Chapter 1 – The Beginning

Qi Gong was a foreign concept three and a half years ago. It wasn't until the dreaded pandemic that I started my journey.  That unique pandemic that scattered people away from one another in fear: COVID-19.  How many people did we lose prematurely? Too many loved ones and dear friends. And the wreck that was left to our social networks could take years to rebuild.

I began the art of learning about The Tao[1] and the power of Qi in September 2020 and developed the gong over the next few months.  The Qi is your life force energy, and the gong is learning to skillfully circulate your life force energy so it can move effortlessly through your body, sending healing light and energy for longevity and vitality. The real Qi Gong journey only began when I was training to be a Qi Gong master, with private students who were eager to learn how to self-heal, self massage.

In September 2022 after I had completed many workshops, gathered various tools and studied the meridians and acupressure points, and after all the theory and practice necessary to become an apprentice teaching master I was ready for my first students.

The first student, I'll call her B, came to me with a collapsed lung so I researched my Peter Deadman’s encyclopedia on meridians and acupressure points and came up with a short ten-minute practice and a longer twenty-minute practice for my student whose lungs became compromised with sadness and grief.  Sadness and grief affect the lungs with cold and fill them with phlegm.  So, to clear the dampness I used the bladder acupressure points on the mid back,(BL-13, BL-42 and BL-43), which is the back gate to the lungs on the bladder meridian.

The Saturday that was to be the first teaching class, B called to cancel.  She said that she was too tired to do any Qi Gong.  For B to say that she couldn’t walk because she was so tired was not characteristic of her. She ordinarily remained very active, golfing, hiking, biking etc. I suggested that I just pop by to give her a card and show her the acupressure points.

The first Saturday, I made her a card with the yin and yang symbol on it and wrote her exercises in it. Upon arrival B was intrigued with the acupressure points on the bladder meridian and they seemed to be helping clear the phlegm and knocking on the sternum seemed to be pacifying the cough. I showed her LU-1 and LU-2, just below the collarbone near the shoulder.  Those points are particularly good for the immune system and for the respiratory system. We tapped down the lung Meridian to the thumb, LU-11.  Then we turned the arm over to access the top of the arm and tapped back up the large intestine meridian from the second finger just at the bottom of the nail on the thumb side up as far as the shoulder.  I showed her how to cup her hand and tap on GB-21, which is on top of the shoulder between the shoulder and neck and then back down for two more repetitions.

Qi Gong is all about repetition and it is effortless.  It creates energy and relaxation at the same time. My student became so excited about the practice that she asked me just to show her the short practice and this is what it looked like:

ACTIVATE AND STRETCH

Knocking on the Door of Life – You can use a shoulder width stance and position, or you can choose a wider stance in which you would shift your weight while you tap.  Turn from your hips and your waist and knock across your kidneys and lower abdomen (naval height).  Don’t forget to breathe.  Relax your neck and shoulders and tap for 1 minute or so.  Then you can increase the stretch by looking over your shoulder for another minute or so. Slow it down.  Slow it down and let your body slowly unwind.

Spinal Cord breathing – Resume the same stance.  Inhale through the nose bring your arms up and back to stretch the front of the spine.  Exhale, round the back, tuck the tail bone under and bend your arms bringing the elbows down towards your ribs but without touching the ribs, chin to the chest.  Inhale, look up and bring your arms up and back to stretch the front of the spine.  Exhale, round the back and tuck your tail bone in. (2 minutes)

CLEANSE

Shaking – Let your body go loose and shake into your heals.  Okay not into your heals if you have planters’ heals.  Shake your wrists.  Shake your arms.  Shake your neck and shoulders.  Relax between the shoulder blades.  Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth, making the “Haaaaaaaaaa” sound (1 minute)  Then the lung sound “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz” (1 minute)

FLOW

Open the Flow – Float the arms up in front of you.  Inhale.  Float the arms down.  Exhale.                   (1 minute)

Pulling down the heavens – Triple warmer is what centres and grounds the five elements so that they flow together to create the very best energy to flow through your body and heal your kidneys.  The body is intelligent and knows how to put positive energy where it is needed.

Standing knees slightly bent, a little less than shoulder width apart, float the arms up, palms facing up through the sides inhaling and then float the arms down, palms facing down the middle of the front of your body and exhale.  Repeat.  When your arms float up, gather the positive energy from the earth and the sky. When your arms float back down, imagine yourself washing away any old energy that remains in your body.  Repeat and imagine yourself now filling your body with new energy from the earth and the sky.(2 minutes)

Bamboo in the Wind – Put your feet closer together. Hold your hands one on top of the other on your belly.  Inhale push the belly out.  Exhale let the belly float back in.  Close your eyes and rock and sway.  Feel the energy moving throughout your body.  Send bright white light to your lungs and smile into your lungs.  Relax. ( 1 minute).  Now, how do you feel?

When we finished the short routine, she asked me to do the longer version with her. The next day she reported that she slept like a baby and that she had gone for a mile walk in the morning.

After just three sessions each Saturday, B was declared fit to fly to Florida and go biking. I had witnessed the Qi Gong healing on an acute and speedy level.

Students two, three, four, and five were two couples with husbands in wheelchairs so I learned to adapt Qi Gong practices to seated positions. We worked on both upper and lower bodies, but focused on activating the Qi Gong in the legs that would not do a lot of walking.  This was done in zoom meetings and sometimes we had as many as six students at a time.

Student six, I'll call him G, had a frozen shoulder, anxiety, anger, and knee issues so sometimes we would do seated Qi Gong and sometimes we would do standing Qi Gong. His daughter was to compound the anxiety by taking her own life, greatly increasing both the physical and mental challenges that G was facing. Anxiety turned into a severe pain in the solar plexus and the knee persisted to agonize my student. I researched various versions of sun salutation that seemed to aid the solar plexus.  I made up my own, which was sun salutations holding a Qi ball and rotating the hands up one side and above my head and back down the other side.  After trying many tools for the knees, I discovered that walking backwards to heal was the best remedy of all! We normally walk forwards, putting pressure on the knees.  Walking backwards one foot behind the other slowly takes the pressure off the knees.

Student seven who I'll call E was legally blind and had been since he had been studying medicine at McGill.  His biggest fear was that the eyes were seeing a darker shade of gray and he had lost his peripheral vision.  After a few months of Qi Gong practice, the gray was not getting worse and in fact the gray was lighter than when we started.  The astounding observation of how Qi Gong can heal is that his peripheral vision was slowly returning.  Lots of tapping on the eyebrows and warming the hands to shine healing warmth on to the eyes and golden light into the eyes.  We also did some tapping and activation of Qi and lots of flying for clarity and vision. During the teaching, I had to change my own glasses since my eyes improved along with my student.

Student number eight, I'll call her R, was struck with sudden grief as she had unexpectedly lost her husband after they returned from a month-long vacation down south. The day after they arrived back home, he developed a sniffle.  They were scheduled to go to a brunch that Sunday with friends, which was three days later.  R’s husband asked his wife to go without him as he didn't want to give anyone a cold or flu by participating in the brunch. Upon R’s return from brunch at 3:00 p.m. she found her husband in bed, still asleep.  R had trouble awakening him. So, she told him that she would call 911 and even in his groggy state he said, “No, I will be fine. Just call 811.” So, R called 811 to describe what was happening and they redirected her to 911.

The ambulance arrived and they went to the local hospital. An hour later the doctors came to R to report that her husband’s kidneys were shutting down. An hour after that, the doctors came to her to report that his liver was shutting down. An hour after that the doctors reported that he had passed away. R felt like a truck had just run over her. How could he be gone? They had just come back from vacation, and they had so many plans for their retirement! R joined our zoom Qi Gong and she was one of my first students in live classes at the City.

Student nine joined my zoom classes for awhile in the hopes to charge her own batteries as her husband had just been diagnosed with a permanent and degenerative disease.  Then she found herself too busy as a caregiver.

That was the build up of students that I had in my first month of teaching. But this story is really about student ten and the inspiration that her life left for me.

Bee, like the honeybee, would be the miracle I witnessed before my eyes! Bee’s big sister was formerly a registered nurse and she requested that I teach Bee as she had been told by her western doctors that she only had a few weeks to live. It was nearing the end of a cold October, and the sessions were to be via FaceTime as she didn't know how to zoom or use other devices. Bee was too weak to sit so I adapted some exercises to a lying down position. Breathing, tapping, flows and gentle movements, turning from side to side on the bed to get some circulation of Qi in her body.

It was truly a challenge to show Bee how to heal with Qi Gong as I had never seen lying down Qi Gong.  She was an enthusiastic student, but not willing to acknowledge that she was ill. She despised the word sick and shunned the “C” word even though she had been told by her doctors that she was stage 4 lung, metastasized to the bone marrow. We both pretended that I didn't know and practiced Qi Gong at least three times a week for 15 to 20 minutes each time. What she loved the most was the meditations at the end of the practice and the little prayers at the end of the meditation.  When the practice finished, she would take her praying hands off her sternum and slowly come up her face kissing the back of her hands and tapping up three times until she reached the crown of her head and then we would put our palms together on the screen. After four weeks of practicing in this limited manner, she sat up. Seated Qi Gong brought in energy and strength into her body; so much that when I went to see her in her home four weeks after that and entered the room, Bee stood up.

                “I didn't know you could stand!” I was surprised.

                “Neither did I”, she answered.

That day, we had a great Qi Gong practice with her boyfriend and caregiver participating and after I left the seed of inspiration had been planted.

In Bee’s mind if she could stand, she could walk again.  If she could walk again, she could be independent again and do the things she so desperately wanted to do. Bee’s New Year's resolutions for 2023 was to travel and set up a home where she could relax, enjoy the water, and feel free.

Against her western doctors’ advice, she traveled south for a vacation. Her vacation proved not to be the enjoyment she expected, as her caretakers were unappreciative and selfish.  Furthermore, she overdid the sun and had a blister on her nose. She feared that it was “C” again and thought the whole vacation had been a mistake. The ride to and from the island had been torture and she felt miserable.

Alas she was looking forward to going home to her new apartment that she bought in the city.  She had ordered it to be painted and decorated during her absence, but her solace at home was short lived. She ended up catching COVID on the plane and that mutated into double pneumonia. Back in the hospital she waited a few days before contacting me and then we spoke on the phone.

                “Hello Bee”, I started.

                “Linda, I got myself into a real pickle”.

                “Bee, we don't go back.  We go to the present moment and contemplate the possible solutions”.

                “What do I do? The doctors are claiming that the only hope is to clean my lungs that are full of gunk and phlegm and to run a pump into the lungs and out through my liver. I've been told it is a dreadfully painful procedure and that it takes three days in a row.”

                “I don't know Bee. I am not a doctor nor a healer.  All I can do is to teach you how to heal yourself in an alternative ancient Chinese practice.”

Bee’s sister called and said she should not do the procedure as her condition was too weak.  Rather, she should go to palliative care and get the medications that can ease the pain.  She and the doctors all thought that the procedure would be too much for Bee to bear in her current health state and condition.

However, Bee had made up her mind.  Bee was unstoppable. She had a bee in her bonnet, and she wanted to live.

                “Linda, can you do Qi Gong every morning with me?”

                “Yes, I will, and I'll do more than that. I will tape meditations that you can listen to, and I’ll contact my spiritual Qi Gong master to see what else can be done.”

                John advised me to find a certain Indian chant, called the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra, that was meant to ward off death. I taped it for Bee.

                The procedure was excruciatingly painful and exhausting but after those three days Bee was recovering slowly in her hospital room.

                “Linda the doctor wants me to walk more before I can go home. I don't want to walk down the hall with this gown on.  How embarrassing with my touchus hanging out!”

                “Bee, you must walk.  They must see you walking.  You need to go home to heal”.

                So, Bee walked, and she went home in just less than a week.

                As spring approached Bee was itching to go back to the islands but this time to have a great time.  She would go to her favorite place - Jamaica!

                She had a whale of a time, but the home that she had been looking to buy on her late grandmother’s lake had slipped away from her fingers. She had not made the bid because she considered the seller greedy. The house had been the perfect place even though it needed renovations. It had a boat and a boat house. Bee renovated everything she bought in any case no matter how elegant it was.  Bee did everything her own way.  No one told this iron warrior how to do things.  She had a mind of her own.  Having never been married and having no children, she was much more than your typical spinster and she was a businesswoman. I had advised her to make the bid and ask for the boat to be part of the deal.  She considered it but hesitated. One cannot hesitate when buying real estate. If you want something you have to pay what the seller wants, otherwise someone else will.

                Next on Bee’s agenda was a cruise out of Amsterdam. The airline managed to lose her wheelchair for the duration of the trip, so she only had her cane on the trip. Upon her return she gleamed.

                “Linda, I did it! I managed with just a cane!”

                Independence was at her doorstep and that is what she wanted. She was determined to do things for herself so that summer she met me at my home. She had a driver drop her off and then she wanted me to drive all over Montreal looking at real estate. She criticized my driving as well as every home that was for sale.  Every home had something wrong with it.

                “Bee you are not a city girl,” I observed.

                “I know, what should I do?”

                “Don't you have a beautiful home in Hawkesbury?”

                “Yes, but it isn't finished,” Bee stated with frustration.

                “What needs to be done?”

                “There is a big, long list and no one is listening to me”.

                I wasn't just her Qi Gong master; we had become friends.

                So, I told her I could contact her contractor and find out what was happening, and I did. But the contractor was not actually the only problem. The materials that Bee had ordered for various renovations were not available yet.

                That afternoon, I drove her to Natalino’s restaurant, a lovely Italian restaurant in Dorval that she had never heard about, and we had an early dinner together. We ate outside on the veranda. She loved the bean soup and the peach Spritzer.  She complained that the arancini was too rich, commenting that they should not put a creamy sauce on a cheese stuffed appetizer.  She ordered a pizza to eat for dinner and then another pizza and some more soup to take home. Her friend, Spiri came to pick her up, and Bee offered dessert, but she was the only one to have dessert.  Tartufo!  How she would have loved to bring one of those home too!

                We continued to practice Qi Gong regularly, but it was becoming obvious that there was a target that Qi Gong was not helping. Bee complained about her hips being so sore, inhibiting her from walking properly and the Qi Gong exercises were not helping any longer because there was no bone left to support the hips. She wanted to consult with the western doctors to see if anything could be done.

                Otherwise, Bee managed to have a decent summer, but she still felt as if she had not found her home and she wanted her independence. 

                The second time that we dined at Natalino’s restaurant she rented a car and drove herself out. I was waiting on the veranda when she pulled up. She didn't want help getting out of the car and promptly took the stairs with her cane. I carried the doughnut for her to sit on. By then her hips were obviously bothering her, but she wanted this day. A day that felt normal, having lunch with her friend.

                When Bee drove away that day, I realized that our dinner at Natalino’s was the peak.  And although we saw each other regularly to practice Qi Gong and meditation on FaceTime, she started talking more and more about a hip replacement because her hips were hurting so much. It didn't sound like a good idea, but I said nothing. It was not my journey.

                As the summer faded, one morning she advised me that she was going to the hospital. Her mind was made-up. It was not suddenly but slowly that Bee could not put effort into her Qi Gong practice.  She failed to use the full force of her Shen to pay attention and to calm her mind and her spirit. She did the breathing and movements with impatience and frustration.

                I tried a different technique. I tried to use the microcosmic orbit and stitch the energy body with memories, how to protect the energy body and access the cosmic energy and lights.  She said she didn’t get it.

                But after Bee went home from the hospital after hip replacement surgery it was a downward slope and Bee slowly gave up and began sleeping a lot. I sent her cards; I sent her meditations. She listened to some and some she did not. She didn't open the cards.

                Bee went back to the hospital after her birthday, and she was there over Christmas. Bob and I had been away to the Dominican Republic so upon our return over the Christmas holidays I went to see her in the hospital and brought her some shells and stones from the beach along with a new amethyst healing bracelet.

                She didn’t waken until her lunch arrived but when she woke up, she smiled when she saw me.  But then she stated, “My legs are shot, Linda.” That was the moment that she really gave up even though she desperately wanted to live because she wanted to live her way; the way she had always lived independently.

                The last time I saw Bee face to face she said she was fine.

                I was frank and told her that she was not.

                “What you think I am lying,” she stated accusingly.

                “No, I am your Qi Gong master, and you can be honest about your feelings with me.”

                That day we had our last Qi Gong practice and although she hoped it would help, inwardly in her heart, she conceded that it was the end and all she wanted was to get out of the residence and go home. 

                Her family hustled to ensure that that could happen.

                I referred her to John, my spiritual Qi Gong master, and told Bee that I didn’t feel that I had the experience to get her to the next step. Yet, one morning, I woke up and told Ruby, my puppy, not to play with her squeaky toys. Strangely, she listened. I recorded a short five-minute explanation on how to stitch the energy body with memories, how to find the energy body, and how to protect the energy body.  To find the energy body, which is above your head and below the feet, side to side, front and back.  These are the six directions. Memories are stitched into the energy body so that when the Shen, the spirit, leaves the earth, you can take those memories along.  Then make a little hole at the Baihui, the crown of the head, and pour cosmic energy and lights into the crown of your head and then seal it.  Then swallow the light all the way down your body from the crown of the head to the crystal palace in the middle of your head just behind the eyebrows.  Bring the light into your mouth and swallow it all at once to the heart and lungs.  Bring the cosmic energy down through your ribs and store it into your lower tan tian. Put your Shen into the energy body. Then you seal the energy body with any kind of material at all.  It can be crystal, iron or gold.

                It was 6:40 a.m. when I taped the message in a meditative fashion, and I told Bee that she can do it.  That she is alive and that it is time for the next journey, the next path.  Then I prayed for blessings from our dear Lord and heavenly Father and to give her peace and tranquility and to keep her. Her sister called later that morning to say that Bee had struggled all night and that, finally, she died peacefully in her home at 8:11 a.m.

                Bee was the inspiration to my writing this book. At one point, while she was living, I thought I lost all my Qi Gong workshops on my computer. Bee was delighted and told me that now I could develop my own style of Qi Gong. Before I met Bee, I had started a Canadian Qi Gong practice with routines inspired by the native animal totem wheel, but I had set it aside as I did not have the confidence that I could create the Qi Gong exercises, nor understand what they were targeting.  Bee thought I could, so I had to try.

[1]    “The Tao is always at ease.  It overcomes without competing, answers without speaking a word, arrives without being summoned, accomplishes without a plan.” Lao-tzu as translated by Stephen Mitchell, A New English Version of Tao Te Ching, HarperPerennial publications 1988, number 73.