Healing with Chi Lel Qigong

What follows is an article I wrote a few days after I got home from this workshop. Please keep an open mind as you read it.

I hung along the outer fringes of the group gathering on the front steps and deck of the Community Center. I watched as several mini-reunions took place. As more and more people arrived, many of them recognized friends from previous Chi Lel Qigong workshops. There were a lot of hugs, kisses and happy smiles, many were just beaming at being there again.

All sizes, shapes, ages, and walks of life were represented. There were young people in their twenties, one woman looked to be about eighty, and all ages in between, the majority in their 40s and 50s. Some were obviously well off and some were far from it. The majority were women, but there were several men, many more than I expected to see.

The cancer victims were obvious by the hair loss, their eyes enormous in their faces, partly due to the gaunt thinness, and partly due to having no eyelashes or eyebrows. A day later I would realize that not one of them was a victim; they were all survivors.

The joyous reunions went on as we all waited in the warm October sunshine to register and be assigned a room. In twos and threes we wandered off to check out the lodgings and unpack. Our room was shared by five women. It had one full-size bed and two sets of bunks. I quickly staked my claim on a bottom bunk! My friend Judi chose the one above me.

That first night, Luke Chan, the leader of the workshop, announced that he was changing the plan for the evening because the Chi was so strong we needed to use it, we needed to take advantage of it.

To start with, he 'set up' the Chi field. I had never experienced Chi, but even I knew what he meant.There was a certain indefinable atmosphere. He led us through a meditation to further build up the energy in the room. Within a few minutes I could feel it. I was tingly with it. We pulled the chairs into three concentric circles, healing circles.

Someone would call out a category of illness: arthritis, skin disease, cancer, heart disease, digestive disorders, endocrine disorders, etc. Those who fit that category sat in the center of the innermost circle. The rest of us directed healing energy into the center.

We had to decide what we wanted to work on.With such a large group each of us could go into the center just once. I went in when they called out skin disorders. Just the previous day my doctor had told me the mole on my face was pre-cancerous and she thought the mole on my arm was already cancerous.

Being in the healing circle was a strange experience. I could feel energy flowing around my body like a very elusive, very soft and warm current, leaving me energized and tingly, almost as if my entire body was humming. Directing the energy into the circle was just as rewarding as it was to be inside the circle receiving it. Everyone felt happy, a huge smile filling our faces each time another group was finished. I took part but yet another part of me felt somewhat detached.

I knew we were creating an energy, I could feel it. But to expect it to heal anything-- too much to believe. I'm not the gullible type.

By the time everyone had been in the healing circle, it was close to 10:00 PM. We wandered off to whichever building we were bedding down in, and the campers went to their tents.

I wasn't the only skeptical one. An older couple, probably in their sixties, had come because of the wife's heart disease. But the husband had doubts, afraid it was a scam, worried that it was fraudulent like TV faith healers.

As we had listened to stories of healing, it certainly sounded too good to be true, too far-fetched. And yet, Janet, the young girl whose liver cancer had shrunk 25% since practicing Chi Lel Qigong, was so sincere. Judi said in the spring workshop Janet had been thinner and her hair was just peach fuzz. Now she had a healthy glow, her hair was coming in with a slight curl, and she'd put on weight.

The mattress was hard. I tossed and turned all night. I've had chronic bursitis for more than 25 years. (I lie on one side until that hip gets too painful, then I turn over to sleep on the other side. When that hip hurts too much, sometimes as little as half an hour, I turn to the other side again. I can't sleep on my back because I have a degenerated disk and arthritis in my spine, and lying on my back causes it to lock up. I'm used to a water bed, which causes less pressure on my hips. I'm always miserable when we go away and I have to sleep on a conventional mattress. Even on a good day it's about noon before my body loosens up and I can move without pain. Getting dressed in the mornings is a slow and painful process.)

After breakfast, we broke down the tables and got to work. We went through the first level form, step by step. My definition of Qigong is a combination of stretching, working the joints, visualization, and meditation, all at the same time. One part requires bending down, stretching the fingers to the toes, bending the knees and rotating the hips in a front-to-back circle, then sliding the arms back up the legs and moving the back up into a standing position, one vertabrae at a time. I haven't been able to do anything like that for nearly three years.

That morning, I did it with the greatest of ease! One completely fluid movement, smooth and flowing, no jerking, no muscle spasms. And it was easy. It was pain-free. As I came up that first time and each and every time afterward, I had an enormous smile on my face. I couldn't believe I was able to move that way, I hadn't been able to move my body around like that for years, I hadn't been able to bend at the waist without pain for at least 9 years.

And then I realized, getting out of bed and into my clothes had been remarkably easy that morning.

It wouldn't last. Some part of me knew it must be some sort of group hypnosis or something. How else could I explain the fact that my body was so loose and fluid after doing nothing more than sitting in a so-called healing circle the night before? I was sure later in the day I'd be in agony because of the workout I was inflicting upon my back and hips.

During the afternoon we practiced a standing meditation in which you stand for several minutes with the knees slightly bent. I did it, no problem. But we live in a 3-story townhouse and I'm going up and down flights of stairs all the time. There's a lot of leg muscle even if I am fat.

That evening we did more with the Chi field, and by now I could really feel it. With my hands. Like a warm, delicately gelatinous sphere, something I could shape with my hands. My normally ice-cold hands were warm, andI felt energy flowing through my body and all around it.

On Sunday we did wall squats. Simply described, a wall squat is performed by standing with feet a few inches from a wall, the nose placed on or very close to the wall, and you go down into a squat but the heels of the feet must remain on the floor, then come back up. Some people can't do them without being in a doorway and holding onto the door jamb, others use the back of a chair, some can't do them at all. I did five. They weren't perfect (I couldn't go down all the way) but I was surprised I could do them at all.

I was watching the man whose wife has heart disease.He was glowing with happiness as he went through the routines; he was into it with his whole heart. He was no longer skeptical. Neither was I.

We left Sunday afternoon, drove the 5 hours back to Cleveland. I spent the night on Judi's soft and lumpy couch, got up the next day and drove the 6 hours home to Pennsylvania. I didn't make a pit stop, just drove straight through, no stops.

I opened the door, stepped out and walked! Didn't have to edge my way off the seat, use the door to pull myself up and hobble until my stiff body loosened up. Nope, I just got up out of the car with the greatest of ease and started walking.

For each day since I've done 20 minutes of Chi Lel Qigong when I get out of bed in the morning, and another 20 minutes before bedtime. I'm increasing the number of wall squats each day. I continue to be flexible and energetic, and my family is commenting on how I'm running up and down the stairs instead of slowly pulling myself up along the handrail.

I feel as if I've discovered the secrets of the universe.

Judy Bayliss, Hershey, PA

Updated  05/15/2010