zen-bear

Hello Bruce Qi, I have not heard GM Doo Wai talk of a qigong art called "San Gong." San Gong is not a specific, detailed by a rather general term that means "spiritual work", "heavenly work", "spiritual cultivation", or "heavenly cultivation". it is the same two characters that appear in "Fei Feng San Gong" or "Flying Phoenix Heavenly Cultivation." Of the ten names of "san gong" meditations that you listed in your post, I recognize seven of them by the exact names used for Meditations in other Bok Fu Pai internal systems. I have highlighted in bold letters the ones whose names I know very well through my own practice, and also have listed in blue the arts to which each one I recognize belongs to: - Child praying to the goddess of mercy - this is name of one of 3 Advanced healing FP Meditations, each one very powerful This one has breathing sequence (60 30 20 10), has 2 parts of movements, each 2-part round is repeated 18 times. - The wind above the waves - this is name of GM Doo Wai's "Healing Qigong Meditation", a standing form you can find on Youtube. - Breeze on top of the trees - Flying Phoenix Qigong - The monk begging for rice - basic posture in Flying Phoenix Qigong - The monk serving a cup of wine - the collective name for all the seated Flying Phoenix Meditations - The monk disrobing - classical martial technique--full name is "Lohan Monk Disrobing"--is found in the Bak Mei, Bok Fu Pai, and Yau Kang Mun Kung fu systems. Technique was originally incorporated into Bak Mei Kung Fu by the great Bak Mei master, Chun Lai Cheung, who had it done to him by a Buddhist monk, who threw him over a wall with it . This is my Bok Fu Pai classmate, Sifu Garry Hearfield, demonstrating it nicely: - The sparrow returning to her perch - Monk gazing at the moon - Flying Phoenix Qigong; this is also name of GM Doo Wai's Healing Detox Meditation seen on Youtube. (I also teach this Meditation): - Clouds above the sky - 8 goddess heavenly form I have no doubt that the "san gong" system you are practicing is authentic, especially since you've said that they are a "truly beautiful" set. Just know that within the Bok Fu Pai tradition and across several of its internal arts, the same names are sometimes used for different exercises/meditations. And, as with the case of "Monk Disrobes," that name and technique is found in at least 3 different kung fu systems that are historically connected. I'm a bit curious as to what the above "san gong" meditations look like. I may be able to tell you more about them if I see them. But I prefer to discuss these with you through back-channel messaging because I know that these San Gong meditations have no relevance whatsover to FP Qigong practice. I know this because GM Doo Wai was very clear in defining the boundaries of each of the internal arts that he taught to me and showing me how distinctly different each one was from the others. Sifu Garry Hearfield can tell you the same thing about Sunn Yi Gung, Tibetan Burning Palm, Golden Mantis, and Ehrmei Mountain Bak Mei Kung Fu and the several other arts that he learned from GM Doo Wai. Thanks for bring up these names, though. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hello FP Practitioners, I am giving a 3 day, 22-hour intensive workshop in Yang style Tai Chi Chuan in the manner of my teacher, Grandmaster William C.C. Chen, at Eastover Estate & Eco-village in Lenox, MA from February 15 to 18. This workshop is my first Tai Chi For Health workshop in many years as I have been focusing primarily on teaching the remarkable Ehrmei Mountain Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditation Qigong system in recent years. Nonetheless, this is my longest and strongest passion in the Chinese martial arts: teaching Yang Tai Chi Chuan in the Cheng Man-Ching lineage. During this immersive workshop,beginners will learn the complete 60-posture Yang Form of GM William Chen and also learn the basics of Push-Hands (Tui Shou) or Fixed-step Sparring, the laboratory by which one learns the martial applications of Tai Chi Chuan. Intermediate Tai Chi players will do more Push=hands, learn and refine Da Lu (4-corner Push-Hands) and advanced practitioners get to work on moving Push-Hands and up to 3 Yang style straight sword forms, if they bring their swords, of course. So y'all bring your swords. Hope to see you there! Details and registration information: http://www.eastover.com/workshop/terence-dunn-taichi-for-health.html http://www.eastover.com/workshop/terence-dunn-taichi-for-health.html

Hi Virtue, Thank you very much for finding these postings on this thread of links to oral history about the origins of FP Qigong and Bok Fu Pai by Feng Tao Teh! I wanted to compare the online versions with the oral histories that GM Doo Wai had told to me and to Sifu Garry Hearfield. Best, Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. I will reply to your most recent postings shortly!

LDMB, To tell you how much I follow this thread that I started as a Public Service Warning Announcement, I just revisited after 2.5 years and saw your post. Thanks for your correction on the founding date of the Republic of China. I am also impressed that you learned Chinese as an adult. I'm glad your eyes are dry. I didn't start this thread to elicit anybody's tears. As for your comments below in italics, they deserve my response: 1) Total bs. I would rather be deprived of my 'physical necessities and comforts' than have someone beat the snot out of me. That's your stunted worldview, shallow logic, and free will to react as you choose. But someone can be deprived of physical necessities and comforts to a level where one's physical health is damaged to the point of disease, degenerative disease, injury through accident, and even death... And many people robbed of their rightful assets have spiraled down to such an end. No one can "earn" that much money. You can get it, but you can't earn it. Now if you told me that 100% of that money (since, again, you also made other money through your regular sales) was ear-marked for starving children or something, I could shed a tear for you, No one can "earn" that much money Wow. That incredible, reality-denying belief and the very cynical and dismissive-of- if not hateful-of-all-earners attitude behind it should serve you very, very well in life. So how do very wealthy people making millions or tens of millions or billions of dollars a year make their money if they don't "earn" it? All they are thieves? or black magicians? I obviously disagree with your belief that "no one can 'earn' that much money." And i'll use part of my business history as an example. In 1989, I produced on a shoestring budget (less than $25,000 total of savings), two 2-hour programs called Tai Chi For Health Short Form and TCFH Long Form. I pulled off the production by getting lots of favors from friends who were professionals in TV production. TCFH Short Form and Long Form were 2 of the earliest instructional videos teaching Yang Tai Chi and they did so well throughout the 90's such that I was able to quit my corporate job as a management consultant in 1992 and devote my time to producing more instructional videos, and enlarge into producing television and theatrical films. From 1996 to 2003, according to Nielsen Videoscan (an independent market share analysis service) my two DVD titles accounted for 35% of every bar-coded DVD program that had the word "Chi" in its title. On that list of 1,180 execise and fitness DVDs, Tai Chi for Health Short Form as ranked No.100 and the TCFH Long Form title was ranked 120. Hence during that heyday period, I had several years in which my net royalty income from the DVD sales exceeded $1 million. That was money that I EARNED--not just for myself but for my distribution companies (Healing Arts Publishing and then Gaiam), and for every retail establishment, mail order catalog, Reader's Digest, COSTCO, WALMART, airline catalogs, Signals Catalog, and every DVD wholesaler in the industry. None of that gross revenue from millions of Tai Chi For Health being sold would have generated had I not taken the risk and created those programs on my own dime on my own time and having written, directed, produced, and appeared in them as the principal talent. Today, despite the near complete disapperance of brick-and-mortal retail outlets, my Tai Chi For Health titles are still the highest rated and best-selling Tai Chi DVDs on amazon.com and other platforms. Now if you told me that 100% of that money (since, again, you also made other money through your regular sales) was ear-marked for starving children or something, I could shed a tear for you, Not that I ever asked you to shed a tear, but the fact is that during very good years, I have given up to 30% of my net income to carefully selected charities and good causes. One is the Bread and Roses Cafe in Venice, CA which is a restaurant that feeds the homeless while being staffed with homeless people who are learning restaurant industry skills. The others are all educational in function. One is the Teton Science School in Jackson, WY, where every year a scholarship fund I helped found in 1994 takes 48 inner city kids from 2 high schools in L.A. and they get to study science for a month there. Most have never been out of Los Angeles and the positive transformation of their self-image and their life goals and possibilities is nothing short of amazing and miraculous. but "I'm a hard working tai chi guy who practiced for more than a million years" just doesn't cut it. To date, I have been practicing Chinese internal martial arts for 42 years. You have mischaracterized me with words that I have never spoken, written nor conveyed--and alleged AN ATTITUDE I HAVE NEVER COPPED TO ANYONE...just to enable yourself to state that you have no sympathy for my situation. That everything I have written on this thread "doesn't cut it with you" is fine with me. But don't fabricate words and put them in my mouth. I am just not going to cry for you with the kind of money you are making. I NEVER ASKED YOU--NOR ANYONE ELSE-- TO CRY FOR ME AND I NEVER WILL. I STARTED THIS THREAD AS A PUBLIC SERVICE, and yes, also as a channel by which I can vent a little bit BY TELLING THE TRUTH. if you have a problem with its "tone", which you seem to have, you are free to abreact and continue expressing your snide poverty-consciousness and disdain for those people in the world making "that kind of money." In contrast to you, I don't begrudge the wealthy and I do lend sympathy and support to all my friends and allies who have been wronged and cheated in any amount--whether by predatory individuals or corrupt corporations, especially those in the very treacherous entertainment industry that I happen to work in. e.g., Marsha Posner Williams, a successful TV producer and friend who produced in the 90's thee most successful yoga videos in the western world, "Total Yoga" with Ganga White and Tracy Rich (her 2 titles were rated #5 and #6 between 1999 and 2003 out of 1,180 fitness DVD's--just behind the four "Tae Bao" DVDs), told me that she was informed in the most IN YOUR FACE manner by Gaiam, inc., the same distributor that I sued in the year 2000 and by 2003 had gotten my rights to my Tai Chi For Health DVDs back, that they had cheated her out of royalties for one million units of DVD sales that they failed to report to her when they were made. I advised her on her options and shared my experience with her and the remedy I used. The point I make here is THEFT IS THEFT, no matter how much is taken. 3) The tone of your thread comes off as very junior high schoolish. It could have been done differently. Thank you for your opinion about my tone. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

I would like to ask the FP community if anyone can recall or find the posting on this thread on which someone had shared a link to a webpage that had a version of the oral history about the spiritual origin of Flying Phoenix Qigong and Bok Fu Pai. Thanks very much to all for your help. Sifu Terry Dunn

SandroFV, Please get a good English interpreter to explain the Guidelines to you. They are quite clear and accurate. No English-speaking practitioner of FP Qigong over the past 20 YEARS has ever suffered the high level of confusion from reading the Guidelines that you have reflected in your postings here nor has any other person ever complained about the Guidelines, which, btw, were first published and copyrighted in 1998 (as seen below). Again, I simply attribute your confusion to your less-than-perfect understanding of the English language. Sifu Terry Dunn

Thanks for your input on this "Kundalini syndrome" question, Steve. I just want to say that you should come up to Lenox, MA if possible this winter while I'm here so that you can learn the Tao Tan Pai 31. Every Monday, night I teach a 90-minute class in the Tao Tan Pai 31 Basic Meditations. Tonight, in 90 min. plus an extra 15, I led the class the fifteen standing meditations of Tao Tan Pai 31's, and then we did the first three (Meds. # 16, 17, and 18) seated meditation. A jolly, energetically juicy good time was had by all. Best, Sifu Terry

Hello Jack of Hearts, Thank you very much for your very clear summary interpretation of the training guidelines for SandroFV...and your subsequent comment about finding it odd that he should be searching for a logical critera or framework by which to select what FP Meditations to practice. It helped me to form my replies to him, most of which boil down to the old Nike slogan: "JUST DO IT." I think much of the confusion, as I said, was due to English being not his first language and his admitted shortcomings in writing in English. Thanks again for your help here. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

deleted as duplicate.

Hello SandroFV, I think the fact that English is not your first language may have led to your confusion about the FP Qigong training guidelines. Here are my answers to your questions: About Guideline No. 7 on webpage and on brochure: 7. Now begin another cycle of practice starting with a new standing meditation (Number #4) and new seated meditation (Number #4) everyday for two weeks, and repeat steps #3 through #6. Steps 3 through #6 to be repeated in the "Next Cycle": 3. For an intensive start: practice one standing and one seated meditation everyday for two weeks. After two weeks or longer of practice, add the next standing and seated meditation appearing on the video, while continuing practice of the first two meditations. Then after two more weeks of practicing two standing exercises and two seated meditations every day, add the next standing exercise and the next seated meditation. After you have increased your practice to three standing meditations and three seated meditations, practice this combination daily for at least two months. This can take between 50 to 70 minutes a day. This training time can be broken up into several sessions spread-out throughout the day. 1) This means what exactly? It means just what it says: after you have practiced for 6 weeks or longer, you then practice 3 standing + 3 seated mediations daily for 2 months. After that 2 month period, you can stop doing the first 3 standing + first 3 seated meditations, and then start a second cycle by practicing a fourth standing and fourth seated meditation for 2 weeks, then add a 5th new standing and seated meditation for 2 weeks, and then add a 6th new standing ad seated meditations for the next 2 weeks. Then after you've practiced 3 standing plus 3 seated meditations of this new cycle, you practice the 6 meditations for 2 months. Thus, after two "cycles" which span: 6 weeks + 2 mos. + 6 weeks + 2 months = 7 months of practice, you will have thoroughly practiced 6 standing FP meditations and 6 seated Monk Serves Wine seated meditatios. Note: this is a rather rigorous schedule, but one that will ensure you master each FP meditation and become saturated with each one's effects. One can shorten this schedule. If one has the time and doesn't want to ramp up gradually, one can do 3 standing FP meditations plus 3 seated FP Meditations "right out the gate" everyday for 2 months ( and skip the 6 week ramp up period). 2) I can not understand if this “until you have practiced” means: ---a)-“until you are practicing all of them daily” ---b)-or “ until you have some past experience in all of them” > It means through your practice, you want to attain even coverage of all the FP Meditations in the DVD series equally on a daily basis if possible--where you have practiced all of them equally over the long term. In general, as I've stated many, many times on this thread, the goal is to practice all the meditations on all the DVD volumes 1 through 5, and Vol.7 until you are intimately familiar with the energizing, healing, and brain activating effects of each of them. You want to start from Volumes 1 and 2 because the entire series presents the FP Qigong meditations in the exact order in which GM Doo Wai taught them to me and my classmates starting in 1991. How you achieve coverage and a "saturation" of all the FP MEditations in the DVD series is really up to you. You don't have to strictly follow the Guidelines that I published. They are based on how I rotated the FP Meditations after I had learned them from GM Doo Wai. As highlighted years ago here, "ridingthe ox" was able to jump right into Vol.4 's Long Form Meditation because he had 25+ years of Tai Chi experience. Then he went back and picked up all the shorter standing FP Meditations in the earlier volumes, and found that their practice was quite profound. •The Guidelines I suggested are not hard and fast rules. They are just suggestions for those who have no Qigong, martial arts, or meditation experience and don't know how to structure a practice routine. 3) So I will practice only two of eleven ( 1 standing and 1 seated) and remain without to practice all the others nine exercises for six months? > No. I don't know where you got this interpretation. As stated above, over 6 months you will have practiced at least 6 standing + 6 seated FP meditations. >>This is my answer to both your questions No. 4 and no.5: Practice each and everyone of the FP MEditations on the DVD series until you instinctively know which ones you can do less of or discontinue altogther. That is up to you. 6) The DVD3 have two moving meditations, none of them is it. I suppose that you make a mistake, should be written "Volume four"? >What are you talking about? Just practice volume 3 until both are memorized and you can do them with eyes closed. So, If I was able to understand something, I suppose that: 7) When I begin to learn the DVD4, I should be training daily: ------a)1 from DVD1+1 form DVD2+ 1 from DVD3 AND Maybe practicing a “second best exercise” only once a week? or ------b)-1 from DVD1+1 from DVD2+ DVD3 complete AND Maybe practicing a “second best exercise” only once a week? ? You are creating confusion where there is none to begin with. No one has posted such confused and abstruse questions in the 8 years and 3 months of this discussion thread. I will attribute the confusion to your unfamliarity with English. My best advice is to just practice the DVDs from Volumes 1 and 2 and move forward until you have practiced everything and memorized Long Form Standing Meditation called "FLying Phoenix Heavenly healing Chi Meditation" taught on Vol.4. 8) AFTER learn DVD4 should I abandon completely the practice of the DVDs 1,2,3 ? Or should continue practicing them once a week? That is totally up to you. I have advised every student of mine and every person following this forum that for shortage of time, the practice of Vol.4's Long Form Standing Mwditation (FPHHCM) can subsume practice of all the preceding standing FP Meditations--but not the seated ones. If one practices FPHHCM alone on a daily or regulary basis, one will maintain peak immunity and continually perfect one's control over one's internal energy and involuntary organ functions. But if one has unlimited time, one should practice all of the FP Meditations as regularly as possible. **Nothing in this Flying Phoenix Qigong art is to be "abandoned" or jettisoned and never practiced again. 9) The next DVDs are “extras” to the main system? I suppose that the DVD5 don’t replace a practice of the DVD4, right? It should be quite obvious that the five 90-second standing FP Meditations taught on Volume 5 cannot replace the Volume 4 capstone exercise. Nor DVD7 replace DVD2? Correct again. That the Vol. 7 meditations do not supplant the practice of the Vol.2 Meditations becomes obvious to you when you become familiar with each one of the seated meditations on Vol.2 and with each one on Vol. 7. 10)By the explanations it seems that the correct steup training schedule to the DVD1+DVD2 should be like this, but I don1t know where put the two meditations of the DVD3: You can put the Vol.3 Meditations, "Wind Through Treetops" and "Moonbeam Splashes on Water" anywhere that you care to in your training schedule. Just do them. Good luck with your training. Just work your way through the DVD series from start to finish, Vol.1 through Vol.7 and practice all the Meditations thoroughly and equally. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html P.S. Please read "Jack of Hearts'" very nice and very clear interpretation of the FP Training Guidelines in his posting above: ******************************************************* From point 3 to point 6, we can see that: - you should start practicing one standing and one seating meditation for two weeks at least, then add another standing and seating meditation and then again adding one standing and seating meditation until you practice: 3 standing and 3 seating meditation per day. You should do this for at least 2 months. From point 6 to point 8, we can see that: - once it is done you set aside these 6 meditations and follow the same process with all the others meditations of all the DVDs from volume 1 to 3. Which means that you should always pratice no more than 6 meditations per day. So it is not about practicing 8 hours a day. From point 9 and 11, we can see that: - after learning all the meditations from wol 1 to 3, you can choose the meditations you like most and practice them daily for 6 months; then rotate with other meditations. - you may also add the long standing meditation from vol 4 (there is probably a typo about this in the training schedule).

Hello Sulo Eno, Yes, anyone can practice Flying Phoenix Chi Kung solely for its health benefits. While it was created by a Taoist and preserved through a Taoist martial arts tradition, Bok Fu Pai, any of the arts under the Bok Fu Pai umbrella can be practiced by anyone of any religious faith or spiritual path. I myself was raised a Protestant Christian and I've never encountered any conflict between my Christian faith and the Taoist and Buddhist religious philosophies and spiritual traditions that I am initiated in as a result of my level of attainment in the Tao Tan Pai and Bok Fu Pai martial, yogic, and healing arts--as well as in Tai Chi Chuan and Liu he Ba Fa. I would say that all the arts that I teach, including FP Qigong, are "non-sectarian." You don't have to subscribe to any religious belief and philosophical tenets from any culture or appropriate any belief system whatsoever in order to derive the maximum health benefits from FP Qigong. I certainly don't want any negative Kundalini syndrome-like effects. FP Qigong is extremely safe and is virtually foolproof. As I've stated many times, one has to really try hard and be truly bent to give oneself any type of energy sickness from practicing FP Qigong! What you call "Kundalini syndrome" cannot be contracted from FP Practice because FP Qigong does not concentrate on cultivating the Kundalini energy to any extent like other Qigong arts, such as Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir Method.) Sifu Terence Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikng_catalog.html

Hello Shortstuff, Sorry to take so long to get back to you. My classmate Sifu Garry's Sunn Yee Gong training is authentic and powerful. I know that it empowers our Bok Fu Pai kung fu. FP Qigong i different in that it cultivates a purely healing energy that cannot be used for martial art at all. You can certainly start with the seated meditations of Vol.2, But know that the all the standing FP Meditations are more powerful than the seated ones, and they are essential to mastering the system. I would advise you to try the standing meditations on Vol.1 and do the stationary standing ones for short durations to start and slowly work you way up to longer durations. FP Qigong adds no stress the to system--given that the practitioner has no serious structural damage. I am trying to find a system that will aid my meditation, by sending energy from my body to my brain for use during meditation, or ojas as it is known. Practitioners of numerous other meditations and yoga have found that FP Qigong enhances, stabilizes and makes more comfortable their meditative practice. You don't have to worry about sending energy from your body to the brain. FP Qigong perfectly regulates the energy of all the orbs/organs through the central nervous system. You do not want to willfully, consciously direct energy from the extremities to the brain. I don't advise projecting that process nor entertatining it. The basic holistic principle in. let's say Tui Na acupressure to make the body healthy and strong, is to "push" [better word is to "direct"] the energy from the heart to the extremities, and to mentally or physically "push" ONLY the blood back to the heart. Start doing Vol.2 , but do as much of Vol.1 as you can. Good luck, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

I would like to share with everyone my experience yesterday of doing just part--one third-- of the FP Standing Long Form meditation (vol.4)--in a pubic place,even-- to extinguish the early symptoms of a cold that was coming on. Yesterday, I had nice lunch with a FP student at a Japanese restaurant in town and then spent the rest of the afternoon Christmas shopping. Shortly after the lunch and after walking my dog, I decided to have a latte at a nearby coffee house and downed a few oatmeal cookies as chasers. About 3 hours later--I guess after the protein in the lunch had been digested and the sugar, dairy and caffeine hit my system--while in a department store I felt heavy, stagnant energy and had sniffles starting in one nostril. After walking around a few more minutes and noticing that the symptoms weren't going away and that a cold was definitely setting on, I went to a corner of the dept. store (in front of the candle section) and subtly did 1/3 of the Long Form Standing Meditation by making the most minimal general gestures for each moment--barely doing the movements. I did the 90 60 5 50 40 breathing sequence, and the moment I completed the sequence, I felt the penetrating healing energy light up and steadily spread throughout my system--while simultaneously feeling the congestion, stagnation, and "inner dampness" suddenly disappear/clear up/vanish. I didn't need to even mentally do the next arm floating up and down movement (like Tai Chi form opening). So I took 3 breathes to end the meditation right then and there. I did the gestures of the movements while mentally performing the form to its fullest. By the time I finished the extension of both arms to shoulder level form the palms at the solar plexus position facing downward (that follows the 3 opening and closing movements in the big-frame wuchi position), I felt all the cold symptoms completely extinguished and my head was crystal clear and dry--without a sniffle. "Extinguished" isn't best word because it connotes a firefighter putting out fire with water or retardant. "Eradicated" is accurate because the restoration was thorough and speedy, but it doesn't capture the sublimity of the healing. I can also say that I felt the restoration to homeostasis on a cellular level. So that's my report. I felt a cold definitely coming on. I walked around with its starting symptoms for about 5 min. until I knew it would manifest into a full-blown cold if I didn't do something. Then I did 1/3 of the FPHHCM Vol.4 exercise--with good mental concentration and only schematic/abbreviated movements. No cold symptoms whatsoever from the time I took the terminating 3 full breathes onward. Happy Holidays. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Earl Grey, Sorry to take so long to answer your question. I just completed a 4-day FP Qigong workshop at Eastover Estate followed by an evening Tai Chi class. No. the last Meditation on Volume 5 is done "one round of the pre-choreographed movements with one breath-control sequence." If you want to do multiple rounds of the movements, preface each round with usual 3 deep breathes plus the breath control sequence (80 70 50 40 30). And then count your self out of the meditation after one round of movements with 3 deep breathes. To reiterate In other words: do repetitions of the movement sequence just like you would do more than one round of "Wind Above the Clouds": do one breath control sequence with each round of movements. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

hello Frederic, Answers to your questions in blue: During Bending the Bows itself and Wind Above the Clouds the hands move along a narrow egg like shape upward towards Monk Gazing at Moon. The premise of your question is wrong: It is in Bending the Bows and and Wind through Treetops that the "hands move along a narrow egg like shape upward towards Monk Gazing at Moon"--but not in "Wind Above the Clouds." The hands do move in a wide horizontal circle and at throat level, but they do not move towards the Monk Gazing At Moon (or "hugging the egg" configuration of the arms and chest). But while demonstrating Wind Through the Treetops on the DVD, the hands move along a wider circle like pattern towards Monk gazing at Moon. Is this purposefully different? And does it matter? I think you are confused: the wider circle in Wind Through Treetops is NOT towards Monk Gazing At Moon. it is horizontal and stays at throat level. Call this "Part A". The second circling of the arms in WTT is vertical towards the "hugging the egg" shape of Monk Gazing At Moon position. Call it "Part B." I'm planning to play Bending the Bows until I can do 18 repetitions (relatively) effortlessly. What is a good practice time and speed for this task? I was thinking 2 minutes per Bending the Bows for a total of 36 minutes. 2 minutes per repetition is a very good speed to practice BTB. In my classes and workshops, I tell students to take a minimum of 12 breathes to riase the arms in Part A and a minimum of 12 breathes to lower the arms in Part A; minimum of 12 breathes to raise the arms towards Monk Gaziing At Moon shape in Part B, and a minimum of 12 breathes to lower the arms from that position. If I go as slow as possible for BTB how many rounds do you advise? Up to 18 is standard practice. Do as many as as you have time for. I have taken as much as 70 minutes to do 18 rounds of Bending the Bows. Good luck and enjoy your practice. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Steve, Here are some of the best books that explain the Crowley deck: 1) A very good manual for understanding and using the Crowley deck (and the first one my mentor told me to get in the early 90's) is Mirror of the Soul by Zeigler. https://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Mirror-Handbook-Aleister-Crowley/dp/0877286833/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0877286833&pd_rd_r=RA111PMWFMAAEX3FT7E0&pd_rd_w=GjUEr&pd_rd_wg=CKIEz&psc=1&refRID=RA111PMWFMAAEX3FT7E0 2) Perhaps the best is Understanding Crowley's Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo DuQuette. Just excellent: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Aleister-Crowleys-Thoth-Tarot/dp/157863623X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=157863623X&pd_rd_r=W6GTSVZGZ7EA3SYNKW2J&pd_rd_w=j3p1B&pd_rd_wg=G7dq5&psc=1&refRID=W6GTSVZGZ7EA3SYNKW2J 3) Another very popular manual on the deck is New Age Tarto by James Wanless, who created the New Age Tarot deck: https://www.amazon.com/New-Age-Tarot-Guide-Thoth/dp/0961507918/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512631356&sr=1-1&keywords=new+age+tarot+james+wanless 4) And another good reference is Crowley's own book about his deck: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Thoth-Short-Egyptians-Equinox/dp/0877282684/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=G4FA6A7MD8MB8Y6PFD97 How i was taught to use the Crowley tarot was to take the time and energy to meditate visually on every card until one has memorized all of them in detail and is able to visualize each card with eyes closed. it takes a long time and great concentration to accomplish this. But is well worth the eye-brain-spirit exercise if one wants to make maximum use of this oracle. Crowley, Israel Regardie, and Lady Frieda Harris put their differences aside (they didn't like one another much) and collaborated to create this deck per Crowley's vision, and created a deck that is used by high level white magicians to uproot corruption. That's what it's designed for. If one is called to do works and is versed in the Crowley deck, the progress of one's operations in undoing black magick is revealed in one's waking visions or nocturnal dreamstates with the elements, tools, animals, and persons in the cards animating. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

This evening's 2-hour FP Qigong Workshop session at Eastover Estate covered these thirteen FP Meditations practiced for these durations as indicated (no breaks), and in this order: Moonbeam Splashes on Water - 3 rounds - 20 min. Wind Above the Clouds - 3 rounds: 12 min. Bending the Bows - 15 min. Monk Gazing At Moon - 10 min. Monk Holding Peach - 15 min. Wind Through Treetops - 2 rounds - 15 90 second standing Meditation (70 40 30 20) 3x = 10 min. 90 second standing Meditation (90 50 40 20) 3x = 10 min. Monk Holding Pearl (Supine) - 10 min. Preparatory Seated Meditation 50 10 50 = 5 min. Preparatory Seated Meditation 5 60 80 40 30 = 8 min. Monk Serves Wine #4: 80 70 50 30 - 7 rounds - 20 min. Monk serves Wine #7: 20 40 90 10 - 7 rounds = 20 min. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Dyspraxia in children is treated a number of ways, depending on its severity. While there is no known cure, there are treatments to improve a person's planning and execution of physical movement, basic everyday skills, specialized skills, etc. Without knowing the age of the person with dyspraxia nor the severity of the condition, I would say that (A) Zhan Zhuang practice may help; but that (B) Tai Chi and other holistic martial arts and movement therapies are probably more effective as treatment. Zhan Zhuang is an essential component in Tai Chi postures and therefore Tai Chi form practice--as well as Xing-I practice as a function of Zhan Zhuang's origin and evolution. As you may know, the general categories of treating dyspraxia are: Speech and language therapy Perceptual motor training Equine therapy for dyspraxia Active Play ** BTW, Over the past 3 weeks, I had substantial discussion and practices with Baguazhang and Sheng Zhen Qigong Master Li Junfeng (former coach of the Chinese national wushu team throughout the 1980's and 90's) and with Grandmaster Wang Rengang of Da Cheng Chuan about Zhan Zhuang. All the Flying Phoenix Qigong standing meditations, starting with "Monk Gazing AT Moon" and ending with the five 90-second meditations (as taught on Volume 5 of the CKFH DVD series) incorporate all the postural and neuro muscular principles of Zhan Zhuang, but redirects those classical principles to cultivate the distinctive and unique FP Healing Energy with each one of its unique breath control sequences (e.g., 60 40 20 for Monk Gazing at Moon). Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Last night was the first session of my fourth 22-hour immersive workshop in FP Qigong at Eastover Estate in 2017. 7 more sessions ending at noon on Sunday, Dec. 3 Last night's gentle and easy two hour session was also quite dynamic: it covered these meditations in this order with not more than a 2-minute break between each one. 1. Moonbeam Splashes on Water: two rounds -- 20 minutes 2. Wind Above the Clouds: -- two rounds -- 10 minutes 3. Bending the Bows: 7 rounds -- 30 minutes (Taking 12 breathes to raise arms + 12 breathes to lower arms. In other words, each repetition book a minimum of 48 breathes.) 4. Monk Gazing At Moon -- 10 minutes. 5. Monk Holding Peach -- 10 minutes 6. Wind Through Treetops -- 2 rounds: 10 minutes 7. Monk Holding Pearl: done in supine position for 15 minutes. Happy Holidays. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Winston, I didn't know that you were a cello-ist on top of being a man of medicine. Wonderful that your training in Eastern orchestral music enabled to tell that there were discrepancies in high pitches between Western equal-temperament notes (which are like averages) and the sharp-precise tones of Eastern music. Thank you for your explanation of how western music and eastern music differ by octaves when it comes to higher pitches, and your observation that western music tends to "mathematicize" and average. Kind of similar to how modern scientific thinking is all about "categorizing", "averaging" and calculating, whereas Eastern philosophy is about moving along with nature and harmony. The natural-born musical genii that I have the good fortune and privilege to know just channel in gorgeous melodies from another plane (as per their own words) that seems heavenly to me. There is no construction, no calculation, no averaging. just a spontaneous outpouring of original, natural aural beauty. That type of creative process is represented by the Ace of Cups and the Star (XVII trump) card in the Crowley Tarot. [Yes, I am once again citing Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot deck because his collaboration with Israel Regardie and Lady Frieda Harris to create that deck--designed for master alchemists to identify and uproot evil, by the way--is itself a work of spiritual genius left for the new Aeon. And if anyone takes issue with this like whoever that was back around Year 3 or so of this thread, you can go back and read my long refutation of that simple-minded false belief that Crowley was a black magician.] There are, of course, great composers who have a mathematical approach. I am certainly not saying that those who calculate, average, and "mathematicize" do not make beautiful works of art and music. One of my favorite mathematical musicians is Steven Sondheim. ' But am relating the spontaneous creation of a song to the alchemy represented by the Ace of Cups and the Star cards in the Crowley Tarot: Happy Holidays, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Steve, Thanks for sharing this reading. I will put it on my list because Eva Wong is one of the most reliable and authoratative translators of Taoist canons, scriptures, poetry, and prose. She herself is a feng-sui expert and I have her early books on feng-shui tradition. Happy Holidays. Sifu Terry

I'm with you on that note, Steve. new age type music doesn't do much of anything for me. Just like "new age prose", as Harold Bloom put it, new age prose "has a vapidity that's not to be believed". Remember all that new age music in the 80's?--where is it now? It was like bad Chinese food, once is passed, it's forgotten about except as a must to avoid. Just my two bits, imao. I appreciate the Marconi Union's "Weightless" piece for what it is, and it being the product of the group's scientific approach to creating "relaxation music". But beautiful melodies don't come from the left brain alone. I'm friends with several genius musicians (one made list of Time magazine's 100 most influential Americans 2 yrs ago--when he was 25 yrs old)_ and I know from being in their presence--just hanging out-- how infinitely their creative consciousness's reach. I just looked up Oliver Shanti on Youtube and the first piece on this music video is one that I've been using for past 5-6 years in my Qigong and Tai Chi classes. I found it back then in a Wudangshan documentary. Maybe it's an Oliver Shanti original--I don't know. But it's one of my favorites. Enjoy if you haven't heard this already. Sifu Terry P.S. Remember: my next and final east coast FP Qigong workshop is in 6 days at Eastover Estate: http://www.eastover.com/workshop/flying-phoenix-qigong-with-master-terence-dunn.html

SORRY FOR THIS EXTREMELY LATE NOTICE...BUT FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THE WASHINGTON, D.C. - DELAWARE AREA: I am giving a full-day Flying Phoenix Qigong Workshop tomorrow, FRIDAY, from 10 AM to 9PM in Bear, Delaware at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish Hall: Venue: St Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish Hall 345 Bear Christiana Rd Bear, DE 19701 Contact:Dr. Emil Mondoa [email protected] register Phone: (302) 293-3904 Registration: $108 Lunch included Also see info at my Tai Chi For Health Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213061563685464&set=a.2881146959481.132753.1584272222&type=3&theater

Hello 9th, So how is this an example of SYNCHRONICITY?! -- Just last night I turned this 3 card spread (!!!) over a situation that I shall disclose next spring: 7 Wands Universe Fool