I just completed a four-day intensive training in a powerful healing modality called Qi Gong. Something about him was so familiar. Many years earlier, while studying Massage Therapy at the Swedish Institute in New York City, she had received some Qi Gong training sessions. Looking back on that earlier introduction to Qi Gong, all he could remember was how completely tedious and boring he had found these slow and meticulous movements. But he knew that he had studied something similar before this current training.
It’s amazing how selective our memory can be. Many years ago, in the early 1990s, he had suffered a serious back injury. In fact, I was lying on the floor, unable to move due to indescribably painful contractions, for over 4 hours. Very, very, very slowly, I was finally able to maneuver my body so that my back was facing a nearby heater while using one hand to stimulate the reflexology points in the other hand that corresponded to the spine. When I was finally able to sit up and then get up, I headed straight to the local emergency room. As much as I have studied healing modalities and spiritual awareness, I have never been so happy to receive medication in pill form to relax my muscles and relieve pain.
After several weeks of painful physical therapy exercises, the severe back pain had subsided. At that point, I began taking private Pilates lessons on machines that helped me restore strength to my core and move more easily using only the muscles most necessary for particular movements. As I got stronger, I added Pilates floor exercise classes and Bikram yoga classes (heated).
Looking back on my back injury and the subsequent healing process, I have always attributed my healing to those wonderful Pilates lessons and my knowledge and use of Pilates and yoga exercises. I had completely forgotten about a strange and wonderful training program that I had attended for almost a full year, a powerful healing modality that revitalized my body and immune system beyond just curing my back problem.
During the weeks and months of slow recovery from my back injury, while living in Stratford, Connecticut, I still felt tension, pain, and stiffness in my back. One day, I stopped by a healing center called Chun Do Sun Bup. Curious to learn more about this, I entered a different world. I was greeted by an Australian friend, the supervisor, and some male and female instructors wearing white karate outfits. This center had been opened to introduce this powerful Korean Qi healing method in the United States.
Chun Do Sun Bup, which literally means “the heavenly way to regain the body, mind and spirit” is based on a 6000 year old Taoist martial arts training system that was secretly passed down for many generations. Dr. Haeng-Yong Mo and his wife, Gui-Dai Park, revitalized this ancient tradition after studying “The Way of the Taoist Immortals” and attaining extraordinary healing abilities. Today, there are more than 200 non-profit Chun Do Sun Bup Ki energy centers operated by Korean and Western teachers, located in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, South Korea and the United States.
Chun Do Sun Bup treats the mind, body and spirit, using the vital energy that surrounds us, called Ki in Korea, the deeply spiritual belief in connection with our ancestors, Ki Energy Training and Ki Energy Healing (Chunsoo or “Heavenly Hands”). The overriding concept is that we are all born with healing power that can only be accessed when our mind and body are in balance and aligned with nature’s energetic frequency. Realigning our minds and harmonizing our bodies with nature is a long and slow healing process. Nature heals slowly and cannot be rushed, but nature heals better and more thoroughly.
The Chun Do Sun Bup Ki training consists of a series of 100 hour small group classes. The lessons are divided into 12 steps. Each class consists of chanting and breathing exercises to purify the mind and revitalize energy, ki movements to strengthen the body, improve circulation and increase ki energy, and silent meditation to quiet the mind and enhance spiritual awareness. Students learn how to receive, increase, circulate, and retain ki energy.
Ki Energy Training and Healing is believed to be a natural and long-lasting solution to many common health problems. The Ki or vital energy, when circulating freely, eliminates blockages and impurities in our body and mind. Once the blockages are removed, our immune system can take over and complete whatever healing is needed.
An additional component of this powerful healing system is the Ki Ancestor and Family Healing ceremonies. Eastern philosophy attributes some of our current physical, emotional and spiritual problems to energy blockages inherited from our ancestors. These highly ritualized ceremonies of prepared food, movement, meditation, and prayer are designed to heal our ancient blocks and restore the health and well-being of our families and ourselves.
