Have you noticed how often health news relates to unavoidable threats around us? Our food is contaminated with pesticides. There’s arsenic in our rice. Electromagnetic radiation is everywhere. It can seem like there is no good news, and no escape from a constant onslaught. It would be extreme, but not illogical to reach the conclusion that “the world is trying to kill me.”
As a healthcare provider with a passion for preventive medicine, I pay attention to emerging health information and take it seriously. I don’t take extreme measures, but on the home front, I do what I can to avoid inordinate exposure to potential harm. When I buy “Dirty Dozen” foods, I always choose organic; if they aren’t available or are too expensive, I choose something else. But I’m concerned. This focus on warding off health threats can teach us to live in fear of the world around us. And fear itself is harmful to your health and wellbeing.
Qi gong practice radically shifts the environment-as-threat point of view. We practice walking forms and learn to relate to our environment as a source of nourishment – THE source of nourishment. We gather energy in the form of air, warmth and subtle energies around us. We transform that raw qi with the alchemical fire of human consciousness, we circulate it through our bodies, irrigating each cell with life force, and then store that refined energy like treasure.
And this isn’t magical thinking at all. The air and sunlight nourish us, the earth feeds us. That’s just the Truth. There is bounty around us, if we would notice it. When we pay attention to this, everything changes. We recognize the aspect of ourselves that relates to the world like an infant wholly dependant on her mother to hold her and feed her. We can begin to feel cared for with each breath, not assaulted by the outside world. Have you gotten to experience that state lately?
A new, 8-week session of Qi Gong classes begins at the Teal Center from 5:30- 6:30 pm on Thursday, April 9, 2015. Register here
