Margaret Miller           

What is Qigong? What are the benefits? How does Qigong healing differ from the healing we have learned to understand in the West?

I had thought I was quite healthy and fit. I had even just walked for fun 25 miles in one day. I had been involved in Spiritual Healing for some years, and thought I could reach some beautiful states of meditation.

In July 1990, everything changed. The Marsden Hospital told me I had cancer and needed a mastectomy. Overnight I became seriously ill. I chose not to have their surgery, nor chemotherapy. My late husband had had chemotherapy.

Within a week I was introduced to Master Zhixing Wang and Qigong. Now, almost two years later, I feel probably healthier than I have ever been, and with Qigong I have more energy than I could have imagined.

I now know more, but the more I know, the more I realise I don't know. I am only just beginning.

It is clear that without the terror and pain and illness of the 'cancer', I would not have been pushed into the effort it has needed to get me to where I am now. So often people need an illness or drama to give them this push, but my plea is to all those thousands of healers and doctors, and people generally in this country to do something about themselves NOW before they reach the state of physical illness.

I feel an extra shock when I hear of fellow healers dying from cancer. So many seem to be suffering from various illnesses. I believe in part I was suffering from 'burn out', the condition healers and other carers can get into if they are constantly helping others without attending to themselves.

In the old days, I thought I protected and cleansed myself well, but I now know that I was barely beginning. In theory, I was simply channelling a divine energy, but I now understand that healers can to some extent pick up some of the condition or negativity from the patient, and indeed from people they are not even treating. Now that I am much more sensitive than I was, I can actually feel myself shedding the negativity when I do my Qigong cleansing after I have simply been with other people.

Most healers are aware of the risks of inadequate self-cleansing. It may be, however, that many unwittingly allow themselves to become 'polluted'. Once the negativity has built up and has manifested on the physical level, extra effort and cleansing are needed to restore good health. Perhaps this would not have been necessary if more thorough cleansing had been undertaken on a daily basis. In my experience Qigong practice cleanses and re-energizes way beyond what I had ever done before.

It is so important for healers to look after themselves. From experience I can strongly recommend Qigong not only if you are ill, but also if you simply care about yourself; if you are not yet aware of being ill but wish to maximise your healing potential and stay well. Once a Qigong Master has initiated your Qi, about half an hour's Qigong practice per day will give you a start. Later you will want to do more! If you wait until you are physically ill, far greater dedication, time and effort are needed.

WHAT IS QIGONG? For health, spiritual enlightenment and longevity. Qigong is a Chinese way of seeking perfection both physical and spiritual by cultivating and harmonising the subtle energy through systematic meditation and exercises, thereby strengthening health, curing illness, prolonging life, improving mental health and achieving high levels of self-realization and enlightenment. It is a way to connect with the Universe. It helps our awareness. It gives us balance and an ability to protect ourselves.

WHAT IS QI? Qi is the vital energy we all have within and is throughout the Universe. Many of us are not aware of it until we have actually felt it or its manifestations. The Chinese have been aware of it for thousands of years. Within the subtle energy system of our bodies, it circulates along meridians, and through the many cavities or points which are known in the West as 'acupoints'.

Research suggests that the subtle energy system governs the physical system of the body. One may identify disharmonies in the energy body before they appear in the physical body. Illnesses are normally the manifestations of the disconnections or imbalance in the subtle system. Qigong treatment and practising Qigong helps restore the balance.

WHAT IS GONG? Gong means time and achievement through time. It is the accumulated dedicated efforts in Qigong practice which eventually amount to the gong (achievements).

In China there are Qigong clinics in many of the hospitals. By practising Qigong under the guidance of a Qigong master and/or receiving Qigong treatment, thousands of Chinese have benefited. There are numerous recorded case histories of patients with stubborn illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, rheumatism, arthritis, gastritis, gastric ulcers, TB, nephritis, renal calculus, cholelithiasis, heart disease, migraine, women's problems, and more, which have been cured in this way. It is reported that hundreds of cancer patients have recovered or managed to prolong their lives through doing Qigong.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING A QIGONG TREATMENT? This naturally varies according to individual needs. My experience is that the Qigong Master uses his own Qi, which is part of the Universal Qi, to cleanse the subtle system and to activate my Qi. I feel the movement within my body very strongly. He can use Qi to penetrate various acupoints to unblock. I also experience beautiful states of altered consciousness, and other phenomena. It is a very holy, pure experience. Specific Qigong exercises are taught for my own condition.

WHAT IS QIGONG PRACTICE? It is a series of cleansing physical exercises, combined with meditation, visualisation and relaxation. It includes specific forms of exercises, both gentle and extending to benefit various parts of the anatomy and spontaneous movements. Daily practice is imperative.

HOW CAN YOU START? It is certainly possible to read books and laboriously copy the exercises, but the Qi is like a seed within the body, of which we are unaware but which the Qigong Master, through his own mastery, can awaken so that the individual practitioner can benefit from his/her own Qi. Reading and practising from books we would take years to get to this same stage.

It is essential, in my view, to find a teacher/Master of the highest order.

SIDE EFFECTS: Many! So far, all my 'side effects' have been very positive and highly prized.

Qigong works in a very subtle way on every level and gradually effects our understanding of life. You should not expect specific results. I have not expected many of the changes which have come about. I suddenly notice the differences. For instance, I no longer get so hurt emotionally. I don't hold on to old hurts. I laugh more. My eyesight has improved. I have stopped groaning and treat problems as challenges. And on and on... But I still have a long way to go!

Perhaps the most welcome side effect is no longer getting hurt. Those who knew me well were aware of the agony I used to go through, as I was hurt by the slightest word or innuendo. I used to hang onto past hurts and embarrassments for years. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop myself. All the hurts over the years piled up.

I am always pleased and surprised by the changes.

I observe myself in amazement, particularly when I am not upset by some of the ways of my children which used to disturb me, but now can be accepted without effort and without emotional suppression.

Now, although I still feel, I have learnt how to lift my emotions onto a higher level and let go. Then it is finished.

It feels strange not to feel so vulnerable any more, but I still have compassion for others. I know what it feels like. Recently, a friend's son was stationed in Northern Ireland. "Have you found any way to stop thinking about it?" I asked. "No, never" she replied. I could feel her pain and anxiety, though I remembered when my own darling daughter was taking photographs in Dubrovnic during the worst of the shelling, how through Qigong, I had miraculously been able to detach (mostly!).

Since the birth of my children I had been frightened of heights. Last summer, someone told me to get back from a cliff top. The sea was crashing down on jagged rocks hundreds of feet below. It was only then that I noticed I had lost my fear of heights.

The Qi energy is phenomenal. On one Qigong course, the hall was cold and we were given a rather vigorous warm-up exercise. After a while I found it very exhausting. I looked at our teacher and saw the ease with which he was doing it and was likely to continue for some long time. I realised the Qi was doing it for him. The moment I realised the Qi could do it for me too and tapped in, the exercise became easy and positively light-weight.

I had the same experience recently while painting a room. My arm began to ache, not being at all used to painting rooms but the moment I tapped into the Qi, it became so easy. I couldn't think how my arm could have ached minutes before. I also crossed Paris with heavy luggage (45 lbs, including my computer and printer), changing trains between the Gare de Lyon and the Airport. Once I tapped into the Qi, it became possible. (I avoid carrying heavy luggage if I can, but if I have to, the Qi is there to help.)

I have said of the past, "in theory, I was simply channelling divine energy", because in practice who knows? Certainly something was happening. I was led to believe this was a divine energy, but perhaps the reality is that there are many levels which can be channelled, and many differing qualities of channelling. Furthermore, what Master Wang says was damaging to me without me realising it, was that I was allowing my energy to go way up - often to beautiful feeling levels - but allowing myself spiritually to go way out, rather than keeping balanced within my body. I was having a difficult time and became ill without realising how I was damaging myself.

I have been asked to compare a Qigong treatment with the healing I had known before. I had seen several healers about my lumps before I saw Master Wang. I had also tried my best at self-healing. There had been no apparent response. I have a high respect for the many healers I know but I have to admit the healing Master Wang gave me was far more powerful than anything I had ever known. Within seconds he could make me feel like a human being again, which was an instant change from feeling at death's door.

He made me responsible for myself from the start. I had to play my part in dedication to Qigong practice on my own every day. This was no passive healing.

He could lead me to depths of meditation hitherto untapped my old way. I am now (I hope) learning better balance, using the Earth energies balanced with the Heavenly energies. The top-heavy days should be gone.

As my daughter put it, "Surely, anybody can be a healer, but not everybody can be a Qigong Master."

Philosophy is not imposed, but is inspiring and practical. About positive thinking and facing reality Master Wang told me, "Positive thinking is not to deny. It is not saying 'I don't have...' while being frightened by the thought of it. It is not believing in getting rid of the problems that have been there for many years, overnight or in a few days. This kind of positive thinking can only result in extremely negative attitudes when things do not seem to come out in the way one dreamed. One needs to recognise fully the hardship one has to go through while believing that victory will come in the end."

I have seen/felt a glimpse of Master Wang's own spirituality. I am in great awe of this state. If he has achieved this level of spiritual evolution through Qigong, then Qigong can be an important doorway for others.

I have been fortunate beyond words to have been introduced to him, and his wife, Zhendi, who assists him in his work. He has been endlessly patient with me and has given me much time and energy and teaching. He has inspired me to the dedication which was needed. There are those who are convinced I would have died had it not been for his treatments and teaching. I was, in energy terms, the worst case he had come across. In my worst stages of illness, I would count the minutes until I could see him for a treatment.


Now I have a responsibility to myself, to him and to others to keep myself well. I have had much determination to get well. Now I wait to see my new life unfold, never forgetting I am just beginning.

References: Master Wang's articles about Qigong in Caduceus, issues 9, 10, 11 & 12.
 

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Copyright © Daniel J. Benor, M.D. 1992 Reprinted with permission of the author P.O. Box 76 Bellmawr, NJ 08099
www.WholisticHealingResearch.com   DB@WholisticHealingResearch.com 

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