10% Inspiration, 90% Perspiration
The internet can be a huge distraction to practice and just living life. However if used deliberately rather than passively it can be a real source of inspiration.
We have given many book recommendations in reading lists at the back of our eBooks as well as in Instagram posts, so we thought this would be a good platform to distil down some digital inspirations which have helped us get fired up for practice, business and life. We have gone for a dozen examples that are illustrative of a much wider library, they are not in any order of importance. Some we discovered recently and some are perennial classics. Some are subject specific and some are quite left field. Some are credible and others are guilty pleasures. We are completely shameless when it comes to repeatedly watching things that provide inspiration, you take the same vitamin supplements day in and day out so why not.
We’re quite politically engaged (though no longer discuss it online from behind the iron rainbow in the UK) and this list does not contain any current affairs sources. The intention here is inspiration not despair!
What all of these examples have in common is joy, obsession and transcendence.
Alex Honnold TED talk (YouTube video): discusses free solo climbing, risk and mastery. Also check out his JRE interviews for a deeper dive.
Sixty Skills - ‘Art of Inner Power’ interview (YouTube video): this interview is a good entry point for the sixty skills channel/curriculum. Sixty Skills is presented by a Hermetics teacher who whilst having quite a different approach to us (less martial) appears to have come to some of the same conclusions (though not all) as ourselves with regards to energy work/magic/figuring out reality. He comes from that Mark Rasmus community, and the way he explains concepts seems to use a more consistent vocabulary than others.
Foolish Fish (YouTube channel): one for the bibliophiles. This very affable gentleman does occult book reviews as well as some teaching videos.
Energy Apprentice Ken (YouTube channel): a series of interviews (alongside an occasional monologue or picture edit) with people approaching the energy arts from the perspective of attaining siddhis. The host is modest and genuine and is on a journey to become a better interviewer. The guests often work with very run of the mill qigong systems in an attempt to attain telekinetic abilities amongst other things. You can judge to what degree you believe them successful.
Tommie Kelly - Adventures In Woo Woo (YouTube channel): the best Chaos Magic podcast we have come across. Gordon White’s ‘Rune Soup’ (YouTube channel) is up there too and he has a written blog as well (runesoup.com).
Scott Meredith Tai Chi blog (most material is on his ‘tabby cat gamespace’ blog, he appears to have since moved over to substack): the home of energy-centric internal martial arts. There is plenty of YouTube material out there too but like us, he expresses himself best in writing.
Any skateboarding clip featuring Andy Anderson: he is so different and creative he will blow your mind no matter your interest in board sports or lack thereof. It will be a lesson in forging your own path. He is also a deep thinker and it is well worth hearing him talk about skateboarding and life on the Hawk vs Wolf podcast (YouTube video).
The Power of Chi The Movie (digital download): don’t write this off too quickly, hear us out….Whilst it is representative of a particular brand, we are looking for pure inspiration here which the epic production values and familiar faces will give you. You certainly won’t be bored and after you have enjoyed the campness of it all you will want to get straight up and train, just maybe not in the same way. This had to be on the list because it is such a high budget production and has caused such a stir. It is equally as fun a pastime to watch some of the awful debunking videos. Maybe we should debunk the debunkers?!
Theme Park Worldwide (YouTube channel): we watch loads of theme park vloggers and this is the channel that we are most hours in with. It has possibly peaked in terms of quality so it is worth going back a bit to enjoy an immersive experience through somebody else’s eyes when you don’t have time to get there yourself. If you have read much of our stuff you will be well aware that our USP involves bringing a themed or immersive experience into the qigong space so you can see the influence there.
Ben Gravy (YouTube channel): a good vibes surfing and lifestyle vlog. The most interesting thing about this channel is that it has tracked him forging a career in surfing where there wasn’t really one to be had. It was pure dedication, enthusiasm and outside the box thinking.
Taylor Ellwood - reading vs working magic books (YouTube video): this is a great bit of inspiration for squeezing every drop of information out of books and videos and getting your hands dirty rather than being an armchair enthusiast.
Mark Cohen (YouTube channel): a practical instruction channel featuring his own zhan zhuang heavy and Yiquan influenced Tai Chi. You may recognise the name from his classic internal power training manual ‘Inside Zhan Zhuang’. Maybe because of the Yiquan influence his system is a lot more physically nutritous and safe than many others. A generous offering with understated but powerful work.
Take everything with an appropriate amount of salt, there’s more than one place in these sources where our bullshit alarm goes off, well, if not bullshit at least hyperbole. Enjoy!
Tai Chi Empowerment and the Wu Xing Taiji Boxing Alliance are in no way responsible for external content yada yada….