TaoTraceur

Hello, Jorge,

 

I don’t mind at all but I’ve only really been at this for a little over a month! I studied Tai Chi with Sifu Terry years ago and we did some Chi Kung at that time – but it was not the full FPCK system that you have on the DVDs, and I didn’t get very far into it. I’ve kept up the Tai Chi (sporadically!) throughout the years and only just started back to classes about 6 weeks ago, so I don’t have a fraction of the experience that some of the other people in this thread have.

 

So I’ve been doing the FPCK 4-5 times a week for maybe 6 weeks. Most often, I do all the standing meditations in Vol. 1 and just the first 4 in Vol. 2 (which is up through the first Monk Serves Wine exercise). I plan to get those last 2 exercises of Vol. 2 added in and then just stay with that group for a period of time.

 

In the most general terms, I am already stronger and better-aligned physically. I’ve never had the best alignment, and in recent years it has become harder to find it – but now my spine is straightening and becoming more flexible again (this has to be partly from the Tai Chi as well, though). I have an increased sense of well-being that stays with me virtually all the time – it’s a lighter, younger feeling, as if I’ve wiped off a decade or two. I’m sleeping much better, and more deeply. I had a surgery late last year that left me feeling rather “disconnected,” and in these last 6 weeks that feeling has finally disappeared (okay, I’m still a bit of a space case but at least I no longer have the sense my body’s on one plane and my mind another…certainly time has been a factor but I attribute the bulk of the reconnection to FPCK).

 

I’ve experienced some of the dramatic movement and spiraling energy that others have discussed in the thread; but generally what I’ve felt has been been much more subtle, and also more shapeless. By “shapeless” I mean I feel energy just sloshing around like an unruly ocean and moving me about with it. Those random movements are the bigger ones for me, and at first I fought against them, thinking I lacked stillness and balance. Now I relax into them. I’ve felt a lot of “spontaneous realignment”: a sudden jerk followed by a loosening/resettling into a more natural position. “Monk Gazing at Moon” brings on the most alignment shifting, I think. “Monk Holding Peach” brings on the most movement; “Monk Holding Pearl” brings on the most heat. “Wind Above the Clouds” feels like a massage at the end (I have wanted to move that one to follow the seated meditations, actually, for the leg stretch – I haven’t done so yet but Sifu confirmed it’s okay to make that change).

 

The seated meditations seem to be more dynamic for me, even though I haven’t gotten through the entire set. That came as a surprise, because the first time I did them I really thought I couldn’t handle the sitting, due to standard old inflexibility and a hip problem. I still only do a cross-legged position, not the half-lotus. But the first time I could barely get through the first breathing sequence. The second time I could already do each full exercise, although I still had to stretch out between each one. Now I can get through 3 or 4 before I have to release and I can get quickly back into position and continue. (I should note this is using a small meditation pillow – not 2 inches thick. When I don’t use that pillow I have more trouble again.)

 

As I’ve been able to hold the seated position longer, I have been increasingly feeling some distinct energy flows. Through my hips and legs on all of them, and also some realignment moments similar to the standing exercises. What I feel in my upper body and arms is more distinct and varied than in the standing exercises: in the first one it’s all through my arms and hands, and by the time I get to the end of it my hands are heavy, and feel as though they’re moving through something like honey or glue. I’ve had an ongoing problem with one of the nerves that runs from the neck down the arm to the wrist – in this first exercise I’ll feel a hot fire through the whole length of that nerve, and then afterward it not only doesn’t hurt but feels improved. In the second seated position my upper body rocks backward and forward from the hips, in shorter arcs as my hands lower. In another – can’t remember if it’s the first or the Monk Serves, now! – my body will move in a circle, and as it does so my hips loosen further. Again, in my case these are small, subtle movements!

 

The inability to remember precisely what happens in which exercise…that, to me, is one of the more significant things. All these sensations, including pains, roll through me as I’m doing the meditations but the specifics don’t necessarily stay with me when I’m finished. I consider that all just “healing process” and I really am more interested in the after-effects. At first I wanted to evade the painful parts but now I think some of those are where the most healing is occurring. All that pain and release in the seated meditations has resulted in a major change for me at my job. I’m at a computer all day and before I started this, I’d go to stand up and be immediately jerked into a crouch, my hip having locked up; I’d have to straighten slowly and painfully, then limp for awhile, and then finally I’d be back to “normal.” That has not happened since my 3^rd or 4^th seated session!! You’ll find if you read through the thread that I’m not the first person who has asked if one can work up to the seated meditations by starting out in a chair, or some other variation – I’m extremely glad that I didn’t do that, and am still amazed at how quickly the exercises made so much difference.

 

All that energy sloshing about and the random movements, etc. – that stuff is interesting, and fascinating in the moment…attention-getting in a way that makes it easier to hold in the positions longer. But the value is in the after-effects (for me). If I do Tai Chi after FPCK, my form is much stronger, more balanced, more focused. I’m not only sleeping more deeply, I’m dreaming more vibrantly and remembering more dreams. Little health issues that I thought I was just going to have to resign myself to living with are clearing up. I feel years dropping away. I have to emphasize again that most of these things are subtle, and I absolutely still am feeling pain in those seated meditations! But I’ve seen a lot of positive change and a lot of reduction in those pains...ALREADY!

 

I’ve gone on and on and haven’t even mentioned the spiritual development side of all this. Although that’s a major attraction for me, I can’t yet say a lot about it. Except that I’ve done a fair amount of wandering around and searching, and I’ve found FPCK to be a more direct route inward than anything else I’ve tried (including TM – there’s some discussion of TM in the thread from “Tao Mist,” who has had much more experience with it than I, but for me the FPCK is far more powerful). Hard to describe but it seems to take one all the way inward and all the way outward – build a solid bridge from our earthbound selves to our spiritual selves.

 

I hope something in all this rambling is of help or at least interest!

 

All best wishes,

tlb

thank you for the awesome detailed reply!

it makes me happy to read of all the people having wonderful experiences with FPCK, I will definitely pass this along to my girlfriend. hopefully we will have a new practitioner soon

happy FP,

-Jorge

Hello, Jorge,

I cannot answer this for Sifu Terry but until you hear back from him, I wanted to at least tell you that, as one of his female students, I've never heard any mention from him about making any changes for females, in either forms or FPCK. The women in class do exactly the same things the men do; and the same was true when I took classes from him years back. As detailed as he has made the FPCK series of DVDs, and as many female students as he's had as well as contact with female masters, I'm sure he would have included differing instructions for women if there were any. If your girlfriend is interested in trying it out, I would say to her that she should have no reservations. (by the way, I haven't gotten through the whole thread yet myself, so I don't know if this question has been raised before - if I see something I'll let you know!)

Best of luck,

tlb

Thanks for your response Tlb, I will definitely encourage her to try it

and if you don't mind, could you tell us a little about your experience with FP? (the particular effects you have received from it, your mindset, etc)

I would really appreciate it!

thanks again,

Jorge

Thank you for the clarification I believe I will begin to work on it after all 3 MSW on DVD 2 have gotten settled in.

and I have one other question, I would like to get my girlfriend to start doing FP with me, but would like to know if there are any changes to the postures and meditations for female practitioners. a lot of (what you would call generic) chi kung will say something like men put this hand over this one women put the other. sorry if this has been asked before, I am slowly working my way through the thread!

thanks again,

Jorge

thanks for the advice! I am working my way slowly through the thread, there's a lot of interesting stories

Hello sifu Terry and fellow FP practitioners,

I have been practicing FP for a few months now following the schedule recommended with the dvds (roughly) and am about to begin my second Monk serves wine. I would like to clear up a confusion I have about when to begin practicing the form on volume four. should I wait until I have practiced all the meditations, should I have started already, or should I wait until after I have spent 6 + months on a couple of exercises?

thanks in advance for the clarification!

also thank you Terry for sharing such a wonderful system with the world!

Hi,

 

I found this forum by random, but I"m so happy to find a place like this where we can share our experiences with chi kung, taoism, spirtuality.

 

Just a quick question, I was trying to start a new topic in General Discussion but the option was not available? Could someone help me out with that.

 

Thanks!

welcome

I believe once you post here you can post everywhere else! so you should try again

thanks for putting this up! sometimes when things start to go differently or I stop achieving the same effects from meditative practices I feel like I should just go back to an "average" person lifestyle... it would sure make so many things easier... but sticking to it is the key! Ill remember this a week from now when I'm feeling awesome again and I'll be glad I didn't just "take a break" for a while

Namaste & Welcome!

Thank you!

 

 

not sure if you have ever viewed chen shixing?

there is another bum here, otis, who does some playing out in his environment.

otis? where ya been? hope all is well in lala

Thanks for sharing that, I had not seen him before. He is very fast, although those falls he is taking seem unhealthy to me... I have always been taught to dissipate the impact with a roll or my hands, but he is taking some serious falls and squatting!

besides that, I look forward to meeting otis!

welcome,

have you looked at qinggong in regards to how it relates with parkour?

Thanks

I have been working on keeping my body as relaxed as possible, not fighting myself to do things, just letting them happen. I've also been doing some rock climbing in the same mindset as the taichi form, and my muscles (or chi?) are much stronger this way and I am much less tired afterwards. and lastly I've been just trying to stay in a very meditative state when I go train, not letting my mind wonder or think too much, just be focused and move my body freely.

I am relatively new to daoist practice and energy cultivation, so I decided to join this forum to see what I can learn! I am currently learning about and practicing some chi gong, some taichi, and some circulations/meditations. Any advice or helpful comments would be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to being a part of this community!

and if you were wondering about my user name, a traceur is a practitioner of parkour, which I have been doing for a long time, and recently I have been trying to apply all my daoist knowledge to it!