Hello all,
Welcome to the resurrection of my blog. I’d like to begin again with a “Qigong Qong” to prepare us for the holiday season. A gong is 100 days of consecutive practice without missing a day. Traditionally if you miss a day, you need to start over again at the beginning. Since the holidays are stressful enough, I suggest you be more lenient with your practice and give yourself some leeway. I’ve decided to do a self-nurturing gong which will include qigong, healthy and alive food, rest, exercise, fun and creativity.
New DVDs
For the past 5 months, I’ve been engrossed in producing three new DVD’s. It’s always more work and time than anticipated. I’ve been too obsessed and it wasn’t until someone called me a workaholic that I realized I was in denial. I haven’t done anything fun in awhile and incessant cleaning has absorbed my days off–not just my house but my huge barn, garden etc. Really I could have waited until spring but I’ve had this intense desire to clear out clutter, create order and simplify.
What Does Self-Care Mean To You?
So take some time and contemplate what self-care means to you. I’d like to hear your responses. For me it’s allowing time to rest (without feeling guilty) and to do some fun things like dance salsa again, set up my glass studio to create jewelry or go back to glass blowing and take more time to hang out with friends.
Creating a self-care gong now will help you deal with the holidays. I also sense that many people, like elderly parents, will choose to leave the planet around December so having an established practice will help you cope with loss, change and family. If you have a routine and are committed to nurturing yourself daily, it’s easier to stay centered with more resilience, compassion and patience during this often chaotic season.
I’d love to hear what your self-care gong will be, including your qigong practice. Please respond to this blog so we can share ideas and inspirations from one another to help support our journey in this time of year.
Deborah, I’m glad you’ve resurrected your blog! Welcome back.
I’m looking forward to the release of your new DVD’s! I love your first one. I always feel better after doing the exercises in that video. I especially enjoy the metal/lung and water/kidney sequences. I also love your book and refer to it often.
I wanted to ask you whether it’s OK to do the exercises by themselves without following the video, and if so, do you have to do all of the elements in one session? I think your answer will be that once you learn the exercises it’s fine to do them without a video. If time were not an issue, I’d follow the DVD several times a day, but now that I have most of the exercises memorized, it’s quicker if I do them on my own. You’ll probably tell me to do whatever amount of Qi Gong I can fit in, but somehow I feel better getting your opinion.
I was an avid walker for years and still try to do that, too. Unfortunately I have to limit my walking to fit in the Qi Gong but I think Qi Gong is just as good for me as walking. What’s your opinion on that? In your book you discuss your teacher who was in very good shape just from Qi Gong. He didn’t do aerobics, yoga, etc and was still very fit and healthy.
I really love your work. Thank you for teaching me Qi Gong.
Hi Ann
Thanks for your compliments. I actually made that first DVD for people to memorize the exercises and then go out in nature to practice their qigong. That’s why i didn’t include a follow along section but now I know most people just watch the DVD to do their practice. There are different ways to practice. If time is an issue you can do the warmups and one element a day for general health and balance. If you have an imbalance in one element then you’d do the exercises for that element and add qigong from my book to augment and refine your practice….or you can listen to your body each day and do what she wants to do! Follow your body’s wisdom.
The only thing I would add to your qigong is a stance. Pick one from the book and start to stand daily to increase your immune system, stamina and mental focus.The stances form the foundation for all qigong practices.
My new DVD’s will be out shortly which I created to accompany the book. They include warm ups in the book, an instructional/practice section along with stances and meditations. I created these so you can follow along with the DVD as your daily practice.
Have a wonder filled holiday season. Enjoy your practice!
Hi Deborah,
I have been interested in Qi gong for a short time but am inspired to learn more. I want to make it part of my daily practice and to inspire others. I am ordering your DVD and book tonight also and will look forward to your new ones.
Blessings
Judy
Hi Deborah. Just wanted to let you know that I completed one gong after the course in August and then have started on a new one! With this second one I am going to try to do more stances and focus more on breathing correctly. I admit to some VERY sloppy and short practice days but usually find that once I get started 30+ minutes passes quickly. I have added some Taoist Tai Chi and vary that with some of the exercises. However, I do the Eight Pieces every time. It is very centering and calming. I do wish at times that you were right here to answer questions and correct postures etc etc.
Our group has met about once a month and mostly reviewed all that was taught in the course. Amazing how many tidbits that one misses and another picks up.
Good stuff – and thanks for inspiring us. I know at least one other person is doing gongs and a few others practice now and then.
Cathy
Hi Cathy
Great to hear that you’re doing so well. You’re an inspiration! Hopefully I’ll figure out Skype this year so I can create practice sessions for people after the retreats. Now I’m just focusing on finishing these 3 new DVD’s to accompany my book. I might get to Saskatoon again this summer. Haven’t talked to Louise and Monte but I always love coming up. Give a big Qi hug to everyone. Happy new year!
Just lost a message!
SKYPE is not hard – just make sure you sign up only for the free stuff and say NO to everything else. Is is WAAAAAAy easier than the kidney GuoLin walk.
A hook up would be excellent to inspire us to to get some corrections.
Please let us know when the DVDs are available!
May 2014 bring you wonder, laughter and much joie de vivre.
Cathy
Hi Deborah,
I would like to tell you my story about how I found Qi Gong and started practicing last summer. I have been practicing regularly ever since.
The empty nest and menopause coincided in September 2012 when I was 48. I started teaching flute (my undergraduate degree is in flute performance) while trying to address hot flashes which I had regularly, every half hour, and night sweats three or four times a night, which prevented me from getting a good night’s sleep. I also kept trying to resolve chronic health issues caused by IBS which I have had since my teenage years. All the money I earn teaching goes to paying for all the supplements I take.
This past June, when I turned 49, I decided to see a naturopath my doctor recommended. For almost two years now, I have had inflammation in my throat, gums, lips, sinuses, ears, and eyes which is not an allergic reaction. I thought it might be a subclinical bacterial infection, but neither the doctor nor the naturopath knows what it is. In the new protocol the naturopath gave me, she recommended your DVD, The Spirit of Qi Gong. She said it was her favorite, so I decided to try it. In July, I gradually learned and memorized the entire DVD, and, after our summer vacation in August, where I gave an informal class in Qigong using your video, I started practicing Qigong daily.
I cannot describe the sheer joy of practicing outside in my backyard. Recently, when my sister-in-law stayed overnight, she said that I have my own personal retreat out there. It is a big, sloping lawn with tall pines in the back and mature trees on both sides. Through the end of the summer, I practiced outside daily unless it was raining. I continued to practice outside even in the fall. I would put on my big down coat and go out just the same. Once the cold settled in, I had to give it up and practice inside, but I still enjoy Qigong tremendously.
I am a born again Christian, and I have found a way to practice Qigong that embraces my Christianity. When I practice, I feel as though I am communing with God and worshipping him while I exercise. I pray and meditate on scripture as I practice. I use Psalm 112 for the healing sound for metal; Psalm 23, the Shepherd’s Psalm, for “Fear/Faith;” Psalm 103 for the first three moves of the wood element in a continuous flow; Habakkuk 3:17-19 for “cloud hands;” and Philippians 4:6-7 for the healing sound for the heart. I do most of the exercises from the DVD every day for 30-40 minutes.
My favorite exercise of all is the healing sound for water from the DVD, but I could not find it in the book. I hope it does me some good anyway. You mentioned in your book that Qi Gong is not about getting the moves just right, which has been very liberating for me. I have taken the opportunity to personalize my favorite move, and it goes perfectly with Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill [me] with all joy and peace in believing so that [I] may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” This scripture helps me to put faith in God for the healing I have been asking for and believing for all these years. I do this one right before I go to bed for a good, refreshing sleep, having replaced fear with faith, and now I only have one or two night sweats.
Practicing Qigong has changed me. It has finally enabled me to release negative emotions, such as fear, depression, and stress and anxiety, and I have received not just positive emotions, but the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) as well as courage and righteousness, hope, humility, gratitude, and passion. Yes, I certainly feel a return of the passion that seemed to have dried up—it has been renewed. My 40’s was a time of fatigue and weakness because of my health, even though I exercised daily on a mini trampoline as well as walking. Through my Qigong practice, I feel as though I have moved on into my wisdom years.
Thank you for your book and DVD. I have sent them to my mother, sister, and one of my daughters as gifts, and I wish I had had them before I turned 40. Perhaps Qigong would have prevented the hot flashes and night sweats that I started having when I was 45. I especially appreciate the chapter on menopause in the book, and I plan on celebrating my passage into menopause with my mother and sister. I also appreciated your advice about becoming more involved in the community, and I have become involved at a local church. The friendships I have made have had a part in completing my inner healing. I hope to share “Christian Qigong” with the church community by giving a class which includes the scriptures mentioned above. Thank you for your part in my healing journey, and I look forward to getting all the new DVDs when they come out.
Something I love about Qigong is how I take it with me everywhere I go. My 50th birthday is in June, and I plan to climb a mountain and do Qigong at the top as an outward celebration of the wonderful works that God has done in me and through me.
Hi Deborah! I would like to attend your workshop at Omega in June with my Mother. However, I have some concerns for her. My Mother is 77 yrs old and is in very good health with exception of severe arthritis in her knees. She has pain when standing and I imagine your course involves a fair amount. My question for you is if you think your course would be too strenuous for her?
Hi Amy
There is a lot of standing in this qigong but she can always modify it and do it in a chair. I’m teaching dynamic woman qigong so you can take a look at it on my promo and see what you think. It’s not my favorite for older women to be honest, though I’ve had many women up into their late 80’s learn and enjoy the form. I’m teaching an easier Qigong form at Martha’s vineyard May 31st if you’re anywhere in that vicinity. The 8 precious qigong that I’m teaching there
would be better for her and adapts more to sitting. Hope this helps. Would love to have you both there. I can also add qigong for the knees at Omega because most everyone needs support in their joints.
Be well
Deborah
Deborah- thanks so much for your prompt and honest response. Unfortunately, we cannot make it to your class in the Vineyard but have decided to attend your course at Omega, providing there is room. My Mother has been impressed by and following you for years but has not been able to take any of your classes as they are out of the Philadelphia area. As always, if not for my Mother, I would not know about you! After viewing your website and reading about you, I am thrilled to take your course. You see, my Mother has impeccable taste! Thanks again and I look forward to meeting you- Amy
Great. See you at Omega and please come introduce yourself. Really looking forward to being there. See you soon
Deborah
I am so happy that I found your blog. I love the 100 days of consecutive practice and am looking forward to embarking on this routine. I had just been telling a dear friend of mine that I feel I need to create more discipline in my life and Qigong keeps cropping up for me. I feel that this means something because I live in an area where there are no Qigong teachers available and yet, it persists. The universe is definitely pointing me in a direction. So, thank you for the hard work that you do and for creating your blog. Happy holidays!