willie wrote:
Hi Franklin
I feel that the term emptiness is over used and over rated, everyone needs to breath, But you are correct. M.C.O. is usually a still meditation.
It is just getting in tune with whats going on inside in body.
Although, I feel that the forms will bring someone to the same place.
Thanks
its not just getting in tune with your body
in a sort of mindfulness way in which many people talk about that sort of thing..
and yes -- the training is easier to get to while seated
but you can do it through movement
or by standing still...
and its not a dead emptiness that you seek..
most system start with a way to focus the mind
be it feeling the breath, counting the breath, visualizing something (simple or complex like the tibetan stuff)
but this is just a tool to quiet the mind...
once the mind is quiet, then you can fall deeper and deeper into this
until it becomes a sort of emptiness...
(this is where you stop becoming aware of the breathing, sounds, external things-- but the inside is also empty..)
from this emptiness -- the real energy arises...
and it starts to clear out the channels..
which can take different lengths of time depending on how many blockages and old diseases there are...
this is where some type of moving practice would have been helpful to prepare the body...
otherwise it can be painful...
anyways.. the body goes through different levels of changes... as this is happening
the physical and energy body is in a sense transformed...
these first stages are laid out fairly well in the book I recommended...
in my experience- you need to go through these changes for the orbits to be open...
then after that -- practice becomes less physical in nature..
and deals more with the mind and consciousness...
taoism seems to have laid out the physical changes fairly well
and then the stages past that seem to be more thoroughly laid out in buddhist texts..
movement type practice can bring this sort of cultivation about
but it seems to be harder for people to get it..
a lot of people can not even get past the basic alignment stages in taiji practice
let alone relax and use the power from the ground...
I think something simpler is better for the energy stuff...
TaiChi ruler is really good..
but you need to find someone to show the full system...
just the beginning stages can be 2-3 or more hours of practice a day..
and the full system goes into martial application of the movements and energy...
good luck in your training...
Franklin