zerostao

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i think a resouceful wizard would never become bored or run out of spells. there would always be something to train about. would hitting things far away in the dark training consist of some sleep and sensory deprivations? i also see nothing wrong with wizards having firearms.

there are tai chi forms that use broadsword, i look at a samurai as a type of broadsword. if you feel comfortable using this type of sword then it is the right one for you. for me the straight sword(tai chi sword) is definately on a different level and not for everyone.

looking for a red hot chili peppers song, i found this..such is the way with serendipity which reminded me..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVAZYI6IDTM and this song is about tao, right??!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcWl20c1Wmk this one too is tao?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-smMyAnJUc tao??

i assure you i am "not funnin" you. on TTB in this and all threads , i am straight up. i try to be plain spoken and easily understood. i realize sometimes i dont express accuartely enough. i may have a light mood some days and maybe attempt to add some humour,however i will not post anything that i know is false or misleading. i know that i owe my good health and sanity(subjective?) to Chinese and taoist knowledge and wisdom. i respond straight away in these posts and do not edit. i am confident i have not contradict myself. the idea about a teacher projection, or any reflection , or representation of a dragon is something i thought about. i feel the dragon itself is a teacher. is there an invitation ? yes, i believe that is so. i also believe in "beginner's luck' so to speak, and perhaps this is some symbol sent to me to encourage me to continue the path i am on. maybe i shouldnt be thinking as much about it as i am. dont hold onto it, just move on. continue down the path, or in my case around the path(the circle walking thing). i thankyou starjumper7 for all the insight and thought. it has been a big help.

thanks for sharing

ralis! lyle lovett and john prine are way up on my like list..when i saw the moody blues they had patrick moraz lovett doing Long tall texan was hilarious and when i say hilarious = genius in fact i hate to come to this thread and not add a song...so, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77nOhTbwnHA

jimmy rogers!! wow. i saw tull and santana. my friend dan tyminski is the one who actually did "man of constant sorrow" for the movie. brad paisley isnt bad either on guitar. i feel lucky to have seen the moody blues. in one night i saw george jones, conway twitty, merle haggard. all had nice compliment of musicians. merle had a 9 piece band! still i have not seen willie nelson or eric clapton...sigh then there is this or well i like the videos for these 2

"there is way much more to the eight symbols" IMO they contain everything. baguazhang beautiful art, deep as the universe. if by "fortune telling" we are referring to studying and pondering the I ching? nothing wrong with that, just saying ; ) interesting comment about dragon bagua...like to hear/discus more about that

the lonely sheppard for me the video is sublime since i mentioned sublime, hang ten surf is up a lil reggae "goodness!?" the video sticks at 0;53 for about 3 seconds eowyn draws her swordhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=250nGcnX1b8 liquid swords 4th chamber " come boy, choose life or death" if you are still with me? dont you have water to carry and wood to chop? my bagua friend scott was kind enough to give me some homemade applejack(beads up just like shine!!)but warm like brandy...sip sip @ralis hendrix is always appreciated. i thought of adding wishbone ash , throw down the sword. sword on my mind today obviously. maybe coz i did taichi 32 and 5 element sword? but wishbone ash kinda made me think of tull and living in the past or uriah heep with wizard.. and where is starjumper7 with that packed bowl? this is a most delightful thread , thanks gerard the last one is for you...sip sip where is that dang cabalash??

songs of distant earth very relaxing

continue my wandering tao bum ways in harmony...... practice,practice,practice

i grinned when he said "you know, Chinese is very sneaky" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mtp3xpJ2Hk

like you said earlier, defining enlightened music is very subjective. this did make me grin.and i dont think i ever woulda stumbled across this on my own....

i dont think it was the same dragon, however the time of the visit is close to the same.maybe 8-9 months ago. i think maybe there are many dragons and they go about their business. do they all have the same agenda? who knows? my visitor i did not feel was godlike. i certainly feel it was spirit. a bruce connection? i didnt feel that way but as a martial artist i think we all have bruce lurking somewhere in our mind. the qualities very similar> intelligent on an entirely different level. ancient intelligence? friendly, even compassionate and understanding. but the thing i sensed the most was the calmness. i will also add subtle. it wasnt so much physically imposing as it was the intelligence that impressed me. it came and went and i hope i never forget the feeling of the experience. i do feel it gave me an empowerment, a very subtle one at that. i will not mention specifically because i do not wish in any way to chance to lose it. perhaps i shouldnt have mentioned the slow motion thing either? the self identity idea you mentioned, i will ponder about that. i dont think it has to be the same dragon for us to be in the same brotherhood.

twinner, thanks for sharing something so personal.for me i realize it is the risk i take, saying i have been visited by a dragon. like starjumper's visitor it was very calm and like a friend. there was nothing demon about it. but in my case the dragon revealed itself only to vanish. it did not hang around and let any of my friends check it out.it really didnt give any indication of reason for appearing. i wondered if within tao it was some representation of spiritual realm? i consulted the i ching , the answer given was to "remember we all come from the same origin". i asked a teacher of mine, one who is more esoteric/shaman minded, about the dragon. he said it was dna. i dont know if this answer satisfied me. but maybe it is about transformation and evolution. idk maybe it is something i placed into my mind without realizing i had done so? idk. i had only mentioned this before to the aforementioned teacher and a cousin of mine who has a phd in psychology, her response was maybe i was dipping my toe into a jungian pond. maybe i am crazy,delusional, whatever but for me there is more to dragons than just telling stories. just remembering that experience calms and quiets me to the sensation that everything around me is in slow motion. it is almost comphrensible, almost but not really.

tuesday afternoon moody blues jana mashonee the enlightened time

rookie; i like this question. unfortunately i am not the best qualified person to respond to this.... there is an old snake form i do , where in the winter i do it "yang" and in the summer i do it "yin" the idea is to keep a balance. i do feel qi circulation changes with the seasons and different organs have to make adjustments seasonally. like when the air cools the lungs need to adjust to breathe the cooler air. i know yang jwing-ming has a course called 4 seasons qigong. in my studies about the hwa t'o 5 animals qigong , each animal is assigned a season, however i have seen different seasons given by different experts. i am looking into this a little closer now myself. i have heard you eat a different type of rice in the winter than in the summer. this winter i am using moxibustion to warm up my qi. this is the more traditional idea but some people use it during the spring. also from bruce frantzis http://www.taichimaster.com/energy-gates-qigong/taoism-and-winter-solstice-tips/ good luck and i hope some more qualified folks respond to this thread.

very cool date. i hope everyone takes full advantage and appreciation of it : ) 1/1/11 i look at it as a coming together of ones..in the i ching the sages used the numbers 2 and 3 to represent the yin and yang the heaven and earth as 1 was too abstract and complicated a number to use. for me on this day it is one idea that has my waking mind's focus. for me marcus aurelius said it most eloquently in his meditations. so we have a roman emperor, a beatnik philosopher, noted modern scientists , ancient taoist sages all saying the same thing we are all connected, everything in this universe is connected, there is an inconceivable nature of nature, we have past this way before and much to be learned.... happy new year Melanie i am glad we are friends

howdy and welcome

howdy and welcome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpU2KOFCRz8 ride the river jj cale eric clapton fade into you mazzy star

the Mystery of mysteries is the Door of all essence.....and kahunas been known to cross paths with dragons. the swimming dragon you mentioned is interesting , is it done bagua or chi kung?(i realize bagua is chi kung but i feel you know what i mean) there is not alot of info out there about dragon breath and dragon breathing,even if there are a few qigongs that are labeled dragon. i was referring to something a little different. its just when i hear someone was visited by a dragon i am a little curious. as what i usually find in other cases of this there is a message or a lesson (or a heads up) brought by the dragon.

i wont get into the good dragon,bad dragon thing. a dragon visited perhaps. was there a message? seems like you have tried alot of different energy type work. have you ever done dragon breath or dragon breathing? have you ever felt you could communicate with reptiles? in your kung fu , do you practice dragon forms?

chen xiaowang is certainly a giant among the taiji world. i have always admired his student ren guangyi too. if suninmyeyes practices chen taiji then certainly great way to go. so i ask which taiji form she does practice?? as to me it would make sense to learn the applications that match that form. i agree flow drills are good. the systema idea is fresh. silat also could easily be used for this. but part of it is having the muscle/mind memory of what is familiar with your practice. push hands with as many different people as possible as having just one partner leads to too much familiarity of that person. i understand the xingyi mentality of having a few moves and having them down very good.still there are countless possible applications in xingyi.in this thread she specifically asked about taiji. in yang taiji there really is only 13 main postures, or i look at it like 8 main postures and 5 main steppings. all taiji, all internal styles , even the soft/hard styles like crane, snake, dragon, etc use fa jing. does suninmyeyes have any other martial arts background to draw from? this is also a factor to consider. before someone ever starts to emit fa jing(if ever) it is good to be proficient at fundamental bio mechanics of the style. in my opinion to be a taiji fighter , you have to keep the calm and relaxed in the heat of battle and have confidence in your skill. i realize this is a deep and profound art but i tend to look at the practical/basic part of it. the internaldamagetaichi video showed some practical ideas. alot of good high quality advice is given here. which of it resonnates with her the best is the way to go.