rooting

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rooting

Postby goose » Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:33 pm

so a few weeks ago i was camping and wanted to try rooting my self. i was laying there and envisioned my self growing roots deep into the ground soon after that i felt this energy surrounding my legs ( it was like the energy was warped around my legs. not rely in my feet but from my ankles up to my pelvic area. it was pulsing and moving around.) has any one else ever experienced this? eventually i moved my legs and the feeling was gone.
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Re: rooting

Postby goose » Sat May 19, 2012 2:53 am

any ideas???
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Postby yat_chum » Sat May 19, 2012 4:48 am

There are other posts on this forum talking about such sensations, although I have had similar experiences as for an full explanation I can give none.
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Re: rooting

Postby wpgtaiji » Sat May 19, 2012 5:59 pm

Hey mate. Sorry i missed this before. Rooting is not a head thing (which is what you are describing), in my experience. If it were a mind thing, you would have to think about it when you needed it most (a life threatening situation), and then you couldnt defend yourself (as you would be thinking about rooting). sorry mate, the whole thing of Rooting is kinda hilarious to me! For fun, google rooting australian slang. I guarantee you will NEVER talk about having a rooting problem again! :)

As to actual rooting, we use a method called Post STEPPING (not standing but STEPPING). It gets that "feeling" (which isnt really the point of it, but since that is what you want to discuss) into a part of the body where you are thinking on other things and you dont loose the feeling, even and especially in movement. We dont call it rooting (my teacher, Erle was an Aussie, if you googled the phrase you will understand better).

good luck mate.
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Re: rooting

Postby chh » Sat May 19, 2012 10:39 pm

Like wpgtaiji I think of rooting as a really directly tangible thing. (yes... I'm familiar with the Australian English sense too, but I've suspended it while reading this thread :) ) I haven't felt any energetic stuff like goose is describing.

I haven't really thought of root as anything other than your center of balance's resilience to being perturbed. I don't exactly know what conditions that- I guess looseness, sensitivity, strength? Another good way to build and test root on your own is to do whatever form or stepping you do at a variety of speeds and with more sudden energy. If your root is doing well you won't fall on your face.
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Re: rooting

Postby goose » Sun May 20, 2012 10:20 pm

so it might be something else that i dont have the name for
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Re: rooting

Postby John the Monkey mind » Mon May 21, 2012 12:27 pm

goose wrote:so it might be something else that i dont have the name for


Perception of rooting can be a symptom of Qi Gong practice. Wong Kiew Kit wrote about an experience of it in one of his Shaolin books. He says he got his wife to push him wile he had this sensation but that this was wrong and made his Qi imbalanced and his Sifu had to take corrective measures.

This book I think

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Art-Shaolin ... =8-1-fkmr0
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Re: rooting

Postby wpgtaiji » Mon May 21, 2012 1:19 pm

The whole idea of feeling qi is a very VERY touchy issue. Those that say "you feel this" are lying to you. I talked with a mentor of mine, and he told me he NEVER worries about feelings during qigong. I told him of a feeling i had and he said he never felt that before (individual experience). It never happened again to me though. It seems that much of this "feeling qi" is in the mind.

Think about it like this. Qi is bio electricity. It is supposed to be flowing at a certain level (not the right word, but work with me), but because of stress and junk we intake, it is impeded. Qigong (especially 3 circle) causes the body to "relax" allowing the meridian system to open up. This is why we "feel" things (in very simple language). But because it is NORMAL and natural, when it starts to work, you wont feel the same things again. It is NORMAL! LOL

All of that said, when I get into "posture" for taiji (or whatever method i am doing, it starts from the same posturing), i DO get a sensation on the outside (the Yang meridians) of my arms. Erle always taught that when things start to happen, P8 will activate and your hands go blotchy red (increased blood flow). It seems to be the difference between moving with internal connectedness and externally. In these instances, it feels like a band of energy wraps over the body (to shoulder height, maybe higher depending on awareness). But again, it isnt me thinking about it. It is just moving the body in correct positions.

I realize that this may be very difficult to understand. It isnt basic. It is also important to understand that, in the WTBA, it is a combined practice, meaning, that YES, we learn to hurt, but at the same time, we are learning to heal ourselves and others. If your taiji or art does not have this (and most do not), then this will probably be the moon to you. I do not mean tai chi class that also teaches qigong or a massage! I mean doing posture A can be done this way for fighting and in the EXACT same way to do this this and this to yourself or someone else in the healing area. But sure, Erle made it all up, you know, cuz despite the fact that he was teaching this in the 1980's. he had the time to go to medical school AND tcm school (which Dim mak is not taught in)! LOL SOrry that last bit was for someone who thinks erle made it all up himself because he cant find record of the guy that erle said taught him. And YES, it goes back to the 80s!
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Re: rooting

Postby John the Monkey mind » Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:31 am

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Re: rooting

Postby joeblast » Thu Apr 25, 2013 6:59 am

Even in mildly complex systems, any outcome is the wrong thing to target, with the process being where the focus should be.
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