Our 204th Livestream of Qigong For Health For First-Responders is set for this Saturday, July 6, 2:00 - 3:30 pm EST (U.S. and Canada).
This class teaches two—not one, but two—authentic ancient Taoist monastic systems of Qigong that impart tangible, visible, repeatable, and verifiable health benefits on the way to self-empowerment. Although these two Qigong systems, Tao Tan Pai 31 Meditations and Flying Phoenix Qigong are as different as night and day in terms of yogic methodology—they are not only compatible with one another, but also profoundly synergistic. Each class is composed of two 45-minute lessons teaching:
Terry Dunn’s Newsletter on Tai Chi, Qigong, Kung Fu &Healing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
(1) Taoist Elixir Method (“Tao Tan Pai”) Nei Kung (“internal cultivation”)- Specifically, the Tao Tan Pai Basic 31 Meditations (“TTP-31”). The TTP-31 is the first of six levels of Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung system that was created in the Tang Dynasty by Taoist Immortal Lu Tung-Pin. TTP is indeed Lu Tung Pin’s art because the seemingly mystical alchemic paradigm that he wrote is actually a key instruction in the performing the advanced Tao Tan Pai Yogas:
“The cycle of the five elements follows the principles of reversal silently.”
An indispensable component and vehicle of the TTP Nei Kung are the 5 Animal Kung Fu Forms (tiger, snake, crane, monkey, and dragon) that develop the foundational postures and body mechanics utilized in all six levels of the Nei Kung, starting with the TTP-31 Basic Meditations. the TTP 5 Animal Forms have Taoist Yoga built into their choreographies and they cultivate the three essential elements of all Qigong systems: (A) Xing - the shape/form of the body, (B) “I” (Yi) - Mental focus/Will , (C) Qi (Ch’i) - Energy, but actually, breathing method that creates energy.
(2) Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Qi Meditations (“Fei Feng San Gung”) is a purely medical or healing Qigong system that was created from 1644 to 1661 by renowned Taoist monk Feng Dao Deh (Cantonese: Feng Do Duk). It is the holistic health safety net of the vast Ehrmei Mountain Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger Style) Kung Fu tradition created by Feng Dao Deh. Flying Phoenix Qigong imparts tangible energizing and rejuvenating effects—and deep meditative states of consciousness— in surprisingly swift manner—within 30 to 50 minutes of practicing any combination of the system’s 8 basic standing meditations or 24 seated meditations. The allostatic (restorative) effects of FP Qigong practice continue long after one’s practice has ceased and often has a delayed re-emergence.
"Flying Phoenix Qigong practice significantly elevates parasympathetic tone. 90 minutes of practice of this Qigong is restorative in real time and over time afterwards."
- Yetsa A. Tuakli-Wosornu, M.D., M.P.H., IOC Dip. Sp. Med. Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale School of Public Health Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology (December 2019)
Joining the Livestream Session
To experience the profound health benefits of these two rare and extraordinarily powerful Taoist Qigong arts that are easy-to-do and profoundly restorative holistic health practices, and join a lively worldwide community of students dedicated to holistic health, personal growth, self-empowerment, spiritual fortitude, sign up for the next Saturday session:
• FEE: $40 per class; $280 / 8-class series; or $500 / 16-class series
Please send tuition via Paypal (to zenbearinc@gmail.com or scan the QR code below) or send via Zelle (to terencepdunn@gmail.com)
—or send an email to zenbearinc@gmail.com asking to be sent a Paypal money request that you can use any credit or debit card to pay.)
••> Homework :
BETWEEN CLASSES, CONTINUE YOUR FLYING PHOENIX QIGONG PRACTICE BY USING SIFU TERRY’S TOP-SELLING INSTRUCTIONAL QIGONG DVDs IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD: “CHI KUNG FOR HEALTH” (2004) VOLUMES 1 TO 5.
https://www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html
II. TAI CHI FOR HEALTH: 60-part Short Form of Grandmaster William C.C. Chen (form refinement, self-defense applications, Push-hands, and Tai Chi sword.
Thursdays 7pm to 8:30pm EST; Classes No. 105, 106, 107, 108, 109 = July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
Graceful in movement, slow in tempo, relaxed in perfectly natural postures, Tai Chi form practice improves circulation, respiration, metabolism, flexibility, and the neuromuscular function—agility, balance coordination, and proprioception. This weekly 90-minute class teaches you the 60-posture Yang Style Tai Chi Short Form created by my teacher, Grandmaster William C.C. Chen—along with applications of the form for self-defense. The class will provide basic to intermediate instruction in Push-hands (fixed step sparring) for students at all levels. Once properly learned, the Short Form will serve you throughout a lifetime.
Two years ago in Sandy Hook, CT: practicing the 60-posture Yang style Short Form created by my teacher, Grandmaster William C.C. Chen.
In addition to learning Master William C.C. Chen’s subtle Tai Chi body mechanics that develop muscle-free, “toes-to-fingers energization” that leads to the high-level skill that includes what our style calls the “slow fa-jing”, you will also learn different ways of perfecting each of the 60 postures in the Yang Short Form--that I first learned from my teacher’s classmate, General and Master Abraham Liu from 1980 to 1992, which I have practiced and taught for 30 years. My step-by-step instruction in the Short Form and refinement of each posture will be supplemented each week by a warm-up module at the start of each class comprised of selections from my rather wide repertoire of classical Tai Chi conditioning exercises that I’ve acquired over the past 51 years. My 20-minute warm-up module utilizes time-proven methods such as:
1. The Silkweaver’s Exercise - an excellent classical Qigong exercise that’s easy-to-do and develops 4 basic and essential stances for Tai Chi, ingeniously opens and closes the chest and back, relaxes the back, does a superb job of relaxing and stretching essential involuntary muscle groups throughout the back, upper arms, pelvis, and loins to conduct more energy (eg., Coracobrachialis, scalene muscles, anterior serratus, posterior serratus, gluteus minimus, gluteus maximus, etc.) without one knowing it, promotes toes-to-fingers energization, and even prepares one for reverse breathing.
2. Three Essential Yang-style conditioning exercisesº –– as taught by the late Master and General Abraham Liu: A. “The Gentle Bear”exercise—the “Wave Hands Like Clouds” pattern done in bow stance and ma-bu followed by the “Brush Knee” pattern in the same; B.Alternating Play Guitar and Lifting Hands exercise with 90º steps; C. “Snake Creeps Down” Figure-8 Exercise
(º As featured in the first 40 minutes of my all-time best-selling Tai Chi For Health DVDs released in 1989. Available at: https://www.taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html
3. Qing Dynasty Imperial Guard Exercises - Practiced by the Qing emperors’ palace guards from 1644 to 1912. (As taught by Master George Xu in the 1980’s at his workshops at the Taoist Sanctuary of San Diego.) This system of martial and therapeutic exercises integrates and strengthens the body as it develops basic powerful martial reflexes utilizing correct and perfectly natural body mechanics.
4. Master James Lau King’s 5 Loosening Exercises. Master King is a senior student of the late Grandmaster Huang Sheng Shyan (a classmate of my teacher, William C.C. Chen), and teaches his teacher’s five loosening exercises that not only develop Tai Chi body mechanics, but also codifies GM Huang’s favorite Tai Chi Kung Fu techniques.
5. Chen Style Chan-Su-Jin (“Silk-reeling”) exercises—Chan-Su-Jin teaches natural movement in sync with the movement and transformation of energy represented by the Tai Chi diagram—or “Tai Chi Tu”—aka, the “Yin-Yang Diagram.” The entire Chen Style of Tai Chi Chuan—every movement and every thought—is based on tracing the Yin Yang diagram with every part of the body. I learned Cha-Su-Jin from Master John Fey in the late 198O’s and came to understand his watchphrase: ”Whenever in doubt, jump on the Diagram!”
• FEE: $35 per class; $260 / 8-class series; or $450 / 16-class series
Please send tuition via Paypal (to zenbearinc@gmail.com or scan the QR code below) or send via Zelle (to terencepdunn@gmail.com)
<• Homework •>
BETWEEN CLASSES, CONTINUE YOUR TAI CHI FORM PRACTICE BY USING MY “TAI CHI FOR HEALTH, YANG SHORT FORM & TCFH YANG LONG FORM (1989), THE ALL-TIME BEST-SELLING INSTRUCTIONAL TAI CHI DVDs IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:
https://www.taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html
III. ADVANCED FLYING PHOENIX QIGONG & BASIC TAO TAN PAI KUNG FU & NEI KUNG CLASS
Sundays 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm EST. Classes No. 195, 196, 197, 198, 199 = JULY 6, 13, 20, 27
JULY 6 will be the 195th advanced-level Qigong & Kung Fu class in this ongoing weekly series. This course concentrates on the intermediate and advanced levels of the two rare and powerful Kung Fu/Qigong systems: Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir Method”) Nei Kung and Ehrmei Mountain White Tiger Kung Fu, the latter which includes Flying Phoenix Celestial Healing Qigong, and several equally powerful Nei Kung arts such as “10,000 Buddhas Meditations.”
Prerequisites for taking this class:
1. Proficiency in performing all the Flying Phoenix Qigong exercises in Volumes 1 through 3 of Chi Kung For Health DVD series.
2. Proficiency in the Tao Tan Pai Short Form Power Yoga—and familiarity with the overall sequence of TTP 31 Basic Meditations—as acquired through attendance of one 3-day TTP Qigong workshop, or 2 months of the Qigong For Health For 1st Reponsders classes (Saturdays).
Course Agenda:
A. INTERMEDIATE TRAINING:
1. Tao Tan Pai Cane Form.
2. Tao Tan Pai Monkey, Crane, Snake, Tiger, and Dragon forms.
3. Instruction in advanced Tao Tan Pai Nei Kung: The 11 Shen Exercises
4. Refinement ofstanding Flying Phoenix Moving Meditations: “Moonbeam Splashes On Water” — the 2nd most advanced Flying Phoenix moving meditation (on Volume 3 of Chi Kung For Health DVD series ).
5.“Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Qi Meditation”, aka, the Long Form Standing Capstone Moving Meditation (Volume 4 of the CKFH DVD series) .
6. Review and refinement of the 90-second ”Flash Meditations” (taught on Volume 5 of the CKFH DVD series)
10. Introduction to “10,000 Buddhas Ascend To Heaven” Nei Kung system. A vast Nei Kung system within the Ehrmeishan Bok Fu Pai Kung fu tradition (named after the tallest peak int he Ehrmeishan region) consisting of 54 Meditative Exercises, each with its unique breath-control formula.
11. Eight Sections of Energy Combined (“Bat Din Gum”) Kung Fu System —as seen in the Youtube video at the top of this section. Here is an impromptu demonstration of the 8th Section of “BDG” in April 2016:
10. Bok Fu Pai “Eagle Claw Ten Hook Attack Form”— seen here:
• FEE: $55/ class or $400 / 8-class series or $720 / 16-class series
Please send tuition via Paypal (to zenbearinc@gmail.com or scan QR Code below) or send via Zelle to terencedunn@gmail.com
Homework:
BETWEEN CLASSES, CONTINUE YOUR PRACTICE USING THE “CHI KUNG FOR HEALTH” 6-VOLUME DVD SERIES (2004) TEACHING THE FLYING PHOENIX QIGONG SYSTEM (ALL-TIME BEST-SELLING IN THE GENRE):
https://www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html
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. Music video pick of the month is a replay of last year’s July song pick—because it’s more relevant this time than ever before:
“SHIP OF FOOLS” by Robert Plant, founder and front man of Led Zepplin, from his solo album “Zen and Now.”
One of my favorite songs that I’ve played in the background of my Tai Chi classes since it came out in 1988—a very, very good year, btw.
I love this song in terms of its musical style and lyrical contet—as it reflects Robert Plant’s growth and evolution from his decades of superstardom and success as the roaring frontman of the culture-shaking-and-shaping heavy metal band, Led Zeppelin, of the 60’s and 70’s—to an older and wiser, more self-aware and reflective solo artist by the late 1980s. The song has beautiful melodies and powerful, evocative lyrics, with which Plant exercises his far less often heard range of soft and tender vocal inflections.
Ship of Fools is a beautiful love song and lamentation, in which he expresses a wide range of emotions—from love and love lost, to fear of tumult and danger, to isolation, to aloneness, and finally to his Taoist realization and acceptance that life can be a falling apart where one might get swept away by unforeseen tumultuous forces—or drown in one’s own pleasures. He’s not only aware of the consequences of his choices but he admits his responsibility in creating the tumult around himself—note how he says “I am the pilot of the storm”—not the pilot of the ship. It’s a subtle mea culpa.
Beneath a lover's moon I'm waiting I am the pilot of the storm Adrift in pleasure I may drown I built this ship, it is my making And furthermore my self control I can't rely on anymore
I know why, I know why
Crazy on a ship of fools Oh, crazy on a ship of fools
“I know why, I know why”— means thathe understands what brought him to be adrift in a stormy sea of uncertainty, where he might drown from being lost in pleasure (and debauchery). And that primary causation of the lost love and karma that he’s lamenting—is the “Ship of Fools”—the milieu that he was in that took him places.
Bottom line of this song (imho): Love hurts
In this last stanza, he admits painful loneliness with the elegant conceit of disputing John Donne:
Who claims that no man is an island? While I land up in jeopardy More distant from you by degrees I walk this shore in isolation And at my feet eternity draws ever sweeter plans for me
—and so accepts his permanent condition of separation from his beloved. But he knows that his feelings of loneliness and isolation are temporary—because he’s confident and optimistic that the future holds sweeter and greater things for him.
— thus spoken like a true Leo that he (Robert Plant) is!
But I like to extrapolate this love song into a song of healing or even a spiritual, and say that it encourages one to live life to the very fullest—i.e., create your sturm and drang like Led Zeppelin, go through it all, come out the other side to placid waters, and discover what really matters in life: Love. And one’s true Self. One’s true home where love abides. And no, this is not just romantic love but Universal Love. For once this is found, one is at home everywhere. Everywhere is your “loving ground.” But to be able to return to one’s loving ground, one must see beyond the consensus realityº and all its absolute attributions (maya) and not be carried away as an unaware passenger on the Ship of Fools.
Turn this boat around, back to my loving ground
Oh no, oh no
Ship of fools
Terry Dunn’s Newsletter on Tai Chi, Qigong, Kung Fu &Healing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
