zen-bear

Hello Aeran, Even though it's been almost 3 years since I practised FP consistently (putting aside a few times where I would resume my practice for a few days only to start having problems and leave off again), from the first time I sat down and started practising earlier this month, I found I could feel the FP energy in an overt, tangible way. By comparison when I first came across the system in 2013 it took me a month or two to develop a distinct sense of the FP Qi and how it was moving in my body. I don't know enough to try and fully articulate it at this stage, and it could just be that I've become better at picking these things up over time, but it definitely feels as if the energy made a long term change at some deeper level within the body, so I'm grateful for that. What you've described above is commonly experienced by practitioners who stop after getting an initial hit or infusion of the FP Healing Energy, take a long hiatus and then come back to FP Practice. The body is familiar with the FP Healing Energy and takes to the Meditations more readily. It's not like starting all over again. This further evidence that FP Qigong is transformative and that its health benefits, as I've said many, many times, are cumulative and lasting--as long as the initial practice is done correctly. I might be completely off, but the biggest difference that I can seem to articulate is that the Oneness energy feels as if it starts at a more mental/spiritual level and works downwards, whereas the FP Qi seems to work across the mental/energetic/physical spectrum more concurrently, with the emphasis feeling like it varies depending on the meditation. The way you've described and discerned the differences between the Oneness Mediation's Deeksha energy and the Flying Phoenix Healing Energy is very astute, quite accurate, and demonstrates that your FP Qigong practice has had good effect. The Oneness Meditation deeksha energy is channeled through a powerful spiritual channel established by the Hindu monks of the Oneness Temple in Varadaiahpalem, Andhra Pradesh, India and at Sri Bhagavan's ashram long before the temple was built in 2008. I believe--and I may be wrong here (Hope that Tao Stillness can perhaps fill us in)--that Oneness Movement is descended from or is part of the Bakti Movement in Indian spiritual history that took hold in the 6th to 9th centuries. Established by the alvars, also spelt as alwars or azhwars ( ‘those immersed in god’) were Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused Bhakti (devotion) to the Hindu Supreme god Vishnu or his avatar Krishna in their songs of longing, ecstasy and service. Their key practice is meditative exercises with devotion (bhakti). The Oneness Deeksha energy is conferred by higher yogins in that tradition and imbued through meditation upon the less advanced. From what little I know of Oneness (through Tao Stillness, reading online, and Youtube), and what I can infer from what I've seen, the Oneness practice of still meditation focuses the mind on Oneness, Universal Love, which is found in many Bhakti traditions. I've not spoken to any advanced practitioners of Oneness like Eric Isen (--we've only emailed), so I've never asked if their meditations are devoted to a particular spiritual entity. In contrast, the FP Qigong Healing Energy is self-cultivated by conditioning the body to perfect integration with the mind to attain health and longevity benefits and then healing Power--and that healing power is vastly enhanced by the tapping into the supramundane trunk of FP Healing Energy. FP practice gradually activates brain centers to an extent somewhat similar to what is achieved via Oneness meditation. But this state of brain activation and FP Energy activation cannot be conferred or transmitted from teacher to student. While a teacher can increase one’s capacity to conduct the FP Healing Energy, he of course cannot do the cultivation for the practitioner. The FP Healing Energy must be self-cultivated to a certain high level before it automatically channels one into the macrocosmic, supramundane “trunk” of FP Energy. And it is indeed a macrocosmic and supramundane (spiritual) channel because there is NO cohesive community of FP Qigong practitioners located in any one particular place at present--except when I practice with a couple of my most advanced students here in L.A. but that is not on any regular basis. This art was long removed from and is not practiced at Ehrmeishan, as far as I know and according to GM Doo Wai. So whenever you connect with the "trunk" of FP Healing Energy and its consciousness, you know that you have passed a major yogic and spiritual milestone. Once FP Energy cultivation has taken hold, the practitioner will also spontaneously tap in or commune energetically with the microcosmic FP Energy body of a neighboring practitioner. A common occurence in all my FP classes over the years is that students feel each other’s distinctive FP Energy (not just general energy), and all feel that the group's collective FP energy is synergistic, or greater than the component energies of the individuals. Also in contrast to Oneness Meditation, which I believe utilizes sedentary meditative exercises, the pinnacle of FP Qigong is reached through perfection of the Long Form moving meditation taught in Volume 4, “Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation.” That is the key vehicle. SO LET ME REITERATE THIS REMINDER FOR ALL: Because FP Qigong's CAPSTONE exercise is the moving meditation on Volume 4, you can consider Flying Phoenix Celestial Healing Chi Meditations to be a system of moving meditation. So get to practice and get through the basic sedentary meditations on Volume 1, and get into the moving meditations of Volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. • And contact me for remedial in person or online Skype tutorials in the moving FP Meditations. A short lesson will transform your practice in ways you cannot imagine. For this New Year, I am hoping to see greater numbers of proficient practitioners of "Moonbeam" and the Long Form Moving Med. **** How's the above for a strong and lengthy interjection? **** eg. Monk Gazing at Moon feels like it has a very strong mental/spiritual effect, while something like the first seated exercise, 5 - 60 - 80 - 40 - 30, feels like it's more focused on the denser/physical level of being. No, that difference that you experience is a function of your neuro-muscular and energetic (yogic) development. The FP Healing Energy should feel the same across all the Basic Level FP Meditations (Vols. 1 -5 and vol.7). The seated MSW meditations on Vols. 2 and 7 are felt more pronounced in the hands, arms, upper body and head. But the feeling of the FP energy on a cellular level is uniformly soothing and sweet--and blissful to many. (Energy in Seated Med. 5 - 60 - 80 -40 -30 may feel "more dense" to you but this only because the cultivation is localised to the upper body). Take my word for it that the FP Healing Energy is very light, penetrative, and blue. As stated before many times in this thread, the standing FP Meditations are more powerful than the seated ones, but the seated ones may feel more affective in the upper body. I could be wrong though - and of course my experience with the Oneness energy is limited to Eric's healing Deekshas and a "Sacred Chamber" experiences (which I highly recommend, if anybody has the opportunity). Anyway I don't want to drag the thread off topic, but I had Eric do a very basic analysis of the FP meditations on the first two DVD's as a whole last year as part of a wider analysis of several different systems as they relate to my health specifically. Lately I've been thinking about asking him to do a more in-depth, one-by-one analysis of the meditations and their specific effects so I can further optimise my practice. If I do (and if you and Eric are ok with it) I'll post the results here. Sure, Aeran, if you want to share Eric's analyses of each FP Qigong Meditation on the thread, I would welcome it, and I think the FP community would welcome it with open arms and appreciation. It's your information that you've acquired through your practice and via your relationship with Eric. I have no problem with posting such info whatsoever because it will give this forum plenty to talk about and its infusion might spark other practitioners' memories of their FP experiences. So I thank you in advance. •••••••• Bottomline: You’re on the right track, Aeran. Just continue your practice and work towards mastering the Long Form Meditation. Eventually, find other FP Practitioners and practice in a group. Or teach your friends to do FP Qigong...because practicing FP Qigong in a group is a gas. Happy New Year Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Steve, Sorry I missed your post last week. I just saw it now. You raise a very interesting question. Not that I've explored and observed that many different Qigong arts, but I too have not come across a Qigong system that works the way Flying Phoenix Qigong does with super-slow movement approaching the "speed of a shifting sand dune." In fact, the more I think of it, how the super-slow movement combined with the system's esoteric breath control formulas to generate the FP Healing Energy is a true mystery of yoga. The art was clearly born out of intuitive genius or, as the legend and oral tradition goes, it was a gift to the mortal Feng Tao Teh by the female deity at Ehrmeishan. That's why the mechanism by which FP Qigong works is so worthy of hard scientific research and study. I hope that during my lifetime that FP practitioners will be given some hard science that definitively explains how the tangible and lasting and cumulative energizing and rejuvenating effects are brought on by the combination of (A) breath control formulas and ( the FP postures and movements. Even if western science is able to explain this mysterious mechanism, the fact that it works [period] will, I believe, continue to cause future generations of initiates of FP Qigong practice to exclaim, "I can't believe a that a human created this." Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Aeran, Nice Poster and Affirmation! You are most welcome. One needn't be too hard on oneself if life priorities like paying for overhead or fulfilling familial obligations prevent one from committing to practice. "No regrets". One will have cause for regret only for giving up. Or if one misses a critical window of opportunity that opens but once. Flying Phoenix Qigong, however, is not such a narrow vehicle. But a very broad and accommodating one. By your accurate description below of the Flying Phoenix Healing Energy, you've demonstrated that you are an initiate of FP Qigong. Of the different qigong systems I've tried, FP really does feel like it's been the most effective, since the Qi it cultivates seems to seek out and balance emotional & physical tension through it's own volition. A lot of other systems seem to either "agitate" the blockages without working to open and cleanse them, or to set stagnant energy flowing through the body without venting it. The FP Qi seems to actually neutralise the stagnation to some extent right as it surfaces, and what's left over is much more easily processed. Yes, the energy cultivated by FP Qigong practice does seem to have a volition of its own, as I've described its "spontaneously jumping-off-to-heal" qualities in past postings. Plus the healing mechanism of this energy is transformative without having to "manipulate" the "stagnant energy." The FP Healing Energy both neutralizes and eradicates the residual "stagnant energy"--by gently un-knotting and dissolving the time-bound Pain manifested as tension in the body. And in its place is not a vacuum, but the Flying Phoenix healing Qi in abundance. I'm glad to hear that you've gotten beneficial guidance by Eric Isen referred to you by Tao Stillness. He is an authentic and excellent medical clairvoyant who has helped not only individuals that have been introduced to him through this thread, but who has very clearly explained to me and others the yogic benefits of numerous Flying Phoenix Qigong exercises and the FP Qigong as a system. I was instantly impressed with Eric's prowess as a medical clairvoyant when Steve (Tao Stillness) shared with me and then the thread Eric's very precise readings of the medical and yogic effects opf each of the Flying Phoenix Meditations Exercises. Not only did each of Eric's remote readings jibe perfectly with my 20+ years of experience with FP Meditations (at the time), but in the case of several meditations, Eric clearly spelled out the specific benefits (and their location and mechanism) that I had experienced but had not yet put into words--i.e., semanticized (formed language symbols for)! And during the course of my back-channel communications with Tao Stillness and Eric, I came to directly experience Eric's Deeksha energy not through any particular ritual, or healing procedure, but only by reading his words in an email that Steve had forwarded to me. AND I HAVE JUST NOW HERE AGAIN AT THIS HOUR, 12:26AM PST, AS I AM REREADING WHAT I WHAT I HAD WRITTEN EARLIER TO YOU, I AM EXPERIENCING THE ONENESS MEDITATION MOVEMENT'S DEEKSAH ENERGY IN ITS FULL, UPLIFTING, HEALING BLISS--SIMILAR TO THE BRAIN ACTIVATION OF FP QIGONG, BUT ACTIVATING DIFFERENT BRAIN CENTERS. (BTW, I DID NOT EXPERIENCE THE DEEKSHA EARLIER WHEN I WROTE THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS POST.) At any rate, if you continue to practice FP Qigong and your other self-healing practices/prescriptions, and monitor all with Eric's occasional "supervision", you will manage your health splendidly. Best Regards, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi SoH, No, that would not work at all. A robotic exo-skeleton that moves one's body parts to do the physical moments of Qigong is, by definition, not Qigong. The art of Qigong is based on: "The Mind moves the Qi; the Qi moves the body." A robotic exo-skeleton would defeat or nullify the very basic process of any Qigong system. You would never start nor get to the point of achieving "the mind moving the Qi and the Qi moving the body" if something mechanical and external to the body is moving the body for you. Qigong means "energy work." Not "mechanically-assisted body work". Best, Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Still-As-Tao Steve, I'm glad to hear that you have done enough FP Qigong to consistently feel its tangible energy in your hands (as when you assume Monk Gazing At Moon-type of arm-and-chest shapes as in 60 70 40 5 seated Med.) and other parts of the body. Yes, as I've said from the very beginning of this thread and will repeat many times, every year. to remind everyone: FP Qigong is authentic Taoist monastic Qigong that requires absolutely NO VISUALIZATION OF ANY SORT for it to impart its full range of energizing, rejuvenating and healing effects. The Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung, which I also preserve and teach, is just as powerful as FP Qigong and also has the same quality of "NO VISUALIZATION NEEDED." It was created during the Tang Dynasty (8th Century) and is attributed to its patron saint, Lu Deng Bin, leader of 8 Taoist Immortals. The only slight caveat is that with some--but not all-- Tao Tan Pai Yogas, visualization of the microcosmic orbit (as per "Secret of the Golden Flower") and mentally "tracing" the "Circulation of the Light" does catalyze and facilitate yogic development. But one can learn and practice Tao Tan Pai with no visualizations whatsoever and still get its excellent health benefits, and profound sensory and consciousness expanding effects. Related to Ridingtheox's suggestion for learning from the DVDs at slower speed: I will producing a lot more demonstration videos for reference later this year (along with new DVDs) that will include super-slow, almost ideally paced performance of FP Meditations--i.e., demonstrations that approach the speed of "a shifting sand dune." Ha Ha. For real. Happy New Year, Steve. Sifu Terry P.S. be sure to check out my newly renovated website: www.taichimania.com

Hello Aeran, I'm glad to hear that you're getting good support from you FP Qigong practice for your emotional release work and mindfulness training. FP Qigong is extremely benign an accommodating to all forms of self-regulated healing. No regrets for not being able to stick to FP Practice due to emotional hardships and blockages of our will and life's momentum. There are many obstacles on the path of the warrior and of the man of knowledge. So long as you persevere with an authentic practice like FP Qigong, you will life a healthier , longer and more elegant rest of your life regardless of what you think of FP Qigong (as I stated in similar words above). Just Do It. Happy New Year. Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello everyone, I just want to inform all FP Qigong practitioners and enthusiasts that I finally completed renovations of my old website, and it is now up and running. www.taichimania.com Of interest to many of you may be my growing schedule of Flying Phoenix Qigong For Health workshops for this year, starting with 3 at the Eastover Estate in Lenox, MA, plus my appearance there on June 28-30 for the Annual Medical Qigong Conference. I am very excited about the 2017 schedule of workshops because this will be the first time that I am teaching 3-day and 5-day workshops on FP Qigong nationwide (outside of Southern California) since 1998! Stay tuned to my website's home page (Slide #3) for more information on FP Qigong workshops as more are added to the calendar. Thank you. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/videos.html

To the FP Qigong Community, I also want to correct here in a post something that was blathered maybe 3-4 years ago: Someone from some peanut gallery allied, I recall, perhaps with "Sil Lum" (who got banned from this discussion for trolling) commented that the FP Qigong meditations will reach a point of "saturation" and then have no other additional healing effects. What I can say to that is: Au contraire, mon frère. •• That is only true if one is STUCK at the same level of bodily tension, rigid thinking, and too narrow a logic. Not growing, in other words.•• I have been practicing FP Qigong for 25 years since I learned it from GM Doo Wai in 1991. Over the past 5 years, due to rapid progress in my Yang Tai Chi Chuan under the teachings of the great GM William C. C. Chen, my FP Qigong practices (and all other Qigong practices) has been catalyzed and accelerated to the point where I now know--or rather, am reminded again very clearly-- that the FP Healing Energy can be transmitted to another person without touch, just as GM Doo Wai had explained early on in his comparison of our healing technique with that of Tao Tan Pai energy healing: "We don't manipulate energy; we just pass our hand over." The fact of the matter about FP Qigong Meditations is that if you continue to practice the ENTIRE SYSTEM regularly, over the long term you will continue to melt away all complexes of tension, continue to develop the internal FP Healing Energy, start to tangibly feel a reserve of the FP Healing Energy build in your body, and continue to transform and evolve your physical-spiritual being, which is one and the same. There has been little meme going around Facebook last year that goes: You don't have a soul. You are a soul; you have a body, temporarily." (this saying was incorrectly attributed to C.S. Lewis. it was actually drived from a saying by George MacDonald in 1892.) And I would say that the gift of FP Qigong is to deliver your soul elegantly through this lifetime to your next temporary body, or incarnation. The FP Qigong systems works regardless of what you think of it. If you persevere in its practice, it will work for you. Several subscribers have shared their history with FP Qigong saying that they, for one reason or another, had to leave it alone for a year or two, and when they returned to it, they got great results. That is fine...as long as you get back to it at some point. Carry On, FP Practioners! Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/videos.html

Hello The Fool, That is a nice practice combining advanced seate Monk Serves Wine meds. of Vol.7 and the 2 intermediate standing meditations of Vol.3. "Clean" is one of the hallmarks of the FP Healing Energy. Qualities of the "clean" are lightness (that very bearable lightness of being, FP Qigong style), and mental clarity. That great feeling of well-being will expand over time to an ever-more blissful feeling of all-one-ness ...as one traverse to the higher jhanas (levels of concentration-absorption) beyond one-pointedness. I have been practicing two rounds of the Long Form Standing Med. (Vol.4) everyday since Christmas Day plus 3 Advanced MSW seated meditations including those in Vol.7. This is in addition to my daily practice of Tai Chi Chuan, Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung & Kuing Fu, and 8 Sections of Energy Kung Fu. >> For everyone's information, there are 24 Monk Serves Wine meditations (not including the 3 "preparatory warmup meds" Vol.2 and I have published 8 of them in the DVD series. (The rest can be learned through a traditional apprenticeship.) << Keep up the good practice. Best, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com

Hello and Happy New Year to the entire Flying Phoenix Qigong community! Planet Mercury has gone directly (finally), and I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching three FP Qigong workshops at the Eastover Estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the beautiful Berkshires on the following dates this year: 1. May 26-29 (3-day workshop) 2. July 27 - 30 (3-day workshop) 3. August 29 - Sept. 2 (5 day workshop) Eastover Estate Resort and Retreat is a beautiful and elegant facility in the Berkshires in the town of Lenox, MA. it has luxurious accommodations and superb food services to suit anyone following any heath prescription. http://eastover.com/upcoming-retreats.html http://www.hotelsone.com/lenox-hotels-us/eastover-estate-and-retreat.html?as=g&aid=102837134558&dsti=500082&dstt=8&label=bh500082&akw=eastover%20estate%20and%20retreat&asrc=Search&ast=_eastover%20estate%20and%20retreat&gclid=CJbF4dbyu9ECFUtNfgod-bEHCA You will see the dates of my 3 FPCK workshops at the linked webpage above. More details will follow shortly as to each workshop's syllabus. • I will also be participating in the annual Medical Qigong Symposium this June 23 - 30, 2017 at Eastover as well. My dates as a presenter have not yet been finalized. But I will update all notices with those dates as well. 2017 will be a very big year for FP Qigong, Tao Tan Pai arts, Tai Chi Chuan and Universal Justice. So mark your calendars, start planning your Qigong getaways, and I look forward to meeting many of you in the beautiful Berkshires to review and perfect your Flying Phoenix practice first and foremost...and any other arts that I preserve as well for those who are versed in them. Sincerely, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Frederic, Thank you for posting your thoughts on the two most popular translations of Secret of the Golden Flower--Wilhelm/Jung and Thomas Cleary. I like the two versions about equally, with a slight skew towards Wilhelm/Jung because I like what Jung says philosophically as a western commentator. Understanding "Secret of the Golden Flower" is important and very relevant to learning Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir Nei Kung) that I teach than it is for learning Flying Phoenix Qigong. As I have taught from the very start of this thread: FP Qigong practice requires NO VISUALIZATION WHATSOEVER. And what is the essential teaching and practice of "Secret of the Golden Flower"? It is visualizing the Circulation of the Light until one becomes--and realizes one is--the Way and the Light. While it is a glorious spiritual triumph to attain to the Light and thus, in the words of the I Ching, become a teacher of gods and men, knowing that methodology is not essential to FP Qigong practice nor is it a prequisite. That is because Flying Phoenix Qigong develops its Light uniquely yogically--with ne'er a thought about Light. Again, all one has to do is follow the Nike slogan: "Just do it." I have made "Secret of the Golden Flower" and "Tibetan Yoga & Secret Doctrines" by W.Y. Evans-Wentz required reading for all my students in the States and elsewhere over the past 30+ years (with the latter Tibetan text just as important for growth, if not more so) because yogic consciousness is yogic consciousness, regardless of system, style or cultural origin of the yoga. I consider "Secret Doctrines" to be the best bible on Yoga ever published. As I've opined many times, there is more valuable esoteric knowledge in the footnotes of "Tibetan Yoga" than there is in any bookshelf-full of contemporary books on Yoga of any sort. That's because the secret teachings of Yoga have been slowly dying with the passing of each generation of masters, and dying faster in America with the way Indian yogas are taught here--via a process of what I call MacDonaldization. Enjoy your FP practice. Happy New Year. Sifu Terry Dunn

AP&P, Thanks for giving good advice to Learner in response to his question. Makes my job easier. Plus, it's gratifying to know that you and others have practiced the FP Qigong system correctly and thoroughly enough to give pointers and guidance to beginners. Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Learner, Yes, take Aperiron&Peiron's correct advice: All the Standing Meditations on Volume 1 (do one after another; do each one for 10 to 15 minutes; except for Bending of the Bows which sometimes requires more time: in the beginning do 18 rounds of this exercise every time you practice it.) And, yes, the last Monk Serves Wine meditation on Volume 2. But best bet is to do all of the seated Meditations on Volume 2, from beginning to end. The last 3 Monk Serves Wine Meditations: do 7 rounds of each. Good luck. Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. I give private online tutorials via Skype on all the FP Qigong Meditation levels.

Hi Steve, Thanks for your report of Monk Serves Wine 60 70 40 5 (Vol.7) as being a nice sleep inducer. In general, I've always taught that the waker-upper (90 80 50 20), the last MSW Meditation on Volume 2, is the only one that prevents sleep; and that the "Sleeper" on Vol. 7 (50 20 10) and the 50 40 30 10 MSW on Vol. 2 (2nd to the last, or fifth meditation including the "warmups"), are sure-fire sleep-inducers. I've always done 60-70-40-5 during the daytime along with Volume 7's: 80 70 50 20 and 70 50 20 10 (aka, the Hair recolorizers). But I intuitively know that 60-70-40-5 (due to its daytime effects) is also a nice sleep-inducer. Thanks for bringing it up to the FP Community. Happy Holidays, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Frederi Hi Frederic, Thank you for your suggestions to distribute my instructional programs through purely digital channels as opposed to DVD channels. I began looking into those channels some time ago--in fact, many years ago, when iTunes first began--but being a traditionalist. I decided to stick to selling DVDs as my business model. But the greater reason was that I was embroiled in a massive lawsuit against a film studio since 2010 (actually earlier), which will soon enter into a new Round Two...and I didn't have the time to follow-up on digital distribution. http://www.kungfupandalawsuit.com/Timeline_Hotspots_New.html For now, DVDs are what's available and Tai Chi and FP Qigong enthusiasts in Europe, middle east, Russia (a very few), Asia, Australia and So. America have been well-served and not complaining. Thanks for the suggestions of various digital distributors. I will look into them. Happy Holidays. Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Seeker, Those other styles outside of the Bok Fu Pai tradition that I have practiced long-term are: 1. Yang Tai Chi (Cheng Man-Ching lineage), 2. Liu He Ba Fa 3. Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir Method) Kung Fu. 4. Southern Sil Lum (Shaolin) 5 Animals Kung Fu 5. Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger) Kung Fu The first two of these four of these styles have highest-level instructors a generation older than me who are eminently qualified to preserve those traditions. I hope that in my final decades--this Act 3 of my life, I will graduate to their level of kung fu. I have peer instructors in Bok Fu Pai, Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu (which has a vast and powerful Nei Kung component) and in So. Shaolin 5 Animals Kung Fu who are at my skill level and perhaps higher. I am the sole preserver of this most rare of internal martial arts arts under the Bok Fu Pai mantle: 8 Sections of Energy Combined (as I know that my two classmates who were taught the foundations of this art in the early 90's by GM Doo Wai never progressed to master the system). Assuming that my two classmates from the 90's (with whom I've lost touch) have practiced what they were taught, I am one of 3 preservers of the internal system known as "10,000 Buddhas Ascend to Heaven" ("10,000 Buddhas' Meditation" for short), an authentic, ancient and advanced Emie (Ehrmei) Mountain Qigong system. This advanced art will never be published on any medium. But hopefully one day will be transmitted to a deserving student. Over the next 3 years, I plan to produce a total of fifteen (15) new DVD programs teaching these arts: (A) Four new DVD titles teaching more of the Flying Phoenix Qigong, completing the series at 10 volumes. One of these will be a new Volume 6, which has been much asked about over many, many years. ( A two-part DVD series teaching the Tao Tan Pai 31-Exercise Nei Kung, aka "Cloud Hands" (no relation to "Wave Hands Like Clouds" Tai Chi Chuan). This is the only level of TTP Nei Kung that I personally feel should be published--other than the basic TTP 5 Animal Kung Fu Forms. © Two DVD programs, each teaching one of the basic/preparatory exercises of 8 Sections of Energy Combined that have immediate health benefits--like FP Qigong. (D) a new series of Tai Chi For Health DVDs teaching Yang Tai Chi forms in the manner of Prof. Cheng Man-Ching/William C.C. Chen) to replace the best-selling titles that I made in 1989. (E) A two-volume instructional program on Liu He Ba Fa. (F) A new instructional Tai Chi Ruler program to replace the one I made in 1985. In the meantime, all FP practitioners have quite enough material to master over a lifetime with the FP Qigong instruction presently available 6 Volumes of Chi Kung For Health. For as I explained in a recent post replying to Vajrafist, the FP Long Form Standing Meditation (Vol.4) is an advanced practice that will ensure strong immunity and thereby promote longevity. Thanks for your good wishes--so that I may complete my life's work in preserving these arts to this minimum extent. Sifu Terry Dunn

I. Christmas Day practice: A. Morning practice: 1. Tao Tan Pai 5 Dragons (50 min.) 2. Flying Phoenix 22-movement Long Form Seated Meditation (Monk Serves Wine). 3. Red Lotus Flying Phoenix seated meditation No.1 B. Evening practice 1. 8 Sections Combined - Preparatory Form; Sections 3. 4. and 8. 2. William Chen (60 posture) Short Form - 2 rounds 3. Yang Tai Chi sword - 2 rounds 4. Wudang Dan Jian - 2 rounds 5. Liu He Ba Fa form - one round. II. Day after Christmas practice: Still doing heavy FP Qigong for maintenace due to mercury retrograde over the Christmas holiday. A. This morning's training: 1. Yang Tai Chi Long Form (William Chen version) - 1 round 2. Chen's Yang Tai Chi sword form - 2 rounds (very slowly) 3. Flying Phoenix Long Form Standing Meditation (Vol.4) - 2 rounds, the second round done about twice is slowly as the first. 4. Moonbeam Splashes on Water (Vol.3) - 2 rounds. Again, second round was done considerably slower than the first. 5. Advanced FP Meditations 1 through 5. - 30 min. B. This evening's practice: 1. 8 Sections Combined -- Sections 5, 6, 7, 8. 2. Chen's Yang Tai Chi Long Form 3. Advanced FP Meditations No. 6-9.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah and Yule celebration to all FP practitioners. I wanted to share this experience from last Tuesday: Monday was a particularly busy, work-filled day and evening which kept me up very late. As a result, because I had to get up for an early morning meeting, I only got 3.5 hours of sleep. By 10am I was dragging and feeling the fatigue and mental slowness from sleep deprivation. (The mercury retrograde doesn't help much, either.) Fortunately, I knew I could take the afternoon off, so I practiced the two most sleep-inducing FP seated meditations--the 50 20 10 Meditation from Volume 7 and the second Monk Serves Wine Meditation on Volume Two --50 40 30 10--the 5th exercise on the program, counting the warm-ups.) I did full sets of 7 repetitions of both meditations very slowly and very relaxed. (Easy to do when one is tired; the movement patterns were automatic after 25 uyears of practioce.) I always sleep well but this time, I slept a very deeply for a solid 5 hours, remembering no dreams. When I awoke, I felt the FP Healing Energy in blissful "saturation"--what felt like total permeation of every cell in my body. Wanting build on this saturated state, I spent 2 hours in the late afternoon practicing the entire basic level of the Flying Phoenix Qigong system up through "Moonbeam Splashes on Water": 1. Monk Gazing At Moon -- 10 min. 2. Monk Holding Peach -- 10 min. 3. Monk Holding Pearl (seated) -- 5 min. 4. Bending the Bows -- 20+ rounds slowly -- 30 min. (Yes, you can do more than 18 rounds of BTB) 5. Wind Through Treetops -- 20 min.: two times, the second time slower than the first. (on the second round, I believe that I finally actually cracked the speed-of-a-shifting-sand-dune time barrier!) [then I took a break of 5 minutes to chase down my beagle who wandered away as usual in the park. I felt that I was walking on air] 6. Wind Above the Clouds -- two rounds, second one slower than the first. 15 min. total 7. Moonbeam Splashes on Water--2 rounds. 20 min. Then approx. 5.5 hours later, I practiced two rounds of the Long Form Standing Meditation (Vol.4) very slowly. I cannot begin to convey in words how blissful a state I was in during the practice and more so afterwards. One cannot believe how it good it feels to be a living human being for the FP Healing Energy sllk My friend, Prof. Frederick Underwood, former chairman of Indo-Tibetan Studies in the Dept. of Religion at Columbia University (Bob Thurman's predecessor) perhaps put it best in a letter he sent to me after a 1997 workshop in Minneapolis, saying that the Flying Phoenix Qigong taught him what the early Buddhist scriptures meant when they referred to: "Touching nirvana with the body." The highly energized yet sublime, "soothed out" state of bliss lasted through the rest of the day and evening and was only deepened and intensified by the two rounds of the FP Long Form about 5 hours later, and continued through this week and weekend--even though the next day I practiced just one FP meditation, in favor of 8 Sections Combined, and Thursday and Friday I practiced Tai Chi exclusively. Then this morning, during my regular Tai Chi class (yes, we had class on Christmas Eve!), I decided to spend the first hour leading everyone in long meditations using the FP Standing Exercises in Volume One and then Wind Above the Clouds from Vol.3. No Wind through the Treetops (no time). During my practice with the class, I felt Tuesday's level of FP energy about after about one minute of Monk GAzing At Moon. ENJOY YOUR FP PRACTICE OVER THE HOLIDAYS!! And may you all touch nirvana with your bodies and truly find your bliss. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimanai.com/chikung_catalog.htmo

Hi Steve, I'm in the process of setting up part of my workshop schedule for 2017. One of the locations that will be hosting 3 of my FP Qigong workshops (or Flying Phoenix in combination with some Tao Tan Pai) is Eastover Estate in Stockbridge, MA in the Berkshires. Thank you for suggesting that I look into doing something at the Ruscombe Mansion in Baltimore. I have not heard of it before. I will definitely contact them. As soon as I have solid confirmed dates, I will post them on this thread as a matter of course. Happy Holidays, Sifu Terry

Hi Astral Butterfly, Nice lucid dream. Beautful. Congrats on finding your hands i your dream--whether you intended to and programmed yourself to do so beforehand. But as you may or may not know, finding one's hands is the first hurdle exercise in developing and furthering lucid dreaming in both Chinese and Carlos Castaneda's reported Yaqui sorcery tradition. A small white ball floating between cupped palms. I have not seen that in my dreamstate. But something similar and of different color a long time ago. Nothing recently. I think you'll find that when it comes to lucid dreaming, it's each to his/her own. But here may be some universally seen features. Recall that about 2 or 3 years ago, there were many, many reports all at once of FP practitioners seeing blue spheres in the waking state right after or during their FP Meditations. Lucid dreamstate visions are typically different for each person--unless, of course, you meet another person's dream body in a planned rendezvous. That, btw, is entirely possible and doable by two well-trained and advanced yogins. "Warriors" in Castaneda's parlance. If you want to continue expanding your prowess in lucid dreaming: Find your hands again in your dreamstate. Then once you see them, look down your wrists to your forearms, then progress to upper arms and front of chest. Then down your chest to abdomen, then look down at your hips, legs and your feet. Then see your feet and what you're standing on. Then look farther around on whatever your standing on and then at the environment. The point is to maintain lucidity throughout all your seeing. Get the process? Enjoy your lucid dreams and perhaps further explorations. Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Vajra Fist, No problem with using Tai Chi names...makes it easier for me to know what you mean. ANSWER: In general, no, do not pivot the feet when doing the "Push"-like or "Brush Knee"-like movements in the FP Standing Long Form as one does in Tai Chi form practice. And no, not parallel: try to keep your feet slightly flared outward, which is the standard. I have seen GM Doo Wai over many years do the FP Long Form Standing and many other Flying Phoenix and Bok Fu Pai moving meditations in a fixed stance where he barely moves the position of the feet, when he performs those Tai Chi-like movements (press, push, brush-knee). When moving meditations are done in fixed step, that is usually an advanced cultivation...opening the "Gua" even more to derive greater health benefits and martial prowess. e.g., if you know or have seen Liu He Ba Fa, an advanced practice is to do the entire 510 posture Form in a fixed step. (See Youtube vids. of Master Yun Yin Sen in Singapore; I recall he does LHBF in fixed step). So all this is to say that the Flying Phoenix Long Form Standing Meditation (Volume 4) is indeed an advanced practice that can serve one throughout a lifetime. Best Regards, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

To FP Qigong practitioners & subscribers: Finding Taoguy's post 6 weeks after he posted it and finally responding to it today is what is prompting this message: My apologies if I have missed any of your postings. I have had a hectic past 2 months with lots of travel and teaching on the road. And have now returned to busy holiday seasonal obligations. If I have missed anyone's postings and you have a hankering for an answer, just post it again or send me a PM with the post number on it...and I will get to it as soon as I can. Happy Holidays. Sifu Terry Dunn

Hi A&P, Thanks for your good and accurate answer to Centertime's question. I, too, have not heard of the "Awaken" method or art. So I obviously cannot compare. But I did answer extensively a question about reverse breathing that was posted by "Taoguy" back on Nov.3 that I had missed back then and just saw and read tonight. Thanks again for good discussion. Sifu Terry Dunn

To Apeiron&Peiron and tao stillness, too: I hope to begin production on TTP-31 training video sometime in 2017. But I have an extremely busy seminar teaching schedule for this next year and don't know when the production will be completed and when a DVD or video-streaming product commercially available. Thanks for your interest. Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Taoguy, Sorry to take so long to respond to your post and question. Fact of the matter is that I missed your post back in November and just now saw it. No doubt that the late Nan Huai-Jin was a Buddhist luminary and great yogin. His general statement is accurate as far as the world of Buddhist yogas go. But it is an accurate general statement. But the fact is that we are not doing the opposite of reverse breathing in Flying Phoenix Qigong. If we were, we would simply doing natal breathing with no percentage exhalations alternating between full natal breathes. (Natal beathing = natural breathing where lower belly expands on inhalation and contracts on exhalation, as seen in all newborns and infants). Flying Phoenix Qigong's percentage breath formulas and especially the internal martial arts in the Ehrmei Mtn. Bok Fu Pai tradition) fully encompass reverse breathing--and to a very, very refined and sophisticated extent. This will be thoroughly explained in my forthcoming book on FP Qigong. First of all, "reverse breathing" is a very general pattern of breathing. There are more nuanced definitions of reverse breathing than what you described in your post. e.g., my Chen style Tai Chi teacher in the 1980's, Master John Fey, explained that reverse breathing is not the pure opposite of natal breathing. But rather, reverse breathing in Chen Tai Chi is a pattern where after one has done natal breathing to its fullest and free-est extent, one holds the front abdominal wall still in its "normal" position. If properly trained after a number of years of kung fu done with natal breathing, the result is that the internal energy instantly fills up all the organs just below the rib cage (my book will have more detailed description) and then compresses upward into the upper extremities assuming one has proper stancework and well-developed shape-form (xing) of the body. There are transitions in Chen Tai Chi forms, and also ancillary stepping and kicking drills in Chen Tai Chi and Qigong sets such as "Silk Weaver's Exercise" where the movements themselves condition the body to naturally do reverse breathing without having to think about it. Similarly, some of FP Qigong's percentage breathing formulas and especially the Bok Fu Pai martial Nei Kung's percentage breathing formulas effect reverse breathing. But we don't speak of "reverse breathing" because it isn't necessary. The Flying Phoenix Qigong system is complete and self-explanatory through its correct practice as passed down through the ages through GM Doo Wai's family lineage. Similarly, FP Qigong works with no mention or reference to acupuncture meridians and the model of health set forth by TCM. That roadmap or set theory is not necessary for FP Qigong to be fully effective. Similarly, the most advanced and most jealously guarded Martial Qigong in Bok Fu Pai also operate outside of meridian theory and the TCM model of health. As I explained once on this thread a long time ago, the most powerful and most subtle internal martial arts in the White Tiger tradition are based the position of the sun (and the moon). Another example of how different martial & yogic traditions effect "reverse breathing": A.) Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu forms (tiger, dragon, snake, crane, monkey) effect reverse breathing without thinking about it by virtue of their combinations and sequencing of postures. There is a genius in the purity of these TTP forms. As the late GM Share K. Lew said, "the Yoga is in the Forms." B.) Tao Tan Pai's first and most basic level of Nei Kung, the 31 Basic Exercises (TTP-31), collectively called "Cloud Hands" have numerous exercises that naturally effect reverse breathing without having to consciously think about doing reverse breathing. C.) Except for the seated TTP-31 meditations that do NOT require breath retention but do require natural natal breathing, and exclusive of the standing TTP-31 Meditaitons that involve "clenching, contracting, and swallowing", reverse breathing can be applied to all the TTP-31 exercises. D.) Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu's higher/highest Nei Kung exercises do not ever require one to consciously think of "reverse breathing". That is because the TTP alchemic Yoga is cosmologically attuned so that all the internal orbs are in harmony with the macrocosm. The advanced TTP Nei Kung exercises involve self-massaging very specific energy pathways of orbs associated with water, metal, earth, fire, and wood--IN THAT ORDER--and done in-sync with breath cycles, and they thereby maintain perfect balance of all organ systems of the body while trebling the body's energy level (at the very least) within the first 2 months of practice of each of them. The fact is that there are many ancient Taoist, Buddhist, and syncretic Taoist-Buddhist yogic traditions that are vast and that are based on very different set theories and cosmologies. Especially the Taoist arts. Taoist internal arts indigenous to China that flourished for millenia at the 5 great Taoist centers (and others) are very different from Buddhist yogas that of course immigrated to China from India. Taoism works with four symbols = four mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations. They are the Azure Dragon (青龙; Qīng Lóng), of the East, the Vermilion Bird ( 朱雀; Zhū Què) of the South, the Black Turtle (玄武; Xuán Wū) of the North (Wudangshan, btw), and last but not least, the White Tiger (白虎; Baí Hǔ) of the West, which is the umbrella system under which Flying Phoenix Qigong sits. Each one of the symbols represents a direction and a season, and each has its own individual diety or patron saint. e.g., Xuan Wu or Zhen Wu is the perfected warrior, or dark warrior of Wudang Taoism. The 4 mythological creatures associated with constellations are synthesized into the 5 element system. The Azure Dragon of the East represents Wood, the Vermilion Bird of the South represents Fire, the White Tiger of the West represents Metal, and the Black Turtle (or Dark Warrior) of the North represents Water. Hence its' symbol is a tortoise entertwined by a snake. The fifth element of Earth is represented by the Yellow Dragon of the Center So the diversity of alchemic methods and cosmologies underpinning the various Taoist schools under the four constellations makes a general concept like "reverse breathing" meaningful in some perhaps many arts, but unmeaningful and unnecessary in other arts such as FP Qigong and most of the White Tiger Kung Fu arts. I hope that answers your question. Regards, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html