chifactory

Hey guys, sorry but I wanted to share a couple more things with you all.  As I mentioned before, I made a short vid of Sifu correcting and verbally directing my ready stance.  I will post it here for you guys to see. 

( and if anyone knows how I can turn the vid around so that it's right side up... I'd appreciate it)

But I also have a short, somewhat interviewish/mini-lesson in which Sifu agreed to be filmed shortly after demonstrating how ILC methods of spinning hands are used in real-time on an uncooperative and highly skilled and experienced adept of Martial Arts, rendering any 'technique based attack' neutralized and reciprocated.  All while maintaining ease and smile. 

For a short back story to this, a man saw Sifu and I training daily in the lobby outside of the chess tournament table rooms.  He showed an interest in learning about our art as he was not only an adept with a vast knowledge of hard styles and even runs a publication or website about martial arts.  He indicated that he had travelled extensively throughout Japan and other places and trained with various known Masters of the external systems.  He seemed to know a bit about power generation across several styles to include some Chinese traditions and semed to be trying to place a finger on how our method worked by referring to the styles he had experienced previously.  Sifu informed him that this couldn't be the case, as ILC relies on the present and not past technique, etc.

The gentlemen told us more about his background.  He has a career that spans over 40 years and has reached the level of 7th Dan in (I believe and if I recall correctly) Japanese Karate.  Immediately after Sifu demonstrated, at my request, some of his skill and a small portion of his power on me as seen in my previous vid posting, the man asked if he could experience it for himself, or if Sifu could demonstrate the same quality of touch (he used the word 'technique') on him.  I didn't film the exchange as I wasn't quite sure as to what would transpire, given the man's credentials I sort of assumed he wasn't so interested in 'learning' as it were.  To make a long story short... Sifu dominated him rather easily.  The gentleman, as figured, went pretty full-on and I got the impression he was more interested in attempting to demonstrating sort of a 'that stuff won't work on me' kind of thing.  From the initial touch the man was put into a state of chaos.  And not only did he stay in this state, but toward the end was literally 'hanging on' to Sifu in order to keep himself off the ground.  What was so impressive to me, is that even though the situation was obvious, Sifu still gave the man face (as there were hundreds of people around) and held back every strike and simply wiggled his fingers in the man's face to say 'would have gotten you there', and also spoke to the man as this went on, informing him of what was happening at each point in the exchange...almost like one would do in a demonstration.  It was awesome to see the principles put into action against not only a non-cooperative and strongly resisting opponent, but also one of such a high achievement in MA.  It really said a lot about the ILC method and it's utility, especially the mental.... as Sifu was able to keep what could have been a nasty exchange to one of learning. 

I have to admit... I was hoping Sifu would just 'show him the way' if you catch my drift a time or two.  But as Sifu explains in the vid following, it's simply not necessary....

Enjoy the lessons and pleae consider sharing your experiences in a training journal so all may benefit. You will enjoy looking back at your development.

Thur. - Sun., May10-13, 2012:  Hello everyone.  Sifu came to Tennesee this weekend in Nashville to bring his son (who is quite something) Connor to the National Chess Championships.  Prince Bell and I got to spend some time training with him.  As Prince lives in Nashville he had to tend to his daily responsibilities and came out as often as he could get away, as I live a bit away from Nashville I used it as a vacation and simply stayed with Sifu, 24 hours a day for the whole weekend.  So I got quite a bit (constant) of training in.  And not only training, but direct, personal, one-one-one training.  It was all the stuff we do right here on chifactory, but with Sifu in the flesh.  The work we do here online really is very significant.  The quality, as you guys already know well, of the instruction in the videos is so precise and specific that Prince and I already had a decent foundation from which to engage the curriculum with Sifu in-person. I can't speak for Prince's experience (it's not over for him by the way, I believe he did some more training today) but I felt, and I believe Sifu did as well, that the training via chifactory prepared me with the foundation to be able to meet Sifu for the very first time and be able to go through the material without any real problems.  We didn't have to spend so much time with introductions to the concepts, philosophies and principles, and Sifu didn't have to spell out everything (albeit a lot of things simply to nail them down) as if it were brand new.  The solo training I've been doing this whole time (you know... the training I've been constantly worrying myself sick about and obsessing over, whether I was even making progress or not, etc.) put me in a position to be able to make a very smooth transition from online to live instruction from Sifu.  We were able to cover quite a bit of material in a matter of days, all because of the quality of the videos provided here on our site, plus the time put in punching the clock at home.
I don't want to bore you guys with all of the stuff we went over because it's all here online...same stuff!! Just with Sifu there in the flesh to put it into my body in real-time for a more direct experience.

Sifu was everything I was hoping he would be, plus some.  And as ass-kissy as that sounds, I wanted to make that point because I've went out of my way many times within the last couple of years to go see people with great expectations, and much of the time it was never as I'd imagined it, and most of the time I was somewhat disappointed.  I was not only relieved but grateful that this was not only NOT the case with meeting Sifu....but it was exactly the opposite. 

And moreover, I wanted to address something (warning: kind of sappy but it was a big deal to me so just bare with me) that I found and will continue to find as, if not more, important as Sifu's crazy skill.  I say 'crazy', because aside from some of the amazing stuff we see him do on the vids, especially for those of us in 'ongoing' training seeing him do with some of his Tuscon class, Sifu went a little further this weekend and showed me some things that I can't quite put my finger on and wouldn't have the slightest clue as to how to describe or understand.  Let's just say.... they were strange, eye-opening, and opened my awareness to another realm of development and possibilites (you know, freaky kinda stuff).  But anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, what I wanted to talk about was what kind of person Sifu is....   He lives 'wude', he is a living, breathing, walking talking manifestation of the principles we are trying to get a handle on.  I don't want to go on and on about it, but he's a good person, a genuine Sifu in the truest since of the word and showed me nothing but openness, humility, unbelievable generousity, patience, comfort and all the other things that make for a sincere seeker and leader.  I can't imagine that I would have any other Sifu, and he showed me truly what it means to be learning in a FAMILY STYLE tradition, as he treated me like I was part of his family, and expressed that I was (as are all of you) part of the I Liq Chuan family. 

I hope that we can all continue in this type of relationship to one another.  Prince and I are going to try and set up a community here in the region for ILC.  If anyone is or will be in or around the southeaster United States, or knows someone who is, have them contact me as I am beginning an effort to bring people together in learning ILC, an ILC community.  We have our Sibat Ben Fisher in Durham, NC, I have been to see him on a few occasions to learn in-person and plan to continue to do so.  It would be great others can join and we can all train and learn together, and pull and utilize all the resources available to us in our training.

So, anyhow, I wanted to leave you with a peak at the weekend so I'm going to try and upload this short vid I managed to snatch from some of our time together.... I hope I do it right.

I think i did!  You guys enjoy... here, Sifu is showing me a few things like leading the mind, sticky hands, trapping, freezing, 3 circles of engagement and a bunch of other things that all happened faster than I could keep up with, as is obvious to see, haha.

Hi all,

It's been quite a while since I've posted. Just very busy and trying to fit in as much practice as possible. I think I'm moving into another experience with my practice and I thought I'd share about that and just the practice in general. It's hard to put this into words, so forgive me if I struggle.

Ok. So, I think I've gotten to the point of maintaning the principals more often and integrating the upper, lower, crown, dan tien and mingmen energies into one. The feeling comes and goes during practice, but I've gotten to the stage that once I get the principals in place, I can hold them and the one energy feeling more often and longer, and when I'm trying and focused, I have moved form how do I get "it", to how come I lost "it" and how do I lose it less often.

I can also "get the feeling of one energy" often throughout the day, sitting, standing, walking, etc. It's a little harder to maintain moving. Once you have the "whole body as one energy feel", it seems like working on any of the practice lesson technigues seem to, in varying degrees, allow for working on controlling the feel. Like a feeling of expanding and contracting the "whole" as one. In varying degrees of intensity. Also, at times it seems like you can move the intention from the whole to a more focused location, for example the hand or foot, and put more energy there. Again, in varying degrees of intensity.

For those writing recently about suspending the crown. For me it feels like energy at the top or crown of the head. Like the energy either is there and lights it up or is not. I seems to be part of getting to the whole body energy as one. I only get the whole body as one feel when all of the areas of the body, have the right energy feel - front, back, top, bottom, legs, feet, arms, chest, back and crown.

This all seems to come in degrees. A step forward, a couple back. two forward, one back. Three backward, one forward. But all the time, the more I practice the more I move forward and the faster I go.

The only thing I can compare it to is learning to ride a bike, only probably more complex. But the good thing is, like riding a bike, more practice seems to insure more success. The other ways it's similar are that until you've done it or tried it you have no way of understanding what it is or how to do it. Success comes in little steps, at different rates at different times and probably in slightly different ways for different people (depending on body type, mental and physical history, degree of beginners mind, willingness or time available to practice, etc.). It's also similar in that you shouldn't worry about if youre doing it right in the beginning, just do it. The more you do it the more you're body will begin to learn what it needs to on it's own. As you begin to get more aspects of it, then you'll have some things to fine tune with Sifu, but in the beginning it's more about doing, than doing right. Looking back I think I worried way too much about doing each lesson/technigue/drill/excercise correctly, when I should have just relaxed and done them. I now am starting to realize that these are not in themselves a thing to perfect, but instead a vehicle to an end, to a feeling or feelings that you have to experience many times to be able to fine tune them, hold them more often, hold them for longer periods and probably to grow them stronger.

I feel like I'm starting to sense the concept of balance in relation to my bike and am beginning to get a glimpse that I might be able to get to a stage where balance all the time is possible, maybe even eventually second nature.

I'd relate this all back to an ancient chinese saying that I don't really know that well and I'll butcher it, but it goes something along these lines. One must leave the boat behind after you cross the river. It is just a tool, maybe one of many that would have worked. Don't cling to the tool. Look at the lessons as tools to get another angle view of what your trying to see or another chance to feel a piece of a larger feeling. They work together and layer upon each other to help your body and mind learn what it needs to progress. Again, I think I worried about each and every last detail, when that was pointless. What I needed to do is practice and review, practice and review as much as possible.

So my take is practice as much as possible, as often as possible. Do so, without worry and with faith. Just relax and do and check in here with Sifu when you feel the need. And realize that you've got to put a certain amount of time in before you'll progress enough to be able to discern the enevitable feelings, and be able to work with Sifu to fine tune them.  I think the lessons work to teach our beings what we need to know, if you pay internal attention while you practice.

I have found that for me to get the feeling that Sifu describes for suspending the crown it actually comes about as a result of relaxation and not really pushing the crown up. I haven't had a lot of time fordedicated practice , but I look for these things all day as I walk and move.I foundhave that if I release the traps and hold the head and not let it fall I get a rising feeling in the neck and head that just happens. The meat of the torso sinks and I get fullness in the Dan tien. I have rising in the back and dropping and the front. The head feels suspended and the Dan tien feels condensed. The whole chest seems to empty without collapsing. There's dropping and rising at the same time that seems to pull from the upper torso. The suspending of the crown pulls up from the upper back and the sinking and condensing in front allows the organs to drop and the chest feels empty but not collapsed. Is this correct?

Sat. Apr. 28:   I wanted to post today about my practice for the last few days....IT'S SUCKED!!! hahahaha.  In fact, I could barely get through simply standing in bear posture, did about half of bitter-pill and loosening exercises before losing my mind and all that stuff, wanted to pull my hair out.  I wanted to write about it specifically for you Michael, so you can see that it still happens, haha, all the time!  Just a week or so ago, I couldn't do anything wrong (in my eyes) in training.  Everything was on point, it was 'great'.  The last few days... just the opposite.  I take my day into my training a lot, bringing tension, worry, baggage, etc.  and that's NOT present, formless, or neutral. 

It's easy for me to get caught up in the physical techniques, the body, etc.  But I must not ever forget that I Liq Chuan is mental-physical-fist, with 'mental' being the first of the name.  Without being present, formless and neutral I cannot do this work, I cannot be aware and I cannot recognize.  Hell, I can't even settle down enough to even begin to simply stand there properly, much less do any type of movements.  The truth is... my last three days practice didn't 'suck'... and the week before wasn't 'great'.  It's just training, at different levels of awareness.... and it's not for me to decide which was better or worse, or good or bad, etc.  All that's for me to do is train, with an open-awareness, present, formless and neutral.  Furthermore, there are things happening within me, due to the specific nature of the training and how it is structured by Sifu, that I am not aware of and wouldn't understand anyway if they were explained to me... and those things are undergoing process too.  Maybe some of that process is a little bit of bitter in the body for a while during some transition.... I have no idea, but I don't need one right now, I just need to train.