Trunk

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Posts posted by Trunk


  1. What do you guys feel are the over all best practices you have learned? Like the top 5 or top 3 list of the best of the best?

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    Top 10,001:

    1. I'd have to say that core channel practice (deep-centers, bindus) and how that connects with emptiness & light is #1.

    2. In my current view, the 10,000 practices are in support of, leading to, that. And are all good.


  2. Peter,

     

    Nice post!

     

    sun and moon a helluva lot already in the core channels

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    Curious: How has that been going for you?

     

    Interesting line of investigation.

    I look forward to reading your future posts (if you are so inclined) as things progress.

     

    Trunk


  3. Check out how close he is to the water. He has a lot of spacial control of his body with his tumbling. It's pretty amazing.

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    Its impressive how effortless much of it is, at that level. The coordination, leverage, take over. His handsprings, etc, do themselves to a large degree. He's not muscling-through a bunch of heavy clunking around. Wow.

    (And i saw that noni-juice bottle at the end! :) )


  4. ...during standing meditation.

    Also, rather than having my breath centered in my lower belly, I find that my breath appears kind of shallow and centered in my chest (or perhaps both the belly and my chest).  ...

    I should note that in everyday life I'm normally a belly breather.  I also don't think this has to do with tension, since I seem to breath this way during standing regardless of whether I'm tense or not.  Indeed, the MORE relaxed I am, the less I seem to breath and the "shallower" my breath becomes.

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    There are the meditative states where breath stops, or sometimes nearly stops as one approaches those states. It goes to a very rich deep place. Could be that you are going that direction during standing meditation. (?)

     

    In any case, what you are doing seems to be working for your body, and that's the main thing. When your body is ready for something else, things'll shift, and then something else will be right. :)

     

    There is some physical integration that comes from doing the lower belly breathing. It does tap into the more physical layers, and so integrates.. whatever you're working with, with that. For me, the lower tan tien is more and more the pivot point from working with earth energy through the legs and the higher energies that are drawn from the upper.

     

    It could be that some moving work, especially in which your legs are moving (and so the ltt engaged) could be complementary work in which its more natural for you to do lower belly breathing.

     

    Trunk


  5. The new local phone book arrived on my doorstep today, with Ronald Reagan on the cover! I couldn't believe it, I burst out laughing.

     

    Found a picture of my American hero on the web, printed it up, glued it over RR's mug. Nifty color printers. :)

     

    Trunk

     

    wendell_berry.jpg


  6. I am interested in which way people do standing meditation.

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    Lately I've been standing in very natural stance, arms at side - a little out to the sides (what Yoda has referred to as "gun-slinger" posture).

     

    I keep my breathing centered in the lower tan tien, but I allow my meditation to migrate amongst the three centers (power, love, wisdom).. Allowing the energy to move there as seems natural, doing some refinement at the center, and resolution into the deep-center of each. I find that this approach is providing much easier, more fluent, and more coherent, integration.

     

    I've been thinking for some years, now, suspiciously - that all the time just on one center (lower tan tien) is a somewhat silly approach. Experience is confirming, for me, that a three-center approach is more fruitful. Allowing for the fact that the lower energies are denser, so there is generally more time spent refining the lower center. And that the lower center is a good basis for breathing. But to include the love and wisdom center energies in the curriculum, in the blend, is just balanced and healthy.

     

    Trunk


  7. could a person meet with relative success if they stood in Wu Chi and then practiced their own forms, creating a style of Tai Chi developed to their own personal style?

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    Experimentation is a very important part of learning, whether entirely on your own or as part of studying within a system. And, if you're on your own, its likely that you could enjoy some learning, some integration. And its worth while, rewarding even; there are lots and lots of people cultivating on their own (well, at least qi gong and cultivation in general).

     

    But what gets produced, compared to learning within an authentic lineage of Tai Chi (or Xing Yi, or Ba Gua), there's no comparison. There just isn't. And I'm not just saying the orthodox line, here; this is based on observation.


  8. not to mention the childish mine is bigger than yours in the first paragraph of his home page...

     

    "... Don't waste your time with any other Chi Kung. Mine is the best! GJC"

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    :lol:

    Yeah, and that's just the tip of the iceburg with this guy. He goes beyond beyond, and just keeps on going.

     

    He had a hilarious promo video on his site some years ago (maybe still there?). He was promoting his qi gong services with 10 times the vigor and a fraction of the class of a used car salesman. I showed it to my teacher at the time (who is a very funny guy), and we laughed our asses off. It was like an SNL take-off on a qi gong ad. Astonishing that it was really an ad in earnest.

     

    Wow. This is the first guy I think I've just railed away at re: character online.

    I don't like this guy. Dat's a fact, Jack. B)


  9. That's Gary Clyman. His body shape looks like he has some development, and the martial stories about him are impressive. But he has the most loud annoying childish temperament of anyone I've seen. I bought one of his videos some years back (all of his products are $pricey!$), and I couldn't stand to watch more than 1/3 of the way through. His personality is that bad. I threw out the video.


  10. Yoda . . . what can I say?  Good luck with the hairlessness.  And please, whatever you do, NO PICTURES.

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    WHY did you have to SAY THAT?!? :angry:

    (Now I'm thinking, "What kind of a creature is a Yoda?", and "What do their peckers look like, shaved?" :blink: All I know, is I don't want to know!)

     

     

    :D


  11. A lot of the stretching I've been doing lately really lends itself to stillness meditation. I find myself holding sometimes very painful poses for up to 30 minutes to release enough to let me move further into the stretch. In order to do this I am almost forced to get into a space where pain is just phenomenon. I just let it be there and I let go of trying to do anything with it. In this space I can slowly watch the layers of tension come up and dissipate, it's pretty fascinating.

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    Wow! Good work!

    Inspired.


  12. Wonder who this Hsi Lai dude is.. the acronym means something like foreigner in chinese apparently

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    "Hsi Lai" means "to the West". I happen to know it 'cause there's a "Hsi Lai Temple" (Buddhist) here in the L.A. area. Its a large beautiful Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights. Actually, the largest Buddhist temple compound outside of Asia. (No relation to the person who wrote that book.)


  13. I just started doing the ab.wheel, standing. I do it up to a wall, to stop the wheel at the angle that I can handle.

     

    An unexpected benefit: I find that the strong tension that it puts on the lower ab works the attachments of my abs to my pubic bone, and is effectively releasing some stagnation there that I've not released through other methods.


  14. .. really diggin' practicing various forms of Lunges and splits to open up and release my groin. I'd like to work up into a full front and side split in a few months,

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    I find that if I get in a some stretch like that, and practice lower tan tien breathing (gently, but expanding~contracting all the way around), and some k1 breathing - it produces really interesting results.


  15. I've tried the stretch on the cover and it's great!
    :)

     

    For somebody stiff as a board, Furey recommends working on a bridge with a yoga ball like in the background of your dragon flag photo.
    Didn't see one in that shot, but I get the idea.

    yoga6.jpg

    Don't think I wanna buy the ball for just that one thing, but might as I get more into it and think that'd be the thing to get me over the hump. For now, I'm gonna review Furey's material that I have - and maybe visit my local yoga studio for tips.


  16. I've never been very flexible. Stocky and bulky, I've always had to have some regular weighted exercise just to warm up and relax. So the ideas of qi gong that works the muscularture (like 1-legged work) and "loaded stretching" are interesting for me. Bridges are currently beyond my ability, but i'm curious to inch towards it.

     

    Saw the ad for Pavel's "Loaded Stretching" and have been experimenting with a variation of the stretch shown on the DVD cover, but with arms extended above the head, careful to evenly load the full back (not stack the load in any one place).

     

    Any of you bought the DVD? Reviews?

     

    Then, as a counter exercise, this: (which, btw, I got from here.)

    bjohnson_1481.jpg

     

    bjohnson_1482.jpg

     

    Curious about what any of you guys who are bulky/tight do for stretching that suits you.

     

    Trunk


  17. What are the best remedies for thinning hair?  I use He Shou Wu internally and externally.  Anybody got results with anything else?

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    I think the Tea Garden has an herbal formula, that includes He Shou Wu + other herbs that direct the effect to the scalp, called "Hair Tonic" or some such.

    Tea Garden website

    You can call their 800 number and talk to an herbalist.

     

    Don't know if its really effective or not.

     

    Noni juice testimonial for hair loss

    Dunno 'bout it for this either. :rolleyes:


  18. In this pose what is the strap doing? Is it providing a stretch by pulling your feet towards you? Or just holding everything in place?

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    Correct.

    Its holding the feet and pelvis near eachother, with no effort on your part, such that you can just relax into it.

     

    The pose can be done without the strap, but its not quite as effective. If there's effort to hold the feet close in.. that creates tension in the pelvis and inner thighs - the very places that you need to relax into to get the goodies of this pose.


  19. The way I presently think about it is the tan tiens.centers are like the Tree of life. You plant the seed of health and vitality in the lower tan tien and through daily cultivation(Qigong) the seed grows and reaches the upper tan tiens and spreads qi through the entire body.

     

    The spirit(Shen) is peacful and happy when the body is filled with qi and this ultimately helps you realize the Tao(Enlightenment).

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    Nice. Another good description. :)

     

    The Tibetans describe cultivation similarly, using "the vase" metaphor; it fills from the bottom up.