Chi Kung For Health, Volume Two: Six Seated Meditations
This video series by the well known qigong instructor, Terry Dunn, takes you step by step through the "Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditations", a part of the martial art, White Tiger Kung-fu, which was attributed to the Taoist monk Feng Do Duk, a legendary healer from Ehrmei Mountain in Szechuan province. He passed on the art to the ancestors of the Doo family in 1644. As in most complete qigong schools, which usually include a standing, a sitting as well as moving forms, this series includes three volumes. The first, called Five Basic Standing Exercises, consists of five standing meditations, each with distinct postures and breathing patterns. the video includes side views and panels explaining the breathing patterns and allowing us to view Terry's movements from different angles. It is said in the qigong world that to build qi you need to do standing meditation. Here we can learn five different ways to do that. Each meditation uses various hand and body postures with poetic names such as Monk Holding the Pearl, Willow Leaf Palm, Bending the Bows, and Monk Gazing At the Moon. In the second volume, called Six Seated meditations, we are taught six different seated meditations. Three are basic, warm-up meditations just as powerful as the three Monk Serves Wine that follow. These meditations again use hand and upper body postures first practiced in Volume One. We are taught basic breathing for meditation and then led slowly through various hand and body postures. The first four can be done singly for at least five minutes. The last six should be done sequentially in sets of seven repetitions for each exercise. Volume Three is called Two Intermediate Standing Exercises and teaches two Tai Chi-like Forms only they are practiced more slowly than Tai Chi and are relatively much short routines. Building on what we learned in Volume One of the standing exercises, we are led through these simple yet powerful qigong forms. Terry guides us through the form in several creative ways, using different angles, including an overhead, so that we may view the movements from every way. Because of the great interest in qigong in the West, it is important to have available bona fide teachings by bona fide teachers. Too often students end up learning a little bit of this form and a little bit of another, while never learning any complete system. This series is a good example of a serious and gifted instructor who offers a complete system of qigong to the serious student. --by Tolala Towler, Editor of Empty Vessel, Journal of Contemporary Taoism:26 of 27 people found the following review helpful: Great Calming DVD!!, September 3, 2006 By  J. Kirby "love to create" (VT USA) - I think this is a great DVD. It moves very slowly. It is very calming. Because it is seated, most people could do the movements. My arms did feel sore the first few days but then I got used to it very quickly. And I always felt so much more grounded afterwards. 18 of 18 people found the following review helpful: Flying Phoenix Chi Kung, February 23, 2007 By  Tony "James" (Greenville, SC. USA) - s Amazon Verified Purchase This is by far the best presentation of this Taoist set of exercises and although seemingly simple to practice they have good effect. Definitely recommend most of Terry Dunn's productions which are professional and easy to follow especially if a teacher is not accessible from where you live. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, September 11, 2009 By  M. PENNER (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) First of all, the DVD is the second one of a series and is very well produced. It was filmed on a beautiful location and has soft music playing in background. This program presents 06 seated meditations from the Flying Phoenix Celestial Healing Discipline. 03 of them are called basic and require simple movements or no movement at all. The next 03 meditations, called "Monk Serves Wine", require some choreograph, but they are also very simple. Terry Dunn teaches and explains each movement a couple of times, before initiate the meditations. After following him in the demonstration, you will be ready to practice the complete meditation by our own. Each of them takes about 10-15 minutes to be completed and they all have fast and profound effects. Practicing some of them for a week and you will feel energized. I've been practicing different types of qigong over the last decade and this one became my favorite one for its simplicity and powerful effects. Terry Dunn has done a great job . I highly recommend. --J.Kirby, Tony James, M. Penner's recent reviews submitted to amazon dot com26 of 27 people found the following review helpful: Great Calming DVD!!, September 3, 2006 By  J. Kirby "love to create" (VT USA) - I think this is a great DVD. It moves very slowly. It is very calming. Because it is seated, most people could do the movements. My arms did feel sore the first few days but then I got used to it very quickly. And I always felt so much more grounded afterwards. 18 of 18 people found the following review helpful: Flying Phoenix Chi Kung, February 23, 2007 By  Tony "James" (Greenville, SC. USA) - s Amazon Verified Purchase This is by far the best presentation of this Taoist set of exercises and although seemingly simple to practice they have good effect. Definitely recommend most of Terry Dunn's productions which are professional and easy to follow especially if a teacher is not accessible from where you live. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, September 11, 2009 By  M. PENNER (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) First of all, the DVD is the second one of a series and is very well produced. It was filmed on a beautiful location and has soft music playing in background. This program presents 06 seated meditations from the Flying Phoenix Celestial Healing Discipline. 03 of them are called basic and require simple movements or no movement at all. The next 03 meditations, called "Monk Serves Wine", require some choreograph, but they are also very simple. Terry Dunn teaches and explains each movement a couple of times, before initiate the meditations. After following him in the demonstration, you will be ready to practice the complete meditation by our own. Each of them takes about 10-15 minutes to be completed and they all have fast and profound effects. Practicing some of them for a week and you will feel energized. I've been practicing different types of qigong over the last decade and this one became my favorite one for its simplicity and powerful effects. Terry Dunn has done a great job . I highly recommend. --J.Kirby, Tony James, M. Penner's recent reviews submitted to amazon dot com