Contributed by Billy Ethridge
Actions / Surprises / Insights
Master Mingtong Gu brings an ancient mind-body wisdom to the West.
With roots in Chinese medicine, Qigong (pronounced “chee-gung”) is the practice of harmonizing qi, a concept that best translates to “life energy.” Chinese medicinal wisdom tells us that this subtle energy is everywhere. Utilizing it for your own benefit though, takes practice. Qigong combines movement, breath, and meditation to harness this energy and achieve greater balance and energy throughout the body.
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Mingtong Gu, a Qigong teacher who trained under Grandmasters in China and at the world’s largest Qigong hospital. Originally from a small village in China, Mingtong traveled a long and often difficult path to reach the point where he is today. Having cured his own chronic asthma through the healing practice of Qigong, he is dedicated to helping his students achieve greater health.
When Master Gu told me of the profound positive changes he has seen in his students over the years, I found it difficult to grasp how Qigong promotes healing. I began a full-day workshop in San Rafael, California, home of Master Gu’s Chi Center. When I started the simple, yet challenging pattern of movements and breaths, my body was flooded by a sense of both calm and exhaustion. My senses were elevated and I felt a heightened stiffness in my muscles but also a deeper awareness of them. Qigong activated a different state of being, a transition from a “fight or flight” state of mind to a calmer place. Perhaps it is in this other place where healing is possible. A place where the body can activate its own intuitive power to mend and correct imbalances.
The positive effects of Qigong on mental and physical health have been well documented in China for many years. In the west, where the mind and body are generally seen as separate entities and there is no biomedical way to explain the concept of qi, the benefits of the teachings are more controversial. However, the basis of Qigong can be explained in contemporary western health terms by using concepts such as biofeedback and neurology. Traditionally the teachings of Qigong have been esoteric, guarded, and passed down through select student lineages. Now, thanks to teachers like Master Gu, Qigong is practiced by millions around the world.
By Sam Rosenzweig
Learn more about Wisdom Healing Qigong and Master Gu at www.chicenter.com.
Contributed by Billy Ethridge
September 6, 2008, about 1:50am, I had a massive hemorrhagic stroke at home. Like millions of other stroke "survivors", my life has changed irreversibly.
I am not a physician or rehabilitation therapist or other medical professional, though I have greatly benefited from kindness of some very skilled ones.
A number of years ago, I did PhD work -- but no dissertation, so no PhD -- in Philosophy (Logic and Linguistic Analysis) at UCSD, with a strong mathematical background. At age five I started judo, and subsequently studied Aikido and Tang Soo Do, and other martial arts. I am also a musician -- singer and instrumentalist (primarily a guitarist and harmonica player). Over the years (I was born in 1948), I have created music & lyrics, poetry, and other writings.
I summarize these elements of my life because everything in me, and what I have learned from my rehabilitation, conversations with patients and medical professionals, and extensive reading, tells me that: (1) the stroke I have had has been THE single most transformative event in my life; and (2) this transformation has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for me even in the midst of dramatic neurophysiological demands.
Stroke Revelations is intended to provide personal reflections about what is possible to those of us who have entered the "event" of a stroke and came out alive. This blog is dedicated to all people whose consciousness has been overwhelmed, from whatever avalanche of neurophysiological reasons, and did not make it to the "other side".
"Every human being is the author of his own health or disease." ~Buddha
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