miwizi

I really wanted to thank both Earl Grey and Sifu Dunn for taking the time to answer my questions. I did not realize that it was expected that I would research the questions w/i the blog before posing the questions. I absolutely will do that in the future. The answers certainly have expanded my understanding of the performance of meditations. "Holding the Peach for an hour" tells me a whole lot about this work. This answer did not directly address the question, but rather came from personal experience from a practitioner. As a "new guy," both to FPCK and "blogs" I had no restraint on my questioning and certainly no understanding that it would in any way create burdens for others. My apologies. Thanks again. miwizi

Excellent. Looks like a good time and place to enter my latest questions regarding performance of FPCK. 1) Are the 5 exercises presented in Vol. 1 best done as a unit? 2) Are they best performed in the sequence presented in vol. 1? 3) Are there guidelines for the timing in between the exercises? 4) Regarding the "upright" stances, whether single shoulder width or double shoulder width, how much should one sit back? These upright postures are new to me. Should I discern stretching in my sacrum and qua in these upright positions? 5) Also need some advice concerning "relaxation" in a stance. My question concerns relaxing the buttocks during "sitting back" in any stance whether deep or upright. I can relax the large muscles until I attempt to lift the end of the tailbone up, then it feels like a deeper set of muscles engage which I have been unable to relax. Advice? 6) I have chi experiences from other exercises (e.g. bak fu pai <old vol. 6>, chen style reeling silk, taiji, etc.) but the FPCK results in a fullness quite unique. It fills Top to bottom, front to back, and side to side, and seems quite long lasting. However I do experience a slight "all dressed up and no where to go" edge as well. Again, advice? 7) Finally, in answers to my earlier questions, reference was made to "upper" and "middle" dan tien. Have to confess my ignorance here. Is this going to inhibit my understanding and performance of FPCK? Thanks for any and all help. Off topic-to riding the ox: hoa binh o tren te gioi.

Thanks for your attention to my questions. Going to give the questioning a rest and simple practice for awhile and let that lead me to additional understanding. Thanks again. miwizi

Possibly it is a case of "lost Questions, " possibly it's a case of inappropriate questions, " possibly it is a case of my impatience. However the take away is the same. no info concerning my questions. I am both new to this blog and to blogs in general, leaving me little direction on obtaining new info. I will repost my questions and hope for the best. Thanks to all, for all. miwizi Thank you Sifu Dunn for your responses to my previous questions concerning practice of meditations on Vol. 6. At the time I was unaware that these meditations were not part of FPCK. However they represent a core component of my chi kung work for the last 15 years. In fact, it was my search for a new copy of vol. 6 that led me to this site (if anyone has one they would part with please contact me). The old adage, "one door closes, another door opens," seems to be in play. I ordered and have been practicing vol. 1. Again, fantastic meditations, especially "monk bends bow" and "wind above the clouds." I do have a few new questions and a couple of "curiosities," I would like to share. I will try my best to keep questions focused on vol. 1 meditations. (1) re: monk bends bow and wind above the clouds. How many reps? Other 3 are > 5 mins. (2) Given the intersection of FP and meridian theory, do individual meditations focus on identifiable meridians? (3) In your previous answers you referenced a "theme" for one of the meditations. Are there themes for each of those on vol. 1? Curiosities- Do not know other practitioners to hear of their experiences, so just tossing these out there. (1) Every single performance of a meditation creates a truly unique experience, even after 15 yrs? (2) My wife and I have practiced together from the beginning. Between meditations we generally have a brief exchange over the "focus" of our experience. Freakishly frequently we find our focus (e.g. lower spine) identical but our experiences individual. Is this "theme?" Again, thank you for your answers. We incorporated them immediately. Also, will not forget to say "THANK YOU" to Fu_doggy and Sean Olmor. The only proper attitude is gratitude! Thank you. miwizi

Thank you Sifu Dunn for your responses to my previous questions concerning practice of meditations on Vol. 6. At the time I was unaware that these meditations were not part of FPCK. However they represent a core component of my chi kung work for the last 15 years. In fact, it was my search for a new copy of vol. 6 that led me to this site (if anyone has one they would part with please contact me). The old adage, "one door closes, another door opens," seems to be in play. I ordered and have been practicing vol. 1. Again, fantastic meditations, especially "monk bends bow" and "wind above the clouds." I do have a few new questions and a couple of "curiosities," I would like to share. I will try my best to keep questions focused on vol. 1 meditations. (1) re: monk bends bow and wind above the clouds. How many reps? Other 3 are > 5 mins. (2) Given the intersection of FP and meridian theory, do individual meditations focus on identifiable meridians? (3) In your previous answers you referenced a "theme" for one of the meditations. Are there themes for each of those on vol. 1? Curiosities- Do not know other practitioners to hear of their experiences, so just tossing these out there. (1) Every single performance of a meditation creates a truly individual experience, even after 15 yrs? (2) My wife and I have practiced together from the beginning. Between meditations we generally have a brief exchange over the "focus" of our experience. Freakishly frequently we find our focus (e.g. lower spine) identical but our experiences individual. Is this "theme?" Again, thank you for your answers. We incorporated them immediately. Also, will not forget to say "THANK YOU" to Fu_doggy and Sean Olmor. The proper attitude is gratitude! Thank you. miwizi

I am a long time martial artist. My first art is Shorin Ryu karate. Began practicing some internal work with Flying Phoenix chi gung, Chen style reeling silk and taiji about ten/twelve years ago. I would like to access more details of the Flying Phoenix system and have many questions concerning details of the various postures. Ultimately, I want to integrate as much of the internal work as I can into my earlier hard style. Thanks.

Thanks for the link. Nothing as exotic as Kiswahili, just the first two letters of each of my three names joined as one. The questions I have concerning Flying Phoenix include exercise specific movements or position (monk splashes water, jade emperor lifts golden pagoda) and general chi gung principles. (1) When practicing "monk splashes water" as the arms/hands separate to the sides, should there be a feeling expansion to the collarbone area and a feeling of contraction of the shoulder blades, or should it be a case of finding the least tension front and back? (2) In general what is the distribution of weight on the foot between the heel and the ball of the foot? (3) When practicing "jade emperor lifts golden pagoda," should the weight distribution between legs change or remain 50/50? (4) In general how much does one rely on personal internal feedback as opposed to mimicry of visual info from dvd etc.? An example for me would be the options in "jade emperor lifts golden pagoda." As the single arm extends outward and downward there is an angle that produces the least tension in the body. Do I use this trajectory or do I try to approximate what I see? Thanks for the opportunity. miwizi

Hi N- Same line, but Hohan Soken to Fuse Kise. However, kata most similar to that done in our dojo was under Chotoku Kyan/Matsubayashi Ryu. Are you a Flying Phoenix practitioner? I am hoping to extract more details on this system from this site. Best wishes. m