Opening The Energy Gates BKF

[Thrice Daily]

Some years ago I’d practice opening the energy gates. I’ve gone back to this practice doing a cyclical run through of , standing - cloud hands - spinal stretch , then repeat…

 

I’m wondering , are there any other bums that use the BKF Water tradition practices?

 

And if so what sort of adjunct practices do you find fit in your regimen?
 

I know in the past Shibashi was very complementary and there were no side effects of mixing practices.

 

Do you have any sets that fit really nice with it?

 

For now I’m doing BKF opening energy gates (minus the swings) and some Wing Chun kungfu afterwards.

 

I’m also starting the practice of OMAD only eating one meal a day. 
 

The chi flow when I go to bed is strong 💪:) 

 

Any advice from older Tao Bums that have followed BKF would be greatly appreciated.

 

thanks in advance Taoist brothers and sisters.

Edited Monday at 01:06 PM by Thrice Daily

[Cobie]

 

 

6 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

… side effects of mixing practices.

 

Hi Thrice,  idk but this thread might be useful.

 

On 15/07/2020 at 4:03 PM, Khamasie said:

… What are the clear differences to recognize if a practice belongs to a fire or water path?

… And would some of these be "incapable" with each other?

 

[Sanity Check]

Don't know what a BKF is.

 

But when I read the description, it sounds similar to some things I do in the process of trying to create my own routine.

[Thrice Daily]

10 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

 

 

Hi Thrice,  idk but this thread might be useful.

 

 

Cool, could you share the thread link please

[Cobie]

 

6 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

... could you share the thread link please

 

link

https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/51354-clear-differences-between-fire-and-water-path/?do=findComment&comment=938910

 

You can also click on the little arrow in quotes, that will also take you to the post. 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 12:25 PM by Cobie

[Annnon]

But what is a BKF? It reminds me of KFC and  now I'm hungry

[Dainin]

2 hours ago, Annnon said:

But what is a BKF? It reminds me of KFC and  now I'm hungry

 

BKF=Bruce Kumar Frantzis (he later dropped the Kumar).

[Annnon]

11 hours ago, Dainin said:

 

BKF=Bruce Kumar Frantzis (he later dropped the Kumar).

yo I thought about him but wasn't sure haha, the "K" got me

 

thanks!

[Thrice Daily]

On 10/06/2025 at 2:19 PM, Cobie said:

 

 

link

https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/51354-clear-differences-between-fire-and-water-path/?do=findComment&comment=938910

 

You can also click on the little arrow in quotes, that will also take you to the post. 

 

 

Thanks for that reading now and it is a cool thread

[Thrice Daily]

Still no one here to answer it’s a pity I thought this thread may have become quite interesting

[Annnon]

I always heard good stuff about Bruce Frantzis but never practiced any of his methods, but from what I know people often have results or feel something with his practices.

[searcher7977]

BKF's (modified) Wu-Style Tai Chi 7 short form was the first energetic practice that had ever made me feel any buzzing or tingling or warming sensation after about 15min of doing it straight. No other qigong that I had practiced had given me a similar sensation, and I had practiced quite a lot including FPCK and SPQ. 

 

When I took some tai chi classes in person from a student of C.C. Chen, he remarked "I can tell you've done this before," when in fact I had really only studied Bruce's stuff on tai chi. His kwa detail is superior even to Damo's IMO. 

 

I practice his version of cloud hands sporadically throughout my day, sometimes every day, sometimes just a few days a week, sometimes I'm too busy or stressed. I still years later am learning insights, like how to stretch your muscles and fascia by creating spirals as you press out your arms. When I learned that, I experimented and found out you can create spiraling stretching movements in your lower body too as you shift weight. 

 

I also have benefited from his taoist meditation, and taoist breathing. I was part of the meditation circle, highly recommend.

 

I didn't get anything from the dissolving practice, but maybe thats because I had done buddhist body scans for years.

 

Last, and unfortunately, I also didn't feel as much as I wanted to for Dragon and Tiger. Still I practice the 1st and sometimes 2nd movement every month or so to keep it learned since its part of the 5 keys. 

 

I do the arm swings occassionally, but never benefited anything from them really. I did even something like 200-400 swings every day for months to mimic Ping Shui Gong, but neither felt nor noticed nothing. In classes and even my brief stint at a zen monastery, they did swings as a warm-up, likely just to have the movement pattern maintained. It doesn't seem to have a higher purpose, but who knows. Ping Shui Gong people say at 1,000 swings per day you can cure disease.

 

I learned his stuff only online and through his books. Sadly, when I was studying his material he hadn't released his online classes for his neigong. And I haven't tried his bagua but I really would like to.

 

In fact, I'm about to re-dedicate some time to practicing cloud hands and dragon and tiger. (Also combining it with Sifu Yan Lei's 8 brocades because he includes iron body bamboo hitting training (Xi Sui Jing?) that also had a very noticeable effect on me).

 

Edited Friday at 12:37 AM by searcher7977