Lars and Ulrika had each participated on their own in a nine days summer course before they both decided to list themselves together with their children for the summer course 2007. This is their story:
Lars: I started to practise Zhineng Qigong three years ago on a weekend course with the assumption that I was in a good shape, but with some improvements needed. I have practiced Wing Chun, i.e. KungFu – a Chinese martial art. Wing Chun has given me a certain feeling and understanding of Qi. But I felt I wanted to understand more about qi rather than learning to fight.
So I continued to practice and I got good results very fast. The results that one can obtain depend on your willingness to practise. After a few months Ulrika began to see the effects of my training.
Ulrika: Yes, I was tired all over – not burned out but nearly. Everything felt heavy and dull. Finally Lars said “Now you must come with me to a weekend course”. So I did, but I thought it is possible that it is working on everybody else but it probably will not work on me. It won’t have any effect on me, no, no.
But the week before I had pain in my foot in a somewhat peculiar way. I didn’t know how to get rid of it. And I didn’t know the reason for it either, but after the first weekend course it was all gone so there was something in it. Afterwards I quickly noticed that I generally felt much better. I got more alert, happier and friendlier. Later I got significant improvements in my sight. When I started to practise my astigmatic sight got worse. It was very dim for a while so I was forced to visit a doctor to understand what was going on. The doctor said: “you have got severe astigmatic sight, you must do something about it”. So I visited the optician and got lenses for one of my eyes, because the other eye was quite ok. I tested the lenses but I didn’t think they gave me any help. The sight changed from day to day. After a month I went back to the optician for a check but without corrective lense in my eye. When I looked at the sheet whith all letters, I saw everything perfectly. The optician didn’t understand anything, she didn’t believe it was true and that was cool. Since then sight has varied up and down a little bit but now it has been ok for just more than a year.
Lars: I also got very good results in my eyes too, I am short sighted. After half a year my sight had improved by 1.5 dioptries. It was the same optician so she said ” that qigong thing might be something good”. During a period I neglected to practice regularily for four months and my sight declined by 0.75 dioptries. But it still was a great improvement compared to where I started.
When I started to practice I was very stiff and worn out so to say. But I have become softer. Especially the shoulders were like concrete. I am still not completely soft there but the difference is enormous compared to when I started and my back has straightened.
My first summer course was an interesting experience. I woke up at night when the bones in my toes started to straighten, which caused a lot of pain. I had no idea that such a thing even was possible before I experienced it myself. It was only to cry and receive.
To practice together instead of practicing alone can’t be compared, it is more than twice as good.
Ulrika: And we inspire each other to practice. If one of us starts, the other will come. If he stands there to practice, I must also come. So, it is actually very efficient.
Lars: This summer course we have brought our two children, seven and nine years old. They have tested at home. We have never said that they must participate or pushed them in any direction. They want to do it all by themselves. That is also the level we have set for their participation here. We like them to be somewhat alert when the movements are taught to create a picture of them in their memory. And La Qi (pulling qi) is a great training, they have to cope with it. Emilia has also practiced some arm training.
Ulrika: The other day she said, now I won’t do any more because I can’t take down my arms if I become tired. To some extent she competes towards herself. Our children are probably calm, generally spoken. And they can handle their presence here quite well. I thought they would be bored, but that is not the case.
Lars: Probably it is pretty nice to be in the Qi-filed.
Ulrika: And sometimes they are looking in some paper or reading a book or something, so they are not completely unoccupied.
Lars: But they are somewhat used to it as we leave the door open at home when we practise. They can well join us or just sit and look at us. But when they are near they must show us respect and not shout or tumble around. When we practise, we practise.
Ulrika: I remember one night when the smallest girl lay in bed thinking about something, unable to go to sleep. She actually asked us to put on one of our qigong CD records. Earlier we had the routine to make a Hold Qi Up immediately after they had gone to bed. So evidently it makes them feel calm.
Lars: Maybe we should take that routine up again in the future. Although now they can join us – in quite a new way.
Ulrika Johansson & Lars Nohrstedt
daughters Emilia & Maja