Chen style practical method interview

[D_Glenn]

Wahkeen, so how do you do the MCO? What are these preparations that you speak of? What do you feel? Do you get any tangible physiological changes? And significant changes in your mental state of mind? What is the scientific reason why you think it is happening? Can you post some studies showing people doing what you do with before and after bloodwork and other monitoring?
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[D_Glenn]

That’s why Xing Zhuang, and to a lesser degree Zhan Zhuang, are so important.

A Xing Zhuang (Moving Meditation) like Circle Walking, is designed to get a person’s Glymphatic System Microcosmic Orbit to turn on/ trigger…

Fixed it. Carry on, carry on

I wouldn't conflate the two of those.

But what I would look into is the effect of motion and vision on the inner ear and activating that glymphatic system, which is a good thing.

I can't find the research right off hand, but while looking into EMDR I read a paper or two about how motion in our periphery helps improve all sorts of brain function, the theory being it's tied to our migratory walking ancestors. Slo mo, a neurosurgeon, talks about it in the documentary above around 8:50

Eyes are a part of my jibengong.

Interesting, very interesting.
Eyes are an important part of Circle Turning. The month or so of daily practice just to get past the dizziness phase, has to be developing changes between the eyes and inner ear. The periphery is speeding by even when walking very slowly.

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[origami_itto]

Interesting, very interesting.
Eyes are an important part of Circle Turning. The month or so of daily practice just to get past the dizziness phase, has to be developing changes between the eyes and inner ear. The periphery is speeding by even when walking very slowly.

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There's a lot of speculation about using the eyes to manipulate the brain, NLP, EMDR, the RAN. I know T. T. Liang and other Tai Chi folks, even if they don't do circle walking, sometimes practice arm swings. The whole idea of continuously moving at least a little bit also sort of supports it.

This is part of what I was saying about ting jin and the ear that I was soundly dogpiled over. The inner ear, eyes, and tension sensors (?forget the name) in the ligaments that communicate the sense of how much force and distance is involved in our movements and structure.

Delicate, delicate training.

[Steve James]

Yep, good advice.

[D_Glenn]

We practice drawing in through the eyes, like squinting, drawing back to focus on something far away. Or the opposite of opening and bulging out your eyes to read something very small, that’s right in front of you.
Basically keeping your eyes looking out far, even though you’re just looking at your hand that’s right in front of you. Try it. You, being that you already train ima, should definitely notice how it feels like it’s helping to conserve and promote cultivation.

[Steve James]

The inner ear, eyes, and tension sensors (?forget the name) in the ligaments that communicate the sense of how much force and distance is involved in our movements and structure.

The nerve sensors are in the joints, too, which have their own "brains." It's why sometimes a joint "just gives" or someone has "trick knees." Your feet 'read' the surface they're on, but that only becomes apparent when they aren't working well -for example, because of a nerve disease or injury.

[Wahkeen]

Wahkeen, so how do you do the MCO? What are these preparations that you speak of? What do you feel? Do you get any tangible physiological changes? And significant changes in your mental state of mind? What is the scientific reason why you think it is happening? Can you post some studies showing people doing what you do with before and after bloodwork and other monitoring?
.

I don't have an active MCO, so I can't answer that part of the question, as that's not one of my accomplishments. The type of preparation is Daoist internal alchemy (seated work). I don't think such studies exist, which is partly why I was drawn into focusing on your comment about the glymphatic system. I think it's an interesting area for study, but most of the folks who are accomplished in this don't seem to be very interested in conducting research - which is a shame, I guess (though it does seem there's at least been some of that in China, but information about that is scant at best here or in english and tbqh when it pops up it seems appropriately shaky, but this too is out of my sphere of knowledge). FWIW, the glymphatic system feels like a good place to look at for the effects (I also have gut feeling pun intended that the vagus nerve might be involved in at least some of the alchemy stuff), but those feelings are far from scientific certainty!

[Doc Stier]

Interesting, very interesting.
Eyes are an important part of Circle Turning. The month or so of daily practice just to get past the dizziness phase, has to be developing changes between the eyes and inner ear. The periphery is speeding by even when walking very slowly.

.

There's a lot of speculation about using the eyes to manipulate the brain, NLP, EMDR, the RAN.

This is part of what I was saying about ting jin and the ear that I was soundly dogpiled over.

And deservedly so. Haha!

[origami_itto]

And deservedly so. Haha!

Hey just cuz you don't understand me don't mean I ain't makin sense

[origami_itto]

The inner ear, eyes, and tension sensors (?forget the name) in the ligaments that communicate the sense of how much force and distance is involved in our movements and structure.

The nerve sensors are in the joints, too, which have their own "brains." It's why sometimes a joint "just gives" or someone has "trick knees." Your feet 'read' the surface they're on, but that only becomes apparent when they aren't working well -for example, because of a nerve disease or injury.

AH YEAH that's what I was thinking of, the precise measurement of angle and pressure in the nerves in the joint.

[Doc Stier]

And deservedly so. Haha!

Hey just cuz you don't understand me don't mean I ain't makin sense

What a hoot! I understood from the start that overthinking often creates problems that didn't even exist previously. LoL

[everything]

it's ok to have many, many hypotheses, i suppose

[twocircles13]

It's easy to say that there should be no in-fighting, but that leads to the question how should one deal with people who are not presenting the art in a real way, esp. with the aim of preserving the efficacy of the art. If you just keep telling everyone that they're doing a good job, even when they are teaching sub-par technique, then you are contributing to the dilution of the art. However, if you tell someone that they're doing it wrong, then you are "in-fighting" and who is the authority who says what is the real stuff anyway? I think this is part of the bundle of problems that surround this issue.

Obviously, some kind of forum where the representative masters of various lineages come together to share in a practical, hands-on way (perhaps a modern Guoshu) is a type of answer. However, it's quite a feat to get something like that setup and to get the people to actually participate, for a number of reasons. There's also always going to be people left on the margins who say that what the centralized group is doing is shit and lacks the special sauce - and the problem is that they might be right!

We practice hard and are true to our art. We promote it and others we think are teaching correct principles and practices. We certainly do not need some sort of governing body. That would strangle our arts as so many have been.

Should I go around criticizing everyone calling them a charlatan who is not doing Chen Style Taijiquan, because their teachings are different, don’t agree with, or I simply do not understand, even if I think there is fakery involved? Should I drive around to every community center looking for Tai Chee for Health classes to make sure they meet my standards. How should I determine if a teacher knows enough to teach taijiquan?

The charlatans may have their day, but they often self-destruct or their fakery is seen through. Eventually, they just fade away. They may also inspire an interest in taijiquan and dissatisfied students seek out teachers who have real skills.

Within the Practical Method, we have our standards and methods, but we do not hold others to those.

[origami_itto]

I never understood how what someone else was doing affected my gongfu or why I would need a committee to tell me that it was worthwhile.

[origami_itto]

And deservedly so. Haha!

Hey just cuz you don't understand me don't mean I ain't makin sense

What a hoot! I understood from the start that overthinking often creates problems that didn't even exist previously. LoL

Overthinking is only a problem if you stop halfway and think you're finished.

And then it's just classic, boring underthinking.

You gotta get past the awkwardness and near enemy to the correct postures and then it pays off.

But I have diverged from the thread topic long and far enough