zen-bear

Hello Annnon, GM Doo Wai explained that for FP Qigong to be optimally effective, one needs to have regular restful sleep--i.e., for FP Qigong to work well, one cannot be sleep-deprived. He gave this answer in reply to my question if FP Qigong can replace lost sleep--citing the fact that the Tao Tan Pai ("Taoist Elixir Method"), which I learned from Taoist priest Share K. Lew (1975 to 1992), has high Yogas called "The Nine Flowers" and "The Five Dragons" that can replace lost sleep and thus enable one to function at full strength and high mental acuity without have regular restful sleep. GM Doo Wai and Taoist Priest/GM Share K. Lew were friends and peers since the moment they met in America, what GM Doo Wai described as "fellow kung fu men." Each was the senior lineage holder of a complete and intact Taoist monastic tradition of kung fu, nei kung, medicine, and spiritualism. Back to your question: "...why good quality sleep is needed or quote the original post?" Answer: It's just how the FP Qigong yogic methodology (utilizing the percentage breathing formulas) works . Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung, in contrast, works on a different yogic methodology that 's rooted in the cultivation of human sexual energy, what some Hindu Yogas and other Tantric systems call "the kundalini" energy ("coiled snake"). FP Qigong, in contrast, does not focus on the kundalini energy or on any other type or "flavor" of energy--for no visualization of any kind is required in the practice of FP Qigong. This great dissimilarity in yogic mechanism between FP Qigong and Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung is reflected/manifested in the fact that strict celibacy must be observed when learning the Advanced Tao Tan Pai Yogas, while no celibacy is required at all when learning and practicing any levels of Flying Phoenix Qigong--or any other Yogas under the Bok Fu Pai umbrella, for that matter. Thus, as I had posted in one of the early years of this thread: when I asked GM Doo Wai (with classmates present) whether we needed to observe any duration of celibacy when learning FP Qigong or any of the advanced Bok Fu Pai meditations (as I had to do when I was learning the advanced Tao Tan Pai Yogas), he answered, "Nah, you can knock yourselves out." However, to explain in any detail why and how FP Qigong requires regular restful sleep in order to work well would require rigorous testing and study by neuroscience, for starters. Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. This is a photo of GM at the grand opening of Sifu Dougla Wong's second kung fu school in Parthenia, Ca in 1981: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227420095559787&set=a.10227420037518336