Testimonial
This is a testimonial of the physical healing that I have experienced due to practicing the Three Treasures and Windlock sets of the art Lo Ban Pai – Spiral Energetics that Lujan teaches. I am writing this testimonial to address anyone reading this that may have injuries/physical limitations or maybe are getting older and are unsure of whether they can or should undertake a course with Lujan.
Before I relay my story I would like to say that in the past one of the primary, if not the primary, focuses of “true” martial arts was that of healing the practitioner. This is still the case with Lo Ban Pai. A practice should restore health and vitality and maintain this optimal state thru a training system that balances the mind, body, and spirit. From my experience Lo Ban Pai is exceptional in this regard.
When I was 27 I was involved in an accident in which my hip was fractured in multiple places as my femur was dislocated from the hip socket and fractured down the femur shaft as well. I was left with bone chips inside my hip socket which were unable to be removed in surgery and a very real chance of avascular necrosis.
It took three years to recover to a state of being relatively pain free and on my 30th birthday I began doing a martial art again. Due to my stubbornness to prove the doctors wrong and to prove to myself that I wasn’t permanently effected by the hip dislocation and fracture, I trained all the acrobatics I could in the martial art and eventually pounded most of the cartilage out of my right knee.
At 37 I trained with Lujan for the first time and took Golden Lotus (Quetzalcoatl) then followed with Dragon’s Tears shortly after. Like everyone who trains with Lujan I was absolutely amazed how immediate feeling the flow of energy that his system facilitates the awareness of as well as how beautiful it is and glimpses of how physically devastating the system of Lo Ban Pai can be to your opponent if physically applied as a martial art.
Meeting Lujan really opened my eyes as I had no idea that someone like him existed in the world at this time. A true master of awareness, a heart-centered being with the wisdom of a seer and man of knowledge (to use an old term), and bearer of a beautiful and efficient coiling martial arts system. Practicing at home I experienced many shifts and personal growth and just these things were more than worth the money spent to learn from Lujan. But something was awakened in me because once I experienced the feeling of tuning into a seemingly self-aware energetic consciousness guiding my body thru the movements I was more than intrigued.
How far could I go in this training?
Could this system heal me completely?
Is it too late for me to become a master of this system?
I had no idea of the answers and the only recourse was to practice.
A year or so later I learned the Three Treasures set from Lujan. I was still doing very physically demanding labor at this time that was hard on my knees and I noticed my right knee hurting more and more, grinding and popping with every step. It became a hindrance to my training and, after trying injections, I chose to have knee surgery to cut the outside tendon so my knee cap would slide over a different part of my knee and hopefully give me 3-10 years of relatively pain free movement.
The prognosis from my physical ailments was not good. The hip specialist said I would most likely need a full hip replacement by 40, and some days I feared he was right. The knee doctor said it was just a matter of time before my knee would grind all the cartilage out of its new position and ultimately I would just have to give up certain activities.
With these fears of swirling in my head and the yearning to go beyond the limitations thrown at me from others as well as those from myself I decided to take the Windlock course with Lujan. I figured I would give it everything I had and if I couldn’t keep practicing because of things I had done to my body then that’s just the way it would be but at least I would have had the experience of flowing with the energy of Lo Ban Pai’s dragon coiling movements, being guided by it in a way that I never could have imagined.
I was able to train fairly vigorously at six months after surgery but it took a year for my knee to fully recover. I started out only able to go through one or two repetitions of the Three Treasures routine and gradually worked my way up. I alternated days of doing Windlock and then Three Treasures. What I began noticing though truly inspired me. The two sets were working to stabilize my knee and alleviate pain in my hip.
I got stronger and eventually could do both sets without any problem. Now you may be thinking “big deal”, but unless you’ve had a debilitating injury or other challenges you may not understand how it wreaks havoc with not only your body but your mind and spirit as well. Some days are better than others but the constant evaluation of how you are feeling is ever present and takes the front seat in your daily activities. Then, when you start to get better and feel stronger you take notice of what it is that’s making you
feel better.
I really began to notice that it was Three Treasures and Windlock making my knee more stabilized and reducing pain in my hip when I would miss a few days of training and stiffness as well as increased popping and pain would effect these areas. Then after a couple days back at training and getting back into a routine I would feel so much stronger, my knee and hip much more pain free and more stable, and with less popping.
This is when it all began to click for me-that as much as Lo Ban Pai is an internal martial art, a beautiful spiraling energetic art, it’s also an amazing healing art. Of course it’s a healing art, it’s a coiling system and this is the nature of the Fibonacci spiral which is the energetic basis of life itself; to facilitate the optimal flow of energy which clears restrictions, supports new growth, and restores health. It’s truly a path with heart leading to harmony within oneself. I feel very fortunate to have been exposed to Lujan, Lo Ban Pai, and the Parallel Perception Forum community.
I encourage anyone who is wondering whether they can handle what they imagine might be too physically challenging or if this system is what others say it is to follow their interest and see what happens; health and happiness await. Lo Ban Pai is an energy cultivating system and I have found that it is thus a practice that will heal you, enliven you, increase your perceptual awareness, and bring love, harmony, and joy to your life.
Troy
USA
Great testimonial! <3 🙂
Thank you, Troy. This is truly inspirational. Best wishes to you on your journey.