Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[zen-bear]

Sifu terry, how does one prepare to sit in the half lotus position? I can barely sit for ten minutes without my lefs getting numb, also when i sit, i need something behind my back to support me otherwise my legs will shake and i feel very discomfort when i sit in half lotus position,

Hi Phanman,

 

One helpful aid, as Tao Stillness suggested, and which I have recommended to beginning students who do not or cannot take classes in stretching, yoga or martial arts, is to use a cushion thick enough to sit cross-legged or in half lotus position.

 

The other more expedient remedy is to take martial arts training that incorporates a very systematic, scientific course of stretching the legs and entire body, like the one taught by my first kung fu teacher, Sifu Douglas Wong of White Lotus Kung Fu. Scientific stretching is almost a given if you study a northern style of kung fu.  One of the best stretching regimen that I learned was when i studied with Madame Bow Sim Mark in Boston during my second year in graduate school.  Also, after learning them in workshops that Master George Xu gave in SoCal in the 80's and during visits to his classes annually in San Francisco, I teach his warm-up exercises known as "Qing Dynasty Imperial Exercises" at the start of my Tai Chi classes and even some of my qigong classes.

 

Start with a cushion.  With seated FP Qigong meditations, it's fine to sit up against a wall or prop you back up with furniture.

Then start a stretching regimen under good instruction.

 

Good luck.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

[Earl Grey]

Frederic, I am reminded of a quote one of my teachers taught me: "Neither be too far from your teacher nor get too close to him."

 

The way I have experienced training in traditional internal arts is that while there can indeed be a family dynamic, your teacher is not your friend or your best friend, as that can impact the ability to be impartial and eventual hopes of developing into an independent master in your own way. A term once described to me was called "Master Addiction" and the movie "The Last Dragon" from 1985 shows an example of that and how the protagonist was too caught up in idolizing his teacher rather than recognizing his own merit and development. 

 

Nothing should be taken too personally, but nothing should be totally disregarded because one isn't close--I certainly don't expect my teachers to hug and kiss me when they are hard on me and I feel defeated. In fact, it's often by design that a teacher in the internal traditional arts that they interact with you in a particular manner so that you understand yourself and your place. 

 

While I certainly am grateful and amazed at the gifts Sifu Terry and the Doo Wai family have bestowed upon humanity (and make no attempt to hide my love for it), ultimately, our own health and well-being are our responsibility, for Sifu Terry, as he says in his response to you, don't take anything personally, for we are here for honest and open discourse, and his thinking as I understand it is pure and not meant to hurt you or belittle you--if one sees injury or slight, it one's own thinking, not Sifu Terry's thinking (and oftentimes, when we feel or see insult and injury, it's our own perception, not the other person's intentions).

 

Everything as I see it is dialogue to grow as a group and as individual masters in our own right. Also if he doesn't reply immediately, he has his own reasons--he's a busy guy and most teachers are not as readily available as he is, especially to answer every e-mail or question we post here after it's been answered multiple times and can be found using the search function in the forum. I have a teacher who I'm lucky to see once a month or reply to me teaching me Xin Yi, because what he has is a diamond itself and if I break protocol or violate any of the agreements, he can easily choose to stop training me ever again--most people would give up their lives to learn something and could bring wagons full of gems and still not warrant the attention of the masters, and even when a master accepts a student, too much praise can fuel the ego rather than discipline or training. 

 

This observation and information aside, welcome to the community! I'm a fellow Reiki practitioner myself and feel a very, very big difference in treating patients whenever I do Flying Phoenix that day, especially right before, which I would best describe as "Two frequencies expressing the same voice that says, 'Heal thyself'", something which my patients describe too. 

 

Enjoy training!

Edited July 23, 2016 by Earl Grey

[Frederic]

Thank you Sifu Terry for your extensive and in depth reply. I am grateful for the kind sharing of your knowledge and time in this thread. Looking forward to my journey with Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditations!

 

And thank you Earl Grey for your post. I don't mind feeling hurt and expressing that. To me that is part of emotional Tai Chi. I remember an exercise where someone pushes your left shoulder, you pivot on the center without resistance, and naturally the force is reflected back out of the right arm. To me, allowing a hit to come in, yielding to it, being honest about it is 'wining by losing'. It keeps me honest, and the conversation open. 

[ridingtheox]

sitting ... i sit on a simple chair toward the front edge ...  my old knees  just  not  yielding as they once did ...

 

in fact I find the advanced seated meds quite powerful without worrying about pain;  I am quite careful for posture.

 

It may be true that I am missing some subtle advantage,  but  my body says I am accumulating strong chi in dan tien and feel vibrant energy along meridians and into hands fingers.

 

if you are young keep trying to stretch,  for sure  but do the exercises as demonstrated concentrating on moving the chi with intent.

[tao stillness]

Riding the Ox,

Would you mind trying to descrbe what it is like feeling chi in the meridians? I have only felt chi in the hands or in between my arm and shirt from Flying Phoenix.

[zen-bear]

STRONG EAGLE MEDICINE--says my friend Patti Johnson.

This is the very end of Advanced Flying Phoenix (Qigong) Meditation No. 9 (the last of the Advanced FP Qigong series) that I was inspired to practice last April alongside Lake McDonald in Glacier Natl. Park, Montana. I post it now because I just today discovered that at 40 seconds, a golden eagle streaks across the background sky and at 45 seconds, its wingman (or wingwoman) zooms into view. The American version of two flying phoenixes!

 

Thanks to my good friend Patti Johnson of the Glacier Natl. Park Conservancy for shooting this for me!

I just pinned this video to the top of my Facebook product page:

 

https://www.facebook.com/Terry-Dunns-Tai-Chi-For-Health-236579434951/?fref=ts

Edited August 2, 2016 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

A week ago Saturday (July 23) I  proved to myself that FP Qigong practice cannot replace sleep by practicing one round the Long Form Standing Meditation (Vol.4) followed by 3 of the Advanced seated "Monk Serves Wine" Meditations after doing a powerful.   My normal sleep cycle was cut in half to four hours--from going to bed extremely late after an inspired late night writing session and then being woken up by construction workers next door starting at 8 am.  So not being able to resume sleep anywhere else in the house, I decided to go to my closest private meditation spot in the hills (about 10 min. away) and practice my most advanced Qigong.

 

I then practiced these four FP Meditations:

 

1.  FP Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation (Vol.4 Long Form Standing Meditatation) -- 9 min.

2.  80 70 50 20 - 2nd MSW meditation on Vol.7  (10 movements)

3.  70 50 20 10  - 3rd MSW meditation on Vol.7 (11 movements)

4.  60 70 40 10 - 4th MSW meditation on Vol. 7

5.  10 minutes of Quiet sitting

 

Afterwards I felt mildly rested, very relaxed, alert, and quiet within,  and quite energized in the brain, and mildly energized throughout the body, but not fully rejuvenated in the body.  I was still very tired physically--and wanting of sleep.

 

I then Instinctively practiced a full set of the Tao Tan Pai Five Dragons. the most advanced yoga in that system. After completing this yoga in 50 minutes,  I felt energized throughout body and mind to the extent that it felt like I had just slept an additional two hours. I then followed that with one round of the TTP Snake Form, which seemed to further raise my energy level to a slight degree.

 

I then completed a very full 10-hour day of work. 

 

I am most fortunate to have another completely different and complete Qigong system, Tao Tan Pai, to compare and contrast with Flying Phoenix.  Both arts are profound.  Both are vast.  Both work through very, very different yogic mechanisms, or "alchemy" if you will.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

 

^{www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html}

Edited August 2, 2016 by zen-bear

[tao stillness]

Very interesting experiment Sifu Terry. I have known the importance of a full night's sleep ever since I began doing meditation. Whenever I was fatigued from lack of sleep and then did my Transcendental Meditation session, it just went nowhere. Thus proving that the nervous system needs adequate sleep and rest to function properly. Sad to see this society marketing so many energy drinks to substitute for proper sleep. It is just not the amount of sleep we get that matters. Ayurveda, the oldest health care system on this planet, teaches that most healing and rejuvenation of the mind/body takes place when we get to sleep by 10pm. The sleep cycles need to coincide with the energy cycles of he universe. Same thing for eating. The most digestive fire is available when the sun is strongest from 12pm-2pm and that is when our largest meal should be consumed. When the sun sets there is very little digestive fire/energy left to properly digest food. So proper natural sleeping and eating habits should make a difference in our chi kung and meditation practices. So many different sources of TCM talk about just doing chi kung is not enough. They mention things like getting enough rest and eating pure food. At the recent strong urging of my medical clairvoyant I have made more of an effort to eliminate wheat, gluten, dairy and sugar even further from my diet. I would like to eat more organic foods to avoid adding toxins to my system but that would require an income higher than mine to be able to afford that. That says a lot about the state of consciousness of our society that pure foods cost so much more than foods that have toxins added to them. I wonder what those Taoist hermits living in the mountains of China eat? I was glad to recently learn that the Whole Foods store chain now buys some of their organic produce from the Transcendental Meditation organic produce farms located in Fairfield, Iowa. Their crops are grown according to the ancient ayurvedic farming principles. Now all we need is for the Whole Foods company to listen to all of those complaints about their high prices.

Edited August 2, 2016 by tao stillness

[cihan]

After stopping all other exercises and having done only Fpck since May 2016, minimum of 2 hours dayly, my body craves even afternoon naps, and something is webbing during sleep time in my brain, which I realized to have hindered its growth all this time by mixed practices. Sleep + regular Fpck practice without mixing with even other GMDW arts is a fast way to open up certain psychic centers is my current realization :-)

[tao stillness]

One man's meat is another man's poison.

Different strokes for different folks.

[zen-bear]

Last Wednesday, this was the order of my practice in the late afternoon between "shifts" of work (after getting a normal good night's sleep the night before):

1.  Wind Above the Clouds,

2.  Wind Through Treetops,

3.  Moonbeam Splashes on Water,

4.  FPHHCM - Long Form Standing Med. (Vol.4)

5.  Long Form seated Monk Serves Wine Meditation (coming soon via new DVD)

6.  Red Lotus Flying Phoenix Seated No.1 (unpublished)

7.  Advanced MSW with four movements  (20 40 90 10) - 7 rounds.

8.  10 minutes Quiet Sitting.

 

Total practice time:  1 hr. 25 min.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

 

www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Edited August 7, 2016 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

After stopping all other exercises and having done only Fpck since May 2016, minimum of 2 hours dayly, my body craves even afternoon naps, and something is webbing during sleep time in my brain, which I realized to have hindered its growth all this time by mixed practices. Sleep + regular Fpck practice without mixing with even other GMDW arts is a fast way to open up certain psychic centers is my current realization :-)

Hi Cihan,

 

Thank you for your input and your reflections on the greater benefits from regular FP Qigong practice without mixing in other practices combined with healthy sleep cycles.  As I've stated throughout this thread, the FP Qigong Meditations are are synergistic and their health benefits are cumulative with regular practice.  As I've stated many times, mixing in other meditative and Qigong practices will interrupt the synergism.  Thus I have strongly recommended that people practice solely FP Qigong for one year to two years and complete the training int he Basic Level (Vols. 1 through 5 and Vol.7)  before mixing in other practices.

 

Because I have so many arts to preserve and perfect that are underneath the Bok Fu Pai banner/umbrella, I have to always discipline myself to make my FP Qigong practice "pure" and not interspersed with other Bok Fu Pai Family practices such as 10,000 Buddhas Meditations (54 Meditations, each with a breathing formula), and the Eight Sections of Energy Combined Kung Fu system.  That is why you will notice from my postings that I usually do 3 or 4 standing FP Meditations and, whenever possible, combine that standing practice with at least 3 seated MSW meditations.  If I practice seated FP Meditations separately from the standing, it iwll always be 3 or more meditations done one after another.

 

The Long Form Seated Monk Serves Wine meditation (coming to DVD in about 9 mos. time) is directly related to and is a member of the immediate family of MSW meditations.  The Red Lotus FP Qigong, even though it bears the Flying Phoenix name, is an art that is "cousin" to the basic FP Qigong that I teach on the DVD series.

 

Even though I have proven to myself and medical clairvoyant Eric Isen has confirmed for "Joolian" and myself that Tao Tan Pai practice is highly compatible and has catalytic/accelerating effect on FP Qigong cultivation, the Tao Tan Pai art is best learned completely separately from FP Qigong.  For best results, especially if one is time-constrained, each art should be learned/established independently of the other art.

 

Again, thanks for sharing your process with us. 

 

Best regards,

 

Sifu Terry

 

 

www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html.

Edited August 4, 2016 by zen-bear

[Earl Grey]

I am a bit confused and seek clarity about mixing systems here: earlier in the thread, as I recall, what was meant was that one should not learn different systems concurrently with Flying Phoenix, but if the other systems are already well-established when learning FP or vice-versa, this is fine as well.  I interpret this to mean that I can continue to practice what I already learned and established as part of my daily regiment long before I began Flying Phoenix, as long as it is done separately during the day and not within the range of practice time during FP.

 

Sifu Terry, would you kindly help clarify for me please? 

Edited August 4, 2016 by Earl Grey

[zen-bear]

I am a bit confused and seek clarity about mixing systems here: earlier in the thread, as I recall, what was meant was that one should not learn different systems concurrently with Flying Phoenix, but if the other systems are already well-established when learning FP or vice-versa, this is fine as well.  I interpret this to mean that I can continue to practice what I already learned and established as part of my daily regiment long before I began Flying Phoenix, as long as it is done separately during the day and not within the range of practice time during FP.

 

Sifu Terry, would you kindly help clarify for me please? 

Hi Earl Grey,

 

You're not really confused at all.  What you just stated as your understanding is quite sound:

 

I interpret this to mean that I can continue to practice what I already learned and established as part of my daily regiment long before I began Flying Phoenix, as long as it is done separately during the day and not within the range of practice time during FP.

 

Yes, just continue with your already established practice and do you Flying Phoenix practice in a discreetly separate practice session.  If you've mastered another internal martial art or Qigong system, then you can practice FP Qigong or any other art and have the first at as a valuable frame of reference.

 

What I've stated in past postings is that one should not learn another Qigong art at the same time that one is learning FP Qigong.

Learn the FP Qigong system by itself if at all possible.

 

What I'm expressing agreement with Cihan above is that one should not practice another Qigong system concurrently with FP Qigong if one wants to maximize the effects of FP Qigong and master each meditation and understand the synergies between each Meditation and eventually master the system. For the first 2 full years of training under GM Doo Wai,  FP Qigong was the only Qigong that we practiced outside of kung fu forms..  Of course, his presence and higher level supervision accelerated the cultivation of the FP Healing energy.

 

I hope this clarifies.

 

Regards,

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html.

[tao stillness]

The Falu Dafa master used to teach that one should never practice two different qigong methods because each style of qigong creates a unique energy field for the person and that energy field would be corrupted by conflicting energy signals from  the different styles of qigong. He said that even if someone did not want to do Falun Dafa, they still should only do one qigong method.

I never was able to follow this warning because when I learned Falun Dafa I had to do Spring Forest Qigong while running a daily qigong group where I worked. Same situation when I did Flying Phoenix for 2 years.

[Jeff495Caldwell]

Hello.

 

 

Quick question.   

 

For Monk Serving Wine Exercise 2.   Is it ok if I go from the earth position to prayer position to initiate each movement.  Vs. putting my hands on my knees and going to prayer.   I prefer the flow of going from the earth position to prayer.  However, I will not change the mechanics of it, if it is essential to place the hands on the knees in that sequence.   

 

Thanks for the help. 

 

Jeff

[tao stillness]

Jeff, glad that you asked that question of Sifu Terry since it has larger implications.

The question is, is it ever wise to deviate from the exact mechanics of any qigong method that has a long lineage?

Is the sensing of qi what we are looking for, or is it the benefits that come with doing the movements in a prescribed, specific manner more important than how strongly we feel the qi?

I have heard some qigong teachers say that it is not important whether or not you are feeling qi, you will experience benefits anyway. And I have heard a few teachers say that if you are not feeling qi then you have not been taught well.

I prefer the way Sifu Terry has answered this question in the past.

Edited August 12, 2016 by tao stillness

[tao stillness]

Today I decided to dust off volume 7 of Flying Phoenix Chi Kung and do the meditation of 60-70-40-5.

This morning when I did it I did not feel much of anything from it. So I decided to try it tonight again. This time I did it in super, super slo-mo. As a result, I got that old sensation back of my hands pushing down and thru and cloud of magnetic repelling energy. With each repetion of the movement that sensation of chi felt thicker and thicker. No other chi kung method that I have tried gives that kind of thickness of chi. I am not sure why it created that strong chi sensation tonight but not in the morning session.

[Jeff495Caldwell]

Question of curiosity.  Hopefully it doesn't kill that cat.  I am fairly new to Flying Phoenix, still working on Volumes 1 + 2.   Benefits are through the roof.  Hands down the most effective practice I have done.  Very fun and unique experiences within the energy fields.

 

Anyway,  as I am new to this system and slowly integrating knowledge through the posts over time, I am curious about this website http://www.whitetigerkungfu.com/index.htm.   Is this the individual in which Terry has learned the Flying Phoenix system from?   

 

On his website he has a DVD set which he calls Doo Family Healing meditations which he says are better then Flying Phoenix.   

 

I guess what I am asking is, what am I looking at?  haha.  

 

Appreciate any feedback.

 

Thank you.

 

Jeff

[Jeff495Caldwell]

Hi Terry,

I have been working with the posts in the toa bums, gaining what I can from them.   

I was hoping I could gain your insight on using FP for healing work.   Is the energy of FP generally used with whatever modality a healer happens to be using?  Or does FP have a particular protocol or way of performing healing work?  I apologize if this has been answered.   I am slowly working my way through the posts.   

I am personally an energy healer.   I work in the physical therapy field, but also have studied Osteopathic Manual Therapy in Canada, Massage, I am a Board Certified Polarity Practitioner and I also have done acupressure.   With all of it I tend to creatively do my own thing.  Kind of like learning scales for a guitar, but eventually you remove the walls and get cracking with some real music!  Anyway, I also would like to know what is the best root when studying with yourself if my intention is that of a healer.   Would I stick with pure FP or mix in some of the other forms you teach?   Your feedback and time is appreciated.  As of right now, I intend to keep my focus on FP for a while until the wounded healer gets back to form

P.S.  I was doing monk gazing at the moon today for 30 minutes and I literally felt and saw black ooze draining from my head down my legs to the earth.  Wild effects from this practice.   

Thank you.

 

 

Hi Jeff,

 

Thanks for sharing your background in energy healing with me.
 

Here are answers to your questions:  

Is the energy of FP generally used with whatever modality a healer happens to be using?  
Yes in general.  FP Qigong healing energy can naturally be applied, dispensed through any healing with the hands modality--ranting from Tui Na acupressue to Swedish massage.  

But there is a big exception in that intermediate and advanced healing with Flying Phoenix healing energy does have a specific  and very sophisticated protocol in that it uses Bok Fu Pai family's herbal formulas in terms of linaments, poultices and other medicines.

Or does FP have a particular protocol or way of performing healing work? 

It all depends upon what level of FP Qigong cultivation one attains.  When one becomes proficient in the basic level of FP Qigong (as taught in the DVD series), and  at least higher levels of advanced FP Meditations, AND if those advanced levels have their normal effect, then the highly cultivated healing energy and elevated consciousness naturally makes one a most effective energy healer who transcends all methods.  I've described several times in the FPCK thread how the FP Healing Energy can almost spontaneously transfer on its own to heal another person in one's proximity for whom one has positive regard.  If you haven't reached that part in the thread, you'll get to it eventually.  And that quality of the FP Healing Energy makes it a spiritually transformative art.
 

There is no published Qigong, meditative or yoga system from any culture that has such an effect.

Anyway, I also would like to know what is the best root when studying with yourself if my intention is that of a healer.   Would I stick with pure FP or mix in some of the other forms you teach? 
 

Best route is to study as Cihan (in Turkey) has shared most recently is to learn the entire basic level FP Qigong (taught on Vols.1-5 and Vol.6) of the DVD series without doing any other qigong, yogic or meditative practice.  One can practice any Chinese martial art in addition to FP Qigong, although most ideal would be to practice Bok Fu Pai Kung Fu.  The goal is to practice FP Qigong intensively in its purity so as to experience its full effects without any interferences.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

[Jeff495Caldwell]

Hello.  Thought I would share some more information that Terry has provided me through correspondence.   

 

Me:  

Just did a set of Monk holding then peach for 40 mins tonight.  My mind wanted to quit several times.  I just listened to the silence and allowed myself to be still whilst the chaos and pain wisped around.   The energy grows quickly.  

 

 

Terry:
Excellent that you are practicing the basic standing FP Meditations like Monk Holds Peach for 40 min.
 

One must go through the silence and pain. All bodily sensations and mental formations resulting from those sensations and of the mind itself are "grist for the mill."  On the other side is no sensation and rapture has been long extinguished.  That's the threshold of what the Hindus and Indian Buddhists have mapped as the 4th jhanic state.
 

Since you have the ability to practice FP Qigong with the requisite focus and perserverance, I strongly recommend that you download from the web a .PDF copy of Daniel Goleman's "The Buddha on Meditation and Higher States of Consciousness," which is an invaluable roadmap to know exactly where you are on the path of evolving consciousness.
 

Besides the Goleman roadmap, these books are absolutely essential, required reading for all mys students:
 

1.  Secret of the Golden Flower - Wilhelm translation with foreword by Carl Jung.

2.  Tibetan Yoga & Secret Doctrines by W.Y. Evans Wentz.

3.  Tao Te Ching - Penguin classics translation is good.  Hendricks/Darthmouth translation is best imho.

 

if you continue to practice at this duration of focus and concentration, you will discover that each one of the "basic" meditations can cultivate the FP healing Energy to a level of miraculously healing efficacy.  And I am paraphrasing what GM Doo Wai said to me about just the basic level FP Meditations, which sets them far above any Qigong syste or yogic system that I have experienced or have observed.
 

Thanks for sharing.
 

Sifu Terry Dunn

[Jeff495Caldwell]

 

Hello to everyone.

 

Just wanted to share a milestone.  Big for me at least. Yesterday was the first day I did the three standing postures with pain at a minimal and the head quiet, relatively speaking.  Big thing was the ease and comfort of being in the posture.  The pain in the shoulders and arms and noise in the head has been well let's say, interesting .   Today was the first day in which the pain was so minimal that I could enjoy the posture and be more present.

 

For me it certainly meant the energy reached a high point were it was self sustaining.    Not sure how else to put it.  Anyway, I am very excited with that moment. 

 

Today, I also saw a spinning willing ball emanate from my lower dantien.   In front of my belly.  It was attached.   I heard that I was working now with reserve qi, which I believe means prenatal/kidney?

 

Anyway, the work is certainly fast.  Very enjoyable. 

 

Jeff

 

 

[zen-bear]

Hi Jeff,

 

That's a good question concerning the second MSW meditaiton on Volume 2 that I asked myself more than 20 years ago and also got an answer for by practicing:   While there's no harm in going straight from the last position of the meditation (earth meditation) to the first position of the meditation (sky meditation) instead of first bringing both palms to the knees, in doing so, you may be depriving yourself of this one extra "reset" position in between each "activation" cycle of the meditation.  Any complete meditation system will cultivate the focus of Yang (activation) and Yin (reset) and impart the experience of these two energetic phases.  By skipping the in-between hands-on-knees position, you are decreasing the amount of downtime (reset) between each active flow of the meditation's movements. 

 

There is no harm in doing this, especially if you spend a lot of time (i.e., several minutes) in the earth meditation position at the end of every round.

 

Let us know what happens as you continue to practice in this manner.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html.

Edited August 18, 2016 by zen-bear

[Frederic]

 

Hello to everyone.

 

Just wanted to share a milestone.  Big for me at least. Yesterday was the first day I did the three standing postures with pain at a minimal and the head quiet, relatively speaking.  Big thing was the ease and comfort of being in the posture.  The pain in the shoulders and arms and noise in the head has been well let's say, interesting .   Today was the first day in which the pain was so minimal that I could enjoy the posture and be more present.

 

For me it certainly meant the energy reached a high point were it was self sustaining.    Not sure how else to put it.  Anyway, I am very excited with that moment. 

 

Today, I also saw a spinning willing ball emanate from my lower dantien.   In front of my belly.  It was attached.   I heard that I was working now with reserve qi, which I believe means prenatal/kidney?

 

Anyway, the work is certainly fast.  Very enjoyable. 

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

Hi Jeff,

 

That is great! How did you get there? I am still struggling to get to the 10 minutes of say Monk Gazing, because of the tension in my shoulders and arms. I must say a wake up with tension in my shoulders (probably because of a bad pillow but I'm not sure) and I do my practice in the morning. 

 

On good days I get to about 9 minutes. But I'm still in my first month of Flying Phoenix and I never did zhan zhuang before this.

 

What is the best practice, slowly extend the time, or force through (at least to some extent)?

[Jeff495Caldwell]

Hi Jeff,

 

That is great! How did you get there? I am still struggling to get to the 10 minutes of say Monk Gazing, because of the tension in my shoulders and arms. I must say a wake up with tension in my shoulders (probably because of a bad pillow but I'm not sure) and I do my practice in the morning. 

 

On good days I get to about 9 minutes. But I'm still in my first month of Flying Phoenix and I never did zhan zhuang before this.

 

What is the best practice, slowly extend the time, or force through (at least to some extent)?

 

 

Hi Frederic,

 

Thanks for the question.  I can only answer you obviously based on my experiences and what I know.  Of the 3 postures, Monk Gazing is still the hardest.   I certainly have strong energy blocks in my head  How did I come to the point in which everything became more easier.   For me, I went back to what I know which is listening and building a relationship with myself in kindness and self respect.   The day I did 40 minutes with Monk Holding Peach was just that one day.   It's like I was testing new waters and creating a way of exploring with the work.   Since then, I have backed off of looking at the clock and allowed myself to to know that I am doing the right amount for me in the moment.   Which differs day by day right now.  I work very intuitively with my QiGong and Energy Healing Work.  I am also a medical intuitive, medium etc, so listening is a huge thing for me.   I also worked in pain management for years in a physical therapy setting.   Generally for a client to improve they had to respect were they are at.   Allow yourself to explore each and every fibre of your being within that moment.  Wether it be 5 minutes or 10 minutes.   Quality over Quantity.   As you are kind to yourself and building a strong relationship on what you know is an equal balance b/w easing into the work and testing new boundaries or states, you will naturally grow and evolve.    If I were you I would stop the focus on the time and focus on the feel.   The sense of how you feel whilst doing it.   If you have a lot of pain still, break up the movement into smaller chunks throughout the day.   Pacing is huge.   Again, each one of us has different experiences and different ways in which we come to the same space.   I specialize in chronic pain issues in my therapy and fundamentally people generally are to hard on themselves and programmed to push.    This hardened approach can get you there, however, there are different choices, personally I would rather be in ease and flow and allowing it to naturally happen.   So, I would not intentionally push through the pain, instead allow yourself to unfold and be present.   This moving through pain part will happen without effort or pain

 

That's my take.  Hope it helped.  

 

Jeff