A Friends Recommendation
My biggest hobby is to dance: tango, jitterbug, foxtrot, lindy hop and so on. A friend who also dances recommended me to practise Zhineng Qigong. I tried this training form because of my friend’s warm recommendation. I became curious. I have tried many different training forms for mindfulness such as yoga, tai-chi and meditation. All had their advantages but no one really got my full attention.
I participated on my first Zhineng Qigong weekend course in 2007. I didn´t have any big expectations on what to expect from the course. I was surprised that the training was quite tough, despite the soft and easy movements. Somehow I wanted to find out why that could be. After the weekend course I participated in the weekly training class. To practise made me temporarily calm but I didn´t get any revolutionary effects.
The Summer Course
I attended my first summer course in 2010. I realized there is higher potential in the training then I had understood previously. The course made things go into a new direction. During the following months my body became softer and more flexible and mentally I became calmer and more solid. Among other things I didn’t get annoyed by small incidents. A greater calm also gives a better comprehensive view and it was easier to focus on the right things.
During the summer course of 2011 we learned the second step of Zhineng Qigong. It’s an exercise that proved to be good for dancing. I have increased my body awareness and the ability to feel details in my body’s movements. It has made it easier for me to understand and to perform the movements when I dance. Furthermore I can dance for longer periods of time because less energy is wasted with a better posture. As an extra bonus I seldom get pain in my feet after a night at the dance floor, which used to be more of a rule than an exception.
Mattias Adomat