My first year at Oberlin as an undergraduate a friend of mine gave me a book on Qigong. It had been given to him, and he didn’t really have an interest in it. Since I had practiced Okinawan martial arts and was teaching them at the time at Oberlin he figured I might enjoy it. While I had heard of Qigong I really didn’t know much about it, so I read the book with keen interest. What I didn’t know that day was that one book would eventually lead me down the path to completing a degree in East Asian Studies, then living in Japan, and eventually becoming a professional doctor of Chinese medicine. The reason I initially went to seek treatment from an acupuncturist was to treat a Qigong related injury I sustained. But that is a story we can go into more at a later date…
Even though people know me as a teacher of topics like Tung’s acupuncture and bloodletting therapy, some of my other favorite topics are Chinese longevity practices (known collectively as Yang Sheng), martial arts, and Qigong and Taiji. Every year the last Saturday in April is celebrated as World Tai Chi and Qigong Day (and it drives me absolutely crazy that the main organizers insist on mixing Wade-Giles and Pinyin romanization!!!). This year as we have in the past, we will be holding a free class tomorrow (Saturday April 27) from 9-10am at the Wushu Kung Fu Fitness Center where I regularly teach. If you are in the area please feel free to join us!
The first half of the class we will practice some Daoist Neigong in the tradition of Hu Yaozhen. These practices are a direct transmission from the Song Dynasty Daoist Chen Tuan (well, that’s the traditional lineage at least!). After that as a group we will go through the Chen Style Hunyuan Basic 24 movement form.