Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[Jeramiah Zeitigeist]

Another great Master passes. An enormous loss to his friends, family, students, and to those of us who will never meet him, or learn from him.

 

So even more important now, that his work is perpetuated by the people he entrusted to pass on his knowledge. It must have been a great privilege to have known him.

 

I bow to honour his memory.

[tao mist]

I just received news today from my classmate Sifu Steve Baugh that one of our teachers, Master Share K. Lew has just passed away at the age of 94 years. Master Lew was the 23rd generation lineage holder of the Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir Method) School of Kung-fu dating back to China's Tang Dynasty. The art is attributed to the legendary Lu Tung Pin, the "leader" of the Eight Taoist Immortals. In 1934, at the age of 16, Master Lew entered the Yellow Dragon Monastery (Gee Lum Gee), located at the summit of Mt. Luofu, Guangdong Province, China. He was also the nephew of the famous Choy Lay Fut master, Lew Ben (Lau Bun). Thus he taught the Chang Chuan (Long First) Form of CLF as an adjunct/pillar to his basic Tan Tan Pai training. Master Lew was one of the only two temple-trained, fully ordained Taoist priests residing in America; the other being Master Kuan Sai Hung of the Huashan sect of Taoism (the two met in 1983 and had a joyful time of it). He was also a peer and friend of my teacher of Flying Phoenix Chi Kung and several other internal arts, Grandmaster Doo Wai of the Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger Kung Fu) system of Ehrmeishan--so often mentioned in this thread by myself and Sifu Garry Hearfield. I studied Tao Tan Pai from 1975 to 1983 under Master Lew's senior students John Davidson and Bill Helm of the Los Angeles and San Diego Taoist Sanctuaries. In 1988, Master Lew authorized me to teach Tao Tan Pai. In 1990, he taught me his Tai Chi Ruler. Perhaps synchronous with his passing, early yesterday morning, I practiced the Tao Tan Pai Six Stars neigung, the TTP Crane Form, TTP Snake Form, and TTP Monkey Form in my first hour of a 5-hour training session.

 

Master Lew taught his Taoist martial and healing arts for some 52 years, profoundly changing the lives of all his students with his powerful and enlightening gifts of martial, yogic, and healing knowledge. As seen in this link, Master Lew was teaching right up into the final weeks before his passing:

http://208.100.58.124/?p=454

http://sandiegofitnessmartialarts.com/blog/entry/3188853/cloud-hands-earth-meditation|workshop-taught-by-master-share-k-lew

Sifu Terry: Sad news about Sifu Lew. He was just out here on the east coast, Long Island, in May teaching. Just like last year his workshop was filled before I could enroll. As I mentioned before, I heard of Sifu Lew from one of his early students, Michael Milner, who to this day still practices and teaches Sifu Lew's methods each week after he learned it over 40 yrs ago and of all the energy healing methods he has been involved with, he believes Sifu Lew's methods to be close to the top. To live to age 94 is an achievement, but to still be actively teaching at that age is quite an achievement. I bow to his legacy.

Steve

[TLB]

A bow to Master Lew, in honor and in gratitude for his teachings that continue to come through to us.

[TLB]

[Fu_dog]

TLB - excellent report of your first class back with Sifu Terry. The fact that you felt really strong energy on your very first session back is a testament to both you and the art of Flying Phoenix. And Sifu Terry's teaching methods!

 

Also, the fact that you live close enough to practice with Sifu makes a number of us jealous. ;-)

 

Please keep the reports coming. I hope to meet you during one of Sifu Terry's classes on my next trip to California.

 

Fu_dog

[tao mist]

Hello Sifu Terry,

I get fascinated by what you call the tangible effects of Flying Phoenix Chi Kung. I noticed some other tangible effects going on when I began doing Wind Above the Clouds on vol. one. When we circle our arms and bring them in toward the neck it is the same movement that is also done for Bending the Bow on vol. one. However, I find that the sensation of subtle energy moving the arms in this motion for Wind Above the Clouds has such a "thicker" feel to it which automatically slows down the arm movements as they close in toward one another. Bending the Bow has a much lighter feel to the same motion. I have experienced this every time I do these 2 meditations. Realizing that we all have different sensations/experiences due to the condition of our mind/body, it is still enjoyable to notice this subtle difference between the meditations. Further proof to a doubting Thomas like myself that something really is happening, and something good, I might add!

And how the experiences do change! For quite awhile I did not look forward to doing Bending the Bow when it came up in my rotation of meditations because it seemed to put a bit of a strain on some of the body parts, knees, mainly. But lately BTB has become an almost effortless, free flowing movement which no longer causes any discomfort whatsoever. I used to wish that this meditation would hurry up and finish. Now I it feels like I can go on doing this one for as long as my time allows. This is teaching me to have the attitude of "just do it" with all of these meditations as progress and comfort is assured with practice. It is a process guided by Nature. After all, FP comes from the taoist tradition so how could it be anything other than natural?

Steve

Edited July 19, 2012 by tao mist

[zen-bear]

So;

 

A question, and an experience..........

 

What is it about Monk Holding Peach ?

 

There is something very 'different' about it, compared to the other two 'basic' standing postures. I know full well there is nothing basic about them. They are all three profound for different reasons. But the feeling I get from MHP is different again. I know each practitioner will get something different, specific to their experience, energetic make up etc......I just feel MHP has something extra.

 

I could stand in it for hours, and loose myself. I don't....but the temptation is there.

 

Is there something specific and unusual about it ?

 

And an experience.......

 

Two nights ago, after an especially productive and powerful hour spent in FP seated meditations, I woke at 3am. I felt exhausted. Ever since my head had touched the pillow, a Chinese man had been instructing me on some sort of Taoist Alchemy. I was glad to wake up, to get a break. Sadly I don't remember any of it, but my head was whirling. I had been asleep for four hours. I needed to stop the learning !

 

The whole bedroom was bathed in golden light. Really surreal. It was soft, but very golden. The bedroom was bright enough to read by the light.

 

I live in the depths of the countryside. There is no artificial light.

 

I assumed it was the moon. There is a door straight out into the garden. I stepped outside, naked......I have no neighbours either. The night was black. No moon visible. It was raining hard. I got wet.

 

I stepped back in, the light was gone. The bedroom was dark.

 

What on earth was that all about ?

 

Interesting !

 

 

Dear Jeramiah,

 

It is only now that I have gotten to read your posting regarding the golden light thoroughly. When I read it a few days earlier, I was beset with pressures and deadlines and read your post so fast that I missed one very key sentence:

 

"I live in the depths of the countryside. There is no artificial light."

 

--and missing these statements caused me at first to think that your seeing a golden light was a physiological effect of the intense hour-long practice of the FP seated meditations. As stated earlier in this thread, my students and I have seen the distinctive blue light of the FP Healing Energy with eyes closed in the inner environment and with eyes opened as a very visible aura.

 

However, your description--and I assume to be true and authentic--is of a golden light visiting and illuminating your room, and not a physiological effect of the FP Exercises. This is indicated since you described going out into the night and seeing nothing but darkness and rain, and then returning to your room where the light had by then had disappeared.

 

What you have described is indeed extraordinary and my gestalt reasoning is that you were possibly channeling a lesson from a source of genius through your dreamstate. Especially since you've since stated that you went to sleep around midnight and the dreamwork took place for some 3 hours and exhausted you mentally. This is something that has happened to me and my classmates on a constant basis (sans the mental exhaustion) when we started practicing GM Doo Wai's internal arts (FP Qigong and other systems). (I think I wrote in earlier post that on one occasion, one particular classmate and I "switched" our normal mode or "format" of dreams with each other, which was one of the wildest, wierdest, and most fascinating phenomenon I had ever experienced in my life. Since you said you fell asleep and dreamt/worked with a Chinese man teaching you some form of Taoist Alchemy, if this was not an imagining, or a "wishful-thinking dream", but you were actually working--and working so intensely that you woke up with your head swirling, then it is quite possible that the FP Meditations may have catalyzed this channeling of knowledge/spiritual visitation. But the only way to be sure is for you to recall what you learned through the dreamstate and then to test the knowledge as to its effectiveness and potency. Until the "transmitted" knowledge is verified, one cannot say what actually was going on with you from midnight til 3am that night. But the more perfected your Qigong and Meditation, the more lucid you will be during such dreamstates. Also, doing effective lucid dreaming exercises (as detailed in the Carlos Castaneda books) will develop your ability to be conscious of all the content of your dreams in real time, enable real-time cognizant control of your dream body's behavior in a dream, and,of course, allow easy recall of your dreams after the dream ends.

 

If, on the other hand, you had gone to sleep earlier, say at 8 or 9pm, then what you described could have been an early morning venting dream (which is the mind's normal house-keeping--i.e., disposing o stress, overload, and conflicts that the mind didn't resolve during waking hours). But this does not explain the mysterious golden light bright enough to read by, which came and then left.

 

Assuming that your account of what you is accurate in every way, I believe that you had a visitation.

 

All in all, because of the unique personal power that I assume you have developed over the years through healing so many thousands of people,that mysterious and fleeting golden light may have been a sign accompanying your higher edification by a spiritual entity (that seers typically call an angel or a genie). The golden light may well be the carpet upon which your genie delivering your alchemy lesson rode in on. But only you know for sure.

 

Congratulations.

 

In cautious awe and reverence,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

P.S. And yes, "Monk Holding Peach" is a very unusual Qigong exercise. It is unlike anything in any of the other 3 Qigong systems I have inherited. (btw, have you gotten to the phenomenon in MHP where the body rapidly folds forward at the waist and then bouncs back up to vertical, repeatedly? My nickname for Monk Holding Peach is "The Jerusalem Meditation" because the involuntary movements of the upper body bending forward and whipping back to vertical makes one looks as if one is praying at the Wailing Wall. I've observed this in my own practice and in my students ever since 1992. Monk Holding Peach is just very, very different from any type of Qigong exercise--even from all others within the Bok Fu Pai tradition: in terms of stance, posture, configuration, and, of course, breathing rhythm. However it works, I'm glad it's working well for you.

Edited July 23, 2012 by zen-bear

[TLB]

TLB - excellent report of your first class back with Sifu Terry. The fact that you felt really strong energy on your very first session back is a testament to both you and the art of Flying Phoenix. And Sifu Terry's teaching methods!

 

Also, the fact that you live close enough to practice with Sifu makes a number of us jealous. ;-)

 

Please keep the reports coming. I hope to meet you during one of Sifu Terry's classes on my next trip to California.

 

Fu_dog

 

Dear Fu-Dog,

 

Thanks for your note! I don’t feel I have much to contribute to these discussions, at least not yet, but it’s very good to be back in classes…and yes, I, too, recognize my luck in being able to make a 20-minute drive and be in Sifu Terry’s class!

 

Of course that means I can’t hide my stumbling about: Saturday I replied “yes” to a question whether I knew a particular exercise…and then I proceeded to mix together the movements of two different exercises. But I remember those clownish moments well from previous years of study, and they actually provide good memory triggers – the next time I’m more likely to do the movement correctly. Laughing at myself has always been a valuable element of training for me (in all other areas of life as well).

 

I did have a breakthrough Saturday, though, some few hours after class. Yang Short Form, the only form that I remember fully; Sifu took us through that with his “checking points,” which I always did find agonizing…and I finally figured out why! “Balance not strength,” he kept saying, and I understood but wasn’t getting it. Finally realized I was putting my foot out and leaning into the step forward simultaneously – rather than staying rooted on the weighted leg while I put the foot out and THEN shifting forward. All the difference in the form – and significant difference in life as well.

 

Man, it only took me 30 years to get that…at this rate I’ll be blasting into masterhood in a flash!

 

By the way, Sifu Terry mentioned on Saturday some discussion in this thread about sensitivity to the sun and/or cancerous skin cell production decreasing or disappearing after some time practicing FPCK…I think he said you were part of that discussion - ? Can you tell me more? ADDED NOTE - FOUND THAT DISCUSSION!

 

I’m making may way through this string slowly, and enjoying how much I’m learning from it; my thanks to you for getting it going!

 

I absolutely look forward to meeting you – when’s your next visit?

 

tb

Edited July 24, 2012 by TLB

[TLB]

I want to add a huge thanks for all the discussions and teachings regarding the involuntary movements and swayings that occur while doing the meditations. Letting go of the attempt to hold a "perfect posture" is turning the standing exercises into something akin to dancing with the trees. (I've only just come back to this in the past couple of weeks, so I'm sticking with volume 1 for awhile...or until Sifu Terry tells me I should move on or expand.) What a joyful experience it becomes.

tb

[Jeramiah Zeitigeist]

Dear Jeramiah,

 

It is only now that I have gotten to read your posting regarding the golden light thoroughly. When I read it a few days earlier, I was beset with pressures and deadlines and read your post so fast that I missed one very key sentence:

 

"I live in the depths of the countryside. There is no artificial light."

 

--and missing these statements caused me at first to think that your seeing a golden light was a physiological effect of the intense hour-long practice of the FP seated meditations. As stated earlier in this thread, my students and I have seen the distinctive blue light of the FP Healing Energy with eyes closed in the inner environment and with eyes opened as a very visible aura.

 

However, your description--and I assume to be true and authentic--is of a golden light visiting and illuminating your room, and not a physiological effect of the FP Exercises. This is indicated since you described going out into the night and seeing nothing but darkness and rain, and then returning to your room where the light had by then had disappeared.

 

What you have described is indeed extraordinary and my gestalt reasoning is that you were possibly channeling a lesson from a source of genius through your dreamstate. Especially since you've since stated that you went to sleep around midnight and the dreamwork took place for some 3 hours and exhausted you mentally. This is something that has happened to me and my classmates on a constant basis (sans the mental exhaustion) when we started practicing GM Doo Wai's internal arts (FP Qigong and other systems). (I think I wrote in earlier post that on one occasion, one particular classmate and I "switched" our normal mode or "format" of dreams with each other, which was one of the wildest, wierdest, and most fascinating phenomenon I had ever experienced in my life. Since you said you fell asleep and dreamt/worked with a Chinese man teaching you some form of Taoist Alchemy, if this was not an imagining, or a "wishful-thinking dream", but you were actually working--and working so intensely that you woke up with your head swirling, then it is quite possible that the FP Meditations may have catalyzed this channeling of knowledge/spiritual visitation. But the only way to be sure is for you to recall what you learned through the dreamstate and then to test the knowledge as to its effectiveness and potency. Until the "transmitted" knowledge is verified, one cannot say what actually was going on with you from midnight til 3am that night. But the more perfected your Qigong and Meditation, the more lucid you will be during such dreamstates. Also, doing effective lucid dreaming exercises (as detailed in the Carlos Castaneda books) will develop your ability to be conscious of all the content of your dreams in real time, enable real-time cognizant control of your dream body's behavior in a dream, and,of course, allow easy recall of your dreams after the dream ends.

 

If, on the other hand, you had gone to sleep earlier, say at 8 or 9pm, then what you described could have been an early morning venting dream (which is the mind's normal house-keeping--i.e., disposing o stress, overload, and conflicts that the mind didn't resolve during waking hours). But this does not explain the mysterious golden light bright enough to read by, which came and then left.

 

Assuming that your account of what you is accurate in every way, I believe that you had a visitation.

 

All in all, because of the unique personal power that I assume you have developed over the years through healing so many thousands of people,that mysterious and fleeting golden light may have been a sign accompanying your higher edification by a spiritual entity (that seers typically call an angel or a genie). The golden light may well be the carpet upon which your genie delivering your alchemy lesson rode in on. But only you know for sure.

 

Congratulations.

 

In cautious awe and reverence,

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

 

P.S. And yes, "Monk Holding Peach" is a very unusual Qigong exercise. It is unlike anything in any of the other 3 Qigong systems I have inherited. (btw, have you gotten to the phenomenon in MHP where the body rapidly folds forward at the waist and then bouncs back up to vertical, repeatedly? My nickname for Monk Holding Peach is "The Jerusalem Meditation" because the involuntary movements of the upper body bending forward and whipping back to vertical makes one looks as if one is praying at the Wailing Wall. I've observed this in my own practice and in my students ever since 1992. Monk Holding Peach is just very, very different from any type of Qigong exercise--even from all others within the Bok Fu Pai tradition: in terms of stance, posture, configuration, and, of course, breathing rhythm. However it works, I'm glad it's working well for you.

 

 

Sifu Terry

 

Thank you so much for your opinions and tentative interpretation of the events that night. Very interesting, and thought provoking.

 

I have no way of knowing for sure, what happened. The 'waking' dream, as I would call it, was a very powerful experience. It has stayed with me, ever since, as if it just happened. I can clearly remember the teacher's face. Every detail. Interestingly, I rarely remember a dream. Its as if I go completely 'off line" as soon as I close my eyes. I would remember a dream perhaps once a year. So this was a completely different thing.

 

What was most profound, i think, from my perspective, was the quality and feel of the golden light. It wasn't just light. The room was thick with a feeling of peace and serenity. It was as if I could touch, even hold the light, like a warm blanket. The light was tangible, as a 'thing', rather than just light. If pushed, and upon reflection, it was as if the light was consciousness itself, as if the light was the message.

 

The secret being hidden in plain sight ?

 

Anyway, its something for me to think about, meditate on, and reflect on, over the next few months and years, whenever it comes to my mind, or whenever seems appropriate, and perhaps it will eventually make sense, or its significance or otherwise will become apparent.

 

In the meantime, I do think it was as a result of my FP work.

 

Agreed. Monk Holding Peach feels unique to me. I experimented, a few days ago, with 45 minutes, just in MHP, to see how the energy developed, and then relaxed again. I do get the folding forward at the waste, I don't go as far as having my back parallel with the ground, but it can be quite powerful and dramatic. It always feels good, though ! Currently, of all the meditations on the first three DVDs, MHP is the one I feel most attached to. I get something different from each of them, but MHP is currently the most sublime. So misleadingly simple, yet profound. The secret is often revealed at the start ? Although perhaps that would be MGM, or is it MGM, MHP and MHP together, working on all three Dantiens, that is the key ?

 

Or maybe thats completely wrong. i'll get back to you after thirty years of practice, and maybe i'll understand a little more !

 

Thank you.

[Jeramiah Zeitigeist]

I want to add a huge thanks for all the discussions and teachings regarding the involuntary movements and swayings that occur while doing the meditations. Letting go of the attempt to hold a "perfect posture" is turning the standing exercises into something akin to dancing with the trees. (I've only just come back to this in the past couple of weeks, so I'm sticking with volume 1 for awhile...or until Sifu Terry tells me I should move on or expand.) What a joyful experience it becomes.

tb

 

When I practiced Shaolin Qigong, as taught my GM Wong Kiew Kit, he called it self manifested Chi movement, or Swaying Willows and Flowing Breeze.

 

For me, the movements I get with the standing forms of FP feels exactly the same, although I know that the energy from the Shaolin practice itself feels completely different to the energy from FP. And it travels through the body in a different way too. But the manifestation of the movement feels the same.

 

While doing the Monk Holds Pearl, a few days ago, I swayed sideways, to and fro, very powerfully, with my hips describing a sideways figure of eight, and my upper and lower body following. This continued for 15 minutes and felt fantastic.

 

Joyful is certainly the word.

[Fu_dog]

TLB - my next trip to SoCal is next June. By then your tai chi and FP will be off the charts!

 

In the meantime I look forward to your insightful posts!

 

Fu_dog

[Fu_dog]

Jeremiah - yet another good post on the basic FP exercises being not so basic! It's easy to really get hooked on the basic meditations.

 

Everyone who has practiced the system has experienced this.

 

As for the energy induced by the FP exercises, it's pretty cool how it is gentle yet very powerful at the same time. Also, the different FP exercises induce different variations of the energy. Sometimes it's hard to pick a favorite.

 

Good practicing!

 

Fu_dog

[sbtl_nrg]

I'm enjoying everyone's experiences. They're all very personal and inspiring.

 

So here's a question for Sifu Terry or anyone knowledgeable in TCM. I recently began seeing an acupuncturist to treat weak kidney and liver energies. Is it okay to do Flying Phoenix Chi Kung on the same day as an acupuncture treatment? I did volume two this morning and had my treatment in the afternoon, and now I'm itching to do the standing meditations but I want to make sure this won't have a negative affect on the treatment.

 

Thanks!

[zen-bear]

When I practiced Shaolin Qigong, as taught my GM Wong Kiew Kit, he called it self manifested Chi movement, or Swaying Willows and Flowing Breeze.

 

For me, the movements I get with the standing forms of FP feels exactly the same, although I know that the energy from the Shaolin practice itself feels completely different to the energy from FP. And it travels through the body in a different way too. But the manifestation of the movement feels the same.

 

While doing the Monk Holds Pearl, a few days ago, I swayed sideways, to and fro, very powerfully, with my hips describing a sideways figure of eight, and my upper and lower body following. This continued for 15 minutes and felt fantastic.

 

Joyful is certainly the word.

 

 

Hi Jeramaiah Z.,

Glad to hear that "Joyful" is the word!

 

Yes, the sideways Figure-8 pattern of involuntary swaying you described when you were doing Monk Holds Pearl has been experienced by many of my students. I sway a bit also, but not always in regular Figure 8's.

 

If and when you experience involuntary movements while doing "Monk Holding Peach", let the thread know what pattern movement you manifest.

 

So yes, FP practice can be fun, soothing, and delightful, blissful. Once one feels the tangible FP Healing Chi permeating the body, it's very hard to be grim about the practice.

 

Enjoy the ride on the wings of the Flying Phoenix.

 

Sifu Terry.

[TLB]

Fu_Dog...looking forward to next June, then. But it's a very very pale shade of Yoda you'll find, I think.

Edited July 27, 2012 by TLB

[TLB]

Hi, All,

 

The movements I mentioned experiencing during meditations aren’t anywhere close to so dramatic (yet??) as those that some of you describe! They’re small and subtle, many of them apparently simple alignment adjustments and my body seeking its own levels of comfort and balance. A few spiralings, some clockwise and some counter-clockwise, but so subtle that I don’t know if they’d be visible to an observer. Just enough to let me know there’s more to come, and also a trust to be learned – trust that I’ll hold position and not get knocked off my feet, maybe! But before reading some of the other posts I assumed all this was faulty balance, and I resisted it, tried to correct it. Now I’m relaxing into it and letting that tree-dancing feeling come on – stay rooted but let the body flow with the breezes. (Sea plants come to mind also – solid there on the ocean floor but fluid with the movements of the water...but both of these are responses to external forces so I'm letting my comparisons get away with me again!)

 

Some pleasant moments in “Monk Holding Pearl” the other night have me pondering my way into something other than the physical aspects of these practices, though. This is a spiritual quest for me as well as a health quest – and my spiritual path has been a meandering one to say the least! But returning to Chi Kung and Tai Chi after such a long absence is giving me a sense of…call it “returning home,” “getting back to business,” or “bullseye”!

 

I spent a bit of time recently with a spiritual group that emphasized meditation and going inward to find our own answers, our own connection to [the source/the tao/the universe/god/whatever term you prefer]…so far so good, I’ve always been aligned with that approach. (I may have erred on the side of not aligning myself closely enough with a guide who can correct me when I stray or get sidetracked!) The group offered brief teachings in different meditation practices so people could find the one that best suited them. I tried out only a couple, and it wasn’t my first delving into such things, but nothing moved me. I’ve no doubt we find our answers when we go inward, but that can be a vague notion when you get right down to it, even if you’re accustomed to the concept and have done some experimenting with various methods.

 

But FPCK seems to clarify it all and provide a direct fast track “inward.” I’m reminded of one of the first lessons I took from Tai Chi “way back when” – that’s when I learned that relaxation is not a passive thing. Flopping down on the couch in front of the TV is one form of “relaxation,” one that so many people take for granted (and I’m not yet immune to it!) – but it just doesn’t cut it. True relaxation is an active endeavor. In a similar way, the other forms of meditation to which I’ve been exposed seem passive in comparison to FPCK.

 

It seems whatever questions we ask are questions to which we already have the answers “somewhere deep down.” What that means, I think, is simply that we are all the creators/ god/inseparable from the tao, and if a question arises in our minds we have the ability to dive into the primal goo and put together the elements that form the answer, whether it’s a new computer design or the answer to a question in our personal lives or a profound bit of cosmic understanding. (Thus the expanding universe.) FPCK seems to be a powerful method for reaching that primal goo.

 

I may be way out of step with the rest of you (it wouldn’t be the first time!), but to me this is as important on the FPCK path as are the health benefits. I haven’t personally approached the martial aspects, although I have a glimpse of understanding of their importance in the overall balance – but I can’t speak to that line of the conversation. But maybe I’m not the only one focusing on this spiritual side of it, given the power FPCK apparently has in this realm.

 

tlb

Edited July 27, 2012 by TLB

[tao mist]

Hi TLB,

I enjoyed reading about what you are seeking from Flying Phoenix as my path is spiritual and the 2 vedic masters that I have had both point in the same direction, energy. Enlightenment is based on energy enlivening certain parts of the brain. That energy is blocked from the stress of daily living, hence a world of unenlightened souls settling for substitutes for the natural bliss from the deep relaxation needed to get rid of the energy blocks/stress/karma. The vacuum state in quantum physics is that state of perfect rest, the ground state which is the source of material existence. Sounds like the Tao to me. I was recently taught that enlightenment is a matter of subtraction. Releasing the stress to purify the nervous system which is designed to automatically produce enlightenment/bliss 24/7. So I do TM meditation and FP chi kung for removing energy blocks. I was recently reading this thread from the beginning for the second time and noticed Sifu Terry talking about his masters stressing the need for quiet sitting. So yesterday I came out of my last FP sitting meditation with the 3 breaths and then opened my eyes for awhile sitting in that relaxed/energized state for a minute and then decided to stay in that state by doing quiet sitting by just closing my eyes for several minutes. It resulted in a really nice state of restful alertness. The body and mind are very relaxed but you are awake. This is the 4th major state of consciousness. So I discovered yet another use for FP and I consider that feeling/state of consciousness to be a spiritual experience. In sum, for me FP produces a meditation state of mind/body if I just sit with eyes closed after doing my FP meditations.

Steve

Edited July 28, 2012 by tao mist

[Fu_dog]

TLB -

 

That's your most interesting post, i.e., FP as a meditative practice. Your posts are always thought provoking.

 

My own practice has evolved into a very meditative, indeed spiritual experience. Especially the advanced seated meditations. The standing are also meditative but after a period of time my legs start to scream that they're, ah, needing a break....like SOON please!!! That said I love the yin and yang of the standing meditations. The yin (extreme peace induced by FP) and yang (legs under the pain of fatigue) provide an experience that somehow feels wonderfully balanced.

 

Back to the seated, these are completely meditative in that all melts away except for the movements themselves. Meditation by definition is concentration on a single object, and in FP the point of concentration is the movements. So simple to describe yet the experience itself is profound. Indescribable really.

 

For me, immediately after FP I often practice zazen. I will share that after practicing FP my mind is completely clear. Zazen (or other more contemplative meditative practices) become an experience of pure existence, or of "simply being" to a significant degree.

 

Also, Sifu Terry says there is yet even more to be realized. I have not experienced the next steps, though I do feel I have approached the boundaries of the some of the next level(s).

 

So if you are a Seeker, FP certainly offers a pathway. TLB, I can't really separate the health benefits from the spiritual. After a period of time practicing FP, they become One.

 

Good practicing,

 

Fu_dog

[zen-bear]

On 7/27/2012 at 9:28 PM, Fu_dog said:

 

Edited March 21 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

TLB -

 

That's your most interesting post, i.e., FP as a meditative practice. Your posts are always thought provoking.

 

My own practice has evolved into a very meditative, indeed spiritual experience. Especially the advanced seated meditations. The standing are also meditative but after a period of time my legs start to scream that they're, ah, needing a break....like SOON please!!! That said I love the yin and yang of the standing meditations. The yin (extreme peace induced by FP) and yang (legs under the pain of fatigue) provide an experience that somehow feels wonderfully balanced.

 

Back to the seated, these are completely meditative in that all melts away except for the movements themselves. Meditation by definition is concentration on a single object, and in FP the point of concentration is the movements. So simple to describe yet the experience itself is profound. Indescribable really.

 

For me, immediately after FP I often practice zazen. I will share that after practicing FP my mind is completely clear. Zazen (or other more contemplative meditative practices) become an experience of pure existence, or of "simply being" to a significant degree.

 

Also, Sifu Terry says there is yet even more to be realized. I have not experienced the next steps, though I do feel I have approached the boundaries of the some of the next level(s).

 

So if you are a Seeker, FP certainly offers a pathway. TLB, I can't really separate the health benefits from the spiritual. After a period of time practicing FP, they become One.

 

Good practicing,

 

Fu_dog

[zen-bear]

Hi Fu_Dog,

 

The experience of pure existence, "simply being", that you described is a samadhic state that beginning students find is facilitated very swiftly by the FP Meditations.

 

As for the "more to come", the next or "higher" levels in meditative states of consciousness, which the Buddhists call jhanas, come according to the quality of one's practice and one's personal evolution.

 

As a vehicle for personal evolution that doesn't require the presence and supervision of a spiritual master, I can't think of a much better one than the Flying Phoenix Qigong.

 

Best,

 

Sifu Terry

[zen-bear]

Hello to Fu_dog, TLB, Tao Mist, and Jeramiah Z, sbtl nrg, and others.

 

Thank you for your recent posts sharing your unique personal meditative experiences facilitated by Flying Phoenix Qigong. I am glad to see that the practice for many such as yourselves has reached the level of meditative sublimity that you have each described. As a useful roadmap to recognize and understand the different states of that may be yet to come for each of you, I recommend this two-part article by the excellent psychologist and writer, Daniel Goleman, called "The Buddha and Meditative States of Consciousness", published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology in 1972 [Goleman was at Harvard in the 60's and early 70's and was a contemporary of Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and they both did much to promote the secularization of meditation back then (which today seems like a given)] :

 

Part I -- "The Teachings"

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CF8QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atpweb.org%2Fjtparchive%2FGoleman1972.pdf&ei=unoYUMyZJ5CxigKUxoCYDA&usg=AFQjCNH-vs_L0B2evnrzT7ip01Nv6SXtcQ

 

Part 2 -- "The Methods"

http://saraswati.sawiki.org/sciy/www.sciy.org/_attachments/2516758/Goleman1972Part2.pdf

 

I found Part 1 especially helpful when I started experiencing non-ordinary states of reality through the various systems of meditation and Chi Kung that I had started practicing in the mid-1970's. I found the chart on pg. 12 of Part 1 to be a useful map of higher states of consciousness (HSC).

 

It is well written as a scholarly paper that uses descriptions of meditative states used in Buddhist disciplines and texts and correlates them to psycho-physiological states. Thus it provides both Sanskrit words/symbols and psychological terms by which to discuss your meditative experiences.

 

A more secular adaptation/distillation of Part 1 of his article is Goleman’s 30 page article called: “The Buddha on Meditation and Higher States of Consciousness”:

 

http://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh189.pdf

 

I'm sensing that you all may be crossing a threshold in your meditative practice of FP Qigong and that a map and language might be helpful about now to understand present experiences and whatever lies ahead. If no guides are present, maps are essential in meditation, lest one get lost in the darkness of the unconscious.

 

**Also, a very useful and profound guide to meditation is found in the section of the W.Y. Evans-Wentz book, "Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines", titles "Precepts of the Gurus." This book, btw, is required reading for all my students (even though I teach Taoist meditative disciplines).**

 

Good practicing!!

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

Edited August 1, 2012 by zen-bear

[TLB]

Hi, Fu_Dog, Tao Mist and Sifu Terry,

 

Thank you all for your responses, and Sifu, for the articles also.

 

Tao Mist, I wonder if you’ve read anything from Amit Goswami? Theoretical physicist who has written several books about quantum physics and spirituality. Very good stuff.

 

Fu_Dog, I relate to your leg distress! However, I have much more pain with the seated meditations so I’m struggling there.* Time will bring progress; I will be glad when I can relax into those in the way you do. I fully agree with you about physical and spiritual health being one – it just seems to facilitate discussion to separate the two sometimes, most especially in these early stages when there are such distractions from the physical side. (Physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological…they’re all one…but modern thinking and language structures like to try to chop humanity into all these little chunks…as long as we remember to never BELIEVE they’re separate we can learn from them…)

 

In response to both of you mentioning those quiet moments post-FP…one of my cats has taken to sitting at my feet throughout the standing meditations. As soon as I’m done she moves in for affection. I’ll stretch out on the floor and she’ll stretched along my side…there is profound clarity and peace when the world comes down to fur and purr and breathe in/breathe out. Of course that has always been an element of relationships with cats; but there’s a significant change with the addition of the FP. This is the only thing I’ve ever done that has brought her (or any other cat) to not only sitting there with me throughout the exercises, but also recognizing the moment I’m done and so politely but enthusiastically wanting affection afterward. One might think that closing any individual exercise, with the 3 breaths and eyes opening, would bring her up…but she sits unmoving until I’ve finished the last one and then she’s immediately on her feet. (Interesting to note that she’s a Bengal – a breed still very close to the wild. My Siamese is oblivious…)

 

*I’ve done the seated meditations only once, and only the first 3 exercises. I couldn’t hold even a loose cross-legged position past the breathing sequence and at that the unwind through the hip pain took longer than the breathing sequence. I have no doubt I’ll be able to improve that but I’m not sure of the best way to proceed. I thought at first to sit as long as I could each time, but then I’m breaking up the exercise to stretch out that pain and shift position. I’m guessing it’s better to use a position I can hold through the entire exercise, even if I have to sit in a chair, as opposed to having to disrupt the exercise in order to change position. ???

 

Even with those distracting issues, and being new to the seated exercises and doing only 3 of them…STILL I felt a positive change in myself the following day! I'm not yet practicing "enough" and yet I'm feeling the increased clarity, lightness, energy, simple well-being. I do hope to bring more specifics to the conversation as I progress.

 

P.S. Another thanks to Sifu…for that succinct phrase, “vehicle for personal evolution” !

 

Onward…

tlb

Edited August 1, 2012 by TLB

[mrtiger]

Hi all, I've been practicing the five standing meditation for about three months now and just wanted to share my observations from a beginners perspective.

 

Maybe it'll be of interest to others, if not it'll be cathartic for me!

 

- Flying Phoenix is without a doubt the most powerful form of Qi Gong I've practiced so far. I had tried a few different types in the past but was really surprised at how instant FP is.

 

- I've read on this board that the exercises can be practiced in any order but I think the order given on the disc is perfect with exercise 3 and 4 feeling like a release with 5 being a bliss out at the end.

 

- My favourite exercise is Wind Above The Clouds. I do this as slowly as I can. It feels so gentle and graceful. I must confess to doing a very slight modification on this - when bringing my hands hands up over my face, I actually turn my hands 90 degrees so the entire length of my palms are across my face. I love the warmth and it feels very blissful.

 

- I struggle to quiet my mind on the static exercises

 

My advice for any one just starting out is learn the postures and movements off by heart as soon as you can. I wrote the breathing percentages down on a piece of paper.

 

I feel much more motivated when I don't have to turn a computer on to watch the DVD plus I've been practicing in the garden when the weather has been good enough.