chibimerrick

I can try and explain how the meditation aspect works with martial art. It might be hard to understand though. So when you do a martial art, you learn the forms and techniques. At first, you will be too concentrated on memorizing it and doing it correctly. However, the learning part is necessary, because once you know the form and you can just flow through it, you still focus on doing it properly, but once you got it right, it starts to feel right too, and the body movements come automatically. The thinking is on another level, and you just start becoming aware of not only your body, but your surroundings. I feel that if I continued to practice this martial art, and honed that state, sparring would have been very interesting. It already was in some way. To try and give a more concrete example, and as much as the movie was not that fantastic, The Last Samurai has some very excellent moments were I felt I was practicing my martial art all over again. Moments were Tom Cruise simply holds up his sword, and is aware of his surroundings and finally understands what its like to use his sword, is that moment of meditation. I hope that helps? lol I'm not sure if I can make this any more clear. It's really something that needs to be worked on and practiced. I only really got to this state after two years of practicing my martial art. (Which by the way, is with swords just like the movie).

Well, I don't think my martial art is as well known as Karate or Judo or anything, and it's only starting to get established in my country. The equivalent of it is Kendo in japanese martial arts. So what I do it called Haidong Gumdo, where we use a sword to fight. We learn forms and techniques, and things like that. One thing that it lacked from our masters teachings was more sparring though. Anyway, I have my Black Belt now, but I worked really hard for it. We had to learn how to blow out a candle with our sword, with just it's movement and not touching it. We had to know all our forms and things like that too. If I were to go for the next level, I would need to be able to cut a bamboo stick with a real sword. It was really fun, and I miss it, but I haven't practiced it for years now. I should start up again sometime!

From what I have read here, I am kinda of glad to hear that others have had the same problems as me with 110mb. I only joined it about 2 years ago, and already some of the features were starting to lack. What really got me was the change of the MySQL servers, to a paid option. However, at the time, we could post 50 posts on the forums to have a free activation before this change. I found this tedious for one little option, but I wanted it so I did it. Once I had the posts, the email I sent did not get reviewed in time, and I did not get my MYSQL. Needless to say that after that, I have been looking around. I have to say that even though my site is not activated yet, I see that this place is very well managed and very fair. I also personally prefer forums with longer more detailled posts with substance. It makes for a far more richer experience, which is why I love this place already!

I totally agree with you on this. I have also been practicing meditation on and off for years now, and even though I have been getting better at it, I still find it hard to "clear" your mind of thoughts. I only recently discovered too that meditation does not need to be so calm or focused, but can be used in the sense that you described. It was while watching a Buddist documentary that I discovered this and it amazed me. I think I may have already had this state when I was practicing martial arts, as I would find that in my hightened state, I could respond and react much quicker and with better ability then I normally would doing other activities. So I am very interested in this, just not exactly sure how to continue this or develop it aside from more practive! However, I think I will be looking into Buddist teachings.

So I am not a very political person, but I try my best to stay up to date with the politics of my country, Canada. And recently, it has come to my attention that certain things within the governement is taking place in which I very much disagree. I don't disagree on the certain benefits that some of these changes may help, however, the WAY it is being implemented and imposed is NOT acceptible: The North American Union This means different things to Canadians, Americans and Mexicans, but here I will mostly discuss what it would mean to Canadians. More specifically, the Union also entails such projects as : - The possibility of the Amero currency. - The super highway from Mexico to Central Canada and the maritimes. (NAFTA) - Changes in certain laws and/or regulations to match those of the US and mexico. There are other things as well, but can easily be found with a quick search on google. A result of this is the Canadian Action Party, which doesn't not want to confront the changes, but wants to make sure that they are made to be the decision of Canadians and not the governement without any population support. Finally, there are some places out there that deny that this is even happening right now, and many politicians deny this union, however, the documents and informations of their conferences are easily accessible online, legally. Discuss!

I love reading manga, and I try to keep up with them as much as possible. Though now I realize that I spent so much money buying all of the ones I have, that I find it hard to keep buying more, especially since the resell value is soooo low. However, I read them when I can, and my current favorites are Death Note and Nana. I have not read a manga like Death Note for ages. The psychological tension, the inside of the workings of the minds of light and L, as well as the trying to out wit the other has never made me READ so much in a manga and actually enjoy it jut as much as the pictures. It's so suspensful and original, I read these straight through. The anime I haven't really watched though.The Nana manga is kind of similar in that I read it almost straight through to its current point. The life stories and the drama, as well as the characters, are all very genuine and make you feel for them. The story is also quite original and you don't always know what to expect, yet you keep chearing for the nana's and hope that after it all, they will finally both be happy!

My favorite fantasy books are alot of the ones mentionned here. I loved the Lord of the Rings, though it's been ages since I read them now. I should reread them. I also completely adore the Harry Potter series. It has such an enchanted world and the characters are so lovable, (or you hate them visciously) and the twist and turns in the plot keep everything very interesting. I also really love the Wheel of Time series. I have spent the last year reading the whole series on and off, and I have to say that it was most definately worth it! The characters, the background story, the history, the cultures, the aes sedai and their powers, it's all really fascinating! I am just relieved that Robert Jordan planned out the last book well enough for it to be written and finalized, because I would have been so disapointed if there had been no end to the series. In the meantime, I read A New Spring, which is also a must read, as it gives alot of background story to Lan and Moraine. And since I have no series to read at the moment, I've been seriously contemplating reading the Sword of truth series. I've heard only good things on this forum and outside of it!