zen-bear

Hello QGLover, I don't know what books on healing you've been reading but your questions aren't rooted in common sense nor do you have a basic understanding of what Qigong does or how the art works with regards to the natural functioning of the human body. If you're interested in understanding Qigong better, I would suggest that you read these two books in order to get understanding of how Qigong can be practiced safely and sanely and to one's maximum benefit: A.) Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines by W.Y. Evans-Wentz B.) Secret of the Golden Flower - translation by Thomas Cleary is fine. [both are required reading for all my internal arts students in Los Angeles since I started teaching in the mid-80's.] As I second option, I would suggest that you find a competent kung fu master, train hard with him and master kung fu to a good degree to give yourself a good foundation to understand what qigong is and what how it works. I myself don't teach Qigong to anyone in my Los Angeles classes who doesn't have a strong background in some Chinese martial art. Now I'll answer your first two questions: (1) Wrong: doing Qigong does not "expose" the internal organs to excessive heat--even if one is exceptionally gifted and has strong psychic focus and is able to direct one's qi to specific parts of the body at will. No Qigong system out of China worth its salt will unbalance the energy of the human body and cause any organ or organs to overheat. (Another way of putting it is that people stand a better chance of suffering a heatstroke from doing too much aerobic exercise in a hot climate without enough hydration than they would "overheating" an organ from doing an authentic and complete system of qigong that is properly taught to them.) Of course, if one is haphazardly doing powerful and advanced "qi exercises" as a beginner and doing them out of the context of a particular system or tradition, one can certainly unbalance one's own energy and cause some organ or organs in the body to overheat--especially using Qigong exercises that involve breath retention. But that's a pretty stupid thing to do on purpose and one really needs to be mentally bent to accomplish that. But then again, there are some people without much critical mind who would listen to some voice in the dark (like a cult leader) or who have it within themselves to start experimenting with miscellaneous "qi exercises" without deriving any particular benefit to the health of the body and keep doing until they damaged themselves. Case and point: one of my former classmates under GM Doo Wai who I invited into the group, told me about how he witnessed a bizarre cult up in Washington state (that started in the 80's) led by some self-proclaimed guru claiming to channel some totally bogus entity called "Ramtha" who was teaching her followers (including a well known Hollywood actress and star of the old "Dallas" tv series of the 80's) to do seated meditation and concentrate all their energies to heat-up a big rock placed on top of each of their heads(!!!). I cite this true account to say that one might be able to overheat one's own brain and cook it with this idiotic instruction, if one believed that such a practice was legitimate and beneficial and actually attempted it for hours and hours, day after day. But even then,I doubt that an average beginner would be able to fry an organ in such a manner (by sheer meditation concentration). Such a practice is not close to anything that I know to be Qigong--and I teach 4 systems of Qigong. Thus the last thing you have to worry about is overheating internal organs through qigong. (2) If one practices the FP Qigong correctly (as taught on the DVDs), it is impossible to imbalance the energy of the body in any way because the Flying Phoenix Qigong System returns the body to its most natural, pristine of balance and internal harmony--by perfecting the natural regulation of the organs by the autonomic nervous system, thereby promoting allostasis. On the subject of psychic heat in Qigong: When you practice Qigong correctly, or Tibetan Tantric yogas correctly, or any complete system of authentic Yoga correctly, you can significantly heat matter or elements outside of your body at will--without causing any damage to your organs or your sanity. I know of two Chinese qigong masters/healers--one here in Los Angeles and one in the Philippines-- who can ignite paper with the energy emanating from their fingertips. The Tibetan Buddhists regularly test each generation of monks in their Yoga of Psychic Heat by having them completely dry out water-soaked sheets burlap draped over their naked bodies high in the Himalayan snows. But this is done after many years of correct yogic practice to measure the extent of their psychic cultivation and mind-body harmony. But if someone tried this Tibetan test as a beginner, I guarantee that he will freeze to death within 40 minutes. You're welcome. All the best, Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Daniel, Sorry to hear that you are suffering the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome that started with a bad viral infection and that you had a relapse last year also. CFS is a very general diagnosis of severe tiredness that can have an almost infinite number of causes--including a compromised immune system resulting from the severe infection that you had. It sounds like you may have never recovered from that viral infection and are still feeling the residual effects. Make sure that you are thoroughly tested by your regular physician. Working with a good herbalist to provide energy-stimulating supplements is certainly a good idea. In general, Flying Phoenix Qigong can only help alleviate the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome; it certainly won't cause more fatigue because it perfects the regulation of all the internal organs by the autonomic nervous system. *You can check past posts by FP practitioners and see what they reported about how FP Qigong affected their quality of sleep. I know that one of the symptoms defining CFS is the inability to get the full restful benefits from one's sleep even though one gets enough hours of sleep per night. FP Qigong will definitely help CFS to some extent in that all of the FP seated meditations ("Monk Serving Wine" exercises) facilitate deeper, more sound sleep--except the MSW meditation with the breathing 90 80 50 20, which does the opposite in keeping one awake and alert. In your case, I would suggest doing the seated meditations in the evenings to induce more restful sleep and doing the standing FP meditations during the day when you need the extra energy for activity and work. (The advanced seated meditations of Vol. 7 you can do almost anytime of day for calm vitality.) To increase your stamina and sustain your energy during the day, it would be ideal to learn and practice the last 2 standing moving meditations: "Moonbeam splashes on Water" and the Long Form Standing <editation in Vol. 4. When one practices these longer moving meditations correctly and regularly, one begins to approach that high standard ("sweet spot") where you are constantly in the Flying Phoenix's meditative, self-healing state 24/7. FP Qigong will help strengthen your immunity once you are 100% well. But you can't expect the practice of any qigong system to kill a viral infection that's already taken hold. So make sure you get medically tested to confirm that the virus isn't still active. I can only speak for my own good health over the past 15 years where I have experienced an average of less than 1/2 of a cold per year--i.e., I get a cold once every 3 or 4 years. (And I'm not a vegan but enjoy cappuccino's with desserts!) Hope this helps. Regards, Sifu Terry

Hi Dr. Harry, My answers comments and answers to your questions are below in bold-italics. Good questions. Best, Terry

Hi Lloyd, Good question. In some of the FP meditations, the hands are held with fingers together; in others, they are held spread apart: Volume 1: For MGAM, you hold your fingers spread-out or "feathered" as in the "tile-roof" hand of Chen Tai Chi Chuan. I always saw my teacher practice MGAM with the fingers slightly spread apart. (I think the camera angles may not have shown my hand positions on the Mong Gazing At Moon on the dvd.) "Wind Above the Clouds": fingers are closed. On "Part B" of "Bending the Bows", when the fingertips come to eye level, they should be spread apart. But in "Part A" (the horizontal circling in at throat level), the fingers are together. I presently teach my students in los Angeles to "cup the palms and spread out the fingers." Vol. 2: On the first seated warm-up meditation on Vol. 2 that involves slowing rotating the forearms, the fingers should be spread. On all the other seated FP meditations of Vol. 2,each time one has to hold "sum-how" or the equivalent of Monk Gazing At Moon" while seated, the fingers should be spread. Vol. 3: "Wind Through Treetops": Fingers are spread in the second posture (like MGAM) and are closed when you tilt back and lean forward and come back to vertical. Then the fingers are spread for the last 6 movements of the meditation. "Moonbeam Splashes on Water": except for the second movement (arching back in right bow stance with right palm at the foreheard) and the fifth movement (left arm circling counter-clockwise), all the movements I believe are done with fingers held together, not spread. *As for importance between open and closed space between the fingers: My general feeling is that it doesn't matter that much in the beginning whether fingers are together or spread--as long as your hands are relaxed along with rest of the body. Later on, you can see what spreading the fingers does. Holding the spread-out, feathered position does stretch the facia, of course, more than holding the fingers together--and that is ultimately very important in advanced qigong and kung-fu. Best, Sifu Terry

Hello Friend, My answers are below in bold. Thanks for your questions. Besides my answers below, you'll find more detailed answers to the same questions in the earlier postings of this thread. Good Luck, Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Kata, I'm sorry to hear of your serious injuries in the past and your problems finding pain relief through Qigong. Only you can know whether the pain you are experiencing in the back when you practice wuchi and/or Monk Gazing At Moon is related to your neck injury and the broken back you suffered as a child. Without seeing your form and body mechanics in person, I can't tell whether your upper arm pain in wuchi is also related to your back injuries. But based on your description, it sounds like you have limited movement of your arms and tense shoulder and neck muscles. With regular practice (and serious back injuries aside), the wuchi position and MGAM posture should NOT be taxing to the upper arms. And they should be practiced by anyone wanting to progress in any style of qigong. However, if Monk Gazing At Moon continues to be too painful for your to hold for more than 6-7 minutes. Just hold it for 6 minutes each practice (--that's actually enough if you practice it on a daily basis). Then proceed with Monk Holding Peach and Monk Holding Pearl--which should be much easier to do because the arms are held close to the body in MHPeach, and hanging with gravity in MHPearl. You should be able to do these two FP meditations for 10-15 minutes. If you practice daily 6 minutes of Monk Gazing At Moon, 10 min. of Monk Holding Peach and 10 min. of Monk Holding Pearl, that's a very good start on the Flying Phoenix system. To really see how your body (back) reacts or abreacts to the FP system, do the first two seated warm-up mediations on Vol. 2 DVD: 1.) The first seated warm-up is the same arm position as Monk Gazing At Moon, only you "tweak" and rotate the forearms. This should be easier to do than Monk Gazing At Moon (standing). 2.) The 2nd warm-up with breathing 50 - 30 -10 looks like the opening move of Tai Chi Chuan done repeatedly while sitting in half-lotus. Absolutely everybody--especially martial artists--feels pain and discomfort when they first do this exercise. It just brings into awareness all sorts of deep-seeded muscular tension in the back. don't be daunted here. Just work through the discomfort the best you can with regular practice. If you can practice these 2 seated warm-up meditations extensively--i.e., 8-10 minutes for seated warm-up #1 and 5-6 minutes for seated warm-up #2, you will find Monk Gazing at Moon and the rest of the standing FP exercises easier and more comfortable to do. Good luck and keep posting your progress. Regards, Sifu Terry Dunn

Guliver, a. You can practice the FP Qigong anytime of year--no matter what season it is. b. It's fine to practice the FP Qigong before or after you do Indian yoga exercise--to the same extent that it's OK to practice FP qigong before or after any other type of kung-fu or Tai Chi practice. Best, Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. Thanks for the compliment, but my neigung skill level in the Flying Phoenix system and other White Tiger internal arts pales in comparison to that of my teacher, GM Doo Wai, for his power in martial and healing energy arts is REAL Kung-Fu that is beyond description. I call this metaphysical skill level "Old School Kung-fu" because it is more rare than rare: see my website www.taichimania.com under "Favorite Links"--click Favorite Demonstrations at bottom and scroll down to "Old School Kung-Fu". There you will see GM Doo Wai, GM Ark Yue Wong, and GM Huang Hsing Hsien. Besides so much ancient knowledge dies with grandmasters each generation because no student is capable or worthy of receiving the transmission, it's also very rare in the modern age for people to train 9-12 hours a day for years in order to develop the real kung-fu (assuming they have a teacher with the authentic high-level knowledge). I think my school brother, Sifu Garry Hearfield, who has also put in this time, has also attested in this thread to the fact of GM Doo Wai's profound and totally OFF-THE-CHARTS powers.

Hi Lloyd, Sorry to take so long to get back to you...it's been an unbelievable past 2 weeks. The beautiful bronze statue at the top of Ehrmei Mountain is of the bodhisattva Puxian, or Samantabhadra, looking in ten directions. For the devout or the yogically well-calibrated, the spiritual power of Samantabhadra is palpable all around Ehrmeishan. As you know, a bodhisattva is a god-in-human-form, a completely enlightened and liberated spirit who has broken the chain of deaths and rebirths (transcended the samsara) but who choses to reincarnate and live (in this hell) only to liberate all other sentient beings. Because heavenly entities have no gender or race, earthly statues of Puxian and other bodhisattvas (made by those monks, priests, and advanced yogins who have literally seen Puxian from visitations) always look androgenous, and are sometimes referred to in the Buddhist and lay literature as both "he" and "she",interchangeably. Ehrmeishan is very powerful. I have felt the same type of spiritual power although of a distinctly different flavor--and have seen it at work--at Jinshan, perhaps the most famous Buddhist temple in all of China, which is near my mother's hometown of Zhenjiang, about an hour from Nanjing. Jinshan is the site of the famous legend of Buddhist monk Fahai and the "White Snake Goddess", which he subjugated and imprisoned deep in a well in Leifeng Pagoda. But centuries later, the demonic spirit was was released when the temple mysteriously burned to the ground in 1948. Everyone in China new something really, really--and I mean REALLY--bad was going to happen to the country afterwards. And the rest is history. I have not been to Phra Prom nor spent much time in Thailand. i just did a quick read about it on wikipedia and see that the Erawan shrine worships the Thai representiation of the Hindu creation god Brahma. The shrine was built to counteract very strong negative forces in that area and it seems to have worked. The Teravadan form of Buddhism in Thailand and SE Asia has its very powerful centers and their bodhisattva's as well. I'd like to explore them once I turn a few more corners,finish most of my work, and am free to travel again. Best, Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. While we're on this subject of holy sites, besides Jinshan and Ehrmeishan and other Buddhist and Taoist temples and monasteries, I have also experienced strong and palpable spiritual energy permeating western churches. One of my favorites is the Orsanmichele Chapel in the center of Florence, Italy. Built in 1349 The spiritual energy there is not have the same protective, martial-guardian flavor of energy as in Jinshan and other Chinese temples and monasteries, but was/is one of pure grace, Divine compassion, and miraculous healing--invoked and upheld by the devotional practices before the stone tabernacle enclosing Bernardo Daddi's Madonna and Child (completed in 1346). The tabernacle, btw, has a very prominent Star-of-David-enclosed-in-a-triangle at it's top and center. On the outside are statures of 14 saints and Apostles (today all replicas, as the originals are in other museums.) In the 1300's there was a very fervent Florentine cult towards the miracles performed by the Orsanmichele Madonna, which were ignored by the local Friars Minor (out of chauvinism and jealousy--no surprise.) The stained glass windows tell a complete cycle of the miracles of the Orsanmichele Madonna. For info about this spiritual enclave, google "Orsanmichele church" and Guido Cavalcanti who witnessed the miracles and wrote about them in his sonnets and Assertions. Better yet, go visit Orsanmichele and (regardless of your faith) light a candle and place it before the tabernacle.

Craig, 30-40 minutes of FP practice covers exactly what you've experienced: 3 of seated Monk serves Wine meditations can be done in 40 minutes' time (7 repetitions of each). Maybe just 2 if you practice them at "shifting sand dune" speed. But that's fine. In terms of doing all 6 seated exercises of Volume Two, that does take more than one hour because to make the DVD program move along and not drag out, in teaching each exercise, I just show the movements about 3 times and then tell the viewer to practice each one 7x. True: there is no such thing as going too slow (or standing too long) in performing the FP exercises. But yes, once you are able to do the FP exercises at the slowest speeed that you can manage and practice long enough at slow speed (it varies for everyone depending on how much internal arts training you have under you belt), and your movements become totally effortless and automatically flow with complete relaxation, then you can do the movements at slightly faster speeds. And you can do the stationery exercises for shorter durations. But establishing the FP System in your body takes prolonged regular practice (daily practice is optimum, and twice a day is optimal. That's how I practice). As for two hours of FP practice a day being a "drawback"--while it's every effective and super-optimal to practice 2hrs a day, you don't have to practice 2 hrs a day to establish the FP system in you and create the eserve of FP energy. And as I stated before in response to Fu-Dog, his practice schedule of the past year is fine and effective: half-hour a day during the week and 90 minutes or so on the weekend days. As Fu-Dog, Rainbow Vein, DanC, Baguakid, Christoph, Fachao, Sunshine, Rene, wtm, and others on this thread have reported, FP Qigong is one of the more powerful and fast-acting Qigong systems available. The fact that you can derive tangible energizing and rejuvenating benefits from 30 minutes a day is verifiable proof. (I don't want to name names, but there's an endlessly diluted system of calisthenics that's been spread by a particular TV venue that's been labeled as "qigong" that obviously doesn't do anything in terms of internal energy developmen--just by first glance.) 2 hours a day of FP practice is something many working people might find hard to manage. That's why my advice over the years is to try to do 3 standing and 3 seated meditations every day at least. That's about 70 minutes total: 45 min. for 3 seated execises, another 25 minutes for 3 standing meds. if you are doing other Chinese martial arts at the same time (correctly)--kung fu or Tai Chi--that will only complement and further ground your FP practice. In the greater scheme of things, if you want to master any Taoist or Buddhist martial,yogic and healing art, that will require more than 2 hours a day. Sifu Garry Hearfield will confirm this fact. In my 20's I trained 6 days a week, six hours every weekday in kung-fu after my 9-5 job, and sometimes 8-12 hours on the weekends. When I learned one of GM Doo Wai's other internal arts, called 8 Sections of Energy Combined, after about 10 months of learning the 1st Section, which has very diverse movements, and takes about 20-25 minutes to complete, he had 2 other students and myself practice the First Section 18 times singularly--not all of us at the same time. We practiced and watched each other's Form from 8p.m. until 9a.m. the next morning. With that training, the basic foundational kung-fu of 8 sections was established in us. When I studied Cheng Man-Ching's Tai Chi Chuan from Abraham Liu and Benjamin Lo (during the latter's summer retreats in la Honda, CA), the daily schedule during our weeklong retreats was 1/2 hr of Short Form and wu chi standing at 6 am to wake up. 3 two-hour sessions for Form Class at 9-11, 1-3pm, 7-9pm, with 3 hrs of push-hands from 3-6pm. That's 9.5 hours per day. Those of us fortunate enough to have attended these retreats--especially Mr. Lo's retreats found that that week of intensive training, was just barely enough to burn the Tai Chi Form and consciousness into you and get you through the entire year. In the first 6-7 retreats the only time one was not intensely sore in the legs was when you were in the TC Form. (Of course Benjamin Lo taught with the same rigor and discipline in all his San Francisco classes for 40+ years and those lucky students living in S.F. got the Tai Chi faster than other students if they had the dedication.) When I first learned the FP Qigong, I practice it alone 2-4 hours a day, in addition to the White Tiger kung-fu forms and other internal arts that the GM was teaching us. When I taught FP seminars in the late 90's in the midwest and New York, I followed a training schedule similar to that we did in Tai Chi retreats over 12 years: 6 hours of FP form practice a day in 3 sessions. and 2 hours of optional tui-na energy healing from 3-5. And that's how I will continue to conduct my workshops in the future. Hope this gives you a good perspective on training, Craig. Sifu Terry Dunn

You're welcome, Rainbow! I'm glad to hear that you have another system (Ya Mu's) to compare and contrast with the FP practice. If you have access to the knowledge, and time to practice more than one system, it's always good to "triangulate" with two or more arts to monitor the effectiveness of each system. Best, Sifu Terry

Hi Christoph, Great that you are feeling the sensitized healing of the FP Qigong. Recovery from surgery is a perfect application for FP Qigong. It will keep your entire system in tune, as you say, and it will accelerate the healing process by enabling and maintaining "allostasis"--something that not every qigong method can achieve. The smoothing out and disappearance of facial wrinkles that Fu-Dog reported from his daily practice is a definitive sign of allostasis. If you happen to reach a point in your recovery when you experience the same smoothing effects on skin, you can be certain that the healing of your knee is going well simultaneously. All the best, Sifu Terry

Hello Daniel, It's pretty much up to you and it depends also on your lifestyle and daily routine. I normally like to do the standing FP meditations in the morning shortly upon rising. I generally like to the do the seated FP med's in the evening to wind down from the day. but on some hectic days when I know I have critical meetings, when I want the extra calming effects, I will do a full set of one or two of the seated med's in the morning as well (15-30 min. or more). I also practice outdoors a lot. when I'm outdoors, I do mostly the standing FP exercises. Since you say that you can afford to practice 60 to 90 minutes everyday and plan to do it in 2 sessions, I would experiment with all 3 ways to determine the best schedule for you by trial-and-error. Try it 3 ways, each way for a few weeks: A) 30-45 minutes of Standing FP Qigong in the a.m.; 30-45 min. of Seated FP Qigong in p.m. Then the reverse for a couple of weeks or longer: 30-45 minutes of Seated FP Qigong in the a.m.; 30-45 min. of Standing FP Qigong in p.m. C) Two 30-45 min.sessioins of mixed Standing/Seated FP FP Qigong is so safe and beneficial that you really can't do any arm by trying it in all the above combinations. Let us know what schedule works best for you--and how you were able to arrive at it. Best, Sifu Terry

Hello Daniel, It's pretty much up to you and it depends also on your lifestyle and daily routine. I normally like to do the standing FP meditations in the morning shortly upon rising. I generally like to the do the seated FP med's in the evening to wind down from the day. but on some hectic days when I know I have critical meetings, when I want the extra calming effects, I will do a full set of one or two of the seated med's in the morning as well (15-30 min. or more). I also practice outdoors a lot. when I'm outdoors, I do mostly the standing FP exercises. Since you say that you can afford to practice 60 to 90 minutes everday and plan to do it in 2 sessions, I would experiment with all 3 ways to determine the best schedule for you by trial-and-error. Try it 3 ways, each way for a few weeks: A) 30-45 minutes of Standing FP Qigong in the a.m.; 30-45 min. of Seated FP Qigong in p.m. then the reverse for a couple of weeks or longer: 30-45 minutes of Seated FP Qigong in the a.m.; 30-45 min. of Standing FP Qigong in p.m. C) Two 30-45 min.sessioins of mixed Standing/Seated FP FP Qigong is so safe and beneficial that you really can't do any arm by trying it in all the above combinations. let us know how you make out with the trial-and-error. Best, Sifu Terry

Dear Lloyd, Thank you for sharing with this forum your past year's experience with Flying Phoenix Qigong in such detail and clarity. There is nothing more gratifying for a teacher than to hear good results from his work such as your positively glowing progress report. I'm very glad to hear that you have been able to establish a very solid practice routine in your day-to-day life. Your practice schedule of 7 days a week averaging 30 minutes per day and then 90 to 120 minutes on weekend days is just a couple of hours (those extra hours per weekend) above the minimum required in order derive tangible and visible benefits from practicing the FP Qigong. The disappearance of your facial wrinkles with daily FP practice is a definitive sign of allostasis effected by the FP Qigong's affect on the autonomic nervous system. (Also take note from time to time of the condition of the back of your hands.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allostasis --allostasis, btw, is the most accurate and semantically correct scientific description of how GM Doo Wai described the effects and the workings of the FP qigong: "This qigong brings all the organ functions of the body under the regulation of the subconscious mind." My teacher of this system, GM Doo Wai,told me as I was making the first videos of FP Qigong in 1995(VHS): "You will get a lot of response from people who try this."--and he said this based on his knowledge of what was being published and sold in terms of books and videos. From your post, I assume that you haven't yet learned the long-form standing meditation that is taught on Volume Four. This long exercise is what GM Doo Wai, called "Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation." Once this exercise is memorized and well practiced, one can practice less of the basic meditations in Volumes 1-2. Although each movement of the FPHHCM is no more difficult than any Tai Chi posture/movement, it is relatively complex because none of the movements are repeated at different sections of the Form as in Tai Chi forms. Each section of the FPHHCM has new and diverse movements. But in the end, it is well worth the effort to learn and practice this wonderful "capstone" to the basic FP practice, because once it is established, your FP healing energy will be at a level that will start to affect others around you in most positive ways--as the subtle and sublime spiritual flavor of the FPHHCM will begin to reveal itself. Based on your report at this juncture of one year of daily practice, I will encourage you to start working towards practicing the long standing meditation--at whatever pace you can manage. I realize you still may need to learn "Wind through Treetops" or "Moonbleam Splashes on Water" on Vol. 3 before you get to FPHHCM. One very astute reviewer like yourself (screenname "Njoku" from Philadelphia) said it best on an early amazon.com review: "Just Do It." Yes, it's the Nike shoes slogan, but it's most befitting to breaking upward through the layers the FP Qigong. Then down the line, you'll have much more to talk about! And thanks very much to Sifu Garry for his response, observations and compliments to you. Much deserved. Good Work, Lloyd! Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. GM Doo Wai, like all high masters, had an inimitable way of getting certain points and nuances across without words when he was teaching. But when he did use words, he was uniquely blunt and terse--especially when it came to the truth about his arts. He once said to us after revitiating certain small creatures--that the Universe had provided him for an instance of miraculous teaching and cosmic initiation: "The proof is in the pudding...My art produces results. The others don't." http://www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hello Q, > > My apologies for the delay in fulfilling your order if indeed we overlooked it. > What is your mailing address so that I can identify your order? Are you the "Quy Au" in Germany? > > If you are, your order was shipped on Nov. 11 and should arrive within days. > Customs Form #: LC860778050US > > Best Regards, > Sifu Terry >

Hi Sihing Garry, Strange...I went to your TTB member page and posted a message. Have you checked? Maybe I will send to your regular email address. soon. --Ack I just realized what I did wrong: I sent to your old member address, spirit ape, and not to wbbm. let me fix that. TD

Hello Harry, I'm sorry to hear of your pending surgery. I don't think that surgery, properly performed, in the lower abdominal area would permanently affect one's energy and health or cause energy "leakage" due to its possible effects on the tan tien. First, i speak from personal experience: In 1986, I was shot from behind with a .38 caliber pistol at night and after dispatching the assailant, ran home 5 blocks, called emergency services, and had emergency exploratory surgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Ctr. here in Los Angeles. The surgeons did a midline incision from just below the sternum to the pubic region--exactly 10 inches long--in order to see all the possible damage that the bullet had caused. (I think I described the damage in an earlier posting: the bullet barely grazed the right kidney, dipped in its path, and went clear through the liver form one end to the other and the slug stopped just underneath the skin 1" above the navel and 4" to the right of it. I was in the Intensive Care Unit for 3 days and then regular hospital room for 8 days and then was discharged. Of course, as soon as I could stand, I was doing Tai Chi and kung-fu forms and the Tao Tan Pai Neigung (I had no Flying Phoenix or White Tiger internal arts then as I had not met GM Doo Wai yet.) At any rate, I made a full recovery and steadily advanced in chi kung over the subsequent 24 years. Of course, my chi kung greatly accelerated and was taken to a different level when I trained under GM Doo Wai from 1991 to 1996. Second, the tan tien as the focus of Chinese internal arts is not a physiological organ. It is a psychical locus. (--although with life-long practice of Tai chi, qigong and other internal arts, the physiology in the tan tien region(s) does develop differently than in non-practitioners.) In the (approximate) words of Master Kuan Sai Hung, in the biography "The Wandering Taoist" that his student Mark Ong (Deng Ming Dao) wrote in the 80's: "In reality, there is no tan tien, there are no meridiens. EVERYTHING IS MIND." Hope this helps, Harry. Good luck with the surgery. Best, Sifu Terry P.S. Master Kuan, btw, is a Taoist priest of the Huashan sect, and as far as I know, is one of the only two temple-trained, fully ordained Taoist priests living in America today. Other one being Share K. Lew in San Diego. I am acquainted with Deng Ming Dao (who wrote "365 Degree Tao" and "Warrior Scholar"--nice works) and two former students of Master Kuan: the late Roger Hirsh, an advanced student of Tung Kai-Ying's Tai Chi Chuan and career acupuncturist, and Jeffery Roth,an advanced Pa-Kua practitioner who I had brought into the training circle under GM Doo Wai in 1991. In 1991, during one of his first meetings with GM Doo Wai, Jeffery Roth showed the GM the B&W still photos that MAster Kuan had given him that showed him doing impeccable kung-fu and Plum Flower Spear while in possessed trance. I saw these photos. As soon as GM Doo Wai saw them, he immediately recognized Master Kuan as authentic and exclaimed that this was Huashan "San Dah" (spiritualism/posession) and then informed me of the binding oath that Huashan priests take, and what they have to do in life to fulfill it. And also how to recognize a Huashan priest. Much earlier around 1986 or 87, a meeting between Kuan Sai Hung and Share K. Lew was arranged. After the meeting up north, Share K. Lew told me personally how happy he was to have met Master Kuan and how impressed he was with Master Kuan's knowledge, vitality, youthfulness,and amazing linguistic range. How at 65 yrs of age, Master Kuan's hair was jet-black, saying "He look perfect." I offer this corroboration of Master Kuan's authenticity and high priestly status from three of my peers in the arts (Dao, Hirsh, and Roth) and two of my teachers (both grandmasters)--Share K. Lew and Doo Wai--to clear the air and clear the blogosphere of some despicable, false rumors that were spread starting in the late 90's and the turn of the millenium by a couple of miscreants who dared call Master Kuan a fraud--purely out of self-aggrandizement and a severe pathology known as "father hate"--and without ever having trained with Master Kuan properly or long enough, but having only stolen bits and pieces of basic knowledge from him. One of these egomaniacs in particular actually believes and declared that he is the reincarnation of Lao Tzu and writes books that unfortunately are bought and read by the unwitting. (Let me pause to take a few deep breathes here...OK, let's continue:) Jesus on a Cross: Talk about blind leading blind All I can say is that this particular Blaspheming Fool, just before he leaves this earthplane, because he sought to undo the works and mission of Master Kuan, will meet the God of Huashan face-to-face. And to bring that type of fate upon oneself in this country takes real talent.

Sifu Garry, I sent you a PM in the early morning PST. Best, Sihing Terry

You're welcome, Rene!

It's great to have you back on the thread! Thank you for your explanation--it's worth a bit more than 2 cents! To all FP practitioners: you have found that the number of repetitions in FP Qigong training varies from 1, to 7 (in the seated MSW), to 18 (basic standing "Bending the Bows"), to any duration of time from 5 minutes to 40 minutes or longer for the stationary standing or seated exercises. In GMDW's advanced 10,000 Buddhas Meditations, every one of the 48 exercises that has movement is done 18x as a general guideline. And within that system, there are special practices that vary from the 18 repetitions. All the Best, Sihing. Terry