Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[Aeran]

9 hours ago, zen-bear said:

Hi Aeran,

 

Earl Grey has provided the correct answer.  I have been doing it the same way since I learned the meditation.

 

After you bring the hands up the centerline with back of the hands touching and turn the palms clasped in the final position in front of the heart, you want to end and demarcate that exercise by floating the palms down to the knees.  When Grandmaster Doo Wai taught this too me (and I just checked the video of his demo in 1991), the last movement of floating the palms down to the knees is just as focussed and at the same speed as all the preceding movements.  

 

Then to start the next round of the meditation, bring the palms back up to the centerline and at heart-level.

 

**Also, I will give a nuanced teaching for this particular meditation, "the Sleeper" (50 20 10) so as to encourage all serious FP practitioners to try to attend my workshops at Eastover:

 

A)   This meditation starts with the palms in front of the heart.

 

B )  When one brings the palms up the centerline with back of the hands touching and turn the palms clasped in "prayer" position, you actually bring the fingertips up to the third eye (brow chakra) for a split second, and then slowly lower the palms back down to the heart level.

 

See what that does for you.

 

You are all very welcome!!

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

http://www.eastover.com/terence-dunn-2.html  

 

 

 

Thanks Sifu (and Earl!), good to know I've got it down properly going forward. Insomnia has been a bit of a long term issue for me, so I'm hoping daily practice of MSW3 & MSW4 in the morning and evening respectively will help me make some progress on that front.

 

And thanks for the tip on raising the hands up to the brow center - just out of curiosity I think I'll spend another week or so doing it the way you practice it on the DVD to make sure I've got a feel for the meditation, then integrate this extra movement, it should be a cool experiment to see if I can spot the difference between the two. I'll report back in the thread and let you guys know the results.

 

Cheers

 

 

[taoguy]

9 hours ago, zen-bear said:

Yes, you've experienced what practically every serious meditator who tries FP Qigong--especially the seated MSW meditations--discovers:  that quiet sitting (emptiness) is so much more easier and so much more comfortable and enjoyable than doing it before having experienced the FP Qigong integrative and energizing effects.

 

Thank you Sifu Terry. I can absolutely see this, I just did quiet sitting right after some short FPQG practice yesterday again and the energizing effect seems to be on a different level. Today I woke up after just 5 hours of sleep feeling extremely refreshed but I am unsure whether to attribute it to this practice, so I will just continue doing this to see what happens. I was literally unable to go back to sleep after waking up, this has never really happened before because I normally have massive sleep debt from working long hours. Also, my energy levels seem to be high even late in the afternoon as I type this.

 

Yesterday when meditating, I was able to slip into a state of non-duality where there was no content or perceiver. It was intermittent, slipping in and out of the state and I hope I can stabilize that soon. It's a little astonishing how the FPQG enables this so easily, and all I did was basic zuo-wang meditation.

 

Also hopefully I can extend my timings for the forms by going deeper into stillness.

Edited September 25, 2017 by taoguy

[Aeran]

I tend to do my quiet sitting practice first thing in the morning, just after getting out of bed, and I find it seems to give a strong "second wind" type effect to the energy built up from the previous day's practice. Just doing basic quiet sitting, calming the mind, relaxing the body and regulating the breath, seems to enhance and prolong the circulation of the FP Qi from whichever practices I was working on the day before.

 

I can't say with absolute certainty that FP has enhanced the effects of my quiet sitting, since I took a break from both practices for so long up until this year (although I suspect that it has - certainly my quiet sitting practice has progressed further than before), but the quiet sitting certainly seems to enhance the FP practice and extend it's effects, as well as those of any other Qigong I did the day before.

 

On a side note, I'm curious if anyone else has practiced MSW1 before sleep and noticed any effect on their dreaming? I've been finding that it induces a very strange state of consciousness when I sleep directly after the practice - not quite lucid dreaming, which would entail awareness off and control over the events of the dream, but more like an "observer effect," where a part of my mind is sitting back from the dream and observing it as you would a movie, while otherwise just sitting and thinking about regular things. It's quite surreal, but not unpleasant. Definitely makes me wonder about the potential for deeper states of consciousness with continued practice of the MSW meditations.

[Earl Grey]

16 hours ago, Aeran said:

I tend to do my quiet sitting practice first thing in the morning, just after getting out of bed, and I find it seems to give a strong "second wind" type effect to the energy built up from the previous day's practice. Just doing basic quiet sitting, calming the mind, relaxing the body and regulating the breath, seems to enhance and prolong the circulation of the FP Qi from whichever practices I was working on the day before.

 

I can't say with absolute certainty that FP has enhanced the effects of my quiet sitting, since I took a break from both practices for so long up until this year (although I suspect that it has - certainly my quiet sitting practice has progressed further than before), but the quiet sitting certainly seems to enhance the FP practice and extend it's effects, as well as those of any other Qigong I did the day before.

 

On a side note, I'm curious if anyone else has practiced MSW1 before sleep and noticed any effect on their dreaming? I've been finding that it induces a very strange state of consciousness when I sleep directly after the practice - not quite lucid dreaming, which would entail awareness off and control over the events of the dream, but more like an "observer effect," where a part of my mind is sitting back from the dream and observing it as you would a movie, while otherwise just sitting and thinking about regular things. It's quite surreal, but not unpleasant. Definitely makes me wonder about the potential for deeper states of consciousness with continued practice of the MSW meditations.

 

MSW meditations definitely impact my quality of sleep and dreams. Sometimes I feel like I'm plunging into a different world and this is the dream itself when I awaken. 

[Vajra Fist]

Yes, I get extremely vivid dreams after evening practice. It's actually reignited my interest in lucid dreaming.

 

I have also seen a deepening in my daily mindfulness meditation. Similarly, my other practices enhance the FP energy, particularly the medicine buddha mantra, which Eric Isen said in a recent reading would have a synergistic healing effect with FP for me.  

[zen-bear]

On 8/28/2017 at 5:32 PM, BluePhoenix133 said:

Im not even joking i was looking into the spiritual meaning of the color purple only an hour before reading the last two pages of this thread. Been thinking about the color for the last couple of days, one of the songs i listen to has lyrics that go something like... 

''I've come down from the violent skies to save the day
I'm about to reveal the tales of your life
Too many secrets are locked inside your minds
But you're all equal in life, equal in love...''

Still i dont see how useful these synchronicities are, i mean what do i do about it? Its probably just a pointless coincidence no?

 

Hi BluePHoenix133,

 

I am very late with this:  Thank you for posting this.

 

It is one of the most beautiful and powerful expressions of Cosmic Compassionate Healing Love I've heard since the 70's.   It is on par in terms of its essence--but is far more elegant--in comparison with this bottomed-out insight that always follows the effective completion of Primal Therapy with Arthur Janov--or an equivalent coming to consciousness:  

 

                               "Cosmic Love is totally ruthless and highly indifferent."  

                               (i.e., IT will make you REAL whether like it or not.)

 

                             "I've come down from the violent skies to save the day
                              I'm about to reveal the tales of your life
                              Too many secrets are locked inside your minds
                              But you're all equal in life, equal in love...''
 

Once one meditates enough in any yogic system, and has sufficiently cleaned one's doors of perception, so that one can see, one realizes this very simple fact:

 

                                                  There are no secrets.

 

And then you know the full meaning of Jackson Browne's classic 70's song, "Doctor My Eyes."

 

Thank you again, BP.

Heal on, everybody.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

http://www.eastover.com/terence-dunn-2.html  

 

 

Edited September 29, 2017 by zen-bear

[cihan]

This forum is really turning a fruitfull bend of its path nowadays. Thank you all for your comments and Sifu Terry for extra gold nugget on that 50 20 10 MSW med.

Just would like to add that Waker upper MSW and sleeper MSW did not effect my sleeping routine as their names suggested. May be I had not congestions on nadis that work on sleep mechanisms, I don't know. What I understand is, healing occurs when individual cells replicate as they are intended by design and not obstructed, and most of the renewing process occur while the organism sleeps. FPCK meds flood the body with chi which encourages natural cell renewing proess as well, and after the meds the body needs rest and sleep . ALL of FPCK meds make me feel needing rest afterwards. Please give Monk Holding Pearl  meditation a chance while you are lying down. It is a good teacher and helper to me when sleep is closing, works surprisingly on upper body, and makes  sleep rather interesting.

 

Edited September 29, 2017 by cihan

[Earl Grey]

15 minutes ago, cihan said:

This forum is really turning a fruitfull bend of its path nowadays. Thank you all for your comments and Sifu Terry for extra gold nugget on that 50 20 10 MSW med.

Just would like to add that Waker upper MSW and sleeper MSW did not effect my sleeping routine as their names suggested. May be I had not congestions on nadis that work on sleep mechanisms, I don't know. What I understand is, healing occurs when individual cells replicate as they are intended by design and not obstructed, and most of the renewing process occur while the organism sleeps. FPCK meds flood the body with chi which encourages natural cell renewing proess as well, and after the meds the body needs rest and sleep . ALL of FPCK meds make me feel needing rest afterwards. Please give Monk Holding Pearl  meditation a chance while you are lying down. It is a good teacher and helper to me when sleep is closing, works surprisingly on upper body, and makes  sleep rather interesting.

 

 

This is absolutely true; I've entered lucid dreaming states to the point that I could close if I wanted to and still remain in the dream, or close and then go into deep sleep devoid of dreaming too. 

[zen-bear]

On 9/15/2017 at 5:58 PM, DSCB57 said:

OK, having heard what ridingtheox has kindly shared with me in his reply on the subject, I would now like to open the question up to anyone else who would care to answer:

 

Have any of those currently learning/practicing the Volume 4 long form meditation reached a point at which they find it impossible to maintain the same very slow pace in specific parts of the form? If so, what strategies are you using to surmount these temporary difficulties? 

Sifu Terry: Do you advocate speeding up the rest of the form until the difficult parts can be performed at the same pace when the entire form is slowed down, or is it preferable to practice the part which presents difficulties in isolation from the rest of the form, and would you advise doing so with the eyes open until sufficient strength, stamina, equilibrium and confidence are acquired? 

Given that the section of the form with which I am experiencing the most difficulty seems to be caused by trying to maintain balance while standing on one leg (Crane stance) at such a slow pace, keeping the eyes shut, what strategy do you recommend to enable one to overcome this difficulty and move smoothly through the entire form?

Is it perhaps a better idea to narrow the stance further in the previous movement, in order to make it easier to come up into the cat stance?

 

A further more technical question:

In the penultimate movement of the form:

Currently I believe that the now refined Qi is condensed between the two hands, then as the left-hand crosses over the right and forms the Earth mudra over the LDT the process is completed. However I am unclear whether one needs to swallow the saliva in three gulps beforehand, as in other Neigong systems, and if so, precisely at which point in that series of movements? Or am I mistaken, and the saliva should only be swallowed at the very end of the form, before the third and final exhalation?

 

Hi ridingtheox. I confess I am hesitant to ask anything further on this thread, given that my questions from months ago addressed to Sifu Dunn still remain unanswered, and I was therefore made to feel and look like a complete charlatan (not to mention loss of face in MA terms) for my claims regarding the pace at which I perform the moving meditations...hence my absence from the thread over the past few months. BTW, those who take the time and trouble to get to know me know that I do not intentionally lie, although I have on occasion been given to exaggeration, and for what it's worth, I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, rather than simply ignoring and alienating them as members of this forum have done with me...

 

However, that aside, I have reached a plateau in my training, and seeing as you say you have reached the stage of being able to perform the Volume 4 long form at the pace of shifting sand dunes (kudos to you for that!) I would like to specifically address some questions to you personally if I may, although I would also welcome advice from anyone else whose practice approaches that level. 

I learned the long form from the videos posted to Youtube, but I am having difficulty with some of the movements, specifically when attempting to perform them at the same pace as the rest of the form, which is to say at the speed of a shifting sand dune.

The most difficult movement for me is the series of movements which begin in cat stance, raising the left leg in crane stance with snake hands then blocking downward with the left hand and striking forward with a palm strike, presumably to the chest. 

So my questions are:

1. How did you go about practicing this series of movements in order to achieve the same pace as the rest of the movements of the form? 

2. Is it better to perform the entire form at the pace at which you are able to manage the movements with which you are experiencing difficulty, or just persevere until the pace of those movements can keep up with the pace of the rest of the form?

I feel sure that my difficulties arise from maintaining balance while the eyes are shut at this point in the form, as I have no difficulty achieving the required pace with my eyes open. So how do you suggest overcoming this particular hurdle?

3. Another movement I find difficult to perform at that pace is the section in which you bend down and grasp the earth Qi and raise it to chest level. I find that I simply do not have the physical strength to perform this movement at the same pace as the rest of the form without shaking, despite the fact that this does not occur in performing Bending the bows, however slowly I do the form. I imagine that eventually practicing Bending the bows will provide the necessary strength and stamina?

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the trouble to read this and reply.

DSCB57,

 

It's taken me much longer to reply to your post than perhaps any other reply I've written on this forum because this is the first time I such questions have ever been posted in the 8 years of this thread.  Thus with every question that you posted, I had to figure out  how or where you came to each premise for each question, which is extremely time-consuming and mentally taxing.

 

After I started answering the first 4-5 question in the order that you had posted them, I remembered your statement that you were learning the capstone meditation of the FP Qigong system, called "Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation" --aka, "Long Form Standing Meditation"-- from my Youtube videos and, I presume, not from the Volume 4 Chi Kung For Health DVD.  So i scrapped them and started over.

So the first strategy to make your practice easier is to purchase the Volume 4 DVD and to practice to it, learning each section of the meditation slowly.  The instruction is slow, detailed, and systematic.  And you will learn the Long Form correctly.

 

Another important "strategy" is to go back and practice all the FP meditations on Volumes 1 and 2 of the CKFH DVD series and once you are totally knowledgeable of the specific energizing effects of each meditation, then proceed to Volume 3 and learn "Wind Through Treetops" and "Moonbeam Splashes on Water."  By the time you have become proficient in "Bending the Bows", "Wind Above the Clouds," "Wind Through Treetops", and "Moonbeam Splashes on Water", then you should have no problem with any part of  Volume 4's Long Form meditation..  Once you have all of the FP system taught in Volumes 1 thru 3 under you belt, you won't have any problem whatsoever doing the entire Long Form Standing Meditation at a slowest even speed.  I've taught this system long enough to know this.  In fact, I have several students that I teach by Skype who are improving their Long Form Standing practice by working harder and perfecting their practice of "Moonbeam Splashes on Water."

 

Again, I DID NOT design the FP Qigong system to work this way.  That is just how it works--as created by Feng Dao Deh.

 

I will now reiterate this advice as part of each answer to the questions that you posted:

 

First, you general question to the forum at large:

Have any of those currently learning/practicing the Volume 4 long form meditation reached a point at which they find it impossible to maintain the same very slow pace in specific parts of the form? If so, what strategies are you using to surmount these temporary difficulties? 

Doing the Long Form Standing and a constant slow speed CANNOT  be "impossible" if you have conditioned yourself internally by practicing the preceding exercises in the FP Qigong system slowly as they are presented on the DVD series.  The exception, of course, is  if you have a neurological disorder.

 

Sifu Terry: Do you advocate speeding up the rest of the form until the difficult parts can be performed at the same pace when the entire form is slowed down,

NO.  Practice the form at the slowest speed possible as you improve upon the "rough parts".  

or is it preferable to practice the part which presents difficulties in isolation from the rest of the form, and would you advise doing so with the eyes open until sufficient strength, stamina, equilibrium and confidence are acquired? 

Yes, isolate the parts of the form that you have difficulty with over and practice the repeatedly and separately (without the breath control).   Yes, do the difficult movements with eyes open unti you can do them with eyes closed. Then put them back into the form practice done with eyes closed.  

 

Given that the section of the form with which I am experiencing the most difficulty seems to be caused by trying to maintain balance while standing on one leg (Crane stance) at such a slow pace, keeping the eyes shut, what strategy do you recommend to enable one to overcome this difficulty and move smoothly through the entire form?

Same as above.  Isolate the parts of the form that you have difficulty with over and practice the repeatedly and separately (without the breath control).  Then put them back into the form practice.

 

Is it perhaps a better idea to narrow the stance further in the previous movement, in order to make it easier to come up into the cat stance?  Yes, you can bring the left foot in close to teh supporting right foot before you lift the left knee to the crane stance.  Many people do that naturally.

 

The most difficult movement for me is the series of movements which begin in cat stance, raising the left leg in crane stance with snake hands then blocking downward with the left hand and striking forward with a palm strike, presumably to the chest. 

So my questions are:

1. How did you go about practicing this series of movements in order to achieve the same pace as the rest of the movements of the form? 

I never had trouble doing any of the movements in the entire the Long Form Standing Med. at the slow speed that I desired.  That is because I had 16 years of extensive Kung Fu (So. Shaolin 5 Animals, Tao Tan Pai, some Yau Kang Mun),  Tai Chi Chuan, Liu He Ba Fa,  the complete Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung system, and Tai Chi Ruler prior to starting FP Qigong.   And I also learned all the preceding FP Qigong meditations prior to the Long Form--in the order that GM Doo Wai had taught them to me, which is the order in which I presented them on the DVD series.  So I started out able to do all the movements in all of the FP moving meditations at a uniform, constant speed. Over the past 26 years, I gradually became able to do the Form slower and slower and slower.

 

2. Is it better to perform the entire form at the pace at which you are able to manage the movements with which you are experiencing difficulty, or just persevere until the pace of those movements can keep up with the pace of the rest of the form?

I feel sure that my difficulties arise from maintaining balance while the eyes are shut at this point in the form, as I have no difficulty achieving the required pace with my eyes open. So how do you suggest overcoming this particular hurdle?

Same answer:  do with eyes open until you are stable at slowest speed.  Then do with eyes closed.

 

3. Another movement I find difficult to perform at that pace is the section in which you bend down and grasp the earth Qi and raise it to chest level. I find that I simply do not have the physical strength to perform this movement at the same pace as the rest of the form without shaking, despite the fact that this does not occur in performing Bending the bows, however slowly I do the form. I imagine that eventually practicing Bending the bows will provide the necessary strength and stamina?

Keep doing it until overcome the weakness and the shakings.  And yes, practicing Bending the Bows will provide strength and stability to enable one to do the other FP movements.  

 

--Or , because you say that you simply don't have the physical strength to do this movement, don't do it at all if you find it disconcerting. Instead, go back and practice the preceding Volume 3 moving meditations to strengthen yourself.  Then come back to the Long Form Med. later.

 

grasp the earth Qi :   btw, there is no part of the Vol.4 Long for Meditation where you visualize "grasping the earth Qi."  There is no such visualization in the Long Form Meditation nor is any type of visualization necessary in the entire FP Qigong System--with the tiny exception of one or two of the seated MSW meditations. Empty yourself of this "grasping the earth Qi" imagining if you want the full benefits of FP Qigong.

 

Finally:

In the penultimate movement of the form:

Currently I believe that the now refined Qi is condensed between the two hands, then as the left-hand crosses over the right and forms the Earth mudra over the LDT the process is completed.

I don't know what you are talking about here.  What do you mean by the "penultimate movement of the form"???  

 

"as the left-hand crosses over the right and forms the Earth mudra over the LDT the process is completed."

The "process"--if you mean Flying PHoenix cultivation-- is certainly NOT completed when "the Earth mudra is formed of the lower tan tien."  There are two movements of the arms after the hands come to the tan tien.  And even after the arms are lowered in the final movement, the FP Qi cultivation process is still not completed.

 

••> Can anyone out there help out and state when the FP Qi cultivation process is completed in the Long Form Meditation?

 

Flying Phoenix Qigong cultivation has absolutely nothing to do with "belief".

As Werner Erhardt repeatedly taught and demonstrated in his EST seminars in the 70's and 80's:  "we believe in most what we know the least."

 

And the "refined Qi" that you say is "condensed between the two hands" -- is something you have carried over from some other Qigong practice or literature, or, as you say, something you BELIEVE IN.

 

However I am unclear whether one needs to swallow the saliva in three gulps beforehand, as in other Neigong systems, and if so, precisely at which point in that series of movements? Or am I mistaken, and the saliva should only be swallowed at the very end of the form, before the third and final exhalation?

The swallowing of saliva is not in part related to this level of FP Qigong practice.  It is totally irrelevant.  So you can swallow saliva at any point that you care to.

 

If you wish to learn FP Qigong properly, my suggestion is that you follow the DVD instruction carefully and attend one of my workshops in Lenox, MA for corrections.   But whatever you do, first empty your cup of extraneous  beliefs and irrelevant ideas garnered from other systems.  FP Qigong is a very simple practice.  

 

As this very astute and gifted practitioner put it in his review of the DVDs back in 2007:

"This is a great practice for body, mind and spirit.  It is holy;  it is healthful;  it is scientific.  Yet, there are no words. Just do the movements, memorize the movements, do the breathing exercises before. Do not argue, do not think. Just do, and you will see results. How did the ancient Chinese discover this?"

                                                                                          — Four Tusk Njoku "Njoku" (Philadelphia, USA) May 11, 2007

 

Please keep it simple and follow the Nike advertising slogan:  "JUST DO IT."

 

Regards,

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

www.eastover.com/terence-dunn-2.html

Edited October 8, 2017 by zen-bear

[taoguy]

On 9/26/2017 at 2:42 PM, Vajra Fist said:

Yes, I get extremely vivid dreams after evening practice. It's actually reignited my interest in lucid dreaming.

 

I have also seen a deepening in my daily mindfulness meditation. Similarly, my other practices enhance the FP energy, particularly the medicine buddha mantra, which Eric Isen said in a recent reading would have a synergistic healing effect with FP for me.  

 

I'm thinking of booking an Eric Isen reading as well, to see if my mantra practice complements Flying Phoenix haha.  Thanks for the reminder, I had it in mind the other week but it completely slipped my mind. Maybe he'll have some kind of remedy for recovering from my long-hours of work too.

 

On 9/29/2017 at 3:15 PM, Earl Grey said:

 

This is absolutely true; I've entered lucid dreaming states to the point that I could close if I wanted to and still remain in the dream, or close and then go into deep sleep devoid of dreaming too. 

 

I find this increasingly true. I recently had a few nightmares where I was half-lucid and was chanting mantras throughout my entire sleep hahaha. FPQG + zuo-wang meditation seems to have enhanced that ability to be lucid.

[Songshou]

Hi!

 

I wanted to present more visually what I wrote on Sept 17 to Sifu Terry about some correspondences I noticed between Taoist and Kabbalist teachings, in response to some comments of his own.

 

This is just a side issue, which I wrote out mostly for Sifu or a few others interested in such parallels or possible parallels. Feel free to ignore it! Especially as it's just my take on the subject, what works for me.

 

So here are two charts of the Taoist 9 Bigrams (which combine to form 81 Tetragrams) as I see them on the Kabbalist Tree of Life.  One chart uses the Chinese characters for Heaven, Earth, and Human (Tian, Di, and Ren). The second chart uses the standard symbols  ____  for 1) Tian (Heaven),  __  __   for 2) Di (Earth), and  _ _ _  for 3) Ren (Human).

 

My prior post contains some thoughts I won't repeat here, since I'm just adding the visuals to make things clearer! I'm also meditating currently on how to place the I Ching Trigrams on the Kabbalist Tree of Life (there is not necessarily just one way, of course!), and later I may share some of that, once I make the diagrams.

 

May all auspicious blessings from the Taoist Immortals and especially Xi Wang Mu and the Er Xian (Twin Immortals) enrich and enhance your FP practice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2017 by Songshou

[Aeran]

^ I'm curious, what's your reasoning for placing The Fool at Kether instead of Malkuth? I didn't study Tarot or Kabbalah much even when I was working in the Hermetic tradition, so maybe it's something obvious I'm missing, but I'd love to hear more detail about your work at connecting those two systems up to Daoist cosmology.

 

Tying back to early discussion about quiet sitting, I just had a pretty amazing session. I did MHPearl and MSW1 before bed last night - slept like a baby with some very interesting dreams, then when I woke up I started the day with my usual 20 minute quiet sitting before getting out of bed. About half way through, my arms started shaking and feeling uncomfortable resting on my thighs, so I lifted them up and let them move around to try find a better position, and ended up running through a couple rounds of the "circling the ball" and then "willow hand" postures from the MSW meditations.

 

After a few minutes of this they seemed to have worked out whatever energy circulation was going on, and my left hand drifted up to the side of my head while the right hand moved down hovering over my knee, somewhat like those traditional Baphomet images you see (although the right hand stayed facing down, and the palms were open). It's not a hand posture I've ever used before, or even especially paid attention to, but it just felt like that's where the body wanted to rest, so I left it there until the session ended. Whatever was going on definitely got some juice following - my whole body was tingling by the time I stood up. Even now I feel incredible, just sitting here typing this. FPCK never ceases to amaze

[Songshou]

Hi Aeran,

 

As often as not, the FOOL is placed first in the deck, as # 0 (Zero), with the symbolism that He is the Spirit about to step off into Manifestation and Experience. # 1 then becomes the Magician.  [Of course, since the dictum is "as above, so below", and the journey is a circle/spiral, it's natural the Fool could also appear last. See J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations--which is Tree-of-Life structured, maybe subconsciously, for that, also.]

 

There are 21 Major Arcana in Tarot, while I'm working with 81 aspects or codes. I just chose the FOOL as a symbol for Kether, the Crown, which stays above and before Manifestation in the matrix of 9 x 9 = 81 as interactions between the 9 lower Sefiroth. (Daath stays beyond Manifestation, on another level or dimension.)

 

It's just my own intuition and meditative matrix, which I hadn't found elsewhere but just saw; someone else may see things differently, since as Obi-wan Kenobi told us, it all depends on your point of view!   It will be the same with my Trigrams on the Tree of Life which I will post next--it's a certain point of view.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Songshou

[Songshou]

Hi!

 

To finish off my primary Taoist/Kabbalist thoughts which some recent words of Sifu Terry here stimulated--my thoughts, after all, being a sideline to the main theme of this FP Discussion--I'll post the image I made today which offers one possible placement of the I Ching Trigrams on the Tree of Life. "A certain point of view", as Obi-wan told Luke.

 

This is a separate matrix from placing the Bigrams (and resulting Tetragrams) on the Tree, which I already posted. There probably are points of correspondence--but I treat them as separate meditations and lines of inquiry and insight. Separate "tracks" engraved on the Tree of Life (as on a CD or CD-ROM), we might also say.

 

For me here, Kether is still above and before the Play, the Lila. And Daath is beyond it (though an aperture of entry into and out of another dimension of integration and transcendence, far beyond my current ability to grasp).

 

Because we have 8 aspects here, I see Malkhuth as a point of convergence and integration, and anchoring, for all the 8 Trigrams:

"Heaven" for Hokhmah, "Earth" for Binah, "Water" for Hesed, "Fire" for Gevurah, "Mountain" for Tifereth, "Thunder" for Netzah, "Wind" for Hod, "Lake" for Yesod.

 

So from these Trigrams, 64 Hexagrams of interaction between the Sefiroth can form.  Each Sefirah by itself has its Trigram doubled to make a Hexagram (just as each Sefirah alone has its Bigram doubled to make its Tetragram in that diagram).

 

How what results relates to the names given the Hexagrams in the I Ching is another extensive line of inquiry.

 

Also, there's a separate issue of how the 64 Hexagrams might fit on the 32 Paths of Wisdom (32 x 2 -- going down the Tree and then up again?).  I'm not trying to address that question here; it would take a lot of intuition and insight. Let me know if someone you know of has done it!!

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2017 by Songshou

[Earl Grey]

@Songshou we are truly fortunate to have you as a member of our thread and community of Flying Phoenix practitioners. The level of insight and analysis that you bring is immense and immeasurable. Thank you for this; we look forward to practicing with you as we do the rest for our family of Flying Phoenix practitioners here. 

[Songshou]

P.S.  I should give an example to help guide anyone interested in interpreting the Hexagrams and Tetragrams on the Tree of Life. It’s an interpretive Art, of course; just like with Astrology.

 

The example I’ll use has, fortunately, the same idea for both a Hexagram (Jie) and a Tetragram (Shi -- as Yang Xiong named it):

 

40.  ䷧    “Liberation” (Jie)

 

21. 𝌚    “Release”  (Shi)

 

For the Hexagram, as I place the Trigams on the Tree, “Liberation” has, below, Trigram “Water” = HESED; then above, Trigram “Thunder” = NETZAH--as Hexagrams are read--which could be interpreted as Hesed’s Compassion/Love/Mercy being empowered and activated by Netzah’s Revolutionary Energy; resulting in Liberation or Freedom. For Freedom is the Power of Love, the Action of Compassion (i.e., blue and red make purple/violet).

 

For the Tetragram, the Bigrams--above and then below as Tetragrams are read--are both Netzah, therefore the full Power of Netzah, which is Dionysian in Energy; and Dionysos is always the Liberator, who releases all bonds.  (“They sought to bind Him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold Him.” -- Homeric Hymn 7 to Dionysos)

It’s also interesting that the number is 21 (7 x 3) -- in the Secret School of Buddhism, the 21st saving power is the “Dharma of Liberation”, the freeing power of the Purple Lotus Flower.

 

I don’t mean to imply that all the Hexagrams or Tetragrams will be this easily interpreted! There are many subtleties to both.

 

Anyway, let all who can--and will--be released, set free, to find, practice and master Flying Phoenix Chi Kung!

Edited October 2, 2017 by Songshou

[ridingtheox]

On 9/30/2017 at 3:57 PM, Aeran said:

it just felt like that's where the body wanted to rest, so I left it there until the session ended. Whatever was going on definitely got some juice following - my whole body was tingling by the time I stood up. Even now I feel incredible, just sitting here typing this. FPCK never ceases to amaze

 

Thanks you are certainly on point for my experience ...  misquoting Quakers   that Daoist speaks to my condition!!

[Songshou]

Hi! One more point, or analogy....Let's think of two Trigrams forming a Hexagram on the Tree of Life as a Dao / De  (Tao/Te) relationship.

 

So in Hexagram 32, "Returning' (Fu)

we have the Trigrams Thunder below, and Earth above. That's Netzah below, and Binah above.

I am reading the bottom ("inner") Trigram first, as Dao, then the top ("outer") Trigram next, as De: i.e., Netzah as Dao, Binah as De.    Netzah ----> Binah

That seems to be the Trigram syntax of the I Ching Hexagrams: bottom (inner) Trigram ----> top (outer) Trigram.

 

If the Trigrams are reversed, Hexagram 16 "Providing" (Yu)

then we have Earth (Binah) as bottom (inner), and Thunder (Netzah) as top (outer) Trigram. Here Binah is Dao, and Netzah is De.    Binah ----> Netzah

 

What I need to do next is go through the entire 64 Hexagrams, look at them in the same way via the Sefiroth of the Tree of Life, and see what makes sense as well as what doesn’t make sense to me yet! (I’m not about to expect that everything will make sense, by the way! It’s just an experiment. )

 

Then I’ll do the same thing with the 81 Tetragrams as Yang Xiong named them! (Those read as top Bigram = Dao, then bottom Bigram = De, which is opposite to the Hexagram direction.)

 

Wish me luck!  

Edited October 8, 2017 by Songshou

[ridingtheox]

On 9/24/2017 at 2:34 PM, zen-bear said:

 When one brings the palms up the centerline with back of the hands touching and turn the palms clasped in "prayer" position, you actually bring the fingertips up to the third eye (brow chakra) for a split second, and then slowly lower the palms back down to the heart level.

 

See what that does for you.

Weil  I have incorporated the 3rd eye move ...  as is sometimes the case nothing new has appeared,  but I will continue to practice as there is often a 'lag' in the appearance of effect ..

this exercise has been one of the few resistant practices ...  i feel drawn to it,  but there is a resistance that is not present in the standing exercises.  

to be open about this I must also say that seated meditations are always less productive than are the standing exercises .. that has been true throughout my 40 year acquaintance with tai ji / ba duan jin / nei gong / qi gong ..

 

Jumping to another issue i continue to get  violet  flashes rather than blue ??   Recently i ran across Mantak Chia youtube which touts  the centrality of violet in Taoist teaching ...   what the difference is i am still not clear about .. though I am comfortable with my experience ...  remember as in earlier posts  any color image/flash is rare and uncertain for me  

 

peace   hoa binh  

just keep doing the forms!!!  

 

 

[ridingtheox]

I have been away on a 'spiritual' quest ... to visit my 91 yr old cousin in the nursing home  Coos  Bay OR,  to visit a student of my period in New Orleans 20+ years ago,  and to visit my high school friend (60 yr ago) who first introduced me to the idea of Tai Ji / qi gong /  et al.  physical practices of spiritual development. 

 At that student's home I had another extreme practice of the standing long form .... 36+ minutes followed by nei gong / horse stance low  30 min practice.  The whole experience is still vibrating as I complete a home coming mirror image w  Sifu Dunn's youtube video  ... extremely deep though only 15 min!  (i slowed the video to 75%).

 

I reiterate  just keep doing the form ... you will be amazed

 

Peace

 

( it also gives some release to the bombardment of current events )

 

[zen-bear]

10 hours ago, ridingtheox said:

I have been away on a 'spiritual' quest ... to visit my 91 yr old cousin in the nursing home  Coos  Bay OR,  to visit a student of my period in New Orleans 20+ years ago,  and to visit my high school friend (60 yr ago) who first introduced me to the idea of Tai Ji / qi gong /  et al.  physical practices of spiritual development. 

 At that student's home I had another extreme practice of the standing long form .... 36+ minutes followed by nei gong / horse stance low  30 min practice.  The whole experience is still vibrating as I complete a home coming mirror image w  Sifu Dunn's youtube video  ... extremely deep though only 15 min!  (i slowed the video to 75%).

 

I reiterate  just keep doing the form ... you will be amazed

 

Peace

 

( it also gives some release to the bombardment of current events )

 

Hi Charlie, 

Thank you for giving sage advice to the FP Community to "JUST KEEP DOING IT."

"IT" being the capstone meditation to the FP Qigong system called "FLying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation" taught on Volume 4 of the DVD series. 

 

The Nike athletic shoe/apparel company might have the ad slogan "Just do it", which others on this thread and I have referred to in the past, but  "JUST KEEP DOING IT" is an even better slogan/watch-phrase/mantra for FP Qigong practitioners.

 

In fact, I shall now coin the abbreviation:  "JKDI"  to use in my future advisories on this thread. , "JKDI", as many of you know, tacks on one more letter to name of Bruce Lee's fighting style.

 

Cheers,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2017 by zen-bear

[Vajra Fist]

Just got back from Stonehenge. I know Sifu Terry has filmed there before.

 

I could sense a unique 'turning qi' of the place. It was like the vibration you get from turning one of those large prayer wheels in Nepal. It was somewhat faint, but I imagine in the past the turning would have been a roar.

 

The impression I got from it was that it is some sort of energy mechanism that still serves a purpose in the world even today. Perhaps when it one day fails, there will be changes to our society or even natural disasters.

 

Back on the topic of flying phoenix, I have been practicing to music for the first time in a long time. Specifically 'Weightless' by Marconi Union, which was designed with sound scientists to be one of the most relaxing pieces of music in the world.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8830066/Band-creates-the-most-relaxing-tune-ever.html

 

It's definitely helped me to become more relaxed and slower in my movements of the long form. The piece is part of a wider album called 'Weightless' that you can get on spotify. 

 

[9th]

 

[centertime]

Hello,

Which exercises are recommended if someone has cough?  Any experience?

 

[zen-bear]

On 11/1/2017 at 9:58 AM, Vajra Fist said:

Just got back from Stonehenge. I know Sifu Terry has filmed there before.

 

I could sense a unique 'turning qi' of the place. It was like the vibration you get from turning one of those large prayer wheels in Nepal. It was somewhat faint, but I imagine in the past the turning would have been a roar.

 

The impression I got from it was that it is some sort of energy mechanism that still serves a purpose in the world even today. Perhaps when it one day fails, there will be changes to our society or even natural disasters.

 

Back on the topic of flying phoenix, I have been practicing to music for the first time in a long time. Specifically 'Weightless' by Marconi Union, which was designed with sound scientists to be one of the most relaxing pieces of music in the world.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8830066/Band-creates-the-most-relaxing-tune-ever.html

 

It's definitely helped me to become more relaxed and slower in my movements of the long form. The piece is part of a wider album called 'Weightless' that you can get on spotify. 

 

Hi Vajra Fist,

 

I'm glad you were able to visit Stonehenge, discern the energy, its significance, and hopefully get some good FP Qigong practice  in while you were there.   Beautiful photo, by the way!   I hope that the stones were not roped or chained off as it had been in the mid- and late 90's and that you were able to get down close "and personal" to the stone formations.  I first visited Stonehenge in 1995 and unfortunately, the govt. had just cordoned off the stone formation because that summer some pathetic monkeys tried to haul down some of the raised horizontally placed stones with chains and tackle and pick up trucks. 

 

I could sense a unique 'turning qi' of the place. It was like the vibration you get from turning one of those large prayer wheels in Nepal. It was somewhat faint, but I imagine in the past the turning would have been a roar.

The impression I got from it was that it is some sort of energy mechanism that still serves a purpose in the world even today. Perhaps when it one day fails, there will be changes to our society or even natural disasters.

 

I understand what you call "turning qi" present at Stonehenge and would agree with thematic description.  If you were able to get inside the circular formation and spend time at the center of the stone circle, you can feel the energy of the portal with more intensity.  Outside and at a distance, the energy is indeed faint.   However, even at a great distance, I found, so long as I was able to see the formation, I felt the wide, turning energy.  "Portal" is the best word in English that I can find that closely describes the "geomantric"  power and function of Stonehenge.  Powerful portal.  And I will say this:  the design of the stone circle is congruent with Chinese 5 Element Theory.  Hint:  study the 5 of Disks in the Crowley Tarot deck...and see if it connects you to the Stonehenge energy. Many alchemic unions and operations were consummated at Stonehenge by the ancients there.   btw, my deepest intuition, furthered and affirmed by oracular devices, is that women Druids also led and conducted divinations--and fertility rights-- by drawing down the energy of the heavens to the earth--to the literal ground at Stonehenge...conducted by massive wands as long as military spears.  Thanks for inspiring me to look into ancient function of Stonehenge.

 

And thanks very much for sharing with the thread the "Weightless" by Marconi Union--and the online article describing the intresting research conducted by the British Academy of Sound Therapy.  I listened to the full  8 min. version several times, and practiced both Tai Chi form and FP Qigong to it.  It is indeed very, very relaxing and conducive for meditation and FP Qigong--but I wouldn't go so far to say (and I don't know how the British Academy of Sound Therapy or any persons can definitively declare) that "Weightless" is the most relaxing in the world or the most relaxing song ever composed.  I understand they have their "scientific" parameters and applied them to lots of songs.  But I strongly disagree with their theory that not having a repeating melody relaxes the  mind more because the mind isn't stressing itself out anticipating the repeated pattern of notes.  I believe that there are melodies, with repeating combinations of musical notes that optimally relax the human organism.  For example, one of the most relaxing songs that I  fortuitously discovered at random in 1987 was an instrument by composed by Vangelis in 1977 called, "Reve" (means "dream" in French), which does have a beautiful melody with repeating "riffs".   I instantly loved "Reve" and a couple of years later licensed and used as background music behind my final flow of the Yang Short Form and Yang Long Form on my two top-selling instructional Tai Chi DVD's.

 

This is "Reve", although it has more treble and less bass than the original vinyl recording on the Vangelis 12' album "Opera Sauvage", and thus sounds "tinny" to me:   

 

And my Tai Chi For Health dvd's (all-time best-selling in the English language from 1991 to this very day, btw) are available at my website:   

 

www.taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html

 

Another favorite collection of music that I find most relaxing and great to practice Qigong to the album "Transparent Music" by English pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole.  The album contains his interpretations of classical to contemporary music that have a strong Celtic flavor--and not just suggested by his artwork on his DVD case.  His music is utterly transformative and super-relaxing because the brain is induced into relaxation/somnambulism because it recognizes the traditional renditions of these songs and the comfort of the familiar plus the expansive, extended duration of every note created by the pedal steel guitar--PLUS the unique and exclusive ability of that  instrument to "bend a harmony like toffee" and to slide a chord enables him to make a beautiful song more beautiful, an eerie song more eerie and yet even more relaxing--e.g., Satie 's Gnossiene Nos. 3 and 5.

 

I found on Youtube only 2 of the 10 or so  tracks on the album:

01 Clair De Lune:   

 

03 Pavane Pour Une Enfante Defunte   :   

 

Try to find the rest, or purchase the album.  It's worth it:

 

02 Window On The Deep

04 Slight Rhapsody

05 Gnossienne No.5 (Eric Satie like you've neve heard)

06 Ely Cathedral

08  Gnossienne No.3 (Eric Satie like you've neve heard)

 

I had corresponded with B.J. Cole many years ago when I discovered Transparent Music and he said back then that he was up for composing new music as accompaniment for Tai Chi ad Qigong practice.  I will soon revisit the idea of a collaboration with him.

 

But thanks very much again for that article, for I am now exploring the "Top Ten" most relaxing songs listed in it--and I advise all FP pracittioners who liked to practice to music to check out this list of TOP 10 MOST RELAXING TRACKS:

 

1. Marconi Union - Weightless 2. Airstream - Electra 3. DJ Shah - Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix) 4. Enya - Watermark 5. Coldplay - Strawberry Swing 6. Barcelona - Please Don't Go 7. All Saints - Pure Shores 8. AdelevSomeone Like You 9. Mozart - Canzonetta Sull'aria 10. Cafe Del Mar - We Can Fly

 

Best Regards,

 

Sifu Terry

 

P.S.   Note to all:

FLYING PHOENIX QIGONG WORKSHOP

22+ hours of sublime, transformative instruction

and practice will take place at

Eastover Estate & Retreat in Lenox, MA on

NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 3

 

http://www.eastover.com/workshop/flying-phoenix-qigong-with-master-terence-dunn.html

 

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by zen-bear