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Bruce does a nice job of summarizing and describing the energy of the Thunder Palm on the first video of Module 13. But the place where I felt like I really got what he was trying to do was on Module 13 video 6 at 0:55. Just before that he goes through a “developmental” summary of the first three palms. The Wind Palm description is particularly good because it contrasts with the Thunder Palm that he is about to describe in the that video.
What was key for me personally was finding how to make that rapid almost instantaneous flip from yin to yang or yang to yin without gapping (I don’t think that’s word). The point is when I found the place where it could be done, the flip occurs but it didn’t unsettle me. It didn’t have the shock and I was present. This seems to be the real point.
Usually a rapid change like that scatters your mind. It rattles your cage. I found a place that allows me to change back and forth without that yet still change fully.
Note 1: Bruce teaches the four corners in Module 13 video 34.
Note 2: There are two releases to space. One is when you are expansive. The other is when you have absorbed into inner space. Thunder is teaching you how to let go of these extreme states without disconnecting and gapping out.
Note 3: The corners are extreme yang, extreme yin, going to space from the extreme yang, going to space from the active yin (extreme absorbtion).
Something happened. I went through a phase of training where I was extremely focused on the layers of the physical body and working through them in correspondence to the palm changes. But, something happened: I started finding something deeper that is independent of any layer of tissue.
It is important to open the body. It is necessary to develop awareness of all the layers. But, that’s not the point. We are trying to find something more…universal.
From a simpler perspective the Thunder Palm is about strong opening and closings, but it really is about something more. It is more about staying conscious when extreme opening and closing are occurring which requires a great deal more skill than was required to do the comparatively gentle opening and closings in the Wind Palm. Further you have to start understanding yin and yang at a much deeper level.
Rather than ease into this, I’ll jump right in. Eventually you should understand that the opening in Thunder opens both outward and inward. Both are yang. Eventually you should understand that both openings and closings have to be allowed (not resisted) and that’s a yin function. In order for expansiveness to go inward a part of your awareness needs to remain present to the outer origin of the expansion as well as be present inside to the allowing in. The opening and closing is within your awareness and doesn’t need to have anything to do or not to do with your physicality or the etheric body.
Welcome to the tai chi space.
It seems you have discovered somethings, and I salute you for writing them up here (and your diligent investigation-seeking).
I know the Confucian tendency to match up concepts, by #s, is tempting- I was intrigued by the 8energies, 8 bodies (Ying&yang of 8=16neigung), etc.. even the 5 elements/Wu Xing are simplified so that they map to the 8 directions.. [my view, this opens the mind to possibilities, but it distorts each of the principles by trying to match up, what seems -to me- to be different.]
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Just as a comment- perhaps your writing is a bit different than your experience, but what you’ve written (not just in this post, but in prior posts) seems to reference the “tai chi space” as if it is Yin turning into Yang (and reverse) and that which links them both…-which is actually Liang YI..
(while TaiChi space is different and beyond that).
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-I only mention if fdbk is desired, as I think blurring those two can limit the potential of what can be found.good luck in the practice of any that read this.
Thanks. The ability to have both extremes accessible and flipping at the same time is a new experience. I need to sort out the vocabulary. This is helpful.
I’m finding that by focusing on the expansion in my ligaments (essentially the frequency of the ligaments) while performing the Thunder Palm, I notice that the mind is determining whether the release is successful at each end. That is, the mind is releasing the yang expansion or the yin absorption and whether it can change.
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