Teaching Experience
By Bill Fouts
4/5/2004
Between 1978 and 1990 I had the pleasure of training with several martial artists and Qigong instructors, all had strong abilities and I enjoyed training with them all. I felt the results were good, I was healthy and strong.
In the fall of 1994 I was fortunate to begin training with a Qigong instructor from Shandong, China, Dr. Guan-Cheng Sun. At our first class session Dr. Sun began teaching us his Yi Ren® system of Qigong, many people stated they could feel the qi expressed by Dr. Sun. I could not. However within a short period of time I began to feel the qi sensations in and around my body, I thought this was remarkable. I also began to sense the energy field around other people and was amazed; this was all new to me. I realized then that I had found a teacher with extraordinary abilities.
When practicing with Dr. Sun he would explain that his abilities were nothing special_ just saying things like "my kidneys can talk to your kidneys", indicating that this type of communication took place all the time whether we were aware of it or not. With training we can become conscious of these types of interactions.
Obviously Dr. Sun had something that my previous instructors, skilled as they were, did not. The ability to produce energy sensations in others by means of projecting his qi. I had heard of this before but had never experienced it.
Because of Dr. Sun's skill I felt that I had made more progress in the first six months training with him than I had in the previous twelve years. I was profoundly moved by the experiences I was having with this remarkable man. One day during class I had a deep personal revelation. I sensed how Dr. Sun was broadcasting his qi and that through some kind of harmonic resonance my mind and body were responding and resonating with his internal condition. I was humbled by this insight and gained an even deeper appreciation for the tremendous energy, compassion, and humility of my extraordinary teacher. I knew that to be able to utilize your own personal energy to create a positive response in others, to stimulate and prompt their own healing, self discovery, and personal growth was perhaps the most profound and meaningful type of interaction that you could have with other people, and somehow this is what I should try to do.
When I expressed this to Dr. Sun after class, he said I should start teaching right away. I was stunned. I was shocked. I was afraid. No. No way. I didn't have the talent. I didn't have the ability. No. Maybe in ten years, if I worked really hard I could start to think about it, but right now I was just fundamentally inadequate, unprepared, just not ready. This would just have to wait till later. He insisted that I should begin right away, everything would be fine. We began working together.
For me the unique part of the Yi Ren® experience was Dr. Sun's ability to affect a change in his students by direct transmission of qi. I clearly couldn't do this and didn't have a clue as to how it was done. I tried to be confident in the classroom, but some how felt like a fraud. Dr. Sun continued to encourage me and said to just be natural and everything would be fine.
After awhile I began teaching on my own. I still didn't have Dr Sun's "secret" method of energy transmission and lacked confidence in my abilities. All I could do is teaching what I know to be true and hope that I was doing some good. I worked really hard at teaching and hoped I wasn't disappointing my students or my teacher.
One evening while teaching at Evergreen Hospital I had a strange and interesting experience. We all were focusing on building the energy in our dan tian, the energy center in our lower abdomen. I could feel the qi in my own body and was trying to project that feeling to the rest of the group. I was trying to send them some qi. I wanted them to feel what I was feeling; this is how my teacher had taught me.
I partially opened my eyes and looked around the room, trying to reach out with my energy field. Trying to connect with the group while maintaining my own energy sensations, so they could feel what I was feeling. I tried hard to will the qi to go out from my body. My dan tian talking to theirs. I was using all the willpower I could muster.
Suddenly and inexplicably a huge surge of energy welled up inside of me. Not in the dan tian where I was focusing, but in my solar plexus area. I was not trying to do this. Then what felt like a bolt of lightning, electrical, powerful, hot, red energy shot out of my solar plexus. Like an enormous electrical discharge spasmodically searching for a path to ground. This energy shot out and went right to everyone's lower abdomen. I could sense a small red ball of qi in everyone's dan tian. I was flabbergasted by what had just happened. Opening my eyes I looked around the room, strangely no one seemed to have noticed but me, weird...
We did our closing set, said goodnight and went our separate ways off into the night. I was drained but exhilarated by what had just transpired. The next day I called Dr. Sun and told him about the experience. I told him that I was trying to stimulate everyone's dan tian and energy shot out of my body. I didn't say where it came from. He said "So you could feel it come out of your solar plexus area." He knew exactly what had happened. I felt like I was finally beginning to become a teacher.
Although I can't completely explain this event, I can say that it occurred as a result of exercising my will. The Chinese call this "I" (pronounced yee). I was using my "I," which means will, intent, or that aspect of mind that projects outward. I think my strong desire to be able to project my qi to stimulate others some how marshaled my qi and my "I" and expressed this through my wisdom gate.
I feel so much appreciation for Dr. Sun using his energy, compassion, and his I to accelerate my progress as his student. We are at the end of a chain, a chain of generations of teachers and students that reaches back into antiquity, using this method of direct transmission of energy and information to keep this art of Qigong: alive. Giving their achievements to the next generation of practitioners. As a member of the current generation of Qigong practitioners I feel a sense of responsibility to keep this art form viable. As a Yi Ren® instructor I know teaching through direct transmission is the distinguishing characteristic that defines our unique style and all of us must strive to master this.
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