Thursday, May 17, 2012
The Journey of a Thousand Miles...Enter the White Tiger!
The one thing that I'll remember forever, regardless of where my practice leads me is that Temple Style taught me how to love a system. This same love is shared with a new system that I've only recently started training in. This system is called the Bak Fu Pai's Sunn Yee Gong. As I understand it, it's the original energy system of the Bak Fu Pai. I was turned on to this system by the same tai chi brother who recommended that I call Sifu Hoffmann. I had a few conversations with another tao bum who goes by the screen name warrior body buddha mind aka Garry Hearfield. He is now a Sifu of mine. In the brief email conversations that we had, I knew that I had to check this system out. I asked if he would accept me as a student and he, fortunately for me, accepted me. The one thing I'd like to make mention of is that I've experienced breath retention in the past and I know it works. The breathing methods used in this system are similar to the ones I've used but they are based on a percentage instead of flat out breath holding. My first experience with the breath percentage was really strange. Strange in the sense that I couldn't actually believe how effective it was. After I completed the last exhale I felt this incredible sense of peace. This peace was so deep that I cant fully describe it and do it justice. My stress was totally gone. I should also add that my body was warm and not only my body but it felt as if my internal body was warm, like my spirit was quickening and revving up. I'm only just beginning. I'll try to keep this blog updated weekly and possibly daily to keep you informed of my progress. If you're so inclined, I invite you to take this journey with me and follow me and my progress. With that said, it's time to Enter the White Tiger...
The Journey of a Thousand Miles..Tai Chi Style
I would say that 99% of the people who google the word chikung will probably end up seeing the website, chikung.com. I would then say that of the 99%, at least 50% of them will click on that website. They will see a man who claims to teach authentic temple style chikung and neikung. I'm not going to debate whether or not that's true. I'm not going to touch his material at all in my blog. If you are interested in this then I suggest you contact him and ask him whatever questions you may have. My journey however put me on course with this man and his website. The material presented looked very interesting so I made the decision to get both the chikung and neikung. I started to practice the material and while doing so I was hunting for temple style practitioners. I found a very interesting site. If you are interested in the temple style system and are located in the Florida area then I highly recommend you contact Sifu Ron Hoffmann. You can check out his site at houseoftaichi.com. He is very open and will discuss damn near anything you want to discuss. He also has real juice as well. I decided to call him up. A fellow tai chi brother of mine actually called him before I did and suggested that I do the same. I did. We had many conversations about what I should and shouldn't be doing and he also added that I needed to come out to train with him. The first order of business was to switch gears and start learning form and flow work. I discontinued my practice of the material mentioned earlier. I purchased several DVD's off of the taichitaocenter.com website and started practicing flow work. I then planned a trip to see Sifu Hoffmann for a 2 day intensive. I flew out on a Friday evening. I trained 2 days with him and then left early Monday morning.
When I bring up tai chi most people say something to the effect of "Oh I've done tai chi, it's an exercise for older people". What they don't realize is that tai chi is much deeper, now granted most of the tai chi you see on the market today is empty and without substance but temple style isn't this type of tai chi. Temple style is an authentic road back to the source. It has many tools to work with but ultimately it's goal is to transform the practitioner into a new being. It will take you back to the original source. When my plane touched down in Ft. Lauderdale I was excited. I couldn't hardly sleep and as a matter of fact, I didn't sleep my first night there. The time change messed me up for one. I was 3 hours behind the local time. The second thing was that Sifu Hoffmann starts his training in the early morning. He came out of his room at 2a.m. and asked if I was ready to start. The training was fantastic. He taught me 1 single meditation that is by far the most powerful that I've ever come across. He also gave me my first fa jing experience. It was as if I was in a car wreck. My mind went blank, my ears rang and felt like they imploded, and the explosion at the end of the push form was as if I was slammed with a brick in my chest followed by a firecracker that went off in my chest cavity. It was the first time in my life that I was fearful of a 63 yr old man lol! I flew back after having a great trip. I met a lot of great people. They are my tai chi family and always will be. The single best teaching however was in the actual flow of qi. He taught me how to flow correctly while performing my tai chi form. Having said all of these great things, the only real downside to this is that I don't live in Florida, nor do I live in Illinois, nor do I live in India. These 3 places are home to the top temple style masters. Florida is home to Sifu Hoffmann. Illinois is home to Sifu Kimball Paul, Waysun Liao and the Tai Chi Tao Center. India is home to Sifu Gregory James. This style will always have a place in my heart although it appears that my journey with this system may have to take a detour for now...
When I bring up tai chi most people say something to the effect of "Oh I've done tai chi, it's an exercise for older people". What they don't realize is that tai chi is much deeper, now granted most of the tai chi you see on the market today is empty and without substance but temple style isn't this type of tai chi. Temple style is an authentic road back to the source. It has many tools to work with but ultimately it's goal is to transform the practitioner into a new being. It will take you back to the original source. When my plane touched down in Ft. Lauderdale I was excited. I couldn't hardly sleep and as a matter of fact, I didn't sleep my first night there. The time change messed me up for one. I was 3 hours behind the local time. The second thing was that Sifu Hoffmann starts his training in the early morning. He came out of his room at 2a.m. and asked if I was ready to start. The training was fantastic. He taught me 1 single meditation that is by far the most powerful that I've ever come across. He also gave me my first fa jing experience. It was as if I was in a car wreck. My mind went blank, my ears rang and felt like they imploded, and the explosion at the end of the push form was as if I was slammed with a brick in my chest followed by a firecracker that went off in my chest cavity. It was the first time in my life that I was fearful of a 63 yr old man lol! I flew back after having a great trip. I met a lot of great people. They are my tai chi family and always will be. The single best teaching however was in the actual flow of qi. He taught me how to flow correctly while performing my tai chi form. Having said all of these great things, the only real downside to this is that I don't live in Florida, nor do I live in Illinois, nor do I live in India. These 3 places are home to the top temple style masters. Florida is home to Sifu Hoffmann. Illinois is home to Sifu Kimball Paul, Waysun Liao and the Tai Chi Tao Center. India is home to Sifu Gregory James. This style will always have a place in my heart although it appears that my journey with this system may have to take a detour for now...
The Journey of a Thousand Miles cont'd...
California is a bit different than Indiana. They have some similarities sure but for the most part they are WAY different. Driving, for one thing is way different. Liquor stores are open 7 days a week whereas in Indiana they're open 6 days. The one major difference though is that due to the population and location of California, there are many more spiritual seekers here. This put me at an advantage. I maintained a die hard Christian belief until Fall 2006. I began asking a lot of questions that were mostly answered with very grand and broad answers. This was another stumbling block. I was tripped up by the lack of real spiritual knowledge that most of the Christian teachers that I met didnt have, which led me back into a phase of self destruction. I was working on the road at that time. I found a woman that I was attracted to and we got married after a very short time of courting. I made the move down to Southern Cali, where I met her originally. It turned out that we were "in lust not love". The fighting was almost non stop. I made the decision to move back to Northern California, where my parents were located at the time. We also decided to get a divorce. I was against it but as time progressed I came to realize that it was for the best.
My life was still a bit rocky when I met the woman who would become my inspiration. The woman I love and adore. I knew within a few phone conversations that I'd end up marrying her. We actually met while I was working in Nice, CA. I found her on Myspace. We started off with emails and then talking on the phone for hours and hours and then finally, I talked her into having dinner with me. I must have aligned myself with the Tao unknowingly because she really has been a blessing to me. I stopped working out of town and found a job that was local and after that I signed up for college. It wasn't much later when that all too famous text message came. My pocket vibrated. I pulled out my phone and opened the message that was sent. It read "I took 3 tests and they all came back positive. I'm pregnant". My life flashed before my eyes, and yes it was a very brief flash lol. It wasn't negative by any means but I knew I needed more money so I quit college and went back on the road. This was probably a stupid move but then again I don't know because if I hadnt, who knows where I would've ended up? Life on the road became stressful. I wasn't on the road very long. I ended up joining the Carpenter's Union. It was one rainy day that would start up me back on my journey...
I was sitting in front of my computer doing the normal you tube surfing when I came across a very interesting video of this man setting a newspaper on fire. After watching that video I became a junky. I was watching video after video all the while, rolling my tai chi ball in my hands. It was fascinating. I joined an online forum called the tao bums. I started googling qigong in Sacramento. I was on fire for this stuff. I met a few teachers, one of which posts on the tao bums as Hundun. If you are reading this and in the Sacramento area I highly recommend that you hit him up. He's a loving and honest master. He'll also argue with you and say he's not, but he is. He will do anything and everything to help a fellow seeker. I studied with Hundun for a very short period. My job wasn't cutting it so I had to go back out on the road. I've had many great opportunities to try many things. I sent an email to Jim McMillan and started training in the Mo Pai. This really didn't resonate with me. Santiago, who also posts on the bums, started speaking with me and I started training with him. Santi and Hundun both have juice. Again however, there was no "love" in it. I needed to find a system that I would fall in love with and have no choice but to practice it because without it I'd feel empty. I didn't find that until I ran into the temple style tai chi system. I fell head over heels in love and it was time to dive head first into the rabbit hole.
My life was still a bit rocky when I met the woman who would become my inspiration. The woman I love and adore. I knew within a few phone conversations that I'd end up marrying her. We actually met while I was working in Nice, CA. I found her on Myspace. We started off with emails and then talking on the phone for hours and hours and then finally, I talked her into having dinner with me. I must have aligned myself with the Tao unknowingly because she really has been a blessing to me. I stopped working out of town and found a job that was local and after that I signed up for college. It wasn't much later when that all too famous text message came. My pocket vibrated. I pulled out my phone and opened the message that was sent. It read "I took 3 tests and they all came back positive. I'm pregnant". My life flashed before my eyes, and yes it was a very brief flash lol. It wasn't negative by any means but I knew I needed more money so I quit college and went back on the road. This was probably a stupid move but then again I don't know because if I hadnt, who knows where I would've ended up? Life on the road became stressful. I wasn't on the road very long. I ended up joining the Carpenter's Union. It was one rainy day that would start up me back on my journey...
I was sitting in front of my computer doing the normal you tube surfing when I came across a very interesting video of this man setting a newspaper on fire. After watching that video I became a junky. I was watching video after video all the while, rolling my tai chi ball in my hands. It was fascinating. I joined an online forum called the tao bums. I started googling qigong in Sacramento. I was on fire for this stuff. I met a few teachers, one of which posts on the tao bums as Hundun. If you are reading this and in the Sacramento area I highly recommend that you hit him up. He's a loving and honest master. He'll also argue with you and say he's not, but he is. He will do anything and everything to help a fellow seeker. I studied with Hundun for a very short period. My job wasn't cutting it so I had to go back out on the road. I've had many great opportunities to try many things. I sent an email to Jim McMillan and started training in the Mo Pai. This really didn't resonate with me. Santiago, who also posts on the bums, started speaking with me and I started training with him. Santi and Hundun both have juice. Again however, there was no "love" in it. I needed to find a system that I would fall in love with and have no choice but to practice it because without it I'd feel empty. I didn't find that until I ran into the temple style tai chi system. I fell head over heels in love and it was time to dive head first into the rabbit hole.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Journey of a Thousand Miles...
The Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with 1 step. For most, this step is a step taken out of desperation. The need for "something" bigger than themselves. My first step was taken back in 2005. I had a few occurrences in my life that put me in places that I thought I'd never end up. I didn't have anywhere to go. I was out of options. It just so happened that a good friend of mine turned out to be a preacher at a baptist church. I know I know, you're asking yourself right now, "isn't this guy a Taoist"? Yes I am but I'll go into that a little later. I'm back home in Indiana and it's roughly May 2005. I had myself in one of THOSE situations I mentioned earlier. I was down and out. I had absolutely no excuse as to why I was in the situation I was in. I questioned myself on one late night, debating about whether or not I deserved to go to hell for eternity. Now I should mention that I had actually picked up a Bible and was reading it somewhat daily. I was spiritually lost.
A few hours after beating myself up and reasoning why I should go to hell, because I honestly thought I deserved it really, my heart opened up. It felt as if my heart literally had double doors that burst open and I was flooded with a sense of love and happiness that I cant really describe properly with words! After that first step I was buried in my Bible daily, for hours and hours. If I wasn't reading I was praying and most of the time I was multi tasking. I had prayer on top of everything else. My second step, and this step was my first real substantial experience to things that I would have thought impossible was on July 28, 2005. I knew that I wanted to be baptized. I HAD to be baptized. The day it came I was beyond ecstatic! As I approached the trough I started to feel detached to my body. I was down in the water, waste deep, legs extended in front of me, holding my nose as she recited a prayer and then as she uttered those famous words " I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost", she guided me down into the water... As I broke the surface my body became a power plant! I was struck with straight electricity! I should also add that as a former construction worker, I have experienced very painful electrical shocks. The electrical explosion I felt was on par with a stove that I had gotten zapped by, due to ignorance and haste of course lol, but this electricity didn't hurt. The current was just as strong but deeper and without that sting. My mouth was on the juice too. The buzzing went through my teeth, on my tongue, everywhere. This was by far the most life changing experience I've had to date. The only problem however is that my biggest strength is also my biggest flaw, and that's being human. I moved to California later that year. I held strong until 2006. I know, it wasn't very long. I stumbled, which led to me falling flat on my face. My weakness was women and alcohol. My Journey however, didn't end. I got back up and dusted myself off. I've taken more steps since my fall and I'll touch on those later. Thank you for reading.
Blessings
A few hours after beating myself up and reasoning why I should go to hell, because I honestly thought I deserved it really, my heart opened up. It felt as if my heart literally had double doors that burst open and I was flooded with a sense of love and happiness that I cant really describe properly with words! After that first step I was buried in my Bible daily, for hours and hours. If I wasn't reading I was praying and most of the time I was multi tasking. I had prayer on top of everything else. My second step, and this step was my first real substantial experience to things that I would have thought impossible was on July 28, 2005. I knew that I wanted to be baptized. I HAD to be baptized. The day it came I was beyond ecstatic! As I approached the trough I started to feel detached to my body. I was down in the water, waste deep, legs extended in front of me, holding my nose as she recited a prayer and then as she uttered those famous words " I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost", she guided me down into the water... As I broke the surface my body became a power plant! I was struck with straight electricity! I should also add that as a former construction worker, I have experienced very painful electrical shocks. The electrical explosion I felt was on par with a stove that I had gotten zapped by, due to ignorance and haste of course lol, but this electricity didn't hurt. The current was just as strong but deeper and without that sting. My mouth was on the juice too. The buzzing went through my teeth, on my tongue, everywhere. This was by far the most life changing experience I've had to date. The only problem however is that my biggest strength is also my biggest flaw, and that's being human. I moved to California later that year. I held strong until 2006. I know, it wasn't very long. I stumbled, which led to me falling flat on my face. My weakness was women and alcohol. My Journey however, didn't end. I got back up and dusted myself off. I've taken more steps since my fall and I'll touch on those later. Thank you for reading.
Blessings
First Post
Had to break in my first posting. I dont really have much to say today lol. Seeing as how this post was the hardest they all have to get easier after this one!
Blessings,
Herschel
Blessings,
Herschel
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