Miffymog

1 hour ago, Boreas said:

Hi everyone, 

 

Just a quick question regarding Monk Holding Pearl in a supine position.

After some difficult months, I decided to resume my practice by using supine MHP but I find myself often falling asleep while doing it. 

So I was asking myself, is it OK that I fall asleep without doing 3 full breaths closing sequence? 

 

Thanks for your insights!

 

From what I remember I think that's fine. Infact, I've often done the same thing with no adverse effects, so you should be okay

I use it as a simple way to access spiritual energy. Seek god first, then carry on with whatever I'm doing.

16 minutes ago, Chirising said:

 

Hi guys,

I’ve been doing the exercises from DVD 1 for five months for about an hour a day, everyday. A lot of that has been exclusively monk holding the pearl and monk gazing at the moon. 

 

I’m not quite sure I’m feeling the benefits that are listed in here. I’m wondering if I could get some input on what I could do to troubleshoot? My guess is to seek out a teacher in person. But if that’s the case, can I find any in Europe? Or is my best bet to save up for a trip to see Terry himself?

 

I did have a dream where Terry sat on a swing and explained I might have too high expectations for the practice - so maybe it’s just that.

 

 

Hi Chirising,

 

I'd definitely suggest adding some of the moving meditations into the mix, especially Bending the Bows. By moving as slowly as possible, you can start to cultivate some of the same benefits as the internal martial arts. As you don't move against an imaginary force, the changes in the body do take a little longer, but over time, they will occur.

 

Good luck with your practice.

 

Miffymog.

 

 

Note: I think Bending the Bows might be on the second DVD.

The cat takes a nap.

His tail twitches quite a lot.

Right, I am now off.

36 minutes ago, Summer said:

@zen-bear The testimonials in this thread have me interested. What is the time commitment required to practice this form please? I'm aware it comes on many DVDs but an overview of the foundational practices and how long it takes would be appreciated.

 

Some kind of Quick Start guide which covers the important pointers from this thread with tips and info would be nice or can just following the DVD get the chi flowing perfectly? Others who have practiced are welcome to share their insight in this question as well.

 

Hi there Summer,

 

The time commitment is roughly 30 minutes as a minimum, but as the whole practice is quite relaxing and enjoyable, after time you may find the duration naturally increases.

 

Here are some links that can give you a pretty good overview of the requirements and what’s involved.

 

https://taichimania.com/essentialguidelines.html

 

https://taichimania.com/trainingschedule.html

 

And this link will give you a lot of very well structured information on the practice.

 

https://forum.alchemical.garden/branch/zenbear/
 

20 hours ago, OneWorld said:

We have also asked the school if there are issues with her behavior, that, perhaps she had done or said something which had put the teacher off, but from what we hear is that she gets along with everyone, all the kids are her friends. Truth be told the people here are extremely friendly and it's not hard to make friends. My daughter loves the kids in her class and she says that everyone is her friend, including girls, something that she didn't have before in her previous school where she was only able to build friendships with boys and the girls kept her outside of their group.

 

This is all that matters.

Hi Sifu Terry,

 

I was just wondering what your advice was in regards to FPCK and fasting. I currently practice 6 days a week and I've just started fasting on my day off. This seems to be working okay, but I'm considering increasing the fast to 2 days a week in future, would it still be alright to do some FPCK on a fasting day or should I leave it until the fast is over?

 

Many thanks,

 

Miffymog

 

p.s. I've never really had any brain washing sensations, but when doing Basic Warm Up 1 (5-60-80-40-30) as slowly as possible, I have sometimes felt as though there were two very small cogs intermeshing and rotating right in the center of my head (just in front of the pineal gland). But it was a really mild sensation

1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

 

My best guess would be, that was part of culture to them.  I suspect (and, no one will believe me and I can't provide any proof but I also, on some level, remember) that they modeled their culture on nature/tao, and that's how nature/tao keep records -- memory is the most sacred thing there is to them, memory embodied -- genealogical information is internal, DNA and stuff, and it's kept, all of it.  In the human world where there's language, oral transmissions are perhaps the epigenetic part of this internalized memory, though who's to say other life forms don't have languages of this "cultural" kind we simply don't understand?  Among domestic cats, more than half are unable to catch mice if they were separated from mom too early, instincts alone don't cut it.  If they were raised by mother cat, pretty much all of them later know how to hunt, regardless of whether they had live demos.  So maybe mother cat tells them somehow?  "You are a cat, and if you see such and such creature, that's prey, and it's edible.  That's our legacy.  Your ancestors lived like that for millions of years so you can too."  Might be a stretch of course...       

 

I remember reading somewhere that if you asked a Westerner

who they were or how they defined themselves, they would nearly always answer that question with what their job or profession was.

 

But if you asked an African, they were more likely to define themselves by who they were related to (Who/what are you? - I'm so and so's cousin/brother/sister).

 

I'm trying to redefine myself in my own mind in these terms, but I'm not quite there yet

34 minutes ago, Beep said:

Hi all ,

sorry just a question , I know generally in qigong we shouldn’t eat or drink minimum of 30 mins before or after qigong. The dvd say don’t eat before but nothing about after. I was super hungry and ate straight after a qigong session which I normally avoid. Is this harmful for practise or it doesn’t matter ? 
Thank you 

 

You'll be fine.

 

If you find yourself experiencing too much chi after a session, the advice is actually go and eat something as that 'turns it off'.

I'm not saying it's either something you can or should do, but I did come across this guy on Youtube that might have some answers to your questions.

 

https://m.youtube.com/c/sexualkungfu

I liked him.

16 hours ago, Lo2022 said:

I have a question about Flying Phoenix qi energy and potentially cultivating more energy to do things during the week. I've just started the first DVD of the series and have been enjoying it so far (it's the only system I've practiced).

 

I have been working part time/per diem for awhile and will be going back to full time work in a couple weeks. I am grateful to have found a full time job in my field however I'm nervous about  losing work life balance and neglecting my hobbies, self development, and interests outside of work. Usually when I'm full time--I'm rushing to get out the door in the morning and then I'm pretty drained by the time I get home and have enough energy to make a sandwich, relax for a little bit, and then pass out. Everything I want to do mostly gets moved to the weekends including chores and errands.

 

I was curious that with the qi built through this program that people are finding more energy to do things during the week rather than leaving everything to the measly 2 day weekend. Anecdotes appreciated!! Thank you 

 

This is a slightly tricky one to deal with.

 

TLDR; it's best if things like this are done on a daily basis, but you can start off with literally doing just 5 minutes a day, just to create a the habit. This duration will then naturally increase in time.

 

 

Whenever I had practices in the past, be it standing or sitting mediation, I always used to tell myself that the amount of time I end up doing it was always fairly equal to how much less sleep I’d need during the day. Therefore, it actually took no time out of my day to do it, I merely needed to get up a little earlier to do it.

 

The reason I’d need less sleep was because I’d gain a little more energy from doing the meditation, the day would be a little less stressful due to it, so I’d expend less emotional energy, and my sleep was probably of a slightly higher quality. So it was kind of a win-win situation (the fact is, this is probably true for any daily exercise routine, not just meditation and qi gong).

 

For me, the most challenging bit was getting up early to do it, because if I left it to the evening, there were always other things that might come up and I’d miss a session.

 

 

FPCK is a little bit different, in that because the mediations can be quite relaxing and aren’t always too strenuous (especially when it comes to the seated mediations on DVD 2), my sessions can end up taking up quite a bit of time, and I definitely don’t get all that time back in less sleep needed.

 

However, the way I have reduced the longer sessions is by only doing one mediation a session. Currently, I do some warm up exercises, sit or stand for 10 minutes before I start, perform the mediation for 20 to 30 minutes and then done, so it's relatively compact.

 

Good luck with your new job and finding a routine that works for you

 

Either go to your normal GP, or look for a local TCM practitioner?

It'd probably be best to sign up to his on-line school where you can then join his Facebook group. There are loads of people who'll be happy to help you there.

Wow - that was awesome - Thank you Sifu Terry!

19 hours ago, -_sometimes said:

Good to hear about your experience, and congrats on your persistence!

 

I practiced FPCK briefly, but the instructions on the postures were not at all in line with correct principles according to my understanding, for example 'tuck the tailbone' - something that must absolutely not be done according to Damo and notable members on this forum, which turned me off further practice. I'm sure it's possible to still get results that way, just less efficient perhaps..

 

I'm curious, how would you describe the act of 'soaking the mind into the body'? 

 

When I used to stand and follow the advice of scanning the body for tensions and then relaxing them, it was something I simply couldn’t do. The whole body pretty much all felt the same, and if I could find a tense area, I couldn’t find any way to release it.

 

But during some of the FPCK meditations I do, I try to move the body as slowly as possible. This has resulted in a much higher level of body mind integration and also, while doing this, a far quieter mind.

 

A combination of these two things means my mind ‘soaks into the body’ in a way it’s never done before

5 hours ago, Johndoe said:

Oh sorry to hear that. I just feel all these years that if I cannot sit and rest the pelvis on the femurs there's really no point in doing anything else. It feels like walking the tightrope otherwise. I stand in the wuji posture as described by Frantzis in the opening the energy gates book. I also do his guided breathing mp3s. 

 

I followed the standing routine as described in Lam Kam's Way of Energy book for a few years and although I got great benefit from it, I never learnt to sink properly.

 

What made it click for me was a year of FPCK and then signing up for Damo's academy for a month and binge watching every thing I could.

 

Although I can now do it as Damo suggests, such as soaking the mind into the body, I find I don't need to do any of that during FPCK in order to get the same sung effect.

 

The reason is the FPCK energy is naturally relaxing and calming, so I only need to reside in that sensation for my body to naturally relax and follow the process Damo describes.

 

So if you'd like to progress a little further than you currently are from following BFK's book, I do recommend either or both of the above.

Hi there, I've just re-read your original post and I realised that I've written a response that doesn't really answer you question. But having written it, I've decided I'll still post it rather than delete it - sorry about that

 

---

 

I’ve done a CBT course of intrusive thoughts as I have suffered from them myself, here are some of the main things I leant.

 

The first step is it’s best not to avoid situations where they might arise, as that can reinforce the sense that the thoughts are more than just thoughts.

 

Then, once you have identified the situation where they may occur, try to identify your ‘MUST NOT …’ thought. What is it exactly you must not do or think. As soon as you see something as a must not, that is a good way to get the mind to entertain the idea, so what are your must nots?

 

Also, while in the situation, see if you can identify any safety behaviours you may be using to reduce the intrusive thoughts. Unfortunately, these also have the tendency to just re-enforce the intrusive thought and you pretty much have to let go of these behaviours too.

 

You then have to face that situation where you have the intrusive thoughts and ‘let the worst thoughts possible’ happen. This is a challenge and involves no small amount of ego death. The fact is, you may not have a pleasant experience allowing your thoughts and imagination to ‘go wild’. However, after the event, you will always realise that the consequences of not fighting the mind are less than the perceived fear you originally had.

 

If you have truly managed to let go of yourself in the moment of confrontation, then the next time you face it, it will be easier. The anxieties and intrusive thoughts will not have gone, but they will have diminished.

 

What will then happen is in time the ability to relax into the moment at the onset of the anxiety becomes easier, and you can slowly become more rounded again.

 

This is all much easier to do with a therapist, but I did find this book particularly good

 

Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts: A CBT-Based Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts

by Sally M. Winston PsyD (Author), Martin N. Seif PhD (Author)

2 hours ago, almaxy said:

Can someone start with only level one? 

 

I heard it's best to start with levels one and two together, any toughts?

 

Definitely go for the first two together if you can afford it 

 

Level 1 / DVD 1 just consists of standing meditations, and level 2 / DVD 2 just consists of sitting meditations.

 

A really good thing about FPCK is that it combines both, and works better with both. So if you can stretch to the cost of them together then I highly recommend it, and you can then just stick with those for ages before you think about purchasing any of the other DVD's.

4 hours ago, centertime said:

Can you explain what grounded means? I am familiar with the word and many usages, I just would like to know what is grounding for you. What is it? What is its significance?

 

 

This just means in its most common usage, one a normal person on the street would understand it as.

19 hours ago, Jannski said:

 

Thank you very much for that reply  

 

And just to add on a little extra question: Would that also apply to a different system like Hatha Yoga ? I did a routine for the last couple of months consisting of asanas and pranayama and i really like to at least incorporate the sun salutation and some firebreath (pranayama) to cleanse the energy channels. Still im kinda new to the inner arts so i thought i better ask. 

 

Short answer:

This one is above my pay grade I’m afraid. Combining stretches from such a different tradition is one thing, but combining energy work is something quite different.

 

FPCK is a daoist tradtion, as is Serge Augier’s Da Xuan, but Hatha Yoga is not...

 

The problem is these practices have effects on the body that are beyond our ability to perceive, so how one interacts with another is very difficult to predict.

 

However, FPCK’s primary aim is to generate healing, calming and balancing qi.

 

And, although this is not something I can actually recommend doing, when I have mixed two systems together and they haven’t complimented each other, I do tend to find out about it pretty quickly. For example, negative side effects have included having too much energy in the head and difficulty sleeping.

 

But if you do both, at different times in the day, and end up feeling more balanced, calm and grounded, then you may be okay….

1 hour ago, Jannski said:

Hello

 

I was wondering if its ok to combine the FPCK with the daoist system of da xuan by serge augier im learning at the moment or better to just go with one of them ?

 

Im first and foremost trying to heal body mind and soul.

 

Thank you

 

There used to be a time when Terry would recommend that when you are learning FPCK, if it is your first type of qi gong or internal martial art, it’s best just to focus on it alone for the first couple of years while your energy body becomes used to the new energy flows that FPCK induces.

 

However, if you were already a Tai Chi practitioner, then as long as your FPCK session is at a different time of day to your Tai Chi practice, then you can do both, ie practice Tai Chi while learning FPCK.

 

This approach has changed a little bit where he now says it is fine to learn both FPCK and another internal art at the same time, as long as the sessions are separated by a little bit of time in the same day.

 

I just do FPCK, but I do add joint loosening, back stretching, tendon stretching and kua opening to my practice.

 

However, I know that other FPCK practitioners have combined learning FPCK with other various energy and internal martial arts with out any problem, so in short, it should be okay.

 

11 hours ago, almaxy said:

Good night everyone!

 

Does FPCK heals traumas, phobias? Emotional imbalances in general?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I believe it probably can. But things like this can take time, and it's also sometimes worth using other methods to help you as well if possible, i.e. don't just rely on FPCK to solve all your aliments, instead use it as an aid to help heal you.

9 hours ago, almaxy said:

 

But wasn't he(Terry) working to create an online platform, so you could pay a subscription to get acces to his teachings instead of the need to buy the DVD's? I heard it somewhere, can't remember exactly where now.

 

He may have contemplated that while looking into making the DVD's downloadable, but after a lot of thought and research I think he decided to keep things as they are.

 

Although I could be completely wrong about this. If you post this question on the original FPCK thread, he does respond.

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, silent thunder said:

This nears the heart of my sense that we (humans) do not exhibit free will through choice.

That what we refer to as choice as we experience it, is not the exhibition of conscious free will but the label we ascribe to the process of conditioned sub conscious responses to stimuli.  This arises of itself once programmed into behavior patterning.

 

We experience the illusion of choosing in awareness , but the precursors to conscious 'choice' are determined prior to us being aware of 'the choice'.  The conditioned responses prompt action which arises tzujan.  After the conditioned impulse to a response has already occured, we experience the conscious thought... and call that choice. 

 

This is behind why it's nigh on impossible to change certain behavioral patterns as their promptors and the process involved in them lies beneat the surface of conscious awareness in the subconscious.

 

This is being studied by neurobiologists such as Donald Hoffman.  Fascinating area. 

I hadn't thought to look into responsiveness in AI.

 

Thanks for sharing mate.

 

Yep, I've seen stuff that agrees with this.

 

I remember reading somewhere about a psychological experiment where by if the time frame between a prediction of a 2 outcome event, and the actual event happening is small enough, the subconscious mind will always trick the conscious mind into thinking it 'guessed' the right answer in advance.

 

So that the ego can maintain its sense of importance, it continually gets tricked into thinking its more influential than it is.