It’s been one and a half years now since I started Zhineng Qigong. When I first started practicing my biggest problem was migraines and headaches. At that time I had migraines around 10 times per month and during the rest of the days I had ordinary headaches. I also suffered a lot from pains in my lower back, tense shoulders and an aching neck. During the summer of 2011 I joined the Summer Courses (course one and course two) and after that I had migraines about 5 times per month. It felt like my pain problems were halved after the summer courses.
Migraines under control after the Winter Course 2012
In February of 2012 I joined the Winter Course. I had a couple of migraine free days during the Winter Course, just like I had during the Summer Courses. This was really enjoyable since I had been unable to exercise during many years due to my migraines. During the course I was advised to practice one specific qigong exercise – dunqiang – in case I should get a migraine attack, and I decided to try that out as soon as I got back home. But, I got the first chance to test it already on my way home on the boat in a shaky cabin. After a long, laborious and sweaty morning session I still felt some headaches and out of old habit took some migraine medication. Suddenly the pains were gone. Since it usually takes quite a while for migraine medication to start working I understood what kind of power dunqiang has in it and decided to start using it as a method.
The real test at home
During the first week after the Winter Course I was able to stop several migraine attacks using only this simple exercise. It’s a big thing for a pills consumer of my measures to be able to leave the drugs on the shelf when the migraines hit. But the real test for my head came after about two weeks when I only got to sleep for about 5 hours. Usually nights with that kind of sleep would immediately trigger a marathon size migraine attack. But this time the migraines just weren’t there. In the early morning I walked around on strange legs, I felt dizzy, couldn’t understand that this was me, that this was real, that the migraines didn’t hit me. I laughed and cried when I finally realized that it wouldn’t come. I felt euphoria over my recovery, happiness and gratefulness over the healthy life I had in front of me, sadness over what had been etc. etc.
This had never happened before in my life. My sleep had always been controlled by my migraines. I always had to sleep for 9 hours to avoid being knocked out. And now I was standing on steady and strong legs.
Feel better than ever
Around three weeks have passed since the Winter Course and I have never in my entire life felt this good when it comes to migraines. I’ve had no migraines or headaches during this period. Ever since my teens when my hormones started harassing my body migraines have crippled me once a month. That there is a biological component to my migraines became clear to me when I was pregnant with my son as I didn’t have any migraines during that period.
The Winter Course reached that biological level since I haven’t even had migraines during menstruation. I’ve also felt that seven to eight hours of sleep is enough, since I’ve had no migraines and have felt happy and alert during the days.
Other improvements
I feel that I have some sort of new strength in my arms and legs and my body feels light. The only pain I have left is a little neck pain. I have no pains in my shoulders or back, not even when I twist and turn my back. Getting up in the mornings feels easy compared to before. I also feel that some sort of tired, sad or depressed state has disappeared. My eyeglasses have +4 and that means that I shouldn’t even be able to read traffic signs. After the summer courses I got a change in my eyes. The improvement meant I didn’t have to use my glasses all the time. After the Winter Course I noticed that I outdoors in the sunshine was able to read bus tickets and newspapers, a clear improvement. A funny thing is that my singing voice has improved a little.
“A new brain and a new heart”
My observant seven years old son that listened in carefully when we discussed my fantastic transformation at home summarized it like this: “mommy got a new brain and a new heart!”
Åsa Slotte
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