Hi everyone, I am Lingzhi. I am new to posting on Dao Bums. I had an interesting experience with this system a couple weeks ago that I shared with Sifu Terry, and he wanted me to share some of my background and the questions I emailed to him. As I have been practicing several weeks now, some of my questions have been answered through working with the system, while new ones have arisen. I will probably make this first post with my original questions, and a second one with things I have noticed while practicing. I could also make an additional post to compare and contrast the systems I have worked with, if appropriate for the forum.
Background: About I started my journey with Reiki in William Lee Rand's Usui-Holy Fire system. Reiki was easy for me to learn while I was busy in school, and helped me through some difficult times. I took master level classes after a year to work with higher level energies. This system seemed helpful for certain types of issues. Its like having a lifeline where you can get just enough support when you need it. But the energy doesnt stay with you. It just seems to tickle my blockages enough they feel a little better. I started feeling increasingly burnt out with work , I realized I need to try something else.
I tried yogasanas a few months, and had a hard time sticking with it. Too much pain for too little energetic effect. I was interested in Taoism for a while, and wanted to try qigong and internal martial arts. I started with Spring Forest, and enjoyed that for a few months. I had issues with his small universe meditation, which would give me horrible headaches. Also could have been caffeine withdrawal. I did not like they push students toward healing other people at a low level of development. This is something I did not like about the Reiki community.
I decided I wanted to try something that would strengthen my body more. I found a teacher about an hour away teaching Baguazhang. I also enjoyed that for a few months, but the energetics were not appropriate for my particular constitution at the time. It also wasn't doing much for the issues I was seeking relief from. My TCM practitioner suggested I try something else. Most recently, I learned Wild Goose 1st 64 online and stuck with that for about 6 months. I had a good effect from this system. But this system was complicated and I kept having the nagging thought that my alignments werent quite right and was setting myself up for issues later on. I was reminded of an experience practicing tou chang with my bagua teacher, and my alignments were off. I practiced about an hour incorrectly, he came over and nudged my extended hand a centimeter left so it was directly in front of my should. I felt a rush of qi and blood rush up to my hand, and my fingers felt like they were going to explode! After that experience was replaying in my head a while, I was just feeling uneasy about continuing online with Wild Goose. But I did enjoy the effects of this system and might continue later on, if I ever find a teacher.
So, a couple weeks ago, the day of the Solar Eclipse, I was reading this forum, in particular about the qualities of Flying Phoenix energy. I had never practiced this system. I started to feel a bit of energy, and an urge to meditate. I thought at first it was my Reiki attunements kicking in, which they sometimes do in certain situations. But it started to get more intense, and had a different quality to it. I had a pleasant sensation of icy hot in areas where I was working though issues, and later on it evolved into a sensation of intense compassion. This also felt different to the "divine love" / higher heart sensation I get with Holy Fire (not Usui). This continued for a few hours, even as I cooked dinner. It was so intense, I felt burnt out for a couple days. It was like receiving the ignition experiences for Holy Fire, I just felt my system was a bit overloaded and needed time to adjust.
Fast forward about a week, I was was extremely intrigued/intimated by this experience and wanted more, so I ordered some of the dvds. A lot of the structures in this system look similar to what I am learning in Tai Chi and Hsing I, so my concerns about alignments were less because I receive corrections from my teacher in person. My second experience happened when I got the DVDs in the mail and read Sifu Terry's business card. That set off another "transmission" or tuning experience, which again lasted a couple hours.
Today, after about three weeks of practicing this system for 40 minutes a day, I am writing this post.
Here were my original questions, and MY answers:
1. Could learning from DVD only lead to issues with structural alignment/deviations later on
-Not too worried since I receive corrections on Zhan Zhuang pose from a teacher in person. The arm structure seem intuitive after working with Tai Chi / Hsing for a bit. Also, I seem to be receiving corrections on movement/structure intuitively/automatically from this system / higher self.
2. Is Flying Phoenix capable of restoring post/prenatal qi/jing? I feel this has been depleted from severe chronic emotional distress and anxiety since I was very young. Wild goose has specific sets of movements for pre/post natal which is why I was curious.
-So far I have noticed improvements in mental clarity/energy/brain fog. So I would say its helping with kidney depletion. I still cant focus on work, but maybe its just boring. Also, like Reiki , this doesnt really fit into TCM model. It seems like Shen level process, like Reiki, but is a better quality of information.
3.Could I end up causing issues mixing multiple systems? I had an acupuncturist (had several) who was really really into SFQ and he said that mixing multiple systems, including Reiki, could lead to health issues later on because it confuses the body. Would Flying Phoenix be safe to practice while I am learning internal martial arts (Tai chi, Hsing I) or if I want to practice Reiki or my Wild Goose form a couple times per week?
-I dont really feel the need to practice Reiki right now. I might try a Holy Fire session on my self at some point to see what has changed. I read several other posts on martial arts, it sounds OK to practice while learning Tai Chi / Hsing I ( I only practice 2 hours in class per week for now) . I practiced the Wild Goose 1st 64 form (post natal) once, it was much more intense than I remember and channels opened more easily. It would be nice if I could practice enough I don't forget it.
4. Do practice guidelines apply for spontaneous/delayed experiences? I had to get up and complete tasks while the energy was still flowing. Hopefully it didnt cause any issues.
-No answer yet, but related to this I had an oil radiator heater click on loudly during a Vol2 Basic 3 meditation which startled me and cause me to jolt while meditating after breath sequence. I stopped the meditation, but felt drawn back to redo it. What should I do in scenarios like this? Hopefully it didnt cause too much damage. Also, I get a delayed effect almost every day. I wont feel a ton during practice, then 8 hours later, wham! Time for cosmic icy hot.
5. Is there a suggested amount of time to work with each DVD?
- I have notes of each meditation and breath sequence. I simply point to one and feel the energy flow. I do whatever meditations I feel the strongest flow from. This is technique I developed practicing Reiki.
