It’s nice to know there is more than one way to heal yourself, and that you can be your own “doctor” just by listening to the body. I’m in school to get a Doctorate in Chinese Medicine as I want to share this option for people. I know, first hand, how much myself and others have healed and benefited so much from this medicine. For me, specifically QiGong and Acupuncture has helped me relax and find balance in my body. In particularly, Qigong reduced my symptoms with poor digestion, terrible pain in menstruation, and eventually diminished the signs of disharmony in my body in general.
I’ve always had a love for mind/body practices. I took a dedication to dance at an early age in Chicago, and fell in love with it. I went to undergrad for this form of art. There I fell deeper in love with the potential that mind/body connection can bring. About 8 years and 15 different countries, traveled solo, later I currently work as a full-time Yoga and Meditation facilitator. As a person who grew up in the Western world, I’m here to remind you: there are options, and more than a few . There isn’t one “magic pill” or a “cure all”. I’m here to remind you that your body is never wrong, and to stop thinking something is. I’m here mostly to remind you to slow down and connect to your body, so it can tell you pretty much everything you need to know.
I, like many, assumed that my body was just “weird” in general. I honestly thought “it was just me” to not have bowel movements for days! Feelings of constipation, bloating, and unhinged gut were “usual” to me ever since I could remember. Growing up, there wasn’t consideration of eating as a form of medicine in my household. I was taught that intense and excruciating pain while menstruating was normal. If I didn’t pop an Advil for that, I was crazy. I didn’t know that actually pain isn’t normal and my body was trying to tell me something . Most “advice” I received on all ends sounded pretty similar: People told me to “Sweat more”, “work out harder”, or “you need to be on The Pill”, “I know a yoga pose you can do to aid__(digestion or help relieve cramps)”.. the list went on.
There was never an idea of slowing down and letting go. There was never the idea to listen to the digestive organs. Clearly, this advice was not helpful especially as I’ve been on the more “masculine” side of life. The typical “Western Mindset” of “power” and “more”. The emphasis on my dance and yoga practices were muscular and skeletal. There wasn’t much awareness of my internal organs. Thinking of my gut was an “out of sight, out of mind” sort of thing. In the United States, we are used to looking at disease solely as a physical deal, which, we all know there’s more to the story. It’s so often that our bodies are out of balance and we hardly know why. Our mind is going in a million directions and the body may be spiraling out of control in an attempt to fix it. And oftentimes, we don’t listen.
When I started getting deeper into yoga and meditation I learned to let go. I learned how relaxing into poses, breathing, drawing the intention to pay attention to purge and cleanse allowed me to have a more ease in my body, and flow in my entire system. I learned to slow down and listen, and that it’s not easy. Qi Gong, unlike specific external postures of yoga or dance, is seen internally. To be honest, as this fiery person, when I was first introduced to QiGong I found it quite boring. I did find QiGong useful as a way to relax, especially when you feel out of balance. I enjoyed my daily meditation practice, but I couldn’t vibe with standing in one place and floating around (what it can look like from the outside). Little did I know I just wasn’t listening enough.
I started receiving more acupuncture which was a direct hit to healing my inner organs, by tapping in and creating more harmonized flow in my body. I had to switch the focus on external pictures that my body was creating towards my body’s inner workings. The further in I went, the more I felt an unraveling to healing. I then started to understand where QiGong was coming from. What I’ve learned, and continue to: The slower you go, the more you know . Slow doesn’t mean boring, or less, or beginner. In fact, it is, in my opinion, even more advanced and interesting to find the subtleties. It takes A LOT of practice, much like meditation.
There are elements in QiGong specifically to purge stress and create flow in ways that yoga doesn’t exactly offer. Moving the body and feeling into what’s going on in the self is THE most empowering thing to do, especially when people can feel helpless about health stuff. For me QiGong was instrumental to let go, relax and reconnect with my body, helping me take back my internal balance. QiGong is only one tool to help support the systems and support that are always alive within us.
I strongly encourage everyone to use tools into which you can get into a greater awareness of what’s happening inside. Finding more of the inner wilderness, nurturing it and coming up with ways in which to deal with all of the “stuff”. You know your body best, and it is never wrong.
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