Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[SeekerOfHealing]

The hurt you feeling is grinding up effect. You will feel very nice with time.

[ridingtheox]

I have viewed that knee  video and commented that it is nonsense ...  I have done the knee rotation exercise as demonstrated by Lam KamChuen  for over 30 years. I learned it when first studying TCC in Vancouver, BC.    It was part of my practice as i recovered from knee injury  (jumping out of pick up bed at age 71!!).   If done as shown by LKC  it is a basic positive exercise.

 

btw  i documented this in detail on youtube and my comments were erased ... Hmmmm

 

 StandStillBeFit  Zhan Zhuang 

[zen-bear]

Questions on Monk Holding the Peach

 

1. Should the knees be locked, or very gently loose and thus a little bend?

2. In what part of the foot should the weight fall?

 

Thank you.

 

I'm having some knee trouble, both in this exercise and when sitting in half lotus for long. So I'm doing some extra work on the knees.

 

I can report that practicing FP really has a great beneficial impact on my day! I feel more at ease & relaxed. Tensions in my shoulder are also becoming less.

 

Question on the Lower Dantian Standing meditation (50-40-30-20-10)

3. Is this one also usable in a sitting position? Or should I just do 50-10-50 then?

 

Thank you!

Hello Frederic,

 

First, I want to publicly thank Cihan, who offers very accurate answers to your questions...even explaining how the other basic standing FP Meditations (Monk Gazing At Moon, Monk Holding Pearl, and Bending the Bows) all work to enable one to do Monk Holding Peach more comfortable and with greater relaxation.

 

My answers to your questions:

1. Should the knees be locked, or very gently loose and thus a little bend?

 

A:   You keep the knees lock throughout the meditation. (You can from time to time, bend or flex them briefly to feel the difference between locked-knees and slightly unlocked knees [hint:  the vibratory state of the body changes dramatically when one unlocks the knees).

 

2. In what part of the foot should the weight fall?

 

A:  As a beginner, stand with weight evenly distributed over the entire foot.

If one is advanced in Tai Chi and internal arts, one can stand on the inner half of each foot, focussing on "the three nails" (as taught by Yang style Tai Chi Grandmaster William C.C. Chen), since that is the "activation" stance used to focus energy to the thumb and index finger through the heart space.  **btw, one knews that one is advanced when one does not feel the body at all when in the Monk Holding Peach posture.**

 

3.   As stated earlier in this long and sometimes dense thread (so you're excused for not having found it!):   Monk Holding Pearl (50 40 30 20 10) can be done in standing wuchi, seated half-lotus, seated chair, and supine positions.  The seated version of 50 40 30 20 10 is a completely separate FP Meditation than the 50 10 50 Meditation because each uses a different positioning of the hands.

 

Enjoy your practice.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

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

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

day  38 of planned 108 experiment.  currently  2x long form daily   morning and evening  standard and mirror image ... awesome ...

 

almost every day I do  teach  the long form TCC  to neighbors also in their 75 / 77  yr range.    Jimmy has to have a rotator cuff surgery (old injury),  the Doc was amazed at his flexibility during the pre-op examination,  J reported his TCC and the Doc was truly impressed.

 

thank you  Sifu ...

 

Hello Charlie,

Glad you're able to teach TCC Long Form to your neighbors.  And thank you for sharing the doctor's feedback to your neighbor/student Jimmy.

 

After you teach your friends to the point that the TC Long Form is well established, you can teach them the Flying Phoenix Long Form and they'll have good results just as you did.

 

You are most welcome.

 

Best,

 

Sifu Terry

 

P.S.  btw, speaking of Tai Chi:

 

I just got back from an intensive weekend retreat with GM William C.C. Chen up in Santa Cruz.  Always amazing and transformative experience.  In addition to 7 solid hours of Tai Chi form refinement, Form applications, and Push-hands on both days, I had the most intensive private lesson of my life, I believe--going over the applications of every posture in his 60-posture form and his TC Sword form--all in about 65 minutes.  And all this after arriving in that town at 3am in the morning after driving up from LA.  Then Sunday night after classes from 9:30 to 5pm, we had a special Long Form class with GM Chen.

 

Yesterday, upon returning to L.A., in the morning I did 3 slow rounds of the FP Long Form Standing Meditation (volume 4)--each practrice a little slower than the previous round.  I then realized that while I often do 2 rounds of the FP Long Form, I had not practiced 3 rounds in a row since a workshop I taught way back in the late 90's.   (The sharp clarity of mind that resulted from doing 3 rounds enhanced and reinforced the state of consciousness imparted by GM Chen's weekend workshop.) 

 

Then I decided to mix it up".  So I practiced the most advanced and powerful seated Nei Kung set in the Tao Tan Pai system, the 5 Dragons, which took 55 min.

 

This was followed by slow two rounds of Master Chen's 60-part Form.  Then two rounds of his straight sword form,

 

 

--and then one round of the Wudang Elixir Sword:  

 

That got the day started nicely.  :0)

Edited December 16, 2016 by zen-bear

[Vajra Fist]

I have a question on the FP long form. When you perform the cloud hands type movement, or during the brush knee push step or grasp sparrows tail movements (sorry for tai chi analogies), do you rotate the heel of back foot and toes of leading foot, as you do in the tai chi form, or do legs maintain parallel throughout?

[centertime]

Hi,

 

How can 

Flying Phoenix Chi Kung be compared to Awaken's method?

[SeekerOfHealing]

 

 

Hi,

 

How can  Flying Phoenix Chi Kung be compared to Awaken's method?

 

 

 

What is awaken Method?

[tao stillness]

Sifu Terry,

I have heard a rumor that in 2017 you will be releasing a dvd of the TTP 31. Any truth to this?

[zen-bear]

Hi, I want to ask about the breathing in Flying Phoenix.

 

Nan Huai-Jin taught that all qi-gong should be done with reverse-breathing into the lower dantian (abdomen inwards when breathing in), if not it causes weakness of the intestines and imbalances, leading to a big belly. May I know why we learn the opposite? (ie. breathing in expanding the abdomen.)

Hello Taoguy,

 

Sorry to take so long to respond to your post and question.  Fact of the matter is that I missed your post back in November and just now saw it.

 

No doubt that the late Nan Huai-Jin was a Buddhist luminary and great yogin.  His general statement is accurate as far as the world of Buddhist yogas go.  But it is an accurate general statement.

 

But the fact is that we are not doing the opposite of reverse breathing in Flying Phoenix Qigong.  If we were, we would simply doing natal breathing with no percentage exhalations alternating between full natal breathes.  (Natal beathing = natural breathing where lower belly expands on inhalation and contracts on exhalation, as seen in all newborns and infants).  Flying Phoenix Qigong's percentage breath formulas and especially the internal martial arts in the Ehrmei Mtn. Bok Fu Pai tradition) fully encompass reverse breathing--and to a very, very refined and sophisticated extent.  This will be thoroughly explained in my forthcoming book on FP Qigong.

 

First of all, "reverse breathing" is a very general pattern of breathing.  There are more nuanced definitions of reverse breathing than what you described in your post.  e.g., my Chen style Tai Chi teacher in the 1980's, Master John Fey, explained that reverse breathing is not the pure opposite of natal breathing.  But rather, reverse breathing in Chen Tai Chi is a pattern where after one has done natal breathing to its fullest and free-est extent, one holds the front abdominal wall still in its "normal" position.  If properly trained after a number of years of kung fu done with natal breathing, the result is that the internal energy instantly fills up all the organs just below the rib cage (my book will have more detailed description)  and then compresses upward into the upper extremities assuming one has proper stancework and well-developed shape-form (xing) of the body.  There are transitions in Chen Tai Chi forms, and also ancillary stepping and kicking drills in Chen Tai Chi and Qigong sets such as "Silk Weaver's Exercise" where the movements themselves condition the body to naturally do reverse breathing without having to think about it.

 

Similarly, some of FP Qigong's percentage breathing formulas and especially the Bok Fu Pai martial Nei Kung's percentage breathing formulas effect reverse breathing.  But we don't speak of "reverse breathing" because it isn't necessary.  The Flying Phoenix Qigong system is complete and self-explanatory through its correct practice as passed down through the ages through GM Doo Wai's family lineage.

 

Similarly, FP Qigong works with no mention or reference to acupuncture meridians and the model of health set forth by TCM.

That roadmap or set theory is not necessary for FP Qigong to be fully effective.

 

Similarly, the most advanced and most jealously guarded Martial Qigong in Bok Fu Pai also operate outside of meridian theory and the TCM model of health.  As I explained once on this thread a long time ago,  the most powerful and most subtle internal martial arts in the White Tiger tradition are based the position of the sun (and the moon).

 

Another example of how different martial & yogic traditions effect "reverse breathing":  

A.)   Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu forms (tiger, dragon, snake, crane, monkey) effect reverse breathing without thinking about it by virtue of their combinations and sequencing of postures.  There is a genius in the purity of these TTP forms.  As the late GM Share K. Lew said, "the Yoga is in the Forms."

 

B.)   Tao Tan Pai's first and most basic level of Nei Kung, the  31 Basic Exercises (TTP-31), collectively called "Cloud Hands" have numerous exercises that naturally effect reverse breathing without having to consciously think about doing reverse breathing. 

 

C.)   Except for the seated TTP-31 meditations that do NOT require breath retention but do require natural natal breathing, and exclusive of the standing TTP-31 Meditaitons that involve "clenching, contracting, and swallowing",  reverse breathing can be applied to all the TTP-31 exercises.

 

D.)   Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu's higher/highest Nei Kung exercises do not ever require one to consciously think of "reverse breathing".  That is because the TTP alchemic Yoga is cosmologically attuned so that all the internal orbs are in harmony with the macrocosm.  The advanced TTP Nei Kung exercises involve self-massaging very specific energy pathways of orbs associated with water, metal, earth, fire, and wood--IN THAT ORDER--and done in-sync with breath cycles, and they thereby maintain perfect balance of all organ systems of the body while trebling the body's energy level (at the very least) within the first 2 months of practice of each of them.

 

The fact is that there are many ancient Taoist, Buddhist, and syncretic Taoist-Buddhist yogic traditions that are vast and that are based on very different set theories and cosmologies.  Especially the Taoist arts.  Taoist internal arts indigenous to China that flourished for millenia at the 5 great Taoist centers (and others) are very different from Buddhist yogas that of course immigrated to China from India. 

 

Taoism works with four symbols = four mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations. They are the Azure Dragon (青龙; Qīng Lóng), of the East, the Vermilion Bird ( 朱雀; Zhū Què) of the South, the Black Turtle (玄武; Xuán Wū) of the North (Wudangshan, btw), and last but not least, the White Tiger (白虎; Baí Hǔ) of the West, which is the umbrella system under which Flying Phoenix Qigong sits. Each one of the symbols represents a direction and a season, and each has its own individual diety or patron saint. e.g., Xuan Wu or Zhen Wu is the perfected warrior, or dark warrior of Wudang Taoism. 

 

The 4 mythological creatures associated with constellations are synthesized into the 5 element system. The Azure Dragon of the East represents Wood, the Vermilion Bird of the South represents Fire, the White Tiger of the West represents Metal, and the Black Turtle (or Dark Warrior) of the North represents Water.  Hence its' symbol is a tortoise entertwined by a snake.  The fifth element of Earth is represented by the Yellow Dragon of the Center

 

So the diversity of alchemic methods and cosmologies underpinning the various Taoist schools under the four constellations  makes a general concept like "reverse breathing" meaningful in some perhaps many arts, but unmeaningful and unnecessary in other arts such as FP Qigong and most of the White Tiger Kung Fu arts.

 

I hope that answers your question.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

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

Edited December 19, 2016 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Not a rumor:

http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/12639-flying-phoenix-chi-kung/?p=717318

To Apeiron&Peiron and tao stillness, too:

 

I hope to begin production on TTP-31 training video sometime in 2017.  But I have an extremely busy seminar teaching schedule for this next year and don't know when the production will be completed and when a DVD or video-streaming product commercially available.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

[zen-bear]

Probably very different. Flying Phoenix and other Doo family systems use a type of alchemy that is activated with different breath percentages.

 

Likewise, this specific form of alchemy is fairly self-contained in that the breathwork and movements take care of the whole thing. The traditional alchemy uses and refines generative force and there is a lot more to keep track of.

 

Something similar was mentioned earlier and I had also inquired about it:

 

http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/12639-flying-phoenix-chi-kung/?p=711925

 

Tao tan pai is probably not exactly the same as what Awaken does. But it does seem to have more in common with traditional (and martial) alchemy.

 

Hi A&P,

Thanks for your good and accurate answer to Centertime's question. 

I, too, have not heard of the "Awaken" method or art.  So I obviously cannot compare.

 

But I did answer extensively a question about reverse breathing that was posted by "Taoguy" back on Nov.3 that I had missed back then and just saw and read tonight.

 

Thanks again for good discussion.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

[Astral_butterfly]

Ok so I have been awful at keeping up my practice but it is constantly on my mind and stresses me a bit (especially since my pain is creeping back). Financial year end has me on my computer at 5am...

 

This morning I had a lucid dream, in which I found myself spontaneously cupping my hands opposite each other at a "Monk gazing at the moon" distance. I was sitting. I noticed my hands were suspended in the air by themselves as if being nestled into the surrounding air. In the middle was a small white ball.

 

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

[zen-bear]

To FP Qigong practitioners & subscribers:

 

Finding Taoguy's post 6 weeks after he posted it and finally responding to it today is what is prompting this message:

 

My apologies if I have missed any of your postings.  I have had a hectic past 2 months with lots of travel and teaching on the road.  And have now returned to busy holiday seasonal obligations.  If I have missed anyone's postings and you have a hankering for an answer, just post it again or send me a PM with the post number on it...and I will get to it as soon as I can.

 

Happy Holidays.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited December 19, 2016 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

I have a question on the FP long form. When you perform the cloud hands type movement, or during the brush knee push step or grasp sparrows tail movements (sorry for tai chi analogies), do you rotate the heel of back foot and toes of leading foot, as you do in the tai chi form, or do legs maintain parallel throughout?

 

Hello Vajra Fist,

 

No problem with using Tai Chi names...makes it easier for me to know what you mean. 

 

ANSWER:  In general, no, do not pivot the feet when doing the "Push"-like or "Brush Knee"-like movements in the FP Standing Long Form as one does in Tai Chi form practice.  

And no, not parallel:   try to keep your feet slightly flared outward, which is the standard.  I have seen GM  Doo Wai over many years do the FP Long Form Standing and many other Flying Phoenix and Bok Fu Pai moving meditations in a fixed stance where he barely moves the position of the feet, when he performs those Tai Chi-like movements (press, push, brush-knee).

 

When moving meditations are done in fixed step, that is usually an advanced cultivation...opening the "Gua" even more to derive greater health benefits and martial prowess.  e.g., if you know or have seen Liu He Ba Fa, an advanced practice is to do the entire 510 posture Form in a fixed step.  (See Youtube vids. of Master Yun Yin Sen in Singapore;  I recall he does LHBF in fixed step). 

 

So all this is to say that the Flying Phoenix Long Form Standing Meditation (Volume 4) is indeed an advanced practice that can serve one throughout a lifetime.

 

Best Regards,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

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

 

 

 

[zen-bear]

Ok so I have been awful at keeping up my practice but it is constantly on my mind and stresses me a bit (especially since my pain is creeping back). Financial year end has me on my computer at 5am...

 

This morning I had a lucid dream, in which I found myself spontaneously cupping my hands opposite each other at a "Monk gazing at the moon" distance. I was sitting. I noticed my hands were suspended in the air by themselves as if being nestled into the surrounding air. In the middle was a small white ball.

 

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

 

Hi Astral Butterfly,

 

Nice lucid dream.  Beautful.  Congrats on finding your hands i your dream--whether you intended to and programmed yourself to do so beforehand.  But as you may or may not know, finding one's hands is the first hurdle exercise in developing and furthering lucid dreaming in both Chinese and Carlos Castaneda's reported Yaqui sorcery tradition.

 

A small white ball floating between cupped palms.   I have not seen that in my dreamstate.  But something similar and of different color a long time ago.  Nothing recently.

 

I think you'll find that when it comes to lucid dreaming, it's each to his/her own.  But here may be some universally seen features.

Recall that about 2 or 3 years ago, there were many, many reports all at once of FP practitioners seeing blue spheres in the waking state right after or during their FP Meditations.  Lucid dreamstate visions are typically different for each person--unless, of course, you meet another person's dream body in a planned rendezvous.  That, btw, is entirely possible and doable by two well-trained and advanced yogins. "Warriors" in Castaneda's parlance.

 

If you want to continue expanding your prowess in lucid dreaming:  Find your hands again in your dreamstate. Then once you see them, look down your wrists to your forearms, then progress to upper arms and front of chest.  Then down your chest to abdomen, then look down at your hips, legs and your feet.  Then see your feet and what you're standing on.  Then look farther around on whatever your standing on and then at the environment.  The point is to maintain lucidity throughout all your seeing.  Get the process?

 

Enjoy your lucid dreams and perhaps further explorations.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited December 27, 2016 by zen-bear

[Astral_butterfly]

Ok so I have been awful at keeping up my practice but it is constantly on my mind and stresses me a bit (especially since my pain is creeping back). Financial year end has me on my computer at 5am...

This morning I had a lucid dream, in which I found myself spontaneously cupping my hands opposite each other at a "Monk gazing at the moon" distance. I was sitting. I noticed my hands were suspended in the air by themselves as if being nestled into the surrounding air. In the middle was a small white ball.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

It was exhilarating because I could really feel the qi buzzing very strongly. I wanted to add that the FPCK energy stayed intact through 6 weeks of neglect (three weeks of holiday so four-year old constantly by my side then fixing up the backlog from my absence at work and hitting year-end). I was fine for all that time! It only waned in the seventh week.

[Astral_butterfly]

Hi Astral Butterfly,

 

Nice lucid dream.  Beautful.  Congrats on finding your hands i your dream--whether you intended to and programmed yourself to do so beforehand.  But as you may or may not know, finding one's hands is the first hurdle exercise in developing and furthering lucid dreaming in both Chinese and Carlos Castaneda's reported Yaqui sorcery tradition.

 

A small white ball floating between cupped palms.   I have not seen that in my dreamstate.  But something similar and of different color a long time ago.  Nothing recently.

 

I think you'll find that when it comes to lucid dreaming, it's each to his/her own.  But here may be some universally seen features.

Recall that about 2 or 3 years ago, there were many, many reports all at once of FP practitioners seeing blue spheres in the waking state right after or during their FP Meditations.  Lucid dreamstate visions are typically different for each person--unless, of course, you meet another person's dream body in a planned rendezvous.  That, btw, is entirely possible and doable by two well-trained "warriors".

 

If you want to continue expanding your prowess in lucid dreaming:  Find your hands again in your dreamstate.

Then once you see them, look down your wrists to your forearms, then progress to upper arms and front of chest.  Then down your chest to abdomen, then look down at your hips, legs and your feet.  Then see your feet and what you're standing on.  Then look farther around on whatever your standing on and then at the environment.  The point is to maintain lucidity throughout all your seeing.  Get the process?

 

Enjoy your lucid dreams and perhaps further explorations.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Thank you Sifu Terry. I had not planned this at all and am very lucky with vivid dreams as well as projection, it is so clear and real that this morning was the first time I really knew I was dreaming. Before I was only lucid in projections, not in dreams.

 

As concerns dreamwalking, I did it as a toddler but never tried as an adult. My mentor is deceased! But I am looking forward to one day trying again

 

All my best for the holiday season

 

AB

[tao stillness]

Sifu Terry,

You mentioned your seminar schedule for 2017. If this includes traveling to do workshops, would you mind posting on here where these seminars will be held so that if they are in our area, we would have the opportunity to join a workshop?

Also, if you are scheduled to be on the East Coast, you might want to consider contacting Ruscombe Mansion in Baltimore to see if you could then swing down here for a workshop. Ruscombe Mansion is the energy cultivation center of Baltimore which has been in existence for at least 30 years giving workshops.

Edited December 19, 2016 by tao stillness

[Vajra Fist]

Very cool, thanks for your message. If you plan a UK seminar any time down the road I'd definitely be interested.

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry,

You mentioned your seminar schedule for 2017. If this includes traveling to do workshops, would you mind posting on here where these seminars will be held so that if they are in our area, we would have the opportunity to join a workshop?

Also, if you are scheduled to be on the East Coast, you might want to consider contacting Ruscombe Mansion in Baltimore to see if you could then swing down here for a workshop. Ruscombe Mansion is the energy cultivation center of Baltimore which has been in existence for at least 30 years giving workshops.

Hi Steve,

 

I'm in the process of setting up part of my workshop schedule for 2017.  One of the locations that will be hosting 3 of my FP Qigong workshops (or Flying Phoenix in combination with some Tao Tan Pai) is Eastover Estate in Stockbridge, MA in the Berkshires.

 

Thank you for suggesting that I look into doing something at the Ruscombe Mansion in Baltimore.  I have not heard of it before.  I will definitely contact them.

 

As soon as I have solid confirmed dates, I will post them on this thread as a matter of course.

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Sifu Terry

[tao stillness]

Have Tao, will Travel

 

If you know what this is a take off from, then you must be pretty old.

As a kid I watched Have Gun, Will Travel on TV but it was not until I was in graduate school that I learned that the actor, Richard Boone, during the episodes was quoting Schopenhauer philosophy at times before he would do his quick draw. Sort of a forerunner to the Kung Fu TV series that emerged about 15 years later reflecting the jump in consciousness from the 1950s to the 1970s, but still, the ever present theme of good versus evil.

 

So well wishes for Sifu Terry's ventures to share the Tao...

Edited December 22, 2016 by tao stillness

[Jeff495Caldwell]

Hello to everyone,

 

Just posting a Q&A I had with Terry.   It helped clarify some questions concerning Skype lessons.   Hope it helps.

 

 

Hello Jeff,

To learn the Advanced Flying Phoenix levels, one has to first demonstrate proficiency in the "basic" (not so basic) FP Qigong system as taught in the DVD series through Volume 7...and especially the FP Long Form Standing Meditation as taught on Volume 4.  Good mastery of this exercise is essential because Advanced FP Qigong builds upon the basic level's qi development and yet cultivates a totally different energy that is not exclusively a healing energy.

If Skyping, may I video tape the lesson.
Yes.  Once a student starts learning the Advanced FP system, he or she may video tape the skype screen from his/her end with the written stipulation that they will not post any recordings on the internet with my expressed consent.  Similarly with my advanced students in L.A. who are learning the Tao Tan Pai system, I allow them, or I make for them private recordings of the TTP Kung Fu forms, and advanced TTP Nei Kung--with stipulation that they are not to go on the internet.

With regards to learning and perfecting the basic FP Qigong taught on the dvd series, next year, I will produce a new series of demonstration videos for Youtube and other internet platforms that will show my present level of practice of this material.  The new series of demo videos will complement the DVD series quite nicely and offer a entirely new level of nuance in terms of energetics and body dynamics.

How much can be covered in an hour for the Advanced work?

It all depends on your level of proficiency in the basic FP level and also your experience in internal arts.  typically, it takes an hour-long lesson to learn the first Adv. FP Form.  The fifth one can be learned in about 1/2 hour.  The 9th (Last one) is complex-about as complex as Vol.4 Long Form Standing Med.--and will take up to 2 hours or more to learn if one has good muscle memory.  The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th Adv. FP Meds. Are short and simple. The 6th, 7th, 9th and first are most complex.  

Again,it depends on one's experience in Chinese internal arts.  For all of them require Tai Chi-like total body relaxation and body mechanics based on energy--not muscle and bone.

 

Hope this adequately answers your questions.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

[ridingtheox]

day  53   doing some  back to back  mirror  normal  form  also  performing mirror while watching Sifu Dunn youtube videos of the long form.  

 

getting good physical pheed back  (heh heh)

 

found this on youtube  has what I think is thoughtful 'western' science interpretation of broad qi gong exercise value which i interpret by comparison to western work out ...  hmm  not well expressed but take a look at the link anyhow:

 

[zen-bear]

Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah and Yule celebration to all FP practitioners.

 

I wanted to share this experience from last Tuesday: 

Monday was a particularly busy, work-filled day and evening which kept me up very late.  As a result,  because I had to get up for an early morning meeting, I only got 3.5 hours of sleep. By 10am I was dragging and feeling the fatigue and mental slowness from sleep deprivation.  (The mercury retrograde doesn't help much, either.)  Fortunately, I knew I could take the afternoon off, so I practiced the two most sleep-inducing FP seated meditations--the 50 20 10 Meditation from Volume 7 and the second Monk Serves Wine Meditation on Volume Two --50 40 30 10--the 5th exercise on the program, counting the warm-ups.)  I did full sets of 7 repetitions of both meditations very slowly and very relaxed. (Easy to do when one is tired; the movement patterns were automatic after 25 uyears of practioce.)   I always sleep well but this time, I slept a very deeply for a solid 5 hours, remembering no dreams.  When I awoke, I felt the FP Healing Energy in blissful "saturation"--what felt like total permeation of every cell in my body. 

 

Wanting build on this saturated state, I spent 2 hours in the late afternoon practicing the entire basic level of the Flying Phoenix Qigong system up through "Moonbeam Splashes on Water":

 

1.  Monk Gazing At Moon -- 10 min.

2.  Monk Holding Peach -- 10 min.

3.  Monk Holding Pearl (seated) -- 5 min.

4.  Bending the Bows -- 20+ rounds slowly -- 30 min.  (Yes, you can do more than 18 rounds of BTB)

5.  Wind Through Treetops -- 20 min.:  two times, the second time slower than the first.  (on the second round, I believe that I finally actually cracked the speed-of-a-shifting-sand-dune time barrier!)

[then I took a break of 5 minutes to chase down my beagle who wandered away as usual in the park.  I felt that I was walking on air]

6.  Wind Above the Clouds -- two rounds, second one slower than the first.  15 min. total

7.  Moonbeam Splashes on Water--2 rounds.  20 min.

 

Then approx.  5.5 hours later, I practiced two rounds of the Long Form Standing Meditation (Vol.4) very slowly.

 

I cannot begin to convey in words how blissful a state I was in during the practice and more so afterwards. One cannot believe how it good it feels to be a living human being for the FP Healing Energy sllk  My friend,  Prof. Frederick Underwood, former chairman of Indo-Tibetan Studies in the Dept. of Religion at Columbia University (Bob Thurman's predecessor) perhaps put it best in a letter he sent to me after a 1997 workshop in Minneapolis, saying that the Flying Phoenix Qigong taught him what the early Buddhist scriptures meant when they referred to:

 

                                                 "Touching nirvana with the body."

 

The highly energized yet sublime, "soothed out" state of bliss lasted through the rest of the day and evening and was only deepened and intensified by the two rounds of the FP Long Form about 5 hours later, and continued through this week and weekend--even though the next day I practiced just one FP meditation, in favor of  8 Sections Combined, and Thursday and Friday I practiced Tai Chi exclusively.  Then this morning, during my regular Tai Chi class (yes, we had class on Christmas Eve!), I decided to spend the first hour leading everyone in long meditations using the FP Standing Exercises in Volume One and then Wind Above the Clouds from Vol.3.  No Wind through the Treetops (no time).  During my practice with the class, I felt Tuesday's level of FP energy about after about one minute of Monk GAzing At Moon.

 

ENJOY YOUR FP PRACTICE OVER THE HOLIDAYS!!   And may you all touch nirvana with your bodies and truly find your bliss. 

 

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

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Edited December 24, 2016 by zen-bear

[SeekerOfHealing]

The funniest thing about this that the effect takes sometimes 1-2 days to take.