Shaolin Chi Kung with Sifu Joan

Beginning the Shaolin Chi Kung Journey:

Many people ask me how and why did I begin learning Chi Kung and why specifically Shaolin Chi Kung.  So here is the story

How it all Began-Finding the Book:

When I injured my back and neck, my diagnosis was four protruding discs in my upper back and two fused discs in my neck with degeneration down along my spine. The pain was never ending, the same as having two toothaches all the time. I believe that we all go through a cycle in Western medicine with such injuries e.g  GP,  pain killers, anti- inflammatory medication and sometimes a relaxant e.g Valium in my case and then Physiotherapy and  various Consultants. When these are not offering any long term solution we tend to try out some alternative forms of treatment, in my case Osteopathy, Homeopathy, Acupuncture and Yoga as well as Tai Chi and Chi Kung.

My prognosis was that I would never work as a nurse again and I would probably end up in a wheelchair in time.

I had read about the benefits of Chi Kung in many self -help books, but while I enjoyed the local class, I wasn’t improving.

Then one day, while in a book shop, I saw a book jutting off the shelf, when I pulled it out, it had the picture of a man in a Kungfu suit doing a Chi Kung pattern that I was familiar with, Lifting the Sky. It was actually this picture that sold the book to me! Life can be funny that way. The name of the book was Chi Kung for Health and Vitality by Wong Kiew Kit.

How it all Began: Contacting the Author

I can’t say that I read the book straight away! In fact, I had it for about three months before I began reading it. Immediately I could see the difference between what I was practising locally and what the author of the book was talking about. I was very careful not to practice from the book as advised but it had piqued my curiosity, so I emailed the author naively enquiring if he thought the type of Chi Kung he was teaching could help me and also even more naively if I could teach it to help people who suffered from depression as I was a Psychiatric nurse.

The author’s reply came very swiftly admonishing me for wanting to help others before I had learned and practised myself and before I had even helped myself in overcoming my own problem. But he did offer hope saying that he had helped many people overcome back problems.

It was the author’s plain speaking and honesty that really made me decide to learn from him. There was a truth in what he said that resonated deeply within me and I made up my mind to go and learn from him as soon as I could manage it.

How it all began: The Preparation: (to be continued)