TAOIST ELIXIR METHOD ("TAO TAN PAI") BASIC 31 MEDITATIONS WORKSHOP with Master Terence Dunn: August 16 to 18
Taoist Elixir Method ("Tao Tan Pai") Basic 31 Meditations, the foundation of Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu created by Taoist Immortal Lu Tung-Pin.
3-Day Residential Taoist Qigong Workshop at The Dragon Nest Center in Highland, NY
Dear friends and students,
From August 16 to 18, I will be teaching a 3-Day, 14-hour immersive residential workshop in Tao Tan Pai (“Taoist Elixir Method“) Basic 31 Meditations.
The Tao Tan Pai 31 Basic Meditations (henceforth, “TTP-31”) is an authentic and miraculously intact and complete ancient Taoist monastic system of Qigong--based on moving meditation and breath control that utilizes a yogic methodology completely different than that of Flying Phoenix Qigong, but that imparts a wide range of salient health benefits and heightened sustainable energy levels and advanced body mechanics that enables and empowers Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu, other forms of Kung fu, and the Tao Tan Pai healing arts. Taoist Elixir Method 31 Meditations is a sophisticated Chinese holistic health practice—an alchemic formulation of “gymnastic medicine”—that opens the heart, clears and focuses the mind and profoundly strengthens the body. Regular practice of the TTP-31 series imparts a wide range of verifiable health benefits: improved circulation, respiratory power, metabolism, posture, bone strength, immunity, flexibility, agility, coordination, central and peripheral vision, sound-regular sleep, higher sustained energy levels, and increased resilience to stress and trauma.
The six levels of Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung—of which the TTP-31 Meditations is the first — serves as the secret yogic engine that empowers the Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu and the TTP healing arts (herbology, acupressure, and energy healing) to supernormal levels of effectiveness. In the world of Chinese martial arts, Taoist Elixir Method Kung Fu practitioners are known for their forte of bringing martial energy instantly to the hands—because the TTP Qigong is so highly Shen-driven. In Chinese medicine, Tao Tan Pai is recognized for its energy healing—both “hands-on” and at a distance.
The TTP-31 regimen that you will learn at this workshop consists of 15 standing moving meditations and 16 seated meditations (all of which involve upper-body movements except for three). Each exercise coordinates and focuses the functions of eyes, mind, movement, and breath in Lu Tung Pin’s unique alchemic formula that cultivates a superabundance of vital energy (Chi) and the mental ability to precisely control it—that activates and empowers the Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu and healing arts. Because TTP-31 Basic Meditations empowers Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu, it is the perfect complement and support for peak performance in any sports or athletic activity in addition to martial arts.
You will also learn in this workshop the Tao Tan Pai Short Form Power Yoga, consisting of five of the 31 meditations—a classical distillation created by the ancients to attain expansive rejuvenation in less than one hour of practice.
• In addition to the TTP-31 Meditations Series and the TTP Short Form Power Yoga at this workshop, I will be teaching for the first time ever The 11 Shen Exercises. This 2nd Level practice (built on the foundation of the TTP-31) specifically develops the Shen energy. “Shen,” within the context of Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung, means “the pure speculative aspect of action”—in the words of the ven. John Davidson.
• This video shows 8 key excerpts from the TTP-31 Meditations series that will give you an idea of the natural body mechanics that come with Tao Tan Pai Qigong and Kung fu. Plus, at the end you will see the Tao Tan Pai Cane Form, which I teach as a foundational practice in all my Qigong workshops over the years and in my acupuncture college courses.
Note: Most of the students seen in this video composed of scenes from my workshops are first-time beginners. As you can also tell from the nature of the exercises shown, the TTP-31 training in this workshop appropriate for absolute beginners without any experience in Asian yogic, meditative, or healing arts.
The complete six-level Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung system of which the TTP-31 Meditations is the first level, develops in the practitioner a structural sensitivity to all-encompassing Nature and the Cosmos. That is, TTP-31 practice restores and strengthens the organism and then refines the nervous system and all its sensory apparati to pristine non-verbal clarity.
Nurturing energy, forget words and guard it
Conquer your mind; do non-doing
In activity and stillness
Know the Source Progenitor
There is no thing
Whom else do you seek?
– Lu Tung-Pin, Taoist Immortal, Tao Tan Pai creator (796 - 1016)
The Taoist Elixir Method (“Tao Tan Pai”) tradition is a vast and sophisticated Taoist monastic school of hygienics, martial art and spiritual art that was created in the Tang Dynasty and is correctly attributed to Lu Tung Pin (Lü Dengbin, 796 CE – 1016 CE), the de facto leader of the 8 Taoist Immortals (saints) of Chinese religion and culture. This rare Taoist tradition was preserved for 23 generations—at the Ancient Temple of the Yellow Dragon ( 黃龍古殿 Huanglong Guguan ) near Mt. Luohu in China’s Guangdong province before Taoist priest Share Lew brought the art to America in 1948. I learned Tao Tan Pai Kung Fu and Nei Kung from Grandmaster Lew and his senior student, the ven. Master John Davidson, at the Taoist Sanctuary of Los Angeles from 1975 to 1983 (when I received black-sash certification), and then received occasional refinements from GM Lew in San Diego from 1984 to 1992. Along with Masters Hugh Morison, Todd Takeuchi, and Bill Helm of the Taoist Sanctuary of San Diego, I am one of the few certified and ordained 24th generation instructors of Tao Tan Pai martial, yogic, and healing arts. (See my other Qigong specialties in my online resume: http://www.taichimania.com/tdbio.html )
Through its yogic methodology and arcane formulas of perfecting the coordination of the focus of eyes, mind, movement and breath, the TTP-31 Basic Meditations, the Tao Tan Pai 5 Animals Kung Fu Forms (Tiger, Dragon, Snake, Crane, and Monkey) and Weapons forms (pole, sword, spear, bench, hoe, daggers, and others) systematically develop fine and extraordinary control over the subtle energy flows of the body (Ch’i), first enabling one to balance one’s own internal energy system for robust health and longevity, and then, after supervised training in the Tao Tan Pai healing arts and mastery of the 5 more advanced levels of TTP Nei Kung, to preserve all life as a Taoist yogin. Upon mastering the final Qigong set of Tao Tan Pai called “The Five Dragons”, one comes to know the “Source Progenitor” that Lu Tung-Pin speaks of in his teachings and poetry.
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
The 3-day immersive workshop, April 5 to 7, consists of 7 two-hour sessions with 2 sessions on Friday, 3 on Saturday, and 2 on Sunday at these times (EST):
Friday: 3pm - 5pm; 7:30pm - 9:30pm EST
Saturday: 10am - noon; 2:30pm - 4:30pm; 7:30pm - 9:30pm EST
Sunday: 10am - noon; 2:00pm - 4:00pm EST
TUITION
$450 early registration for 7 sessions—or $65 per each 2-hour session. •> Please make $150 deposit on or before August 12 <•
$525 day of workshop—or $75 for each of the seven 2-hour sessions
ZOOM PARTICIPATION
$50 per 2-hour session or $350 for all 7 sessions (Zoom log-on links will be emailed to registrants the day before the workshop begins)
• Please send payment via Paypal (to zenbearinc@gmail.com or scan the QR code above) or send payment via Zelle (to terencepdunn@gmail.com).
LODGING at Dragon Nest retreat center:
https://www.terrapia.org/single-post/dragonnest
Single room $150 per night Double room $75 per night Dorm floor bed $55 per night Food: Breakfast and lunch $50 food and lodging early registration till August 4: 10% off
Please register early, we have a limited number of spaces and rooms: two single bed rooms with queen size beds; two rooms with two twin side beds; seven twin dorm (floor) beds. Total accommodations: 13 - 15 people
• Room and Meal plan payments: Zelle, Venmo 9738969320
Lodging is also available at numerous motels and lodges in the New Paltz area. If you have questions about the workshop or any special arrangements, please contact Sifu Terry at zenbearinc@gmail.com
See you in workshop!
mitakuye oyasin,
(Lakota greeting and prayer that means “All are related,” “To all my relations,” and “Help and health to all my brothers and sisters.”)
Sifu Terry Dunn
P.S. *NOTE: As I stated many times over the 14 years of the Flying Phoenix Chi Kung forum on www.daobums.com, the TTP-31 Basic Meditations System—as well the entire Taoist Elixir Method Kung Fu/Nei Kung system—serves as a superb foundational catalyst that enhances and prolongs the tangible, visible and verifiable health benefits of Flying Phoenix Qigong practice. Both are complete and transcendently powerful Qigong systems in and of themselves, but I’ve had the great good fortune to have inherited them both and then discovered that TTP-31 series further activates and accelerates Flying Phoenix Qi cultivation. I made this discovery when I began teaching Flying Phoenix Qigong and Tao Tan Pai 31 in NCCAOM-accredited courses at Emperors College in Santa Monica in 2013, which was soon confirmed by the experience of my students—and also by the yogin and medical clairvoyant Eric Isen of the Oneness Meditation Tradition of Sri Bhagavan.
From 2013 until 2022, I taught the Tao Tan Pai 31 Meditations as the NCCAOM-accredited OM351 Medical Qigong I course at Emperors College in Santa Monica, CA, a required course for students to obtain their acupuncture degrees. Emperors College is perennially rated the No.2-rated Chinese medical college in America—by vote of 66 peer colleges.