Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[TLB]

Hi, All,

 

The first time I did the seated meditations I sat cross-legged; I barely got past the first breathing sequence and couldn't stay there longer without unwinding, stretching out, standing up. I thought that meant I "couldn't do" the seated forms, at least not without a good long time of practicing the standing exercises and maybe doing the seated ones in some "easier" way.

 

By the time I got to my second session I'd decided I had to try again - and even though the first one had seemed such a failure, this time I could already hold the cross-legged position through each full seated exercise - I only had to stretch out between meditations (didn’t have to stand, though - just stretch and shake out a bit while seated, pull back into crossed legs and go on with the next exercise). Now I can get through 4 of the seated exercises (i.e., up through the first "Monk Serves Wine") with only one stretch-out after the 3rd one. And this is only a matter of 5 or 6 sessions with the seated exercises.

 

I was so certain I "couldn't" do crossed legs but I did it anyway and now I "can." It still hurts - but the unwinding and stretching out afterward is a much shorter process, and there's no lingering/residual pain. The issues I have with being at a desk all day are fading. I'm starting to feel hints of the energy flow during those exercises - as opposed to feeling nothing but pain. All this after so few sessions!!! There are moments when I can consciously relax areas that are tense and painful, there are moments when "locked" areas suddenly let go, I can sit straighter with much less back pain. I haven't tried to move on to half-lotus yet, but it'll come.

 

tlb

Edited August 22, 2012 by TLB

[roberto33zg]

hy all. i've just started flying phoenix and must say it seems like very powerful practice.also i have read whole thread and gathered some very useful informations from all especially sifu terry.his level of knowledge is really impressive and not just about FP practice but other esoteric disciplines as well.thank you sifu

now i have couple of bacis questions for sifu Terry(and others advance practitioners as well)

 

does MSW meditations has to be done as slowly as standing ones?

does FP energy "goes away" if one dont practice day to day?

does state of mind affects the practice?(im asking because i often feel depressed and sad),and would you say that this practice might help me with that?

 

one more thing.i recently came across the book from shaman Lujan Matus "Awakening the third eye" and in description it says:

"Lujan Matus deftly ushers us into the heart of the mysteries of perception and consciousness, presenting new perspectives on our place in the universe and what we are capable of. His teachings trigger welcome revolutions in consciousness and the many techniques he gives here are powerful tools for personal transformation.

 

Amongst those techniques are exercises for becoming aware of the blue spectrum, the highest vibration of light, where all manner of energetic activity is taking place in an eternally fluctuating exchange. Developing the capacity to perceive that luminous interactivity reveals a magical aspect of seeing which inevitably becomes a conduit to a new way of being."

 

Can this energy be the same a FP energy? I doubt that it is coincidence,i feel this has to be related to FP in some way

looking forward for answers,best to all

 

P.S. Sorry for mystakes english isnt my first language

Edited August 19, 2012 by roberto33zg

[zen-bear]

On 8/19/2012 at 1:42 PM, roberto33zg said:

hy all. i've just started flying phoenix and must say it seems like very powerful practice.also i have read whole thread and gathered some very useful informations from all especially sifu terry.his level of knowledge is really impressive and not just about FP practice but other esoteric disciplines as well.thank you sifu

now i have couple of bacis questions for sifu Terry(and others advance practitioners as well)

 

does MSW meditations has to be done as slowly as standing ones?

does FP energy "goes away" if one dont practice day to day?

does state of mind affects the practice?(im asking because i often feel depressed and sad),and would you say that this practice might help me with that?

 

one more thing.i recently came across the book from shaman Lujan Matus "Awakening the third eye" and in description it says:

"Lujan Matus deftly ushers us into the heart of the mysteries of perception and consciousness, presenting new perspectives on our place in the universe and what we are capable of. His teachings trigger welcome revolutions in consciousness and the many techniques he gives here are powerful tools for personal transformation.

 

Amongst those techniques are exercises for becoming aware of the blue spectrum, the highest vibration of light, where all manner of energetic activity is taking place in an eternally fluctuating exchange. Developing the capacity to perceive that luminous interactivity reveals a magical aspect of seeing which inevitably becomes a conduit to a new way of being."

 

Can this energy be the same a FP energy? I doubt that it is coincidence,i feel this has to be related to FP in some way

looking forward for answers,best to all

 

P.S. Sorry for mystakes english isnt my first language

 

Hello Roberto33zg,

 

Thank you for sharing details of your emotionalAnswers to your questions:

 

 

does MSW meditations has to be done as slowly as standing ones?

 

In general for beginners: yes, if you are doing the standing ones very, very slowly at the speed of a shifting sand dune. However, once you have a year or more experience in the FP Meditations, and become relaxed in the movements, you can do them a little faster--but not faster than typical Tai Chi form speed.

 

does FP energy "goes away" if one dont practice day to day?

 

It depends for how long you have practised the FP Meditations before you stop daily practice.

It also depends what type of work you do, the type of stress that you absorb in your work and home life, and on your lifestyle.

Work stress, family stress, and bad habits such as drug, alcohol, and other addictions will all cause you to dissipate the FP Healing Energy more quickly. However, if one does healing work utilizing the FP energy, then one "loses" the FP energy at a mujch slower rate through non-practice than people not involved in healing.

If once practiced the entire FP Meditation system diligently for 3 years on a daily basis, its energizing and rejuvenating effects should be self-sustaining with less practice.

 

does state of mind affects the practice?

In general, no. Flying Phoenix Celestial Healing Chi Kung is very unique in that one's state of mind will not alter the effectiveness of each Meditation to relax, heal, and energize the body and cultivate an abundance of the FP healing energy--so long as one does each of the FP exercises entirely correctly.

 

(im asking because i often feel depressed and sad),and would you say that this practice might help me with that?

FP training may alleviate some of the symptoms of depression, and it might cure some forms of mild depression for certain types of people. But FP practice will NOT cure or alleviate severe depression--e.g., in cases where the depressed person has fragmented sleep each night. Curing or managing severe depression is very difficult and in the west is traditionally done through a combination of psychiatric treatment and effective long-term psychotherapy (in order to gain needed insight into the connections between one's feelings and behavior). Although not much recognized by psychiatry, there are gifted hypnotherapists who can help their subjects eliminate depression from their lives.

if you suffer from chronic sadness and depression, the only lasting "cure" for this negative condition is to address the real cause of it, and that requires short-term or long-term counseling and psychotherapy, and sometimes psychiatric treatment as well. FP Qigong practice will not make you happy or remove deeply rooted sadness in any lasting way--it is only an exercise and meditation regimen--unless one attains higher states of consciousness and "absorptioin" through the FP Meditations that provide profound enough insight and understanding of one's mental-physical-emotional processes that in turn enable you to make positive and constructive life-changing decisions. But there is no guarantee of that.  If one is open to change.  that is the pain of staying the same is greater than the fear of the unknown that might be revealed or brought in by a powerful Qigong practice such as FP Qigong or Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir Method), then these Qigong arts will effect CHANGE.  When you've mastered enough Qigong and understand teh nature of mind, you will know what all the ancient sages knew and expressed in different ways and what living sages and good healers know:  that INSIGHT FOLLOWS CHANGE--NEVER PRECEDES IT.

 As a method of meditation, FP Chi Kung, can open a channel for potential spiritual guidance to flow into one's life; such divine intervention, of course, would depend solely on your karma and standing with the Universal Power.

 

Can this energy be the same a FP energy? (Lujan Matus' emphasis on accessing blue on the energy spectrum).

I have no idea if what Lujan Matus refers to as the blue energy on the spectrum is the same energy as the FP healing energy. I only know that FP Chi Kung practice cultivates a tangible healing energy that is visibly bright deep sky blue.

 

Enjoy your practice and however it positively effects your state of mind.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited March 21 by zen-bear

[roberto33zg]

sifu thank you very much for your answers....i noticed that after practice i feel more calm and energized so i will continue with it

i also have other options dealing my negative state and i am working on that too(therapy)

i will update when i gather some more experience in FP practice

best,robert

[zen-bear]

Thanks for the reply Terry.

 

I have a fairly broad question for you - What should I add to my practice?

 

At the moment I'm doing approx 2hrs for FP in the morning and 45 mins of seated Zazen before bedtime.

 

I also swim and cycle once a week and do a bit of walking.

 

I have roughly one hour at lunch to that I'd like to fill. What do you think would compliment my current practice? Tai Chi perhaps? Or maybe some straight up exercise like running? Or maybe a different practice. I've never tried Kung-Fu, I'm not sure how well I'd be suited to it. Any ideas welcome!

 

 

Hello mrtigeer,

 

I'm sorry that I missed your posting until just now.

 

Your daily FP Chi Kung practice regimen of 2 hours in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening will yield excellent health and spiritual benefits and enable you to learn the basic FP Chi Kung and the Advanced Level 2 practices at a good rate if you stick with it.

You should make excellent progress and achieve profoundly healthful results accompanied by higher states of meditative consciousness as you practice the FP Meditations in 2 hour stretches.

 

This past Saturday, right after an intensive 1.5 hr. Tai Chi form class that involved separating and holding postures throughout the Yang Long Form, I taught a 90 minute module in basic FP Standing and Seated Meditations with all the moving meditations (Exercises 4 thru 8 below) done at extremely slow speed:

1. Monk Gazing At Moon (5 min.)

2. Monk Holding Peach (10 min.)

3. Monk Holding Pearl (5 min.)

4. Bending the Bows ( 20 min.)

5. Wind Above the Clouds (2x in 10 min.)

6. Basic (stationary) Seated Warm-up : 50 10 50

7. Monk Serves Wine #2 (5th exercise on Vol. 2 with 10 movements): 50 40 30 10

8. Monk Serves Wine: 50 20 10 (from Vol. 7, aka, "the sleeper")

 

• intensively calming and deeply releasing all at once.•

 

** Bit of advice: keep up with all your aerobic exercise--swimming, cycling, walking, etc. In fact, regardless of age, I would advise you to get more aerobic exercise into your life--once a week is not enough in my book. (I run, cycle, swim, surf, or hike no less than 5 times a week--in addition to time spent teaching Tai Chi and FPQ.).**

 

I can't answer your question specifically about how to add to your practice and fill the one-hour you have available at lunch time without learning more about your life, career, lifestyle, body type, age, and your personal goals in training in Qigong and related Chinese martial and energy arts.

 

I can answer only in very general terms: If you have the time available, fill it with something that is definitely compatible and complementary to Flying Phoenix Qigong. Tai Chi Chuan certainly is. Any of the Bok Fu Pai (Ehrmeishan White Tiger) martial arts that Sifu Garry Hearfield and I also teach are compatible. You just need to explore some disciplines and find out what suits you best.

 

If you want further input from me regarding choice of martial arts or meditative arts, please contact me through Private Messaging here or at my other business email address: [email protected]

I would be glad to help you along in your exploration of supplemental practices.

 

Good luck.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

[tao stillness]

Hello, I am AKA Tao Mist. Had to change it after having problems with the password so it was easier just to register under a new name.

Steve

[mrtiger]

Hello mrtigeer,

 

I'm sorry that I missed your posting until just now.

 

Your daily FP Chi Kung practice regimen of 2 hours in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening will yield excellent health and spiritual benefits and enable you to learn the basic FP Chi Kung and the Advanced Level 2 practices at a good rate if you stick with it.

You should make excellent progress and achieve profoundly healthful results accompanied by higher states of meditative consciousness as you practice the FP Meditations in 2 hour stretches.

 

This past Saturday, right after an intensive 1.5 hr. Tai Chi form class that involved separating and holding postures throughout the Yang Long Form, I taught a 90 minute module in basic FP Standing and Seated Meditations with all the moving meditations (Exercises 4 thru 8 below) done at extremely slow speed:

1. Monk Gazing At Moon (5 min.)

2. Monk Holding Peach (10 min.)

3. Monk Holding Pearl (5 min.)

4. Bending the Bows ( 20 min.)

5. Wind Above the Clouds (2x in 10 min.)

6. Basic (stationary) Seated Warm-up : 50 10 50

7. Monk Serves Wine #2 (5th exercise on Vol. 2 with 10 movements): 50 40 30 10

8. Monk Serves Wine: 50 20 10 (from Vol. 7, aka, "the sleeper")

 

• intensively calming and deeply releasing all at once.•

 

** Bit of advice: keep up with all your aerobic exercise--swimming, cycling, walking, etc. In fact, regardless of age, I would advise you to get more aerobic exercise into your life--once a week is not enough in my book. (I run, cycle, swim, surf, or hike no less than 5 times a week--in addition to time spent teaching Tai Chi and FPQ.).**

 

I can't answer your question specifically about how to add to your practice and fill the one-hour you have available at lunch time without learning more about your life, career, lifestyle, body type, age, and your personal goals in training in Qigong and related Chinese martial and energy arts.

 

I can answer only in very general terms: If you have the time available, fill it with something that is definitely compatible and complementary to Flying Phoenix Qigong. Tai Chi Chuan certainly is. Any of the Bok Fu Pai (Ehrmeishan White Tiger) martial arts that Sifu Garry Hearfield and I also teach are compatible. You just need to explore some disciplines and find out what suits you best.

 

If you want further input from me regarding choice of martial arts or meditative arts, please contact me through Private Messaging here or at my other business email address: [email protected]

I would be glad to help you along in your exploration of supplemental practices.

 

Good luck.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

Hey Terry,

 

Thanks very much for the detailed reply.

 

I like the look of the routine you set out here, I'll have to give this one a try. How do you time your routines? Do you just approximate?

 

Let me briefly tell you how Flying Phoenix has already helped me. The first thing to go was smoking. I've smoked on and off for years but after practising FP it became really unpleasant and I just began to feel ill if I even thought about putting a cigarette in my mouth.

 

Secondly it's been great for weight loss. I've been a few stone overweight for a few years and tried all the typical things to shift it - intensive gym sessions, cycling 100 miles a week and even ran the London Marathon. All of these only had very minor gains in terms of weight loss. With the FP practice I've just felt less hungry and have been able to regulate my meals a lot better and have actually begun to appreciate the energy that comes with a little emptiness in the belly. The weight is just falling off.

 

As time goes on the internal benefits are slowly and subtly working. My mind feels more gathered. I feel like I've developed more patience with people and have been able to work on humility better. Still, there is a long way to go!

 

So now I'm in a position where I'm doing one hour of the standing meditations for from disc one plus I've just added Wind Through Treetops. I programmed an audio track to gently chime every 10 minutes so I get a nice even spread. I'll keep adding the others slowly as I learn them.

 

Then I do approx 1 hour of the seated meditations on disc 2. I don't have an audio track to time these but as they're mostly repetitions it usually comes to about and hour.

 

My evening session is just empty mind meditation on a Zafu. Usually two 20 min sessions with a 5 min break inbetween. I come from a Japanese Zen background. Although I recently been reading some of the pre-zen writings on this such as The Secret of the Golden flower to open it up a bit. I respect Japanese Zen a lot but it can be a bit rigid. I also might do a bit of FP homework, run through the DVDs check I'm doing things right or learn the next position.

 

So that's my current practice and I'd love to add something at lunch time.

 

 

In my job I'm largely sedentary so I make sure I get out on my bike and swim regularly too.

 

I've tried other types of Qigong such as Eight Brocades but they're all a bit disappointing compared to Flying Phoenix.

 

I'd love to do something that was still internal so to speak but perhaps tapped in to a different kind of energy as I'm happy with doing FP in the morning.

 

I love the look of the Bat Dim Gum exercises on your youtube channel. Will you ever produce an instructional Bat Dim Gum DVD?

 

Lastly I'll be really interested to read the Flying Phoenix book. One thing that I think would be really useful would be a detailed reading list. I'm particularly interested in the Western systems you've mentioned on this thread but have no idea where to start as there is so much hokum out there.

 

One of the best books I read in recent years was The Heart of Stillness by David Cooper. Not only is it a great book but he has a recommended reading list at the back with books from lots of different traditions, Christian, Muslim, Zen etc. It's essentially that reading list that has brought me here today.

 

Gosh that's a long post, apologies!

 

Mr T

Edited August 27, 2012 by mrtiger

[tao stillness]

Hi Sifu Terry,

I recently have been told by a trusted source that using Om Mani Padme Hum would be good for the heart chakra. I was wondering if that chant playing in the background while I do Flying Phoenix would be OK or if the vibration of that mantra would interfere with the energy from FP? I have mainly been using the soundtrack from your FP when I do FP but due to only so much time in the day it would be nice to kill 2 birds with one stone if I could use the chant while doing chi kung.

Steve

Edited August 21, 2012 by tao stillness

[QGLover]

Hello,

 

is it okay to exercise FPCK when it is combined with bodybuilding ?

 

I have a pretty hard weight training in the gym, which involves a lot of muscle contraction.

 

Will this contraction block the flow of chi, since the muscles will be sore and pumped up ?

 

All the best

[Fu_dog]

Tao Stillness/Tao Mist/Steve -

 

I also had that same login problem about a year ago after a site upgrade.

 

If you PM the mods they can probably correct the problem and get your original Tao Mist username back.

 

Fu_dog

[Fu_dog]

QC -

 

This subject has been discussed before in this thread.

 

To answer your question: You should not combine weight training and FP in a single session.

 

That would take away from both the weight training and the FP.

 

I suggest you wait a minimum of 2 hours between the two activities.

 

Let your FP practice be separate and distinct. It's effects are cumulative and the meditative effects of Flying Phoenix for someone just starting really begin to be felt strongly after about 30 minutes of contiguous practice. For best results practice for a minimum of 30 minutes to one hour. As you can read in some recent posts some practitioners are practicing for 2 hour sessions, and this will yield phenomenal results over time.

 

Hope this helps...and good practicing!

 

Fu_dog

[Fu_dog]

Edited - deleted double post.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Fu_dog

[chi 2012]

QC -

 

This subject has been discussed before in this thread.

 

To answer your question: You should not combine weight training and FP in a single session.

 

That would take away from both the weight training and the FP.

 

I suggest you wait a minimum of 2 hours between the two activities.

 

Let your FP practice be separate and distinct. It's effects are cumulative and the meditative effects of Flying Phoenix for someone just starting really begin to be felt strongly after about 30 minutes of contiguous practice. For best results practice for a minimum of 30 minutes to one hour. As you can read in some recent posts some practitioners are practicing for 2 hour sessions, and this will yield phenomenal results over time.

 

Hope this helps...and good practicing!

 

Fu_dog

 

Hi Fu_dog. I practice a different Qigong - but this question might be of relevance to the FP practicioners who bodybuild. Does the massive eating and protein consumption needed for bodybuilding - interfere or take away some of the effects of practicing 2 or more hours of Qigong a day?

 

My bad. I thought FuDog was Sifu Terry....Anybody is free to answer this question though.

Edited August 23, 2012 by chi 2012

[TaoTraceur]

Hello sifu Terry and fellow FP practitioners,

 

I have been practicing FP for a few months now following the schedule recommended with the dvds (roughly) and am about to begin my second Monk serves wine. I would like to clear up a confusion I have about when to begin practicing the form on volume four. should I wait until I have practiced all the meditations, should I have started already, or should I wait until after I have spent 6 + months on a couple of exercises?

 

thanks in advance for the clarification!

also thank you Terry for sharing such a wonderful system with the world!

[tao stillness]

Tao Traceur,

Welcome to the club. I can't answer for Sifu Terry but I have seen the answer to your practical and common question in the thread here. Many questions will most likely pop up for you as you continue the meditations and I found that while reading the now 90 page thread that almost all of my questions were answered. It really has become the users manual for the dvd series. I then read the thread for the second time and found a deeper understanding of FPCK from doing that since I then had much more experience with the FPCK. I just got volume 3 after doing vol. one and two for 6 months but I'm not sure if I am ready for vol. 3 yet.

[TaoTraceur]

thanks for the advice! I am working my way slowly through the thread, there's a lot of interesting stories

[zen-bear]

Hello sifu Terry and fellow FP practitioners,

 

I have been practicing FP for a few months now following the schedule recommended with the dvds (roughly) and am about to begin my second Monk serves wine. I would like to clear up a confusion I have about when to begin practicing the form on volume four. should I wait until I have practiced all the meditations, should I have started already, or should I wait until after I have spent 6 + months on a couple of exercises?

 

thanks in advance for the clarification!

also thank you Terry for sharing such a wonderful system with the world!

 

Hello Tao Traceur,

 

Glad to hear you are a couple of months into the FP practice and are steadily moving towards learning the Long Form Standing Meditation of Vol.4. The answer to your question is: whenever you feel ready to learn a complex choreography that doesn't repeat movements very much (unlike Tai Chi forms), which is typically after one has learned the basic standing and seated meditations in the preceding 3 volumes of the DVD series. The order of the FP Meditations presented in the DVD series is the exact order in which my teacher, GM Doo Wai, taught the exercises to me and our cadre of students in the early and mid 1990's. The standing moving meditations--Bending the Bows, Wind Above Clouds, Wind Through The Trees, Moonbeam Splashes on Water--work cumulatively to prepare and condition a person to learn the Long Form Standing Meditation on Vol.4, and they have a cascading effect in cultivating the FP Healing Energy if practiced in this order.

However, learning the FP Qigong system in the order presented in the DVD series is not a hard and fast rule. As I stated before in the thread, you can take the FP Meditations in any order that you feel like--as long a you cover them all and do them correctly. If one has extensive Tai Chi Chuan or other internal arts experience, or is just very good at learning complex forms (that don't repeat movements much like Tai Chi forms), then one can jump right in and start on Vol.4's Long Form Standing Meditation, as "ridingtheox" did, to very good results. But if one is an absolute beginner and does not have extensive Tai Chi or kung fu experience, I would recommend slowly working through the DVD series until you get to Vol.4. And as stated earlier in the thread, once learned, practicing the Long Form Standing Med. can subsume practice of the earlier more basic standing FP meditations.

'Hope this helps.

Good practicing!

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

[zen-bear]

Hello Mr. T,

My comments and answers to your questions are below in bold text. Thanks for your post.

 

Best,

Sifu Terry

 

 

 

On 8/21/2012 at 2:50 AM, mrtiger said:

Hey Terry,

 

Thanks very much for the detailed reply.

 

I like the look of the routine you set out here, I'll have to give this one a try. How do you time your routines? Do you just approximate?

 

I don't consciously time the duration of my practices. From practicing FP Qigong since 1991, I roughly/intuitively know how long it takes to do, let's say, one round of the Advanced Standing meditation (Vol.4) or 7 rounds of a particular seated Monk Serves Wine Meditation; then I allot enough time for it within the duration of a class period. When I do my personal practice, I allow myself one, two or three hours and then fill it up with a different sequence of FP Chi Kung exercises and other Bok Fu Pai Neigung arts in a unique combination every time. I let the meditation (and oftentimes the time it takes for the body's involuntary shaking and vibrating to subside plus a few minutes of mental quiescence to dictate the duration of practice.

 

Let me briefly tell you how Flying Phoenix has already helped me. The first thing to go was smoking. I've smoked on and off for years but after practising FP it became really unpleasant and I just began to feel ill if I even thought about putting a cigarette in my mouth.

 

Yes, Flying Phoenix practice is indeed cleansing and purifying. It sensitizes one to all bodily functions and will make one aware of unhealthy pollutants in one's system. I have many anecdotes about GM Doo Wai’s lessons regarding the purifying effects of the FP Qigong and other White Tiger Family Meditations—and how I as a student along with my classmates would zealously spread these “lessons” to the greater public… but they aren’t appropriate for this forum at this time.

 

Besides noticeable reversing and slow-down of the aging process (e.g., my graying hair is limited to a small patch on the left side of my head near where I part my hair. The gray hair almost completely vanishes each time I practice basic or advanced Monk Serves Wine seated meditations (especially 2 or 3 of the Meditations in a row); when I don't practice any Flying Phoenix or Bai Fu Pai for more than 3-4 days, the gray hairs return and are more widespread (i.e., appear all over)--as opposed to being limited to the small patch. When I first experienced the reversal of the graying aobut 3 years ago, I was utterly amazed because the few gray and noticeably dryer hairs returned to the thick black strands that I have had all my life. I wrongly thought that a gray hair was dead hair and was gray from the root to the other end and that its coloration was irreversible. FP practice proved that assumption to be wrong. Now, if any of the readers out there can show me a way to bottle this re-coloring effect, we have a most lucrative business to start-up! Recently, I experienced further proof of the rejuvenating effects of FP Qigong: over the past weekend, I attended two social occasions, a friend's 60th birthday celebration, and another friend's new restaurant opening in downtown Los Angeles: at each function, more than one new female acquaintance that I made thought that I was 40 years old or in my early to mid-40's. (Of course, not having been married and not having had children does tend to preserve one's youthful vitality...a monastic lifestyle with correct meditation does have very marked effects on longevity. But i would attribute my deceptively youthful appearance mostly to FP Qigong practice in particular along with all White Tiger internal arts in general.)

 

Secondly it's been great for weight loss. I've been a few stone overweight for a few years and tried all the typical things to shift it - intensive gym sessions, cycling 100 miles a week and even ran the London Marathon. All of these only had very minor gains in terms of weight loss. With the FP practice I've just felt less hungry and have been able to regulate my meals a lot better and have actually begun to appreciate the energy that comes with a little emptiness in the belly. The weight is just falling off.

Yours is the most impressive and convincing testimonial about the weight-controlling effects of Flying Phoenix Qigong practice, I believe. Over the two decades of teaching this art, because I have never had a weight problem, I have never attributed weight-loss as a benefit of FP Qigong practice. Thank you for your contribution. Because excess weight or obesity has so many contributing factors—emotional, developmental, psychological, environmental, socio-economic, etc.—and because the effectiveness of FP Qigong as an exercise for weight loss would depend so much on the discipline and perseverance of the practitioner, YOU would be in a better position than me to tell the Flying Phoenix community what combination and sequence of FP Qigong Meditations worked for you in reducing your weight. Please advise if you would. I’m sure there are many readers who would be most interested and greatful. We all thank you in advance!

 

As time goes on the internal benefits are slowly and subtly working. My mind feels more gathered. I feel like I've developed more patience with people and have been able to work on humility better. Still, there is a long way to go!

Whatever you perceive to be the “long way to go”, you will get there much faster through regular practice the FP Qigong. Indeed, The FP healing energy properly circulated by the Meditations makes one more sensitive towards all life and of course towards other people. The cultivation of the FP Healing Energy induces a state of blissful bodily comfort. This “blissful bodily comfort” is in part the physical experience of feeling that one’s microcosm of energy is one-with the energy of the Macrocosm, or Universe. And with adept practice of the FP Qigong, one becomes intimately aware of a very powerful channel or “trunk” of healing energy that runs through the macrocosm.

So now I'm in a position where I'm doing one hour of the standing meditations for from disc one plus I've just added Wind Through Treetops. I programmed an audio track to gently chime every 10 minutes so I get a nice even spread. I'll keep adding the others slowly as I learn them.

The gentle audio chime very 10 minutes is a smart device…if you need to keep track of time as you practice and in order to pace the practice. Due to the luxury of having bountiful time to practice after retiring from corporate work in 1991, I have never had to worry about the pacing of the meditations or time limitations.

 

Then I do approx 1 hour of the seated meditations on disc 2. I don't have an audio track to time these but as they're mostly repetitions it usually comes to about and hour.

One hour is also how long I typically practice the FP Seated Meditations, as I seldom will do more than the “warm-up” Meds on Vol. 2 plus 3 of the Monk Serves Wine Meditations (doing the standard 7 repetitions of each one). Or a long-form 23-movement Seated Meditation plus two or three Monk Serves Wine meditations.

 

My evening session is just empty mind meditation on a Zafu. Usually two 20 min sessions with a 5 min break inbetween. I come from a Japanese Zen background. Although I recently been reading some of the pre-zen writings on this such as The Secret of the Golden flower to open it up a bit. I respect Japanese Zen a lot but it can be a bit rigid. I also might do a bit of FP homework, run through the DVDs check I'm doing things right or learn the next position.

The Zen tradition is an excellent one. It’s health and spiritual benefits initially are more a function of one’s teacher or roshi. Zazen’s healing effects are limited compared to a complete Qigong system--because as a yoga, Zazen focuses only on the lesser circulation between the heart and stomach charkas. I learned this from the late 70’s through the mid 80’s from my experience at an senior instructor at a Taoist center in North Hollywood, CA as our school would frequently receive Japanese monks from the Los Angeles Zen Center during our bi-annual Open Houses and numerous healing workshops, and we learned first-hand the nature of their Zen meditation practices. I know there are some esoteric Zen traditions, and I stand to be corrected by any Zen practitioners reading this thread who may want to add to my past observations.

So that's my current practice and I'd love to add something at lunch time.

 

Personally I'm 33 and produce music for a living which is largely sedentary so I make sure I get out on my bike and swim regularly too.

As I recommended before, if you can afford the time, increase your aerobic exercise to daily practice as you increase your Flying Phoenix training to more than 2 hours 40 minutes per day.

 

I've tried other types of Qigong such as Eight Brocades but they're all a bit disappointing compared to Flying Phoenix.

Thank you for the favorite comparison of FP Qigong to other methods. I have never been impressed by the Eight Brocades as a Qigong method—because, as I stated very early on in this thread, I believe it is a broken tradition for it’s breathing method, if there is one, has not been published with the instruction of the physical movements--to the best of my knowledge.—nor even as a calesthenic exercise. As a slow, natural calisthenic with excellent Qigong fundamentals, I prefer the “Silk-Weaver’s Exercise” as taught by Sifu John Bright-Fey.  Here is an informal video of the first section of "Silkweaver's Exercise" that I let students film at the end of one of my Saturday morning classes in Santa Monica:

 

 

 

And here below is Sifu John Fey demonstrating  Bagua at a 1987 Martial Arts Expo given by my close friend and Sil Lum Kung Fu classmate Sifu William Henderson (now a Wing Chun sifu):

 

<I learned the Sifu Fey’s Old Frame Chen Tai Chi Chuan Form in the late 1980’s.>

 

I'd love to do something that was still internal so to speak but perhaps tapped in to a different kind of energy as I'm happy with doing FP in the morning.

FP Qigong and all the Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger) internal arts “tap into” --or align the practitioner in -- Macrocosmic energy pathways, starting with the energies of the sun and the moon. This may sound very New Agey, but it is an accurate statement as Sifu Garry Hearfield can attest.

 

I love the look of the Bat Dim Gum exercises on your youtube channel. Will you ever produce an instructional Bat Dim Gum DVD?

Yes, I plan to produce at least three BDG training videos.

 

Lastly I'll be really interested to read the Flying Phoenix book. One thing that I think would be really useful would be a detailed reading list. I'm particularly interested in the Western systems you've mentioned on this thread but have no idea where to start as there is so much hokum out there.

I have a reading list on my website www.taichimania.com. The book on FP Qigong should be completed by the end of this year—or end of first quarter next year at the latest.

 

One of the best books I read in recent years was The Heart of Stillness by David Cooper. Not only is it a great book but he has a recommended reading list at the back with books from lots of different traditions, Christian, Muslim, Zen etc. It's essentially that reading list that has brought me here today.

 

I have not heard of this book. Thanks for the tip. I will take a look at it.

 

Gosh that's a long post, apologies!

 

Mr T

Edited April 20, 2019 by zen-bear

[TaoTraceur]

Thank you for the clarification I believe I will begin to work on it after all 3 MSW on DVD 2 have gotten settled in.

 

and I have one other question, I would like to get my girlfriend to start doing FP with me, but would like to know if there are any changes to the postures and meditations for female practitioners. a lot of (what you would call generic) chi kung will say something like men put this hand over this one women put the other. sorry if this has been asked before, I am slowly working my way through the thread!

 

thanks again,

Jorge

[Jeramiah Zeitigeist]

Wow !

 

Sifu William Henderson knows his Bagua !

 

I could feel the energy moving slightly in my own body, just watching that video.

 

Thanks for sharing, Sifu Terry.

[mrtiger]

Hi Terry,

 

Thanks again for taking the time to write such a detailed reply.

 

Yours is the most impressive and convincing testimonial about the weight-controlling effects of Flying Phoenix Qigong practice, I believe. Over the two decades of teaching this art, because I have never had a weight problem, I have never attributed weight-loss as a benefit of FP Qigong practice. Thank you for your contribution. Because excess weight or obesity has so many contributing factors—emotional, developmental, psychological, environmental, socio-economic, etc.—and because the effectiveness of FP Qigong as an exercise for weight loss would depend so much on the discipline and perseverance of the practitioner, YOU would be in a better position than me to tell the Flying Phoenix community what combination and sequence of FP Qigong Meditations worked for you in reducing your weight. Please advise if you would. I’m sure there are many readers who would be most interested and greatful. We all thank you in advance!

 

I'd be more than happy to share how Flying Phoenix has guided/is guiding my weight loss. I'll gather my thoughts and post them here shortly.

 

The gentle audio chime very 10 minutes is a smart device…if you need to keep track of time as you practice and in order to pace the practice. Due to the luxury of having bountiful time to practice after retiring from corporate work in 1991, I have never had to worry about the pacing of the meditations or time limitations.

 

I'm lucky in that I also have a good amount of time in the morning. I find it hard to measure how long I've been doing the static exercises so it helps me commit to doing each one for 10 minutes. Also I still find the horse stance quite difficult and it's stops me from wimping out.

 

I love the look of the Bat Dim Gum exercises on your youtube channel. Will you ever produce an instructional Bat Dim Gum DVD?

Yes, I plan to produce at least three BDG training videos.

 

Great. I'd love to give BDG a try. It looks beautiful. Do you think it'll be released this year.

 

The Zen tradition is an excellent one. It’s health and spiritual benefits initially are more a function of one’s teacher or roshi. Zazen’s healing effects are limited compared to a complete Qigong system--because as a yoga, Zazen focuses only on the lesser circulation between the heart and stomach charkas. I learned this from the late 70’s through the mid 80’s from my experience at an senior instructor at a Taoist center in North Hollywood, CA as our school would frequently receive Japanese monks from the Los Angeles Zen Center during our bi-annual Open Houses and numerous healing workshops, and we learned first-hand the nature of their Zen meditation practices. I know there are some esoteric Zen traditions, and I stand to be corrected by any Zen practitioners reading this thread who may want to add to my past observations.

 

I could write a whole post on Japanese Zen. Let me tell you that I was born in Japan and I have a great love for the country (although I'm ethnically British if there is such a thing lol). But after practising and reading about Japanese Zazen for many years I've come to the conclusion that it's better suited for a monastic life. Most of the famous Japanese Zen teachers were monks and it's mostly this practice that's been transmitted to the west. Furthermore I've just been a bit disappointed about how little reference there is to the Dao, Chi and Qigong in modern Zen writing. It feels almost like they've been airbrushed out of history. In short, discovering the roots of Zazen such as The Secret of the Golden Flower has been a real eye opener.

 

I have a reading list on my website www.taichimania.com. The book on FP Qigong should be completed by the end of this year—or end of first quarter next year at the latest.

 

Thanks for pointing me to the reading list. I've read a couple of these but lots I've never heard of. Enough to keep me busy for the next few years! Not to mention mastering the next instalments of the phoenix!

[mrtiger]

Yours is the most impressive and convincing testimonial about the weight-controlling effects of Flying Phoenix Qigong practice, I believe. Over the two decades of teaching this art, because I have never had a weight problem, I have never attributed weight-loss as a benefit of FP Qigong practice. Thank you for your contribution. Because excess weight or obesity has so many contributing factors—emotional, developmental, psychological, environmental, socio-economic, etc.—and because the effectiveness of FP Qigong as an exercise for weight loss would depend so much on the discipline and perseverance of the practitioner, YOU would be in a better position than me to tell the Flying Phoenix community what combination and sequence of FP Qigong Meditations worked for you in reducing your weight. Please advise if you would. I’m sure there are many readers who would be most interested and greatful. We all thank you in advance!

 

Hi all,

Terry asked me to share my experiences with weight loss and Flying Phoenix Chi Kung which I'm more than happy to do so here it goes!

I've been overweight for quite a few years and have tried various things to shed the pounds as you'll read below.

I'm actually still in the process of getting to my final goal, so I'm going to hold back on what my starting weight was until I've hit my target which should happen towards the end of the year. Hopefully I'll repost this with an update at that time, and I'll tell you exactly what I weighed and what I lost.

So firstly I should give some background as to where I've come from.

I was pretty skinny up until my early 20s. I started going to the gym focussing mostly on my upper arms. I gained some muscle pretty quickly but when I stopped going it started turing into fat. This was the start of a long journey where I've seemed to put more and more weight on every year. Periodically I'd lose bits but it always seemed to be one step forward two steps back.

When I quit smoking quite a few years ago the weight gain really ramped up as I began to substitute cigarettes for food.

Over the years I've been to gyms. Done lots of running, training for and competing in 10k runs and the London Marathon. The Marathon itself was a great experience I'd really recommend it. The culmination of over six months of training doing lots of 6-10-14-18 mile runs I expected to get really fit. I lost a bit of weight but not much. And it all came back. It was really disappointing.

I cycled to work and back for years which totalled about 100 miles for the week. I love cycling and wouldn't swap it for the world but it did little to take any weight off.

At the same time I was going to a gym a few days a week and doing various things there, mostly cardio.

So in a nutshell none of this really worked. It was always one step forward two steps back.

I'd also began to smoke again on and off. And every time I'd give up I'd substitute the nicotine with food. A vicious circle!

I've always eaten healthy food. Vegetarian since the age of 13. Have little junk food. We rarely have even chips in the freezer (maybe we'll buy a bag once or twice a year). I don't drink coke of any of those sugary drinks. Mostly we eat fresh, organic vegetables. We drink Soya Milk (unsweetened) and have lots of high protein things like beans, quorn, soya etc…

But despite eating healthily I was eating too much. The first thing I'd think about on waking was breakfast. Then food would define my day, snacks lunch etc. I love cooking and having people over for dinner. Lots of Mediterranean food with lashings of olive oil. Heavy English food too (my girlfriend is from Yorkshire!). I'd tried diets but it'd just make me more obsessed with what was food was coming and when. Part of this was still substituting for the cigarettes of course.

I'd also suffer from sugar lows which, I think caused from eating too much carbohydrate, in which I'd shake and become light headed - not unlike some of the effects of FPCK infact! I actually found these quite debilitating and would have to sit down for a while to recover.

So that's where I came from.

After trying various forms of yoga and qigong which only really had very mild effects at best I finally stumbled on FPCK on the advice of a friend who had the first two discs.

At first I was just really impressed with the mediative effects. I've practices Zazen for a few years but never experienced what I call the headspace that I did with FPCK.

I was so surprised to actually feel the effects so tangibly and so quickly.

I developed my practice and soon added the seated meditations on disc two. On the advice of this forum I developed a routine where I'd practice almost immediately after waking, not eating anything, having a small sip of water just to wet my whistle.

It takes me about two hours to do disc one and two. I'm lucky I have that amount of time to spend in the morning (Terry has suggested some other routines on this forum that are shorter and I'm sure are worth investigating).

After the practice ends I usually have a cup of tea, then a shower, making sure I wait at least 30 mins till I take breakfast.

I took inspiration from the reading that making room in the belly allows the Chi to circulate better and also from a line in the Dao De Jing - "If you want to become full, let yourself be empty."

I think because I've become sensitive to the energy generated from FPCK I can appreciate much better what happens when I eat and how I can actually feel the energy much better between meals.

Also this headspace finally allowed me to let go of my nicotine addiction which I think had always been just beneath the surface.

By the time I come to eat in the morning, curiously I'm not ravenous, often not even particularly hungry. I can just take what I need, rather than what I want. If I overeat it might even make me feel a bit sluggish.

Because I've been up for quite a while already I find that I can get to lunch without even thinking about food although I might have a piece of fruit in-between. It is neither here nor there.

I'd always find that my energy would did in the afternoon and I'd need to eat again. Now instead I'll do seven reps of MSW around 3pm to perk me up a bit. Again I might have some fruit or even something more as a snack but it's not a big event like it used to be. I can take it or leave it.

For dinner I'll try and eat a bit earlier so I can get some meditation in before I go to bed.

I must confess I drink a lot of tea. Straight up Green, UK style black tea with milk, Pu-er and herbal infusions of all kinds.

The result of this is that the pounds are just dropping off. Not only that it feels really sustainable too. I never liked the gym much. It was always a chore. It's always an odd atmosphere in the gym and gosh do people do some odd things. I think no one can really agree in a gym. I always feel like everyone is looking at each other, thinking about how the person they're watching is 'doing it wrong'.

But I look forward to my FPCK sessions especially the seated ones. I try and practice every day which usually works out to be six days a week. I'm still a sucker for lazy Sundays!

So in a nutshell I think FPCK has made me listen to my body a lot more. I understand this feeling of fullness/ emptiness much better. I've learned to embrace both.

I've just added Wind Through Treetops from disc three to my morning session. I've actually found though that like Terry suggests, take the first two discs slowly. For me I'm still really learning disc one. Trying to keep a good, low horse stance for 10 minutes is an art in itself so I wouldn't rush the DVDS till you've got the strength in your legs to really keep that.

To some up I'd say that FPCK has helped me conquer the mental problems I had relating to food and cigarettes. I'm sure there is a calorie burning element to the standing meditations too as I shake and sweat when I'm doing them.

I think the other contributing factor is having more energy. I used to suffer from energy slumps and even some minor depression (I think a lot of us have been there) and I've found that these don't occur if I've practiced in the morning.

I really am a complete beginner with FPCK, I've been doing it for around six months and everything I've learn't has come from the DVDs and this forum. I've not really done anything special, just followed the simple instructions. I think it's about just doing the practice and not trying to intellectualise or analyse it too much.

Hope this makes some sense. Hopefully I'll come back when I've reached my final goal and I can edit this to make it read a bit better!

Mr T

[ridingtheox]

the long form fpck continues to rock ... twice a day each session done slowly, lovingly takes 18-20 min. I have experimented with the 5 short forms and continue to do so. However the long form just seems to cover the whole universe of chi. I supplement with one or two of the Ba Duan Chin, 8 pieces of brocade and some silk reeling exercises (Chen style). I have seen some discussion of there being different types of chi, but my take is that chi can be directed to different uses, body parts, spiritual well being each of which may seem to be a different energy, but it is just the practicioner's perception that is being changed.

 

peace

 

charlie

[TLB]

Thank you for the clarification I believe I will begin to work on it after all 3 MSW on DVD 2 have gotten settled in.

 

and I have one other question, I would like to get my girlfriend to start doing FP with me, but would like to know if there are any changes to the postures and meditations for female practitioners. a lot of (what you would call generic) chi kung will say something like men put this hand over this one women put the other. sorry if this has been asked before, I am slowly working my way through the thread!

 

thanks again,

Jorge

 

Hello, Jorge,

I cannot answer this for Sifu Terry but until you hear back from him, I wanted to at least tell you that, as one of his female students, I've never heard any mention from him about making any changes for females, in either forms or FPCK. The women in class do exactly the same things the men do; and the same was true when I took classes from him years back. As detailed as he has made the FPCK series of DVDs, and as many female students as he's had as well as contact with female masters, I'm sure he would have included differing instructions for women if there were any. If your girlfriend is interested in trying it out, I would say to her that she should have no reservations. (by the way, I haven't gotten through the whole thread yet myself, so I don't know if this question has been raised before - if I see something I'll let you know!)

Best of luck,

tlb

Edited August 28, 2012 by TLB

[TaoTraceur]

Hello, Jorge,

I cannot answer this for Sifu Terry but until you hear back from him, I wanted to at least tell you that, as one of his female students, I've never heard any mention from him about making any changes for females, in either forms or FPCK. The women in class do exactly the same things the men do; and the same was true when I took classes from him years back. As detailed as he has made the FPCK series of DVDs, and as many female students as he's had as well as contact with female masters, I'm sure he would have included differing instructions for women if there were any. If your girlfriend is interested in trying it out, I would say to her that she should have no reservations. (by the way, I haven't gotten through the whole thread yet myself, so I don't know if this question has been raised before - if I see something I'll let you know!)

Best of luck,

tlb

 

 

Thanks for your response Tlb, I will definitely encourage her to try it

 

and if you don't mind, could you tell us a little about your experience with FP? (the particular effects you have received from it, your mindset, etc)

 

I would really appreciate it!

 

thanks again,

 

Jorge