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Students of Tai Chi on the Beach |
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Chi healing workshop in Ireland |
Dr
Evelyn Ho: If Tai Chi Chi Kung can cure cancer,
then why is it not everyone who practises this artform is not cured? For example
I know those who practise Chi Kung/Tai Chi diligently including giving up their
stressful jobs are still not cured? Even a Chi Kung master can die from lung
cancer. How do you explain this?
Peter: Besides working purely with
Chi energy for helping a person to be healed, I have also worked in the the
traditional medical department in the hospital over here in UK and have been
requested to help in their Cancer Support Groups. So, I have both the Eastern
and the Western model to refer to. For example, the same question must also
apply to the allopathic and use of Chemotherapy treatment, why some patients
respond better to the treatments and others do not. We can discuss about it from
so many angles, the various types of cancer, the attitude and lifestyle of the
patient.
There are more categories, like people who use purely meditation, powerful
affirmations and mantrams, prayers, channelling spirits, and
the same question applies also as to why some people recover fully from that
kind of self healing and others do not?
The fact is that there are really no two human beings like each other. The
healer and the patient are in a relationship. The healer need to TUNE IN
COGNITIVELY and understand correctly what are the needs of the patient and the
patient need to also tune in to whether the treatment is what he or she needs.
In my own work, we spend a lot of one on one sessions with the client, whom we
consider to be more of a student than a patient.
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We are a school not a healing centre, educating and helping people
to help themselves. It is the same with the Zhineng Chi Kung Centre
in China, every patient before they enter the centre are asked to
accept that they are students and not patients. During the early
years in Zhineng Chi Kung Centre, there was always one teacher to
maximum of three students. And then, as the news spread far and
wide, busloads and busloads of people arrived and overwhelmed the
teachers!! |
So, the first step, if we accept that we
are students studying this topic seriously for healing purposes and there are
teachers teaching seriously this subject in practical terms, then, we need to
accept that just as in any normal school if there are too many students and
insufficient ratio of teachers to students, the learning process may not be that
effective.
We are very careful to keep the QUALITY of the relationship between student and
teacher as the main focus.
Hence, in slowing down to TUNE in to the emotional, physical, mental and
spiritual needs of each ill person, if the teacher is sufficiently experienced
and skilful, and you have a conscientious student, like any other subject of
study whether it be a musician or scientist, success will come.
In Chi Healing, we focus on not just helping the person to heal himself or
herself, but also to help the person find a balance of Yin with Yang energies,
and therefore the Tao of health is a life long study for diligent practising. We
cannot enforce that everyone must have the same degree of motivation, same
degree of receptivity to chi energy just as no swimming instructor can force
every one of his swimming students to swim as well as the best swimmer even if
he gives each of them the same amount of attention, same number of hours of
practice and homework.
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Like many other Art forms, such as music and painting, any
practitioner of the Art of Chi Healing need to point out clearly
from the onset that patients' are considered students studying the
Art of Self Healing. Having the wrong set of expectations is like a
busy stressed out executive giving up his job and wanting to become
a Musician overnight and play like Beethoven and he has not even
mastered the basic notes on the piano!! |
Although students give up their stressful lifestyles, it does not mean inwardly,
every student has the same capacity, receptivity and motivation to learn and
achieve the best results. A recent example is that I have two students enrolled
on this Chi Self Healing Course, both the same age, same occupation before the
illness, same illness Chronic M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) Fatigue Syndrome
and same amount of daily practice and same amount of attention given to both of
them by teachers here at our School of Tai Chi Chi Kung. One of them has a
complete recovery and has gone on to write a book and become a teacher herself.
The other student has recovered to a certain degree and has become confident
enough to do shopping, go out with relatives and friends and is still doing her
best to sustain her energy levels through daily practice of the exercises.
Dr Evelyn Ho:
Do you think people who practise Tai Chi or Chi Kung cannot also go for evidence
based or commonly called "western" treatment? Are there conflicts in the
treatment?
Peter: Yes, it is true that there
is a division between the West and East and there are people who are so obsessed
with only one option that they forget that there are valid options and there are
points also when both are needed to complement each other.
I have seen adult students of mine choose to complement their breast cancer
operation using 'western medical treatment' and recovery with the Rainbow Tai
Chi Chi Kung exercises and principles. They recover faster than other patients
who are not practising Tai Chi Chi Kung. There are no conflicts with Tai Chi Chi
Kung as long as it is the choice of the cancer patient/student to do both. We
also introduce Aqua Tai Chi at our School to help students relax and practice in
the heated swimming pool and in the river close by to the school. I am the
founder of Aqua Tai Chi.
This is illustrated and explained in deeper detail in my book, '37 Steps to
Happiness - With an Introduction to Aqua Tai Chi".
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Peter and Tai Chi amongst the plants |
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Practising Zhineng Chi Kung |
Dr
Evelyn Ho: In theory, Tai Chi Chi Kung should
complement and provide a more "holistic" recovery from treatment - is this the
only role?
Peter: Before and during the
treatment as in chemotherapy for example, cancer patients have used certain
specific de-stressing tools such as Tai Chi Heart Beat Listening, to help them
prepare themselves for the treatments. The second fundamental Tai Chi Exercise
which can be done lying in bed or seated can help the patient to embrace all the
negatives and positives of fears in their consciousness before and during the
operation. The third fundamental Tai Chi Exercise of Heart Beat Listening and
listening to your breathing also reduces stress by centering the heart, body and
mind before and during the operation.
Dr Evelyn Ho:
How do you see Tai Chi Chi Kung being used in stressful situations where there
is pain from say the common headache to painful sensations associated with
serious illness?
Peter: Some people turn to
Acupuncture or legal drugs (or illegal ones), whereas we in Tai Chi Chi Kung
choose to go to the source, find the balance of Yin and Yang and the migraine
and headache is resolved. I call it the Cognitive or Direct approach to learning
about the Chi.
During my early years of learning Tai Chi Chi Kung as a teenager, I remember I
was sitting in MBS(Methodist
Boys Secondary School) science class learning about the brain when my
classmate was telling me he had been having migraines. Now, the teacher was not
interested in migraines. He was interested in the Medulla and was rattling on
and on about different parts of the brain.
I was interested in the headache of my fellow classmate. I said, 'Let us go to
the source of this headache, the pain itself and now, the headache is the Yang,
we just have to bring in the Yin of total listening..... listening to the
rhythms...like a surfer riding the waves, flowing with the pauses between the
highest point of the headache and the lowest point....' Are you there? I
whispered to his ear, he was in this trance-like state!! And said, “yeah,
yeah...” and I said, 'How is your headache now?' He said, 'It is gone!'
I believe that one day, there will be Chi healers present at hospices and in
hospitals to provide alternative options for patients to request a chi healer
like they can make a request for a spiritual counsellor or a Complementary
Health Therapist to help him or her relax.
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