Jamie Gannon

Shortly after my brain surgery I was told about a qigong grandmaster practicing nearby and I started seeing him for weekly medical qigong massage. His name is Master Zhou. Sounds like “Joe”, but actually it’s “Zhou.”

Every week for 18 months, I would drag myself into his office, poisoned from my four drug chemo cocktail. But after a 40 minute appointment I’d walk out feeling…Not bad at all! He even made my hair grow back while I actively was receiving chemo!

Think of any crazy martial arts tricks you’ve seen-- Master Zhou can do it.

He can get a wet paper towel up to 200 degrees in his bare hand. Break bricks over his head.

Crush shards of glass into dust.

Bite off a piece of red-hot metal without getting burned.

Stand on balloons without popping them.

​

Most importantly he can use his Qi (chee) energy to heal all kinds of medical problems, thanks to decades and decades of diligent study of qigong. Once my western medical treatment was over I began studying qigong with Master Zhou, learning his Elementary and Intermediate level qigong. Later, I became certified to teach qigong from Sifu Richard E. Clear  http://www.clearstaichi.com/tai-chi-master.

 

Also, a deeply knowledgeable and powerful martial artist, Sifu Clear has over 40 years of continuous study in Tai Chi, Martial Arts, Psychology, Philosophy, Alternative Medicine and Physiology. The really great news is, we don’t have to practice qigong for decades, like Master Zhou and Sifu Clear, to see real benefits to our health. With regular practice and in a few months, you’ll really be feeling it!

 

So what is Qigong? 

An accurate translation of Qi would be “energy”; or more specifically, “life energy”. Gong means “Work”, or “Benefits acquired through perseverance and practice”-- Energy Work. Robert Cohen’s great book, The Way of Qigong, explains it this way: “Qigong is a holistic system of self-healing exercise and meditation that includes: healing posture, movement, self-massage, breathing techniques and meditation. Through these various methods, qi is accumulated and stored in the body, like filling a reservoir.”

If you’re not familiar with qigong, think of it like T'ai Chi in a standing position. An internal and external physical practice that is both curative and preventative.

 

So, for everyone thinking, “Ahhh, this is some crazy martial arts stuff, this isn’t for me. This is some exercise Chinese people do in the park.” Please believe me when I tell you this is NOT some crazy martial art, and it is not just for Chinese people. Think of the slow and gentle movements of T’ai Chi, but from a fixed standing (or sitting) position. Qigong is not hard on the body, it is nourishing; and it’s not some hippy-dippy health fad, either. Qigong has a recorded history of being practiced for over 2000 years. Chinese government health administrators estimate that anywhere from 80 million to 150 million people regularly practice Qigong.

If it didn’t work, do you think that many people would waste their time on it for millennia??? I am promoting it and teaching it because I have directly benefited from its practice and I want everyone in America to know about it, too.  

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Qigong offers a huge potential to nurture our body, mind, and spirit—and do so with a minimum of costs!  What we’re missing out on here in the West, is the incredibly powerful, incredibly cheap practice of Qigong. Most oncology departments in Chinese hospitals prescribe a qigong practice complementary to chemotherapy and radiation. There are dozens of published studies in China on the efficacy of qigong for cancer survivors: alleviating depression, increasing strength, reducing the risk of falls, improving mental clarity, etc.

 

We’re finally starting to see studies like that here in America from people like Dr. Cohen at M.D. Anderson in Houston, or the Dana Farber center at Harvard. As Master Zhou’s website says, “Feel the Energy”!