chenplayer

Just one last post about Master Feng and I promise i will stop flooding this thread.

This is him talking about his masters, Chen Fake, and Hu Yaozhen.

[Feng] Ever since I started learning from both of those masters, I have never heard them say anything negative about anybody else, and they never talked highly about themselves either. Master Chen actually had two nicknames. One of them was Chen So-so, and the other was Chen Useless. Because every time somebody praised him he would say, “I’m useless, I’m so-so.” He said it so often that people actually called him by his nicknames Chen Useless and Chen So-so. However, in martial arts publications in Japan they called Grandmaster Chen Fa Ke “the Saint of Fist”. [Translator's clarification: The Saint of Martial Arts]

Master Hu, similarly, never expressed his opinion about other people. He always said, “you’re good, he's good." He always praised everybody else. When somebody’s martial art or life style had some problems, he never said anything about it, he would just say “I don’t know.” When he saw something strong in somebody's martial art or something good in somebody's personality he would always praise them.

If you are interested in reading more here is the link

http://www.silkreeler.com/drupal/?q=node/24

Just wanted to post an interview from Feng Zhiqiang that I find very inspiring. I am not saying that other people are not as reliable but coming from a martial artist point of view, Master Feng has accomplished a lot and has been know as the real deal in China and in the Chen village, so I just resonate with what he says a little more.

[Feng] However, we should never be too proud of ourselves. Even though our external movement seems to be ok, this form is very deep. Practice diligently and hopefully one day we can do the form in such a way that whatever shape we express on the outside, the internal will follow. Only when the external and internal are synchronized can we say our form is good. And even then, if we can synchronize our internal and external, there are levels beyond that. For example, we can reach the level where we are one with Hun Yuan, as in you are moving with the universe. When you can reach the level where you are one with Hun Yuan and the universe, it’s moving and you are part of it, so even though you are not actually practicing the form you are part of the movement. What is this thing, so-called Hun Yuan Qi ball? It could be as small as a pill or as big as your body. It could move just in your dan tien or it could move all around your body as one big ball. If you can cultivate such a Taiji ball, then you can say you have succeeded. However there are still levels beyond that. Some students asked me once, "have you reached the level where you can get this one little ball of Hun Yuan qi?" I am not there yet, that’s why I am still working very hard at it. I am at the level where internal and external are synchronized. The level beyond the one concentrated ball of energy is when your three senses combine into one — the three senses are your sense of sight, sense of hearing, and sense of thought — when all three senses combine into one, you reach a spiritual level. I am not saying this to discourage you, but the level we just talked about when the three senses are mixed into one and reaching spiritual level, we may not be able to reach that in one lifetime. Only by working hard nonstop and by making progress all the time will we be able to reach there one day.

Wishing the best and sending love.

Thank You MPG for your reply! I Agree with you that the best way for anyone to really know whats out there is through constant practice and bettering of oneself. I have trained long and hard in many forms of martial arts and have lived in japan for 2 years training in Kyokushin Karate (been doing it int the states since i was 9). So my thought process is if you want to see if it works train hard. Hopefully one of these days I will see it for myself but until then I will not speculate just train. I find it more magical when you find another person you can train with who loves the art just as much as you do. My best buddies have been martial artists and really wonderful people in general.

All the best and sending much love!!!!!

Just wanted to start a friendly conversation about the near fanatic (or what seems to be) obsession of Mo Pai. I will admit that when I first started to get into Qigong and Neigong I was fascinated by Kosta's story of John Chang. But now that I am older I feel like all the wanting of super powers are rather silly. I mean what is the point of it? I don't want to fly or blow up villages, I just want to feel connection with myself and the surroundings. Also to take my monkey mind, which seems to me harder than obtaining powers. Isn't all this power searching kinda the reason why Qigong in China is reduced to what it is now?

Not saying that having these powers wouldn't be cool but should it be the goal? How do we even know this exsists? The whole J.C. Thing can be all made up for all we know. The best way I feel is that we should practice and help each other become better human beings. Well I hope this dosent offend anyone like I said I was once facinated by these stories, and it has lead me down this path. But now I just want to be a better me, not superman.

Sending much love to you all.

Sorry if my question was rather broad. I just wanted to see feng teachings through other people's eyes so maybe I can enhance my training of chen style. Was thinking of taking a class by master Yang Yang when I get back to NYC. Not trying to be a bother to any one. Thanks again for your time.

I have been practicing Chen tai chi for a while and have been reading up on Master Feng (may he rest in peace). I was just wondering if any of you guys/gals have ever trained with him. I think, and I could be wrong here, but a member named Mat Black might have trained with him. Would just like to learn more about him and his method through your experience with master Feng.

Thanks for your time!!!!!!!

Is the "confetti" streamers that gramp saw the same thing about the meteor shower that you saw rainbowvein? This all sounds amazing, !!!!!! It motivates me even more to keep up with my practice (even though my school schedule has been kicking my butt. )

Really interested to hear from the people who went. I really want to attend a work shop but I am currently out of the country studying medicine. Can't wait to hear how it was!!!!!!

Gramp thank you so much for telling me about VLC its been a big help. I just started doing the form and I have been enjoying it so far. Since its the first time doing any sort of qigong I am still stumbling about but loving it any ways! I try to keep my mind clear when I do it and trying to leave my intent on my dantien. I do catch myself looking at my hands when I do the form, I guess its an old habit from my chen practice. I see I have A LOT to work on ( like keeping my tongue placed on top of the roof of my mouth). I will keep with it and will have ample opportunity to practice daily since I am going to grenada for pre-med, so lots of beach practice!!!! Once again thank you all for all the helpful tips and information. I love you guys/girls!!!!!

- Rob

I also forgot to ask is the stillness movement on the dvd's?

Thank You so much to all of you for the replies!!!!! Seeker thanks for the info about watching both and then sticking to GOT I. I was watching the first dvd and I was very nervous because I did not think I was going to get the whole form down. But now with the suggestions of doing one part and adding more I feel quite relieved.

This is all super helpful and I can't really thank you guys and gals, enough. I will be studying over sea's for about a year and I wanted to finally do some qigong instead of lurking at the bums forums. I always felt i really haven't had any thing to contribute, but thanks to all of you I have finally got the courage to start. Hopefully this will help me relax and concentrate on all the studying I am going to be doing.

So I just got my Gift of the Tao dvd's in the mail (thanks Yamu for all your help). I have never done any qigong before and have been practicing Taiji and some Bagua. I was just wondering if you guys have any tips before I start diving into these dvd's. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank You all for your time!!!

-Rob

This does look very interesting. Since it's on amazon I have that free trail that gives you two day shipping. So I am def on board in checking this out very soon!!!!

Also want to send my regards to a fellow martial brother!!!!!!!!

Lots of different experiences, signs and symptoms come and go. It's one of the entertaining aspects of practice I had red/purple spots appearing on my palms around the laogong points when I started with Gift of Tao movements.

I find it amazing when you get a chance to experience something like that. I have always read about qi and how it feels but to actually feel it through practice makes me happy and very blessed to have a good teacher.

Thank You so much jaysahnztao!!!!!! I really appreciate the support! My legs have been killing me too all those low stance in Chen are pretty hard, but I must admit my legs are 10 times stronger than they were before. I am glad you touched upon the breathing because I was worried about that!!! I wasn't really thinking about my breathing, I just wanted to give 100% doing the form, kinda got lost in the form while doing it ( I guess that's what I am supposed to aim for any way right? lol!!).

Thank You for all the responses, I will train hard and keep on practicing. Sorry if my post sounded a little dumb. I just never had anything like that happen, I have trained in Kyokushin karate for over 12 years and have competed and lived in japan for a year. So all I really knew before this experience was the hardest of the hard, I mean bare knuckle knock down karate reaaaaaallllly hurts but it was fun.

I really do appreciate the time you guys took to write back thank you again!

Just if people are interested I am going to post a link to my sifu doing the form. !!!!!!

Hi guys, something interesting happened to my on Sunday practicing with my sifu. I was doing the Lao jia yi lu form of Chen Taiji, and half way through practice I started to feel a heat sensation in my palms, I really didn't notice until I was itching them. Also my palms were super sweaty like I have never had sweaty palms like I did on Sunday. So does any one know what I was feeling or going through? I am only accustomed to the harder martial arts and this is the first time I felt any sort of energy doing martial arts. I find it very cool and interesting and I would like to further progress my practice.

I Kinda left this part out, sorry really excited about what I felt , My sifu said that my intention during practice was very good, he always stresses to watch your hands when you practice. By watching you hands I mean while you are also moving them doing the form. Does this have anything to do with what I felt?

Thanks for your time reading a noob's post!!!!!!!

I have never heard of Lin? I am quite interested in finding out more. Is there anything I can look up online?

And if you ever want to come down and practice I am more than happy to have a training partner!!!!

Thank you guys so much. You have been more than helpful. I will practice even harder now. Thank you again!!!!

I would like to thank both of you very much, it is greatly appreciated. One last question and I will let you guys be. Does any one know of any Bagua schools in NYC? I work in the city and it would be a lot easier for me to go train in the city. Once again thank You for everything!!!!!

Thank you so much for the response. Yeah, the sifu was teaching me not to slide my foot but to actually lift it up while I step. He did say to keep my back heel from rising. I suppose he said this because the floors have mats and they are hard to slide on? Yeah he said my knees should hurt but I guess he meant actually being sore then physical pain. I just want to train correctly so I really appreciate the answers.

Hi everyone! I have a couple of questions hoping my fellow bums out there can help out. I found a school relatively close to where I live that teaches Bagua and Xinyi once a week. The school seems legit and I like the sifu he is very nice. The only thing that pops up is that when I took the class we started with Bagua and the sifu started showing me how to walk the circle. Now here are my questions since I am not vey experienced with Bagua and my only reference to the internal arts comes from my practice of Chen taiji.

The sifu said he was not going to teach me to mud step because it was a waste of time. Now, what is mud stepping and is it important?

The second question is do your knees hurt when you started walking the circle? The sifu said my knees will build muscle and get stronger. I know my Chen sifu always stressed that my knees should never hurt in practice, but I don't know if it's different in Bagua. Any help will be appreciated!

Hi my name is Rob and I been lurking in this forum for a while now. I love you guys and I have learned a great deal reading all your posts ( well most of them anyway). I have a quick question. I have some questions regarding the martial art of bagua. I have been taken a class and had some questions to any of the bums who have or are currently training in the art. Where should i post a topic for that? Thank You for your time!!!!!