EternalStudent

On 4/1/2023 at 3:36 PM, zen-bear said:

"I BOUGHT INTO THE DEEPER CONNECTION." --KOBE BRYANT

 

This is a spontaneous  testimonial given by the late great Laker star Kobe Bryant about his personal practice of Tai Chi and  Flying Phoenix Qigong--and specifically, "Monk Gazing At Moon" that took place 22 years ago when I trained the L.A. Lakers  during their 2000-2001 NBA season.  For all non-basketball fans:  Kobe Bryant was the No.4 highest scorer in NBA history and holder of 8 other unparalleled records.  He died 3 years ago in a tragic helicopter crash in Calabasas, CA along with his daughter and seven other friends.

 

The following is copied from my recent Facebook posting and pasted here to confirm for all reading this thread that back in 2000-2001, I trained the L.A. Lakers in Tai Chi, Flying Phoenix Qigong, and basketball-related exercises that I designed for them:

 

22 years after I trained the L.A. Lakers in--Tai Chi and Qigong as their warmup regimen--during their 2nd World Championship season under Phil Jackson, this tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement by the late Kobe Bryant surfaced and found its way to me:

 

 

My friend and Qigong student Marcus de Mello just sent this link to me yesterday. It's of the late Kobe Bryant reminiscing about the Tai Chi and Qigong training that I provided the L.A. Lakers throughout their 2000-2001 season. No doubt that the phenomenal success of my Tai Chi For Health instructional videos (on VHS starting in 1991 and still top-selling in the genre today on DVD) made it easier for Phil Jackson to bring me as a specialized trainer (after his predecessor Del Harris's secretary, Chris Luken, showed him my proposal and videos that I had originally sent to Harris). Plus a lot was being written at the time in the college coaching journals about Tai Chi as an effective recovery regimen for basketball players. So for that Sept. 2000 to April 2001 season, the first 50 minutes of every home practice at the Health South center was spent with me teaching the players, coaching staff and trainers Tai Chi and restorative Qigong. As the season progressed, I necessarily added a lot more kung fu conditioning exercises (to burn off the intoxicants in their systems that they came in with every morning). I also created several ball-control and ball-takeaway exercises using simple Tai Chi body mechanics and martial arts footwork that Kobe's teammate, my man Shaq, especially liked.

 

*NOTE OF CORRECTION: Contrary to what Kobe quips in this interview, I NEVER had the players take off their shoes and go barefoot. As a matter of fact, I've never required that students in any of my classes take off their shoes--since I started teaching in 1983(!) LOL. The late Kobe just made that stuff up on the fly in this interview...to add atmosphere, I guess, to his story. But Kobe's overall recollection is correct: I did do all my morning trainings of the team at center court at Health South. And after the first few sessions, he did get into it. The whole team got with the program and Shaq, Mark Madsen, Greg Foster, Devean George, Mike Penberthy, and elder statesman Ron Harper (who came from the Bulls and was 36 yrs old at the time) really loved it.

Although this interview show didn't get a photo of me, but just grabbed stock footage of some guy in a robe (who, btw, doesn't do anything close to what I teach), Kobe does identify me as the Laker's Tai Chi trainer when he mentions by name the "Monk Gazing At Moon" exercise and does its hand posture somewhat correctly on camera. "Monk Gazing At the Moon" is one of 32 exercises in Ehrmei Mountain Flying Phoenix Qigong (Fei Feng San Gung), an extremely rare an esoteric system of Taoist monastic Qigong and hygienics--of which I am the sole living 7th generation preserver. Except Kobe got an important detail of this particular exercise all wrong in this interview: "Monk Gazing At Moon" is done with the eyes wide OPEN--not closed! For it says so in its name--LOL!! (It's not called, "Monk Gazing At the Moon Through Closed Eyelids"!!)

 

• Anyway, thank you, Kobe, for mentioning my Tai Chi and Qigong training during this interview--however loosely! And thank you, Marcus, for forwarding to me this bit of acknowledgment 22 years after the fact.

 

My training the Lakers in 2000-1 also started a trend in pro basketball. I was the first Tai Chi trainer in NBA history. My very good friend, Steve Saltman, was close friends since childhood with Ki Ki Vandeweghe, as their fathers played together for the Knicks. (Steve's father. "Shelly" Saltman, was president of the Lakers during the Jack Kent Cook days in the 60's. So when Steve told Ki Ki that I was training the Lakers in Tai Chi for warm-ups and for recovery from the sport's wear-and-tear , Ki Ki at that time had just become general manager of the Denver Nuggets after a 21-year career as a player and coach, and Ki Ki immediately went out and hired a Tai Chi master in the Denver area for his team.

 

Enjoy the read.  I hope it inspires you to practice more Monk Gazing At Moon and more FP Qigong because, well...

...it worked for the late great Kobe Bryant's game.

 

Sifu Terry

 

http://www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Zoom classes:   terencedunn.substack.com

 

That’s amazing! 
 

Thanks for sharing this great piece of FP history with a new generation of students, Sifu 🙏
 

On 11/4/2023 at 10:57 AM, Pak_Satrio said:

I agree, this would be my preferred method of learning over DVD. It would also be a good way to reach younger practitioners who have never seen a DVD or a DVD player in their life 😂

 

That sounds like an amazing experience! I wonder how you managed to reach him.

Exactly! While DVDs are still very much usable…they limit where you can train. For most people (especially the younger crowd) their main media device is going to be their phones. Not so much by choice but by convenience. 
 

Not the most optimal way to train, of course. But it’s still feasible. 
 

I would seem the FPCK energy brought me there. It was pretty obvious my intrusion wasn’t expected…haha. 

On 10/15/2023 at 1:14 AM, zen-bear said:

Hi External Student:

 

I began hearing buzzing in my ears after I laid the foundation in another system in 2020. I’ve been hearing it 24/7 since then. 
Hmm. Interesting.  But hearing the buzzing 24/7 doesn't sound like a typical effect of Qigong. 

If you care to disclose, what is the other system you practiced and made foundational in 2020?

 

When I do Flying Phoenix, the sound gets louder. So while Flying Phoenix may not generate this electric qi, perhaps it enhances it?

That may be the case.  Continue your practice of both and see if that relationship is constant.  If FP Qigong consistently enhances the effect from your other Qigong practice with no ill effects, then I suppose the other system is also a solid system that only benefits health.

 

I will say though that Flying Phoenix is too intelligent a system if that makes sense lol. It boggles the mind. 

Yes, FPCK still boggles my mind when I think about how it works and how swiftly it works.
 

Every exercise seems to be a heavenly formula for tweaking our consciousness…tuning it to a different frequency. My entire being is cleansed from negative emotions after practicing. I don’t experience this with other systems. The difference is like night and day. 

Thanks for this stellar feedback.   I'm enlarging it here and I'm going to print it on tshirts or laminate on the back of a jacket!!
 

I do physical labor for work and just one 5 minute exercise before work will give me enough energy to move continuously for 10 hours minus a few breaks. 

Fabulous report of a typical result. 

Remember:  FPCK is the health safety net of the vast Ehrmei Mtn. Bok Fu Pai Kung Fu tradition.  As a discrete Qigong discipline, I would say that FPCK represents about 1/20 (or less) of the total body of knowledge that is  Bok Fu Pai system.  (You can check with my classmate, Sifu Garry Hearfield about this.)  Also recall "ridingtheox"'s comment in Year One of this thread when he said that he had retired to ranching in NE Arizona at 71 years of age--and that all he needed to do was the Vol.4 Long Form standing meditation two times and he was good for a full day of ranching!  --And that he didn't have to do Tai Chi anymore--which had been practicing for 25 years. (I told him not to stop his Tai Chi.)

Yours and ridingox's stories are ample Proof of the Pudding that FP Qigong rejuvenates the human process (mind, body & spirit) and supplies an abundance (I say a super-abundance) of energy to DO WORK.

 

Thanks again, "InternalStudent"!!

 

Sifu Terry
 

Sorry for the late reply. I’ve been sick the last few days. Feeling much better now. 

During that time I was (almost religiously!) practicing Spring Forest. After a few months of celibacy combined with training for 6 hours a day and some intermittent fasting, I was able to reach a permanent blissed out state. 

Then I stopped feeling chi as strongly as I did,  and the chi always felt cold. The buzzing in the ears came after. I later on figured out that the lessing of sensation was natural. 
 

After a long period of celibacy, I needed a system that didn’t require it to reach advanced levels. I just happened upon FPCK when I really needed it, and right away I could tell its special. 
 

After finding FPCK I have no need to practice anything else. I get more out of one FPCK exercise then I do complete systems. Plus, I would want to mix the energies. 
 

Within the first week of practicing FPCK, GM Doo Wai appeared to me in a dream. Mind you, I had never seen this man before. I found out who he was after I did some research. He told me he was surprised I was able to reach him there; and told me some information about the lineage.

…So I have zero doubts that FPCK is lifetime system. I haven’t seen anything else quite like it. 
 

It’s funny you mention Sifu Gary! While I haven’t trained with him directly, I am subscribed to one of his channels. Much like yourself, he is no nonsense, speaks his mind, and doesn’t waste your time. His podcasts about various martial arts disciplines are always interesting. 
 

Wow, doing all that at 71 is wild! He is an inspiration to us all. 
 

On 10/16/2023 at 5:27 AM, zen-bear said:

Hi EternalStudent!

 

Thank you so very much for your kind compliment about the amount of info on FPCK that I have posted on this thread to help practitioners--and its quality as well, I hope!

 

Answers to your questions:

1.)  Do you have any plans to make the advanced FPCK exercises available to the public? 

• Yes, I do plan to make the next level of advanced standing FPCK exercises available to the public.  But I haven't decided on the media format yet.  I will probably publish the new material on  DVDs or possibly put them on a  streaming platform accessible on a subscription basis.  I will not make them available on downloadable digital files (see below).

2.)  Have you considered releasing the teachings in digital format? In an age where more and more people are using their smart phones to consume media, I would gladly repurchase the series in digital format, and I’m sure many others would do the same. 

• No.  As I explained about a two years ago:  after long and thorough assessment with many experts in the entertainment industry and lawyers, I decided that the risk of piracy and loss of control of distribution of these programs is too great to make these programs available on downloadable digital files.  Also, viewing the visual content (my physical demonstrations) of the DVD programs on a small hand-held device (including tablets) is not very efficient nor popular according to my surveys of my students in the U.S.  The majority of serious FPCK students that I've spoken to connect a disc drive to a large TV monitor in order to follow the instruction of a big picture.  Plus external disc drives are more affordable than ever--selling from US$13 to US$40 online on sites like Amazon.

 

But thank you for expressing your interest in digital versions of the CKFH programs.

 

Regards,

 

Sifu Terry

I fully support you on that. Lately I’ve been thinking about the topic of digital media vs physical media and what means for the future in regards to ownership. 
 

Glad to hear you’re staying the course and avoiding digital downloads. 
 

I am one of those students who trained with a television screen as my preferred method. A laptop would be my second option. I couldn’t imagine using a smartphone to train myself, but I know many younger people who would try.  
 

A subscription plan via streaming is certainly more appealing to me. 

5 hours ago, zen-bear said:

Hello External Student:

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

So now I’m working on finishing up the intermediate/advanced meditations while doing one meditation a day.

Great that you're worked your way up to the intermed. and advanced meditations at a comfortable, good steady pace.

 

I’ve found that once you spend some time with Flying Phoenix, it doesn’t take much to activate the energy in your body.  It’s like everything I’ve gained from the practice is contained within each exercise. 

YES!  and YES! – to these two statements.

If you don't mind:  Based on these two sentences, I now hereby officially rename you for intents and purposes on Daobums and elsewhere:  "Able_InternalStudent"!

 

Congratulationss!

Sifu Terry

Thank you so much, Sifu Terry! 
 

In this thread alone you have shared a staggering amount of information on FPCK which has been a great help to everyone here, even if they don’t say it. 
 

I have a few questions:

1.) Do you have any plans to make the advanced FPCK exercises available to the public? 
2.)Have you considered releasing the teachings in digital format? In an age where more and more people are using their smart phones to consume media, I would gladly repurchase the series in digital format, and I’m sure many others would do the same. 

4 hours ago, tao stillness said:

I think it is obvious that with what is going on in the world with new viruses, stress from unstable governments, crumbling economies, college athletic conferences merging or disappearing, warfare, etc., Qigong is needed now more than ever to boost the immune system and to manage stress as the world continues to rapidly change during this anticipated phase transition due to a minor period of Sat Yuga beginning in the midst of the longer Kali Yuga. Physics tells us that before something takes a quantum leap to a more orderly state, such as water turning to ice, there is much random chaotic activity of the molecules before the change in states happens. That is what we have been seeing for the last number of years. So I think Qigong serves as buffer for what is going on. Since our consciousness at the quantum level is connected to everything and everyone at a deep level, we are all subject to this increasing entropy/chaos. So it's time to buckle up and increase the time we put into doing Flying Phoenix Chi Kung. I am currently looking at my daily routine and demands on my time created by family life to find a way to go back to doing some Flying Phoenix Chi Kung based on all of these glowing testimonials from people comparing results of Flying Phoenix to the other Qigong methods that they previously experienced. The solution to the lack of time probably can be found by decreasing the addictive nature of being online too long. I also have to have a mental change. When I used to do Flying Phoenix Chi Kung I had the attitude that I had to do almost all of the meditations each day. A mindset of all or nothing resulted in not finding the time to do Flying Phoenix and then looking for styles of Qigong that were not as time consuming as Flying Phoenix Chi Kung.  

I had a similar experience when I started. I felt like I needed to do as many meditations as possible. Then I switched to the recommended schedule of one standing/sitting meditation a day for 2 weeks and then adding on more. I’ve found that training schedule to be the most effective to me. So now I’m working on finishing up the intermediate/advanced meditations while doing one meditation a day. I’ve found that once you spend some time with Flying Phoenix, it doesn’t take much to activate the energy in your body. It’s like everything I’ve gained from the practice is contained within each exercise. 

52 minutes ago, centertime said:

Which exercise?

 

I usually only have time to one standing exercise on my workdays. Since I already do at lot of physical exercise at work I like to balance it out by doing static exercises. I usually go for Monk Gazing at Moon or Monk Holding the Pearl. 
 

I do one for a few weeks straight or only a couple of days depending on the type of energy I wish to project in the work place. 
 

When I had a lot of work to do, I favor Mon Gazing At Moon. It gives me the most dynamic energy. 
 

Monk Holding the Pearl has more of a smoothing effect on me. It grounds and centers me. 
 

So, I find this combination to be good.
 

On 10/2/2023 at 9:51 PM, zen-bear said:

 

Hi Steve,

 

I think the "Monk Serves Wine" meditation that you refer to as  "the one that is the energizer..."  is the last seated meditation on Volume 2 --not Vol. 7--that starts with the palms in "the lotus" position (clasped palms on the centerline at heart level) and then slowly separates the palms by pulling the elbows sideways that has the breathing sequience (90 80 50 20).  On the Volume 2 DVD, which has 3 "warm-up" seated meditations followed by 3 MSW meditations, that one is the very last meditation on the program.  That's the one you don't want to do at night.

 

Thanks for your positive assessment of FP Qigong after trying some 100+ Qigong methods and/or systems.

 

About "Thunder Qi" as coined by the Tai Chi proponent you mentioned:   

No, you will NOT feel anything "thunderous" when practicing FP Qigong because no aspect of healing is "thunderous."   If you do feel something "thunderous" when doing FP Qigong, then you are practicing it incorrectly and STOP IMMEDIATELY whatever you're doing with the system!!!  FP Qigong Healing Qi, is sublime, restorative, light, all-penetrating, and all permeating, mind-clearing, and, as described by me and my more advanced students  many times on this thread,  has an intelligence of its own.

FP Qigong induces allostasis, and restorative, self-healing process that returns the body to homeostasis and normal health.

Any mundane energy state that is restorative and truly healing from any world tradition of wellness---Tibetan, Buddhist, Kaballistic, Gnostic Christian, So. African Sangoma, Islamic Hijama, etc.--is NOT "thunderous"--except for ultra-rare occasions of authentic spiritual healing (defined as healing effected by the intervention of spiritual forces and entities).  Again, the nature and experienced quality of healing energy is not "thunderous."   For how can "thunderous" energy sustain an integrated mind and body and activate continuous self-healing?? 

•• Let's just ask ourselves and think back, over the past 14 years and out of the 5,

 

However,  "thunderous" does accurately describe the energy of martial Qigong systems, of which I--along with Sifu Garry Hearfield in Australia and a few others--preserve several in the Ehrmei Mountain Bok Fu Pai as taught by Grandmaster Doo Wai. 

A.  One particular technique we have in Bok Fu Pai Kung fu is translated from Cantonese as,  "THE CONTINUOUS PIERCING PALM"--and this technique (that consists of 3 movements) can truly be described as 'THUNDEROUS".

B.   Of the Ehrmei Bok Fu Pai systems that I preserve that exhibit demonstrable and verifiable "thunderous Qi":

      1.  Bok Fu Pai Nei Kung

      2.  LEVEL 2 of Advanced Flying Phoenix Qigong (9 standing meditations)

      3.  10,000 Buddhas Ascend To Heaven (54 exercises) -- All 3 subsets containing 18 meditations...impart experience of "thunder" louder and more intensely tangible  than naturally occuring thunder in climate.

     

C.   Bat Din Gum -- 8 Sections of Energy Combined (a vast kung fu system).  A Wudang intenral system that made its way southward and today is known to be practiced by the monks at the Goddess of Mercy (Kuan Yin) Temple in Macau.

 

D   "Thunderous Qi" can be experienced within the first few years of Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir method) Kung Fu training that is ACTUALLY HEARD--NOT IMAGINED--AS A DEEP, THUNDEROUS DRUMMING IN THE EARS.

In fact, once one becomes adept in the basics of Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu after:

(1)  becoming proficient in the basic TTP 5 Animal Kung fu forms (tiger, dragon, snake, crane, and monkey) and a few TTP weapons forms, 

(2)  becoming adept in the first level qigong called the Tao Tan Pai Basic 31 Meditations

--which for beginners can occur within 3 to 5 years of training, it is possible to experience and hear "thunderous Qi."

 

MY CONCLUSION:  "Thunderous" Qi can be cultivated in many internal systems of kung fu besides the 6 methods that I practiced for decades and have listed above, A, B1, B2, B3, C, and D.

 

BTW, in my experience, "Thunderous Qi" is not a requisite benchmark in the  Tai Chi Chuan system that I have practiced over the past 44 years, which is the Cheng Man-ching manner of the Yang Family style.  In my years of training under the late Master/General Abraham Liu (1980-1992), the late Master Benjamin Lo , and since 2013 with GM William C.C. Chen, I have NEVER HEARD these high-level masters nor any of their senior students mention "thunderous Qi".   --Which is not to say that it doesn't exist or hasn't been experienced by someone else doing Tai Chi.  

 

I'm just stating here that I have never heard nor experienced "thunderous Qi" during my Tai Chi Chuan development of soft power.

I have, however, as I've given an account of here on this thread, experienced while doing Tai Chi Chuan the feeling that I was completely charged with lightning energy--to the extent that I did not have volitional control over my bodily movements for a few long seconds.

Again, I state that I have only experienced that phenomenon of "thunderous Qi" while practicing the secret martial Qigong engines that empower  Bok Fu Pai, Tao Tan Pai, and Bat Din Gum systems.

 

Sifu Terry Dunn

 

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

^{terencedunn.substack.com}

 

 

 

Hi Sifu Terry, I’m a returning student. I have made it to the short form Capstone exercise which I still have to master. 
 

I began hearing buzzing in my ears after I laid the foundation in another system in 2020. I’ve been hearing it 24/7 since then. 
 

When I do Flying Phoenix, the sound gets louder. So while Flying Phoenix may not generate this electric qi, perhaps it enhances it?

I will say though that Flying Phoenix is too intelligent a system if that makes sense lol. It boggles the mind. 
 

Every exercise seems to be a heavenly formula for tweaking our consciousness…tuning it to a different frequency. My entire being is cleansed from negative emotions after practicing. I don’t experience this with other systems. The difference is like night and day. 
 

I do physical labor for work and just one 5 minute exercise before work will give me enough energy to move continuously for 10 hours minus a few breaks. 

On 8/11/2023 at 11:44 AM, Pak_Satrio said:

Hi @EternalStudent! Please share your experience with Flying Phoenix in the FP thread:

 

 

Thank you for the link!

Nice to meet everyone!

I have been training in different internal arts (on and off) for about 15 years. 
 

My only practice as of now is Flying Phoenix. I have reached the intermediate level in this system before some real life challenges prevented me from continuing the training. Now that my home/work life is more stabilized, I figure now is a good time to join rather than lurk.