RobB

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Posts posted by RobB

  2. Posted

    13 hours ago, steve said:

     

    I can offer you some sense of my insight into the essence of it, fwiw.

    Not saying this is what Daoism is but simply what it has come to mean for me over the past 25 years or so.

    My relationship with Daoism has been primarily through martial arts, qigong, and Daoist meditation.

    While I've studied many of the texts available in the West, I am no scholar and my knowledge is limited.

    After about a dozen years of practicing Daoist meditation, my karma brought me to Bön dzogchen practice.

    Having practiced in each tradition for over a decade the parallels are unmistakable for me in terms of view, practice, and result.

     

    Daoism for me is a description of the way things are, the way I am, and the relationship between the two.

    It describes reality more as process and relationship than as a collection of independent things. 

    It emphasizes the wholeness of existence and the inherent balance, and imbalance, that comprise the whole, as well as the fundamental essence that serves as the basis. The concepts of wuji, taiji, and wanwu describe characteristics of the nature of reality that coexist here and now as opposed to changes that have occurred in reality over time.

     

    Daoism suggests to me that abiding reality is inherently perfect, just as it is - ziran.

    When I am connected to my own essence I am also perfect, just as I am.

    The problems I encounter, and those we experience collectively, are inherent in me/us due to my/our disconnection from the source.

    To the extent I can release all of the ways in which I disconnect, ways in which I interfere and impose my dysfunction and conditioning on reality, the closer I come to that inherent perfection (wu wei).

    The path towards this re-connection is that of integrity and virtue (de). 

    The ultimate result is a return to what I already am and always was - immortal (xian).

     

    This is great Steve - many thanks.

  3. Posted · Edited by RobB
    Felt that I was doing our group a disservice with my original text. Everyone is sincere and trains well - we're just not knocking each other about much.

    I practice Cheng style Bagua. My teacher has quite a martial focus but most of our group are not too interested in training with a great deal of martial intensity.

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  9. Posted · Edited by RobB
    Speeling

    I get the impression that half of the problem is people getting their categorisation systems challenged and not being able to work that through. We've tended to think in simple binaries which suit majority experience but don't adequately describe the whole data set at a certain level of detail.

     

    I don't think about sex or gender much unless I'm forced to (working in Higher Ed makes it inevitable sometimes). Personally, I prefer an analogue model: sex and gender as a couple of sliders that can be at any point along a range and can change over time.

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  13. Posted

    I have done mouth taping and still do (it's a bit of a disincentive having my seasonal beard in place as tearing off some micropore first thing isn't the relaxing start to the day I prefer). Its worth remembering that sleeping with your mouth closed is a totally normal thing to do. The taping just keeps your jaw in that position. It does feel a bit odd and takes some time to get used to but once you've got your head around the sensation it's fine. A short vertical tape across the centre of the mouth is sufficient.

  17. Posted

    Does it matter? If you're a physical therapist working with fascia then work with fascia. If you are working with meridians work with meridians. I spend some time looking at this years ago when I was studying shiatsu for a while. In the end I think I did myself, and the discipline, some disservice by trying to explain and understand one world view in terms of the other. It certainly didn't help me be better at shiatsu. 

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  19. Posted

    On 15/12/2023 at 5:38 PM, Maddie said:

     

    Absolutely, especially the eight extraordinary vessels. These were the first channels to develop as an embryo and therefore have a very deep effect. I use them in almost every treatment in some way. 

     

    Would that typically be the Ren Mai and Du Mai in regular use or do you find yourself often using the others?  My impression is that, since your working at the Jing level (if I understand correctly), you can be dealing with some pretty heavy-duty stuff.

  20. Posted

    Hi Maddie,

     

    I've just started learning some acupuncture. As well as the 12 primary channels, my teacher has also spoken a bit about using the Luo channels, Divergents and the 8 extraordinary vessels. He's made it clear that we won't study them in depth in this foundation course but I wondered whether these were part of your practice?

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  22. Posted · Edited by RobB

    17 minutes ago, Mig said:

    How do you know that Karate developed during that time. I thought Karate was systematized in Okinawa in the 17th century ?? Just wondering

     

    I am messing around a bit. Karate has deep roots in earlier arts but Karate as the West (mostly) understands it was formulated and codified in the early 20th century. The juxtaposition with  BJJ can be eye-opening for those who buy into the 'mysterious ancient art' thing.

     

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate