zen-bear

Eugene, It is, of course, better to take more time to do each individual FP Meditation and your taking 12-15 min. for each standing and 20 min. for each seated meditation is a good standard. And for absolute beginners, I still recommend starting with one's two favorite basic standing and two basic seated meditations practiced every day. And adding a new seated and new standing meditation after 2 to 3 months of practice. To be more specific about my recommendation to spend less total time in daily practice of Vols 1 and 2: For those people with tight and busy schedules: after one has established the practice of all the Basic Meditations in Volumes 1 and 2 and can do them from memory including the breath controls (typically 6 to 12 months or more of practice) one can shorten the time spent on each standing FP meditation to 5 to 10 minutes and also shorten the time to do the 3 seated Warmup Meditations in Volume 2. (The last three Monk Serves Wine meditations of Vol.2 should be done as slowly as possible, in no less than 20 minutes' time to complete 7 repetitions for each.) The process of doing more FP Meditations in one session thereby doing more of the breath control sequences has its own unique benefits in terms of internal conditioning. And this is true of all the internals arts in the Bok Fu Pai tradition. I believe Sifu Hearfield will concur. But by all means, Eugene, stick with your very good practice schedule that you've described here. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Good practice schedule, Taiji_cat! It's gratifying for me to hear from people like you that you are using the DVD programs this way in daily practice. It really doesn't take that much time--especially if one is a meditator or already has Qigong experience. For all the Meditaitons of Volumes 1 and 2 can be done in shorter durations totally 90 minutes or less. Keep us abreast of your progress and discoveries! Sifu Terry

Taiji_cat, Hahahaha. I'm glad you and and alleswasderfallist have discovered and confirmed for yourselves the double expresso effect of MSW Med. with breathing 90 80 50 20. I recently suggested to ridingtheox that he do that particular MSW mediation before he takes any of his long drives from eastern Arizona To Redlands to see his daughter. And the effect is much more than a double expresso if you're a compulsive thinker as was/is a friend of mine in Paris in 1995 when I gave him the first VHS tape teaching the MSW mediations: he was up tossing and turning all night, absolutely miserable, cursing my name, and totally exhausted the next day. So now everyone has heard it from you two as well as myself: practice MSW 90 80 50 20 early in the day unless you have something against sleep! Sifu Terry

Hello Taiji_cat, Congratulations on your wonder-filled initiation into Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Meditations! Wow Wow Wow!!! x 3 is right. It's the normal exhilaration of being LIT-UP by the Flying Phoenix alchemy. 'Happy for you. I literally felt sections of my brain turning on and off depending on the hand positions After that I felt complete LOVE with my entire body, so much that I almost raped myself in the mirror. Yes, all great Yogas are complete, sufficient in themselves, and self-explanatory. For example, now you know what "bliss" means--er at least one type! "There are simply no words to describe the feeling----you guys this is THE REAL STUFF" Yes, it is. As my newest student here in L.A., 31- year old Al Lee ecstatically put it his generation's parlance: "Oh man...This is the fucking shit!" My broader meaning of "complete, sufficient, and self-explanatory" is that if you master a great Yoga like Flying Phoenix Chi Kung, your intuitive genius will be so connected to Cosmic Truth that can write your very own Tao Te Ching. (But until one attains such all-mastery, one should maintain good decorum in the eyes of the Universe by following the principles of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching!) If you practice further--and with the breath control formulas at the start of each exercise--you will tangibly feel the phenomenon that GM Doo Wai coined as the "washing" in the brain, where every cell in the brain is felt turning on and off. And with more practice, this "washing" or "slow swishing" sensation occurs with just the initial hand movements of a particular MSW Meditation and will continue without any hand/arm movements. And when you master any one of these Monk Serves Wine Meditations--basic or advanced, it doesnt matter--you will be able to bring on the same brain-energizing-washing effects just by doing the breath-control sequence--without doing the movements! As for cultivating Higher Intelligence with FP Qigong and furthering one's spiritual evolution, after one has the Basic Standing and Seated FP meditations well-established, do three Monk Serves Wine meditations in succession (7 reps of each, with eyes closed, of course), and then try looking at your favorite and most familiar spiritual artworks This may be a Tibetan eye chart, Tibetan Yantric art, a Taoist Magickal Talisman, the pattern on an Amish quilt, the spiritual artworks of Hildegard von Bingen, or the Enochian Tablets (for all you Western Hermetic Philosophers out there). They may look different to you after you've turned over and washed your brain with the Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditations! (I had a profound experience by doing this in 1996 that will be described in detail in my forthcoming book on FP Qigong.) Enjoy your further explorations of FP Qigong, TC_cat! Sifu Terry P.S. Yes, my company does ship to eastern Europe. www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Thank you, Si-hing Garry, for emphasizing the seriousness of our Bok Fu Pai family of arts and reminding all of the seriousness of authentic Kung-Fu--without which there would be no Qigong known to the populace of late...and no Qi-empowered healing arts in China and as I have explained the inseparable evolution of Chinese martial and healing arts. When Grandmaster Share K. Lew asked a group of us Tao Tan Pai students in the late 1970's what we thought Kung-Fu was for, no one came up with an answer that satisfied him in that Zen moment. After various mamby-pamby answers were given such as "for health and self-defense", "to become strong in body and spirit", and a couple of other tepid ones I can't recall, he said loudly: "All of you are wrong! Kung-fu is for one thing and one thing only: Kung Fu is for killing." "Healer by day, Kung-fu teacher" by night has always been the Chinese holistic tradition for millennia. Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditations, created by Divine Genius channeled by Taoist monk Feng Tao Teh, is purely for healing. Just as the Flying Phoenix sword of Bok Fu Pai Kung Fu is for cutting and killing. So please, for those of you who have now tasted the profound benefits of Flying Phoenix Qigong, have a little respect for the complete path of knowledge that carries this little bit of yogic technology. There is so much, much more. --and thank you Taiji Cat for your recent over-the-top ecstatic and joyous acknowledgement of Flying Phoenix Qigong's profound rejuvenating effects! I'm very glad to hear of your thrilling experience with the advanced "Monk Serves Wine" seated Meditaitons of Volume 7. I recall that a month or two ago there was discussion led by Fu-dog about the profound and--as you just discovered--immediate healing effects of 2 meditations in Vol. 7 in particular, which returned hair to its natural color--for us older codgers. I will respond fully to your post(s) soon, which I'm sorry I missed. I have been extremely busy with overwhelming business and legal matters swirling around my creative work, and am catching up with the thread's discussion as best I can. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Pitishukha, Welcome to the Flying Phoenix thread. Fu_dog has very nicely described the effectiveness of the DVD series in teaching the FP Qigong system. In answer to your question of whether the Flying Phoenix DVD training program can enable one to heal others: Yes, depending upon one's nature and level of compassion or will-to-heal, the ability to heal is definitely cultivated by the exercises contained in the CKFH dVD series. Even if healing others is not in one's heart, the FP qigong will still effect self-healing. One's belief system, or being totally pre-occupied mentally, or even dissipated in terms of mental focus will still not prevent the FP Qigong exercises' self-healing effects. However, I have experienced teaching some students who were so tense and so dense with such extremely rigid ego structures that they felt the effects of the FP Qigong every time they practiced but it doesn't immediately register with their spirit or even in the short term. Different people experience the energy break-throughs and the elevation awareness at different times. But I find that most people who experience FP Qigong take to its energy like children to cotton candy. The distinctive and tangible Flying Phoenix healing energy is real and discernibly different from all other forms of chi cultivated by other authentic systems of Qigong. And if practiced diligently and correctly, over the longer term of just a couple of years, the reserve of FP healing energy cumulatively cultivated in one's body (as described by Fu_dog) can facilitate spontaneous healings of others, as I have described early on in this thread. That's one of the most marvelous and wonderful aspects of Fei Feng San Gung--Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditations. Thanks for your question about FP Qigong practice for the purpose of healing others. My teacher of FP Qigong in the 1990's, GM Doo Wai, was a man of many qualities who was the inheritor of a vast body of pretty damn awesome ancient alchemic knowledge through his family lineage. The Grandmaster could be jocular, jovial, and joke-cracking in one minute and also a deadly serious disciplinarian when teaching his Kung Fu in the next. But cutting through all the controversy surrounding his many demonstrations of internal energy and the claims surrounding his Kung Fu, he told my classmates and I one thing that will always uphold when it comes to the Bok Fu Pai tradition. He said, "Healing is the most important thing." Enjoy your FP practice and please keep us informed of your progress. Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Lloyd, As I've stated a lot recently, what's most important is that people eventually get around to practicing all the FP Meditations on my DVD series. It doesn't matter if you start with Volume 1 or Volume 5, as long as you cover the entire set of exercises on the DVDs. Fortunately, FP Qigong is so sublime that you can learn them in almost any order and still feel good results. But for the sake of beginners with no martial art or other Qigong training, I presented the FP Meditations on the DVD series in the same order in which I had learned them--from most basic to most complex (Vol.4 Long Form Standing and Vol.7 Advanced Seated Monk Serves Wine Meds.). And my experience teaching FP Qigong over the years has shown me that that order presented in the DVD series is very efficient for one to learn the entire FP Qigong system. The 90-second "Flash" meditations were actually taught to me by GMDW at about the same time that he taught me the Basic Standing Meds. (on Volume One), but I decided to present them in a Volume 5 after the Long Form Standing Meditaiton of Vol.4 because I thought that getting to Vol. 4 and mastering that Long Form Meditation is most important. Just this teacher's perogative. Plus, having Vol.4 under one's belt most opens so many neuromuscular pathways and energy channels that it definitely makes the Flash meditations of Vol.5 that much easier to learn and enables one to more deeply experience/tangibly feel their energy cultivation--per Eric Isen's very accurate, chakra-based, clairvoyant readings. And even then, what's on the DVD series is a essential distillation of a very vast FP system, as Sifu Garry accurately described it. There are many more seated Monk Serves Wine meditations that I teach in my classes that are not on the DVD series. I may add another volume of Advanced seated "Monk Serves Wine" FP meditations further down the road. Best, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Thanks Rene, Glad you're back on the thread and back to FP training!! Sifu Terry

No apology whatsoever is needed, Si-hing Garry, because I know your intent is purely to clarify understanding of all the Bok Fu Pai internal arts and to correct misconceptions that appear on this thread about how our Qigong is best practiced for best results! And I highly recommend that any FP practitioner who has completed the Basic Level of Flying Phoenix Meditations in my DVD series and wants another Bok Fu Pai internal art to compare to FP, to by all means try Sifu Garry's SYG training program on DVD. :excl:

You're welcome, BEW. Glad my advice based on a hunch was helpful! Best, Sifu Terry

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". --the seventh of eight Beatitudes, preached in the Sermon on the Mount I believe that Jesus, the Great Syrian Sage, was speaking yogically and spiritually all at once, for all of Christ's teachings were "levelistic."

Hello BEW, Glad to hear that you found stable conditions in which to practice your FP Qigong and that you feeling the FP healing energy in a very tangible manner! And glad to hear that the FP Qigong is working well for your as the system's healing effect on your sports injury is indeed evidenced by the steadily dampening of the amplitude of the physical vibrations. Shaking in the core is normal and very common to FP practice. Besides being a function of numerous factors in the mental, emotional and physical state of the practitioner, my personal experience is that the shaking in the core" can be influenced to a certain extent by diet as well. I'm glad that Steve's posting of Eric Isen's remote assessment of the Vol.5 FP Meditations has inspired you to start practicing them. As I said at many places along this thread, the goal is to cover the all the basic level meditations of the Flying Phoenix Qigong system presented in the DVD series, which is not the entire Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation System, Level One. They are presented in the DVD series in the exact order in which I was taught the system by GM Doo Wai--so as to make it easier for students to derive the full health benefits of this basic foundation of the FP Qigong system and so begin to progress in the long slow process of (spiritual) purification, in the words of Eric Isen. Thanks for sharing your progress. Best, Sifu Terry

Hi Steve, Thank you for posting Eric Isen's remote readings of the yogic and physiological effects of the FP Meditations on Volume 5 of the Chi Kung For Health series that you had shared with me in April. I was actually looking for an opening in the thread to segue into recommending Eric's excellent services is a medical clairvoyant because not only were his psychic analyses of each of the 90-second "Flash" meditations of Vol.5 spot-on accurate, he also impressed me greatly with his perception of the more subtle effects of these short meditations as a whole and perfectly described their role and importance within the overall Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation System (Fei Feng San Gung). Here are my further comments about his remote reads: White Crane Folds Wings----would help clear stress from the heart chakra and the left hemisphere of the brain. Very accurate and confirms the meditation's effect of unifying the heart-mind. Phoenix and Dragon Play----would help to clear the nervous system especially on the left side of the body. These FP meditations all clear the nervous system, but his read is most accurate in describing the effect on the left side of the body, for this moving meditation perfectly follows the Taoist yogic principle that's also found in the Tai Chi Classics having to do with left and right. This is a subtle effect--not everyone feels it at first. But the left side effect is real. Lift Earth to Heaven-----clears the lower chakras so the energy can rise. Perfectly accurate. Spot-on. Practically everyone who practices it feels this process. Dragon Emerges From Cave-----opens heart chakra and moves heart energy up into upper chakras in head. Accurately describes the primary effect of this Meditation. There are other effects. *"moving the heart energy up into the upper chakras in head" is akin to how GM Doo Wai described how the FP healing effect is yogically created. Preparation for Eight Sections Combined------Enlivens the Kundalini energy and gets it moving upwards. Again, an excellent general read. This fifth meditation is not an FP Meditation but a Qigong exercise that belongs to an internal martial art system called Eight Sections of Energy Combined (Bot Dim Gum) that cultivates a totally different energy than the FP Heavenly Healing Energy. Eric distinguishes this by calling it the Kundalini energy, which the 8 Sections art indeed activates in cultivating the much heavier-feelng martial energy that can be transmitted through organic fibers such as cloth and wood. This is all good stuff. Besides what is going in the body there is some subtle energetic action happening in the subtle bodies with all of these. Powerful. This is very true with regards to the energetic effects in the "subtle bodies". Eric is describing the high yogic effects on one's being--refinement of the spiritual body (for those who care about it). Hence, these 4 FP 90-second Meditations plus the BDG Meditation are extremely powerful and affective when practiced after one has mastered the fundamentals of Flying Phoenix in Volumes 1 through 3. Looking back at our email correspondence in April when you first shared Eric's remote readings with me, I was also very impressed by his perfect reading of the level of yogic power that this set of short 90-second meditations imparts and its role within the overall Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation (Fei Feng San Gung) system: "immediate results and then a long slow path of purification and growth." Immediate tangible results are indeed felt. But these short 90-second Meditations by themselves will not lead to speedy "purification" for beginners. As described earlier, purification and growth (occuring relatively faster compared to other Qigong traditions) can only come from mastering the Standing Long Form meditation of Volume 4 after having established the FP fundamentals in Volumes 1 through 3. In other words, there are no short cuts...and Eric spells that out in his remote analysis of Volume 5's teachings. Steve mehl <[email protected]> Apr 17 to me This is the reply to asking how long it will take for me to have the benefits of what he saw vol. 5 doing for me. From: Eric Isen ([email protected])This sender is in your contact list. Sent: Wed 4/17/13 9:25 PM To: steve mehl ([email protected]) should be some immediate results and then a long slow process of purification and growth. Would advise continuing to stay in the flow of Grace from Oneness. That will pay off faster at some point. Eric [email protected] Apr 17 to steve Ho Steve, Very accurate answer that Eric gave you in response to your question! Given your experience with the the basic FP meds in Vols.1-4, you will indeed feel immediate energizing of new pathways. You will find the Vol 5 meds to be more sublime and just more amazing by virtue of their simplicity and speedy effects. But Eric again is very accurate in reading vol.5 as another step in a smooth and gradual cultivation- evolution process. Thanks for passing on Eric's perfect read. He's a fine channeler. Bests SifuTerry Sent from my iPhone Again, thanks for passing on Eric's perfect read. He's a fine channeler. Needless to say, but I'll say it here anyway: I highly recommend Eric Isen's services as a medical clairvoyant--not just to verify before getting your feet wet of the precise benefits of individual Flying Phoenix Qigong meditations and the efficacy of the FP Qigong system as a whole in relation to the practitioner, but to assess any yogic exercise, meditation, or yoga system in terms of benefits or detriment to the querent. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

So very true and well-put, Si-hing Garry! Thank you for always being helpful in directly clarifying. Si-hing Terry

Hi Si-hing Garry, Thank you very much for posting this nice preview of your Flying Phoenix Heavenly Sword DVD. It's a wonderful reminder of the Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger) tradition and context in which the Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Kung system is fundamental cornerstone. Best, Si-hing Terry

JustBHappy, Thank you for identifying the most glaring flaw in Dr. Cheng's Tai Chi demonstrations that I saw in the Tai Cheng infomercial that I believe is potentially injurious to many people if they mimick that flaw regularly in their practice over the long term: His poor excuse for a Dan Pien extends the knee beyond toes on both sides, which I find quite amazing. I can see pushing a little to far onto the front foot, (it's a common beginner mistake) but he does the same with the rear foot as he extends out the beak hand. Get the alignment wrong + over extend the knee = possible knee problems. Yes, his extension of the knee past the vertical line of the toes in the bow stance of his "Single Whip" (Dan Pien) posture is a common mistake made by beginners. This mistake alone, if repeated a dozen to two dozen times or more in a single practice session and with such sessions being done on a regular basis by Tai Cheng practitioners (e.g., every day or every other day, or even every third day) will, in my opinion, will result in unnecessary pain and serious knee problems for many people. I know this from my experience in teaching Yang Tai Chi Chuan over the past 28 years and encountering new students who had studied with other teachers and were doing their bow stances in "Single Whip", "Brush Knee", "Grasp Sparrow's Tail", etc., in the same incorrect manner--mis-aligning the knee--and complaining about knee pains. In a couple of instances, the knee complaints were ultimately diagnosed as joint and ligament injuries by physicians. Medical experts aside, common sense, self-awareness, and the recurring soreness in your knees should tell you that if you mis-align the knee (by over-extending it forward beyond the vertical line of the toe) in a forward-weighted position 60 or more times in a daily practice session (and that's a conservative estimate, as the Cheng Man-Ching Short Form as just one random example of a Tai Chi Form, has 37 bow-stances, where the knee is brought over the toes), injury to the muscles and ligaments of the knee will result over the long term! I think that your four other diagnoses of Dr. Cheng's form flaws are also spot-on. Agreed: definitely not a master; he exhibits beginners' mistakes. Thanks for your good observations. Terry Dunn

Hi Cheya, Thanks for your incredibly detailed and lengthy post about your observation of your client--the older gent with the double knee replacements--who you observed to have both benefited (stronger yet soft leg muscles after 3 mos. of training) and gotten slightly hurt (strain from the Bretzel roller and the "neural reboot") from doing the Tai Cheng program. An expansive exercise program like Tai Cheng (I assume this as it's comprised of 13 DVD's) will have some parts that will hopefully benefit some people. But I do not believe that the Tai Chi postures and movements that I saw demonstrated repeatedly in the infomercial program will provide the first-timer with a functional or healthy foundation in Tai Chi Chuan. In fact, as I posted below in response to Taiji Cat's posting of the Tai Cheng Youtube clip, there is one Tai Chi posture that the infomercial shows Dr. Cheng doing repeatedly that will be definitely injurious to viewers--especially to the elderly and knee-impaired like your 70-year old client--if they do it in the exact manner that Dr. Cheng does it on a regular basis! I stand by this statement. And I will shortly identify this particular posture by Dr. Cheng if other subscribers/Tai Chi practitioners viewing this thread cannot ID it. I hope you and others who stumble upon this infomercial product are able to plumb some type of benefit from the program and avoid what I consider to be the dangerous and deleterious parts. The bottom line fact of the matter is: given this Dr. Cheng's obvious lack of expertise in Tai Chi, in my opinion, this product will do more harm than good. And given his absolute beginner's level in Tai Chi, it is absolutely inconceivable in my mind, how he can deliver any beneficial type of holistic health treatment that can be accurately or even remotely called a "neural reboot". I have been in the neural rebooting/neuro-lingustic reprogramming/hypnotherapy (state certified, btw) business since 1985--using Tai Chi and Qigong meditations as a physical induction to hypnotherapy (addressing a wide variety of presenting problems ranging from habit control, addictions, phobias, and depression to even disassociative identity disorder (on one occasion) and also to cult manipulation (deprogramming it--on more than one occasion), and getting closure on past-life stages of development through regression. And if the Tai Cheng folks are truly "rebooting" the human nervous system through a physically manipulative, invasive intervention using some type of exercise device that affects soft tissue, bone, and nerve, then I believe they are guilty of practicing medicine without a license. But I suppose they all are well equipped with capable lawyers to position the ancillary products and the Tai Cheng distributor to fend off product liability lawsuits from injured customers. Pardon my bluntness, but your first paragraph really makes you out to be kind of a shill for this infomercial company: "Hey guys, focussing too much on the Tai Chi part of Tai Cheng may be missing the point. I understand how that IS the point for professional Tai Chi practitioners, but necessarily for John and Jane Smith who might profit very much from this program, despite the very evident marketing hype." First, there are no such things as "professional Tai Chi practitioners". Tai Chi practitioners are average, everyday people from every walk of life: the John and Jane Smiths of the western world. And as I said, in my opinion, they stand to incur more physical harm than benefit from practicing Dr. Cheng's stances as demonstrated by him on the infomercials. Your verbatim recitation of Mark Cheng's er academic background and credentials pretty much proves (to me, at least) that he has no business calling what he teaches and demonstrates on the Tai Cheng infomercial--and the 13 DVD's, I presume--anything but TERRIBLE TAI CHI !!! Your listing of Mark Cheng's non-Tai Chi approaches to physical therapy or "functional movement" (and his going from this physical therapy guru that that physical therapy guru) in his resume in combination with his numerous beginner's Tai Chi mistakes made on-camera, betrays the fact (in my mind, at least) that the Tai Cheng program is not even "derived from Tai Chi"--as advertised in the infomercial--but is really these so-called physical therapy methods purposefully mis-associated with "Tai Chi" and copping the name purely for marketing purposes. Very bad timing for this type of advertising ploy. It would have worked better in the 1980's when self-proclaimed "gurus" and cults were everywhere. And back then, authentic Tai Chi was only popular on the two coasts and a few cities in between. Tai Cheng would have made out like bandits with the folks in the "fly-over states". But as of the turn of the century, in every city and town across America, there are at least five Tai Chi classes going on--at the YMCA, Parks & Recreation Ctr., senior citizens center, retirement home, hospital (for cardiac rehab), martial arts studio, and dance studio. -- Plenty of places where John and Jane Smith can find a Tai Chi practitioner or a creditable TC teacher tell them that Tai Cheng teaches truly terrible Tai Chi. Yours Truly, Sifu Terence Dunn

Thanks for posting this Taiji Cat. It's a shortened/condensed Youtube version of the hour-long infomercial. Everything on it I believe appears in the infomercial that i saw on TV. Seeing some of the "Tai Cheng" movements and instruction for a second time confirms my initial negative assessment of the quality of Dr. Cheng's Tai Chi form and causes me to affirm that he is setting what I consider to be his very poor form as a high standard for Tai Chi practice. Not only that, it is my opinion that there is one posture that he demonstrates repeatedly in this Youtube clip that if done in the same manner regularly over a long term will be injurious to many people. Most intermediate students of Tai Chi Chuan and any competent instructor of Tai Chi should be able to spot this. Anyone? --Terry Dunn

Off-subject notice: I just posted a lengthy opinion about the "Tai Cheng" infomercial that's been airing late at night on cable TV channels in America after a student asked me about it. I normally don't come out on my own initiative with negative reviews of other people's Tai Chi products, but I was compelled to make an exception this time. I am very curious about everyone else's opinions who have seen it or have used the Tai Cheng DVD programs. http://thetaobums.com/topic/28585-tai-cheng-infomercial-2013-cheez-whiz-or-what/?hl=cheng Lux et Veritas, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/taich_catalog.html

Hi Steve, Yes, I agree that Flying Phoenix Qigong practice has demonstrably calming effects on anxiety and negative emotional states. FP Qigong has this effect for many reasons. Off the top of my head, here are 4 reasons without elaboration: (1) FP Qigong induces a deep meditative (alpha) state so quickly through its alchemic breathing + posture formulas. (2) The state of allostasis induced by FP Qigong regulates the endocrine system in a way that can greatly relieve the symptoms of anxiety and panic--especially if one consistently practices the Long Form Standing Meditation of Volume 4. (3) FP Qigong induces deep and comfortable meditative states so quickly that it can break a person's mental fixation on negative thoughts and negative emotions being experienced. (4) As already confirmed by numerous practitioners on this thread, FP Qigong induces deeper and more restful sleep. That alone improves and safeguards mental health. **Further elaboration of these 4 mental health effects will be part of my forthcoming book on FP. 'Would love to have someone with the position and resources in the mental health field conduct controlled experiments studying the effect of FP Qigong on highly distressed, highly anxious and upset persons in specific types of identifiable crises. A study of the effects of FP Qigong on clinically diagnosed depressives would also be most interesting and telling. With solid scientific research, not only would FP Qigong's anxiety and stress-relieving properties be statistically proven, but the mechanism by which this happens might be objectively discovered through monitoring of vital physiological signs. Do you know anyone who can get this done? Best, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Steve, Yes, I agree that Flying Phoenix Qigong practice has a demonstrably calming effect on anxiety and negative emotional states. FPCK has this effect for many reasons. Off the top of my mind, here are 4 reasons without elaboration (that will be elaborated in my FPCK book in chapter on FP and mental health): (1) FP Qigong induces a deep meditative (alpha) state so quickly through its alchemic breathing + posture formulas. (2) The state of allostasis induced by FP Qigong regulates the endocrine system in a way that greatly relieves the symptoms of high anxiety and panic--especially if one consistently practices the Long Form Standing Meditation of Volume 4. (3) FP Qigong induces deep and comfortable meditative states so quickly that it can break a person's mental fixation on negative thoughts, and mitigate to some extent the effects of negative emotions that one is experiencing. (4) As already confirmed by numerous practitioners on this thread, FP Qigong induces deeper and more restful sleep. That alone improves mental health. With some people who suffer from depression and have fragmented sleep, FP practice over time can "mend" the fragmented sleep and foster a more "normal" sleeping cycle. 'Would love to have someone with the position and resources in the mental health field conduct controlled experiments studying the effect of FP Qigong on highly distressed, highly anxious and upset persons in specific types of identifiable crises. A study of the effects of FP Qigong on clinically diagnosed depressives would also be most interesting and telling. With solid scientific research, not only would FP Qigong's anxiety and stress-relieving properties be statistically proven, but the mechanism by which this happens might be objectively discovered through monitoring of vital physiological signs. Know anyone who can get this done? Best, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Gerard, I'm sorry for taking so many months to respond to your answer, but I just happen to get back on this thread today. (*I've been so busy that I don't even keep up with the questions on the "Flying Phoenix Chi Kung" thread that's been going on now for 3.5+ years. At any rate, if it's not too late an answer: both my Tai Chi for Health Short Form (teaches teh Cheng Man-Ching 37 posture Short Form) and TCFH Long Form (teaches classic 108-posture Yang family form) DVD's are decent enough to explore and to benefit from. I made them as a reference to supplement practice with a live teacher but have been very gratified over the years to hear feedback from customers saying that my DVD's were the best resource they have because they live in remote places without access to live TC teachers. In this respect, my DVD's have served quite well as "the next best thing." Gatito is absolutley correct in his comment above: "A good teacher is always best but a good DVD may be better than a bad teacher." I produced the programs in 1990 with the permission of my teacher, Master Abraham Liu, and while my form (lower back tight) wasn't perfect back then, my detailed instruction of both forms has been universally lauded. And getting the highest passing grade from high-level Tai Chi masters who have watched the programs is my 40-minute warm-up/preparatory segment that holds at length 3 basic Tai Chi postures, and then teaches an alternating Play Guitar/Lifting Hands exercise, Wave Hands Like Clouds in bow stance exercise, and repetitive Snake Creeps Down exercise. Master Chan Ching Kai, my teacher of Liu He Ba Fa in NYC, when I first met him commented that that warm-up on my videos was good. Since their release in 1990, they are the most successful and widely purchased instructional DVD's on Tai Chi. The TCFH dvd's are best reviewed on amazon.com throughout all these years and are still selling. Hope this helps. Best, Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html

Steve, Thanks for your input and your pointing out of possible prenatal, post-delivery or past-life suffocation issue with regard to Aurelien. Going for cause that far back is a therapeutic (hypno-therapeutic) route that I am actually very experienced at. I was trained by a very experienced and excellent Primal therapist and of course there's a whole splinter group of primal therapists in NY in the 80's that focussed almost exclusively on in-the-womb, birth-canal and birthing traumas. But in terms of a online diagnoses, I generally tend to keep things in terms of present life issues...if there is evidence of and past-life trauma after exhaustive exploration of all present-life possible causes of the presenting problem coming up nil, then I look back further using regression. Yes, past-life issues when discovered and authenticated in therapy are by definition karmic in nature. It requires real spiritual counseling--and not just psychological counseling applied to getting closure on the past-life condition. (And by "spiritual counseling" I don't mean anything learned through a degree program--but rather through a special calling to a karma-yoga and a high annointing That is the realm of the human process or conditioin in which the I Ching advises the employment of "magicians and priests in great numbers." See I Ching Hexagram #57 Penetrating Wind: 2nd changing line: which to me gives creedence to your suggestion that Aurelien should explore experiencing the Oneness Blessing from Sri Bhagavan or a similarly gifted spiritual healer: Nine in the second place means: Penetration under the bed. Priests and magicians are used in great number. Good fortune. No blame.At times one has to deal with hidden enemies, intangible influences that slink into dark corners and from this hiding affect people by suggestion. In instances like this, it is necessary to trace these things back to the most secret recesses, in order to determine the nature of the influences to be dealt with. This is the task of the priests; removing the influences is the task of the magicians. The very anonymity of such plotting requires an especially vigorous and indefatigable effort, but this is well worth while. For when such elusive influences are brought into the light and branded, they lose their power over people. For Aurelien, the "priests" are Tao Stillness and yours truly serving as diagnosticians here--determining the nature of the influences to be dealt with. Removing the influence is the task of the Magician...and I believe (and Steve certainly does) that Sri Bhagavan fits that billing. Depending on what the nature of the influence is that's at the root-cause of your symptoms, Aurelian, I may have other suggestions for you in terms of a possibly needed spiritual healer. Thanks again, Steve, and best regards to Aurelian. Sifu Terry

Lloyd, There is no need to do exercises to enhance lucid dreaming unless one feels a natural compulsion to develop that skill. I quite naturally fell into it in my mid-20's while I was training in Tao Tan Pai neikung and experiencing the altered/higher states of consciousness that that system facilitated. If one is remembering one's dreams and wants to actively participate in them. There are a variety of traditions and means to practice lucid dreaming. I just happened to be have been reading Castaneda's books (Journey to Ixtlan, Tales of Power, and Second Ring of Power) during a summer that I spent in Taiwan and I was able to immediately practice the dream methods I found in them. I would not worry about encountering "negative energies" through lucid dreaming that one isn't already encountering in "non-lucid" dreams. For in general, all entities and characters in one's dreams come from one's own mind--and therefore one's own experiences. The exception is the situation where a very high-level (and probably black) magician is intruding into your mind while you are asleep. My advice is to just leave it alone if you have doubts or trepidation. If you find yourself remembering a lot of your dreams, and then feeling the urge to actively participate in them, and sense the potential to tap the power of your dreams, then you can start practicing techniques of lucid dreaming. Best, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html