Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[zen-bear]

Bill,

You're welcome. There's no harm in doing the Short 31 before doing the Flying Phoenix, if the TTP is already a well established practice. As a matter of fact, that's the structure of my Wed. evening qigong class: More than the Short 31, followed by the FP. But we take a break in between the two practices.

 

My answers to your questions are in bold below:

 

Some question regarding the Flying Phoenix exercises.

 

First, thank you Terry for the comments about mixing SKL's TTP system with Flying Phoenix. I was doing the Short 31 and was beginning the FP Exercises when I read that message. I'll stop the Short 31 and practice the FP exercises for qigong alone.

 

I will say I remain to practice my Bagua exercises (circle walking and standing exercises) as the Internal Kung fu aspect of my training.

 

As I mentioned to you a while back I have the first two in the series on old VHS tapes. I never really watched them until now being distracted with other things. Having started them, I've gotten through the first four exercises and noticed some discrepancies between what is verbally said and the percentage label displaying the percentages of that exercise.

 

Specifically,

 

Bending the Bows:

The label says: 90%, 70%, 50%, 30%, 20%

Terry says: 90%, 70%, 50%, 40%, 30%

 

Actually try this sequence, which is on the DVD version: 70, 50, 40, 30, 10. (My first try at making the FP videos in 1995 was in the midst of a lot of distraction, hence that breath sequence came out incongruent.)

Monk Holds Peach:

The label says: 90%, 50%, 40%, 20%, 10%

Terry says: 90%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 10%

 

The correct breathing is 90%, 50%, 40%, 20%, 10%

 

Perhaps my older VHS versions which have these discrepancies ?

Can you correct these for me?

 

Other questions.

 

1. Bending the Bows.

 

How many repetitions are or can be done in this exercise (the two moving combinations)?

Try to do sessions of 18 reps. How many you do also depends how slowly you do each repetition. If you are going about 3x slower than Tai Chi form spead, then I would say 9-10 rounds when you starting to learn FP.

 

2. You mentioned "curl the tongue" in Monk Holds Peach..

 

As you know this has a different meaning in SKL's system so were you meaning to say,

Touch the tongue to the roof of the mouth?

 

Yes, "Touch the tongue to the roof of the mouth" is my intended meaning.

 

3. When I practice either Short 31 (Circling Palms) or the FP system my body starts to move, spiraling gyrations. Is it good to force the body not to move or allow it to move when practicing?

 

With TTP Short 31, spiraling gyrations should be rooted in your horse stance and "grounded" until it subsides.

 

With FP practice, because it is a different energy, you can let the spiraling gyrations run wild and move you all over the place...they will always at some point subside and suddenly shut down..leaving you in a quiet, deep calm. When the female students in my classes are experiencing the wild gyrations and involuntary movements bouncing them around, I have a little fun making the remark, "Yep, that girl's just a total carnival ride."

 

 

Thanks much,

 

Bill

 

Best,

 

Terry

[zen-bear]

The secret is with in the breath percentages that go for that meditation, the amount of oxygen triggers the chemicals in the brain according to GMDW!

 

Great to see so many people taking up GMDW FP System, Sifu would be very proud of you Sihing Terry.

 

Sifu Garry

 

 

Thanks Si-hing Garry,

That comment means a lot to me.

 

Best Always,

Terry

[zen-bear]

Junbao,

My answers to your questions are below in bold.

 

best,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

So I decided to stop jumping around like a spider monkey and settle on two standing and two sitting FP exercises and stay with them for a while.

 

It's hard for me when I learn of a new practice that is exciting to me, I really just want to jump in and immerse myself and learn and do. But eventually I will back off and try to take the best of what I have learned as it applies to me and stick with that.

*By all means, jump in and immerse yourself in the whole system. Then you can trim down your practice by seeing what "sticks" to you (what meditations resonate and energize most powerfully for you).

So for the next month or so I am going to work with Monk Holding Peach and Wind Through the Tree Tops for standing, and then the seated version of Monk Gazing with the hand turning and the third movement from Monk Serves Wine will be my sitting.

 

A couple of things I have noticed while doing Wind Through Tree Tops. One is that the movements are really enjoyable to do at a very slow speed. I mean like so slow that at points you are not sure anymore if you are moving still or have paused for a moment. It is so completely relaxing. A big contributor to this, for me at least, is that the breathing is not coordinated wit the movements. With some things I have found that when a set breathing pattern is set to certain movements, the movement is only as slow as you can inhale/exhale. I am sure this has it's benefits also, but in the case of relaxation and completely letting go I personally prefer natural breathing with no thought. I find my breathing naturally syncs up with certain movements on it's own depending on where it needs to go at that time.

 

the breathing in FP practice should always be as you described: totally relaxed, normal and with no thought attached.

Yes, as long as you stay relaxed and move as slowly as possible, that pleasurable relaxed state gets deeper and deeper with more practice. and there are various movements in the WTTT, MBSOW, and Long Meditation that naturally sync up with parts of the breath cycle.

 

 

The second thing I noticed from Wind Through Tree Tops is that is very strong in activating the palms. I feel them very buzzy. Not the entire hands but the palms specifically. Following WTTT with the seated Monk Gazing with the hand tweeks really takes this even further, as the palms rotate to face yourself, face each other, and also face away from you. There is healing energy directed toward yourself and then also out to the universe. ** That is the way I am seeing it ATM anyhow.

Also a couple times after doing these together I have felt some light pulsing in the perineum area. Not for very long, and not very strong, but there.

**You are experiencing the very normal, typical effects of the first seated "warm-up" meditation in which one tweaks the forearms and palms while in the Monk Gazing At Moon posture.**

 

I did have two questions for Sifu Terry regarding the seated med with the hand turning. In the video you recommend sitting for a min. of two minutes before doing the hand turning in and out. What I was wondering and maybe a couple other people as well, is can you hold the Monk Gazing pose for say 5 min or even 10 min. before starting the hand turning?

Also you mention doing the turning a min. of 30 times. I was wondering if you are counting in as one time, out as one time, or in/out as one time.

I would like to do them as slow as possible but then 30 in/outs would take quite a long time

 

You can hold the stationery MGAM position as long as you want before starting the palm-turnings. 30 times means 30 In/Out's or 60 single-direcatinal turns the forearms.

 

Thanks again all for coming and sharing in the thread and for Sifu Terry who has taken the time to field our questions and further expand on things

 

Edited August 18, 2010 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Hi Junbao,

My answers below in bold. (good comments and questions, btw)

 

Terry Dunn

 

So it sounds like it would go very well with my Tai Chi practice then, great!

 

I did notice this morning that after a very good and strong session of FP, I went on to do my Tai Chi set and got a queasy feeling in my stomach. Very light and went away not long after. This is the first time I have done my Tai Chi directly after PF. It could very well just be a coincidence but I don't ever normally get that doing my Tai Chi.

Anyway, I am thinking I might do my Tai Chi set first and then FP.

 

Suggestion: keep the 2 practices separated by more time. Wait a good 10-15 minutes after your FP practice to "digest" the energy cultivated and to normalize your system.

 

Sifu Terry I just really want to thank you for your reply's to us.

It is very valuable to me to have you mention about MGAM being a core practice of the system, and I am going to be working on that one for sure. It is interesting doing that one. For me, with the hand position and the eyes open, it creates two areas of focus, and does tricks with my eyes. You have your hands in front of you which is a close focus, and even if you don't focus on them they are still in your field of vision. Then you have the backround, a chair, lamp, wall...whatever is across from you. Even when I relax my focus and don't try to bring focus anywhere, my eyes shift, focus, blur. Almost like that trick when your put your two fingers close, cross your eyes, and see a peanut in the middle...haha. Only my hands aren't that close of course.

 

***Every complete Qigong tradition has a yogic device that deconditions and deprograms the eyes so that one can "see" Reality clearly (in the true Castanedan sense). i.e. one ultimately regains one's primal-pristine ability to see all planes of reality intersecting with the consensus reality. Yes, Monk Gazing At Moon causes the eyes to shift between background, middle-ground and foreground if you don't focus on one point. Eventually, you will see all planes of reality as a unified field. And within that unified field, are all sorts of non-ordinary realities.***

 

TRAINING TIP: in Monk Gazing At Moon -- or even in just plain ol' ZZ--focus your eyes on a stationary point of your choosing suspended in space between your fingertips or palms.

 

 

Today I did MGAM, MHP, and WTTT. Felt really loose, soft, relaxed, and "clean" afterward. Great!

Your description of the effects of the FP energization is very apropos. I like "clean" as in "purified." I would also add as effects: being "connected", "light yet grounded."

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry

[metal dog]

***Every complete Qigong tradition has a yogic device that deconditions and deprograms the eyes so that one can "see" Reality clearly (in the true Castanedan sense). i.e. one ultimately regains one's primal-pristine ability to see all planes of reality intersecting with the consensus reality. Yes, Monk Gazing At Moon causes the eyes to shift between background, middle-ground and foreground if you don't focus on one point. Eventually, you will see all planes of reality as a unified field. And within that unified field, are all sorts of non-ordinary realities.***

 

This is profound.

 

In my own martial training it is quite the advantage to not focus directly on the opponent, but use a vision that takes in the whole picture of and around the opponent. It is with this "peripheral" type of seeing that I can notice the silhouette of my opponent when he initiates the thought to move into an attack. He gives away his intention and telegraphs his move. I am then able to move, after he does, and arrive before he does...beating him beautifully every time with this reaction and time advantage. No matter what he attempts to throw at me, I can see it the moment his mind thinks and his body initiates his movement...and BANG...my effective counter is at the ready instantaneously. There is an advantage to not being on the offense.

 

This same vision is quite helpful when sparring against multiple attackers. Over time, it seems, the vision comes without necessarily seeing something with the eyes, but the mind's eye develops a presence and spatial awareness around yourself. Keeping track of and dealing with four moving opponents at the same time becomes much more effortless and effective.

Edited August 18, 2010 by metal dog

[metal dog]

It has been mentioned to me that bi-location or some type of phase shifting of one's body as perceived by the opponent is also possible on advanced levels.

But of this I have no direct corroboration or knowledge.

Edited August 18, 2010 by metal dog

[metal dog]

Well Terry,

 

I am sold and will be ordering some of the FP DVDs today.

Your sincerity and depth of providing instruction far exceeds any sales pitch possible. The mark of a true teacher.

 

Thanks again for your input here. And I am so glad I found this place just recently and had the opportunity to read your posts and gain from them.

Edited August 18, 2010 by metal dog

[zen-bear]

Well Terry,

 

I am sold and will be ordering some of the FP DVDs today.

Your sincerity and depth of providing instruction far exceeds any sales pitch possible. The mark of a true teacher.

 

Thanks again for your input here. And I am so glad I found this place just recently and had the opportunity to read your posts and gain from them.

 

 

 

Metal Dog,

 

Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad you'll be giving the FP system a try. With your martial background i think you'll find it very balancing.

 

The bi-location you mention is different from phase-shifting.

To understand bi-location, read Carlos Castaneda's book "The Second Ring of Power" where he writes about the technique of "dreaming one's double"(but before that, read "Journey to Ixtlan" and "Tales of Power"). What one can do in dreamstate, one can also do in the waking state. In my earlier years training,in the 1980's, I personally witnessed bi-location accomplished purely by accident once by a younger fellow student--who was as my si-hing, was a karmically crossed-up walking-talking bundle of accidents-waiting-to-happen.

 

The "phase-shifting" you mentioned in previous posting is an advanced yogic capability possessed by a very, very few high-level martial art masters. In some Tai Chi circles, it is called "Tai Chi flying". I heard one absolutely credible eye-witness account of Tai Chi Flying demonstrated by the great Wu style master Ma Yu Liang from his niece in Hong Kong, who was a good friend of my late mother. Yang style Master Mary Chu (Chou)--also a close friend of my late mother--studied with Grandmaster Tung Ying-Jie, one of Yang Cheng-fu's senior students (and the grandfather of master Tung Kai Ying in Los Angeles and great-grandfather of young Master Tung Chen-Wei,whom I'm acquainted with). Long ago, Master Chu told me she felt that Tung Ying-Jie was the last generation of true Tai Chi Masters, for Tung Ying-Jie had the "flying" skill. Another story of martial "phase-shifting" came from Master Share K. Lew, when he told us about the Master Chan Poi of the Drunken (8 Faeries) style (--not Master Chan Poi, the fine praying mantis master in Florida, btw). Taoist priest Share K. Lew also has this ability, which he demonstrated once in the 1970's. That is all that I will say about the skill.

 

Regards,

 

Terry Dunn

[metal dog]

Taoist priest Share K. Lew also has this ability, which he demonstrated once in the 1970's.

 

You are the third person I have communicated with that has independently corroborated this ability concerning Share K. Lew.

Understood and thank you for that elaboration and differentiation between the bilocation and phase shifting.

Edited August 20, 2010 by metal dog

[Fu_dog]

Sifu Terry -

 

I am impressed you know of Chan Poi, the Wah Lum Praying Mantis style kung fu master in Orlando, FL. Your mention of him brought a smile to my face.

 

It was in his school that I first became acquainted with the Eastern arts. First kung fu, then later tai chi. And that eventually led to my practice of qigong. And my search for an ideal qigong led me to Flying Phoenix.

 

As a side note, my daughter was married two weeks ago in Orlando, and shortly after the "I do's" were said between bride and groom, a group from Master Chan's temple performed the lion dance for the newly weds to bless their marriage. This was led by Mimi, Master Chan's daughter, who is doing a wonderful job of moving the Wah Lum system forward.

 

Small world.

[johndoe2012]

My Tai Chi teacher's teacher is Tung Kai Ying I haven't met Tung Kai Ying himself but I have heard many great things about him.

 

Sifu Terry, what are your thoughts about healing others? Can it be done through FP or is FP mostly for healing yourself?

 

Mostly I am talking about healing someone in my family, not doing 8 hours of healing per day.

[metal dog]

This a good question regarding healing.

 

As someone who does spend six, to eight, even ten hours a day doing bodywork and related modalities what methods or techniques can I investigate that would specifically and most dramatically enhance what I offer to others?

 

I have heard of "Buddha's Palm", but do not know what that really is.

Edited August 20, 2010 by metal dog

[zen-bear]

My Tai Chi teacher's teacher is Tung Kai Ying I haven't met Tung Kai Ying himself but I have heard many great things about him.

 

Sifu Terry, what are your thoughts about healing others? Can it be done through FP or is FP mostly for healing yourself?

 

Mostly I am talking about healing someone in my family, not doing 8 hours of healing per day.

 

 

WTM,

Flying Phoenix Qigong is for healing oneself first and then naturally healing others when one attains high cultivation. When strong reserve or super-abundance of the FP is attained through advanced practice, the FP healing energy will automatically "jump off" of you and infuse into people in front of you that you are even just having a conversation with. It's a marvelous art.

 

Terry Dunn

 

P.S. I used to visit Master Tung Kai Ying's class quite often in the 70's and 80's. Not so much recently. But I know Master Tung's son, the Master Tung Chen-Wei, the fourth generation master of the Tung lineage.

Edited August 21, 2010 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry -

 

I am impressed you know of Chan Poi, the Wah Lum Praying Mantis style kung fu master in Orlando, FL. Your mention of him brought a smile to my face.

 

It was in his school that I first became acquainted with the Eastern arts. First kung fu, then later tai chi. And that eventually led to my practice of qigong. And my search for an ideal qigong led me to Flying Phoenix.

 

As a side note, my daughter was married two weeks ago in Orlando, and shortly after the "I do's" were said between bride and groom, a group from Master Chan's temple performed the lion dance for the newly weds to bless their marriage. This was led by Mimi, Master Chan's daughter, who is doing a wonderful job of moving the Wah Lum system forward.

 

Small world.

 

 

Fu-Dog,

 

i have not met Master Chan Poi of Florida. I heard of him starting the 70's as he was covered by Inside Kung-Fu magazine (during the glory days), because the editor of the mag. is the brother of my first kung-fu teacher, Sifu Douglas Wong.

 

Terry

[betwixter]

-

Edited September 12, 2010 by betwixter

[zen-bear]

Hi Sifu Dunn,

 

I just had a couple basic questions concerning this system. I have the series of videos that you produced, but I couldn't find the following answers to these questions that came up for me while I was working on them.

 

1: Where, in general, do you place your mind? Is it always focused on the lower dantien, hands, or do you just let it wander?

 

2: Concerning the breath percentages, do you retain the breath at all during any of the breath sequences? I believe during one of the routines on the videos, you said "Ok, hold for a sec or two, now exhale...", but generally you did not, so I was not sure.

 

Regards

 

By the way, it is really generous of you to field all these questions.

 

 

To Betwixter,

 

Answers to your questions:

1.) You can focus your mind anywhere after you do the breath control sequence of any Flying Phoenix meditation and begin its movements (if there are any). That's one of the wondrous things about the FP system: after you do the breath control sequence and begin the movements, your mind can be focused on anything or remain totally unfocused. The Flying Phoenix meditation will still work.

 

2.) A general rule, do not hold the breath at all in the basic FP meditation practice. Just stand as relaxed as possible and do the breathing sequences with the percentage exhalations. I think on one of programs I might have said hold the breath at the top of an inhalation for maybe up to one or two seconds. But don't even have to do that. Just taking natural, fully relaxed breathes is the best means to get optimal results.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Dunn

Edited September 13, 2010 by zen-bear

[Biff]

Hello Sifu Terry Dunn,

 

It is wonderful that you are contributing and answering peoples questions. Of course it benefits you but your goodness really comes out in your words. And you are quite articulate I might add, very clear and concise explanations. I have some questions of my own I hope you can answer. Im not sure if anyone else has noticed, but you can see the heavenly energy in your DVDs.

 

Questions

 

Having pooled a huge reservoir of heavenly energy, do you find people react differently towards you? I would imagine you attract quite a few people. Some of them attractive females :-). I notice quite the aura in your DVDs so I would assume this energy influences your surroundings somewhat. Not just in peoples mood or approach towards you, but also in your life in general. If we take the law of attraction literally then we could only assume that the practice brings wealth in abundance due to the positive energy that is built. Not just $$ wealth, but more positivity like attracts like.

 

If a student has reached a high proficiency and is able to project healing energy, do you feel additional training is required to supplement the regular treating of patients?

 

Some healing systems (if not all) consider the very act of healing another part of practice. In giving there is receiving. In Reiki, supposedly the healer heals themselves as they heal and energy is replenished in the process of projecting as a channel or conduit. Personally I think Reiki is crap but thats neither here nor there. I have noted that Ya Mau on this forum who has a healing system has mentioned before that if someone is healing using his system then more practice is required. I guess this question rolls into question two.

 

Are the breath percentages activating different variants or vibrations of energy from the subconscious? (And FP healing energy is the combination of these energies) or is each movement and breath percentage just a different circulation to open specific channels and build/circulate those paths? (I would assume both).

 

Regarding BFP energy. In your experience would you say that six months daily dedicated practice is enough to build a full reserve of specific energy be it healing or ging? This is somewhat important as there are so many mediations. I would assume one reserve must be filled and then the next type of energy can be worked on. The answer to question two may affect this. A fighter or healer regularly engaged and using reserves may require a refill more often. Another consideration is that the first level adapts the practitioner to a certain level and frequency of energy. Each level builds more and so previous levels or meditations are no longer required so in the end there is no need to practice hundreds of meditations a day.

 

Lastly, with healing ability sometimes comes a deeper level of intuition. The ability to read a person and their energy in order to properly diagnose etc. Have you noticed anything like this? and does it expand in other areas of your life?

 

Its good to see people enthusiastic about something positive. Keep up the good work.

 

Biff

 

*EDIT*

I wanted to add an additional note regarding 'self defence' and get your thoughts on it. If one is overflowing with heavenly healing energy in abundance and is able to easily project it to others, it stands to reason that the energy can be used in self defense. More specifically in altering emotionally charged situations involving anger/rage etc.

 

Would you agree that the FP energy can be mood altering to the recipient? If so, I'm sure you can see what I mean by self defense. The art of fighting without fighting.. lol. Rather then hit an attacker with ging and mess them up, balance could be restored and their excess emotion diffused by the FP energy. Pretty high level. An advanced practitioner could potentially control anxiety, fear etc. What are your thoughts on this? do I have it all wrong?

 

Biff

Edited August 26, 2010 by Biff

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry -

 

I am impressed you know of Chan Poi, the Wah Lum Praying Mantis style kung fu master in Orlando, FL. Your mention of him brought a smile to my face.

 

It was in his school that I first became acquainted with the Eastern arts. First kung fu, then later tai chi. And that eventually led to my practice of qigong. And my search for an ideal qigong led me to Flying Phoenix.

 

As a side note, my daughter was married two weeks ago in Orlando, and shortly after the "I do's" were said between bride and groom, a group from Master Chan's temple performed the lion dance for the newly weds to bless their marriage. This was led by Mimi, Master Chan's daughter, who is doing a wonderful job of moving the Wah Lum system forward.

 

Small world.

 

Yes, it's a small world when it comes to genuine kung-fu masters.

I'm glad to hear your daughter's wedding had the extra blessings invoked by Master Chan's Wah Lum Temple lion dance. btw, an old friend and classmate, Albert Leong (very recognizable stuntman and actor doing Chinese villain roles...long hair, fu manchu moustache--torturing Mel Gibson with the car battery in "Lethal Weapon 1") was actually one of the greatest lion dancers that I have ever known. He was so strong and animate that the lion (dragon) seemed real when Al would act out the mini-plots of the lion dance.

[zen-bear]

Bill,

You're welcome. There's no harm in doing the Short 31 before doing the Flying Phoenix, if the TTP is already a well established practice. As a matter of fact, that's the structure of my Wed. evening qigong class: More than the Short 31, followed by the FP. But we take a break in between the two practices.

 

My answers to your questions are in bold below:

 

 

Best,

 

Terry

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Bill and Everyone:

 

To clear up some common inappropriate habits that people bring to the Flying Phoenix practice from their practice of other qigong methods, this is recent Q&A I had with Andy Roth from San Diego (who has experience in Tao Tao Pai) regarding synchronization of breathing and movement in Flying Phoenix practice:

 

Terry,

Hope all is well with you.

 

All the warm up exercises have inhale up exhale down breathing tongue curled.

Does that include the last three movements that are in Bending the Bows?

You had stated that Bending the Bow is free breathing except for the three starting,

breathing pattern and the 3 ending breathes.

I was not sure if that applied to the last three warm up movements as well.

 

How many repetitions are done of each warm up exercise? I have been doing 3 or 4 or each.

 

Thanks

Andy Roth

 

Reply

terry dunn to AndyRoth

show details Aug 24 (2 days ago)

Hi Andy,

 

Things are going well. I hope you're having a good summer.

 

Answers:

(a) No. None of the movements in Bending the Bows or in any Flying Phoenix exercise are synchronized with "inhale up and exhale down"; you breath as relaxed as possible and move as slowly as possible. But you do NOT consciously try to coordinate an upward movement with an inhalation or a downward sinking movement with one exhalation. You should be taking 12 deep breathes to slowly raise the arms to throat level or eye level and the same number of breaths to lower the arms to hip level.

 

( It doesn't matter how many times you do the warm-ups on the CKFH dvd's. The more repetitions, the better. But for lack of time, you can skip the warm-ups and jump straight into the FP Meditations. They are extraordinarily relaxing in and of themselves.

 

Best,

Sifu Terry

 

 

Thanks. A bit confused. The DVD states breathing in the warm up.

Inhale up exhale down. I do not have it to view at this moment to check, I am at work,

but I am rather sure that is indicated in the few warm ups.

- Show quoted text -

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Reply

terry dunn to Andy

show details 3:10 PM (22 hours ago)

Yes, the warm-up exercises have the synchronization if inhale rise/exhale lower. That's almost universal feature in kung-fu and tai chi forms. But the warm-ups are not part of the Flying Phoenix tradition. They are qigong warm-ups from other unrelated internal martial arts that I added to the start of each program to enable the student to do the FP better.

 

But everything else on the DVD's with the breath control sequences is authentic Flying Phoenix Qigong.

 

Hint: for lack of time, skip the warm-ups and just do the FP meditations.

 

Best,

Sifu Terry

 

 

 

Sifu,

 

OK now it makes sense.

 

Once I get my wife doing all 5 we will come up and see you for corrections.

 

How long should one do all the standing before going to the seated?

I am now doing the standing 5 times a week for 5-8 minutes each.

 

Andy

 

 

Andy,

5-8 minutes for each of the FP standing meds is fine.

But stretching practice of each out to 15+ minutes is even better to establish them. --But I realize that everyone has time constraints.

 

Practicing 5 times a week is a nice solid schedule. But if you squeeze in even just 10-15 minutes of total practice on the other 2 days, you may notice the boost in benefits.

 

Best,

Sifu Terry Dunn

[healerman88]

sifu terry,

 

i got your first two dvds a month or so ago. memorized the first five standing meds. i think i'm going to let my step-mom borrow the first disk. thing is, she has some kind of nerve disease that limits movement on the left side of her body, especially her left arm and hand. i'll probably prime her on zhang zhuang posture and diaphragm breathing, but what should i tell her about the hand movements and such? "just do it the best you can"? and is it alright if she has to sit down half-way through an exercise?

 

also, regarding the use of stimulants. i assume drinking decaf tea is just fine for someone doing fp. also, i quit smoking cigs about a month ago and went without the whole time. then last week i had one with a friend and eventually i bought a pack and have smoked about 10 in the past two days. i guess i'm asking from your experience (firsthand or otherwise) if caffeine and nicotine affect fp practice? is it safe to say that practicing fp would help someone get completely clean from any kind of addiction?

[Junbao]

also, regarding the use of stimulants. i assume drinking decaf tea is just fine for someone doing fp. also, i quit smoking cigs about a month ago and went without the whole time. then last week i had one with a friend and eventually i bought a pack and have smoked about 10 in the past two days. i guess i'm asking from your experience (firsthand or otherwise) if caffeine and nicotine affect fp practice? is it safe to say that practicing fp would help someone get completely clean from any kind of addiction?

 

Hi Healerman,

 

Not sure if this helps you but from my experience the more I do FP the more my energy increases. I have noticed that when I drink coffee or soda at work and then come home in the evening, it is much harder to relax into a qigong state for FP practice or anything of that nature. So I am cutting it out. I never drank it before until the last few months. It is a mellow stimulant but still a drug all the same and can be addicting. I don't see anything really bad about it but it's not really compatible for me and my Chi!

[zen-bear]

Hello Sifu Terry Dunn,

 

It is wonderful that you are contributing and answering people’s questions. Of course it benefits you but your goodness really comes out in your words. And you are quite articulate I might add, very clear and concise explanations. I have some questions of my own I hope you can answer. I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed, but you can see the heavenly energy in your DVD’s.

 

Questions

 

Having pooled a huge reservoir of heavenly energy, do you find people react differently towards you? I would imagine you attract quite a few people. Some of them attractive females :-). I notice quite the aura in your DVD’s so I would assume this energy influences your surroundings somewhat. Not just in peoples ‘mood’ or approach towards you, but also in your life in general. If we take the ‘law of attraction’ literally then we could only assume that the practice brings wealth in abundance due to the positive energy that is built. Not just $$ wealth, but more positivity – like attracts like.

 

If a student has reached a high proficiency and is able to project healing energy, do you feel additional training is required to supplement the regular treating of patients?

 

Some healing systems (if not all) consider the very act of healing another part of practice. In giving there is receiving. In Reiki, supposedly the healer heals themselves as they heal and energy is replenished in the process of projecting as a ‘channel’ or conduit. Personally I think Reiki is crap but that’s neither here nor there. I have noted that Ya Mau on this forum who has a healing system has mentioned before that if someone is healing using his system then more practice is required. I guess this question rolls into question two.

 

Are the breath percentages activating different variants or vibrations of energy from the subconscious? (And FP healing energy is the combination of these energies) or is each movement and breath percentage just a different circulation to open specific channels and build/circulate those paths? (I would assume both).

 

Regarding BFP energy. In your experience would you say that six months daily dedicated practice is enough to build a full reserve of specific energy be it healing or ging? This is somewhat important as there are so many mediations. I would assume one reserve must be filled and then the next type of energy can be worked on. The answer to question two may affect this. A fighter or healer regularly engaged and using reserves may require a ‘refill’ more often. Another consideration is that the ‘first level’ adapts the practitioner to a certain level and frequency of energy. Each level builds more and so previous levels or meditations are no longer required so in the end there is no need to practice hundreds of meditations a day.

 

Lastly, with healing ability sometimes comes a deeper level of intuition. The ability to read a person and their energy in order to properly diagnose etc. Have you noticed anything like this? and does it expand in other areas of your life?

 

It’s good to see people enthusiastic about something positive. Keep up the good work.

 

Biff

 

*EDIT*

I wanted to add an additional note regarding 'self defence' and get your thoughts on it. If one is overflowing with heavenly healing energy in abundance and is able to easily project it to others, it stands to reason that the energy can be used in self defense. More specifically in altering emotionally charged situations involving anger/rage etc.

 

Would you agree that the FP energy can be mood altering to the recipient? If so, I'm sure you can see what I mean by self defense. The art of fighting without fighting.. lol. Rather then hit an attacker with ging and mess them up, balance could be restored and their excess emotion diffused by the FP energy. Pretty high level. An advanced practitioner could potentially control anxiety, fear etc. What are your thoughts on this? do I have it all wrong?

 

 

Biff

 

 

Hello Biff,

 

 

Thank you for your compliment about contributing openly to readers here and how I come across.

 

Sorry for taking a few days to reply (I'm having a very busy and rough week with business). But I wanted to get back to you with answers to your questions. They are good ones that will help others on this thread.

 

1) Effects of having "built a reserve of heavenly energy" (through the Flying Phoenix practice): Yes, people take notice of your FP energy because the aura "precedes" one. From the time that I first learned the FP Celestial Healing Chi Meditations from GMDW in the early 1990's, everytime I completed a practice session, whenever I would go out into public (e.g., to a restaurant), people are immediately affected by the FP energy and would instantly look at me. After my Wed. evening FP Qigong classes, which are 2 hrs. long, all my students report the same thing when they go into the public afterwards. People stare at them in the face.

 

2) "Like attracts like" -- this law of attraction is true on many levels--mental, emotional and spiritual. How one concentrates one’s thoughts and mental energies, what type of emotions one emanates, and the nature of one’s spirit all determine what a person “attracts.” On the most basic level, humans attract and manifest things and people in their lives through their subconscious script or programming. The mind is a goal-machine, and depending on how effectively one sets or programs one’s goals (through whatever method that works) different people attain their mental goals to varying degrees..

 

Practicing the FP Qigong without fail cultivates the distinctive, tangible FP heavenly healing energy in everyone. And without fail will improve one's health. That is an absolute—in a world that’s very short on procedures with absolute outcomes. But depending on a beginner’s actions, lifestyle, and the forces (beneficial or destructive) that one exposes onself to, the FP energy can be quickly used up or squandered or it can be preserved and increased.

 

The practitioner's state of mind, emotional state, ego structure and spiritual awareness (or lack of) can either further the FP cultivation to improve one's health and enhance one's healing powers, or do the absolute minimum of maintaining one's health at least for the duration of the practice. Over the years I have had some students who--in all honestly--are so dense and deep with body armor tied to such extreme egotism that they claim never to feel the benefits of FP practice, yet I can see that the FP energy is transforming them all the while. (Whereas most students who do the FP qigong take to its energy like a child to cotton candy.)

 

3) “ If a student has reached a high proficiency and is able to project healing energy, do you feel additional training is required to supplement the regular treating of patients?” Answer: Yes. There is a range of basic fundamentals to very advanced methods in healing with FP energy that requires training. A yogic prodigy—we’re talking a real avatar here-- might be able to quickly intuit or “grok” where the FP healing energy and art comes from, and quickly understand how the FP Energy works on all levels. But that is an extreme rarity.

4) With many Chinese traditions, doing healing work is an integral part of the Qigong and kung-fu practice, especially if one is working on seriously injured and diseased people full-time, like 6 to 8 people or more a day. Then your entire background—not just the Qigong training, but one’s kung-fu training and spiritual practices all come into play.

 

The Reiki phenomenon is one of those things where it all depends on the healer (and his/her power of intention)—not so much the method. I have not been impressed with what I’ve seen of the Reiki method in California and I’ve seen it since its heyday in this country around the late 80’s when everyone was talking “Reiki, Reiki, Reiki.” I believe the sensitive Buddhist monk in Japan who created Reiki method way back in the 20’s or whenever was a talented and powerful spiritual healer. Originally a monastic tradition, Reiki might be a movement where today only the highest initiates of that Buddhist tradition (if it still exists) have authentic healing power and can heal at a distance, etc. as they profess they can do. So I wouldn’t discount the system wholesale. But being 80 years and an ocean removed from the originator of Reiki, what I have seen of Reiki (and what I just read online about it again) by my standards doesn’t qualify it as a complete healing system because among other things, it is missing a qigong engine. And in my orthodox view, I don’t believe that Reiki is that strong healing system because it is missing a martial art complement on the “flip side” to ground the healing art—as in the Chinese monastic traditions. (throughout the cult-infected 1980's, I saw hordes of "wounded healers" of all stripes at work, not having much effect at all for all those years within various communities--other than slow drainage) ***Again of course, if the Buddhist spiritualism that enveloped the founder of Reiki has been passed down and is still operative—i.e., there are practitioners who know how to tap into that spiritual healing channel used by the founder of Reiki, then it doesn’t need to have martial art complement.***

 

Bottom line: If you are accomplished in a complete (i.e., holistic) Chinese martial art, you are going to be that much more powerful a healer. The Chinese tradition has always been “healer by day/martial artist-teacher by night”.

 

Compare Reiki training to Master Share K. Lew’s Tao Tan Pai (Taoinst Elixir Method), a Tang Dynastsy monastic tradition where after one is first trained in the TTP Kung-Fu for several years (mastering 5 animal forms, etc. and becoming able to fight) before one learns the TTP Basic 31 Exercises and Tui-Na Acupressure (a system comprised of 13 strokes and their combinations—which can be taught over one weekend—but has to be applied and practiced for years). And then after that one learns the more advanced TTP nei-gung arts to be able to reckon with stronger malevolent energies and spirits. But basic TTP Kung-Fu for 4-5 years, the TTP-31, and Tui-Na Acupressure will make anyone a fully competent energy healer.

 

Same can be said about GMDW’s White Tiger tradition. Training in FP Qigong, the BFP Kung-fu, and GMDW’s vast pharmacopia will make anyone a thoroughly competent healer.

(I’m not familiar with Ya Mau but will take a look).

 

Are the breath percentages activating different variants or vibrations of energy from the subconscious? (And FP healing energy is the combination of these energies) or is each movement and breath percentage just a different circulation to open specific channels and build/circulate those paths? (I would assume both).

 

No. The breath percentages don’t activate anything from the subconscious; “vibrations of energy” do not come from the subconscious. The FP Energy is a distinct singular energy that's upheld by the exercises. The FP Energy, as far as I can tell, is not a combination of "other" energies. Each FP Meditation with its unique posture and movements circulates the FP Energy throughout different parts of the body.

 

Regarding BFP energy. In your experience would you say that six months daily dedicated practice is enough to build a full reserve of specific energy be it healing or ging? This is somewhat important as there are so many meditations. I would assume one reserve must be filled and then the next type of energy can be worked on. The answer to question two may affect this.

 

6 months of daily FP practice covering all the basic meditations is enough to create a reserve of the FP healing energy. But of course, one full year is all that much better and effective. But then again, it depends on each practitioner's state of health, lifestyle, and purpose in life.

 

I cannot answer your question with regards to cultivating the ging or martial energy because there are so many levels and different types arts in the BFP system. It varies from system to system. But I must say, and Sifu Garry Hearfield might chime in on this to agree or disagree, that all of the internal meditations in the BFP system are relatively fast-acting compared to the internal methods of other Chinese martial arts.

 

It’s also an unanswerable question because it depends how much kung-fu background the practitioner has going into the internal practice. Case and Point: Sifu Garry Hearfield, because of his certified mastery of Yau Kung Mun before he started BFP with GM Doo Wai, was able to accomplish high internal cultivation in less than 4 years--what most others would take 12 to 15 years to accomplish. And he demonstrates BFP and Ehrmei Bak Mei better than any student of GMDW who started after I started my training--but before Sifu Hearfield started his!

 

A fighter or healer regularly engaged and using reserves may require a ‘refill’ more often. Another consideration is that the ‘first level’ adapts the practitioner to a certain level and frequency of energy. Each level builds more and so previous levels or meditations are no longer required so in the end there is no need to practice hundreds of meditations a day.

 

Your first sentence is true unless the practitioner has fully mastered the FP or BFP internal system. Then there is no “refilling” because there is no depletion.

 

Everything--every exercise in the FP Qigong system and the BFP internal arts--is essential. It is all there for a reason. How you design your practice day to day is up to you.

 

Your last sentence is true--depending on the quality of one's practice.

 

Lastly, with healing ability sometimes comes a deeper level of intuition. The ability to read a person and their energy in order to properly diagnose etc. Have you noticed anything like this? and does it expand in other areas of your life?

 

Knowledge of energy through healing work starts as intuitive but becomes as deductive as clockwork. “Intuition” merges with a form of literally “seeing” with more experience. And yes, one’s intuition—what I call “structural sensitivity”—increases to the point where one can diagnose a person remotely at a great distance. (In fact, this remote diagnosis as well as remote healing is often much easier than having the person in front of you because you’re not distracted by the persons “tonal”--clothes, attitude, emotions, etc.)

 

I wanted to add an additional note regarding 'self defence' and get your thoughts on it. If one is overflowing with heavenly healing energy in abundance and is able to easily project it to others, it stands to reason that the energy can be used in self defense. More specifically in altering emotionally charged situations involving anger/rage etc.

 

Your reasoning is off here--and is detached from experience and practice of the Flying Phoenix Qigong. Repeat: the FP energy cannot be used for self-defense if you are in a fight. You need to use martial art and instantly apply martial energy or else you will get your clock cleaned.

In other systems like Tao Tan Pai, one can quickly switch one’s energy from healing to martial with the flick of one’s intentionality. But in the FP system, one cannot transform its specific healing energy into a martial one—no matter who you are. Practice the FP Qigong system a bit, and then try to do martial art with the FP energy-- and you see the folly of your question--due solely to lack of experience.

 

There are various martial qigong methods in the BFP system that cultivate many types of energy different than the FP energy. The tangibly light and visibly blue FP energy is strictly a healing energy. One cannot use it for other purposes—without bizarre consequences.

 

Altering or diffusing a charged situation that’s heading towards--or is on the cusp of--violence depends on the strength of one’s own spirit, one’s clarity in reading the situation, one’s facility in verbal and emotional “judo,” and absolute confidence in one's martial skill (kung-fu) as back-up. By virtue of greater experience and better training, the "diffuser" has the situation under control and the antagonist already defeated, for he has total and accurate knowledge of what he can do, and total, accurate and instantaneous awareness of what the antagonist CANNOT do. (Hence the most-often quoted passage from Sun-Tzu's "Art of War.")

 

It also depends on the physical and spiritual strength of the antagonist, and his will and capacity to destroy. A very strong and crazed antagonist will instantly elicit the "fight or flight" response (kick in the release of adrenalin) in everyone except the most experienced of masters. And to use a more extreme example, if the antagonist is demonically possessed (and I have indeed encountered two in my life), one needs perfect shen, a purified spirit and a higher protective spiritual force to deal with it --not a reserve of FP energy.

 

Would you agree that the FP energy can be mood altering to the recipient?

Only if the recipient is oneself. If you, Biff, project or infuse another person with the FP energy, there is no certainty that it will affect his/her mood in any way.

 

If so, I'm sure you can see what I mean by self defense. The art of fighting without fighting.. lol. Rather then hit an attacker with ging and mess them up, balance could be restored and their excess emotion diffused by the FP energy. Pretty high level. An advanced practitioner could potentially control anxiety, fear etc. What are your thoughts on this? do I have it all wrong?

 

Very wrong. You are extrapolating and conjecturing here without grounding in experience. Practice the FP Qigong, do healing with it for about a year, and you will answer these questions for yourself. When you are working with the Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Energy, no thought of violence or conflict can possibly enter your consciousness.

 

But since you asked for my feedback on your conjecture:

Projecting FP healing energy to a patient or subject who is open and receptive is one thing; trying to project FP healing energy in a conflict situation to a heated, angry assailant doing violence will probably put you in the hospital or the morgue.

 

The diffusion of intense, free-floating anger and hatred in a conflict situation with a healing energy like FP that you mention requires the highest level of consciousness and spiritual development, and only a consummate warrior or a sage-saint can pull it off. Even then, a saintly warrior-sage with crystal-clear perception may not choose to diffuse a situation with healing energy; it depends on the timing, distance, speed, and power of the physical attack, the assailant's intentions (whether they are deadly or not), and what emotional, psychic, and/or spiritual energy is driving or possessing him to attack. But ultimately, it all boils down to the clarity and predilection of the warrior. There are some people who need to be saved, and there are some people who need to be killed. --And I will qualify a warrior's conscious decision to kill as being absolutely necessary in a life-or-death situation to preserve one's life through self-defense, or to follow the maxim, "Do that which causes the least pain" in order to save innocent others from death or permanent catastrophic injury.

 

And in case anyone out there has forgotten: in the Chinese martial art tradition, "doing that which causes the least pain" is effected by applying the Shaolin Creed:

 

"Avoid rather than check,

check rather than hurt,

hurt rather than maim,

Maim rather than kill.

For all life is precious,

Nor can any life ever be replaced--even that of the meanest creature."

 

--and other similar teachings.

 

The Art of fighting without fighting is using one’s shen (spiritual awareness) to avoid unnecessary conflicts and dangerous situations that can reverse or possibly end your path of growth and learning. Unless you have mastered FIGHTING, it’s useless to speculate about “fighting without fighting.”

 

Thanks for your questions.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited September 22, 2010 by zen-bear

[metal dog]

These were great questions with excellent answers.

Thanks to both of you for this exchange.

 

I couldn't agree with Terry more about his comments concerning Reiki as they are so similar to my own opinions as well. He is quite accurate on that one about the effectiveness of the healer being more about them than their method, especially with Reiki. This is not to put Reiki down. If you are moderately healthy of body and mind, with a little hands-on training, with the right intent and good chemistry with a client...they will benefit to some degree most likely. The placing on of hands coupled with healing intent is profound on its own, but there is much more to consider, especially if you are considering a profession.

 

Being a second generation bodywork therapist working in a medical, rehabilitative and athletic context for 22 years I can fully appreciate Terry's points here regarding Reiki and regarding energy healing.

 

I had sought out many different "energy" approaches and schools in my time as I wanted to expand my influence and ability beyond the physical of which I am highly trained.

Reiki was quickly dismissed as were a few other approaches. They all had some gems to keep in my armamentarium, but were not complete and rife with excess "junk".

 

Another investigation brought me to the book and method...Joy's Way.

 

I found the books Hands of Light and Light Emerging by Barbara Brennan to be good books in providing a comprehensive understanding of energy and healing. These books are better than most on commercial book shelves or in New Age stores. They are worth a read.

.

But there is too much of a "New Age" slant brought into her work that repels me. So I keep what is useful and disregard the rest. I also had one of her more skilled students and instructors do some sessions with me and this experience also contribute to my dismissing learning her method. After watching a few youtube videos of what goes on at her school...that put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. Good for others maybe, just not my bag.

 

After jumping around a bit to other different schools and methods, it was determined that any good healers were just that, good healers, and would be no matter the method.

 

But could they be better healers should the inadequacies of those methods be recognized, ancillary "filler" disregarded and proven effective techniques instilled in the repertoire?

 

My final conclusion was that the best guarantee for results in energy work was to find a skilled Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner with good diagnostic and treatment abilities, knowledge of a good chi-gong and Tuina system and someone also willing to teach you how to improve your own energy with self-maintenance through lessons and homework. And why would someone not want to take from wisdom that is over 5000 years old.

(I have some sources stating 8,000 years old and another source further speculating even 30,000 years old)

If they had a secondary training in another type of energy therapy then that would just be a bonus.

 

I think that with one's own energy it is paramount, when imbalances requiring a competent practitioner are no longer immediately needed for remedy, that personal responsibility to take care of yourself is a valuable lesson and worthwhile life journey. To self-maintain and develop is getting to know yourself in a most intimate profound way. With of course, your masters, teachers, instructors, therapists and those you spar with providing you with valuable exchange.

Not everyone should be fooling around with other peoples energy even if their intentions are casually considered "good".

 

Terry...you have really filled in some of the blanks for me regarding these distinctions and considerations concerning the different legit chi-gong systems, what they provide, how they work, if they can be mixed, how they can be utilized and under what conditions or with which intentions. The martial and healing distinctions with Lew's system was missing for me. And your distinction that FP is not martial also important. But to know that a healer should be involved with martial training to balance...even more of a revelation. Glad to know I have been pursuing things in a balanced way all this time, intuitively, and now getting some good confirmation.

 

 

(My FP DVDs should be arriving within the week)

[zen-bear]

Metal Dog,

Thank you very much for your observations on Reiki based on your 22 years of hands-on bodywork in medical, rehab and athletic settings. (I have worked in the same three arenas but not full-time over the past 30 yrs, including teaching FP Qigong for 5 years at Cedars-Sinai Medical Ctr. here in Los Angeles--to both outpatients in cardiac rehab and to acute-care post-operative patients in the Dept. of Cardio-thoracic surgery. In 2000-1 NBA season, I trained the L.A. Lakers full-time in Tai Chi and kung-fu as a warm-up to their daily practice sessions).

 

You made a very critical point about the effectiveness of the healer regardless of the healing method or "technology" that I didn't emphasize strongly enough (at all, actually) in offering my observations of Reiki: that first and foremost, beyond the healing method that one uses, what makes a good and effective healer is the right intent (a compassionate heart) and the ability to create "good chemistry" with the patient (i.e., rapport skill, which covers everything from gaining knowledge of the person's cultural, psychological, emotional issues on the spot to understand the full context of the patient's presented problem, to "pacing" the patient's neurolinguistic programming, to being the honest authority on the health issue at hand that instills the patient's faith and confidence.) Combine these elements with an effective method of holistic healing that (develops good diagnostic and treatment skills), and you should have a competent healer. The qigong, of course, empowers both diagnostic and treatment skills to supernormal levels--and sometimes, depending on the healer, his/her years of experience, and the tradition to supernatural levels).

 

And very true that not everybody should be trying to work therapeutically on an energy level, regardless of good intentions. Some people are just not cut out for it--in terms of not being able to develop the facility to work with internal energy or not having the proper balance of critical mind (left brain) and intuition/structural sensitivity (right brain) to avoid becoming a psychic sink or a "sin-eater." I know of people who studied the same systems that I studied for the same number of years or more--but who can't effectively apply their healing knowledge.

 

On the other hand, I've come across some amazingly skilled and masterful veteran bodyworkers, masseurs and masseuses with no training in internal energy who work purely on a physical-corporeal level who do great work and are in good health. Pressure on, pressure off; press here, circle there, knead over there.

 

Doing healing work is a serious matter--whether you're an M.D., O.M.D., herbalist, masseur, or energy healer. And it's something that one has to have a calling for. That is, one needs to be "called" to do healing work...the same way that one has to be "called" to become a priest or a minister or a guru. It is not a field of endeavor where one can "call" oneself. Doing so never works out well because nothing healthy nor helpful can be built up on a foundation of self-deception, false pride and hypocrisy--as the exposed televangelists of the 1980's (Bakker, Swaggart, etc.) and the Catholic Church over the past decade have so dramatically demonstrated.

 

Most Chinese traditions of martial arts and healing arts are so rigorous, deep, balanced and normally self-regulated that by the time one masters a martial art system, one normally has also acquired an effective holistic, energy healing system and working knowledge of Chinese herbs as well. As a student, one of course learns healing by doing; along the path of martial training, all sorts of tests of healing and self-healing naturally arise and are put to the student by the master. When the training is completed, the healing knowledge normally "begs" to be exercised and to be put to use. The comprehension forces its way out of oneself and manifests in practice. Hopefully, the master will exercise it in a productive, compassionate and responsible manner. But how long effectively and cleanly the knowledge is transmitted is a function of the master's character, self-discipline, and respect for his system's ancenstral tradition, for there are a million temptations for a master to abuse the temporal power given to a master by his followers.

 

Thanks for the suggestion to read "Joy's Way". I'll take a look at it when I have the time. Doing most of my fundamental training in healing from the mid-70's through the mid-80's (when New Age and old age cults were rampant and doing all kinds of damage), I can sort out worthwhile material from dross.

 

Glad the info regarding the martial/healing aspects of Tao Tan Pai and the strictly healing function of the FP Qigong has helped to fill in some blanks.

 

Best Regards,

 

Sifu Terry

Edited September 6, 2010 by zen-bear

[metal dog]

Thanks for the suggestion to read "Joy's Way". I'll take a look at it when I have the time. Doing most of my fundamental training in healing from the mid-70's through the mid-80's (when New Age and old age cults were rampant and doing all kinds of damage), I can sort out worthwhile material from dross.

 

This was not so much a recommendation for this book or his system, but was just another method that came into my sphere of awareness during that time. The only two things about it that were interesting was some simple hand placement techniques and a theory about a spiralic chakral connection rather than just a vertical one.

Other than that, it provided very little of interest for me. But check it out if you like. It is old so you may find a free version on scribd or google books. Not high on my list of recommendations though.

 

If there were a book, found in commercial book stores, to recommend for your perusal then it would be Barbara Brennan's two books that I mentioned...primarily her first release as the second focuses on her "channeled" material (unless that interests you as well).

 

There is a method, in bodywork circles, that did leave me with a very good impression and information that was most promising with its approach and results....Polarity Therapy. This I would highly recommend for perusal to gain something potentially useful in the "mainstream" energetic bodywork arena. I would say this one modality has garnered more "legitimacy" for those not so inclined to even venture into energy work. (They advertise being recognized by the NIH, if one gives credence to such a claim or to the organization known as the NIH for that matter.)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarity_therapy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph_Stone

http://www.polaritytherapy.org/

 

A basic book, but one that is effective at bridging the physical to the energetic is "Inner Bridges: A Guide to Energy Movement and Body Structure" by Fritz Frederick Smith, M.D.

Nicely written (soft style) a good primer at understanding the energetic through the physical.

 

Another good book with more emphasis on internal anatomy and physiology, but in a different and interesting body language/physiological/psychological perspective is "Emotional Anatomy" by Stanley Keleman.

The physiological responses described in this book to emotions and psychology is excellent. A modern and more expansive elaboration of the work of Hans Selye.

 

And another book reco now exiting the energetic realm into the physical, but superb in its presentation as a comprehensive book and explanation as to how and why manual therapies work is "Job's Body" by Deane Juhan.

This book is excellent with the anatomy and physiology relating to the nervous system and sensory faculties of the body. And Deane is a great human being.

http://www.jobsbody.com/

 

(So these 3 book recos, in order, are kind of like a spectrum starting with the energetic, to the psychological and then to the physical in their explorations of the body in a bodywork context)

 

I have learned that, for myself, that energy work is most potent and necessary. But that often people tend to give it a "higher status" or place it upon a pedestal with an air of "superiority" out of some type of romanticized notion about energy. Possibly because it is mysterious, esoteric or occult and offers release from the mundane. And then the physical is left in this downgraded and inferior relatedness or dis-empowerment when considering illness, remedy and treatment. Then layered with New Age jazz it becomes even more of a scramble. I never try to dismiss one over the other and try to remain more objective in my considerations (as I am more subjectively physically-based in training and intellectual in my processing of information), but I do keep this in mind to accommodating my own tendencies toward learning and practice...

 

As long as we (spirits) are incarnated (souls) in flesh and bones bodies, then the physical deserves its rightful considerations and respect. Decline and death will arrive but the vessel has its demands and immediate primacy deserving of our concerns and considerations. While I do agree the physical design is based upon a matrix of the energetic, they co-exist while influencing each other, they are complementary and during life the physical exacts some primacy in our considerations about health and healing. Sometimes it is not necessary to make such an elaborate jump to the energetic when a simple physical remedy to a physical problem is all that is necessary (and yes, even this "physical-based" consideration has its energetic principles at work), but absent any dominating notion of the "omnipotence" of the esoteric at the risk of disregarding something physical, simple and effective. And it is no problem to work from both ends of the spectrum to achieve benefit, just not one at the expense of the utility and usefulness of the other. This may seem it does downplay the spiritual or energetic, but that is not necessarily my intent...just to address the extreme that some will lapse into regarding the energetic...or even the spiritual.

 

Perhaps I can relate this better to you and the forum (and myself) with this example. I have a recent case history (and permission to use the details of this person freely and publicly) from a neighbor that came to see me for some myofascial release work. He had been a migraine sufferer since his early teens and he is now over forty and still having problems. These are the type of migraines with the lights or stars flashing before the eyes, halos, intense pain and even sometimes nausea. He can feel when it is coming on at the start of the day and knows by the evening it will be full-blown in intensity. Closing the shades, being in the dark and quiet and trying to fall asleep quick really the methods he has learned works for him.

In getting his history about this condition and what he has done about it it was revealed that he has seen multiple doctors, had multiple tests (x-ray, MRI, nerve conduction, allergies), had received physical therapies and alternative treatments with chiropractic, massage and acupuncture over the span of his live to find relief. Medications did little and side-effects were not a desirable compromise. So we are talking over twenty years of efforts and little progress. This is, unfortunately, not uncommon.

 

So now I became more specific as to the nature of the problem itself and how it manifests. I sometimes ask these questions with repetition or in a few different ways because twenty years of dysfunction leaves a lot of detail to recall that can prove useful and people don't remember to tell you everything at one sitting.

 

So I did some light work on him for his initial session just to get a feel for his body and so he can have a feel for the work and be somewhat comfortable. I found significant contra-lateral compensation patterns in his body coupled with a spiralic hypertonicity of myofascia coming from the feet to the upper neck. A mis-alignment of the talus bone in one ankle was causing an upper leg tensor fascia latae weakness...so I fixed that right away as it was too prominent to be delayed. He had no physical sensations of discomfort to indicate a problem to himself, but functionally it was significant.

So I had to find out what it is he does to have created such a pattern and a firm one at that. But not really focusing on the migraine issue at the moment...just focusing on him.

 

He works for large company that is contracted to lay the roads and parking lots in the local area. Grading and asphalt type work. So he swings a heavy shovel a lot. And that motion for a right-hand dominant with a left-foot forward placement coupled with the rotating swinging of a shovel at the waist and with the arms perfectly explained the physical body pattern developed over many years. This man's natural structure is one toward strength than resilience so he has the power to do it, but perhaps lacking a bit with flexibility.

 

So I worked with him a couple more times over a few more sessions concentrating on the pattern related to his physical activities and not so much the migraine issue other than some light work on the neck and cranium.

Some secondary achy areas in the hips and between the shoulder blades resolved themselves at this point and even a couple areas he did not know were troublesome until I pressed upon them and relieved them of tension as well. The migraines began to reduce in frequency (usually attacks twice a week) to once a week and with less severity.

 

About the fourth session (one session a week) I then inquired again about the migraine and details about its onset. He described how often he gets them and their development and pain pattern. With that I just worked on the ribcage, chest, collar bone, neck, head and for ninety minutes. He only gets the migraine on one side of the head, behind the eye and into the lower jaw. At this point I told him to go and see a local chiropractor as he had a slight mal-positioning of the upper three cervical vertebrae. ( I could do it myself, but I wanted this second analysis and opinion, plus adjusting the neck can be dangerous should there be something unforeseen like a tumor, which a good chiropractor will find) He went to the chiropractor and he was unable to adjust his neck because the tension in that area was too much to get any vertebral movement with gentle-soft or more forceful-hard technique. So he needed another session or two from me to get there for that type of correction. After the next session, the chiropractor had great success and commented on how surprised he was at the ability to move the area so well considering the tension that was present prior. But I did not suspect that the migraine was primarily caused by this vertebral alignment problem, although in some cases it can be.

 

So with that addressed (you gotta' keep your head on straight), and some superficial work now having been done on this person's musculature. I then went deep into his anterior neck muscles and found the "goodies". Two deep lying trigger points in the upper cervical musculature (tricky to find and get to and not often documented in books) completely activated his migraine symptoms upon pressure. And I knew I had it. During this session I de-activated them, reduced significant tension in these muscles, did some neuromuscular balancing with some other methods, instructed him on some homework with avoiding perpetuating factors-habits and doing some therapeutic movements, exercises and strategies (seeing how he works the same job stressing his body the same way every day).

 

And the man has been migraine free for the past nine months and has just asked me yesterday for a session, not for migraine, but just some overall neck tightness. Should he wait longer, then perhaps that pattern may re-emerge, but maybe not because of his own efforts with his homework. I also informed him that reducing his coffee consumption from four to five cups a day to one or two and reducing his smoking will be good habits that may influence less migraine attacks. Such pain may never revisit him, but at least he know what it is and how to effectively address it now.

 

I did not jump into herbs, Bach Flower remedies, homeopathics, polarity, laying on of hands, chi gong, tuina or anything of an energetic nature (or spirit guides). This is not to deny that energy may not a factor in my work or that someone attuned to these other modalities may not have gotten results. But thing is that the problem was physically caused, physically based and physically resolved. To my knowledge, I don't think anything energetic would have resolved those trigger points as effectively or as long-term. I could be wrong but that is my opinion. I do know energy therapies can resolve physical issues and acupuncture can resolve myofascial tightness and trigger points. But it was not necessary to get too impassioned with the esoteric regarding this case to the extreme of all considerations as I had earlier mentioned. I have had a few "sensitives" tell me that my physical work very much works with them on the energetic level, so maybe I am doing more in that area than I realize. But this just proves they are not so different or independent from one another.

 

I am really looking forward to getting the FP instruction and incorporating this medical chi gong into my internal energy practice. Perhaps from there in a few months time I can experience something new and revelatory and enhancing in this field of endeavor, not just for myself but also to extend to others.

 

This Tuina method of Lew's you describe sounds like the perfect pursuit to take once sufficient cultivation with FP has been accomplished and then begin to explore hands-on methods and techniques to actualize it with clients. Does anyone offer this, a similar or effective method with video? As I am a long way from the U.S. west coast and quite busy.

And is it possible for someone with some background and experience in healing to learn it from video instruction? (I know, I know, rambling, rambling and questions galore...welcome to the inside of the head of a mercurial metal dog)

Edited September 4, 2010 by metal dog