Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[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

 

Hello, Jorge,

 

I don’t mind at all but I’ve only really been at this for a little over a month! I studied Tai Chi with Sifu Terry years ago and we did some Chi Kung at that time – but it was not the full FPCK system that you have on the DVDs, and I didn’t get very far into it. I’ve kept up the Tai Chi (sporadically!) throughout the years and only just started back to classes about 6 weeks ago, so I don’t have a fraction of the experience that some of the other people in this thread have.

 

So I’ve been doing the FPCK 4-5 times a week for maybe 6 weeks. Most often, I do all the standing meditations in Vol. 1 and just the first 4 in Vol. 2 (which is up through the first Monk Serves Wine exercise). I plan to get those last 2 exercises of Vol. 2 added in and then just stay with that group for a period of time.

 

In the most general terms, I am already stronger and better-aligned physically. I’ve never had the best alignment, and in recent years it has become harder to find it – but now my spine is straightening and becoming more flexible again (this has to be partly from the Tai Chi as well, though). I have an increased sense of well-being that stays with me virtually all the time – it’s a lighter, younger feeling, as if I’ve wiped off a decade or two. I’m sleeping much better, and more deeply. I had a surgery late last year that left me feeling rather “disconnected,” and in these last 6 weeks that feeling has finally disappeared (okay, I’m still a bit of a space case but at least I no longer have the sense my body’s on one plane and my mind another…certainly time has been a factor but I attribute the bulk of the reconnection to FPCK).

 

I’ve experienced some of the dramatic movement and spiraling energy that others have discussed in the thread; but generally what I’ve felt has been been much more subtle, and also more shapeless. By “shapeless” I mean I feel energy just sloshing around like an unruly ocean and moving me about with it. Those random movements are the bigger ones for me, and at first I fought against them, thinking I lacked stillness and balance. Now I relax into them. I’ve felt a lot of “spontaneous realignment”: a sudden jerk followed by a loosening/resettling into a more natural position. “Monk Gazing at Moon” brings on the most alignment shifting, I think. “Monk Holding Peach” brings on the most movement; “Monk Holding Pearl” brings on the most heat. “Wind Above the Clouds” feels like a massage at the end (I have wanted to move that one to follow the seated meditations, actually, for the leg stretch – I haven’t done so yet but Sifu confirmed it’s okay to make that change).

 

The seated meditations seem to be more dynamic for me, even though I haven’t gotten through the entire set. That came as a surprise, because the first time I did them I really thought I couldn’t handle the sitting, due to standard old inflexibility and a hip problem. I still only do a cross-legged position, not the half-lotus. But the first time I could barely get through the first breathing sequence. The second time I could already do each full exercise, although I still had to stretch out between each one. Now I can get through 3 or 4 before I have to release and I can get quickly back into position and continue. (I should note this is using a small meditation pillow – not 2 inches thick. When I don’t use that pillow I have more trouble again.)

 

As I’ve been able to hold the seated position longer, I have been increasingly feeling some distinct energy flows. Through my hips and legs on all of them, and also some realignment moments similar to the standing exercises. What I feel in my upper body and arms is more distinct and varied than in the standing exercises: in the first one it’s all through my arms and hands, and by the time I get to the end of it my hands are heavy, and feel as though they’re moving through something like honey or glue. I’ve had an ongoing problem with one of the nerves that runs from the neck down the arm to the wrist – in this first exercise I’ll feel a hot fire through the whole length of that nerve, and then afterward it not only doesn’t hurt but feels improved. In the second seated position my upper body rocks backward and forward from the hips, in shorter arcs as my hands lower. In another – can’t remember if it’s the first or the Monk Serves, now! – my body will move in a circle, and as it does so my hips loosen further. Again, in my case these are small, subtle movements!

 

The inability to remember precisely what happens in which exercise…that, to me, is one of the more significant things. All these sensations, including pains, roll through me as I’m doing the meditations but the specifics don’t necessarily stay with me when I’m finished. I consider that all just “healing process” and I really am more interested in the after-effects. At first I wanted to evade the painful parts but now I think some of those are where the most healing is occurring. All that pain and release in the seated meditations has resulted in a major change for me at my job. I’m at a computer all day and before I started this, I’d go to stand up and be immediately jerked into a crouch, my hip having locked up; I’d have to straighten slowly and painfully, then limp for awhile, and then finally I’d be back to “normal.” That has not happened since my 3^rd or 4^th seated session!! You’ll find if you read through the thread that I’m not the first person who has asked if one can work up to the seated meditations by starting out in a chair, or some other variation – I’m extremely glad that I didn’t do that, and am still amazed at how quickly the exercises made so much difference.

 

All that energy sloshing about and the random movements, etc. – that stuff is interesting, and fascinating in the moment…attention-getting in a way that makes it easier to hold in the positions longer. But the value is in the after-effects (for me). If I do Tai Chi after FPCK, my form is much stronger, more balanced, more focused. I’m not only sleeping more deeply, I’m dreaming more vibrantly and remembering more dreams. Little health issues that I thought I was just going to have to resign myself to living with are clearing up. I feel years dropping away. I have to emphasize again that most of these things are subtle, and I absolutely still am feeling pain in those seated meditations! But I’ve seen a lot of positive change and a lot of reduction in those pains...ALREADY!

 

I’ve gone on and on and haven’t even mentioned the spiritual development side of all this. Although that’s a major attraction for me, I can’t yet say a lot about it. Except that I’ve done a fair amount of wandering around and searching, and I’ve found FPCK to be a more direct route inward than anything else I’ve tried (including TM – there’s some discussion of TM in the thread from “Tao Mist,” who has had much more experience with it than I, but for me the FPCK is far more powerful). Hard to describe but it seems to take one all the way inward and all the way outward – build a solid bridge from our earthbound selves to our spiritual selves.

 

I hope something in all this rambling is of help or at least interest!

 

All best wishes,

tlb

Edited August 30, 2012 by TLB

[tao stillness]

Hello Sifu Terry,

My intuitive, not the medical intuitive, the other one, a few weeks ago described my head as having all of this wonderful energy which she attributed to Flying Phoenix Chi Kung but she said it would be good to be able to move it down the body instead of so much of it in the head. Is there a method that you can Rx which would accomplish this?

Edited September 2, 2012 by tao stillness

[TaoTraceur]

Hello, Jorge,

 

I don’t mind at all but I’ve only really been at this for a little over a month! I studied Tai Chi with Sifu Terry years ago and we did some Chi Kung at that time – but it was not the full FPCK system that you have on the DVDs, and I didn’t get very far into it. I’ve kept up the Tai Chi (sporadically!) throughout the years and only just started back to classes about 6 weeks ago, so I don’t have a fraction of the experience that some of the other people in this thread have.

 

So I’ve been doing the FPCK 4-5 times a week for maybe 6 weeks. Most often, I do all the standing meditations in Vol. 1 and just the first 4 in Vol. 2 (which is up through the first Monk Serves Wine exercise). I plan to get those last 2 exercises of Vol. 2 added in and then just stay with that group for a period of time.

 

In the most general terms, I am already stronger and better-aligned physically. I’ve never had the best alignment, and in recent years it has become harder to find it – but now my spine is straightening and becoming more flexible again (this has to be partly from the Tai Chi as well, though). I have an increased sense of well-being that stays with me virtually all the time – it’s a lighter, younger feeling, as if I’ve wiped off a decade or two. I’m sleeping much better, and more deeply. I had a surgery late last year that left me feeling rather “disconnected,” and in these last 6 weeks that feeling has finally disappeared (okay, I’m still a bit of a space case but at least I no longer have the sense my body’s on one plane and my mind another…certainly time has been a factor but I attribute the bulk of the reconnection to FPCK).

 

I’ve experienced some of the dramatic movement and spiraling energy that others have discussed in the thread; but generally what I’ve felt has been been much more subtle, and also more shapeless. By “shapeless” I mean I feel energy just sloshing around like an unruly ocean and moving me about with it. Those random movements are the bigger ones for me, and at first I fought against them, thinking I lacked stillness and balance. Now I relax into them. I’ve felt a lot of “spontaneous realignment”: a sudden jerk followed by a loosening/resettling into a more natural position. “Monk Gazing at Moon” brings on the most alignment shifting, I think. “Monk Holding Peach” brings on the most movement; “Monk Holding Pearl” brings on the most heat. “Wind Above the Clouds” feels like a massage at the end (I have wanted to move that one to follow the seated meditations, actually, for the leg stretch – I haven’t done so yet but Sifu confirmed it’s okay to make that change).

 

The seated meditations seem to be more dynamic for me, even though I haven’t gotten through the entire set. That came as a surprise, because the first time I did them I really thought I couldn’t handle the sitting, due to standard old inflexibility and a hip problem. I still only do a cross-legged position, not the half-lotus. But the first time I could barely get through the first breathing sequence. The second time I could already do each full exercise, although I still had to stretch out between each one. Now I can get through 3 or 4 before I have to release and I can get quickly back into position and continue. (I should note this is using a small meditation pillow – not 2 inches thick. When I don’t use that pillow I have more trouble again.)

 

As I’ve been able to hold the seated position longer, I have been increasingly feeling some distinct energy flows. Through my hips and legs on all of them, and also some realignment moments similar to the standing exercises. What I feel in my upper body and arms is more distinct and varied than in the standing exercises: in the first one it’s all through my arms and hands, and by the time I get to the end of it my hands are heavy, and feel as though they’re moving through something like honey or glue. I’ve had an ongoing problem with one of the nerves that runs from the neck down the arm to the wrist – in this first exercise I’ll feel a hot fire through the whole length of that nerve, and then afterward it not only doesn’t hurt but feels improved. In the second seated position my upper body rocks backward and forward from the hips, in shorter arcs as my hands lower. In another – can’t remember if it’s the first or the Monk Serves, now! – my body will move in a circle, and as it does so my hips loosen further. Again, in my case these are small, subtle movements!

 

The inability to remember precisely what happens in which exercise…that, to me, is one of the more significant things. All these sensations, including pains, roll through me as I’m doing the meditations but the specifics don’t necessarily stay with me when I’m finished. I consider that all just “healing process” and I really am more interested in the after-effects. At first I wanted to evade the painful parts but now I think some of those are where the most healing is occurring. All that pain and release in the seated meditations has resulted in a major change for me at my job. I’m at a computer all day and before I started this, I’d go to stand up and be immediately jerked into a crouch, my hip having locked up; I’d have to straighten slowly and painfully, then limp for awhile, and then finally I’d be back to “normal.” That has not happened since my 3^rd or 4^th seated session!! You’ll find if you read through the thread that I’m not the first person who has asked if one can work up to the seated meditations by starting out in a chair, or some other variation – I’m extremely glad that I didn’t do that, and am still amazed at how quickly the exercises made so much difference.

 

All that energy sloshing about and the random movements, etc. – that stuff is interesting, and fascinating in the moment…attention-getting in a way that makes it easier to hold in the positions longer. But the value is in the after-effects (for me). If I do Tai Chi after FPCK, my form is much stronger, more balanced, more focused. I’m not only sleeping more deeply, I’m dreaming more vibrantly and remembering more dreams. Little health issues that I thought I was just going to have to resign myself to living with are clearing up. I feel years dropping away. I have to emphasize again that most of these things are subtle, and I absolutely still am feeling pain in those seated meditations! But I’ve seen a lot of positive change and a lot of reduction in those pains...ALREADY!

 

I’ve gone on and on and haven’t even mentioned the spiritual development side of all this. Although that’s a major attraction for me, I can’t yet say a lot about it. Except that I’ve done a fair amount of wandering around and searching, and I’ve found FPCK to be a more direct route inward than anything else I’ve tried (including TM – there’s some discussion of TM in the thread from “Tao Mist,” who has had much more experience with it than I, but for me the FPCK is far more powerful). Hard to describe but it seems to take one all the way inward and all the way outward – build a solid bridge from our earthbound selves to our spiritual selves.

 

I hope something in all this rambling is of help or at least interest!

 

All best wishes,

tlb

 

thank you for the awesome detailed reply!

it makes me happy to read of all the people having wonderful experiences with FPCK, I will definitely pass this along to my girlfriend. hopefully we will have a new practitioner soon

 

happy FP,

-Jorge

[tao stillness]

Jorge,

If you want to convert your girlfriend over to FP just tell her it makes one youthful. And it really does.

[ridingtheox]

I do the mirror image FPCK particularly in the 'after' noon ... I think of it as the 'yin' version. Everything is mirrored. The 'yang' version if you notice, emphasizes to some extent the 'right' side of body (left brain). I feel (physically) the difference as if balance / harmony is improved? I am a 'very' mental, in the head person so this approach feels quite comfortable.

For what it is worth ...

[Fu_doggy]

It's been a little while since I've been on TTB, but I see there's been some really good discussion.

 

My login credentials have not worked so I have not been able to get on the site to post. So, I created this new user name just to get on TTB.....hopefully I can get my Fu_dog login back sometime soon.

 

Will post some new observations when I have time.

 

Cheers!

[zen-bear]

 

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

 

 

Mr. T,

Thank you very much posting your experience of weight-reduction through FP Qigong practice. Indeed, I think every practitioner will agree with you that regular FP Qigong practice makes one so sensitive and attuned to the natural balanced flows and yin/yang harmonization of energies in the body (through allostasis) that one can thereby "listen" to and feel the needs of the body as it recovers and maintains that pristine state of harmony and perfect natural functioning. What you described in your experience of weight loss is exactly the functioning benefit of FP Qigong as described by teacher, GM Doo Wai. He described the dynamic process and effect of Flying Phoenix Qigong practice as "bringing all the body's organ functions under the regulation of the subconscious mind." When this subconscious regulation of all organic functions is attained, the body's natural healing processes are activated...disharmonizing behaviors are brought into awareness and are more easily, naturally abandoned. That state is the profound soothing-blissful feeling on a cellular level that all FPCK practitioners sooner or later experience--what Prof. Fred Underwood, one of my workshop students in the late 1990's (and Bob Thurman's predescessor as head of Indo-Tibetan studies at Columbia Unversity's Department of Religion) described in terms still unequaled.

 

I suspect that for persons underweight and suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia, FP Qigong practice might very well be effective in breaking the psychological vise that keeps one in that habitually undernourishing or starving behavior. Thanks again for posting the first report of significant weight loss effected by FP Qigong practice!

Best,

Sifu Terry

[niveQ]

I recently looked into the Chi Kung for health DVD series. Are the benefits of the Flying Phoenix exercises able to be noticed with just the first volume or are the other volumes necessary?

[ronko]

Dear Sifu Terry ,

i have always wanted to ask but never quite got round to it ,

the artwork of the daoist monk performing alchemy that is shown ,

can you provide any details as to who the artist is , whether there is a print available of it ?

i love that piece !

[tao stillness]

Hi Ronko,

I too wondered about that Taoist the first time I saw him so I Googled and one image of him was labled, "The Blue Magician."

I ordered a chi dvd from a company and they sent me several 2"x3" business cards with that image on the front of the card. I put one in a small frame on my bookcase. But I have not been able to locate any information about the image. When the full image is visible you can see that it represents the triple burner or main energy centers, chakras. I assume that Sifu Terry has some info about this.

[zen-bear]

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

 

 

Hi Charlie,

 

Thanks for your update on your FP Qigong practice. Glad to hear that the Long Standing Meditation (Vol.4) is still "doing it all" for you. As I said in the first year of this discussion, every practitioner will find one of the FP Meditations that has the most energizing effect and imparts the most salient health benefits. Tip: make sure that you go back to Vol.1 and practice all the basic FP stationary standing meditations (Monk Gazing At Moon, Monk Holding Peach, Monk Holding Pearl). In your practice session, if you have the time, you always want to balance the yang of movement (in Moonbeam Splashes, Wind through Treetops, Wind Above Clouds, the Long Form) with the yin of repose.

 

As for different types or one type of Chi, if you master the FP Qigong and later become adept in another complete system of Qigong or system of internal martial art, you will easily discern that the FP energy is totally and profoundly different from all others in its tangible "feel", its healing and rejuvenating effects, and that it has a spiritual "essence" or component to it. Again I refer back to the Tao Bum subscriber who (I think in Year One of this thread) besides posting that he thought FP Qigong was everything that a good Qigong system should be, had also added that while in FP meditation, his mind was visited with Buddhist iconography, which he found interesting and fascinating because he had no interest whatsoever in Buddhism.

 

The different essential types of internal energy in the Chinese yogic arts are a function of how different Qigong methods cultivate or muster the internal energy. In my early article on Qigong, "Chi Kung Primer" published in "Qi Magazine" in 1998, I stated that internal energy can be broken down into general functional classes--martial, healing or medical, and spiritual:

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

 

In my experience with the internal arts of the Ehrmeishan Bai Fu Pai (White Tiger) style, martial chi and healing chi are not different modalities of one type of energy, but are essentially different types of energy with drastically different methods of cultivation. Sifu Garry Hearfield is also most qualified to attest to this fact. About 4 years ago, for variety, at the end of my Flying Phoenix Qigong class, I decided to lead the students in one of the basic meditations of the Eight Sections Combined system. After the 5 minute practice concluded, one of my more experienced students from the late 90's, Marie Cenker, commented how very "heavy" and totally different the energy from that exercise was compared to the light and etheral energy of Flying Phoenix.

 

Well, that's my long-winded way of saying to you, Charlie: practice harder, master the FP system, then explore other complete Qigong systems (i.e., non-broken traditions) that suit you so that you can discern the wide and wonderful spectrum of internal energies.

Looking forward to working with you tomorrow.

 

Peace,

Sifu Terry

[Marius Tudor]

I see that this topic has many comments from people who seem to have achieved a degree of proficiency in qigong.Could someone please summarize the basic principles of qigong and how it's practice influences a person and what are the benefits of it and of course where do you find a master,and if that is not the case where do you find video sessions of the workouts?

 

Thank you.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Marius Tudor

[Fu_doggy]

Marius -

 

Since you posted on the FP thread I would suggest Master Terry's site... there's lots of good info there and it may be a good place to start if you are just getting into qigong. You will find answers to some of your questions such as what are the basic principles, etc.

 

Your question regarding how the practice qigong influences a person is a little difficult to answer because different people enjoy different benefits. And also there are many different types of qigong. If you go back and read through the many pages this thread you'll see a number of different people expressing benefits that they have received from Flying Phoenix. To those who have practiced for any period of time we would tell you that the benefits of system can be quite spectacular.

 

I have practiced Flying Phoenix long enough so that the experience of the energy and state of being the practice provides has become indescribable....I'll suffice it to say it rocks! And other like Charlie say the same.

 

Good luck in your search and in your practice.

 

Lloyd

 

 

 

 

[zen-bear]

I see that this topic has many comments from people who seem to have achieved a degree of proficiency in qigong.Could someone please summarize the basic principles of qigong and how it's practice influences a person and what are the benefits of it and of course where do you find a master,and if that is not the case where do you find video sessions of the workouts?

 

Thank you.

 

I can't do much better than Fu_Dog's answer except by elaborating on the principles of qigong--in the same manner that I had done very early in this thread: Qigong means "Energy cultivation" or "Breath Work-Mastery". There are scores of different systems of Qigong--about as many systems as there are styles of Chinese martial arts. All systems of Qigong combine three modes of physiological function to cultivate a super-normal level of internal energy in the body, which the Chinese call "chi" (qi). The three modalities are: (1) Hsing (Xing) - the shape/form of the body; (2) I (or Yi_) - Mind or mental focus, which includes visualization; and (3) Chi (or Qi) -- breathing. All genuine systems of Qigong uniquely combine these three modalities. And various systems of Qigong produce different types of energy. I categorize the energy types cultivated by various Qigong systems into three general categories: martial, healing, and spiritual. Thus each category of Qigong produces different energy effects, and these categories have very different methods of cultivating their respective types of energies. For example, the Flying Phoenix Qigong as all practitioners have discovered, has a very unique method of cultivating its tangible healing energy--unlike any other Qigong system that's been published or made popular.

Hope this helps.

Sifu Terry Dunn

[Bubbles]

Hello Sifu Dunn, all,

 

I am only practicing FPCK for a week now so my view is very limited. Nevertheless, I may add from my little experience that FPCK's healing energy seems to have also a spiritual component.

 

Several times, after practicing the three first basic seated meditations (FPCK vol2), I spontaneously found myself in a meditative state. So I accepted the invitation and added a meditation session to my practice and in the following morning it was still there so I felt compelled to begin with a meditation session before my FPCK vol 1 morning practice.

 

This system is very special, indeed.

 

Thank you Sifu Dunn for releasing it and teaching it!

[tao stillness]

Hello Bubbles,

I enjoyed your findings about a spiritual component to Flying Phoenix. One day I just sat there with my eyes open after finishing my Flying Phoenix routine and the thoughts were much less noticeable so I realized this feels similar to some of my meditation experiences so I then closed my eyes to stay in that meditative state and since then I do this regularly when time permits. I like doing this quiet sitting after chi kung even if I only have time to do it for 2 minutes. I'm impressed that you sensed this so quickly.

[Bubbles]

Hello tao stillness,

 

Thank you for your comment.

Of course, I can't really tell why the practice has this effect on me, apart from the energizing boost commonly reported by all practitioners.

Maybe it is due to the fact that I had a more intensive start than the one recommended by Sifu Dunn in the training schedule for practicing. I started directly with the first three basic standing meditations in the morning and the first three seated meditations in the evening so my daily practice time was no less than 60mn per day. I have a (little) background in meditation and qigong but like almost everyone here.. So perhaps this specific effect is just what I need now before anything else...I will report in a few weeks how it has evolved.

 

Best wishes,

Edited December 8, 2012 by bubbles

[tao stillness]

Hi Bubbles!

Hard to not laugh when I type Bubbles.

I started doing the FP just as you did and then after a few months added the Monk Serving Wine meditations and that is when spiritual experiences started to be noticed. But as far as feeling the effects of chi, the most powerful meditation so far is the third basic sitting meditation on vol. 2, 50-10-50. I enjoy staying in that postition for a prolonged time way beyond the minimum of 5 minutes since it is such a tangible sensation of chi building in the hands. After about 5-6 months I added vol. 7. I just do the first meditation on that vol. since it is for deepening sleep. I was curious about it as I had no sleep problems but I wanted to experience it anyway. The slower it is performed, the stronger the chi can be felt as the hands and arms move around. I fall asleep faster after doing it. When I first began doing it I was dozing off during the meditation but the hands were still moving anyway it seemed. More fun than a barrel of monkeys, LOL!

Steve

[Fu_doggy]

Bubbles -

 

Yes, there is definitely a spiritual aspect to the FP meditations, especially the seated. You mentioned that you have done meditation before Flying Phoenix.

 

If you haven't already tried doing meditation after the practice of Flying Phoenix, I would recommend you try this sometime. I believe you will find your mind to be extraordinarily clear and focused *as a natural state*.

 

For me FP has become sufficient unto itself as a form of deep meditation, as well as a powerful healing qigong. As Steve says in his post above the slower you perform the movements, the more powerful the feel of the qi... and also the deeper the meditative state.

 

If you're feeling the spiritual aspect after only a week, you're in for a real treat as your practice progresses.

 

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

Fu dog

[Bubbles]

Hi Tao Stillness,

 

I am happy to know that typing _bubbles_ is a source of laughing chi for you . I like this name very much.

 

I have also strong sensations in the hands (they become like magnets tied by an invisible cord through each hand's laogong) and also in the lower dantian while practicing the third basic seated meditation.

 

Happy practice!

 

bubbles

[Bubbles]

Hello Fu_dog,

 

Thanks for your confirmation and words of encouragement

 

Yes, I did meditate after FP seated exercises, I felt it was a natural continuation of the FP practice because as you said, the mind is *clear and focused as a natural state*. I first learned meditation years ago through Japanese Zen Buddhism but at the time it took me quite a lot of practice before experiencing this. I can understand easily why you say that FP stands for you as a form of deep meditation.

 

I am looking forward discovering all the marvels of this system in both health and spiritual aspects.

 

Kind regards,

bubbles

 

edited for spelling

Edited October 12, 2012 by bubbles

[tao stillness]

To Sifu Terry and all others who enjoy the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching,

Immediately following the completion of my morning FP practice I read one verse of the Tao Te Ching. Today was chapter 35 and I only use Jonathan Star's translation since it resonates with both of the teachings of my spiritual teachers and my own experience from TM. Verse 35 summed up why we seekers seek and what we find. A perfect distillation of the benefits of directly experiencing Tao summed up in one verse. One of my teachers calls this state the vacuum state as described in quantum physics. The home of all the laws of Nature. I consider that to be Tao. Another teacher calls it Oneness/Divine Presence. I now call it Tao. This verse describes the enlightened state of consciousness vs the unenlightened state. Pretty amazing and absolutely verifiable via direct experience. That's the best part!

Steve

[zen-bear]

Hello Sifu Dunn, all,

 

I am only practicing FPCK for a week now so my view is very limited. Nevertheless, I may add from my little experience that FPCK's healing energy seems to have also a spiritual component.

 

Several times, after practicing the three first basic seated meditations (FPCK vol2), I spontaneously found myself in a meditative state. So I accepted the invitation and added a meditation session to my practice and in the following morning it was still there so I felt compelled to begin with a meditation session before my FPCK vol 1 morning practice.

 

This system is very special, indeed.

 

Thank you Sifu Dunn for releasing it and teaching it!

 

 

Hello Bubbles,

 

You're very welcome. It was my good karma to be able to have learned the Flying Phoenix Chi Kung from GM Doo Wai during his most vibrant window of teaching (with the exception of his teaching Sifu Garry Hearfield more recently for 5 years), that I took to the FP system the way I did, and that I had the resources and wherewithal to produce the DVD series.

 

I'm very glad to hear that you very quickly experienced the deep meditative state induced by just the "basic" warm-up meditations on Volume 2. (So as to distinguish the state you experienced from other minor highs and internal energy "flashes" that can occur in meditation: by deep meditative state, I mean what Daniel Goleman first dubbed in his early writings as a "meditative state of consciousness" and what Castaneda aptly described as "stopping the world.") The first three meditations on Vol.2 are described on the DVD's as "basic" and "preparatory warm-ups" because they are so simple to do. But in combination, these 3 "warm-up" meditations are just as powerful as any one of the "Monk Serves Wine" seated meditations that follow them in the Chi Kung For Health DVD series. I just recovered an old SVHS recording I made in 1991 where GM Doo Wai's senior student at the time Bob Eberhardt led me (a beginner then) through 20 each of minutes of each the "basic" meditations. This morning, I practiced three of the advanced Monk Serves Wine meditations (from Volume 7) for a total of 40 minutes. I followed that with 30 minutes of the "basic-preparatory" meditations at the start of Volume 2. As others have stated as well as me, the effects of the first 3 "basic" meditations are just as advanced as the advanced meditations once you get to the advanced meditations.

 

Continue to go slowly with your practice and penetrate the effects of these "basic" meditations. Do them regularly and practice them before you do the "Monk Serves Wine" meditations. They will make the latter even more effective.

 

I wish to repeat an account I gave earlier on the thread: GM Share Lew (a peer of GM Doo Wai) taught us, his Tao Tan Pai students who completed his internal training up through an exercise called the "Five Dragons": "No matter what you do, you must do quiet sitting." --a reminder that quiet sitting was "more important than the yoga" (i.e., his neigung).

 

Similarly, solid practice of the "basic" warm-up meditations in Volume 2 is the Flying Phoenix Qigong system's sublime means of "quiet sitting." If you properly master these simple but profound meditations, you will induce a deep meditative state with all of the "Monk Serves Wine" meditations.

Then all of the FP seated meditations will be "quiet sitting"--and impart benefits of health and consciousness expansion that you yourself can write books about.

 

Good practicing.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited October 20, 2012 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Hello tao stillness,

 

Thank you for your comment.

Of course, I can't really tell why the practice has this effect on me, apart from the energizing boost commonly reported by all practitioners.

Maybe it is due to the fact that I had a more intensive start than the one recommended by Sifu Dunn in the training schedule for practicing. I started directly with the first three basic standing meditations in the morning and the first three seated meditations in the evening so my daily practice time was no less than 60mn per day. I have a (little) background in meditation and qigong but like almost everyone here.. So perhaps this specific effect is just what I need now before anything else...I will report in a few weeks how it has evolved.

 

Best wishes,

 

Hello again Bubbles,

 

Your schedule of practice is standard in terms of how I teach my students in Los Angeles and in workshops elsewhere. I recommended a lighter training schedule in my "Guidelines" webpage and the DVD inserts so to ease beginners without much meditation experience into the Flying Phoenix system's unique meditative state of consciousness.

 

FP Qigong affects all practitioners in the same way--but to different degrees--depending on their level of mind-body integration, physical health, mental health, intelligence (yes, smarts), spiritual consciousness, and karmic development. Your experience of the FP Qigong's effects is all yours, and when you compare notes with other FP practitioners, avoid the pitfall of discounting your own experience to any degree due the believing that other persons' with more years of meditative experiences have experienced more than you in FP practice or that you might be experiencing FP meditative effects that you shouldn't be experiencing so early. Just continue practicing and try to note your development in along all those 6 parameters I just mentioned. (Of course, if you ever experience any serious ill effects, post immediately and get in touch with me.)

 

Best,

Sifu Terry

Edited October 20, 2012 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Hello Bubbles,

I enjoyed your findings about a spiritual component to Flying Phoenix. One day I just sat there with my eyes open after finishing my Flying Phoenix routine and the thoughts were much less noticeable so I realized this feels similar to some of my meditation experiences so I then closed my eyes to stay in that meditative state and since then I do this regularly when time permits. I like doing this quiet sitting after chi kung even if I only have time to do it for 2 minutes. I'm impressed that you sensed this so quickly.

 

Hi Tao Stillness,

 

Yes, staying in quiet sitting after doing any number of FP seated meditations is a lovely way to prolong the Flying Phoenix self-healing meditative state. The other way that I just posted is to do any of the 3 "basic" preparatory meditations on Volume 2. Instead of doing them leading up tot he MSW exercises, you can do them at the end as a sublime meditative "chaser".

 

Good practicing.

 

Sifu Terry

Edited October 20, 2012 by zen-bear