#groundbreaking-science

[groundbreaking-science]

This might be a little oddly specific, but I've sort of been experimenting with manipulating Ki, trying to form it into a sort of "floating light." So far, I've been somewhat successful (I've been able to get it to cohere into a sphere) however, it's a little difficuly getting it to stay that way - it tends to either dissipate or blow up. (After the first time where I accidentally broke my windows and set off a car alarm, I decided to start practicing outside.)

Practicing outside, for those that can, is a very good idea - I’m sorry to hear you had to learn the hard way.

This is a very interesting twist on the techniques covered so far and I applaud you for your inventiveness! Blowing up will be related to the enthusiasm of the genki running the intent, the dissipation the uncertainty unravelling itself.

You will first need to apply a hold intent after what I presume is shine, from section 2.5. This is a kind of “pause”, a way to put a stopper in the genki’s intent to ensure nothing else gets added until you say so, and the intent will continue to run using the rest of the ki, assuming that set of commands was its entire purpose. This will also stop the genki inventing what to do next based off your emotions, like exploding with your excitement.

If your technique is running out even with a hold intent, then I’m afraid you will need to supply more fuel. There could be a way of setting up a mantra for yourself, maybe getitng into a habit of sending a little ki its way with every breath, a little like aura-shoring (covered in 2.4) but to that particular focus. With the latest chapter, adding in some amplification may prevent you from tiring before your appetite to read at night wanes.

I wish you every success in your invented technique!  --Son Gohan

[westcitydunderhead]

What Not To Do: 2.5 [x-post from PFN]

Since most of my recent notoriety came from learning how to amplify and do push intents a little too exuberantly, I think that any “If You Have Trouble” lecture from me would be more than a little disingenuous. 

Instead, I think I’m going to do two things: I’m going to open the floor to questions, and I’m also going to state the mistakes I made because I was a little overenthusiastic. 

There’s one thing I will advise, going forward: If you’re serious about the Earth Defense stuff (you know who you are), learn how to throw a punch. I mean it. Experience can get you a good way, and having a good base isn’t bad, but if you aren’t intimately familiar with how you’re going to move, you will eventually use a push intent on your own body in a way that does not move it along the natural lines and you will break something. LEARN HOW TO THROW A PUNCH BEFORE TRYING THAT SHIT.

With that said, let’s mosey, and in no particular order: 

2.5.3-4: push

-- do not focus a push intent going outside anywhere inside your body.

I honestly can’t stress this enough. At the very least, you’ll end up like me, and have four incredibly swollen fingertips to explain away at work (pro tip: messing up with a hammer is a good excuse, but don’t expect it to hold if you keep screwing up). At worst, you’ll cut yourself open, break your own bones, or turn yourself into pavement pizza as you skid around your local street or alleyway without any real control. 

-- do not throw intents directly at friends or enemies. 

Even a little bit of momentum in the wrong place can be devastating. Put some yuuki and/or emotion behind it and things can go badly fast. Depending on the severity it can get you an assault or GBH charge. Do not. There’s a reason Professor Son has you start on plastic and glass bottles. honor it. 

-- do not panic. 

No, seriously. If you’ve been mastering 2.2 like you’ve been doing, chances are that you’ve probably discovered someone a lot stronger than you in the immediate vicinity, maybe even while you’re working. An overwhelming force can trigger your fight/flight response and change your attitudes towards the work. Do not panic. If you panic and take the first response of curling yourself up, you’ll probably do what I did, focus your power inwards, create an omnidirectional push intent, and probably cause a bunch of poltergeist activity, at best. I guarantee you, 90% of major powers in the area do not care about you, so calm down, take a breath, and continue what you were doing. Your neighbors-- and windows-- will thank you.

-- Do not attempt to push bowling balls. 

Seriously. seriously. Stop doing this, guys. It’s a neat party trick to levitate it for like 5 seconds but after that you’re spent and you will have a falling bowling ball to deal with. and that’s if you can even lift it. stop lifting bowling balls. 

2.5.1-2 -- Pass

-- do not pass to yourself.

Can you do it? Yes. It’s absolutely possible, actually, and is the primary way the body distributes ki to check in on itself and report back to the center and the brain. Pass can, technically, even be given to injured body parts, encouraging them to heal just a little bit faster long-term; especially for things like late-onset muscle soreness. However, most of the time to do this you’re going to take from other autoceptive ki paths, and probably mess yourself up a little bit. And that’s if you don’t mess up and start a deleterious positive feedback loop which can murder your cells (see 1.3-1.6). 

-- do not pass to someone unaware of ki. 

Seriously, they’re not likely to catch it, and if they do, it’ll cause an overflow of the center and lead to a deleterious negative feedback loop (see 1.3-1.6). be careful with this stuff. 

2.5.5 -- Hold

-- Do not use hold as a storage bank. 

Hold is more like a funnel with limited flow rate, or a capacitor, than it is a battery. If you attempt to use it like the latter, it will happily drain slowly over time, leave you drained, and leave you not getting why the ki you were holding on to for a special occasion is gone now. 

----

... Eh, that’s enough for now, though I’m sure there will be plenty of people in the thread ready to share their own misfortunes about these three, the reliable bicycle of ki use-- and like a bicycle, capable of doing yourself quite a bit of damage if you’re not ready. 

I’ll open the thread to questions, now. 

[groundbreaking-science]

"How do you escape a man who can track you from half the galaxy away? Four short stories depict how Trunks tries to evade his father throughout his childhood."

Chapters: 1/1 Word Count: 5,405 Rating: General Audiences Main Characters: Trunks, Vegeta Additional Characters: Goten, Mai, Pan, Bra, Zue (OC)

[AO3]    [FFN]

(( Hey! ))

(( You’ve all been patiently waiting for the next section, and for that you’re all grand - thank you thank you thank you for your continued support by reading, liking, sharing, tagging - I see all! But try and let Gohan do most of the talking! ))

(( Just in case you were needing a fix of ki whilst waiting, above is a silly/fun one-shot I wrote in the December before starting GS! It’s based off a reddit comment I made of all things (spoiler alert) and has some of the underlying textbook rules already in play. Funny how nothing much changed! )) (( All the best -- Breezy ))

[groundbreaking-science]

Good morning, all!

It looks like the anonymous asker from the PFN - now going by @westcitydunderhead​ - has indeed created the thread they mentioned [here] (forum rules [here]), and are blogging their experiences. Fantastic! And if I may, far from ‘dunderhead’ behaviour! If any other readers are having similar problems (or not), please contact them for some camaraderie or for their advice. Long-distance learning can be rather isolating, so I hope readers can make friends in one another.

—Gohan

(( Below the cut: a clarifying note on RPing/fics/art - tl;dr, DO IT! :D ))

(( Hey!

(( After the last couple of days sitting there with popcorn watching @westcitydunderhead I clocked I hadn’t been super clear on where @groundbreaking-science stands with other people interacting. In- and out-of-Universe asks are open but that’s still not a definitive answer. So -

(( As you probably guessed, this isn’t an out-an-out RP blog. RPing is more a two-way endeavour and, because the textbook and the backstory is already outlined, I was super concerned I’d end up being That RP partner that steers interactions and is No Fun, so didn’t say I’m open to RPing directly. However, I really, really want to be as accommodating as possible for GS, because that is fun!

(( For in-Universe asks (whether as yourself or as an OC) if I can find a way to fit the ask in with the “canon", I will. If there’s something that’s just not gonna jive (onefear.jpg) I’ll ping you to see if you want to edit it, but if you’re on anon I can’t and it’ll have to go unanswered... that hasn’t happened yet thankfully :). Also, @groundbreaking-science is the main but isn’t the only GS-based account out there… others may be around... If you don’t want possible interactions between them and you or your OC let me know! ‘Stuff’ may Happen in future, too, so keep an eye out ::purposely vague::. I want to keep the main GS network as immersive and rich as possible with your help :)!

(( (NB I can’t reply to standard RPing post formats (with prose and dialogue) as this is an in-Universe blog/textbook, so those posts don’t make much sense in that setting, only literal asks do. Sorry about that!)

(( Despite me being a stickler to stick to script on GS proper, I am 100% up for people taking elements of the textbook and doing whatever they want with it. If you see an idea you like, run with it! Ref me back somewhere (mainly so I can find you and be nosey) but please, go ahead and be creative :) If you want to make your own AU with textbook training elements verbatim in it (but changing some story details), do it! Want to try and expand on something you’ve read by writing, omg do it because I would but I can’t do it all. Same with art… GS will only directly interact with content, OCs and their storylines following the textbook just to make that one story, however wide it gets, easy to piece together for readers. But I’ll be following everything I can lay my eyes on, and periodically reblogging collections of content of all kinds referencing GS to GS to share :).

(( Also If you want some extra information to help for RPing/writing/arting, feel free to ask me in a chat! I will happily divulge!

(( Hope that’s encouraging!

(( tl;dr, DO IT!

—@breezytealy ))

[groundbreaking-science]

Any tips on dealing with the disorientation that comes with getting Ki-sense? It's amazing, but kind of overwhelming.

I’m guessing from the positive to neutral tone of your observations, you have not yet vomited. If that is the case, congratulations! If you have, then my commiserations.

I would read the accounts of another student going by the name of WestCityDunderHead (a moniker most inappropriate, I assure you) here [https://groundbreaking-science.com/post/176496532353/if-youre-having-trouble-22-x-post-from-pfn] and here [https://groundbreaking-science.com/post/173843142873/if-you-are-having-trouble-with-autoception]. 

For my own advice, I would go somewhere very still in life. If you can go out of town to a forest, or to remote solar or wind farms, and lay in the grass or dirt, approach the exercise slowly. At that distance the movement coming from a city will be in a fixed point at least, so you’ll be able to get your bearings. Do not try a boat as like the horizon, the ki will bob relative to you and still trigger sea sickness in those unfortunate enough to experience it.

Increase the time you’re actively ki sensing every day and your tolerance will also grow. But make note of your amazement now and remember to recall it in such times this new sense becomes mundane! -- Son Gohan

[groundbreaking-science]

Dear Prof. Son, I have many questions on Ki sensing, I have been attempting many weeks ago this same exercise. I live in a similar setting to Mt. Paozu (close to a river fall and a forest with a couple of inhabitants living close by). Early this morning when I heard noise outside, I tried not to look through the window to identify who these people were but I can't help. I sense the river fall is disturbing my sensing abilities during the practice. How can I center my focus? I am at chapter 1.6

Dear Student,  I am glad to hear that your studies are progressing even outside of the city. For other rural learners, please take both note and heart! Learning with very few people around is still possible. The environment can be a horrific distraction, I agree with you. The sound preventing you from keeping focus within, and I can imagine that when you move to later chapters, the ki of others will pass through your mind’s eye like a searchlight. I can imagine the ki from life in the waterfall would only add to that fizzing distraction. I mention mindfulness training in the newest section and this could be of benefit to you early - the ability to notice that you have been distracted, and then to place those thoughts to one side. It’s a way to notice when your distraction is frustrating you, too, and then address that frustration. Don’t beat yourself up, just accept that you are struggling that day and try again later. As for the waterfall itself - one way to remove the distraction is to immerse yourself in it, in this case quite literally. If the size allows it, go sit in the falls. The sound and life then will be all around you, and cancel out, the roar acting like a noise machine. The pressure of the water can be meditative, too. Give it a try. All the very best, 

-Son Gohan

[westcitydunderhead]

If you are having Trouble-- 3.1 [x-post from pfn]

I think at this point everyone’s aware that my troubles started with attempting 3.1 before I was genuinely ready with 3.1 [see my posts on Push and ki detection.]. 

In any case, you all can learn from my (bad) experiences and my (not good) mistakes! 

#1: Fold is not push!

As Professor Son noted to me, if you attempt to fold by simply squeezing down, you will most likely (especially if you’re panicking-- see DON’T PANIC) cause a reaction by which your center looks at the push, recognizes the push, and lacking a firm direction, simply pushes out in all directions at once! 

This will, at best, cause mild poltergeist activity, and at worst, blow out windows, or if you’re spectacularly unlucky or particularly dedicated up to this point, destroy furniture or your local wall. 

And while yes I’m sure that sounds impressive, you won’t like it when you have to sit at a broken table to eat rice out of your last bowl that isn’t in pieces, or you exhaust yourself with expending that much ki all at once-- or worse, have to sit in a drafty apartment for weeks while your landlord drags his feet about fixing all the windows you blew out in a cold spring. 

And that’s if you’re lucky-- your push might also, if you’re good enough at push and visualisation, push through your body. Such cuts are no fun. 

#2: If you are Impatient-- Pinch Method

If twisting up your center doesn’t sound like a good time, try to keep the image in your head of pinching a balloon in its middle, like with a strong rubber band.. Now, yes, this means you’ll still have jelly squirting out the sides, and that’s fine, because then you take the two pinched halves-- your intent still acting as a rubber band-- and fold them over each other until they match, just like the written exercise. Then do it again, making more jelly donuts as you go. 

#3: if you are having trouble with endurance

Now this is one point where I think Professor Son didn’t get too into it, talking about the endpoint, but I’m going to stress it-- 

Maintaining fold will exhaust your body. It will do it at fold-1. It will do it at fold-2. It will do it at fold-3. Learn to maintain fold through your exercise routine at Fold-1 before trying to do it at fold-2 before trying to do it at fold-3. 

Do NOT attempt to fold-0 and train the first time you fold-0! You will miss your warning signs and you will collapse. And if you’re on a treadmill it will ruin you-- if you don’t have a spotter, you’re likely to smack your head into the hand-rail or get bounced by the treadmill’s own speed. You will give yourself a concussion, at best. If you do have a spotter, you will be lucky if they recognize the signs of an impending collapse and rescue you or get proper help. 

I cannot stress that enough: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EXERCISE AND FOLD-0 UNTIL YOU HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF FOLD-0 ON ITS OWN. You can risk it with earlier folds, since they’re still feeding ki to your body, but void mode is its own beast. 

As an added bonus, the mental focus required for fold will really help you if you’ve been having trouble getting the focus together for more complicated combinations of shine or push or hold. 

#4: Pass is your friend. 

I mean it-- learn to pass before you try and fold. Especially learn to accept Pass before you try to Fold. Pass as second-nature allows you to both reassure your autoceptive paths and makes the acceptance of Fold-0 much easier. 

#5: Be careful with Fold-0 if you have had dissociative experiences before. 

As much as I hate to say it, if you’ve had dissociative experiences before, Fold-0 can feel like... well, the unpleasant sort of dissociation, instead. It’s OK! If that starts to happen, it’s OK to snap back-- at least for now. Get your head back to yourself, be more aware of yourself, and try again at least two days from now. 

don’t snap back and then try to fold-0 again. It’s more likely that a bad trip on fold-0 will lead to another bad trip shortly afterwards, and associating it like that in your head may cause a mental block or a lot of anguish. breathe. Let your center out. Feel yourself and come back to yourself. 

If you’ve already found a decent spot in learning autoception and ki sensing, use that place again for fold-0. You might weird a few people out when you suddenly drop, but being in place you know you’re decently safe, and also a place with a lot of concrete sensations, will allow you to avoid less pleasant dissociation if you’re not overwhelmed. 

That said, 

#6: DO NOT ATTEMPT FOLD-0 BEFORE OTHER FOLDS. 

See #5, #4, and #3 for why.

I’ll open the thread to questions now. 

[breezytealy]

Do you follow subbed Dragon Ball Super? Because there was some interesting canon about ki sensing I think they inadvertently created in today's episode...

Yooo!Hey Nonnie! Yeah I do! Your message gave me a heart attack (haha dw dw, every episode of Super has me going “is this it, is this going to be the nail in the coffin?!?!?”) so I watched it before chores in case I needed some thinking time, but I think we’re okay! What specifically piqued your interest :D?(Btw thank you for not spoiling me for today’s! I’m up to date on all future spoilers so don’t mind them in my inbox, but I’ll always tag them “spoilers” and “dbs spoilers” for anything about upcoming episodes, i.e. ones that haven’t aired.)