When all that needs to be said has been said then it's time. Focus my child, you will know when the time is right.
Focus now... breathe deep.. into your Tantien Can you feel it now.. that tingling sensation... it must be Chi or possibly hunger...
This thread is quite ridiculous. I am surprised that no-one's mentioned Bruce Lee yet. Apparently, he did not eat pies. That's sad.
Hey all, I have an experience that I would like to share and would love to get some feed back about it. This experience is what lead me to practicing Tai Chi Chuan. A little back ground first. I am a life long practitioner of martial arts. Before this experience I had spent years training in various Korean, Japanese, Philippine, and Chinese martial arts. I was about 21 when the following happened. It was after a long night of deeply philosophical conversation that was inspired by the Tao Te Ching. The discussion went long into the night and early morning. As I was leaving my friends home I was walking down a stair case and realized that I could not tell that I was inside a building. Then as I left the building I could not sense that I was outside. Everyone was going home, the sun was rising. I told my companions that I was going to the river (Mississippi). As I walked along the bank of the river I reflected upon our discussion. The morning was beautiful, the dawn with it's pinks and blue hues. There were seagulls gliding in spirals around me, it reminded me of the old stories I would hear about a monk who's meditation was broken by animals fighting. The monk observed the exchange and became inspired to create such and such fighting method. I am sure you are familiar with this classic Any way, it made think about birds flying in formation, and the way fish swim as if they were one unit. As I contemplated this I began to realize that animals are Kung Fu/Tai Chi "masters". I felt that they were not separated from the way of nature. As I began to understand I came to the reason humans are separate because of ego, which animals do not seem to possess as we do. They don't question the message, place things in between them and the Tao. They are a train on the track, and we, the human experience have "derailed". I think the human experience is to lose our way and then gain perspective of what we are apart of through finding our way back onto the path. This is what separates us from the rest of the animal world. As this is all dawning on me a very intense vibrating sensation begins in the base of my spine and undulates to the top of my crown. As it reaches my crown, I can only describe the feeling as a soft warm hand touching my head. I fall to my knees and gold light spills out of me, it is so bright that it drowns out my vision. I begin to weep and all I could do was say "Thank you, I understand". Then, as if the universe pushes me into the passenger seat of my "skin car" I stand up and walk to the middle of the park and begin to move in a way that I have never moved before. It was like I was a banner at the end of a pole and the cosmos was whipping me around, spinning on a dime, every motion, seamlessly connected to the motion before. It was very martial looking, but not in a way that I had been previously taught. When the moment passed I was left feeling elated and alive, and mostly full of gratitude. When I went home, my roommates were up. As I walked in the door, they looked at me strangely and asked what had happened. I told them that I did not know. I sat down and began to meditate for the first time. I remember being afraid to go to sleep, I was afraid that I would forget something and not feel the same way when I awoke. It has not. Aside from witnessing the birth of my children, it was the most beautiful moment in my life. I am not sure if this is what you were looking for, but it came to mind when I read your post. I would love to hear from any one who else has experienced any thing similar. I know you are out there. Change is a wave, lets go surfing! Richard