Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[River Rat]

Hello Sifu Terry,

 

A problem I have is trying to maintain the Monk Gazing the Moon hand position with eyes closed in sitting meditation #1 (5 60 80 40 30 breathing). After I flip my hands a while, my hands drift too far apart or too close, or one hand is raised higher than the other, or two arms end up in different angles. Everytime after finishing, I open my eyes and look at my hands and found my "Moon" in a bad shape.

 

Now I'm taking a peek at my hands several times during the meditation to correct the form. I'm wondering if opening the eyes for a little bit during the meditation is OK or not?

 

Thanks.

[nic chi]

Sifu Terry,

 

One side effect (beneficial, I think) is an good increase in breath awareness. I practice early morning and do "natal" breathing after the breath sequence, slow and deep. Well after I finish the practice (sometime the whole day) I keep doing the natal breathing (while driving, sitting at the desk etc).

 

What do you advise on breathing outside of the FP practice.

 

Thanks,

 

Nic

[johndoe2012]

Sifu Terry, I have one question: could Monk Holding Pearl, 50 40 30 20 10, be done without holding the hands at the lower tan tien - but still having the attention at the tan tien? Reason for asking: when in a public place (airplane, bench, wherever) it would be nice to just close the eyes, do the breath sequence and not draw attention to yourself.

 

Another question: is Volume Six, Advanced Martial Meditations also related to Flying Phoenix or is it related to Bat Deem (Din?) Gum? Any news on when it will be available?

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry, I have one question: could Monk Holding Pearl, 50 40 30 20 10, be done without holding the hands at the lower tan tien - but still having the attention at the tan tien? Reason for asking: when in a public place (airplane, bench, wherever) it would be nice to just close the eyes, do the breath sequence and not draw attention to yourself.

 

Another question: is Volume Six, Advanced Martial Meditations also related to Flying Phoenix or is it related to Bat Deem (Din?) Gum? Any news on when it will be available?

 

 

Hi WTM,

 

For MHP to be 100% effective, you want to have your hands in the proper position. And doing just the breathing without the correct posture will over time dilute the effects when you do do it properly. So don't cut corners in terms of form.

 

I have not had time to redo Vol. 6 on DVD. I have do have plans to do so. But I can't estimate at the moment when I can get to it.

 

Answer: No, the exercises in Vol. 6 are all Bok Fu Pai meditations and are unrelated to BDG.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry

[zen-bear]

Hello Sifu Terry,

 

A problem I have is trying to maintain the Monk Gazing the Moon hand position with eyes closed in sitting meditation #1 (5 60 80 40 30 breathing). After I flip my hands a while, my hands drift too far apart or too close, or one hand is raised higher than the other, or two arms end up in different angles. Everytime after finishing, I open my eyes and look at my hands and found my "Moon" in a bad shape.

 

Now I'm taking a peek at my hands several times during the meditation to correct the form. I'm wondering if opening the eyes for a little bit during the meditation is OK or not?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

Hello RR:

 

Perfectly OK, although not ideal. It's quite alright to open your eyes from time to time to adjust your hand position or posture. Very few can adhere to perfect meditation form with every practice session.

 

The "forearms draped over a giant egg" position in the seated Monk Gazing at Moon meditation is a most natural position, and with more practice, your body will naturally conform to it.

 

But for quick improvement: just spend more time holding the static position (5 to 10 minutes, even) before you start "tweaking" the forearms.

 

And every time you feel your arms go out of alignment, just open your eyes and bring them back to the proper position. It's only a matter of time before you perfect the form of this exercise.

 

Best,

 

Terry Dunn

[Fu_dog]

Sifu Terry -

 

There is something that's a little off topic that peaks my interest that I wanted to ask about. That's your own personal background.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong, however IIRC, you are Ivy League educated at Harvard and Yale in finance/business. After you finished your master's degree you worked in California for a company in the financial industry. That seems like a great start to move up the latter of the corporate world.

 

However, you left that to pursue your current career. Can you please tell us at what point you decided you would leave the business world to become a martial artist? What was your thinking at the time? There's got to be an interesting story there.

 

Thanks,

 

Lloyd

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry,

 

One side effect (beneficial, I think) is an good increase in breath awareness. I practice early morning and do "natal" breathing after the breath sequence, slow and deep. Well after I finish the practice (sometime the whole day) I keep doing the natal breathing (while driving, sitting at the desk etc).

 

What do you advise on breathing outside of the FP practice.

 

Thanks,

 

Nic

 

 

 

Hi Nic,

 

Outside of the FP meditative practice, just breathe naturally--i.e., however you breathe without thinking about it. If it's natal breathing, all the better.

 

It's always good and healthy to recover the natal breathing pattern (for those who deviated from that pattern for whatever causes). But I wouldn't worry about it if one isn't always breathing that way.

 

Sifu Terry

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry -

 

There is something that's a little off topic that peaks my interest that I wanted to ask about. That's your own personal background.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong, however IIRC, you are Ivy League educated at Harvard and Yale in finance/business. After you finished your master's degree you worked in California for a company in the financial industry. That seems like a great start to move up the latter of the corporate world.

 

However, you left that to pursue your current career. Can you please tell us at what point you decided you would leave the business world to become a martial artist? What was your thinking at the time? There's got to be an interesting story there.

 

Thanks,

 

Lloyd

 

 

Hi Lloyd,

 

I thought about answering your question here through a PM, but upon review, I think it's ok to make available on the forum, in case anyone else might be interested.

 

So here's the not-so-short version of how I transitioned from a traditional corporate career in finance and management consulting lasting ten years (think "Mad Men" of the 1980's) to my livelihood of the past 20 years as a media producer that allows me the opportunity to occasionally express my comprehension and training in the Chinese martial arts and the underpinning philosophies of Taoism and Chan Buddhism:

 

After getting a bachelor's degree from Yale in 1976 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Bus. School in 1980 (worked 2 yrs in between in fundraising), I worked 10 years full-time in a series of fast-track jobs in corporate financial management and then management consulting (specializing in financial valuations for corp. restructuring for a financial think tank based in Chicago called the Alcar Group).

 

All this time in my 20's through mid-30's, I trained intensively (near-fanatically) in the kung-fu and Tai Chi Chuan--6 hours a day 6 times a week. (One of my private students, actor Don Cheadle, told me that that's what they call "wood-shedding" where he grew up...the period where one is "learning one's chops"--in music, acting, or whatever discipline.) My kung-fu training started in 1973 with Sifu Douglas Wong's White Lotus KF system (Sil Lum 5 Animals and YKM). In the 80's I was studying Tao Tan Pai as well as well, simultaneously with Yang Tai Chi Chuan with Abraham Liu and 6H/8M with Dr. York Why Loo. (Today,I am still a student of Master Chan Ching Kai of NYC in 6H/8M). I started learning a Tai Chi form in 1976 but didn't start real Tai Chi training until I met my first Tai Chi master, Abraham Liu, in 1980. After working 10 years in a corporate lockstep that gave me a very nice life-style but that bored me to tears, I engineered an exit for myself by producing my first two Tai Chi For Health videos on VHS in 1990, which are still top-selling today on DVD. (I had learned video production in the mid-80's from a good friend in San Diego who was a fellow student under Abraham Liu at the time, Victoria Bearden (she taught video art at UCSD--long before there was any MTV, etc.). I loved photography and film since high school, and I picked up video production pretty quickly from Victoria. She helped me produce my very first programs in 1985: Master York Loo's Yang Tai Chi Long Form, Tai Chi Sword (with Dr. Loo), and Tai Chi Ruler (coming soon finally on DVD). I made these videos purely as a hobby in my spare time while I was doing my corporate career. (Back then, Abraham Liu was coming up to teach in L.A. every other week and oversaw my classes; he also gave two retreats a year in San Diego area, and I also attended every one of his classmate Master Benjamin Lo's week-long summer retreats up north in La Honda, CA.)

So I packaged these early videos and sold them through direct mail flyers and a few ads in kung-fu magazines just for sake of the art. Around 1998, I started getting really bored and restless (and a bit burned-out) with the job, so I started casually writing the teaching narrative/script for the Tai Chi for Health programs while I was on the road as the Manager of the western states for the consulting firm--traveling to S.F., Portland, Seattle, and Boise every single month. Back then there were no laptop PC's yet; I was typing my script out using a 35-lb. "Compaq"-brand mini-computer that required wheels to haul through an airport. Remember those? it was state of the art then!) When the script was finished about a year later (I had been rehearsing it up to that time for some 9 yrs by teaching my weekly TC classes) over one long weekend in late summer of 1989, I filmed the outdoor opening scenes on a rocky beach in Palos Verdes and the instructional segment at a friend's photo studio in L.A. that wasn't even sound-proofed. I called in all favors from my friends in Hollywood and most fortunately, my cameraman John Slagle gave me a tremendous look for my shoestring budget...and I made 2 two-hour programs suitable for the mass market that are still top-selling today. I first started selling the TCFH Short Form and Long Form VHS cassettes out of my bath tub (that's where I stored them) by direct mail and direct response (ads in Tai Chi magazine, Inside KF, Yoga Journal, and Natural Health). And then a small but aggressive distributor called Healing Arts Publishing, Inc. (that made the very first and most popular videos teaching Yoga (featuring Patricia Walden, Rodney Yee et. al.) saw my ad in Yoga Journal, bought my tapes, loved them and contacted me to cut a licensing deal. This distributor, HAPI, did quite an amazing job placing my TCFH titles everywhere throughout the 90's, they grossed more than the average independent film, and those high royalties in the 90's allowed me to start my own production company and leave the corporate world for good.

 

That's how I got to put away my suits in mothballs back in 1990. I was very lucky: I had a creative convulsion that forced my Tai Chi comprehension outside of myself, and it took the form of videos that were the right products at the right time and became a huge hit for 10 yrs+ in the video industry and are still going strong. It wasn't a situation where one day I said to myself "OK, I'm going to quit my job now and just do martial arts"; I had done both in parallel for most of my adult life, but feeling most of the time like a frustrated artist. Then I made the 2 TCFH videos to unfrustrate myself, and fortunately, the public loved them and they did very well, so that I've been self-employed for the past 20 yrs.

 

But,unfortunately, the phenomenal success of Tai Chi For Health made both HAPI and its successor, Gaiam,inc., very greedy and arrogant and I wound up in two big lawsuits against them, almost back-to-back. I won the first one in glorious fashion in 1998, and recovered 100% of a huge amount of absconded royalties plus my attorneys' fees--just in time to invest in the tech boom. The collection of my judgment against HAPI threw it into distress and in 1999, it was eaten up by Gaiam through a hostile take-over. This justice was quite karmic and thorough and I'll elaborate in some detail here because it's an interesting story and lesson about what happened to one very diabolical crook who tried to plunder a clean and strong channel of teaching that he of course didn't know was sanctioned and protected:

 

HAPI actually had started the lawsuit by suing me pre-emptively in August 2004, just 2 days after I had started auditing their books as provided for by my contract!!!--i.e., they knew they were going to get caught in the royalty audit, so they did a pre-emptive first strike and sued me first based on a mountain of false allegations (all later proven to be frivolous), trying to somehow deter me from my claims. As a result, the owner of HAPI, who I don't need to name here (because he learned his lesson in spades), not only had to pay me everything he had withheld over 3.5 yrs, plus interest and my atty's fees, but he lost control of the company that he founded and ran for 10 years, that had successfully carved the yoga/tai chi/low-impact exercise niche in the video industry and was reportedly doing more than $10 million a year.

The owner of HAPI unwisely refused to pay the court-ordered judgement but instead tried to dog me--for over 9 months. Thus I was forced to levy his business bank accounts month after month, send in Sheriff keepers to sit in his business in 12 hr. shifts to prevent anything from being removed from the premises--remember HAPI was a wholesale and mail order distributor). Still he wouldn't pay my judgment. When I went to L.A. County Sheriffs office in Calabasas, CA (who do the property seizures in W. Los Angeles) to enforce the writ of execution, the sheriffs recognized me from Ron Chapel's A.O.T.(Advanced Officer Training) Seminars for Law Enforcment that I helped Ron to teach from 1993 to 1995 after the L.A riots & Rodney King incident (back then we trained the LA County Sheriffs, Calif. State Police, UCLA police, LA district school police,and L.A.Safety Police--everyone except LAPD). And the Sheriffs there even had my "Arrest & Control For Law enforcement" videos that I had produced for Ron with my name on it as the producer! Talk about serendipity--or synchronicity : So I personally gave Sgt. Gary Clarke my seizure instructions, and he says to me "Don't worry, Terry, we'll hit him hard for you."

A few days later, the HAPI owner wakes up and all of his company cars are gone from the parking lot. But still he wouldn't pay. About a week later, on Sept. 14, 1998, which I later found out coincidentally fell his birthday, my private investigator and the Sheriffs with Bekins movers marched into his business in Venice, CA, and hauled out 35 Apple computers, 4 xerox machines, 2 refrigerators, and 2 warehouses full of inventory and started loading it all for liquidation. (I didn't choose the seizure date; the sheriff's did). I'm across the street (Main Street in Venice) on the 2nd floor of another business complex with a pair of binoculars and a huge brick of a cell-phone (1998 remember), looking in through the windows of HAPI's offices, telling my investigator to "take that plant, take that time-clock, and take the the desk lamp and chair out of every executive's office." After 4 full years of thievery and being dragged through an incredibly unjust lawsuit, that day was a very cathartic healing for me.

 

As it turned out, the owner of HAPI borrowed money from the president of Gaiam, Inc. in exchange for 51% controlling interest in his company in order to pay my judgment in full that very same day to stop the seizure and prevent his business being totally gutted. About 7 months later, in April 1999, Gaiam fired this original owner/founder of Healing Arts and took over his entire catalog of some 30+ successful yoga/fitness videos. Undeniable proof of the saying, "Karma's a bitch." (this hostile take-over of HAPI, btw, is how Gaiam, Inc., which had no experience whatsoever in videos, got into the yoga DVD business.)

 

But my second lawsuit, which should have been a much easier victory than the first case, which was worth much more, had to be settled in 2003 in not-very-satisfactory fashion due incredible bungling and ineptness by my lawyers. In the first lawsuit, I decimated the adversary, but in second lawsuit, I dissipated the adversary's business practices that I had alleged by getting the rights to my videos back, but I didn't recover anything close to the damages that I had claimed it had caused.

 

But back to the future and the Positive:

As early as 1994, I had planned 4 new Tai Chi for Health programs, the production of which has been postponed all these years. But they will still come out soon--and be all that much better for the delay. I'm poised to produce next year my definitive DVD series on Tai Chi Chuan that should stand for for a long time--hopefully,for generations--because my TC and KF practice is far-evolved from what is seen on the 1989 DVD's. (Because while Master Abraham Liu gave me the green light to make my first Yang Form videos in 1989, and my teaching skill was far above average, my form back then was not great nor very advanced in terms of (a) "linkage" and ( the lower back not relaxed and filled-out and the chest not simultaneously "empty" enough), I plan to make my final DVD instruction series on Tai Chi Chuan that shows "before" and "after" an additional 20 years of training.

 

One of my current project is a thoroughly perfected multi-year series for PBS called "Tai Chi for Health from China" that will be 26 half-hour episodes per year. I can't say anymore about the show here, other than the project has been highly endorsed by PBS and I am currently looking for corporate sponsors to fund its sizable annual budget. The ideal sponsor is a company that wants to advertise a strong tie-in to China to the PBS audience: 110 million of the most educated and highly informed TV households in the country. (co.s like HSBC, China Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Kaiser Permanente, etc.) If you happen to know of any senior people at companies like these in charge of advertising, Lloyd, let me know. You can instantly become an executive producer in the series.

 

Is that an interestingly enough story for ya, Lloyd?

 

All the best,

 

Terry Dunn

 

 

P.S. I hope you all out there aren't glazed over from all the talk of lawsuits and crap, but in answering Lloyd's question, I decided to elaborate on some of the interesting karmic firefights that I had no choice but to engage in to protect my Work. The point is not to roll-over when strong evil tries to steal something's that's essential to you.

Edited September 28, 2010 by zen-bear

[Fu_dog]

Sifu Terry -

 

Thanks for taking time to tell your story. Something told me it would be quite interesting!

 

That said, even with the very hard work during your "wood shedding" years, I expected a story that would be simpler, easier, smoother. However, as life often is, there were a lot of twists and turns in your road towards making the Chinese arts your full time career considering your battles over rights and royalties. It's too bad the artist always seems to be the one infringed upon. However, from your story karma seemed to do what karma does. In spades.

 

Also, you give us all something to look forward to, namely more excellent instructional videos. About 8 years ago I learned the tai chi short form from your TCFH video and continue to practice it today. So more coming is very cool!

 

Got your message on corporate sponsorships. I will poke around and let you know if I get some interest.

 

Again, thanks for sharing.

 

Lloyd

[zen-bear]

Thanks for sharing your story. Very best to you in your current endeavors. Despite the karma of your melding of art and business, you have continued to flourish!

 

 

 

Thanks very much for your good wishes,Rainbow Vein!

[River Rat]

Sifu Terry,

 

May I ask if you have any experiences with the Blue Flying Phoneix Tea, and if it boosts the practice a lot when you drink it while practicing FP? Can it be used with other qigong practices for health and building up chi in the body?

 

Also, I'm wondering if Flying Phoneix is mostly a medical chi qong system, or does it also have a spiritual aspect to it? The reason I ask is because I heard some taoist practices can help one reach enlightenment and immortality.

 

Thanks!

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry,

 

May I ask if you have any experiences with the Blue Flying Phoneix Tea, and if it boosts the practice a lot when you drink it while practicing FP? Can it be used with other qigong practices for health and building up chi in the body?

 

Also, I'm wondering if Flying Phoneix is mostly a medical chi qong system, or does it also have a spiritual aspect to it? The reason I ask is because I heard some taoist practices can help one reach enlightenment and immortality.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Hello RR:

 

Answers:

(1) No, I have not had experience with the Blue Flying Phoenix Tea. Is it made from a formula from GM Doo Wai? Who is providing or selling it? What are its ingredients?

I would have to look at the ingredients (and the proportions are all important, as well) in order to tell if it's helpful to meditation and energy cultivation.

 

In the FP training that GMDW gave us from 1990-1996, we used powerful herbs, but they were/are in an alcohol tincture, not tea'd. the only tea we made semi-regularly was from a Chinese mushroom (dried). Still, I'm interested in learning about the tea you mentioned. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

 

(2) Both: Flying Phoenix is a 100% medical or healing Qigong system AND there is a spiritual aspect to this body of yogic knowledge. The alchemy by which it works has high spiritual origins, as the oral tradition states that Feng Tao Teh attributed his creation of the FP Meditations to a visitation during a meditation-induced trance state from an unnamed female Buddhist diety. In that part of China, Emeishan in Sichuan, the most revered Buddhist diety (that all the Buddhist temples on the mountain were dedicated to starting in the 3rd Century) is the Bodhisattva Puxian or Samantabhadra.

 

Taoist and Buddhist practices, and all authentic yoga's are tools that can lead one to attain enlightenment and immortality. But attainment of either does not come by simply and exclusively practicing Yoga's--be they Taoist, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, or Muslim, etc. The two, btw--enlightenment and immortality--are not exactly the same thing. They certainly overlap, of course.

 

Taoism is a fine "warrior's" path because it teaches/inspires one to attain immortality within one lifetime.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited October 2, 2010 by zen-bear

[Ruthless]

Sifu Terry,

I am helping my wife learn the Flying Phoenix basic 5 standing.

She has the first one well in hand. However she slammed here foot into

a door bare foot and really messed the 3 last toes.

 

Standing for any time is painful. I suggested she sit and do the first exercise

so at least keep the energy moving that she has developed over the past 4 weeks

of doing it.

Good idea or not?

 

The next issue is she is not a martial artist and has limited range in her hips at this time.

Doing the 2nd one, she can not do a double shoulder wide stance and she can not go very deep.

 

In time that will improve I am sure.

 

I am assuming that working within the limitations will not reduce it's effectiveness.

 

As I understand it it is not the posture being 100% perfect as much as the breathing be 100% correct.

 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry,

I am helping my wife learn the Flying Phoenix basic 5 standing.

She has the first one well in hand. However she slammed here foot into

a door bare foot and really messed the 3 last toes.

 

Standing for any time is painful. I suggested she sit and do the first exercise

so at least keep the energy moving that she has developed over the past 4 weeks

of doing it.

Good idea or not?

 

The next issue is she is not a martial artist and has limited range in her hips at this time.

Doing the 2nd one, she can not do a double shoulder wide stance and she can not go very deep.

 

In time that will improve I am sure.

 

I am assuming that working within the limitations will not reduce it's effectiveness.

 

As I understand it it is not the posture being 100% perfect as much as the breathing be 100% correct.

 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Dear Ruthless,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your wife hurting her foot so. Toe-smashes always hurt a lot and affect a lot--standing, walking.

 

Yes, it is a good idea: have your wife do the first exercise, "Monk Holding Pearl" (50 40 30 20 10 breathing) in a seated or lying down (supine) position until her toes fully heal and she can stand comfortably again.

 

As for Ex. #2, Monk Gazing At Moon, if her legs are tight, they will naturally loosen over time with practice. But my advice is to wait until her foot thoroughly heals before doing this and the other standing meditations.

 

Regarding FP Ex.#3, "Monk Holding Peach", which has a much wider stance (twice as wide as Ex. 2)--for when she's back on her feet: tell her that she doesn't have to start with the feet a full two-shoulder's width apart: she can start with 1.5 shoulder's widths apart and slowly stretch it out to 2 shoulder's widths.

 

Also, doing a lot of FP Standing Med. #4 - "Bending the Bows" will greatly help loosen the pelvis and the inner thigh and leg muscles to allow her to eventually stand in Ex. #3 position comfortably. If one is unusually tight in the legs and pelvis, "Bending the Bows" also doesn't have to be done at 2 shoulders widths at the very outset of one's practice. (But the back--especially the lower back (lumbar) must be straight, relaxed and "flat") throughout the exercise.

You can start with feet slightly closer at 1.5 shoulders widths and then move it wider with practice. Once her foot is healed, if your wife practices Ex. #4 regularly, the wide stance in Ex.#3 will come more easily. This is because, among the myriad of salient effects that "Bending the Bows" imparts, this exercise repeatedly stretches and then contracts the inner thigh muscles with its up-and-down movement of the torso going into and out of the wide wu-chi or "square horse" stance (feet parallel at ideally 2 shoulders wideth apart).

 

btw, of particular importance to all Chinese martial arts and especially to Chinese internal martial arts is developing fine control over the vastus medialus muscle group.

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

The advanced oral teachings in some styles of Tai Chi Chuan and Kung-fu have to do with activating this muscle group in order to raise energy through the body.*** One of the purposes of form training in all the Chinese martial arts is to gradually loosen this muscle group in the legs completely to the point where they can be synchronously contracted and released effortlessly.

 

For the martial artists out there who happen to do these 3 styles, here are three more hints about how important the long-term conditioning of the vastus medialis is--one southern, two northern:

 

(1) Southern hint: think about why in Wing Chun Kung-Fu one stands in an "inward horse" throughout the entire practice of the first form, Siu Lim Tau (Small Idea Form);

 

(2) Northern hint: One of the three key warm-up exercises in both of my Tai Chi For Health DVD's involves sinking into alternating left and right "Snake Creeps Down" postures by following a horizontal figure-8 pattern (infinity symbol) traced by the tan-tien. This exercise, along with the other two, were created by Master Abraham Liu a senior student of grandmaster Cheng Man-ching.

http://www.taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html

 

(3) Northern hint: think about what's at work in the Old Frame (Lao Jia) Chen Tai Chi Forms when one does techniques that are purely vertical chánsījìng (silk-reelings).

 

Thus, besides being an all-important and essential foundation exercise of the Flying Phoenix Celestial Healing Chi Meditation System, "Bending the Bows" (Ex. #4 on Volume One) is in my opinion one of most effective exercises in Chinese physical culture for perfecting posture and body mechanics ("correct form") that facilitates internal energy circulation and cultivation.

http://www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Doing this exercise correctly does not come easily for most people. And once learned correctly, the conditioning takes years of diligent and regular practice. I've been practicing "Bending the Bows" since 1991, and it was not too long ago that my practice revealed to me its importance in conditioning and controlling the inner thigh muscles. No quick fixes or instant power pellets exist in any of the Chinese arts (--that are healthy, at least). But the Flying Phoenix Qigong amongst the pantheon of Qigong methods, does work relatively fast, as many contributors to this thread have reported.

 

So Ruthless, at any rate, just be aware that Ex.4, "Bending the Bows" will help your wife hold the wider stance in "Holding the Peach"( Ex. #3) more easily when she gets to it. But she has to put in the time and effort in to comfortably assume the one-shoulders' width posture for Ex.#2, "Monk Gazing At Moon."

That exercise is not only important in and of itself, but it creates the body-memory for the second half of each "Bending the Bows" repetition.

 

 

Enjoy,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited October 2, 2010 by zen-bear

[River Rat]

 

In the FP training that GMDW gave us from 1990-1996, we used powerful herbs, but they were/are in an alcohol tincture, not tea'd. the only tea we made semi-regularly was from a Chinese mushroom (dried). Still, I'm interested in learning about the tea you mentioned. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

 

Sifu Terry,

 

Thanks for the info. I never knew herbs can help with qigong practice. I found the tea at an online store at: https://www.flyingphoenix.us, while trying to Google about Feng Tao Teh.

 

There is no ingredient list at the site, but according to the article on the site:

https://www.flyingphoenix.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=2

this is Feng Tao Teh's formula and helps with FP practice to build chi faster.

 

Also there is a FP demo by GM Doo Wai on the site. It's a long standing meditation. I quickly browsed your FP DVDs to try to look for it but didn't find it, though I'm missing DVD #6.

[johndoe2012]

The story about the origin of Flying Phoenix.

 

River Rat: interesting that there are kicks in the meditation that you can view at flyingphoenix.us. It seems very martial?

[zen-bear]

The story about the origin of Flying Phoenix.

 

River Rat: interesting that there are kicks in the meditation that you can view at flyingphoenix.us. It seems very martial?

 

 

 

There are kicks and crane stance balances in the advanced meditations not just in the Flying Phoenix system but in the other internal arts of the White Tiger system. In all kung-fu forms, every cat stance or "sit" stance where 99% of the weight is on the rear leg and the front foot's heel or toe is touching the ground 1 to 2 feet in front of the rear heel, that posture can be interpreted to include a snap-kick or a crane kick or a sweep by the front foot as the primary application or as an optional application.

 

fyi, for those of you who have reached this point in the FP training, in the last third of the FP Long Form Standing Med. (Vol.4), the left crane stance (left 45 degrees) before the step-down to left bow stance with forward extension of the right arm and palm (before turning right 90 degrees into square horse and left vertical punch), a kick can be done between the crane stance and the bowstance. (I just decided not to put it in to make it easier for beginners to keep their balancen, as that FP form has more than enough movements and complexity.)

 

The "kicks" and crane stance balances in the Flying Phoenix meditations are done yogically following the principle that the generation of chi flow gives rise to the form of the posture.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

[Christoph]

It seems I've come to a stall on my progress for MGM and MHPearl/Peach.

I went from building up to an easy,relaxing 12-15 minutes to feeling like it takes great effort to reach 5 minutes and leaves me feeling slightly irritable.

 

Is this the indication to move to the next set,volume 3?

[Junbao]

Hi Christoph!

 

I will be happy to hear Sifu Terry's thoughts on this as well.

 

Are you doing any of the Monk Serves Wine seated meds after the standing?

 

I'm sure it's different for everyone but I find that doing one of the seated meds after one of the standing meds works to really calm and smooth everything out for me. It seems like the combo of sitting and slowwwwww relaxed movement really settle me in.

 

Also on a side note I have noticed the slowness of the movements transferring to my Tai Chi practice and my time to do the CMC form has increased by about a third. The movements are also feeling more connected when I do the form after my FP practice.

 

I felt like I was trying to cram to much in with FP since I was wanting to get all of them in during one session. I decided for the next little while to take it one by one. There are three standing meds for the three dantiens, and the three seated meds for Monk Serves Wine. Also there is WTTT from DVD 3 which is my favorite moving standing med. So I start with MHP and MSW #1 followed by WTTT, and I do that all on one day. Next day it's MGAP and MSW#2 and then WTTT. It's a three day cycle to move through the three standing and three sitting meds and then I begin again. This keeps me practicing them all, and gives me more quality time to work with and enjoy them all. Also I am doing three meds a day in a three day cycle which is fun because I like the number three a whole lot.

 

I hope I am ok to practice this way. It feels like it is working out well so far.

Edited October 6, 2010 by Junbao

[zen-bear]

It seems I've come to a stall on my progress for MGM and MHPearl/Peach.

I went from building up to an easy,relaxing 12-15 minutes to feeling like it takes great effort to reach 5 minutes and leaves me feeling slightly irritable.

 

Is this the indication to move to the next set,volume 3?

 

 

 

Hello Christoph,

 

Is there physical pain or discomfort that causes the "irritability"?

Or is it more mental/emotional? Without seeing your practice, I can only say this much: if there's no physical source of the problem, you may be venting some emotional energy in the meditative state--which is a given in any type of meditative practice. At any rate, if it persists, try to pinpoint the source of the discomfort and if it's not physical, allow yourself to vent it safely. It's called "grist for the mill."

 

All Qigong practice should balance meditation in repose with meditation in movement. Thus, if you're not doing it already, I would suggest adding to your practice the moving meditation, Bending the Bows", which is most fundamental to the FP System and which I wrote about in some detail one or two postings ago. This exercise will definitely start moving the energy between the three tan tiens and may alleviate or dissolve the source of the irritability. Also, the moving meditations, "Wind Above the Clouds" and "Wind Through Treetops" are most effective to remove any type of energy stagnation. (Vol. 3 of the CKFH series)

 

Hope this helps.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited October 9, 2010 by zen-bear

[Pablo]

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry -

 

Thanks for taking time to tell your story. Something told me it would be quite interesting!

 

That said, even with the very hard work during your "wood shedding" years, I expected a story that would be simpler, easier, smoother. However, as life often is, there were a lot of twists and turns in your road towards making the Chinese arts your full time career considering your battles over rights and royalties. It's too bad the artist always seems to be the one infringed upon. However, from your story karma seemed to do what karma does. In spades.

 

Also, you give us all something to look forward to, namely more excellent instructional videos. About 8 years ago I learned the tai chi short form from your TCFH video and continue to practice it today. So more coming is very cool!

 

Got your message on corporate sponsorships. I will poke around and let you know if I get some interest.

 

Again, thanks for sharing.

 

Lloyd

 

 

Hi Lloyd,

 

Thanks for your appropos comments about the workings of karma and the lack of "smoothness' after the years of woodshedding in my 20's. Actually, thereafter, my training was concentrated to 2-5 hours per day (instead of 6). And for 15 years, life was a well-oiled machine: career, home life, hobbies, travel, and of course, kung-fu, Tai Chi, Qigong and healing practice all went dazzlingly smooth. Things only started getting rough in my mid-40's (late 90's) when the Special Interest niche of the video industry was exploding and my videos were booming-- and nasty (I mean really nasty and corrupt) large corporations entered the business.

 

I can share the following with you because I know you're around my age: when it started in the mid-80's, the special interest sector of the video industry was pristine and actually was a clean channel for secular religion--i.e., people wanting an alternative to institutional religion could find good find good resources--be it Buddhism, Taoism,Vedanta, hermetic philosophy, and "new age" movements, etc. Back then, just like in the mid-and-late 1960's of rock-and-roll, artists were making records for love of their music and to reach people with their art to raise social and even spiritual consciousness--not to make big money. Similarly, in the mid- and late 80's, the Special Interest Video niche was a friendly and very honest cottage industry with a wide offering of ethically-made products (I don't know if you can remember that era and how products were made available). But as soon as Indian yoga and Pilates took off as a raging national fad in the 90's, and hundreds of yoga videos started getting churned out (like a herpes outbreak in the Oakwood apartments in Marina del Rey), and the smaller video publishers started getting bought-out by large conglomerates, the business got totally polluted and of course, the quality of programs went to shit also. This period of high pollution was from 1997 to 2003--partly due to the advent of DVD's in 97, which reduced manufacturing costs from $2.50+ for a 2-hr VHS cassette to less than 70 cents for a 5-hr. DVD. These higher profit margins were most appealing to the New Age bean-counters--who considered themselves avatars of higher consciousness living. For the past 8 years, the DVD products coming out of large publishers are more sterile, soul-less and shallow than ever in terms of content because they're cookie-cuttered--publishers just copied the format of the first generation of successful videos on VHS (that Healing Arts pioneered) and added slicker production values and packaging. But with no new substantial content. So that's where we are these days.

 

As for Indian yoga industry in general in America, for the past 10 years, it's my often-expressed opinion that Indian yoga should return to its mode of teaching in the 1960's: only serious dedicated students learning from authentic guru's in a few small cadres. It's over-commercialization, super-low standards for practically anyone becoming a yoga teacher, and mass-marketing/"McDonaldization" doesn't do anyone any good because the truth and essence in that discipline has been diluted to the point of non-existence. And there are plenty of other more means for just plain relaxation--including aerobic forms of sports and exercise. More in a later manifesto.

 

But back to karma: I also have some deep family karma (trans-generational) at work which manifests in certain battles that I undertake against corrupt organizations. But my battles pale in comparison to the ones my father and grandfather had to wage against overwhelming and oppressive powers--of a geo-political nature in my grandfather's case and of a military-intelligence nature in my father's case.

 

Thanks very much for keeping your antennae up for corporate sponsors for my PBS project!

 

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry

[Ruthless]

Sifu Terry,

 

This question I am sure has come up more than once, however what does one use as an indicator as to when to progress to the next FP set of exercises?

 

I have done a lot of Chi Kung many years back. Chi Kung 31, Nui Kung, Shen, Stars, Flowers, Ruler, etc. On some days I did

8hrs. My hour in the AM & PM and several hours of teaching it. At least 2 hours a day. That was back in the 80s down here in San Diego.

 

I have been playing with the Standing Basic for a year 2-3 times a week. The past 2 months I have done it daily. Feels good.

 

Wondering what I should use as an indicator to move to the seated?

 

I am considering doing the seated AM and standing PM or the reverse.

 

I know.

Student: "Sifu how long will it take to learn this?"

Sifu: "10 Years"

Student: "Sifu if I work twice as hard long will it take?"

Sifu: "20 Years"

Student: "Sifu I do not understand if I work twice as hard it takes twice as long!"

Sifu: "If you have 1 eye on the goal you have but 1 eye to see with."

 

 

 

Thanks

 

Ruthless

[zen-bear]

Hi Christoph!

 

I will be happy to hear Sifu Terry's thoughts on this as well.

 

Are you doing any of the Monk Serves Wine seated meds after the standing?

 

I'm sure it's different for everyone but I find that doing one of the seated meds after one of the standing meds works to really calm and smooth everything out for me. It seems like the combo of sitting and slowwwwww relaxed movement really settle me in.

 

Also on a side note I have noticed the slowness of the movements transferring to my Tai Chi practice and my time to do the CMC form has increased by about a third. The movements are also feeling more connected when I do the form after my FP practice.

 

I felt like I was trying to cram to much in with FP since I was wanting to get all of them in during one session. I decided for the next little while to take it one by one. There are three standing meds for the three dantiens, and the three seated meds for Monk Serves Wine. Also there is WTTT from DVD 3 which is my favorite moving standing med. So I start with MHP and MSW #1 followed by WTTT, and I do that all on one day. Next day it's MGAP and MSW#2 and then WTTT. It's a three day cycle to move through the three standing and three sitting meds and then I begin again. This keeps me practicing them all, and gives me more quality time to work with and enjoy them all. Also I am doing three meds a day in a three day cycle which is fun because I like the number three a whole lot.

 

I hope I am ok to practice this way. It feels like it is working out well so far.

 

Hi Junbao,

 

1. Yes, almost everybody sooner or later finds that the seated Monk Serves Wine meditations have a very calming and smoothing effect on human process following practice the standing FP Meditations (--not to say that the standing meditations are not calming as well).

 

2. Yes, the very slow "sand dune-speed" of the FP movements will translate into slower, calmer, more refined movement in Tai Chi and other Tai Chi-like internal arts. I first discovered this in the early 90's when I did "Bending the Bows" and then did the Yang Short Form (CMC) right afterwards. The FP energy turned my thought into action as the Yang Form seemed to do itself.

 

3. Your scheduling of different combinations of 3 FP meditations per day covering the 3 Standing FP meditations and the first 3 MSW seated meditations is very effective means of mastering each of those exercises in rotation. Everyone has to fit and tailor the practice to suit one's daily routine and lifestyle and what you've designed is a nice approach that "covers all bases."

 

TIP #1: At some point, go back and do the 3 "warm-up" seated meditations that precede the 3 MSW meditations in Volume 2. After you've solidly established MSW meds 1 through 3, you'll find that these basic meditations are not that basic.

 

TIP #2: Every now and then--say after 3, 6 or 9 months--block out enough time and push yourself to go through all the FP meditations (standing and seated) in one very long session--practicing them in the same way that you are not practicing them in combo's of 3--just to experience and obtain the FP Qigong System's cumulative effects and to let your next combination of exercises reveal itself to you. Given your present routine, you will find that you will get stronger and more energy-facile over several months of FP training.

 

Good work!

 

Sifu Terry

Edited October 6, 2010 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry,

 

This question I am sure has come up more than once, however what does one use as an indicator as to when to progress to the next FP set of exercises?

 

I have done a lot of Chi Kung many years back. Chi Kung 31, Nui Kung, Shen, Stars, Flowers, Ruler, etc. On some days I did

8hrs. My hour in the AM & PM and several hours of teaching it. At least 2 hours a day. That was back in the 80s down here in San Diego.

 

I have been playing with the Standing Basic for a year 2-3 times a week. The past 2 months I have done it daily. Feels good.

 

Wondering what I should use as an indicator to move to the seated?

 

I am considering doing the seated AM and standing PM or the reverse.

 

I know.

Student: "Sifu how long will it take to learn this?"

Sifu: "10 Years"

Student: "Sifu if I work twice as hard long will it take?"

Sifu: "20 Years"

Student: "Sifu I do not understand if I work twice as hard it takes twice as long!"

Sifu: "If you have 1 eye on the goal you have but 1 eye to see with."

 

 

 

Thanks

 

Ruthless

 

 

Hello Ruthless,

 

You have a lot of the TTP system under your belt! I'm curious to know what TTP kung-fu forms, if any, did you learn? You said you practiced 8hrs a day back in the 80's. have you stopped the TTP training altogether? or do you still practice some?

 

Very good that you've been doing the FP Standing Meditations for a year. They should feel very good at this point. if you've been the BAsic Standing Med's in Vol One for 2 months now on a daily basis, by all means...start the seated meditations.

Fact is: you could have started the Seated Monk Serves Wine meditations at any time. The FP training contained in my DVD series are all basic, "Level One" healing meditations and you can do standing and seated meditations concurrently. (Nevertheleless, the fact that GM Doo Wai said it was OK for me to publish the breath-control sequences makes this "Level One" Qigong training more fast-acting and tangibly rejuvenating and energizing than most other Qigong systems at their basic levels.)

The moving meditation forms in Volumes 3, 4 and 5 naturally require more and more memorization; thus they're taught in order of their increasing complexity after the 5 Basic Standing Med's of Vol. One are well established. It certainly sounds like you've done that after practicing them for one year now.

 

With the TTP Neigung as a background and foundation and something to compare and contrast with, you should have a pretty deep and insightful experience of the FP system.

 

You can use your own judgment as to when to move up through the lessons in the Flying Phoenix training in the DVD series. One can't really mess-up this training because it's so very easy to learn, and easy to retain. In the almost 15+ years that I've been teaching the FP Qigong, I've never seen nor encountered a single case of energy sickness in any student. In contrast, in the 70's and 80's, I saw numerous instances of energy sickness, psychotic breaks and other rather unwholesome results from TTP Neigung training--which was purely due to the sheer danger associated with the particular yogic (or "alchemic") workings of the TTP neigung. (I also experienced energy sickness myself on a couple of occasions in doing the advanced yogas). But when it comes to the FP qigong, one cannot damage oneself in training unless one manages somehow to mangle the breath-control sequences into some very unnatural and dangerous sequence, or else, someone or something forcefully collides with you while you're in the meditative state.

 

Nice phorism about the disciple being too goal-oriented and obsessed with the end result. As someone wrote for Bruce Lee to utter:

 

"Do not concentrate on the finger... or you will miss all that heavenly glory!"

 

With each FP meditation, you get the results almost instantly: mind calm, body relaxed, mind and body in perfect harmony. So grounding on a cellular level that you always have two eyes to see with in the here and now.

 

Enjoy the training.

 

Terry Dunn

Edited October 7, 2010 by zen-bear