Rereading a book by Bill Douglas, an amazing man and founder of World Tai Chi and QiGong Day (whom I hope to meet in person some day), I find myself inspired to expand upon a thought that he speaks well about and one I have often shared with my students…
Our society, often, is so able to accept that our thoughts and our mind can make us sick, but gasps when the notion of our mind and thoughts making us well and healing us is suggested. We associate illnesses of all kinds with stress and depression, we accept that we can think about a dreadful event that happened 2 weeks ago and it still makes us nauseated or shorten our breath, we know that if we concentrate on that huge presentation next week, we can get anxious, nervous and tight in the chest, but mention that our thoughts can cause self healing and you get some strange looks.
I am a Reiki practitioner and teacher as well as practitioner and instructor of Taiji (Tai Chi), QiGong (Chi Kung), and Yoga. I have seen the results and heard the feedback of the people I have instructed and practiced with. I have seen the results of a one half hour QiGong lesson change someone’s breathing pattern and watched her stress melt away. We can facilitate our own healing by practicing methods that promote mental well-being.
I would like to remind everyone that our bodies are designed to heal themselves. If we cut our finger, it heals. If we break a bone, it mends. If we get an infection, our immune system is built to go right to work. And we know that if we create and environment that assists healing, we heal faster. Practicing the internal arts and working with our Qi (Chi) is like making sure we clean and tend to a wound, promoting healing.
The next time you feel anxious, stress, or angry, focus on your breath and imagine your chi flowing throughout your whole body. When we begin to heal ourselves, we begin to heal the world one person at a time.
Namaste