Some great taiji stuff.

[Simon]

The difference I found with Mark is that he explains and helps you to expirence exactly what he means by these terms. Yes ts a different set of language but this is due to Marks approach coming from Hermetics, where everything is experience nothing taken on faith. On his week course you will go through each stage of his teaching repeating it 6 or more hours every day until you not just understand what he is saying but can replicate what he is doing. There is a reason people keep going back to him because he keeps delivering and people see the benefits immeditaley not 5 years later. I live in Taiwan and have access to a lot of people and I would still rather spend the time with Mark. Each to their own.

[XiaoXiong]

Better than I would have said it. Cheers Simon.
Jess

[XiaoXiong]

Happens to be Bagua. Seen this old master before. Looks good to me. But has the jumpy student so be warned: the following presentation may contain hopping. Viewer discretion is advised.

[XiaoXiong]

Thought this showed nice movement coupled with intent and deep control.

[wuwei sifu]

I think that the reactions of the people on the receiving end are dependant largely on them. I think the deeper point and more interesting conversation is not why are people jumping and running, and seem stiff armed and all of that stuff we can't really tell from video, but is what are the practitioners doing, and how is it used to fight. I have my ideas, but let's try to get away from this old tired argument, and get down to brass tacks.

I don't know if I like the term empty force or if it applies to what I do. But as I explained I use intent, I create a field, I read, tease out or receive the intent( which in the way I think of it has a lot more to it than just their plans, like what they are not thinking of or ready for for instance) and I drop it to the ground. I take the force and transform it inside my own body and return it or l just let them hit the ground if the cant catch themselves. This has proven very useful to me martially as I have been able to cut people's root, and throw them, push them, lock their joints, and potentially strike from the advantageous circumstances I have created for myself. I have even been able to figure out how to ride the train standing without holding onto anything or moving externally, by switching channels. This may sound silly, but to me it was a fun exercise to test the training out and see what I can do with it, and learn from it.

The problem I see over and over is people's egos. So that's why I get so mad at some of you guys esp like Sean, who come out with this strong ego. I have had a strong ego myself at times, and I don't like it in myself so I can be intolerant myself, but really, what it comes down to for me right now, is that the stuff I'm learning is just better information. It's more useful, more reliable, makes the things I see in a lot of vIdeos accessible to me in ways that it wasn't before, and I believe that these teachers which I have shared and some that others have as well, have expert information and ability in these skill sets I find so useful and interesting. For example, a regular guy in the local taiji scene who's somewhat of a buddy, but also a longtime practitioner from a different line with face on the line, and I were pushing and I was trying some stuff I've been developing a lot in both solo and partnered practice. Whereas we would often contend and crash energies at times in the past when I was newer to push hands and did it more like wrestling or judo, this time I was able to receive his force many times without taking any load on my frame, and in quite a few cases I was also able to send him away with effortless Fa Jing. This is because I took his energy inside my body which had an intention set up to be empty, and then his energy came under my control. This can also be done in reverse, where you put your own energy into them, but that's not the strategy of using emptiness as I see it. I guess that that is still taiji skill, but what I've been told is that the good stuff is to take their energy, and conserve your own, vs. sending your energy out there to be separatedorused against you perhaps. This as I understand it is fundamental to the taiji principal.

That said, I think that more can be done with internal power than just taking it, and the things I explained about my own taiji practice. I think it can be more yang, and have that soft core of yin. After doing a lot of practice and meditation since the last few days, I started experimenting with first the soft on the outside hard inside thing, like on the subway for instance. So I realized that this useful when receiving energy so you don't crash or resist whatever you call it. The other which is hard on the outside soft inside, seems useful for teasing out the energy of the other sometimes, but it depends on the spirit of the other. If they are soft and hiding, but mentally set up like a mouse trap, you can kind of beat the grass to stir the snakes by being hard on the outside, and then immediately switch to the soft outside to catch their reaction. This works best IMO if you time the attack o be very sudden at the moment they empty the lungs. Anyway, that's where my practice is lately. Any comments on this are welcomed, but please be relevant and constructive.
Jess

wait one freaking minute sir. You are telling these folks special secrets & doing it for free. some of these folks might not be so worthy of this information.

ok so seriously dude. you sound like my Chinese brother from another mother. so if you don't know that phrase it means you are very much like me and i have done much the same thing. Yet, i never told anyone about enticing with hardness. my senior students never got that far, and so i never mentioned it.

was cool to read what you said brother. xie xie