Hjälmareds Folkhögskola outside Alingsås also received us this year for our 9-day Summer Course, the second after our pandemic break. In the nice weather, the school showed its best side and several participants took the opportunity to swim in the lake during our longer breaks.
We were close to 130 people this year, more than last summer. The days went by quickly, filled with teaching from our teacher Dong-Yue Su, professional training, and a lot of rewarding meetings with old and new friends. In the middle of the course, we took half a day off. In the evening, several of the participants invited the rest of us to a lovely cabaret with many laughs and smiles. As Dong-Yue Su said afterwards, for many of us we may have laughed more at the cabaret than we do during the rest of the year. The joy and harmony that our strong qi-field offers is a very important part of our courses.
Our Qi-comb course we had one evening was very much appreciated. Most of the participants use their Qi-comb daily in everyday life. Many were also happy about the news that we will offer a step two course this autumn, October 3-6 in Stockholm. Then everyone who has attended the Summer Course with us can have the chance to learn the exercise Xing Shen Zhuang.
As usual, there were many who got good results from the course, both physically and mentally. Read the following from the circle discussions and the anonymous survey:
Complicated bone fracture
“My first summer course, but I have practiced qigong for 2 years. The main problem is that I have an injury to my right arm with a very complicated bone fracture. My right shoulder hurts and on my left side. One day it loosened up and I got more movement in my shoulders than I have had for the last 20 years.”
The best holiday in my life
“It’s my first summer course and my first course at all. I jumped on out of pure curiosity just because I was interested in trying something new. I think it was the best holiday of my life. It has been so interesting and difficult at the same time. A very, very big and experience. I don’t have pain in my shoulder anymore, where I’ve had pain for year, and it’s amazing.”
Calm and quiet
“Right now I feel very calm. I feel very calm otherwise too and it’s so nice, it’s a relief to feel calm. It’s so nice to hear this silence, I love the silence. I’m very grateful for my big family that I’ve been in that I can just be with, and just be me.”
Feel better
“This is my first summer course. I started with Qigong just to feel better and get more energy, which I think I have got. Here on the course, I have learned new techniques and methods and got into these movements, as well as understood how to make them better. I’ve had problems with my right shoulder and during the evening training yesterday it felt like something was happening there. I haven’t really had time to evaluate the result yet, but I think my shoulder is better and hopefully it will be completely fine.”
Qi-Comb
“I will start combing, I get a lot of energy from it. I also know that you can feel the hair roots. I experienced that when I got chemotherapy and lost all my hair one night, I woke up in the middle of the night and felt like someone pulled my hair. I felt like every little strand just came loose. So I know that combing will work really well on me.”
Reduced depression
“I was really scared to come here, but very happy that I did. The first two days were tough, but then it got easier. I have been able to sit and talk and have had really nice conversations. My depression has been reduced by 75% during the course. I become softer towards myself and others.”
Stable
“We have had a great course. I felt very happy, stable and calm even though my whole world is about to end and be born into something new. It’s quite chaotic at home right now. But I feel like I’ve never been happier.”
Brain tumour
“I started practising 20 years ago when my sister and I went with our father to a Qigong course. He had developed a brain tumour. Qigong helped him through the whole period of illness, even though he died, Qigong relieved a lot. He did not take any painkillers for the entire period until he died. Qigong helped our whole family to keep calm during the period of illness. Even though we lost our father, we did not lose Qigong. I have very much use of it in different contexts and will never stop. On this course, I have become 2 cm taller, that is the most clear result that I know now. Thank you for all the nice conversations and nice people and wish you all the best with training and life until next summer.”
My first Summer Course
“It is my first summer course. It was a teacher who recommended me to take this Qigong course. The course exceeded my expectations.”
Tumour in pelvis
“Three years ago, I got a tumour, not malignant, in my pelvis that pressed on the sciatic nerve. I therefore needed to take very strong painkillers. I had surgery for the tumour, but 6 months later the tumour returned. I haven’t been able to exercise so much because of the pain and the tumour. This summer course has helped me a lot. I can now do the whole Hold Qi Up again and squats. Feels good to be back on the track. I will come to the winter course.”
Blessing
“It has been a good course. It is a blessing to come here, to spend time with all the people here.”
Back problems
“Thank you to all the nice people here that I have received good advice from. I have also become softer and can bend down. I had problems with my back last winter. I couldn’t exercise or bend down, but now I almost reach the floor again. And I haven’t had a headache. I usually have every summer, every morning, when I wake up. Now I don’t. I’ve also become calmer and not so angry. Thank you all for a great course.”
Rheumatic disease
“Six, seven years ago, I got an artitis disease, a form of rheumatic disease that is indefinable, which has been very heavy. I’ve been pretty bad and had a lot of pain. This course, I have had no pain at all. I haven’t taken any painkillers. I have also had a misalignment that has been very troublesome. It has hurt a lot in my entire right side. It has been very hard and painful, and I have been thinking about how to deal with it. It’s very hard to feel like I’m not walking correctly, and it hurts a lot almost all day long. It has actually been corrected now. I have not had pain there and it is as if the body has corrected itself during this summer course. It feels great.”
Gas station
“For me, it’s so nice to know that I can go here. I realize that I have used this as a gas station. I am a much better person with Qigong. Above all, I have noticed that I am much better at work. If I just relax, I’m super sharp. It’s fun to finally feel that when you’re older. Thank you so much for a good course. So nice to be here.”
Community and love
“It’s so nice to hear everyone’s stories. A lot of things you recognize in yourself and other things you just want to give a hug to or say that I understand you or I’m so happy to hear that you’ve grown. This community we have here and that love, it’s absolutely fantastic, and I’m very, very grateful to have it.”
Brain fatigue
“When I started training, I was in a lot of pain. I had a lot of pain in my back and I had a very severe brain fatigue since a viral infection when I was young. This brain fatigue started to go away 1.5 years ago at a winter course and it has got better and better. On the course this year, I have not felt anything. There is not a trace left of the brain fatigue. Nothing, ever, at any time during these nine days has there been any hint of that the thought not going through, that the brain is not working, that I must adapt because it does not work, my brain does not work.”
Depression
“I am very, very happy with the course again. During the year I have gained so much energy and I am stronger and do not have so much anxiety. I used to have depression every June. This year I haven’t had depression in June or anywhere. And my head works much better. Impulsive thoughts have almost stopped. I am so grateful for all of us and for life. Thanks.”
Fantastic people
“It has been a fantastic course. I often think when we stand here, I am very touched by the group of fantastic people who come here and stand here and do arm training and train over and over again. I love practising Qigong, because it happens so much. And I like to practise at home too and go to courses where I can, now that it’s up and running again. I go to Bollnäs sometimes and now I’m thinking about going to Trondheim. It gets easier and easier every year and every course you take. And it’s also amazing how it opens up. That it can become even softer, open up more. I feel it opening up more in my hip and my knees are lubricated. It’s such an exciting process all the time.”
Full-service for the body
“Great to be here. The summer course is like a full-service for the body.”
Best thing that has happened during the year
“This is the best thing that has happened during the year. It has been a great course. I will also share my good experiences of participating in the 18-day online course before the summer course.”
Strong force
“I feel a strong force during La Qi. Like a gracious force that helps me, gently corrects me from the inside. When I let it. I let go – more and more. And when I do that – great things happen.”
Goitre
“I have practised since 2001. At that time I had goitre. After five years of practising Qigong, all the tests that the doctors took showed normal results. I had so much antibodies that I exceeded the scale of measurement. The doctor said I wouldn’t get better, but it did. It’s a chronic and deadly disease without treatment so I think my result was good.”
Sinusitis
“I had sinusitis for three weeks before the course. On the first lecture it started to crackle on one side and later on my other side. I’m very much softer. The corrections have been very gentle.”
More harmonious and calm course
“I was in Nossebro 2011 and 2012. I believe this course was more harmonious and calmer.”
What more can one wish for
“I joined my first summer course twenty years ago, I had just been diagnosed with rheumatism. The training has been my lifebuoy during all these years. It has helped me a lot. I have recovered physically and the last years mostly mentally. This course has been like a summer camp. I have been swimming, playing, sitting under the birch trees eating food. So cozy and lovely. I thought this might be paradise, what more can one wish for? I feel a softness inside and I have many people around me that I can talk to, I get nice food, and I feel welcome everywhere. How many places on earth are there that’s similar to this?”
Take control
“One of the first days, Mr Su said it’s you who decide if you want to accept the qi or not. It was a way for me to take control over myself. It’s me that allow things to happen in myself. It felt like my whole body opened up. I don’t think I have had a resistance, but this was something else. After that experience the training has been so easy. The training was painful sometimes, but I had no resistance, all from a couple of words. Probably he has said it many times but I haven’t heard it. The course has been calm and full of fantastic people. I get a lot of energy from what happens between the training sessions.”
Stiff body
“This is my fifth summer course. When I started to practise my body was very stiff. It’s much better. When you are stiff it’s not easy to relax. On this course I have been able to relax very much better.”
Fantastic
“The course, environment and the people have been fantastic.”
Rheumatism
“I started when I was diagnosed with rheumatism. I believe it’s ten years ago. I’m softer, I can control my disease with the training. This year I feel softer and healthier after nine days. It’s working on mental things too, which is harder to describe. Sometimes the mind is out and about, sometimes I’m calm. After covid I have been clogged in my nose. People asked me if I got a cold, but I haven’t had a cold. After two days of training I felt how much air I could get, it became better and better. It’s a great result.”
Qi
“I’m so glad for this summer course, with great people and all the qi.”
Rheumatism
“I have rheumatism, with strange pains. This helps me. And I have less pain.”
Best course
“This is my 4th summer-course. This has been the best course, with the best place, strongest qi, great people, and with a Qigong-cat.”
Thankful
“During the summer-course I could feel the joy and happiness again. I’m so thankful for this course.”
Calm and centered
“The course gave me a calm. I was centered and felt so calm inside. It has been great. I’m so thankful for the calm and the feeling of being centered. Thank you.”
Teacher:
Dong-Yue Su