SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
MAY 2019 PART 3
Consolidated force in Shaolin Iron Wire
Question 1
I notice that now many of those who ask questions are from your school. In the past most of those who asked questions were from the public.
— Alison, France
Answer
There are two main reasons for this happening. Firstly, more people from our school than people from the public ask questions. Sometimes they send their questions to me via e-mails, but often they ask questions during intensive or regional courses. If their questions are interesting or concern many people in our school or in the public, the answers are posted in my Question-Answer Series.
Secondly, I feel I have a responsibility to answer our students' questions, especially when the answers concern many people. But questions from the public who are not our students are, of course, welcome.
Question 2
When you answer questions from your instructors or students, other people from the public may not understand because the answers often contain technical terms.
Answer
This is quite true. When I answer questions from instructors or students, the answers may be too technical for members of the public to understand.
For example, some instructors or students may ask questions about courses they took before, and those who did not attend the courses would not know what are being discussed. A student may ask the difference between "flowing force" and "consolidated force", and those who do not know these two terms would not understand.
Nevertheless, these terms are well known in our school. I have a responsibility to explain to students of our school the difference between "flowing force" and "consolidated force". Those who did not attend the respective courses will still understand, and those attended the courses would understand the explanation better.
Members of the public are usually more interested in general questions, like "What is the difference between chi kung and gentle physical exercise?" and "What benefits can one get by practicing chi kung?" These general questions can be found at earlier issues of my Question-Answer Series, and members of the public are requested to refer to these earlier issues.
Bone Marrow Cleansing
Question 3
I read in your questions and answers on Bone Marrow Cleansing that both the organ level and the bone level are excellent to clear deep blockage and especially the bone marrow level for erasing imprints from previous lives. Is there much difference in outcome in choosing one or the other?
— Sifu Roeland Dijkema, Shaolin Wahnam Netherlands
Answer
Bone Marrow Cleansing at the organ level and at the bone marrow are excellent in clearing imprints, especially emotional imprints, from previous lives. There is some difference in outcome in choosing one level over the other.
Imprints from previous lives, especially emotional ones, are deep. Usually the person involved may not realize the imprints. For example in a previous life a person might have experienced extreme fear, and this emotion is manifested in his (or her) present life. He is usually not aware of the cause of the fear. He feels afraid for no apparent reason.
The bone marrow level is deeper than the organ level. The fear may have been logged in the bone marrow level. By letting chi or energy pass along this level, he may cleanse out the fear. He may not know the reason or the cause. He just feels less and less fearful for no apparent reason.
However, if the fear is less deep and is logged in the organ level, it will be easier to cleanse out the fear at the organ level.
It is useful to let chi flow at various levels according to depth. First he lets chi flow at the skin level, then at the muscle level, next at the meridian level, and eventually at the organ level and at the bone marrow level. If the fear is superficial and is logged at the skin level, for example, he may not clear it out if he lets chi flow at deeper levels.
Question 4
How would you know when a student has an imprint from a previous life and could you also recommend less powerful exercises for erasing imprints?
Answer
If normal cleansing does not clear away an imprint, we can suspect that it is caused from a previous life as it is logged deep in a person's body, like at the organ level or the bone marrow level.
We can start with cleansing using Five-Animal Play or 18 Jewels. If an imprint, like fear, was recently caused and is logged at the skin level, chi flow from Five-Animal Play or 18 Jewels will be able to clear it.
If the fear was caused in a previous life, it would have been logged deeper in the organ level or the bone marrow level. We would need Bone Marrow Cleansing to clear it.
Another useful way to clear imprints is for a master to lead a patient back to his (or her) previous lives, and let him relive that part of his previous lives. It must be performed by a master who knows what he is doing.
Many years ago I had a patient in Spain who constantly complained of feeling cold, even when the weather was hot. Douglas was my translator then. I led her to her previous lives. She recalled that she was in a very dark box being carried by other people. She was in her coffin. After reliving that experience, she recovered completely.
In the foreground, Chris yielded to Sifu Kevin during a Taijiquan practice
Question 5
I would appreciate very much if you could kindly explain to me what "yield" means.
— Santiago, Spain
Answer
"Yield" means "give way". It is important in Taijiquan.
For example when a punch is coming from north to south, if you go from south to north to stop the punch, it is going directly against it.
A better way is to ward off the punch from east to west, or from west to east.
The best way, which is used in Taijiquan, is to "yield", then redirect the movement of the punch against the opponent. This can be done as follows.
Follow the punch a short distance from north-northwest to south-southeast. While following the momentum, redirect the punch in an arc to go back to north against the opponent.
This is a common movement in Taijiquan Pushing Hands. You can move back when following the punch a short distance without moving your legs. You just shift your body backward, then forward again, like what we do in Stationary Pushing Hands. This is yielding, then redirecting the momentum on the opponent.
Question 6
The courses we are currently running in London, in preparation for the course you are running in December, are going very well. The current course is Five Dan Tian Training. From your guidance about what to expect from the course students have been working towards and experiencing.
The techniques and skills being taught to achieve Five Dan Tians are Dan Tian breathing to build energy at the the qihai. Pushing Mountains for building energy at the laogong and Nourishing Kidneys to allow Chi to flow to the Yonguan.
This week we moved from doing to a state of "being", which was beyond awareness or any desire for any outcome. To achieve this we practiced relaxing awareness, letting go to a point where some experienced "nothingness" then allowed "being" at the qihai and the yongquan.
— Sifu Tim Franklin, Shaolin Wahnam UK
This question was asked before the course, "Cultivating Spirit Nourishing Energy", held in December 2018. You can see videos of Five Dan Tian Chi Kung and Glowing with Five Dan Tians.
Answer
Congratulations for the excellent results.
Your training is correct. It is incredible that we can attain the achievement of the Five Dan Tian
Five Dan-Dian
Question 7
When chi flows from the qihai to the laogong and yongquan, is the chi following the pathways of the 12 meridians?
When standing in Wuji, my experience has been the 5 Dan Tians seem to merge from 5 fields of energy into one field of energy, like worlds within worlds.
If I bring my awareness to the primary meridians I can notice chi flow there too. But my experience is that they are all joined up as one at the same time being separate.
Answer
I believe that chi flows from the qihai to the laogong and yongyuan along the 3 yin hand meridaians and the 3 leg yang meridians, i.e. the heart meridian, the pericardum meridian, the lung meridian, the stomach meridian, the gall bladder meridian and the urinary bladder meridian.
When you bring your awareness to the Primary Meridians, you focus the chi to flow there. Otherwise it is 5 fields of energy merging into 1 field of energy.
Question 8
Are there other exercises for developing energy at the yongquan? Students have found developing chi at the yongquan very grounding.
Answer
The main exercise is to let chi flow to the yongquan by thinking of the feet, as in the Medical Big Universe. You can use reverse breathing or abdominal breathing.
When chi is focused at the yongquan, practitioners feel very grounded. When yongquan pulsates, it is a sign of radiant health. Stance training may also focus chi at the yongquan.
If you have any questions, please e-mail them to Grandmaster Wong via his Secretary at stating your name, country and e-mail address.
LINKS
Selected Reading
- The Unbelievable Intensive Chi Kung Course
- Chi Kung: the Art of Developing Vital Energy
- Wing Choon Kungfu and Wooden Dummy
- The Breadth and Depth of Xingyiquan
- Across the Apalachain