Qigong means " energy study. " It ' s an ancient Chinese art used to bring health to the body, in order to the mind, and power to the martial arts. It ' s based on the same theory as acupuncture: That there are energy pathways— meridians and channels— that flow throughout the body. When energy, or chi, runs smoothly in these pathways, good health is maintained. When energy becomes blocked or passive, infection follows. Through populous combinations of breathing, postures and movements, qigong attempts to keep energy pathways unlatched.
When I was diagnosed with Stage Four bone lymphoma cancer in 1991, I read affair I could about people who had survived supposedly hopeless cases of the exposed disease. One common fleece ran through the survivor stories: People who had taken down intense, behind - stage instances of the disease had found ways to use their minds to help their bodies heal. So I learned how to meditate, and how to use visualizations to help my immune system attack the cancer cells. And against all odds, I survived six months of an intense regime of chemotherapy and came out cancer free.
But it didn ' t last. The cancer came back. The doctors eventual me for a stem cell transplant, in which stem cells, superintendent of your immune system, are harvested from your blood, and then high - dose chemotherapy destroys your immune system ( bone spirit ) and hopefully all the cancer cells in your body. Then the stem cells are replaced to refashion your immune system. Again I used meditation and visualization to help weather the effects of the high - dose chemotherapy. I sailed through the transplant in enter time and came out of the hospital cancer - free.
But a instance next the cancer relapsed and the doctors recommended a second stem cell transplant, this time a regime that was several times more intense than the first. It was time to bring out the big guns. I read more about meditation and visualization and discovered that the Chinese had been using mind / body techniques for thousands of age. They called this art " qigong. "
After reading a book about qigong by a noted Boston qigong, tai chi chuan and kung fu master named Dr. Yang Jwing - Ming, I decided to contact him to arrange for lessons. Coincidentally, at that time his supporter ( a formal period weighty agedness of exigency and study ) Ramel Rones ( Rami ) was teaching classes in Connecticut. I approached him and asked him to teach me qigong. Rami had won gold medals for forms and fighting competitions in Europe, North America and even China and was looking for a new challenge. So I became his private student.
Rami quickly introduced me to standing post meditation. It ' s one of the most popular and ancient forms of meditation in China and it ' s stood the test of time. It ' s also one of the most strenuous, as it challenges both the body and mind. Standing post gets its name from its posture: The practitioner stands as though he or she is a post abyssal into the ground, knees slightly twisted, arms constrained in an arc in front of the chest. This posture is known as Embrace the Tree, and its benefits are legion.
According to Taoist master Mantak Chia, Hug the Tree stimulates the lymph nodes in the groin, armpits and back of knees. The submerged abdominal breathing practiced while share the posture also helps propel juice through the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system removes wastes and toxins from all the body ' s cells and also contains antibodies. And return the arms in an arc in front of the chest stimulates the thymus gland, which lies under the sternum, and provides T - cells, which neutralize cancer, viruses and other invaders.
Noted acupuncturist Yves Requena in his book Qigong: The Art of Mastering Energy relates that from an energy viewpoint, Clutch the Tree opens the twelve primary chi channels that lead to the organ systems. It also stretches and stimulates the " Great Pop up, " the network of major energy meridians that petulant the back. In addition, it opens the Ming - men cavity in the lumbar region, an important energy gate that feeds the kidneys.
While Embracing the Tree, by breathing acutely from the tummy, blood vessels relax, blood pressure and heart proportion drops. Anxiety and stress lessen. The mind calms. The muscles of the legs grow strong. The arms become as wiry as gnarled hickory limbs.
When I first started to Clutch the Tree, I could only tenacity the posture for a few minutes. That ' s through I had a tumor in my right shoulder and I couldn ' t bear the pain. After a few rounds of chemotherapy in preparation for my transplant, the tumor shrank and I could occasion afire training. In China, no-nonsense internal martial artists practice standing post meditation postures for over an hour. That became my goal— to clutch Hold the Tree for more than sixty minutes, despite the cancer damage in my shoulder and hips and bad football knees.
Three Months of Atomic Repetitious Chemotherapy
The stem cell transplant I was budgeted for in 1995 at the University of Connecticut ' s Heath Limelight was far more intense than the one I endured at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston in 1993. This transplant procedure required three " mini - transplant " four - day hospital stays in subsequent months, in which high - dose chemotherapy would yelp any cancer cells in the body and bring the immune system nearly down to ground zero. Then growth hormone would help refashion the immune system. Then as the immune system regenerated, ripen cells would be harvested for the transplant act itself, in which " hydrogen prosaic " chemotherapy would eliminate the immune system positively and the germinate cells would be replaced to refashion it.
After the first shriveled - transplant stay, doctors blameless to harvest increase cells from me. But I couldn ' t muster any in appreciable amounts. That ' s since I ' d had a previous transplant with the high - dose chemotherapy that had supposedly permanently suppressed my immune system. So the doctors took bone spirit out of my hips. Bone heart is not as pure a product as thrive cells; it includes many different types of cells and using it antecedent a greater chance of your immune system not engrafting, or " taking ", properly. It thing a much longer hospital stay and less chance of survival.
At that point I made it my goal to trigger my immune system so it would muster germinate cells for one of the succeeding insufficient - transplant stays. I had two young sons and a wife I loved. I wanted to survive. I started Embracing the Tree twice a day. I built up slowly to twenty minutes, then thirty minutes.
At first when you Hold the Tree, the pain in your arms is the arresting distraction. The weight of return your arms in an arc two feet away from your chest puts an whopping duty on your shoulders. Lactic acid builds up and it feels as though someone has jabbed knitting needles into the muscles. You want to discontinue after five minutes. But if you have a goal— survival— you don ' t drop. And if you use the feelings of drop as motivation— mentally I would chastise myself for enthusiasm to quit— you can play yourself into lifelong.
And then decisive alchemistic happens. After fifteen or twenty minutes the pain lessens. Dr. Yang explained to me that a dam of chi, or energy, releases. Then the posture becomes wide more swimming to influence. I also had to build up the strength in my legs, which had become de - steeled from dealing with the pain in my hips from the cancer.
Once you overcome the discomfort in your body, you have to deal with the discomfort in your mind. After standing in place for twenty minutes, you can get bored. So you have to continuously meeting place on your breathing and ignore the thoughts of boredom and other distractions your mind puts before you. Fresh method is to visualize energy moving in many orbits within your body. In time, energy in reality will flow there. It takes practice.
By the time of my second mini - transplant hospital stay I could Clutch the Tree for forty minutes. I had high hopes that my immune system would produce stem cells. But I was disappointed. My stem cell count barely registered.
I had one final shot— one final mini - transplant stay and one more chance to organize stem cells for the actual transplant. In my mind I had to break the sixty - minute barrier and Embrace the Tree for an hour. As promptly as I recovered from the withering effects of the high - dose chemotherapy from the mini - transplant stay, I began training again.
By the time of my interrogatory mini - transplant stay, I was standing for over an hour recurrently. When the doctor began the process of harvesting stem cells, I asked him the odds of my being able to marshal them. " After a previous transplant, and after two previous attempts to organize, I ' d say 20, 000 to one. "
I mobilized. I went in for my actual stem cell transplant the next month and got out in inscribe time for someone going for a first transplant, never mind a second one. A allotment subsequent the cancer shared, a inconsiderable tumor in my spine— the last gasp of the disease. One round of chemotherapy destroyed it. I ' ve been clear of cancer for 12 age and practice qigong every day. My immune system should be permanently suppressed from the high - dose chemotherapy but my counts are in the general range. I don ' t even take colds.
References
Requena, Yves. ( 1995 ). Qigong. The Chinese Art of Mastering Energy. Rochester: Healing
Arts Press.
Yang, Dr. Jwing - Ming. ( 1989 ). The Root of Chinese Qigong. Roslindale: YMAA Statement Headquarters.
Chia, Mantak. ( 2001 ). Taoist Cosmic Healing. Rochester: Destiny Books.
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