SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
DECEMBER 2011 PART 2
In Shaolin Wahnam we use kungfu patterns in our sparring
Question 1
Someone has said that to feel chi, put your left hand out flat and put your right hand into the Golden Dragon position with the 2 fingers pointing at the palm of your left hand and then move it in a circle and you will feel chi as a circular feeling, a sensation of a circle being produced on your palm. Sure enough I did. I felt it. My fingers never touched my palm at all and I felt it. I moved my right finger clockwise and then counter clockwise. I could feel as though a circle was being impressed on my left palm. I could feel it going clockwise and counter clockwise. I actually felt it. And there was no actual contact. Wow!
— Casba, Canada
Answer
This is only one of many ways to feel chi.
You may, if you like, make a chi ball. Place your two palms close together about six inches apart. Gently move them closer and slightly farther apart. You would be able to feel some magnetic sensation, which is a manifestation of chi.
Some people consider making a chi ball a remarkable feat possible only to advanced practitioners who have practiced chi kung for many years. But in our school virtually any student can do it if they try. We do not normally tell the students about this novelty, because it does not actually bring any practical benefits. But they can try it for some fun.
In the previous Small Universe course, students not only made a chi ball but threw it over a friend to let chi come down in a shower. This ability has some practical benefits.
Also, they not only sent chi from their own fingers to their palm, but sent chi to another person behind a wall. All of them were successful.
Other manifestations of chi commonly felt include warmth, tinkling sensations, flowing water and electric current.
It is important to bear in mind that while these chi sensations are novel, they are not the reasons why we practice chi kung (including Shaolin Kungfu and Taijiquan). We practice chi kung not because we want to experience these novel sensations, but because we want good health, vitality and longevity.
Question 2
I have been practicing Chi Kung for a month and I have only been practicing 3 times per week and I have experienced the manifestation of chi. I have felt it in my forearms. The chi would shake and vibrate in a rotating manner. Then I really focused on Zen and breathing with my dantian and smiling through the heart at the same time. I like to call this the "state".
Answer
I am very glad of your progress. It is not due to your one month practice in Shaolin Wahnam alone. Your previous training under other teachers contribute an important part. Your previous training has laid a good foundation for you. The Shaolin Wahnam training acts as a catalyze to bring out the benefits. You should be grateful to your earlier teachers too.
Many people have practiced chi kung and Taijiquan for years but have no experience of chi. We have been ridiculously generous. Fresh beginners who attend my regional or intensive courses experience chi and internal force on the very first day of the courses!
Those who attend regular classes taught by our certified instructors experience chi and internal force in a month at the most. Our instructors can enable students to experience chi and internal force on the first day too, but because they have more time with the students, it is to the students' benefit that the instructors take a little more time for the students to develop chi and internal force on their own.
Other chi kung and Taijiquan practitioners know the great benefits of chi, but despite our generosity they do not grab the opportunity to learn from us. On the other hand, there are people who vehemently argue that chi does not exist. All they have to do is to take a course from me or attend a regular class taught by our certified instructors, and find out for themselves. This is their problem, not ours. We are not going to waste our time arguing with them or proving to them that chi is real.
One-Finer Shooting Zen
Question 3
I first feel it in my forearms. Then, after breathing for about 20 minutes to half an hour my arms start to rise as if they have a life of their own. The feeling of Chi comes through my hands, fingers palms and wrists. The hands feel like they have a life of their own and start to rise upwards bringing the rest of the arm up with it. I feel very happy and joyous during this sensation.
Answer
Your hands actually have a life of their own. And your training has make their life more vibrant. Having your hands rise upward bringing your arms with them is considered by many people as an achievement attainable only by advanced practitioners. I remember that in my early years of chi kung training, when my arms rose spontaneously, I felt powerful and happy, and many people regarded me as a high-level master due to this feat. It is amazing that now, due to the remarkable improvement of our teaching methodology, many of our students also have this achievement.
Despite your clear feeling of chi, some skeptics may still ask how are you sure it is chi, and they may ask you to prove it. In principle, it is like you are sitting on a chair, and they ask you how you know you are sitting on a chair, and ask you to prove it. Again, we don't have to waste time on these people. But if some are sincere and deserving, we offer them the opportunity not just to feel chi but to enjoy its great benefits.
In a similar way, when our students recovered from so-called incurable diseases like depression, diabetes and cancer by practicing chi kung, some skeptics would ask how our students knew it was chi kung that enabled them to recover. The skeptics asked for scientific proofs. Of course our students were not keen not only to prove to the skeptics but also to find out whether it was really chi kung that restored their good health. They just enjoyed their good health which they never dreamed could be theirs again.
Question 4
Yes, chi does exist. I haven't even applied any of this to the One Finger Shooting Zen exercise. I only practice chi cultivation, and forms.
Answer
When you learn One-Finger Shooting Zen, which is a treasure of our school, your Sifu will teach you how to apply chi to the exercise. This will activate a continuous circle of benefits.
By channeling chi to your One-Finger Shoot Zen, your One-Finger Zen will be more powerful than had you not channeled chi to it. In turn, your more powerful One-Finger Zen will increase your amount of chi. Then you increased amount of chi will make the One-Finger Zen even more powerful, and the circle continues.
When we practice a kungfu form, we also generate energy flow and develop internal force, as demonstrated a Taijiquan class here led by Grandmaster Wong
Question 5
I do not apply anything to the forms. This will come in time. I have to master the forms first.
Answer
Your description highlights an amazing development in our teaching methodology.
Even when our students do not apply chi or internal force to their forms, after they have been initiated into Zen (or a chi kung state of mind) and chi flow, as long as they practice the forms according to the way we teach them, they will develop internal force and mental clarity.
In other words, they do not need to apply any special force-training or mind-training methods, by just practicing a kungfu set or a few combat sequences, for example, they will have more internal force and mental clarity than when they started. This is what we mean when we say our kungfu is also meditation and chi kung.
This is not our invention. Shaolin masters in the past attained this result after practicing for many years. Taijiquan practitioners in the past were supposed to attain this result with their Taijiquan training, though today most of them do not.
But we speed up the process remarkably. What it took Shaolin masters and Taijiquan practitioners in the past months or years to attain, we attain in weeks!
Question 6
I can see how superior Shaolin Wahnam Kung Fu is to other martial arts. The level of chi is extremely high. It will even get higher for me as I progress.
Answer
This statement may appear boastful, but it is a fact. How many martial artists, for example, can generate a chi flow, develop internal force or use their techniques for combat within a month of starting their arts? This does not mean that we are better fighters. We never make that claim.
But it is a fact that our students can generate a chi flow, develop internal force and use kungfu techniques in free sparring when most kungfu practitioners today have no experience of chi, no experience of internal force and use kicking boxing in sparring irrespective of how long they have practiced.
Of course chi exists. Course participants at an Intensive Chi Kung Course experience chi on the very first day.
Question 7
After practicing chi training, I have to use the rest room more often. I have become more regular.
Answer
This is a good sign indicating healthy cleansing. Later, when your kidneys have become strong, you need to go to the rest room less oftern.
In my trans-continental flights I like to be seated at the window. I need to go to the rest room only before and after the long flight.
Question 8
I am very happy to be learning the highest art of my 2 heroes, Chee Seen Sim See and Wong Fei Hong, which I have heard so much from the old masters here in Chinatown as I grew up.
Answer
Indeed, it is incredible that today we in Shaolin Wahnam have the rare and privileged opportunity to practice and benefit from the arts of not only masters like Wong Fei Hoong and Yang Lu Chan, but even grandmasters like Chee Seen Sim See and Zhang San Feng. You may find the following article interesting.
Question 9
How often should we practice Cosmic Breathing at home?
— Luis, UK
Answer
It depends mainly on the practitioners' level of development.
Cosmos Breathing is a very advanced exercise. In most other schools, if it is practiced correctly, it is not suitable for beginners and intermediate students, because it is too powerful, and if they practice wrongly they would have serious adverse effects. Of course if it is practiced as physical exercise, then it does not matter whether the practitioners are beginners, intermediate or advanced, and also it does mot matter how often they practice.
But in our school, beginners and intermediate students may practice this exercise. Why is it so? It is because even if our students practice wrongly and even if they do nothing about it, their chi flow would be sufficient to overcome the adverse effects of their wrong practice. Other students, because they do not know chi flow, would not have this important safety precaution.
So we have a range of practitioners from beginners to masters' level. Masters may practice Cosmic Breathing everyday if they want, though they may choose not to do so. Beginners should practice only once or twice out of ten times. Other times they practice lower level chi kung exercises.
Practicing Cosmic Breathing too often may result in beginners having too much energy for their physical body to sustain. Gradually, as they progress, they may increase the number of times of Cosmic Breathing training.
Students in between these two extremes should adjust their practice accordingly. To be on the safe side, it is better to under-practice than over-practice. This advice on how often one should train, is also applicable to other advanced exercises.
How would one know when he over-practices. There will be warning signs of tiredness or sleepiness. Sometimes there may be pain. If he takes heed of the warning signs, and slow down or stop practicing, he will be alright.
LINKS
Selected Reading
- Perception is Oftern More mportant than Reality
- Zen is Zen, Tao is Tao
- A Pattern for All Occasions
- The Spirit of the Monkey
- What a Glorious Journey!