an internal system like taichichuan, it's the only response. If you respond with an off balanced tactical method, that is what I'm saying is an external martial art response. Which is perfectly ok, because it will probably save your life over an above an internal system. Internal systems aren't better, it's just a different approach to a situation. Here's an example of the two strategies. If I am grabbed, I am off balance now because the opponent is applying forces to me. My relaxation, is my return to a balanced state. The process of returning to the balance state, actually unbalances the opponent, because they are connected to me. This is not a repeatable 'technique'. In an external system, i am grabbed and based on how I am grabbed and what technigues I practice, I will respond. The bigger, faster, stronger I am the more luck I have. External systems are the most practical and the easiest to learn. We can probably count on one the hand the effective internal stylists. There are thousands of bad ass externalists. I'm just pointing out the differences and why, for me, it's more fun to study the internal stuff. But I'm not saying it's better or more effective by any means. T

I defeated the biggest bully in junior high school like this. He was aware that I was into weird stuff (basically i was reading 'Ki in Daily Life' and bruce tegner's books), but he was a mean, nasty sob. We squared off and we were going to fight. I was scared, but I had a lot of heart. I don't even remember what the conflict was, but all i did was face him and move the angle of my forward foot to make a T stance. He looked down at my feet, looked at me with that 'what the hell am I in for look' turned around and walked away. T

Hi Mal, what you're describing is the hallmark (and the downfall) of external martial arts. i.e. this move does that and counters this, etc. Internal martial arts are different. There are no 'moves'. And that's the beauty of studying the internal arts. Taichi is the most sophisticated in this sense and if you're lucky enough to find a teacher who can show you, you only need to study 'one move' for self defense. All one needs is physical contact with the opponent to know him. What's the 'one move'? It's relaxation. Ok, now I'm giving all the secrets away... T

Has anybody actually tried to do this themselves? Let's try some experiments. I was thinking about that qigong master moving the bricks and water (which turned out to be 'art' not a real demo). If you think about what is involved with attempting to push and pull a brick using intention, and i'm sure the I Chuan guys can certainly chime in here, it's a perfectly valid training regimen. In fact, it doesn't take much stretch of the imagination, to see how stories come up of people actually moving the objects. T