First published in Qi Journal, Spring 2021 issue
Authored by Susan Drouilhet, Wisdom Healing Qigong Teacher & Coach
Many students come to Wisdom Healing Qigong and Master Mingtong Gu in search of health and well being. Often, they are looking for a cure for one or more physical ailments – some mild, many quite significant.
Others come with a desire for mental and emotional healing, and others are focused primarily on spiritual awakening.
Most often, however, students arrive with some form of discomfort or physical dis-ease for which they would like relief, and in the process of their Qigong healing journeys, discover that health and well being involve much more than just the amelioration of physical, mental, and/or emotional symptoms.
In many systems of healing, including much of Western medicine, the approach to healing is typically symptom-centric. We eradicate, destroy, fuse and stitch, and when a solution evades us, we tolerate through numbing or suppressing the irritations we cannot resolve.
There is greater attention given to the problems that have discernibly surfaced and less heed paid to the underlying integrity of a system as a whole.
Focusing on “What’s wrong?”, i.e., the particular challenge of the moment, may be critical in the near-term, for instance when dealing with a broken bone, dangerous, contagious microbes, uncontrolled bleeding, even a tumor that is best contained by being surgically removed – in other words, situations that require fast or immediate action in order to stave off disaster and/or save life.
However, if we continue as our modus operandi to fixate exclusively on the things we say we don’t want – symptoms and dis-ease – we may miss the larger opportunity for whole-person connection and whole-person healing.
In Wisdom Healing Qigong, we learn to expand our perception of what it means to heal and be whole.
We learn to go beyond just the specific challenges that brought us to our current healing journey.
We learn to grow our intention beyond our personal desired outcomes and connect with the larger flow of universal chi in order to not just heal ourselves, but to heal the world and our connection to it.
This is more than just a concept, more than mere theory; this awareness and approach are deeply entwined in the DNA of Wisdom Healing Qigong technology and unequivocally impact the approach to and corresponding results of practice.
In a nutshell, at any given moment we have a choice.
We can drill down, search for, and possibly even obsess over the particular cause(s) of our dis-ease, discomfort, and struggles; alternatively, we can attune to, focus on and align with our wholeness, our wellness, and our connection with the limitless flow of chi.
In this way, instead of using our life force and creative energy to push against and even battle the cause of our illness, we shift our mindset and creative power toward identification with wholeness and the limitless potential of Hun Yuan chi (primordial, invisible chi, from which everything in the universe is made).
We set in motion the potential for actualization and manifestation of a new reality, thereby “becoming” the cause of our healing.
On the one hand, we can choose as our point of reference our symptoms and any shifts, large or small, that we observe in their presentation. For example, we can focus our practice on certain parts of the body or certain systems we wish to heal.
With the practice of Lachi (Lachi = “pulling chi,” a simple opening-closing movement made with the hands), for instance, we can direct healing energy toward specific areas in ourselves or others.
This method has profound effects and offers us the opportunity to conduct our own evidence-based research and assess our progress and results over time.
Yet if we were to hyperfocus on particular areas exclusively without regard to the whole, unless we were adepts or under the supervision of a master, we could run the risk of generating imbalances and possibly making matters worse.
Instead, we can train our minds to think more holistically, seeing beyond the concretized form of our ailments and any apparent energetic blockages that exist there.
We can learn to adhere to the perfection in the formless Hun Yuan chi in such a way that we maintain a more continuous conscious relationship with this harmonious potential, inviting and allowing the flow of ever-present chi to inform and nourish us even as it transforms our cellular structure.
These approaches are not mutually exclusive; in fact, we often initially center our practice on certain areas or systems to bring more opening and energy flow to specific locations, yet we always start and finish with a conscious connection to the whole.
Besides being considered a safer way to practice, when we have developed the capacity to maintain this awareness of and merging with the entirety of the chi field throughout our practice, practice takes on a richer flavor and higher level of potency.
This may seem a bit counterintuitive.
One may ask, why would we focus on wholeness and complete health, the potential of “perfection” that exists in formlessness, when very clearly in the manifest world, things aren’t looking or feeling so good, never mind anywhere close to “perfect?”
Shouldn’t we focus instead on fixing what ails us? What happens when we do?
When we come to Qigong with a specific, narrow outcome in mind, we are often performing our practice with an “agenda.” Our intention has crossed the line into expectation and demand.
We are treating Qigong as a pill, swallowing our daily practice as a necessary medication to secure a cure. We are negotiating with Source (or at least attempting to), contracting our 1-, 3- or 5-hour practice against a guarantee of wellness.
While practicing in this way can and does elicit positive outcomes, it is also rife with the potential for frustration and/or disappointment.
If our dictates and timelines, fueled by hope and desire, are not met according to our personal determinations and schedules, we can lose motivation and faith and the impetus to continue the very thing that will help our situation – i.e., practice.
We are also missing out on the larger potential of and inspiration behind the cultivation of chi.
We cultivate our own life energy through accessing nature’s great store of life energy (qi) [or chi]. This approach produces quick results. But cultivating one’s qi [chi] is not the most fundamental; cultivating one’s spirit is. Mastery of qi [chi] is really achieved through mastery of consciousness. We use consciousness in a careful, craftsman-like way, to shape our life, to attain our goals. … In modern terms, qigong is just the refinement of consciousness to enhance the state of energy in the body. This leads to vibrant health, a harmonious body and mind, and awakened spiritual life.
~ Grandmaster Pang Ming founder of Zhineng (Wisdom Healing) Qigong
So Qigong is more than just the cultivation of life energy for better health and a happier life. It is really the cultivation of consciousness that strengthens body, mind and spirit.
For Qigong at its essence is mind training.
No matter which practice one does, engaging one’s intention in a beneficial manner generates an added, powerful effect.
To envision the reality one wants to actualize is to set in motion the energetic, neurological, chemical, psychological and physiological responses necessary to make that happen.
This capacity was understood in the ancient wisdom systems of Qigong and has been corroborated by modern science; for instance, it has been shown that when elite athletes train in this manner, repeatedly visualizing the perfection of their athletic performance even while sitting still, the neurological responses that would kick in were they actually moving do so.
Still, for many this is an under-appreciated and underutilized natural ability that we could all cultivate; Qigong offers an unparalleled opportunity to develop in this way.
One of the tenets of Wisdom Healing Qigong is, “Where the mind goes, chi flows.”
With each practice and teaching, we are reminded again and again of this basic principle. We learn to merge with external chi and then gather and receive that chi deep inside as we keep coming back – back to the body (matter), back to the energy (chi), and back to the information (the “story” with which we are programming the energy).
In essence, we are learning to rewrite our stories from the inside out.
One of the mantras we use in Wisdom Healing Qigong is the Chinese word Haola (pronounced How-la). Haola translates as “All is well! So be it!”
It is a declaration and a reminder, a mnemonic device employed to assist practitioners in keeping their minds tuned to this simultaneous possibility and actuality. Haola also means “All is well and getting better.”
All is well in the universal sense, in the Hun Yuan chi state where all potential exists in the primordial, undifferentiated formlessness beyond time and space, and all is getting better here in our relative world replete with its apparent limitations.
And both are true. It may seem like a paradox, yet rather than getting stymied by supposed contradiction, practitioners learn to move back and forth between form and formlessness, to perceive and activate the formless wholeness inside of partial form, to consciously hold to the energetic substrate that makes up the matrix of everything that we see and hear and touch.
This is neither easy nor always the natural choice.
Culturally and neurologically, we are wired to look for the anomaly, to scan for the threat, and to identify, contain and eliminate if possible any irregularity found. As stated earlier, this is important and can be critical for survival.
Nevertheless, to choose to ally with harmony, wholeness and the possibility of healing even in its seeming stark absence is serious practice.
To trust the unlimited potential in the formless, to again and again open to and connect with Source and allow that power to flow through and transform us, takes significant discipline and a daily recommitment and dedication.
And that is the importance of practice. Theory without practice just doesn’t take hold; there is no traction there.
It is not just a matter of thinking one’s way into wellness; it is not just wishing it were so.
Practice – regular movement, sound and visualization techniques – opens, purifies, and strengthens body, mind, emotion, and spirit.
Even with direct transmission from teacher to student (an advanced method for opening awareness as well as energetic centers and channels), practice is generally required to maintain that awareness and grow the newfound portal into an ongoing, embodied capacity.
Again and again, we practice connecting consciously with Hun Yuan chi that is bigger and well beyond our personal situation and circumstances.
Rather than define ourselves by our dise-ease, we choose to be the cause of healing, both for ourselves and for others.
Our practice is thus an individual pursuit and a collective endeavor. In this way, we are accessing and contributing to the healing chi field. (A chi field is a unified field of pure energy created through a unified purpose.)
“If you are creating an energy field that is serving a big purpose, then your energy field automatically becomes that frequency to match that purpose, automatically transforming whatever was there, automatically transforming low frequency, low purpose energy. Creating an energy field that serves a big purpose is the quickest, most powerful way to transform the energy.
“Do not attach to what was here, “What was wrong?”“What was the problem?” “Why does this energy feel this way?” Do not attach to this energy using these thoughts. … Inside your body, you had an old chi field, an old condition, now we [are training] the mind to not attach, to not depend on anything, but to go to the big energy field, creating a new frequency, a new healing structure, a new energy pattern including movement, including quality, including information. Then your energy transforms. That is what proactive means. It’s very simple.”
~ Master Mingtong
Very simple, yet not always easy.
Trust in the process, trust in the method, trust in the teacher, and trust in oneself are all key.
This trust is not a blind faith, however; it is about making a commitment and allowing one’s trust to build based on experience and the results of one’s dedicated practice.
Becoming the cause of healing is a choice we make every day, both in our formal practice sessions and beyond.
As our understanding of the teachings and facility with practice continue to grow, our Qigong consciousness begins to impact our whole lives, and our practice expands, becoming 24/7.
We learn to let go of our old story, identify with this new story, and remember Hun Yuan chi in every moment.
This conscious choosing clarifies our intention, aligns our focus, releases unnecessary mental and emotional hindrances, dissolves energetic and cellular blockages, and strengthens our commitment to rededicate daily to our practice of healing and becoming whole.
As we integrate wisdom with healing, we begin to embody the definition of Wisdom Healing Qigong offered by Grandmaster Pang:
“Use of the mind’s intelligence to direct chi to transform, perfect and improve the conscious potential of the holistic body, thereby uplifting the consciousness of the practitioner from automated condition to that of autonomous wisdom.”
~ Grandmaster Pang
Rather than being a victim to life’s circumstances, through connection and reconnection to the ubiquitous life force that animates us all, we empower ourselves to become masters of our energy, our experience, and ultimately the course of our individual and collective lives.
Susan Drouilhet is a Wisdom Healing Qigong certified Level 3 Teacher and a Level 1 Healing Facilitator, as well as a Professional Life and Wellness Coach, Yoga Instructor, and published author in the field of Energy Medicine. Over the last decade, Susan became a leader in the essential design and development of all Chi Center training and education programs. She served as the Director of Advanced Programs, co-developing an innovative and unique system of Wisdom Healing Qigong Coaching. She lives in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and leads wellness programs and retreats in the US and abroad.
For more information, please contact: info@chicenter.com.
Named Qigong Master of the Year by the 13th World Congress on Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Master Mingtong Gu is one of the World’s Leading Practitioners of Zhineng Wisdom Healing Qigong. He brings his joyful spirit, uplifting teachings, and extensive mastery to his intention to train others to expand wisdom and energy. He has mastered the unique ability to lead the collective energy field to accelerate personal and global healing.
As a Qigong Master, Teacher, and Healer based on his success working with people of all ages with many physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges, Master Mingtong founded the Wisdom Healing Qigong method to make Zhineng Qigong accessible to Western lifestyles and cultures and to benefit people around the world.
Now, for more than twenty years, he has continued to trust his life-calling and do everything possible to share the amazing gift of Qigong he received, practiced, and mastered. In order to realize his vision of long-term health and happiness for all, he developed The Chi Center to create and teach a complete lifelong-learning mastery program online, along with an organization of teachers, executives, and support staff to sustain and grow his vision.
And, in 2016 he purchased and renovated a beautiful retreat center just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico — the only center in the West to be solely dedicated to healing and awakening through Qigong.
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