I had just retired and was feeling a bit blue when I read about the Qigong course in Helsinki in a brochure. I needed a lift in my life and felt really curious. I was also tired of the pain in my arm, which I had injured earlier that year. I had slipped in a skating rink. Several tendons in my arm were loosened and some nerves got pinched. I couldn’t lift my arm and I was waiting for surgery, but the surgeon wanted to wait and see if the condition of my arm would improve. I didn’t want to have surgery, but I didn’t want the pain medication either.
The reason for me taking up Zhineng Qigong was a combination of the pain in my arm and my recurring depressions. My life was as good as anyone could ever wish for with a wonderful husband and beautiful children and grandchildren. Still the depressions kept coming. I felt that as a senior citizen, I should know how to live, be happy and content.
I attended my first course in September. The night of the first course day, I had a dream that solved a puzzle from my early childhood. That dream made it possible for me to forgive and accept what happened. I attended my second course in November. My arm hurt terribly. I had reduced my medication and had decided to try to manage without it. The pain also affected my mood. I was irritated and felt very bad. After the course I took up practicing in spite of the pain. I started going to the practicing group on Mondays. There I feel so calm and comfortable. I can be myself. I really don’t know when my arm healed, I just noticed one day that I could lift it.
My blood pressure has been a problem for a long time. Around the time for the second course towards the end of the year, I had my yearly check-up. I February, when I called the doctor, he explained that my blood pressure was no longer an issue. My blood sugar, on the other hand, was worrying. I was given diet counseling by a nurse specialized in diabetes and I had new blood samples taken a month later. When the results came in she couldn’t believe how much they had improved compared to the results in December. My blood sugar was completely normal. We could completely forget about the whole diabetes issue. She thought that I had been such a good patient for following her counseling so well. The truth of the matter was that I hadn’t changed my habits at all. When we talked through her suggestions I had felt that I already lived a healthier life than what she suggested. The only major change in my life was that I had practiced Zhineng Qigong on a regular basis since the first blood samples had been taken.
Even though I’ve had these good physical results, I still feel that the mental effect is the most important one. I’m not afraid to listen to myself and be true to my own personality. We all play our roles and they can be difficult to break free from. One of my roles is to be really sociable, which can be tedious when you’re depressed. That role has been so inherent to my person that I hadn’t even thought about it before I started practicing Zhineng Qigong. Life quality is to feel well and to be honest to both yourself and others. In Zhineng Qigong, I don’t have to play my usual role; I can be as dull as I want. Qigong is something you practice for your own sake and not to please others.
Anita Hallberg