Seeking Advice.

[XsteelWolf]

Greetings,

I'm currently 17 years old and would like to attend Sifu Wong intensive course in Malaysia,but I'm located in Singapore and has been placed for 2 yrs probation due to breaking into countless computer security systems.Therefore,my trip to Malaysia would be forbidden.

Anyway,back to self learning of QiGong,is it possible?I have read Magus of Java and understand that there are 72 levels in Qigong.Basically,I would like to self learn lvl 1 and fill up by DanTien by meditating.What are the exact postures,feelings or focusing I had to be in a state or do?

Secondly,I have breathing problems,which means at certain times,I have to breath in through my mouth at big gaps.Western doctors are unable to determine why,I visited chinese physicians instead.They diagnosed that I have too many "Yin Qi" and my "Yang Qi" are too little.This will be a problem if I meditate.I can't really focus and do meditating,what should I do?

Great thanks in advance.All help and advice will be sincerely appreciated.

[Andrew]

First of all - Welcome to the forum.

If you would like my advice, I would suggest you purchase one of Sifu Wong's Chi Kung books and concentrate on practicing just the "Lifting the Sky" exercise which is clearly described in it. This exercise is "easy" to learn and you can already achieve some quite good results if you follow the instructions in the book(s) respectfully i.e. do not add, remove or change anything. The results will probably be small when compared to learning personally from Sifu but you will at least be on a safe path.

"Filling up the Dan Tian by meditation", I would suggest, is not a good place for you to start.

Andrew

[beausimon]

I visited chinese physicians instead.They diagnosed that I have too many "Yin Qi" and my "Yang Qi" are too little.

Great thanks in advance.All help and advice will be sincerely appreciated.

Hi XsteelWolf,
Perhaps you can try the "Chung Wah" TCM center at Toa Payoh central? It runs a free clinic and after diagnosis, they also dispense the necessary chinese herbal medicine. I remember they also provide accupuncture and Tui Na. It's quite near the HDB Hub.

As Andrew mentioned, Sifu Wong's books are also a good way to learn qigong. You can get "Chi Kung for health and vitality" and "The Art of Chi Kung" from Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann city

[Michael Udel]

breathing problems and qigong

XsteelWolf:

Cool name. Is it from something in particular? I'm not really up on the latest stuff, so I don't recognize it. I'm not in America, and I can't stay up to date from watching Chinese TV since I don't understand it.

So what did you think of "The Magus of Java"? I guess a side trip to Java is out of the question--just joking. About that book, it describes one particular martial arts system taught by Sifu John Chiang. That system is different from Shaolin Wahnam Cosmos Chi-Kung in certain techniques, although all styles of qigong and martial arts have several things in common. As far as qigong, Sifu Wong Kiew Kit has said that all methods and styles of qigong have a physical form, an energetic or "qi" component, and a mental component. That being said, I'm not a Shaolin Wahnam Instructor, but I don't think there are any qigong methods in Shaolin Wahnam that work the same way as those described in "Magus of Java" as far as filling up your Dan Tian by strict meditaion. To show how different methods of qigong can still have strong similarities, many styles of qigong have the eventual effect of filling the Dan Tian with qi/energy, even if they don't have a specific meditation method that you've read about.

In general, there are a lot of really good styles of qigong a person can choose from, and Shaolin Wahnam Cosmos Chi-Kung is an excellent system. As Siheng Andrew mentioned, you can safely learn "Lifting the Sky" on your own by reading one of Sifu Wong Kiew Kit's books. I recommend "The Art of Chi-Kung", ISBN 0091876575. List price is around $20 US, but it's often discounted online, although I don't know how expensive it is to get English books in Singapore. If the book is out of reach, you can find enough information generously provided by Sifu in his monthly Question and Answer.

Read the following for nearly complete information on "Lifting the Sky", with some instructions that aren't in his books regarding Swaying Willows and Flowing Breezes. XsteelWolf, just concentrate on the first area listed below. The other Q & A I listed have some info. on "Lifting the Sky", but also info. that you don't need to bother with now, but is listed for other people's benefit.

May 2002 part 1, Question 1
Nov 2004 Part 1, Question 4 - 6
Nov 2004 Part 2, Question 3 - 6
Nov 2004 Part 3, Question 2

I'd like to say something about your 2 year probation. Serve your punishment and get it truly behind you. If you can understand your mistake, you can move forward and not need to worry about the past. Your ability to choose between right and wrong will strongly affect your success with qigong. If you ever want to learn from Sifu directly in the future, you must be able to choose right from wrong.

Best wishes with your "Lifting the Sky". Remember what Siheng Andrew said in his response to you, it's very important.

Good luck,
Michael

[Andrew]

In general, there are a lot of really good styles of qigong a person can choose from, and Shaolin Wahnam Cosmos Chi-Kung is an excellent system.

Just a quick side-note - Shaolin Wahnam is the name of our school and Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung is the name of the Chi Kung system.

Andrew

[Michael Udel]

got it

Andrew,

Duly noted Thanks.

Michael

[XsteelWolf]

Hi everyone again,thanks for the reply XsteelWolf it's just a name 6 yrs old I've been using since I was hacking my way in the underground world

Any idea where to purchase "Filling up the Dan Tian by meditation" or other books by Sifu Wong? Exact webby etc. Or any local bookstores other than kinokuniya?Not sure if they will have a complete set haha.

If it's online purchase,I'm fine with it.I have my own debit card to purchase

[XsteelWolf]

By the way,just curious,what lvl is Sifu Wong?
I've been in passion with martial arts after watching tonnes of Jet Li movies and other shaolin-related movies such as : Shaolin 36 Chambers.

I learnt that the monks train their sharpness of their eyes by concentrating on the flame of the candles watching it sway and just moving the eyeballs.It seems pretty much of use to me.I spent like 10 hrs on computer on average daily.My specs degrees rose up to 800+,but after I trained that,focusing on eyes,went down to 750 and I'm doing perfectly fine,I could even take up 700 degrees specs for both eyes now :P

[Michael Udel]

kung-fu cinema

XsteelWolf:

You've got things a bit mixed up. There is no "level" system in Shaolin Wahnam. Not every martial arts system has the same techniques and ranking methods. The martial arts system written about in "The Magus of Java" has 72 "levels" according to the author, Kostas Danaos. This "72 level" system is peculiar to the Mo-Pai Eight Ways Thunder Boxing System said to belong to Sifu John Chang in the book you read. That is an example of one martial arts system, but it is not necessarily true for other systems.

Shaolin Wahnam Kung-Fu and Shaolin Cosmos Chi-Kung do not use the same techniques or "level" system as described in the books or movies you've enjoyed, which I also have found quite entertaining. I remember the first time I saw "The 36th Chamber" (alternate title: 36 Levels of Kung-Fu) on TV when the monk was getting burned on his cheeks every time he used his head to follow some object instead of his eyes. However, the movies (and many books) can only give incomplete and often misleading information. You have to find out for yourself from direct experience what is real and what is just for entertainment.

There is no way to evaluate Sifu Wong according to the level system of either "The Magus of Java" or "The 36th Chamber". Sifu Wong is simply the Grandmaster of Shaolin Wahnam.

Since you mentioned improving your eye sight, Shaolin Cosmos Chi-Kung includes a method for improving eye sight called the Shaolin Eight Eye Techniques. They are generously provided in Sifu's Question and Answer:
OCTOBER 2004 (PART 2), Question 4

I would suggest looking for Sifu's books on www.overstock.com, or use the search engine on Best Book Deal to find the best price.

While you're at it, try reading the follow up to "Magus of Java" in "Nei-Gong". I'm not crazy about the writing style, but it's an interesting topic, although there are too many references to Star Wars and the TV program Kung-Fu for my taste. Kostas Danaos had a web site going for a while, but dropped it before I got around to checking it out. I think it was www.wenwukan.org. You can use the Web Archive to look at the old pages. This web site is allegedly one of John Chang's students, and seems to be corroborated by mentions of the teacher's name in Danaos' books. It's the only site I ever found that mentioned John Chang, but I don't know if it's still working. If you look really hard you might find a low res. jpg of John Chang giving acupuncture, but it varies according to when I've looked.

I find the first Western material on John Chang to be the most interesting, but also very brief. The documentary film Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey DVD is truly excellent, the best documentary I've ever seen, although only about 5 minutes go to John Chang. These five minutes were enough to prompt Kostas Danaos to fly to Indonesia on a blind chase that led to his books about John Chang being written and published. The companion book to Ring of Fire is very good and contains some extra, brief info. on John Chang. Ring of Fire ISBN: 0892814306 can be found on Best Book Deal.

Lawrence and Lorne Blair are more credible than Kostas Danaos as far as examining someone with the abilities attributed to Sifu John Chang. It should be noted that Lawrence and Lorne Blair's Indonesian friends were not especially impressed with the ability to set newspaper on fire (the "trick" that John Chang demonstrated for the camera)—not because they believed it was a trick, but because in their culture, it was no big deal. What can seem fantastic to a Westerner, or maybe even a Singaporean, may be common place to peoples of older cultures. I was always more impressed by the fact John Chang could heal Lorne Blair's eye infection using Large Instestine-11 and extra point TaiYang so quickly with acupuncture by sending or emitting qi into Lorne's body. According to Kostas Danaos, John Chang learned acupuncture from the spirit of his long departed Sifu.

For the record, although it wasn't verified by The Amazing Randi or Price-Waterhouse, the TV Show "Max X" filmed a teenage Mexican boy who could generate visible electric current from his finger tips for a distance of at least an inch, and he never had any special training. The point is that spectacular abilities are fine for TV and movies, but I tend to put them in perspective by asking, "What's the ultimate benefit to anyone?" to be able to perform a certain feat.

Happy reading and viewing!

Michael

[XsteelWolf]

Failed to find those books on the 2 websites you gave me.Do you have the ISBN for Filling up the Dan Tian by meditation?

[Darryl]

Hi Michael,

Good post, although there are a couple of disrepancies

1) - It's Shaolin Kungfu, not Shaolin Wahnam Kungfu

2) - There are levels within Shaolin Wahnam's training curriculums, but they are usually used for definition, not as a title. For example, I've yet to come across someone who introduces themselves to me as a Level 3 student but I've frequently come across people who are currently focusing on the first four combat sequences (which are taught within the third level of the Kungfu curriculum) or those who, when asked what they know would say which Level they were currently being taught and then explain from there. This is done in line with the progression through the Shaolin Wahnam Sparring Methodology and, correspondingly, the progression towards free sparring.

Xsteelwolf,

Michael is correct in that Shaolin Wahnam does not follow the same Level structure as the system you are asking about. Having never read the book, I can't say how it compares but I can say that watching films and learning genuine techniques are vast in their differences. Personally, I've never had my cheeks burnt while improving my eyesight, but I have laughed and smiled throughout the process .

As to the levels of progression, I would suggest that 'Beginner, intermediate, advanced and Master' would be one way of doing it. Again, it's all relative since one systems 'Advanced' student may be another systems 'Beginner'. A Master may have one main speciality, a broad range of knowledge or have just read a lot of books and been given the title by others either out of respect or out of ignorance.

[XsteelWolf]

Hehe,I just tried Shaolin One-Finger Chan posture.The feeling is wierd.Like something is flowing to that particular finger.Can't focus for long

[Michael Udel]

terminology

Thanks, Siheng Darryl.