Vajra Fist

Celebrating the New Year in style with a peaceful FP session and 9pm bedtime. Moving closer to sand dune speed. It feels like the chi is guiding me 'slower, slower' whenever I practice. So much so that my regular practice of the long form x2 and the msw 60-70-40-5 from vol 7 is taking closer to an hour now to complete rather than just 40mins. It's been almost a year that I haven't practiced. Last New Year I spent three hours going through the first four volumes of FP. With such a gap the practice feels both strangely familiar and new. Grateful to be learning again. The movements feel almost autonomous, as though I'm being moved. I've read about the Xiao Yao Pai system elsewhere on this forum, where you recite a formula and a guardian daoist spirit moves your body in energetic movements. Does Flying Phoenix take a similar approach via the breath formula? Edit: Almost forgot to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

Small correction is needed. Grey to White has very kindly offered bagua and xinyi lessons online for free of charge. Some time ago (before I posted this thread), he shared several training videos with me which show a well developed and practical art. Unfortunately, me being an awful student, I haven't put my heart into learning what he shared, so we haven't been in touch since. But I am grateful nonetheless for his generosity in freely sharing his art. Gérard if you call yourself a Buddhist I think you should cultivate greater forbearance and wisdom to see beyond yourself. Just my two cents. Thank you both for commenting on this thread and sharing your own perspectives.

The fan teng gong headquarters? That's a bit worrying. Is it the same form as on his dvds?

Quick question. Is it natural to be absolutely unable to get up in the morning after practicing FP at night. I'm normally in bed by 10ish and up at 4/4.30am for a bit of training. However last couple of days Ive done a FP session before bed, I've been unable to get out of bed in the morning. I know there's a greater sleep requirement with FP but is that a thing which only happens in the early stages of practice?

I know Tibetan burning palm as taught by Sifu Gary has a lot of this sort of thing - different meds for different times of the day, etc.

I think it underlines the importance of practicing within a tradition. Whether it's a Daoist school, Buddhist school, or even Christianity, you are protected from outside influence by higher beings and immortals from that lineage. If you're practicing meditation to obtain some sort of power over others or advantage in society, rather than the pure intention of seeking liberation from samsara, then I'd say that's a deviant path that won't lead to anything good.

Before splashing out $1000 on the course I decided to torrent the old course to get a taste of the material. I'm glad I did. I found him to be quite pompous, which was rendered slightly comical by his obesity. That put me off. The material itself seems very indepth and the system seems powerful. I had a medical clairvoyant test it and found it to be mostly focused on the root chakra, with later development over the years of all other chakras. So a good system, but you've got to resonate with the teacher. I think I'll stick to my shaolin for now. It tested a lot better for not only physical but spiritual development. Maybe I'll give it some more thought a bit further down the line. Thanks all for your input and support.

I practice Anapanasati, as well as shaolin martial arts and qigong. However the most central practice to me is the nembutsu. I found the Pure Land school recently and, as a married man with a family, it offers the greatest reassurance that even if (owing to my circumstances) I'm not able to complete cultivation in this lifetime, I am still able to complete it in the next.

Very cool, thanks for your message. If you plan a UK seminar any time down the road I'd definitely be interested.

I have a question on the FP long form. When you perform the cloud hands type movement, or during the brush knee push step or grasp sparrows tail movements (sorry for tai chi analogies), do you rotate the heel of back foot and toes of leading foot, as you do in the tai chi form, or do legs maintain parallel throughout?

I've had many spiritual practices and qigong systems tested for me by a clairvoyant and one of the most powerful in terms of cleansing the meridians and all major chakras is shaolin gong fu. Conversely other external martial arts like karate barely do much internally. I genuinely believe that there is some heavy duty qigong built into the forms of martial arts that are connected to spiritual traditions. Shaolin is one, and (potentially) Sunmudo is another.

Interesting. However, if you're making solemn vows then they need to be kept for the rest of your life. This sounds like a monastic practice and not something from the layman.

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Bed before 10pm, up around 5am. Exercise every day. Magnesium before bed.

Double post.

I'd be interested to hear how you get on with that course. I've read some of his blogs and he always seems pretty clued up.

I have a small mala I pull out when I'm sitting on the train. I couldnt care less how people view me.

I don't think you should get hung up on anything. If you forbid something and moralise over it, you create an obsession with it. Take everything very lightly. Cultivate kindness and a peaceful mind and these things work themselves out. Don't go to any extremes. When something goes to an extreme it reverses.

If I were you I'd get these methods tested by a medical clairvoyant. You'll save lots of time and money. I have the shamanic tiger qigong, but I've never taken the time to learn it as my current practices tested better.

My understanding is that these are monastic practices, that require being outside the distraction of every day life to complete. It doesn't work to practice as a layman. Either you need to dedicate yourself to a practice by leaving society. Or practice the Pure Land path, recite the nembutsu in your day to day life with a vow to be reborn for further cultivation in sukhavati.

Thanks all. George, are there any major differences between the latest and the odigital iteration of the program?

Will there be another initiation in the UK before October next year?

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Very cool. Thanks for answering the questions above. I think what Walker was asking, and I'm curious to know too, is what is the end goal of the practice. Can it lead to final awakening in this lifetime, liberation from samsara?

Recite the nembutsu, vow to be reborn in the Pure Land.