The internal power of this style
Hello everybody One of the things I find missing from this site is the most profound. Not just for completing the system but for me to present the main reason I think GMS is a true GM because if he didn't learn this from somewhere else ( I have studied long and hard of other methods of these exersizes and have seen or read nothing that compares though you do have to know what to look for to see it and you have to understand it to make these comparisons) he has to be a genius. if you study chan (I have practiced it since i was 20 i am now 38 ) not just through the temple but I have studied the 6th patriarch etc. and have studied taoism and confucianism. you may also see that the most important part of the combat and health side of this art encompases the essence of both the buddhist and taoist schools of thought it is meditation 1. please understand that the original young forest temple in the shoa shi mountain range was buddhist but was surrounded by hundreds of taoist temples so it it most likely that the teachings were intermixed so chan is a mix of buddhism and taoism because the chinese thought in this fashion. buddhism was only accepted originally because it concurred with the teachings of the original taoist masters. confusionism fits in here to but it is more a treatise of regulations for life rather than a philosophy of life. The reason I mention just this one of the four( there are four but you have to read the books to discover the fourth or actually the second)) but it is the one that enables one to actually do combat and survive both against single and multiple opponents. It is also the only one that allows one to progress properly to understand chi and how to nurture it as well as train the mind. again I could write a book about this exersize exept it would be huge so i will just describe the exersize from my understanding and hope you can gain from it as well. For those of you who already know it heres another interpretation. I found the best way to practice this exersize is to not put yourself in positions of stress for your mind spends more time worrying about that than wanting to accomplish the exersize. So I have always sat with my back against a wall in the 1/2 Burmese position with a clear wall in front of me. The 1/2 Burmese position is simply crossing your legs infront of you( I was taught right infront of left.). With you back straight not forcing the cuvature of the spine and keeping the chin slightly in. Your eyes are open( extemely important) and stare level to the wall across from you. The next important thing is that you always , always begin and end with a sigh ( in through the nose and out through the mouth) this sigh trains your mind to go in and out of meditation mode after a few years you don't need it you just go there. But you still always do it in the practice of the exersize. So you start with a sigh then inhale through the nose gently( finding a focal point just infront of you on the opposing wall) then gently exhaling through the mouth for ten seconds collapsing the abdomin as you exhale in the buddhist fashion(kind of like a belly dancer matter of fact thats good practice learning to roll your stomach without the breathing to learn the motion). Now this part is crucial GMS refered to this as the dream cycle at the end of your breath you contract your abdomin toward the lower dan tian at this time you are costricting your diaphragm in order to not gasp and destroy the flow of chi you have to relax your abdomin to take the pressure off the diaphragm before you inhale again through the nose this allows a smooth rolling transition back to the beginning of the exersize.the tongue also plays an important role by opening and closing a kind of circuit in the body. with the inhalation it moves to the top of the mouth behind the teeth at the end of the exhalation before the dream cycle it breaks contact from its resting place then with the inhalation resumes it. I do 36 breaths the 36th is the final sigh which signals the end of the exersize. but for the mental aspect after you first expand you vision (peripheral) you keep it expanded until the final sigh where you again return to the original focal point. I was always told " be aware of everything but pay attention to no one thing in particular" after awhile you just count the 36 breaths in the beginning you count thge ten seconds as well as the 36. if a thought comes in to disturb you simply embrace it and let it go calmly returning to the exersize. don't sweat it in time it doesn't happen . Mindfullness and mindlessness plus chi kung circulating the chi of the middle and lower dan tian mixing it in the navel and storing it in the lower dan tian (to some toaist styles this is the lesser heavenly circle without the mind expansion) all in one simple exersize.i think this is why he called it chi breathing. no i repeat no other discipline of meditation offers this in one exersize.( if you know of one please share it with me) as a matter of fact they all do to something completely different. it seems like a sin to exhale through the mouth . GMS may have been misguided in his business practices but he is the real deal whether he learned from someone else or developed it himself. if it is wanted i will expand in the future and explain in detail how this is applied to combat. one last thing once you learn and practice this meditation you have to figure out how to apply it to everything you do or you will never discover this amazing part of the system and how it brings life to the art in the individual. sorry for spelling mistakes and grammer but i am a kung fu teacher and not a scholar. i could keep going but this is enough for now. if you have questions or want to add something i look forward to it. Ps i think i am the first to teach what i just taught on the internet hope you enjoy Trevor " The truth will set you free and it is free"

RE
I would be interested in hearing how you apply this this combat. Also, if you haven't read it, have a look at T'Chi Classics by Master Waysun Liao, which was first published in 1977 I believe. The diagram in the book on page 20 looks to be exactly the same as the diagram Simon used is his seminars. On another note, I have the Muscle Change Classics on video, which were virtually the same as the ones we were taught in PHS. Cheers Dave

Hello Dave, sorry for not responding sooner I have been very busy this New Year and have not even looked at the site since my last posting. I am glad you responded with this question and I'll answer the best I can. First of all yes I have read and own the T'ai Chi Classics ( by Shambhala) it's sits on my book shelf with ; the Lao tsu; the Chuang tsu; the Analects; the standard Buddhist sutras ex. Heart sutra; Diamond sutra; Lankavatara sutra; sutra spoken by the sixth patriarch Hui Neng. And dozens of other works on the subject. Including a nice collection of Ch'an poetry, art and a very old book on the writing and understanding Zen koans. This side of the Art more so than the combat is my passion yet what is gained from the former improves the latter. I guess to be as direct to this answer as possible without preaching would be. There is truly nothing new under the sun, the song is eternal change only occurs through the voice. What I mean is that truth is constant no one at anytime owns it , they just discover it and then share it for the benifit of mankind in their own way using their own talents. So there are truly no founders of any system of art or thought just players helping evolution along. As a matter of fact all of these founders have borrowed heavily on others findings to create their brilliant discoveries. In the past though what made a true teacher was to admit this human failing of vanity and continue to share the truth without jealously. This is where Karma takes over and also quoting GMS " He who betrays the art is bound to be destroyed by it."( He should have listened to his own advice.) All forms of mind training have the same goal there are unfortunately as many forms as practitioners. But what is right or wrong when the goal has been reached. In the combat methods the purpose is to control fear by going into what various artists from many feilds call the zone. The trick is though not to come across this mode by chance but to summon it at will or for it to summon itself at it's own will( thats the way it happens to me sometimes) because at the time you are not aware of whatever your mind wants you to be aware of so you can react accordingly to its demands. You just find yourself reacting instinctively and correctly to a situation without any thought invoved. It does take like practicing everything else thousands of hours of practice. Most people would prefer practicing fighting instead and wonder why it never works for them the way they see it play out in their head. Success lies in following change as change arises not trying to change change this can only be acclomplished with a sensitive empty mind. This exersize works for me so it must work for others doesn't really matter where it came from originally. Trevor :D ps I thought more on your question and my answer since I wrote this reply a little while ago and I feel this is the most accurate answer. Most likely it is my understanding of the whole picture that these exersizes make sense to me and work for me. The credit probably most lies with the wisdom of all these other works that I then applied to life. I guess I just used the tools I had to apply these understandings. I beleive GMS did this and I had felt it all along solely based on my own experiences as an instructor in his schools. This is what I tried to reproduce for myself if one person can do it anyone can. (Probably why I was fired) Truth is truth and nobody has claims on it we just apply it in our own way. :)