accidental hits

[everything]

doing normal every day stuff, you may accidentally collide with someone with no deliberate force or intent, and sometimes this "punch" is surprisingly strong. for example, I went to hand my son a towel. I cracked open the door and just pushed the towel forward, and he happened to be walking near it, and was like "ow you punched me", lol. we both thought it was a decent punch by accident. I'm sure this has happened to all of us many times either on "punching" or "receiving" end. it seems easier to have "whole body power" (however you want to explain it) if you are NOT trying. this is cool but also sort of annoying that the mind is usually in the way, and I cannot "relax"...

[origami_itto]

I think it happened more earlier in my training. In most cases like that I'd pull back on contact to keep from making that big impact.

I do sometimes put a little too much Peng into my incidental contact. Like if I'm tying someone for shibari they wobble and teeter when I'm working on the chest ropes unless I'm being extremely mindful.

Otherwise I will close and open doors a little harder than needed but that's mainly on purpose.

[everything]

I didn't know of this secret method to practice Peng....... hmm.......

[origami_itto]

It's very meditative. Like a mandala.

[origami_itto]

But basically, yes if you run into somebody your structure should be able to transfer some force, but if your sensitivity is on point then on contact you'll yield unless you're intending to run them over.

I think a lot of that tendency has to do with Shen and xin. How are we moving through the world? Where is our awareness? What is our intent?

Disciplining these will affect your reaction when you collide, or prevent the collision entirely.

[Quigga]

That's where becoming not too excited in general becomes important. Controlling the heart fire so as to not unnecessarily hurt oneself and others. Some controlled ecstasy also doesn't hurt from time to time... Look at 8 immortals. Normal people with normal flaws. If you never accidentally collide, how to get familiar and friendly with that? Yet I wouldn't put 8 immortals story as highest standard in anything.

[origami_itto]

Thinking on this more, if you are actually colliding, then your sensitivity is simply not on point and you're moving carelessly.

It's cultivated, it has to be. If you've got the structure and power but you're moving like an oaf just mowing down everything in your path, you'll hit a brick wall eventually.

Your Taijiquan should be building the strength to be able to do that.

But you are also cultivating NOT USING that strength. You should be using precisely the right amount of force to accomplish precisely the task at hand.

The root of practical application is Zhan, Nian, Lian, Su. Stick, adhere, join, follow, without letting go and without resistance. That should start on contact to achieve attachment. That should be unconscious if it's going to be worth anything. Accidental contact is butting in/resistance.

It should be as natural as catching a baseball. The skill builds, but there are so many micro-adjustments tied into such a tight and quick feedback loop that the conscious mind doesn't have time to be of any use. By the time you OODA they are gone, you've let go.

The subconscious has to filter all that before the conscious gets it and the conscious has to get it and process it before it can do anything with it.

So why bother with the conscious at all, the subconscious has access to more information and can make better decisions faster. So this is what they talk about when they talk about action without Yi.

I don't know if there is a separate word or concept for the subconscious mind in Chinese, I don't believe the concept really existed in western thought until Freud and Jung started publishing in the early 1900s.

So in my ignorance, I'll call the neural connections we lay out in practice that tie impulses to actions as Yi, and the control and use of those connections is also Yi, but divided into conscious (Yi) and subconscious (no Yi).

So Yi here is the bridge between Xin and Qi, the physical structure and the specific energy of the mind to operate itself.

We train the body to provide degrees of freedom in movement. We train the mind to be still, wu ji, and let the subconcious Yi handle as much as it can. Without our preconceptions clouding our vision and slowing our reaction, without our conscious mind insisting upon wresting control and steering in the direction ego demands, we are free to let the superior intelligence of our subconscious amaze and astound us.

Just like you don't need to decide to yank your hand back from a hot stove, you shouldn't have to decide to yield to accidental contact. Ting on contact, or before it, should direct you around the force.

I cannot say this enough, the system builds awareness and control of the physical, mental, and spiritual bodies. You should be seeing progress and acquiring tools to improve your competence to operate in all three realms.

[everything]

I think there's definitely a side point of have sensitivity/awareness and be careful not to bump/hurt people just because you're reaching out with a towel or reaching to the fridge or whatnot.

I think my main contemplation is maybe I/we have some "unconscious competence" with structure/energy body without having any "conscious competence" (kind of against this learning model that says conscious competence comes first). trying to "think about it", things get more difficult to do correctly. Very Taoist mind-is-in-the-way.

[Quigga]

Stand inside the flow, open Ming Men and let it go. It will show

[Quigga]

The mind is the way, it's just been cluttered, dirtied and denied of it's original existence by conditioning (not all conditioning is bad. A society of savages is not viable long-term.)

[Doc Stier]

I/we have some "unconscious competence" with structure/energy body without having any "conscious competence" (kind of against this learning model that says conscious competence comes first). trying to "think about it", things get more difficult to do correctly. Very Taoist mind-is-in-the-way.

Indeed. Subconscious spatial awareness rocks. Stay at the center of the circle and allow everything around you to follow it's natural course.

[Doc Stier]

It isn't always possible to consciously make things happen, but it's always possible to subconsciously allow things to happen.

[Bao]

Thinking on this more, if you are actually colliding, then your sensitivity is simply not on point and you're moving carelessly.

But you are also cultivating NOT USING that strength. You should be using precisely the right amount of force to accomplish precisely the task at hand.

Agreed. You should be able to control the amount of pressure you put on others and others put on you.

(Preferably you should always keep a very light touch, as light as possible, to achieve as good sensitivity as possible. The best sensitivity is on the top layer of the skin. If you press deeper than this, you will just numb your own sensitivity.)

The root of practical application is Zhan, Nian, Lian, Su. Stick, adhere, join, follow, without letting go and without resistance. That should start on contact to achieve attachment.

Well, IMO, you should start to adapt to a moving body already on distance. If not, and someone moves fast or punch fast at you, you will be too late. You won't be fast enough to adapt to his movement.

So why bother with the conscious at all, the subconscious has access to more information and can make better decisions faster. So this is what they talk about when they talk about action without Yi.

I don't know if there is a separate word or concept for the subconscious mind in Chinese, I don't believe the concept really existed in western thought until Freud and Jung started publishing in the early 1900s

IMO, it should start with awareness of your surroundings and the space between you and everything else. But if you bump into others constantly, I think it has more about to do with a bad attitude, a lazy attitude. Maybe you ("general you") just don't care?

[Quigga]

Sometimes not caring about people is caring about them, lol

I don't think Itto is constantly bumping into others physically

You use consciousness (light) to explore unconsciousness (dark)

Ways to use light:

Like a flashlight - screening the area, highlighting These things while not seeing those things

Like a campfire - illuminating some space around you, making it feel safer

Like a roaring firestorm - a bit intense but how else to reach the outmost dark spots

Do you get burned or become one with the light

[Quigga]

Walking unknowingly produces paths in crowded areas that leaves people quite bazzled sometimes. Near and far take care of themselves and the right information is exchanged accordingly on it's own Accord

The look on their faces is quite entertaining sometimes. and what needs to come towards attention is allowed to do so.