great article on “zhangzhuang from an yiquan perspective”

Hi nomad,

Certainly if you want to learn to get rooted in a tree posture, as in “Embracing the Tree” in the Iron Shirt 1 system, it is vital to have a teacher. One needs to have the posture correction, and the direct experience of being pushed on by an instructor who can guide you. Ultimately, this is a topic that can not be learned on your own.

HOWEVER, there is a difference between learning how to do the practice correctly (which a teacher is necessary for) and simply doing a guess for the purpose of making a little progress with emotional grounding. The latter can still be had, even by making flaky untrained attempts in an Yiquan simple tree pose. I wouldn’t let the article writer scare you off from trying anything in the meantime. Something is still better than nothing.

That said, if you do want some live instruction, I’m offering an Iron Shirt 1 course this upcoming summer in NC in July. Adel wrote a nice testimonial earlier on it: IS1 and Inner Smile.

See Iron Shirt 1 course for more details. It’s taught as a joint course with Andrew McCart, who does the Fusion 1 component, to enhance the emotional stability achieved through the Iron Shirt 1 grounding. I also teach a 20-min morning Yiquan standing meditation set as part of the course.

Qi,
Steven

Shoten, (ùåèï), is the collective name for any climbing that culminates in a roll or somersault. Doing shoten depends on fast sprinting before the climb, and as such it is used in the with young trainees and children to build fast explosive running skills.
-http://www.akban.org/wiki/Shoten_-_Wall_running

“Non-facts do not exist do they?”
“No, they don’t.”
“And things which do not exist do not exist anywhere, do they?”
“No.”
“Now, is it possible for things which do not exist to be the object of any action, in the sense that things which do not exist anywhere can have anything done to them?
“I don’t think so.”
“Well then, when politicians speak in the Assembly, isn’t that an activity?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And if it’s an activity, they are doing something?”
“Yes.”
“Then speech is activity, and doing something?”
He agreed.
“So no one speaks non-existent things: I mean, he would already, in speaking, be doing something, and you have agreed that it is impossible for non-existent things to have anything done to them by anybody. So you have committed to the view that lies never happen: if Dionysodorus speaks, he speaks facts–that is, truth.”
-PLATO, Euthydemus

Most urgent is not to know immediately if some practice is done right or wrong, but becoming all-around resourceful and independent.

The sense of completeness and self-suffiency are the most important thing.

One should stop stretching oneself out towards any kind of authority and learn to solve problems by oneself whatever those might be.

Most important is to have some kind of aim, but also to be in the right way careful.

One must also develop skill of analysis etc.

HOWDY

Ps. Sorry for my broken English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2vx9NlfKb4 (shotenninjutsuwallrunning)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JZRTuSw1Fc (chenstyletaijiquan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z31XoJNWA50 (chenxiaowang)

Her comment is really more about not being in the correct posture; it’s not just one or two things. In fact, I give my class a list of about 20 things, along with direct individualized feedback. The correct posture will feel wrong until your body has adjusted, due to improper posture habits that people pick up in their lives. This is really where you need another person. Self-correction on one’s own is insufficient.

My little thought experiment here is simply to imagine a situation were one doesn’t have any models in the form of representation by some teacher or for example some book; so how one proceeds? It could be very different things one could be after, but if it would be neidan, qigong and tai chi chuan; how one would quarantee one’s advancement?
-http://forum.healingdao.com/philosophy/message/24896/

One shouldn’t have too fixed opinion about anything.

In some propably quite rare case this (self-correction) must be possible.

…due to improper posture habits that people pick up in their lives…

These are not only physical but also mental.

But one should again see also difference between demonic and angelic.

For example it’s angelic to give for free and it’s demonic to ask money.

HOWDY

Ps. Sorry for my broken English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrOrt-K4UgU (brainiacorigins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpdLL5e60qc (mortalkombatvsdcdarkside)

>>>But one should again see also difference between demonic and angelic.
>>>For example it’s angelic to give for free and it’s demonic to ask money.

It is DEMONIC for a STUDENT to try to extract instruction and time out of an instructor without paying for it. It is theft at best; vampire behavior at worst. No one would go to a piano teacher or a college professor and expect to get free instruction, yet for some reason people think it OK to do this in the spiritual realm. How absolutely more important it is here to actually pay for the instruction. I’ve gotten a lot of instruction myself personally from various teachers, and even demanded that they be paid by me if they gave me instructional time. Whatever job that you have that brings in money, what would you say if your boss asked you to do it, but do it for free? You wouldn’t agree to it, because the other person would be exploiting you.

Being “angelic” does not mean being a door mat.
You can help others as your main goal, without being victimized by others in the process.

S

I actually think Steven should get paid for the service he provides on this forum!

PS. With CKF 1-4 this kind of playful expression is available with practice. In 5 animals CK allowing energy flow head to feet in postures sets up this kind of flow. Some of his postures are like Tiger and Deer in playful expression.