Friday, May 31, 2013
My Experience with Qigong
I was coaxed into going to a Qi Activation Conference in Orlando, Fl May 25 - 28th, 2013 by my good friend Sandy. She had so many wonderful things to say about the teacher, Jeff Primack it did peak my interest, especially his knowledge of nutrition.
I was told we had been doing some qigong in the Tai Chi routines I had been participating in for several years off and on at Gillcrest Park in Punta Gorda, Florida on Saturdays, but I did not know which parts were actual Tai Chi and which parts were Qigong, although I had my suspicions. I guess Tai Chi is a form of qigong but I am still learning.
I remember discovering Matt Clarkson online and listening to what he had to say about his “Secrets to Abundant Energy” mostly through meditation. Anything to do with creating more energy caught my attention after suffering from chronic fatigue. He peeked my interest in meditation and I did some meditation work at that time with the help of John Kabat-Zinn’s Mindful Meditation Series that I picked up at the Nasvhille library when I was living in Tennessee. Matt Clarkson’s company turned into, “The Mind Body Training Company” and Kevin Schoeninger became his partner. The longer I stayed up with Matt Clarkson, the more he seemed to be incorporating this thing called qigong with Kevin Schoeninger. Although I never bought anything from them and just listened to a few things they had, mostly qigong meditations, I thought I knew more about qigong than I actually did. I thought I liked it, at least I liked the idea of it. Turns out I knew nothing!
The first day I was not that happy to find qigong a challenging activity, especially holding my arms up for such a long time. The starting position looked alien like to me with the position of the hands, and it was turning out to be nothing like what I was expecting. I was having difficulty visualizing the qi helping me lift and suspend my arms in the air. I also was not happy about the upper arm fat that had accumulated on my 52 year old body and how it was apparently keeping me from creating a good arch and space under my arms for proper flow of qi.
Then we did the warrior breath and I thought I was gonna die! I could hear Gilda Radner say that in my head, “I thought I was gonna die!”. But something rather interesting happened during that lay down warrior breath activity with 1,500 other qigongers. When everyone released their last breath after all of those hard working warrior breaths, I visualized or saw (not sure which one) in my mind’s eye a tennis ball sized ball of light releasing up into space from everyone’s abdomen in the room! Okay so that was cool and it peaked my interest.
On the second day after all of that deep breathing, I was kind of over it. I didn’t think I would continue it and I was just thinking, this is such a scam, they’re selling all of those books and this is just how the body feels when you hold it in these positions, and for me that was mostly numb! Of course my hand is going to feel numb if I hold it up and breath deeply…what a crock! I did not have a good attitude on the second day. Then I think Jeff mentioned something about attitude and having the right positive attitude, so I really tried to adjust mine accordingly. I did want to give it a good try as long as I was there and just see what happens. I did seem to feel more energy by the end of the second day. I wasn’t wiped out or anything. I was thinking, “Do these people breathe like this everyday?!!” That seemed a daunting task to me. I remembered that most things in life that require hard work are very rewarding and that the things you strive for the most and succeed in, are usually worth all of the extra effort.
Third day I was coming around. Then we did the qigong strength training. Are kidding me?!! 100 push ups, 100 leg lifts, and 100 kick backs!! This is insanity!! I kept thinking that. This is just insane! Of course I was going from zero to 100 and the next day I was very sore because despite my attitude, I really did give it my best. Still insanity! I mean I had really cleaned up my diet for over a month in preparation, but I really had not done any exercising other than light swimming and slow Tai Chi believing that my grandma body couldn‘t do those things anymore. Not because I don’t believe in exercise for most everyone, but because I just really didn’t think I could do it. One thing it did accomplish was changing my perspective and belief system about what I could and could not do! We ended the third day with the nine breath healing circle and I could not believe the sensation of light pulsing through my entire body at the very end of that experience, mostly through my spine and then to other parts as I visualized them! THAT WAS SOMETHING!! Something was happening. When we were asked send light out to one person who appeared in our mind, mine was my daughter Amanda who ended up with a better job 3 days later. I wanted to include both of my daughters, but she appeared first, so I went with it. I love both of my daughters so much and I’ve always wanted the very best for them. I pondered what other positive changes we may have prompted.
The fourth day we could only stay for the morning since my friend had to get back. Thinking about the new things I’d learned over the 4 days, I learned that beets, raw organic beets are very good for the blood and for fighting disease. I learned that qigong is all about moving the blood through the body, building up energy reserves and strength. Who wouldn’t want to do that? We did Qigong Level One, nine breaths standing, and I made a commitment to do the Strength training every other day, and the Level One Qigong each day I was not doing the strength training and to do all of this for 60 days straight. I am keeping my commitment but it is only the first week. To be continued…
I was coaxed into going to a Qi Activation Conference in Orlando, Fl May 25 - 28th, 2013 by my good friend Sandy. She had so many wonderful things to say about the teacher, Jeff Primack it did peak my interest, especially his knowledge of nutrition.
I was told we had been doing some qigong in the Tai Chi routines I had been participating in for several years off and on at Gillcrest Park in Punta Gorda, Florida on Saturdays, but I did not know which parts were actual Tai Chi and which parts were Qigong, although I had my suspicions. I guess Tai Chi is a form of qigong but I am still learning.
I remember discovering Matt Clarkson online and listening to what he had to say about his “Secrets to Abundant Energy” mostly through meditation. Anything to do with creating more energy caught my attention after suffering from chronic fatigue. He peeked my interest in meditation and I did some meditation work at that time with the help of John Kabat-Zinn’s Mindful Meditation Series that I picked up at the Nasvhille library when I was living in Tennessee. Matt Clarkson’s company turned into, “The Mind Body Training Company” and Kevin Schoeninger became his partner. The longer I stayed up with Matt Clarkson, the more he seemed to be incorporating this thing called qigong with Kevin Schoeninger. Although I never bought anything from them and just listened to a few things they had, mostly qigong meditations, I thought I knew more about qigong than I actually did. I thought I liked it, at least I liked the idea of it. Turns out I knew nothing!
The first day I was not that happy to find qigong a challenging activity, especially holding my arms up for such a long time. The starting position looked alien like to me with the position of the hands, and it was turning out to be nothing like what I was expecting. I was having difficulty visualizing the qi helping me lift and suspend my arms in the air. I also was not happy about the upper arm fat that had accumulated on my 52 year old body and how it was apparently keeping me from creating a good arch and space under my arms for proper flow of qi.
Then we did the warrior breath and I thought I was gonna die! I could hear Gilda Radner say that in my head, “I thought I was gonna die!”. But something rather interesting happened during that lay down warrior breath activity with 1,500 other qigongers. When everyone released their last breath after all of those hard working warrior breaths, I visualized or saw (not sure which one) in my mind’s eye a tennis ball sized ball of light releasing up into space from everyone’s abdomen in the room! Okay so that was cool and it peaked my interest.
On the second day after all of that deep breathing, I was kind of over it. I didn’t think I would continue it and I was just thinking, this is such a scam, they’re selling all of those books and this is just how the body feels when you hold it in these positions, and for me that was mostly numb! Of course my hand is going to feel numb if I hold it up and breath deeply…what a crock! I did not have a good attitude on the second day. Then I think Jeff mentioned something about attitude and having the right positive attitude, so I really tried to adjust mine accordingly. I did want to give it a good try as long as I was there and just see what happens. I did seem to feel more energy by the end of the second day. I wasn’t wiped out or anything. I was thinking, “Do these people breathe like this everyday?!!” That seemed a daunting task to me. I remembered that most things in life that require hard work are very rewarding and that the things you strive for the most and succeed in, are usually worth all of the extra effort.
Third day I was coming around. Then we did the qigong strength training. Are kidding me?!! 100 push ups, 100 leg lifts, and 100 kick backs!! This is insanity!! I kept thinking that. This is just insane! Of course I was going from zero to 100 and the next day I was very sore because despite my attitude, I really did give it my best. Still insanity! I mean I had really cleaned up my diet for over a month in preparation, but I really had not done any exercising other than light swimming and slow Tai Chi believing that my grandma body couldn‘t do those things anymore. Not because I don’t believe in exercise for most everyone, but because I just really didn’t think I could do it. One thing it did accomplish was changing my perspective and belief system about what I could and could not do! We ended the third day with the nine breath healing circle and I could not believe the sensation of light pulsing through my entire body at the very end of that experience, mostly through my spine and then to other parts as I visualized them! THAT WAS SOMETHING!! Something was happening. When we were asked send light out to one person who appeared in our mind, mine was my daughter Amanda who ended up with a better job 3 days later. I wanted to include both of my daughters, but she appeared first, so I went with it. I love both of my daughters so much and I’ve always wanted the very best for them. I pondered what other positive changes we may have prompted.
The fourth day we could only stay for the morning since my friend had to get back. Thinking about the new things I’d learned over the 4 days, I learned that beets, raw organic beets are very good for the blood and for fighting disease. I learned that qigong is all about moving the blood through the body, building up energy reserves and strength. Who wouldn’t want to do that? We did Qigong Level One, nine breaths standing, and I made a commitment to do the Strength training every other day, and the Level One Qigong each day I was not doing the strength training and to do all of this for 60 days straight. I am keeping my commitment but it is only the first week. To be continued…
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