Sitting

What To Do?

The Thinker above is in front of the Cleveland Museum Of Art. It base was blown up in the early 1970 s.



Even though I have been here, I have been away at the same time, reflecting on what to do and where to go with this blog. I still am. Just thought I would let you know that.

What interesting creatures we are. One day we wake up an realize, we ARE. We BE. I BE. Wow, I am conscious. I look around me. This is a very strange and beautiful place. Lots of other creatures here. I learn to communicate with things that look like me and things that do not look like me. The ones who look like me are telling me all kinds of things about where I am and who I am and why I am. Most of it sounds scary or ridiculous or boring. Some of the explanations are pretty cool. Other explanations make me laugh or cry or get really pissed off. The longer I am here, the less I believe any of it beyond a certain point.
One thing that is clear to me, is that to be alive is an incredible gift and I love it and am very grateful. It is also clear to me that for a lot of creatures that look like me, life is not such a gift, and they have many reasons not to love it or feel grateful for being alive. The feeling I have now might change. I hope not but I have seen that life takes a lot of twists and turns. I wish I could help the creatures of this planet enjoy life more and fell better about being alive.
It is so complicated, being human. Most of the pain I have seen in the world is caused by human interaction or lack of human interaction. We are an immature species as my teacher, the late Fazil Inayat Khan, use to tell me. We are at best in our early adolescents. Most of us are not even that according to Fazil. What can we do?

I am sure we will think of something. (smile)

A Now For Something A Little Different

Cheng Bao Zhuang ( Supporting Embracing Post ) standing form chi kung above.

Ti Bao Zhuang (Lifting-Embracing Post) standing chi kung above.

This wonderful article can be found at the following link;

http://www.yiquan.com/v3/en/file/yangsheng.htm

I love doing standing form chi kung and recommend these and other forms to any and all of you.

Yang Sheng Zhuangby President Yao Cheng GuangTranslated by Kalisz, updated by Mr. Bertram Chock from Hawaii

Cheng Bao Zhuang ( Supporting Embracing Post )

Cheng Bao Zhuang is one of the most important postures in the Yangsheng Zhuang (Health Post) postures. "Zhuang" means standing like a wooden post planted in the ground. Yang Sheng Zhuang postures are basic post standing exercises with feet evenly spaced apart.In Yiquan, while practicing Yangsheng Zhuang, you should imagine any type of beautiful nature scenes that you may have experienced, such as standing on top of a mountain (feeling the wind), wading slowly in a flowing river or shallow sea (feeling the resistance of the water), or walking in a beautiful forest or grassland. Gradually you develop a feeling of being naturally relaxed and very comfortable as if you are really standing in those beautiful natural sur-roundings (you might even want to sometimes imagine that you are not exercising, but are out enjoying a vacation!). Initially, your muscles will probably not be able to relax for long periods while holding these static poses. You need your imagination to help you achieve this and also to learn how to control your mental activities. Step by step, learn how to use your mental activities to control your strength. Gradually you learn to adjust and harmonize the aspects of tension and relaxation in your mental activities and muscles. Of the two, the tension-relaxation of mental activities is more important. In practice, after using "Fa Li" which means "exerting strength" that bursts out, you can control your muscles, rapidly tensing and relaxing them almost at the same time. Any muscular activity is controlled by the neural system and the neural system is affected by mental activity. That's why mental training is most important.

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The requirements of Chengbao Zhuang are as follows:1. Start with both feet shoulder width apart. The centers of the soles of your feet are "hollow" (just stand naturally). Your toes feel as if they are slightly grasping the ground (this will be described later, so don't be concerned about it for now). Your whole body is standing erect, not inclining forward or backward. It is comfortable and naturally expanded. Your head is as if suspended and lifted by a wire connected to the top of the head. Your head, at the same time, is as if it is slightly supporting something and yet is not. Your knees are slightly bent and as if they are being slightly lifted upward. Your backbone is naturally straightened. Your shoulders must not be lifted. Your buttocks feel as if they are sitting on the edge of a table. Your back, waist, and backs of legs all feel as if they are slightly pressing against a tree or wall behind you.
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Slowly raise your hands in front of your chest. You should imagine as if there were small cotton balls between your fingers. Your fingers will expand a little, the thumbs are at the same height as your index fingers. In "gong fu" terminology, it is said that the "tiger mouth" should be round. The distance between both hands should be about 2-3 fist widths (fingers to fingers). Both hands are about 30 cm (1 foot) away from your chest. Imagine holding a paper ball or balloon between your hands, arms, and chest. The balloon touches lightly against your arms, chest, belly, hands and fingers. Feel its roundness and inflation. In Yiquan, even though the imagination is subjective, it is still helpful. If you use force while embracing the balloon, it will become flattened. Do not lose your intention of embracing the balloon or it will escape. Keep testing for the feeling of the balloon with your arms, chest, and belly. Please note that you should only use the mind to imagine everything that was described above and you must not use force. It's the same with the visualizations described below.2. Relax your shoulders and open your armpits a little (as if they were each holding a cotton ball). The angle formed by elbows and hands is about 45 degrees. Imagine that wooden boards support your elbows and hands or that you are standing in water, waist high. The balloon floats on the water and supports your elbows and hands. You could also imagine wooden boards floating on the water support your hands. You might ask yourself, What do these floating boards feel like? Do they bob up and down? Do they drift slightly? Relax your arms as much as possible. Do not use ?¡ãclumsy force?¡À (i.e. unnecessary force). Just use the amount of strength needed to keep your arms lifted in front of you.3. Part your lips a little, smiling slightly ("as if smiling, but not smiling"). Relax your face and neck muscles. Breathe naturally, evenly, and delicately. Eyes gaze in front of you and slightly upward ("as if gazing, but not gazing"). Don't tilt your head forward or backward. [It's best to stand in an open area such as a park with the distance between you and the trees at more than 8 meters (26 feet). Don't face the sun or strong wind.] Imagine looking beyond a mist where objects seem indistinct. Be calm and listen attentively as if you are able to hear the very indistinct sound of raindrops falling on the ground or on tree branches. You should try to accomplish all the above requirements, but in a gradual and natural way without undue effort.4. You can keep your eyes open or closed. Keeping the eyes open is recommended for the healthy, while closing them is suitable for those who are sick.To enable the beginner to better understand the use of visualization during standing post, I give the following examples:a) Imagine that your body is standing in a shallow sea or in a lake and you are a giant standing tall as a mountain. How do you think you would feel?. The water is billowing and pushing your body from the front. Carefully feel the pressure from the water. What would you feel if the water were flowing through your body, arms and fingers? Imagine that your toes are grasping the ground so that the water doesn't carry you away. Feel the water pressing against your back, waist, and the back of your arms and legs due to your body slightly moving backward. Now in converse, also feel the water pushing you from behind. It pushes your body slightly forward so that your chest, belly, and arms also feel the resistance of water against your body's movement. Imagine both situations happening again and again, slowly, naturally, calmly and comfortably. You can also imagine shifting your body forward and backward slightly to feel the resistance of the water. Or you can imagine walking in the water, first moving forward slowly, then after a while, going backward slowly. Again, in general, you want to feel the resistance of the water with your body's imaginary forward and backward movements. Feel this resistance on your whole body and in particular, the shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, chest, waist and legs. Please note that it is still only about using the mind and not force.b) Imagine that you are on board of a ship. The ship is sailing on the ocean, moving up and down pleasantly. The sun gently warms your body. A gentle breeze ripples through your clothes. You feel very comfortable.c) You stand on the top of a big mountain and imagine yourself as a giant admiring the other beautiful high mountains, streams, rivers and lakes. You feel pleased, bright, and serene with no concerns.d) Imagine that you are standing in a beautiful paradise garden with green trees and colorful blossoms. Water is flowing and there are high mountains in the distance. Listen to the birds sing and smell the fragrant flowers. The air is very crisp. The sun is rising and half of the sky is red. In such beautiful sur-roundings you feel very comfortable.Above are only some examples of mental activity in Yiquan Yangsheng Zhuang. There are also many others you could use. Remember, you should do them naturally without undue effort.[Note: Please try to learn step by step, one thing at a time. Carefully examine your experiences again and again. To learn too hurriedly is useless for training and may result in gaining nothing.]
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Ti Bao Zhuang (Lifting-Embracing Post)

Ti Bao Zhuang is also an important posture in Yang-sheng Zhuang. The professional students learning directly from Master Yao in Beijing practice Cheng-bao Zhuang for 40 minute periods once or more eve-ryday.Tibao Zhuang is always done whenever they feel muscular tension in their arms. As you will gather from the following section, they just lower their arms to change to Tibao Zhuang. When their arms feel comfortable again, they return to Chengbao Zhuang by raising their arms. One of my classmates spends more time with Tibao Zhuang than Chengbao Zhuang and he can relax his muscles extremely well.Basic requirements of Tibao Zhuang are the same as of Chengbao Zhuang. While in Chengbao Zhuang your arms are at shoulder level, in Tibao Zhuang you keep them at both sides of your belly about 30 cm (1 foot) in front of you. The distance between your hands is about 3 fists wide.

Note: It's recommended to open your eyes when practicing all postures and all exercises.It is just a photographic oversight here.

Under your armpits pretend that there are 2 small balloons lightly supporting your upper arms. Your elbows have the intention of pushing outwards like the feeling of a round inflated balloon. Elbows, fore-arms, and wrists are resting on imaginary wooden boards floating on the surface of water, or as if resting on a table. Direct the palms of your hands upwards and toward your body. Curve your fingers slightly. Imagine embracing a balloon between your arms, chest, and belly just like in Chengbao Zhuang except that your arms and hands are lower. The balloon is supported gently with your hands, the section of your palms closest to the wrists, and the middle section of your arms. Feel the balloon as if it was there and at the same time as if it wasn't. Use no force here too. Imagine holding the balloon so that it doesn't fly away if the wind should blow.You can use the same mental visualizations as in Chengbao Zhuang. Tibao Zhuang can be used as a supplemental exercise to Chengbao Zhuang. You can use it to lower the intensity of training when you feel pain in your arms, shoulders or back while doing Chengbao Zhuang. It is also suitable for beginners or weak practitioners or people with poor health.When you get tired of doing Chengbao Zhuang or are feeling uncomfortable, you can change to doing Tibao Zhuang. A beginner should practice these two exercises twice a day, 10-15 minutes each time is acceptable. You can practice longer according to your condition. You should feel comfortable and gradual improvement will occur over time