interesting "awareness" experience...

[ashe]

was just up on one of the mountains here shooting some video for my website and on the way back to the van there was a small diamondback just poking part of his head out of it's hole. it was only about maybe 6" from me and my 6 year old was going to step right on it. somehow, i managed to notice the snake was there and grab my son by the shirt collar and whip him around off his feet so he was on the other side of me.

i'd like to think that it was increased awareness due to my training...

what's your story?

[Ian]

I catch teacups falling off tables like in Crouching Tiger.

[Mut]

when I was a kid way before I started training I was walking along a track next to a creek. On my left was a cliffface which had the sun on it. I tripped over and as i was falling i went to put my hand on the rocks to steady myself. Anyway where my hand was going to end up was a lovely red-bellied black(snake) curled up, somehow i managed to recover myself without needing to touch the rocks after all.... this happened over twenty years ago and i still remember it pretty darn clearly. I actually have had a few experiences like this with snakes and the like.

But since I started training I have done some uncanny things. I managed once to be sitting on a tram when the person standing next to me lost balance. I managed to reach out and help them regain thier balance before they fell. A couple of times I have managed somehow to this kind of thing in an almost pre-emptive way... reaching out to help before there was an obvious sign of need.

[Ian]

I don't really think 'reacting to dangerous things' counts as awareness, but some instances come to mind:

-I was sprinting through a leafy part of a mountain trail, rounded a bend, almost stepped on a snake (2 inches wide, ~2.5 meters long). By 'almost' I mean half the thing was between my legs. I have never changed direction so fast in my life. Went from full speed ahead to full speed backwards + 2 feet of air in a nanosecond. Jogged home very much awake.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/268 ... e5.jpg?v=0
-These *%&#ing things... they build webs across the path, sometimes at face level, and I have to dodge them when I run. Yes I'm AWARE because I've caught one in the face before.

-One time walking home, a kite was chasing down a pigeon at less than head height. They flew up the path, U-turned, and back down the path towards me. Man it was awesome - like watching a dogfight. I was close enough to see the kite flexing its wings like the ailerons on a fighter. Anyway the pigeon got tagged and went into an uncontrolled dive straight towards my chest. I managed to use my leet deadly bagua stepping skills to dodge out of the way but still got clipped by its wing and copped a bit of gore on my shirt. Rest of the story - the pigeon was shredded from torso down. Later got carried off by the kite.

But yeah that's just pure reaction and not really awareness IMO.

[cerebus]

I have this uncanny "spidey sense" for avoiding dog poo. It's the weirdest thing, but I can be walking with someone, talking, my mind totally somewhere else and I'll always glance down one step before the poo and walk around it. Don't know how that works, but you can bet I'm mighty grateful for it...

[Mut]

... yeah see my awareness bugs out on me when it comes to dog poo...

[Teazer]

I catch teacups falling off tables like in Crouching Tiger.

Likewise! At the least I'll get a foot under something falling to lessen its impact.

I have this uncanny "spidey sense" for avoiding dog poo.

Whereas my feet seem inexorably drawn to it. Cat vomit also.

[meeks]

LMAO at Teazer, Ian and Cerebus.

Dr. Yuan taught me a seated qi gong exercise many years ago. I practised it for about 30 minutes a day, every day. Results were almost instantaneous - within a few weeks. One night I'm at the bar with a few friends and I have my back to the door. Suddenly I feel 'spidey sense' up my back - my friends ask me if I'm ok. I turn toward the door - about 5 people walking in.
"see the guy with the hat on over there?"
"ya"
"he's going to get in a fight tonight"
"how do you know?"
"how can you NOT know...?"

I had to reposition myself at the table - couldn't stand the feeling up my back I was getting from that dude's ener-chee.
end of the night, I'd forgotten about it. We're finishing our beers then *whamo!* - he's kickin some other dude in the face, sending the other dude flying back and down a step away from the bar.

we were all pretty amazed about that night. don't recall gettin' laid though, so not really a good story...

[TrainingDummy]

One of my teachers had an Australian Aboriginal shaman teaching him for a while.

They were wandering around in the bush one day when he (the white boy teacher of mine) asked his Aboriginal teacher about snakes, since many Australian snakes have a deadly venom. The shaman said "Don't worry about the snakes. You can feel them in the bush, so don't go there." I think it's one of those traditional things that modern people don't mostly feel anymore.

Speaking of snake encounters, I had a brown snake use my vege patch all last summer as a sun baking spot, he used to scare the shit out of me as I never knew where he was hiding and I walked straight past him on a number of occasions. They're one of the most deadly snakes in the world, and unfortunately one of the most common snakes around where I live.

[Sprint]

I could bore the ass of people for hours with my stories about this kind of thing. My favorite "trick" if you will is catching someone looking at me, and as I'm no oil painting, it usually freaks people out. I remember once being at a taiji seminar and there was a coffee break and everyone was standing around - maybe about 50 or so people in a church hall. So I'm standing talking to this girl when I get the feeling that I'm being looked at, so I have to think a bit while I'm talking to work out where it's coming from - kinda like locking on to the "beam". Then just like in the Crocodile Dundee film I casually look up to my right and past about 10 people straight to this guy who happens to be the organizer of the event (the girl I'm talking to is still talking) and as I look straight at him his jaw falls open. I thought it was hilarious coz I know he was thinking that it must be something to do with chee, etc. I just casually returned to my conversation and the girl I was talking to was none the wiser. It was all over in about 5 seconds. The thing is I have no idea how it works. It's not anything to do with training, or if it is it's a secondary effect. Although what Meeks is talking about is something I have a radar for as well I would put that down to training, but again I would not have a clue how that works.

[Ian]

I could bore the ass of people for hours with my stories about this kind of thing. My favorite "trick" if you will is catching someone looking at me, and as I'm no oil painting, it usually freaks people out. I remember once being at a taiji seminar and there was a coffee break and everyone was standing around - maybe about 50 or so people in a church hall. So I'm standing talking to this girl when I get the feeling that I'm being looked at, so I have to think a bit while I'm talking to work out where it's coming from - kinda like locking on to the "beam". Then just like in the Crocodile Dundee film I casually look up to my right and past about 10 people straight to this guy who happens to be the organizer of the event (the girl I'm talking to is still talking) and as I look straight at him his jaw falls open. I thought it was hilarious coz I know he was thinking that it must be something to do with chee, etc. I just casually returned to my conversation and the girl I was talking to was none the wiser. It was all over in about 5 seconds. The thing is I have no idea how it works. It's not anything to do with training, or if it is it's a secondary effect. Although what Meeks is talking about is something I have a radar for as well I would put that down to training, but again I would not have a clue how that works.

How'd you like some ice cream, Doc?

[GrahamB]

There's a lot of snakes on this thread.

[Doc Stier]

was just up on one of the mountains here shooting some video for my website and on the way back to the van there was a small diamondback just poking part of his head out of it's hole. it was only about maybe 6" from me and my 6 year old was going to step right on it. somehow, i managed to notice the snake was there and grab my son by the shirt collar and whip him around off his feet so he was on the other side of me.

i'd like to think that it was increased awareness due to my training...

Hi Ashe:

Based on my own personal experiences, I believe that increased speed of perception and increased quickness of automatic reactions and spontaneous responses are excellent barometers of personal progress in any legitimate internal art.

These attributes become the optimized norm with continued practice and training over time, IMO, and are to be expected with unwavering confidence at all times and in all situations without exception. Very cool!

Doc Stier

[RobP2]

You can train for this stuff, blindfold drills, working outside, various types of awareness drill. There's also some good info from people like Tom Brown. At the end of the day it mostly boils down to listening to what you are telling yourself!

cheers
Rob

[Doc Stier]

At the end of the day it mostly boils down to listening to what you are telling yourself!

Or psychically 'listening' to energy and 'observing' thoughts emanating from external sources, which is essentially the ability to perceive information hidden from normal sense perceptions.

Doc Stier