JustBHappy

Sorry, but I still don't see it as important. Life is full of things we don't know and don't understand. Part of the path in my opinion is learning how to accept and make friends with uncertainty instead of the constant need to know why, in other words to put intellectual boxes around our world. If I stick my hand in fire, it burns. I don't need to know why, or to know what fire really is. I turn on the light, and I can see things, the sun comes out and I can see clearly. The top physicists in the world still have no idea what light really is. Is it a wave? Is it a particle? Both can proven right or wrong, but none of us is really any closer to knowing what light is, or how and why it works. This doesn't stop us from using it though. So this leads to the current love affair with science. Even if people really don't understand what a scientist is telling them, they are happy because "ah.... now I know, now I understand." Any explanation a person can give, can only point to one small part of the how and why and will always be incomplete. The humble truth is that us humans know very very little about ourselves and our world, and even the things we think we know, are incomplete or flat out wrong. The need for always knowing how and why is not only unimportant, it becomes an obstacle. One of my Bagua masters once said to me "I don't know where my power comes from or what caused it." His power is a result of ALL his training, there is no one secret magical practice or knowledge that gives him such power. I have faith that if I continue on the path that he has given me that one day I will experience the same thing. I don't need him to pinpoint the precise cause. In my opinion, it's the people who think they got everything figured out that should never be trusted. The few that are humble enough to say "I don't know" are the real masters. I absolutely stand by the "we don't know, just do it" philosophy, especially when it comes to internal training. We find a competent teacher/lineage and invest our time and energy.

This is exactly why lineage is so important. There needs to be an unbroken lineage, a living transmission of the exact method of living and practicing, otherwise we waste our precious time. One could spend 10-20 years practicing some of the silly Ba Duan Jin that I've seen and still feel nothing. On the other hand a real qi gong system can have you feeling the effects in a few weeks and absolutely convinced to the point of vowing to never stop the practice after a mere 3 months or so. The western monkey mind though always expects the world to fit inside the limited box they call science. I swear, it's like science is the new religion or something. The sheeple will not entertain anything that isn't verified by science, and blindly follow the nonsense the scientist continue to tell them. As far as qi goes, forget about it. It happens. Correct practice and living will make it abundant and correct meditation and yi development will make it pliable. Where the mind goes, the qi will instantaneously follow. Scattered, unfocused mind, scattered unfocused qi.

The OP has it all wrong from the beginning. Best advice is to find an accomplished teacher and instead of expecting everything that is taught to fit within his own limited mind, to open up his mind. It's the classic zen teaching of the overflowing tea cup. First one must empty the cup, otherwise there is nothing to be gained from the inquiry. The Taoist model does not, and will not fit nicely into the western scientific model. Period. End of story. The Dan Tian, is not a point. It is a group of points. This being said, it is not physical in the same way the mind is not physical. It's a meaningless waste of time, better to choose one of two options: 1) Keep worshiping the western scientific model and close the mind. 2) start practicing. You really don't have to know much about the Dan Tian to practice. In time, it will reveal itself but you will find the same paradox in explaining it to closed minds that expect the world to fit within their models instead of expanding the models to fit the world. Taoist practice is not an intellectual game. You are never going to understand your way to mastery. Follow the advice of the sages and experience the truth for yourself. It's all similar to the silly failed scientific attempts to pinpoint the mind. They can all find the physical brain, and even poke it, shock it, and other silliness, but know next to nothing about the mind.

I guess it's time to start moving on down the FP path. To be honest, I'm absolutely content with the effects from the simple standing and sitting meds + of course the nighty night med. My experience with great systems like this has been that the most profound and powerful are often hidden in the beginning. Not sure if this is true in this case, but I know from my own direct experience that those first 2 dvd's are full of jewels. I have had all the dvd's for quite some time now yet never even opened a few of them. I think it's time. These next 3-6 months are going to be my FP (and SM) season. I'm coming off an intense season of Gao Bagua 64 Hou Tian palms and am feeling the need to shift gears a bit. Thanks again Sifu Terry for sharing your time and energy to spread these precious jewels.

Yeah, it's all older folk here, and Tai Chi is often the same. Everyone I talk to says that qi gong and Tai Chi are for old people only. I view it as ignorance myself. People who haven't yet realized their own impermanence and inevitable decline. Once they do, they jump on the bandwagon and practice every morning and or evening. It's quite sad. The modern Chinese youth don't give a hoot about learning, mastering and preserving the jewels of their culture. They all want to the new Iphone, Ipad, or other Icrap instead. The crazy western students are often by far the most diligent.

Interesting, thanks for posting.

One can attempt to remove or avoid all the people, events, thoughts, and feelings that trigger our aversion, or one can seek to root out the aversion itself. One method is impossible to win, no matter how good you get at wack a mole, it never ends. Far better to remove our buttons, than try to keep people from pushing them. Of course this is all easier said than done, but worth considering.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't look like there are many Characters.

Yeah, I don't doubt that it works quite well. I just don't want to train my body/mind to move in inefficient, unstable ways. As you practice things through the years, they tend to become ingrained. I have my hands full enough trying to overcome all the bad habits I already have!

I have to agree. I've had great results from just following the instructions in the book. I obviously only know the sitting meditation and the all important closing (not sure if I do it right), but the results extend out in all areas of my life. It's strange because the technique is very very similar to what my very first CMA teacher taught me. I was young and dumb at the time though and really didn't invest the time and energy needed to get results. Resting ones awareness on the dantien is a no-brainer in my opinion. It almost guarantees results it we apply ourselves to it. The posture and closing sequence add more fuel to the fire. I wanted to attend one of the remote seminars, but I didn't have the GOT and that was one of the requirements. I am honestly resistant to learning GOT because I feel it will mess with my martial training. I get absolutely phenomenal result from my Tai Chi and Bagua these days, I think in part due to the stillness-movement and the flying phoenix that I do. The GOT movements, to me, appear to be completely wrong when viewed from a martial body mechanics, conservation of energy, rooting, perspective so I'm not sure I will ever do them. The postures in a few of the Tai Chi sets absolutely promote high level energy training and circulation. If one feels there is something missing, I think they just need to find a good teacher. Millimeters are Kilometers in Tai Chi, the small details are important, especially as we train each and every day year after year, decade after decade. Sady, most of what is taught and passed off as Tai Chi, is empty movement, mere dance. This is the only disagreement I have with Michaels take on stillness movement. I'm sure the GOT is powerful, but it cannot possibly be the only path up the mountain. The most striking effect I have experienced with the SM is the increase in calm, rooted awareness. Once again this helps all areas of ones life but can absolutely be applied to martial studies. Once the mind is silent, and the energy is gathered in the DanTien, all sorts of things become possible.

Nothing in life can escape impermanence except pristine awareness. Everything else is composite, made up of parts. For something to "be" it needs a primary cause ( a seed ) and secondary causes and conditions (parts). You may have the primary cause, but without the secondary causes and conditions it will not materialize in the world of appearances. Having an apple seed does not mean we will have an apple tree. It could lie dormant for eons waiting for the other causes and conditions to produce an apple tree. Having understood all this, I see people who in this lifetime are not so good. They lie, they cheat, they steal or even more violent actions, yet somehow they have friends, family, spouse, and plenty of money. Other times we see wonderful, kind, sweet, hard working people that are for some unexplained reason are violently unlucky. Karma appears by all conventional wisdom to not work in some cases. The news is always full of "innocent" people getting killed or hurt in some way. For me, reincarnation is one possible and workable answer. In a past life, they must have put the causes in motion, and now the conditions are ripe for fruition. Karma doesn't work if only applied to this life in my opinion. Seeds may lie dormant for eons waiting for the right causes and conditions.

The post looked fishy to me. I call them as I see them. You also talk about your experience training in Systema and refer to vladimar, yet make no mention of it in your interests, or when stating your experience. (a bit of a slip up) Meredith also claims to have trained with vladimar. First post, lots of similarity, so it led me to make the connection. It was also strange that you seem to be pressing the same point by posting another example of a boxing haymaker, continuing this completely irrelevant argument. If this site had mods, they could easily check up on the usernames and IP's. Hard for anyone else to really know, and of course IP's can be hacked by various means anyway. If your not Meredith then I sincerely apologize and welcome you to the forum.

Yeah, it's getting very fishy. Now we got the "2 post wonder" coming out of nowhere to join the fishiness. Can't find the first post, likely in the lobby, as introduction or something. So really this is his first post. So Meredeth or Sunman or whatever your latest name is. Be a real man, come and openly discuss things on this site, or allow comments on your little ego platform that you call a blog. I can see you still have no clue. How a person can write a book about Tai Chi and not understand the difference between a boxing hay maker twisting and curving strike versus the Tai Chi "an" is completely beyond me. I made it very clear what I was discussing, I even gave clear detailed directions for testing against a wall. I trust that even an untrained person can see that these are two different techniques, each requiring different body mechanics. It's also worth noting that there is no twisting haymaker in Tai Chi. The Tai Chi practitioner loves when someone comes at them with these kinds of over committed off balance attacks. It's like Christmas. The other side of the equation is that, an experienced person would never do this himself or herself. Against a skilled opponent, even a slight over extension, slight over twist, slight anything is quickly taken advantage of. One is reminded and shown the error of their ways immediately, often in a painful way! I do absolutely agree with having a focus on the internal aspects. As you can see from videos of Master Huang and Master Mizner in this thread, there is a lot more happening than structure and strength. You can easily see that the few that do have it, do not need to resort to shoving and overextending and breaking structure like we see in Meredith's videos. They have the internal power, and thus don't rely on external strength. If one is paying attention though, it's also very very obvious that they have trained hard with correct structure and body mechanics and adhere to it as much as humanly possible. This nonsense about either internal power or external structure is once again completely missing the point. Tai Chi is not about separating body and mind, but rather about unifying it. We don't forget the wuji when we do Tai Chi. Details matter, small things are huge things in Tai Chi. It's like traveling by boat across the ocean. Having the bearing off by even a few degrees will be the difference between being lost and arriving at your destination. People with experience in push hands know this to be absolutely true. In Tai Chi we don't need the big exaggerated movements to get things done, instead we focus on the small details so they become automatic, get our structure and mind in gear, and ALLOW the flow. One can use strength and poor structure, fighters throughout time have done this with often decent results, but it's not Tai Chi. If you want instant results, train in boxing or Thai boxing. That last video in the bar, if a person trained only that technique, he would likely do well against most people of the same size or smaller......until he met a real master. Luckily for us, the real masters are uncommon, and usually have also attained a higher level of mind. They are simply not people that get into fights, go to bars, or have problems with people. It's very much like the Tao de Ching, we could almost say "those who can fight, do not fight." The good thing, is that some of them are open to teaching and pushing hands so others can learn the subtle often unseen details that make them great.

So Cheya are you Merideth? Interesting how the whole post was changed and expanded, I guess I should expect nothing less, and then we of course get another link posted by cheya. Missing the whole point. Big big difference between follow through, and twisting lateral engergy. It's quite obvious in all the new photos he/you posted that they fall into one of these two categories. Bruce Frantzis? This is who he looks up to for internal skill? Keep digging the hole, this is getting entertaining. Once again, a simple visit to the wall, or a steady push hands partner will speak much louder than words ever will. It only takes a few moments to experience this for yourself. Be a real man, come post replies here instead of this underhanded way of scamming links to your site. It is kind of entertaining though, watching you make such a fool of yourself on your site. The most ironic thing of all, is that I was considering giving the book a read until I came to this thread and saw the embarrassing videos. Then as you keep revealing more and more of your ignorance on the matter and your completely closed mind I'm very thankful I didn't waste my time and money. Stick with the true proven lineages folks. This has been a fine example of what happens when a lot of arrogance, some marketing, and little bit of skill go terribly wrong as some westerner thinks he can re-invent Tai Chi and that everyone before him had it wrong.

I've found a few, that simply don't teach. They don't have students, and they don't want students. We all of course know the old Tao Te Ching quote--" Those who say, do not know. Those who know, do not say." Once again, all quite the opposite of the ones who make vids resembling late night infomercials about how good they are, or do silly circus stunts like tying their arms at the elbow, push hands on the tip toes or on one leg to promote themselves. For a good laugh check out his latest post, I feel embarrassed for the guy. No understanding of body mechanics. Once you journey down the road of internal arts, you will find that you are doing life activities differently. For example, no experienced Tai Chi practitioners would ever try to push a car like he shows in his post, (or punch like a boxer throwing a haymaker) nor would they turn a door knob or loosen the lug nuts on a wheel without already having dropped the shoulder and elbow. Long term training in Tai Chi makes everything you do more eficient and effortless. One day you might notice that you don't even walk the same way, or brush your teeth, etc.... This is when one has entered the door of Tai Chi. Sadly, for folks like our friend merideth, it will never happen because as was pointed out before, he will always be right. No ability to learn from other's observations. Once a person knows it all, learning has stopped. The cup is already full. A great master is not one who knows it all, but rather one who learns from everything, in every moment. One who empties his cup with every breath and is sensitive and open to the constant flow. A few minutes of simply being open enough to try the exercise with the wall would have saved him from making such a fool of himself with that last post. Experience things for yourself, no need to believe anything that anyone says. It's quite a clear and obvious exercise, if the structure is correct, all force is neutralized and also generated from the ground. The opponent is literally running into the ground, a vertical representation of the ground. Nothing need be done to make this ground stronger, we only need to become a conduit, a pathway. We can just let go, relax, and hang out.

No keen eye, just looking at the obvious, same as the previous poster who was/is a competition judge. There are some interesting discussions about this Scott Meridith character on the internet. It's quite clear that others with a strong background in Tai Chi or other internal arts tend to see the same issues. Among the discussions was an absolutely wonderful point brought up by Scott Phillips who actually pushed hands with him and wrote a good follow up on the exchange. We can all learn from his comment. Basically he said that when people tell you things that you are doing incorrectly, that instead of getting defensive (like Meridith) it's far wiser to be thankful. These people have taken time out their busy lives to focus on you and your improvement. They are not enemies, but rather a potential source of insight. It helps to have another set of eyes or three. It's a great great example of real Tai Chi. Not immediately fighting back with a defensive response or attack, but welcoming and absorbing - redirecting - neutralizing and ideally LEARNING from the perspective of another set of eyes. So I stress that my eyes are not keen. I have simply been told all these same things by many many teachers again and again and shown the reasons why. I'm a practical person, once I've been shown the reason why there's a better way to do something I understand and accept it. Chen Man Ching used the now famous phrase of "invest in loss" and in my opinion it's pure gold. Don't fight it, matter of fact invest in loss, it's the quick path to mastery in anything. I used this same philosophy to become a great bump skiier in record time. I crashed more in any given two weeks than most people crash their whole lives. A ton of wisdom in the "invest in loss" strategy. Push hands is a training exercise, not a competition or something we should try to win. Same attitude should apply to any critique of our Tai Chi. I honestly don't have the desire or time to look up videos for you. It's obvious that you are not sincere and my time would be wasted. If you wish to do your own research then go right ahead. There are so many great masters that not only display high levels of internal skill but who also maintain their structure and adherence to internal principles. Some of the most obvious would be: Wang Chieh and his students such as Mike Martello (both deceased sadly enough) and the great folks continuing the tradition here in Taiwan. (I'm a bit biased though ) and of course his son Huai hsiang wang Huang Shen Shyan and his students, most notably Adam Mitzner , one of his latest vids showing "Kao Jin" is quite enjoyable, not sure if it is public though. The guy has some insane internal power and knows how to use it, once again without breaking structure. Seems like heck of a nice guy, and some skills to boot is Ian Sinclair, once again adhering to the principles, never met him, but he's on my list.. If you like Chen, also many great masters, Bian Zhi Qin, chen zhong wa, chen yu and of course the ever popular Chen xiao wang (he doesn't impress me too much, especially after his silly muscle builder/sumo stunt, but he does clearly have some skills and is the most famous) Sam chin and other I liq quan guys, or some of the I-quan guys, mad internal skills The old classics such as Shi Ming, Ma yueh liang, Fu Zong Wen, Wang pei sheng, etc..... tons of them literally, not hard to find This is not too mention the many many unknown masters. Westerners are caught up in big names, but the truth is you're often better off with one of the countless "hidden dragons" that are quietly doing their thing and couldn't care less about self promotion, fame, or in many cases even money. Some of my best teachers were free, or very close to being free. They teach and share the art with dedicated people because of a deep love for the art, not for any desire for money or fame. This group I sometimes train with in the park across the street, I swear the "fees" cannot possibly cover all the kung fu pants and shirts they keep giving me. It's like freer than free, it's really crazy.

Wow Stephan Chang, that brings back memories! That book must be like 30-40 years old. I've had that book for what seems like ages, but haven't seen it for a long long time. My grandmother gave me that book on her deathbed, right before she died. It was strange how and why she picked me to have that book. She must have somehow known that I would be end up being deeply influenced by qi gong, internal arts and spend a good part of my life living in Asia. I would love see that book now that I have some experience and knowledge on the subject along with a solid daily practice. Can't make any sort of recommendation for or against since I honestly never practiced it for even a single 108 day period. It makes me smile to see that name though, I had forgotten all about that book. Give it a go for 108 days or so and see how it works for you. Likely some really good qi gong.

You got to be kidding me. With all the vids surfacing of great masters you honestly can't find one? This is silly, posting real Tai Chi masters to be compared against someone who does push hands on his tip toes, or on one leg as cheap marketing stunts. Start a new thread, lets share some examples of exceptional skill. I still find it unbelievable though that anyone would have difficulty finding them, even on the English sites like youtube, much less the treasures in the Chinese sites. It's honestly about as silly as claiming to do Tai Chi while pissing on the classics.

There are many on the tube sites, not hard to find. This guy seems to piss on structure completely. From what I understand he was saying he will post another marketing vid of him on his tip toes, or standing on one leg etc..... Absolutely no use trying to post vids and compare this nonsense to real Tai Chi. It's all just marketing and sales gimmicks and tricks. Wouldn't be surprised if he comes out with some "no touch" knockouts or other such woo woo next. Gaining real skill in Tai Chi, other internal arts or really anything else in life is all about time and effort. The gimmicks and tricks will only get you so far.

It's becoming obvious that this thread is just about SEO and marketing. Getting as many links to the blog as you can. Why doesn't he/you come here and answer and discuss things in a straightforward way? We all know the answer, much better to make a post here with .......you guessed it, another link to the blog. We have seen this same pattern again and again, it's quite amazing the mods allow this kind of monkey business. This guy really is full of himself. He can disregard all the classics and lineage teachings passed on from great masters. He has invented a new Tai Chi that doesn't require adherence to the techniques and principles of Tai Chi. I think with all his talk about not using physical force that he hasn't even viewed his own videos! Plenty of clear and obvious force being used. Where's the mysterious chi mind power? Why all the use of physical force and shoving? I have never seen an accomplished master disregard the principles. In fact, they all stress the basics, again and again. Not one of them disregards the structure, in fact it's clear that maintaining structure is an important key once one crosses hands with accomplished practitioners. Once a persons structure is broken, they are easily defeated. I am reminded of this all the time in my own push hands training. In three decades of training, I have yet to see anyone with such a disregard for the basics have any success in push hands. This guy could be the one exception in the world, but I highly highly doubt it. Sure we can all be jedi's pushing against completely unskilled players, but the true masters effortlessly show us the flaws in our push hands. Each and every one of the partners in his videos are also clearly missing Tai Chi training. This guys huge ego would be toned down immediately if he were to be video taped against a well trained Tai Chi practitioner. It just goes to prove, that ANYONE can write a book. The ignorant masses may think it's great, but anyone who has invested any length of time and energy seeking out and training with great masters will see right through the shiny marketing. Here we go with another repy on his blog and you guessed it, another link to the blog....... Hehe, notice how he won't link back to the Taobums. Just SEO and marketing games.

Was slightly interested in the book until I saw the vids. If a "teacher" doesn't know, or doesn't have the skills to maintain structure, then anything he/she says is highly questionable in my opinion. The basics are the keys to any internal art. Putting a building on a shaky foundation is a recipe for disaster. The connection to the ground is not something to be brushed over or dismissed as unimportant. For those without good foundation training in Tai Chi or other internal arts you can try a little experiment and understand this through your own experience: Walk up to a solid wall and face it in the same stance he is using. Get close to the wall. Use both hands and "an" or push into the wall. Notice how you can relax and "root" the rebounding force (Newtons third law) down through your rear heal. Now lift your rear heel and push. No power, no effortless rooting of the rebounding force. When pushing forward, the rear heel needs to have a strong connection to the ground. After you play with that a little bit, and learn how to relax into it you can start to feel the rebounding force literally grounding out through the rear foot with no physical effort required. Now lean forward and over extend a bit while sticking you butt out. No need for an explanation, you will feel for yourself why and how this is wrong. There is a reason why the points on structural alignment are taught over and over again. They are not some silly "beginner" lessons to be passed over in the rush for advanced "internal" qi training. In fact, the correct structure is the cause for opening up the channels and allowing the body to fully relax under pressure so the "advanced" stages can be experienced. Not saying there isn't something to be learned or gained from his book, just noting some big red flags that popped up in viewing his vids. If he hasn't learned or mastered these basics, then I have little faith in the rest of his teachings, but that's just me. He has some skills, and knowledge, but like all of us there are some things he has missed along the way.

The empowerments are nothing without a strong daily practice and retreats to back it up. It's the practice that cuts our ties to samsara, the empowerments only give us a foundation, possibly a taste, and permission to begin the practice. Sure there is some blessing involved, but it's a waste of the good karma of recieving the empowerment if we don't do the work afterwards. They are all done in Tibetan, until there is a living lineage of enlightened masters to pass them on in English.

If your not resting in awareness in the waking bardo then there's not much chance of doing it in the bardo of sleep and remembering afterwards. Forget about dreams and dreaming. Work on your waking state, your daily practice. Once this is strong, the dream practice comes naturally and effortlessly. Not only will you have recall, but you will start to become aware that you are dreaming while you are dreaming which will start to open up a whole new world of practice and exploration.

Not in Aspen Colorado, the websites say it's in Estes Park. The whole "bricks" thing looks kinda fishy to me, but I guess it's a good fundraising gimmick.

A few days late, but happy ghost month bums. Good time for lighting some incense to feed the hungry ghosts and pay respects to your ancestors. Bad time for swimming, whistling, and all kinds of other things if you believe in them. I think the main day for putting out the offerings, the main ghost festival day is the 21st this year. So get your ghost money, incense, fruit, and other offerings ready. Oh and don't hang out clothes to dry at night, or pick up red envolopes in the street, and watch what you say about the departed even better yet don't say the word "ghosts"......Traditionally not a good time to schedule surguries, weddings, sign contracts, move, etc..... Just generally not very auspicious until the gates of hell close again and the ghosts return. The gates of hell close again on the 5th of September (full moon) and like I said, the main festival day for offerings is the 21st of August (new moon).