The Magician's I Ching Facebook Group now has Over 1500 Members!

The Facebook group created in honor of The Magician's I Ching, but which is a general discussion group for all I Ching related subjects, has now reached just over 1500 members!

So if you haven't already joined the Magician's I Ching Facebook Group, please consider joining!  It's free, and filled with interesting conversation and material related to the I Ching and I Ching studies.  It's open to people coming from western or eastern traditions.  It's very welcoming to newcomers to the I Ching, and you can get questions answered or useful advice. But it also has many very learned and highly experienced advanced students of the I Ching, and if you are one of those people you'll find some excellent higher level discussion about some of the finer points of I Ching study.

While you're at it, please consider joining the Yi Fa Society.  Members of the Yi Fa Society also have a (secret) discussion group, and benefit from a complete and detailed training program for studying Yi Fa Qi Gong and the I Ching.   Members of the Yi Fa Society are taught additional Qi Gong and I Ching secrets that are not available anywhere public.

At higher levels of membership, the advanced exercises of Yi Fa Qi Gong are taught, and students are provided large numbers of instructional materials (whole books, like "Secret Techniques of the I Ching", "Universal Yi Fa", "The Yi Dao", and "the Great Book of Yi Fa", among others) on how to deepen their work with Qi Gong and I Ching for self-transformation and the work of enlightenment.

Members of the Yi Fa Society can work personally with me to keep up their practice, to resolve problems in their practice, and to develop discipline and structure in their spiritual path.   Members also have the opportunity to have monthly Skype meetings with me for the same purpose.

Yi Fa Society membership is not free, but basic membership is on a monthly donation basis set by each student.


If you are interested in joining the Magician's I Ching Facebook group, just click on the link and join, and start reading and sharing with us!

If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society, please contact me, here or on Facebook.

Yi Fa Qi Gong and Food, and Other Taboos

The following is an excerpt from a book that's part of the curriculum of Level 2 of the Yi Fa Society, The Universal Yi Fa.

 
There are some Qi Gong schools that make their students follow special diets. Sometimes these are general restrictions (like eating no meat, or abstaining from alcohol). Other times they are seemingly very specific and unusual restrictions (such as avoiding Onions or Garlic). Likewise, some Qi Gong schools teach that sexual abstinence is essential to Qi Gong practice, to preserve the 'primordial Qi' of the body that they claim would be wasted through sexual activity.

Yi Fa Qi Gong has no such taboos. 

It is clear that some of the greatest Masters and Sages of history ate meat (or onions, or garlic), drank alcohol, and had sexual relations, even as other great Masters and Sages did not. Thus, it is obvious that neither one nor the other has any effect on cultivation. What does matter is Virtue, which requires that a person practice harmony in their life, and discipline in their actions. Thus, no specific things are forbidden, but moderation in avoiding excessive indulgence is recommended.

Early Experiences in Qi Gong Practice

 The following is an excerpt from the Level 2 text "The Universal Yi Fa Qi Gong", available only to Yi Fa Society students. In this excerpt we look at some of the common early experiences that happen to people starting a regular Qi Gong practice:



It is quite common for a significant percentage of new practitioners to experience the sensation of Qi
moving through the body while practicing the exercises; but it should also be noted that at least as many
may not feel Qi. While the ability to experience a sensory perception of Qi will steadily rise in most
students, to the point that the majority of Level 2 students will obtain such sensations, teachers should
take note of advising brand new practitioners that these sometimes surprising sensations are normal.
They should likewise reassure those who do not feel Qi yet that it is also completely normal not to
experience such sensations even until a considerable time practicing Qi Gong has passed.

Brand new students may feel, sometime in the first week or two of daily Qi Gong practice, some physical
symptoms that are not unlike having a mild cold; this is also normal and happens to at least a third of all
new students. The ancient teachers suggested that this was due to the expulsion of stagnant Qi (or later,
once Buddhism had become popular in China, the expulsion of "bad karma"); however it may also be
possible that these symptoms are in fact due to the way Qi Gong stimulates the lymphatic system into
more effective detoxification.

Many students will experience, after their first few sessions of Qi Gong, feelings of excitement and
pleasure during the practice, and a general sense of well-being after the practice. This is different from
the bliss stage of pre-enlightenment, but is rather an effect of that initial enthusiasm for practice (and
the conscious or unconscious sensing of initial Qi cultivation). It happens to at least a third of initial
students. Instructors should make it clear that this is a normal sensation, but not to dwell too much or
make that kind of pleasure the goal (otherwise, in the middle-early stages, when perfecting the technical
side of the movements becomes more challenging, they may start to get discouraged).

On the other hand, at least a third of the students may find that, in the days after initial Qi Gong
practice, they start to feel more easily annoyed or irritated by everyday things in their life and
environment. This is likely caused by the initial increase in sensitivity and perception that properly
practiced Qi Gong generates. Students should be advised not to worry too much about it, to try to avoid
outbursts or reactions caused by such irritation, and that once they get used to their higher level of
perception, these sensations will pass.

One very common physical side effect of Qi Gong practice is most curious: practitioners will experience
an increase of "bubbles" in their urine. The ancient teaching suggested that these are due to "excess Qi",
not yet able to be contained in the new student as they are still in the process of activating the First
Furnace. It may also be likely, however, that this is a side effect of increased oxygenation produced by
improved breathing when practicing Qi Breathing. In either case, this curious side effect is completely
harmless.

Finally many students, after the first two or three weeks of practice, report that they are getting less
sleep than they used to; and for some this can seem quite distressing. However, the student should
consider whether their reduced hours of sleep actually translate into a sensation of being tired when
they wake up. They will likely find that even if they have slept one to three hours less than they were
previously used to, they wake up feeling no more tired than they would normally. This is because the
physical effects of Qi Gong, and the increased life energy generated by the proper circulation of Qi in the
body, makes less sleep necessary to get the same amount of physical regeneration. So if a student is
sleeping less but is not feeling exhausted from it, they should realize that this is not a serious problem at
all, but rather an advantage of practice! At the same time, the instructor should warn students away
from intentionally getting less sleep; if their body naturally sleeps less, that is different than if they are
trying to use Qi Gong as a way to "burn the midnight oil", which is not as such advised.




If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society please feel free to contact me here, or on Facebook or Google+.

The Curriculum of the Yi Fa Society, Level 2

Each level of the Yi Fa Society has its own curriculum, with new material presented for the student's growth, practice and study.  A previous entry already detailed the Curriculum of Level 1.

The Curriculum of Level 2, in brief, consists of the following points:

1. The Level 2 Yi Fa Qi Gong exercise. This is a secret exercise taught only to members of level 2 of the Yi Fa Society program.

2. "Transforming the Inferior Person": a contemplative practice, used by a level 2 student to address those parts of their persona that act as barriers to the Superior Individual, to re-integrate them and remove them as barriers.

3. The Universal Yi Fa Qi Gong: a 50 page secret text that acts as a guide to the theory and study of Yi Fa Qi Gong.

4. "The Three Offerings": devotional practice/ritual to further the development of Union.

5. Secret Techniques of the I Ching: secret methods to determine further insights into I Ching castings, including understanding the origins and further developments of aspects of the present casting, alternate resulting hexagrams, and concepts of Timing to determine duration of casting effects.

6. The Yi Dao: a 22 page text of commentaries on the study of the I Ching.


These advanced teachings are only available to those students who are members of the Yi Fa Society and complete the Level 1 curriculum.

If you are interested in membership in the Yi Fa Society, please contact me!

Practicing Qi Gong While Ill

Contrary to those who "do not have time", there are also practitioners that find themselves in the difficult situation of being injured or unwell.  How should one approach the practice in these situations? On the one hand, Qi Gong is specifically beneficial to recovery from injury or ill-health, but ironically those conditions can sometimes make it feel very difficult to practice Qi Gong.

The following is a selection from the Level 2 text "The Universal Yi Fa Qi Gong", a special document exclusively for students of the Yi Fa Society that explains both basic and advanced concepts in Yi Fa Qi Gong practice. While many sections of that text are secret to Level 2 students (and above), there is nothing in the following section that prevents its public dissemination.

XLIII. Practicing While Ill

The practice of Qi Gong is generally beneficial to bodily health (although not always to the extent some try to claim). However, there will be times a practitioner may become ill as this is a natural consequence of life.

When ill (or injured) it may be difficult to keep up the standard discipline of Yi Fa Qi Gong practices. Whenever a practitioner is ill, they should still practice as much as they comfortably can, but without straining themselves or complicating their illness. If they are too unwell to continue the practice in full, they should only do those practices that are easy for them. If their movement is restricted due to injury or health complications, they should adapt the exercise so as not to cause themselves pain; however, they should only adjust the exercise movements as little as is necessary to avoid pain or discomfort. If a practitioner cannot stand or get out of bed due to their health issue, then they should focus their practice on Qi Breathing.

The Yi Fa Society is open to applications for membership. If you wish to join its training program, please contact me here, by email, or on Facebook.