My name is Barbro and I was born 57 years ago. I am not quite sure about my age since I have become at least ten years younger during the five years that I have practised Zhineng Qigong. The reason why I started practising Zhineng Qigong is that I read an article in The Stockholm Asthma – Allergy Association magazine in 1997, in which they were asking for asthmatics who would be interested in joining a research project. The intention with the project was to find out whether Qigong could be effective against asthma and allergy. It turned out to be very effective. Many people as well as myself reduced their use of medicine. Nowadays I only use one medicine and the emergency medicine I seldom use. I used to find walking in staircases very difficult, but now they do not cause me any trouble. My hay fever is slighter and I am now able to stand furry animals again. Nowadays I can even take the smell of horses, but it was very difficult a few years ago.
Zhineng Qigong not only improved my allergy but it also took care of my problems due to a whiplash injury which was brought on by a traffic accident in 1991 and made worse by a fall accident four years later. At first, as my pain was reduced, I started to sleep better at night. Nowadays I do not take any painkillers. My pain is not gone, but I have learned how to reduce it with Zhineng Qigong and relaxation. I have become more conscious of my body and its signs. I have had poor twilight vision for as long as I can remember, but already after a couple of weeks of training I could see much better and I did not notice that it was the darkest November in a very long time. My total vision has also improved. When I had practised for more than six months I was talked into joining a nine day Summer Course in Bohuslän, and I am very grateful for that. Already after a couple of days my sense of balance had improved so that I could walk without my cane outdoors on level ground. I could also manage to walk up slopes without getting any fit of my asthma. By each day of training I became younger and more flexible. My husband found himself having a much younger wife than the one he had waived bye–bye to nine days earlier. This accident had also caused me great memory– and concentration problems, something that had made my work as an economist difficult. I was only able to remember two or three digits at a time, but on the first day at work after the Summer Course, I found myself writing down a seven-digit phone number in a row, and without any mistake! It then became much easier for me to work. After that I have joined four 18-day Summer Courses and I feel better all the time.
While on an excursion to Fjällbacka we were to walk up this staircase that I have made a drawing of. The first time I had to rest halfway up and take my asthma medicine, but the year after I managed the whole flight of stairs without any rest and with no extra medicine. The picture of the staircase is also a symbolic image of my way back to life and all the progress I have made – and continue to do. I also used to have great problems with loud noise, which gave me headaches, and this problem is nearly gone as well. My fear of dentists has disappeared, which made both my dentist and me very happy and surprised. I am much more resilient to stress, I find it much easier to manage problems and difficulties and I have learned not to waste my energy needlessly.
It is not just me who benefit from my training but my family and those around me are also affected in a positive way. I am very happy and grateful for having found Zhineng Qigong. I practise every day in order to get even better, because this is a training art for body, mind and vital energy.
Barbro Forsberg
December 2002
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