Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

[zen-bear]

Bubbles -

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

Fu dog

 

Hello Lloyd,

 

Thank you for your good advice to Bubbles based on your solid experience in the Flying Phoenix seated meditations. I had to be absent from the thread for a spell due to an extreme convergence of life obligations...but now I'm finally back. And I am so glad to see that you and other more experienced FP practitioners are able to lend valuable guidance to newcomers such as Bubbles. This is most gratifying proof that the FP Qigong system, unique as it is, can be safely learned to good effect from the DVD's series.

 

Your and Tao Stillness's suggestion to continue meditation after completing an FP's "Monk Serves Wine" meditations is naturally a good one. An even deeper meditation is attained, as I just posted, by following practice of MSW meditations with the "basic" preparatory seated meditations.

 

And yes, the FP Qigong indeed has a spiritual component. FP practice is most definitely a vehicle for spiritual development. Every aspect of the FP Qigong system--from the sublime simplicity of its alchemy to its distinctive energy effects--and the energy effects on the cells of the body, to the deep meditative state of consciousness that it induces after bringing all the organ systems under the regulation of the sub-conscious mind, and the psychic channels that FP Qigong opens in the Mind--is a spiritual process.

 

After 21 years of practicing the FP system, I continue to marvel as how a human being--Feng Tao Teh of Ehrmeishan-- could have created this Qigong method. My conclusion is that he didn't "create" it. Rather, he channeled it in.

 

Best,

Sifu Terry

Edited October 20, 2012 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Hi Steve,

 

Thanks to you also for giving good guidance to Bubbles...

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

 

Just as the various Monk Serves Wine seated meditations affect different people differently (i.e., every practitioner will find that certain MSW meditations will be more energizing and more rejuvenating than the others), each of the not-so-basic Preparatory or "warm-up" Meditations at the start of Volume 2 will affect different practitioners differently--depending on their state of mind-body integration,degree of tension in their bodies, mental and physical health, etc. When I started the practice 21 yrs ago, I recall that Preparatory meditation that tweaks the forearms in the Monk Gazing At Moon position instantly brought energy intensively into the hands. Also, all of the students who had 10-15 yrs of kung fu training up to that time experienced the Basic meditation that raised and lowered the arms (similar to the first movement in Yang Tai Chi forms) with breathing 50 30 10 affected the back muscles and caused intense pain and discomfort for the first several weeks.

 

I'm glad that you proved to yourself that the first MSW on Volume 7 (50 20 10) is a most effective sleep-inducer. This is one meditation that affects everyone in the same to some degree: everyone sleeps faster and more deeply after practicing this meditation. The other MSW meditation that affects everyone the same is the five-movement exercise that has the breating 90 80 50 20. As I described and forewarned earlier in the thread, this one has the opposite effect: it is a proven"waker-upper" and will keep one wide awake hours. (for many, a very effective and healthier--although not tastier--replacement for coffee!) Back in 1995, when I gave a college friend of mine in Paris (who was/is a life-long meditator) a set of the first Flying Phoenix videos (in VHS), I forgot to warn him about 90 80 50 20 meditation, he practiced all the seated meditations one evening before bed, and wound up spending the next 9 hours wide awake tossing and turning--and I'm pretty certain using my name in vain! So beware of that particular MSW exercise should you practice it in the evening.

 

Good practicing.

 

Sifu Terry

Edited October 22, 2012 by zen-bear

[tao stillness]

Thank you Sifu Terry for all of your replies to people today as you clarified so much. I can hardly wait till tomorrow morning to follow your suggestion of doing one of the basics on vol. 2 after MSW instead of before in order to prolong the meditative state. Also, your reply about the different parts of us that FP energy works on helped me to understand a recent similar finding from both my medical intuitive and my general intuitive. They had both told me that FP is helping me on many levels but they did not specify what those levels are. But you did when you described the effect on the cellular level, unconscious level, level of organs, spiritual level, psychic channels, etc. One of the intuitives also found that FP is opening my heart in a different way. I envy that you do not need any second party to inform you of exactly how FP is working as you seem to have direct awareness of this, as do the intuitives. And I also am indebted to you for reminding us of the major reasons why different people have different experiences from subtle energy. During my pity parties when I wonder why I am not having such cosmic experiences as my friends, I do have to remind myself of all the factors that can go into the quality of one's nervous system and hence the differences in experiences. We have missed you but are so glad you are back once again. You have such a gentle way of redirecting thinking about FP that gets a little bit off course at times due to lack of experience. The gift of a natural teacher. I look forward to the publishing of your book. And I hope the day comes when you have the time and desire to offer webinars for those of us who wish to have personal instruction but cannot make it to Los Angeles.

Steve

[Fu_doggy]

Sifu Terry -

 

Thanks for your interesting suggestion to do the basic seated exercises *after* the advanced MSW to allow for an added meditative type of experience. I plan on trying that this week.

 

It's a testament to the Flying Phoenix art that after 21 years you can tell us you continue to marvel at the depth of this practice. Next month will make three years of FP practice for me, and when I reach that milestone I plan on posting some observations.

 

I'll second what Steve expressed above: You are a gifted and inspiring teacher and we are all very fortunate for all your contributions to this thread... Welcome back!

 

Lloyd

 

 

[tao stillness]

Hi Lloyd,

I think the qualities of Sifu Terry that we get a glimpse of reflect a major attribute of the art of teaching which touches the student, that of passion. That is what came to mind when I read your last post.

I still can't figure out why I felt such passion for Flying Phoenix right from the beginning of learning it, and why I still feel it several months later. Maybe one reason could be that I had tried several other styles of chi kung in the past and had to make myself continue with them. Whereas with Flying Phoenix I cannot wait to do the movements and then I regret having other duties in life which prohibit me from doing even more of the movements. Reminds me of the infatuation stage of a new relationship where the only thing that you really want to do is spend time with that other person. Maybe I should buy a tv set???

Steve

[Fu_doggy]

Steve - I agree with your comments about passion.

 

If you are someday fortunate to meet Sifu Terry in person, you would see that he embodies that passion and love for the art....and it's contagious! ;-)

 

To your comment about infatuation: As with any good relationship, I believe you'll find your enjoyment of FP will improve with age.

 

Good practicing,

 

Lloyd

 

 

[tao stillness]

Hello Sifu Terry,

I was wondering if you could please tell us what is happening when we do the seated meditation 50-10-50 of the basics on vol. 2?

It is a most interesting and powerful experience as I hold the arms in place and whenever I slowly breathe from the diaphragm I feel the energy simultaneously in the palms of my hands. I would like to know the connection there and which part of the body and energy centers are being worked on, and what the specific purpose is for this meditation if such specifics are known.

Steve

[Fu_doggy]

I had a profound experience after finishing a session of FP practice earlier this week.

 

I was on a business trip to San Francisco staying at the Westin St. Francis hotel on Union Square. The beds in a Westin are completely white. Each night I continued practice of FP to finish my day.

 

However, on Tuesday night after finishing seated meditations while sitting on the bed, when I opened my eyes I noticed the sheets of the bed appeared to be golden....actually as if they were bathed in golden light. I remained in a very calm meditative state as I observed this phenomenon. And then, the golden glow became even more intense, even more golden....amazingly so actually.

 

Then slowly as I came out of that meditative state the golden glow began to slowly fade and over a period of about two minutes the room returned to its normal color scheme and the sheets on the bed returned to their natural color of pure white.

 

And then I remembered Jeremiah's Z's post (page 85 of this thread) where he also experienced a powerful golden glow in his room after finishing a FP session! I was like WOW!!! Note Jeremiah saw much more than the golden glow, while I only saw the glow but still it was quite profound...especially considering another FP practitioner had this similar experience.

 

This month marks the completion of my third year practicing Flying Phoenix, however I am here to tell you that I am more excited about this qigong system than ever!

 

Fu dog

 

 

[tao stillness]

Hi Lloyd,

Your report of experience is another reason why I always look forward to your posts. For what it's worth, I have had my medical clairvoyant check out my energy cultivation tools, whether they be chi kung, neigong or actual subtle energy devices that claim to emit healing energy. The ones that he has tested for me that really amaze him all have had one thing in common. He has seen me filling up with this golden color liquid like energy from the most powerful tools or methods. Also, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who brought Transcendental Meditation out from India taught us that a person who is in a higher state of consciouness, which he called at times either God Consciousness or Glorifed Cosmic Consciousness, sees everything with a gold color edge to it. From this I speculate that Divine energy is a vibration that we can see with refined perception when we raise our subtle energy levels and it vibrates at the frequency of the color gold. So if that were to be true, then congratulations on yet another of your Divine experiences in consciousness! And now I know which hotel chain I will be staying at whenever I travel!

Steve

[zen-bear]

Hello Sifu Terry,

I was wondering if you could please tell us what is happening when we do the seated meditation 50-10-50 of the basics on vol. 2?

It is a most interesting and powerful experience as I hold the arms in place and whenever I slowly breathe from the diaphragm I feel the energy simultaneously in the palms of my hands. I would like to know the connection there and which part of the body and energy centers are being worked on, and what the specific purpose is for this meditation if such specifics are known.

Steve

 

Hello Steve,

 

The 50-10-50 "warm-up" meditation in Vol.2 simply brings one's internal energy into kinesthetic awareness between the palms and in the torso at the same height as the hands--i.e., the abdominal region. As I stated early in the thread, after several months of practicing all the basic FP Qigong exercises (and this varies from student to student), one will realize this consistent fact about the energy effects of the FP Qigong system: whenever the hands are in movement or in some static position, the FP healing energy is being activated/circulated in the body mass at the same height as the hands. Thus for Monk Gazing At Moon, the activation is taking place in through the eyes and the brow chakra (if one must use yogic model or "roadmap" of chakras). For Monk Holding Peach, the energy cultivation is obviously, unmistakably felt to be occurring through the heart region. Monk Holding Pearl, the energy cultivation is centered/focussed at the lower tan tien. As I just replied to "Dav" (see next post transferred from PM), if you continue to correctly practice the FPCK system and master its fundamentals, you will be able to directly feel or intuitively discern how each Meditation works and what particular regions of the body they each empower besides the whole body (if each one has specific, "regional" effects, that is).

 

Again, Flying Phoenix Chi Kung does not rely upon nor need the overlay of any yogic model or set theory such as meridian theory or chakras. It is founded in a unique alchemy that turns on the body's natural healing processes, cultivates the tangible and distinctive Flying Phoenix healing energy, by coordinating the functions of eyes, mind, movement, posture and breath. Just do the meditations per the instructions consistently and then you can describe the results you get using any language you care to create--as long as the "map" fits the territory of your experience. If during the FP meditations one literally feels or sees chakras with so many concentric rows of specifically colored petals revolving in a particular direction relative to one another, then one can naturally describe the energy activation in those terms. But if one is not seeing nor feeling active chakras during practice, mere belief in the model of chakras is not going to explain or shed light on how FP Chi Kung works.

 

There will be more interesting and dramatic non-ordinary experiences ahead as you continue your practice. Enjoy.

 

Sifu Terry

Edited November 12, 2012 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

I had a profound experience after finishing a session of FP practice earlier this week.

 

I was on a business trip to San Francisco staying at the Westin St. Francis hotel on Union Square. The beds in a Westin are completely white. Each night I continued practice of FP to finish my day.

 

However, on Tuesday night after finishing seated meditations while sitting on the bed, when I opened my eyes I noticed the sheets of the bed appeared to be golden....actually as if they were bathed in golden light. I remained in a very calm meditative state as I observed this phenomenon. And then, the golden glow became even more intense, even more golden....amazingly so actually.

 

Then slowly as I came out of that meditative state the golden glow began to slowly fade and over a period of about two minutes the room returned to its normal color scheme and the sheets on the bed returned to their natural color of pure white.

 

And then I remembered Jeremiah's Z's post (page 85 of this thread) where he also experienced a powerful golden glow in his room after finishing a FP session! I was like WOW!!! Note Jeremiah saw much more than the golden glow, while I only saw the glow but still it was quite profound...especially considering another FP practitioner had this similar experience.

 

This month marks the completion of my third year practicing Flying Phoenix, however I am here to tell you that I am more excited about this qigong system than ever!

 

Fu dog

 

Hi Lloyd,

 

Wonderful that you have experienced your environment bathed in golden light while in FP meditation--just as Jeremiah Z. reported (quite excitedly) several months back after doing Monk Holding Peach (I believe it was). Congratulations on demonstrating that you have been practicing correctly and deriving the full range of FP healing benefits.

 

Now you can begin to understand the more esoteric reasons as to why statues of the Buddha in so many temples throughout the world are made of gold.

 

Also congratulations for coming up on your 3-year milestone of practicing FP Qigong. And, of course, thank you for starting this discussion thread on this very appropriate and well-managed blogsite, that's enabled practitioners' word of Flying Phoenix Qigong benefits to be accessed nearly 200,000 times!

 

Carry on!

 

Sifu Terry

Edited November 12, 2012 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Below is an email that I received through PM from "davol.redfoot" and my reply that I thought were appropriate to post here--especially the described need for substantial scientific research to be done on how Flying Phoenix Qigong works in imparting its energizing and rejuvenating effects:

 

Hi Zen-Bear. Several years ago I learned the basic standing and seated meditative exercise sets of Flying Phoenix from the Terry Dunn videos. I found the specific breath control exercises perplexing at first, but when put into practice I knew just what to do with them and found them quite beneficial to all of my organs in one way or another, as if I were filling them very gently with nice air (and I think regulating their temperatures when too hot or too cold). Also they were beneficial for my mind as memory with numbers is still a troubling field for my mind to cross, especially when trying to focus *fully* on the flow of my breath. But when I got it, that very pure recollection of the memory at the time was enough to quiet my mind perfectly for the exercise. In short, these exercises were great and the breath control really helped to keep me focused and calm.

 

Now, some time passed and I got caught up in new cycles of activity and between working and having room mates around all the time (not the best for your practice space) and such, I didn't practice as much. I'm living on my own now and am doing much more practice of energy arts and meditation in my time, but I cannot find the book I wrote down the breath control sequences in. I remember it being stressed very strongly that these particular ratios of breath were critical and should not be done differently. So my main question to you that I was wondering was what the breath control sequences are for the seated and standing basic meditations from the flying phoenix celestial healing qigong sets. Do you think you can tell me the numbers again, so I can write them down again?

 

The other thing I am wondering is what the significance of the different ratios of breath capacity are. What part of the human system do these actually activate or interact with? I recently gained a fairly in depth understanding of our chakra system and cannot help but think that the sequences may be in a relation to it, or the meridian system which I know less about in its technicalities. Or at the very least, I believe that the percentages may be a simplification of something more intrinsic to our basic nature than what was given in the videos I learned from. I wish to know a lot more about it, and I apologize if this is a bit much to ask all at once, but I'm quite curious about it and cannot find a single resource to guide me to any information on the specific sequences, or their significance.

 

And... just one other thing, since I see you're quite an active member of this site and might know what is wrong here, but I made an account and when I try to edit my profile it comes up saying, "You do not have permission to do this." And I can't edit anything. Now I know you're not the site admin. and maybe you've never seen this before... but you have any idea? I made my account to ask you about the breath control sequences, but noticed this is a worthwhile site for discussing such things and want to expand my account! >) I dunno maybe it'll figure itself out eventually.

 

Thanks for reading this and if you could please let me know what the breath control sequences are for basic standing and seated exercises and possibly *why* they are, if you feel like explaining anything more about it.

 

Peace to you,

 

Dav

 

 

Hello Dav,

 

Thanks for writing and sharing your early experiences with FP Chi Kung. I'm glad to hear that you've been able to adapt to the exercises and calmly do the breath-controls sequences for the meditations, and experience good results.

 

The timing of when one experiences the health and spiritual benefits of FP Qigong varies depending on how much they practice, whether they practice FP Qigong correctly, their lifestyle, intelligence level, karma, and spiritual predilection. But if one just sticks with this straight-forward Qigong method over one's lifetime, he or she will get good results. sooner or later.

 

1. Congratulations!: your attaining calmness and mental focus is no small feat; it means that you're benefiting nicely from the FP Meditations. As I Hui-neng taught in his Altar (Platform) Sutra about the fruits of meditation: "Calmness and wisdom is like a lamp and its light."

 

2. The answer to your question re: the breath control sequences is easy:

I listed all the percentage breath-control sequences for all the FP Meditations thread in Volumes 1 through 4 on Page 9, posts #138 and #139 the Flying Phoenix Chi Kung thread.

 

3. As to how the breathing sequences effect the body and the significance of the ratios (% exhalations), you will be able to discover the answer to that question for yourself if you practice diligently and the master the system. With more practice, you will develop greater "structural sensitivity" to viscerally feel what parts of the body are being affected by each of the individual FP Meditations.

 

The parts of the human system that the FP Chi Kung affects are the same functions as all complete and authentic Qigong systems: mind, eyes, the entire physical body shaped by a Qigong system's particular postures, and all the internal organs regulated by the nervous system. And as I’ve explained early on several times in the FPCK thread, FP Qigong works by bringing all the organs of the body under the regulation of the subconscious mind and thereby enhancing the body’s natural self-healing processes.

 

To scientifically break-down and define how the FP Qigong method works to energize and rejuvenate the human body that way it does would require substantial interdisciplinary research by top exercise physiologists, pulmonary experts, cardiologists, internists, and other medical experts. And I am constantly on the lookout for interested life scientists to conduct studies and research into how Flying Phoenix Qigong imparts its range of health benefits.

 

4. When you get the "You don't have permissions..." message, it means that you are not logged into the TTB blogsite as a subscriber. Just sign in and ask for a new password if you've forgotten it.

 

Thanks for your questions, and good luck in your continuing practice.

 

Peace,

Sifu Terry Dunn

[Somamech]

"Flying Phoenix will find you, or you will find thee Flying Phoenix"

 

My Knees are way better now after all my odd accident's reported in this thread to the point that I can happily say I completed two weeks of insanity from Shaun T and feel slightly amped to find the feathered beast after a long period of being damn lazy along with injury... no excuses.

 

Getting ready to Fly again with "REAL" Dedication.

 

Not sure if it really should be done or not but heck them insanity workouts have really inspired me to get back to where the Bizz is at.... and that's mind over matter. Only this time around my meat jacket is going to be able to do more than before due to the Insanity... and heck I loved Bending the Bows, the thought of doing that differently than before is enough to to cause aliens from Venus to come back to earth and make men happy

 

All the best FP'er's

 

Soma

Edited November 24, 2012 by Somamech

[Audiohealing]

Hey Terry!

 

I was fortunate enough to "re-discover" FPQG after spending a couple of years doing another style of Qigong, and boy- am I ever glad I got back to it! In just 2 sessions it fixed ALL of the energetic imbalances I was attempting to correct for the two prior years, and I have honestly never felt so alive and peaceful. I don't have any words to say how grateful I am. It is truly amazing.

 

That said, I do have a couple of questions, which may have probably already been answered but I don't think I'll be able to go through a 93-page thread in one read (although I certainly plan on doing it!).

 

For the meditations that require the arms to be held up high in front of the body, such as monk gazing at moon, I get cramped and fatigued in the shoulders surprisingly quickly. I say surprisingly because I work out do some pretty strenous exercise 10-12 hours a week, so I'm using my shoulders quite a bit. Perhaps too much, since I have a postural (or habitual) problem I am working on where I constantly have my shoulders shrugged up high for no reason. FPQG has helped me be more conscious of this problem and makes me relax and lower down my shoulders as soon as I become aware of it.

 

But still, even when I lower and relax them, I get uncomfortably fatigued and I feel a lot of tension when doing things like Monk Gazing at moon, and I know this is impeding my results by cutting off qi flow. Do you have any suggestions on how I can work on fixing this?

 

Second, can I do the MCO meditation alongside with FPQG. Is it safe or even complementary? Also, what is your favorite style of MCO (taught by which teacher?). Are there any other meditative practices you would recommend alongside FPQG?

 

Last question: I am doing levels 1 and 2 for now. What are the ideal ratios for doing both and what is the ideal timing?

 

Thanks Terry

 

 

edit: I saw that my first question was answered in one of the very first posts you made in this thread!

 

Edited December 2, 2012 by Audiohealing

[Man of Tai Chi]

Sifu Terry,

 

Thank you and the other contributors for your amazing dedication to this thread. I've got both of your Tai Chi for Health DVDs and I'll be ordering the 5 pack of FP DVDs soon. I've read all 93 pages of this discussion and I've just got one question:

 

I've been practicing Yang Tai Chi for the past year and a half (the 24 form from GM Shou Yu Liang's DVD with live instruction from two of his best students and the 37 form from your DVD and an excellent instructor here in Vancouver). I've also worked with Lam Kam Chuen's The Way of Energy. However, I've been having knee pain problems that my physiotherapist has indicated are due to the inflexibility of my legs (specifically my hamstring and quad muscles). My question is, will practicing the FPCK system make my knees worse or better (perhaps stretching out the problem muscles)?

 

I've learned a lot from reading the outstanding material on this thread and this system seems to be the ideal fit for me. I look forward to getting started.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Malcolm

[Fu_doggy]

Hey fellow FP practitioners -

 

I have been away from the board for a little while primarily because of a lot of work and travel.... though I have continued to practice my Flying Phoenix. I told myself if time was limited it was better to practice than post. ;-)

 

I have finished my third year of practicing this art and I can tell you all I am as enthused about FP as when I first started practicing. Now when I began a Flying Phoenix meditation, the energy simply comes to me as a natural phenomenon. Or I might say the Flying Phoenix energy is effortlessly induced simply by the percentage breathing and the movements of each meditation.

 

As Audiohealing pointed out, it is tremendously powerful for correcting imbalances. Many of my work days are long and stressful thereby bringing about imbalances due too much mental yang (pressure, deadlines, problems, etc.) and too much physical yin (physical inactivity due to all day meetings, sitting too long in an airplane seat, too much time in front of a laptop, etc.). It's simply amazing how quickly a single session of Flying Phoenix practice can bring me right back into a balanced, healthy state of being.

 

Regarding Man of Tai Chi's question on whether Flying Phoenix would help with inflexibility in the legs, it is hard to say without understanding the root cause of the problem. That said, I can say that FP is a phenomenally healing practice, and also it's my experience that my muscles become quite relaxed after 30 minutes or so of practice due to a significant reduction of tension brought about by the exercises. So I might suggest a regimen of stretching followed by Flying Phoenix....I expect that would yield positive results.

 

Good practicing!

 

Fu_dog

 

[zen-bear]

Holiday Greetings to all FP practitioners and enthusiasts!

This story of a nice healing effect from FP Qigong came in on Nov. 29 from a TTB member who (like me just now) had trouble logging in and being able to post and so sent it to my outside email address (below it is my reply):

 

Terry,

Here’s one you can pass along to your students. I have done a lot of Chi Kung over the years. At one point I was doing about 2hrs a day of my own 1hr in the am and 1 pm. One day a week I was doing 8 hours between my 2 hours and 6 hours of Tai chi, Kung Fu or Chi Kung classes I taught. It has been 25 yrs since I had done that. I learned the Standing F.P. and did it for 6 months or so. Then I learned the Seating with Monk Serves Wine. Did that for a few months. lost interest, got too busy, took too much time, one of several excuses not to do it. That goes back a couple of years.

 

Lately I was getting the voice inside stating it would be good to do it again. Sunday after Thanksgiving this year, I started to do the first 4. Monday I did the 1-5. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I did all 6. My inner voice said I could do all 6 instead of doing one for a week then adding one each week to for a total of six weeks. I trust my inner voice and know clearly when it’s ego talking and not the one I need to listen to. I’m 61 and finally starting to have a clue. Germans have a saying. “Too soon old, too late smart.” I’m getting smart. Ok, now to the good stuff. In May of 2012 I was walking in Cowboy boots at a shooting range and stepped on a rock which twisted my foot, causing me to roll on my heal andbruising the plantar fascia just under the heel where it attaches. Ouch. I got new boots, Nike Air Trainers, Dr. Scholl’s massaging inserts and wore them every day. Soaked in Epson Salts when it really hurt, iced and so on. I shoot Cowboy Action and I stand on the range for 4-6 hours at a match. At the end of the day I could hardly walk. I like to walk up hills for exercise. That had to stop. Each day I got up I was reminded in some form of the discomfort. Stiff or just flat out hurt. Next time I will trade 3 cracked or broken ribs. They take a month or so to heal and everyone tries to make you laugh to see how much pain they can inflict in the name of fun. I know I’ve been there. After several months of discomfort, understatement – “pain”, I went to a doc. He gave me Ketoptofen to rub in and said this can take 6-9 months to heal. Great!!

 

I shoot at least 2 Saturdays a month and can count on one sore foot at the end of the day and the next day waking up for a few hours. My wife and I went for a walk the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and my foot hurt after each. Not a lot, about 30%. I started the Seated that Sunday AM. Today it is the Wednesday after that, 4 days into the seated, I noticed today that I no longer have any discomfort in my heal at all. Gone, bye, bye history. Very pleasant surprise. One of those things you just notice that it is not there and can’t remember exactly when it left. I am pleased that it brought me into balance that fast after restarting it after a year +off. Good stuff.

Looking forward to what else it will straighten out in these old bones.

 

One note to add, my wife and I have been eating Vegan for the past 4 months. I dropped 15 pounds and am about 10% body fat or less. Eating this way is very healing and not hard to do at all. I worked out with steel a couple of weeks ago. I hadn’t done that it a long time. I expected to be sore the next day. Not a bit. No lactic acid in my system to make the muscles sore. Lactic acid is mostly from animal products. Chi Kung, Yoga, Pilates and good diet. Good stuff.

Thanks

Andy Roth

 

Hi Andy,

Thank you very much for your report of your experience with the surprising and fast-acting healing effects of the Flying Phoenix Qigong on your injured foot and detailed description of your active, healthy lifestyle. I'm glad the pain has subsided and the injury is apparently healed. And it's great that you got enough of the FP Chi Kung established on the first try-out so that later on when you got injured, your body's innate cellular wisdom had you go back to try the FPCK again.

My growth and development in many internal arts has happened like that due to various circumstnaces. Often times I had to back-off or "hover" at a certain level of practice when I didn't have access to my teacher(s). As long as you practice hard, practice correctly and consistently, more knowledge will be revealed to you through the practice and more knowledge will come to you from without.

 

Yes, eating vegan (thereby removing pollutants) from your diet does allow the body's healing processes to work more efficiently. In the Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger) kung-fu system (to which FP Chi Kung belongs as a fundamental "safety net") we have a wide variety of ancient herbal linaments called (dit da jiao, in Cantonese) that works with the FP Healing Energy and energies from other BFP energy arts to heal injuries ranging from bruisings, hematoma's, to broken bones). If your foot is still bothering you or if the injury flares up, contact me and I can sell you a (small) bottle of a healing linament for $20. (I've never marketed our linaments before and don't intend to make a business of it; this would be just a one-off deal if you're interested.) My classmate in Bok Fu Pai, Sifu Garry Hearfield in Australia also inherited a massive herbal pharmacopia from GM Doo Wai and can also answer any questions about the healing herbal formulas we use.

 

btw, I'm also a shooter of both hand-guns and reachers. I was trained from the age of 11 by my uncle who was in the same U.S. military unit with my father in WW2 and the Korean War, which was one of the two precursors to the U.S. Special Forces. And in the early 1990's--right when I was starting to learn FPCK and Bok Fu Pai from GM Doo Wai, I had the great good fortune to be trained further in handguns by my friend Ron Chapel, a police academy instructor and American Kenpo master (with whom I produced the Universal System of Arrest & Control for Law Enforcement training videos. Ron is a triple-DX, which is almost unheard of. Besides shooting with sights, I did/do a lot of over-the-thumb, point-shooting. Shooting is a great Shen "game" and i found that the more advanced my meditations got, the much better shot I became.

 

Have any other FP practitioners out there experienced/confirmed the same phenomenon with target sports such as archery, skeet, golf?

Thanks again for your post, Andy.

Best to All,

Sifu Terry

Edited December 8, 2012 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry,

 

Thank you and the other contributors for your amazing dedication to this thread. I've got both of your Tai Chi for Health DVDs and I'll be ordering the 5 pack of FP DVDs soon. I've read all 93 pages of this discussion and I've just got one question:

 

I've been practicing Yang Tai Chi for the past year and a half (the 24 form from GM Shou Yu Liang's DVD with live instruction from two of his best students and the 37 form from your DVD and an excellent instructor here in Vancouver). I've also worked with Lam Kam Chuen's The Way of Energy. However, I've been having knee pain problems that my physiotherapist has indicated are due to the inflexibility of my legs (specifically my hamstring and quad muscles). My question is, will practicing the FPCK system make my knees worse or better (perhaps stretching out the problem muscles)?

 

I've learned a lot from reading the outstanding material on this thread and this system seems to be the ideal fit for me. I look forward to getting started.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Malcolm

 

 

Hi Malcolm,

 

First of all, if you've been practicing Yang Tai Chi 24-part Beijing form, for 1.5 year under good instructors who study with GM Shou Yu Liang, you are in good shape.

 

I would say that sore knees after 1.5 years of TC practice just comes with the turf. It's a natural part of Tai Chi training when one is first learning basic stances and correct posture. But it's always a good idea to have knees thoroughly examined by a western physician (sports doctor is appropos) to make sure you don't have damaged or missing cartilage and have a case of bone rubbing on bone. Then if it's available through your teachers, try to get some herbal linament (dit da jiao) to rub on knees before and after training.

 

Answer to your question: Practicing FP qigong will NOT exascerbate your painful knees because the stances aren't that deep nor do the FPCK movements strenuously torque the knees. Many of the basic FP exercises as you may know are stationary. And the Seated FP exercises in Vols2 and 7 of course add no stress whatsoever to the leg joints. In fact, FPCK practice should nicely enhance and enable your Tai Chi practice because you will have the tangible experience of the FP Healing Chi flow, and even though it is not the same Jing that is cultivated from the sinews in Tai Chi, just having the tangible reference of chi flow will greatly accelerate your understanding of Tai Chi Chuan. And most importantly and of benefit to Tai Chi practice, the FPCK induces deep states of mental-physical relaxation.

 

Hope this helps. And I can't believe it's been 3 years before we've gotten around to asking the TTB's readership out there to chime in with their answers to your question:

"Has FP Chi Kung practice positively or negatively effected Tai Chi training (--for those subscribers, of course, who also practice Tai Chi Chuan)"?

 

Also, if you are able to find online the footage of the Advanced Flying Phoenix Exercises demonstrated by GM Doo Wai, you (and most beginners) should probably be able tell just by looking at it that the Flying Phoenix Qigong System as a whole and at any level is not harmful or inordinately stressful to the knees, and in fact can only enhance Tai Chi skill. Certainly, intermediate and advanced Tai Chi practitioners will be able to discern this instantly. [i was told that footage of GM Doo Wai performing the Advanced FP Meditations is available online at a websites run by a couple of other students of his. Sifu Garry Hearfield and I have the footage as well. However, both Sifu Garry and I choose not to publish this footage--even without the breathing methods--because it is an advanced practice that crosses the threshold from purely healing art to a very powerful spiritual martial art. And, as I stated earlier on this thread more than a year ago, no one can really make sense of the Level 2 FP Art nor derive its true benefits without having first mastered the basic level of FP Qigong contained in my DVD series--with the exception perhaps of pretty high-level Tai Chi and Qigong masters.]

 

Thanks for your question.

Best,

Sifu Terry

Edited December 7, 2012 by zen-bear

[Man of Tai Chi]

Sifu Terry and Fu Dog,

 

Thank you both for your responses. Ever since Fu Dog started this thread in 2009 you have both been providing amazing support to FP practioners. It's rare to find a teacher like Sifu Terry who dedicates his time to unselfishly supporting his students. This thread is an incredible resource and the knowledge I've found here has both focused and simplified my practice. It's great to walk the path with like-minded people.

 

Thanks again,

 

Malcolm

[Fu_doggy]

Here in Florida where I live allergy season is soon coming. It starts around late January with some pollen from some of the early blooming plants then comes into full swing by March when the pine and oak trees come into full bloom. By April the pollen is tapering off and by May allergy season is over here.

 

I bring this up because for the past 20 years I have been really bothered by allergy....stuffy nose, headache, sneezing, etc.

 

Until last year. Living in the same city in the same house I was not bothered by allergy *at all*. Why is this? The only thing that changed was I was diligently practicing Flying Phoenix qigong. That said, I will point out that last year I was in my 3rd year of practice of FP, and as Sifu Terry says, the effects of Flying Phoenix practice are cumulative.

 

So how was allergy season during year 2 of my FP practice? The answer is my allergy symptoms were light....though at that time I did not connect the dots. I told myself that my light allergy symptoms must be because perhaps it was a low pollen year. But then this past allergy season, the spring of 2012, since I had no allergy symptoms whatsoever it dawned on me that the reason was the amazing healing energy of Flying Phoenix qigong.

 

So for all of you early in your practice, I would encourage you to stay with it and keep practicing regularly. Some of the healing stories posted on this board due to FP are really astounding.

 

Flying Phoenix is an energy practice that is "undersold" but "over delivers" on tangible beneficial results. With regular practice over time I can promise you be very pleasantly surprised with your own personal results.

 

Good practicing!

 

Lloyd

 

 

[Fu_doggy]

Man of Tai Chi - thanks for your good words....and all the best with your practice!

 

There is enough valuable information in this thread to write a book about FP. We are all extremely grateful to Sifu Terry's for his continued support of this thread...his insights on the practice of FP and energetics in general are truly priceless. And so many people have made very valuable contributions as they share their personal experiences. I never cease to be amazed.

 

So to all FP'ers keep on keepin' on!

 

Fu dog

[Bubbles]

Hi Lloyd,

 

Congrats for your allergy healing results!

 

I had to stop my beginner practice for nearly 5 weeks or so but I have resumed my practice yesterday and was very pleased to feel again the specific taste of FP energy.

 

I concur with Man of Taichi on the gratefulness FP practitionners can have towards Sifu Terry and you for this amazing thread.

 

Best regards,

bubbles

[zen-bear]

Hey Terry!

 

I was fortunate enough to "re-discover" FPQG after spending a couple of years doing another style of Qigong, and boy- am I ever glad I got back to it! In just 2 sessions it fixed ALL of the energetic imbalances I was attempting to correct for the two prior years, and I have honestly never felt so alive and peaceful. I don't have any words to say how grateful I am. It is truly amazing.

 

That said, I do have a couple of questions, which may have probably already been answered but I don't think I'll be able to go through a 93-page thread in one read (although I certainly plan on doing it!).

 

For the meditations that require the arms to be held up high in front of the body, such as monk gazing at moon, I get cramped and fatigued in the shoulders surprisingly quickly. I say surprisingly because I work out do some pretty strenous exercise 10-12 hours a week, so I'm using my shoulders quite a bit. Perhaps too much, since I have a postural (or habitual) problem I am working on where I constantly have my shoulders shrugged up high for no reason. FPQG has helped me be more conscious of this problem and makes me relax and lower down my shoulders as soon as I become aware of it.

 

But still, even when I lower and relax them, I get uncomfortably fatigued and I feel a lot of tension when doing things like Monk Gazing at moon, and I know this is impeding my results by cutting off qi flow. Do you have any suggestions on how I can work on fixing this?

 

Second, can I do the MCO meditation alongside with FPQG. Is it safe or even complementary? Also, what is your favorite style of MCO (taught by which teacher?). Are there any other meditative practices you would recommend alongside FPQG?

 

Last question: I am doing levels 1 and 2 for now. What are the ideal ratios for doing both and what is the ideal timing?

 

Thanks Terry

edit: I saw that my first question was answered in one of the very first posts you made in this thread!

 

 

 

Hey Audiohealing!

 

Glad to hear that you came back to FP Qigong and got fast healing results from practice. Just as I was able to fully appreciate FP Qigong and all the Ehrmei Mountain White Tiger internal arts after I had been thoroughly trained in the Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir) System for many years, you developed a 2-year foundation with your other practice and a frame of reference for your energy body to compare Flying Phoenix to. Yes, the Level One or basic practice Flying Phoenix is a very effective and safe system that can be practiced to very good healing effect without having a Qigong master watching over you.

 

Regarding your shoulder and arm tension and fatigue (due to postural problem, shoulders habitually shrugged up) when you do exercises like "Monk Gazing At Moon". The FP system will bring to surface and into awareness any deep muscular tension you might have. But FP Qigong does not add any stress to the body or mind if you are practicing correctdly. Deep tension when it comes into awareness is sometimes felt as pain. Pain is in the resistance. So the remedy is to tell yourself to relax as much as possible and work through the meditations. The FP meditations that will specifically help with upper body/shoulder relaxation are: "Monk Holding Peach" and the ones that bend deeply, head towards the ground: "Wind Above the Clouds", "Wind Through Treetops", and the Long Form Standing Meditation in Vol.4. If you concentrate on these 4 meditations and practice them everyday, your shoulders will relax.

 

Outside of the FPCK system, to accelerate de-stressing and relaxation the shoulders, I recommend the following: outward arm circling ("Wave Hands Like Clouds") and inward arm circles (underpinning repeated "Brush Knee" pattern) in horse-riding and bow stances--at three levels of stance depth: shallow, medium, and very deep (low)--i.e. bottom of the hips at knee leve; thighs horizontal. Do them at all speeds from super-slow to as fast as you can. Do circling patterns in sets of 108. Miniumu practice per day: one in left bow, one set in right bow stance. Also stretching by hanging from high bar or horiz. ladder for 3-5 minutes at a time. Always good for reliefing shoulder tension. Also see Sifu Garry Hearfield's website and clips for upperbody shoulder training. He can also give you very effective remedies. But all this requires dedicated consistent practice.

 

Yes, you can do MCO while doing the FP Meditations, although it is absolutely not necessary. As I wrote at the start of the thread, once the practitioner does the breath control sequence and correctly assumes the posture for any particular FP Qigong meditation--standing or seated--his/her mind can focus on virtually anything, go anywhere, engage in any mental activity... and the meditation will still produce the same healing, energizing and rejuvenating effects.

 

I do not teach any visualization to my FPCK students because none is essential to the practice.

But for general and specific yogic understanding, my Qigong, kung-fu, and Tai Chi students are required to read 2 texts: Secret of the Golden Flower (Thos. Cleary translation is fine) and Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines by W.Y. Evans-Wentz.

 

Good practicing, AH!

 

Sifu Terry

Edited December 8, 2012 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Sifu Terry and Fu Dog,

 

Thank you both for your responses. Ever since Fu Dog started this thread in 2009 you have both been providing amazing support to FP practioners. It's rare to find a teacher like Sifu Terry who dedicates his time to unselfishly supporting his students. This thread is an incredible resource and the knowledge I've found here has both focused and simplified my practice. It's great to walk the path with like-minded people.

 

Thanks again,

 

Malcolm

 

Hi Malcolm,

Thanks for the kind words and compliment on my dedication to proliferating correct practice of FP Qigong through this thread. To be honest, it's quite easy support this thread with contributions--even at times disclosing too much (in the eyes of more traditional masters) because the depth of the Flying Phoenix energetic healing experience and the process of doing the FP Qigong exercises is so profoundly health-promoting and at a certain level, so spiritually blissful that I can't wait for more practitioners to cross the first threshold of experiencing the basic healing effects of the Basic Level practice as taught on the DVD series. For what I've discussed thus far on this thread is just the "snow cap" of the Flying Phoenix iceberg ("tip" of the iceberg is not accurate). FP Qigong is a complete system preserved over six generations by GM Doo Wai's family lineage. It is not for dabblers and cherry-pickers at the smorgasbord of published Qigong exercises- Either a Qigong method/system produces results or it doesn't. And Flying Phoenix Qigong not only produces sublime energetizing/healing results, it produces them rapidly--instantaneously for many as reported on this thread. And the energizing effects are cumulative, as Fu_Dog has just confirmed and described his recent revelation of this. Hence the FP practice is naturally self-perpetuating--at least for those who are clear enough in body, mind and spirit enough to grow with it. Hence the real success of this thread is due to the fact that the FP Qigong System works and works profoundly at all levels.

 

But if one is going to do the FP Qigong, then one has to do the system correctly and in its entirety to experience its full range of health benefits. That is why earlier this year I encouraged FP practitioners to start practicing in one sitting: complete sets of any three (3) of the seated "Monk Serves Wine" meditations (on Vols. 2. 7) on a regular basis, daily if possible. I also recommended that FP Practitioners--especially if they are in their 2nd year of practice--diligently learn and practice the capstone exercise of the system, Long Form Standing Meditation called "Flying Phoenix Heavening Healing Chi Meditation" (on Vol.4) on a regular basis. As explained earlier int he thread, doing this long meditation form can replace practice of the shorter standing FP Meditations such as MGM, Monk Holding Peach, Wind Above the Clouds, etc. As "ridingtheox" discovered and reported on the thread, daily practice dramatically releases and organizes one's energy, and raises one's energy level. When one experiences the ongoing elevated energy levels from all the FP standing meditations and the specific, physically rejuvenating effects of the seated Monk Serves Wine meditations, will another deeper level of FP energy healing issue.

What is most rare and extraordinary--if I do say so myself--is the fact that the learning of this authentic and very effective Qigong system is available to the public at all. It could go very well have been kept secreted within the Bok Fu Pai tradition for a seventh generation. But my karmic meeting GM Doo Wai changed that. Likewise, Sifu Garry Hearfield making available his teaching of GM Doo Wai's Burning Palm system, White Tiger Heavenly Healing System (Bak Fu Sunn Yee Gong) and certain aspects Omei Bak Mei Kung F is a special rarity. http://www.warriorbodybuddhamind.com/wbbm/training/bak-fu-sunn-yee-gong/

 

Thanks again for the very positive feedback, Malcolm

Sifu Terry

[tao stillness]

Hi Sifu Terry,

The above is certainly an inspiring message to all. Based on what you Rx, when I enter my second year of FP with vol. 1 and 2 and doing the Sleeper on vol. 7 for some months now, should I skip to the long form on vol. 4 and omit doing vol.3? I own vol. 3 but was waiting to start it in feb. after completing my one yr with vol. one and two. But if it is better to just start doing vol. 4 that would be OK with me. I found out from personal experience that there is no benefit to rushing ahead with this method since the nervous system has to be gradually cultivated to best use this energy. I had obtained one of GM Doo Wai's FP advanced dvds which my medical intuitive had tested for me before I ordered it and he told me I was not ready for the energy it would produce. It was such a simple exercise to learn so I tried it anyway and discovered that I could not fall asleep for quite awhile even though I only tried the exercise for 2 days. The energy was just too strong for me. Since then I am taking my time and sticking to your Rx schedule.

Steve