I have generally been healthy in my life; I have both done gymnastics, been swimming and skiing for recreation. In spite of this I started to get back problems at an early stage and my posture was bad. I looked like an s. After I had my second child in my thirties, I got severe varicose veins. I had trouble sitting and standing still and I had a constant feeling of heaviness in the legs. I underwent several surgeries in the 1980s, and a doctor who operated on me said he had never seen such a severe case. I was totally dependent on the support of socks, they became my second skin. When I turned fifty, I quit gymnastics due to a troublesome knee and that it did not feel good in the breasts and genitals.
The pain and incontinence disappeared
In September 1995, I saw an ad in Göteborgsposten about Zhineng Qigong and signed up directly. I immediately felt that it was good for me, a bit like anti gymnastics and different than the gymnastics I had been doing. In early June 1997 I joined a weekend course. It was incredibly hot and uncomfortable to have the socks on. Second day I pulled them off and noticed that it was okay! Before that I could not even get out of bed without having them on and now I could suddenly stand 50 minutes and practise without them! The same year, I did my first summer course. The pain in my legs almost completely disappeared and my feet, where I have bunion, the big toe leans toward the second toe, became better and my posture improved significantly. I also used to suffer from mild incontinence, a common female problem, but it has disappeared completely. Very nice!
Shoulders healed
During the same period one of my shoulders was also dislocated after a fall. After it had come back in place, I could not lift my arm more than fifteen degrees. Three months of physical therapy did not make the shoulder better. I decided to try with qigong. Two months later, when I had gone to many weekend courses and each week participated in weekly training sessions, I was able to lift my arm. A few years later the same thing happened with the second axis and it healed just like the first with the help of qigong.
The job took over
I worked several years as a masseuse for different companies and got good results after I had done a Tuina course organized by European Zhineng Qigong. It brought my work as a masseur on a new dimension. I actively practised qigong and often got comments of my clients when I had been on a weekend course. They said they felt the difference in my way of massaging after I attended a course.
For various reasons I stopped practising qigong and started working too much. Some weeks, I could have up to 40 massage sessions. I pushed my body and in November 2007, my right foot caved in. Both my feet were inflamed and a doctor found that the inside of the right ankle was so fragile that it could break if I were to put load on it. He said there was a risk that the whole foot would collapse. Physiotherapy just made the foot worse, it felt as though one leg was loose in the ankle and prevent it from being bent. I had pain and difficulty walking.
Something happened in my head
After ten years of break from qigong, I started practising qigong again 2008. The summer of 2011 I joined a summer course again and then my feet was virtually fine. I also noticed that something was happening in my head. I had fallen off a horse in 2009 and landed on the back and head, a decent blow. After that I continued to get improvements, both in my posture and in my feet, which have begun to straighten out despite the bunion.
Blood pressure went down
A few months ago I had various symptoms, including tingling and numbness in the left arm and leg, which led to me being admitted to hospital for examinations. They found no blood clot, but found that I had TIA, a warning of a blood clot in the brain. I was prescribed several medications that I’d rather not taken. A few weeks later I got the same symptoms and then I was told to take the same medicine again. I did not want any more medicine in the hospital so I did the qigong exercise la qi in half hour and then the blood pressure significantly decreased. Just two weeks later my blood values was good and I know it was because I practised qigong.
I feel how the circulation in my body will start already during relaxation.
Today, I would never stop practising qigong, it is my medicine and it is the one thing that keeps me sane. Qigong has no side effects.
Gittan Eriksson