A SPIRITUAL RENAISSANCE: REFLECTIONS ON A QIGONG LIFE
By Kenneth S. Cohen
5/7/2001
It is hard to believe that I ever began Qigong - it is so much a part of my life. Nor can I
conceive of a time when the practice will end or - God forbid - when the
learning will stop. I was first exposed to Chinese culture through a "mistake."
In 1968, a friend recommended a book called Sound and Symbol by a German
musicologist. As I rode home on the subway that afternoon, I realized that in my
haste I had mistakenly purchased another book of the same title but by a
different author. Instead of a book about music, I found myself reading one of
the rarest and finest introductions to the Chinese language, Sound and Symbol by
Bernhard Karlgren. Before the subway ride was ended, I was hooked. I realized
that by studying a truly foreign language I could learn how language and concept
influence one's perception of reality. Perhaps I could, in the process, free
myself of the preconceptions hidden in my own language, English, and learn to
perceive the world silently and thus, more truly. Within a few months, I began
to study the Chinese language and, not long thereafter, Qigong.
As I
reflect on this story, I realize that it explains not only how I began Qigong
but why I have continued. Foreign language study can clear the mind of
culture-bound assumptions. Similarly, Qigong liberates the student from
preconceptions held in the body: the immature and inappropriate strategies for
living embodied in posture and breathing. To stand straight is to give up the
burden of insecurity. To breathe slowly is to take life as it comes, without
allowing memory or expectation to interfere. As the body becomes quiet, the mind
becomes quiet. The qi flows not only within the body, but between oneself and
Nature. In breathing, the external world becomes you. Yet you do not own it, you
let it go and return breath to its source - what Chinese people call the
Tao.
I had another beginning, a renaissance of Qi, several years later. I
was teaching my first seminar at a growth center in Amherst, Massachusetts. One
evening, during a break, I decided to take a walk outside; snow was falling and
hanging heavy on the pine trees. Wouldn't it be wonderful to practice Qigong in
this setting? As I began practicing, something very odd happened. Normally, I
experienced Qigong movements as arising from deep within, seemingly generated by
the breath and by the slow shifting of the weight. But this time I disappeared;
I felt that I was not doing Qigong. Rather, the falling snow, the trees, the
air, the ground itself were unfolding through the various postures. I became a
sphere of energy whose center was everywhere. This was a kind of spiritual
rebirth in Qigong; I learned that mind and body could become truly empty, that
inside and outside could become a unified field of experience was without "I."
But I do know that Qigong has never been the same. Thus, another key to my
motivation and, I hope, to your motivation: practice qigong to learn that you
are part of Nature. When you breathe, it is the wisdom of nature that breathes
you!
Finally, I have continued practicing because of the dramatic effect
Qigong has had on my own health. I was a weak and sickly child and a victim of
the poor medical practices of the time. Antibiotics were prescribed for every
cold and scratchy throat, leading to a downward bronchitis, weak immune system,
poor sleep, and low energy. I look for ways to bring these same benefits to my
students.
I applaud the scientists who are looking for the mechanism of
Qigong - how it works - and who are designing experiments to validate Qigong's
efficacy as a form of complementary medicine. Science has already demonstrated
Qigong's powerful healing effects on cancer, heart disease, and chronic pain.
However, people who practice Qigong with an open mind do not need proof to know
that it works. They experience it. Science has yet to prove that the sun exists.
Yet this does not prevent us from enjoying its light and warmth. Yes, trust
science. But trust yourself even more.
(From www.qigonghealing.com by
permission)
|
