Our second Autumn Course in Finland after the pandemic was also held outside Pargas, in Pjukala. The same building where we started in 2007 with the Autumn Course in Finland. The autumn course is a 4-day boarding course open to those who have taken a basic course in Hold Qi Up. We mainly practice the exercises we learned on that course.
Many participants come every autumn and do not want to be without the community and the replenishment of Qi for the winter that the course entails. The atmosphere was good and the feedback in an anonymous survey after the course was very positive.
The course ended with a circle discussion where several people talked about how grateful they were for the course and the good atmosphere. Several shared their results of the course, both physical and mental.
This time, we choose to only share excerpts from one story:
“Thank you for the autumn course. It was difficult in the circle on Sunday. It felt wrong to talk about small results during the autumn course, when I have had such huge results in recent years. There was so much I wanted to tell and share that I got blocked.
It’s so nice to be on a course when all reactions are physical pain, not mental pain.
It’s been a bit of a tough autumn. But not at all in the same measure as before. Felt lonely and outside of society and a little lost where my place is. During the autumn course, there were several occasions when I felt happy again. It was the best results I could get during the course. To feel happiness. I also got some kind of insight and direction what in my everyday life makes me good and what doesn’t and in which direction I should really go. It was a good result.
Physically, I felt that qi was working on my migraine. I also got sensations in old and newer injuries in my body that seemed to be healed. I got pain here and there in the body. Nothing that I really paid more attention to. I did not have a single tic symptom during the course. The first day I was very stiff in my shoulders and chest. Already on the second day, that stiffness was gone. I have problems with my left shoulder. During the course it was painless at times and the mobility was much better than it usually is.
Qigong helped me. It saved me. Qigong helped me to help myself and save myself and finally find my way home to myself. During the whole process I had a calm and strength in my mind, which I now afterwards assume and realize comes a lot from Qigong and Qigong thinking.
My everyday life and well-being are good these days. Most of the time I have an inner smile, probably also an outer smile. It simply feels good to be alive. Nice to be part of small nice moments, which many people don’t even notice; For example, being with my cats, seeing the beautiful colors of the autumn leaves, just being able to breathe without having anxiety. Sure, I still have difficult moments and periods, but not at all like before and I know that I can handle the hard things, that it is only temporary.
I can say a few words about my neck. Got an injury in my neck/cervical vertebrae and had surgery there several times. It was quite a big operation. At the last one there was a 50/50 chance if it would even give me help. It was said that it is probably very likely that I will have chronic nerve pain for life, my neck will remain stiff etc. Now, in 2024, I don’t have any nerve pain at all. My physiotherapist is surprised that I have been rehabilitated as well as I have. My neck is in far better condition than expected. I think regular Qigong training plays a big part in the happy ending of this whole neck episode.”