About Walking Qigong
Walking Qigong, as the new Qigong style, has been first
introduced to the Chinese community sometimes in the early 70s. The first
developer of this practice was female Qigong master Guo Lin. Since then, the number of practitioners
slowly grew, and it became one of the first styles to be officially practiced by
the large groups throughout China. It
was also one of the first styles of Qigong, which became a subject of the
scientific research. Following the thorough investigation, the final report
presented the high therapeutic value of this practice.
Unlike many other schools, Walking Qigong was intended to
help the group of very desperate cancer patients, who have lost all hope for
recovery through the traditional medical procedures, and were looking for the
special exercises to ease the severe symptoms. Encouraged by the initial positive
results, they continued their practice until the partial recovery, or, in some
cases, for their own surprise, for the complete disappearance of their
disease.
Word of mouth and newspaper reports made more people
aware of the positive results Walking Qigong brings, thus attracting more
cancer patients to learn this amazing technique. Additional scientific studies confirmed the amazing
unexplainable positive results, and not only for cancer, but also for many
other diseases as well.
Medical magazines, books, popular magazines, radio and TV
programs did all the rest. In less than
ten years, it became one of the most established Qigong styles with several
million practitioners. At one time,
there was a TV program in China, completely dedicated to Walking Qigong, where
they not only introduced its benefits, but also taught the audience how to
practice it at home. The program ran for
months and has been repeated several times.
The response was overwhelming.
Faced with the growing number of cancer cases, that had
improved after practicing Walking Qigong, many doctors realized there is
something in it and it changed their attitude. The next thing that happened was
the opening of the Walking Qigong hospital in one of the northern suburbs of
Beijing in the late 80's. The idea of
having a central place where a combination of Walking Qigong, traditional
Chinese medicine and western medicine could be administered, using Walking
Qigong as the main method of treatment, became very popular. The patients would be hospitalized the same
as any other "normal" hospital.
They would be regularly examined, their progress monitored and they
would accept all other necessary forms of treatment, including Chinese herbs
and western drugs.
Walking Qigong's founder never suggested avoiding other
forms of treatment, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. On the contrary, for the best results she
suggested strongly using everything there is to slow down a disease or speed up
recovery. Even so, many patients, for
all kinds of reasons, only relied on Walking Qigong and had excellent results
too. Many of them, in the process of
treating cancer, got rid of other ailments such as asthma, migraine, ulcers,
sight problems, or had their negative side effects caused by western medical
treatments subside or completely disappear.
Master Guo Lin - The
Founder of Walking Qigong
Master Guo Lin, born in 1909, was not only one of the
most famous female Qigong masters of the 20th century but also a famous painter
who specialized in traditional Chinese paintings. From the early age of eight, she followed her
Taoist monk grandfather's teachings by learning Qigong from him, which gave her
a solid Qigong foundation. Later on, she
travelled across China and studied from many famous masters of Qigong before
the World War II. In 1949, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She followed traditional medical treatments
by having a hysterectomy, undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. Even though
Guo Lin medical conditions have stabilized, she had realized the traditional
medicine has its own limitations.
After her last surgery, which involved removing part of
her bladder, she decided to adopt the standard Qigong practice, she was
practicing all these years, to faster recovery.
Using the huge experience and personal intuition, inspired for the
potential benefits for her own health, she gradually developed a Qigong style
to effectively combat cancer. She called
it "The New Qigong" and after she died (of natural causes, many years
later), it became known as "Guo Lin Qigong" or, because the main part
of the practice consists of walking, it is also known as Walking Qigong.
Firstly, she adopted so-called "breathing like the
wind" technique, for Qigong practice. Known for hundreds of years, it was
always considered as very questionable and potentially dangerous for human body. Guo Lin has practically confirmed that while
the technique might be damaging for the average healthy person, it might be
most for the cancer patient.
Secondly, when developing her Qigong, she introduced the
concept of focusing the mind on things outside the body rather than within the
body, the approach, commonly used with most other Qigong styles.
Thirdly, she tailor made the style to suit each person's
needs and condition. For example, the
movements for men differ from those of women.
People with strong as opposed to weak constitutions, people with high
blood pressure as opposed to low blood pressure would all practice slightly
different movements.
It took her ten years to create the style, whilst getting
rid of her cancer in the meantime. After
her tests showed the all clear, she decided to help other people with similar
problems. From the early seventies, she
started teaching people in the many parks of Beijing. When her little group's results proved to be favorable,
the number of new students grew.
Cultural Revolution put the end to this and other
techniques’ development, and only after the rehabilitation, Guo Lin has restarted
her efforts to popularize her cancer fighting exercises with the general
public. Guo Lin became one of the most famous Qigong masters.
Many foreigners came to China to learn the technique. Among them, a Ph. D. of Physics from Texas'
Cancer Research Institute who combined his institute's findings with Guo Lin's
experience into a document that was later published, stating that:
1. Cancer cells lack oxygen; therefore, many normal
functions are negatively affected, causing uncontrolled cells growth. Based on this assumption, supplying a lot of
oxygen to the affected body components, the cancer cells growth can be stopped
and they can be eventually destroyed. Practicing Walking Qigong involves special
breathing techniques, where huge quantities of oxygen are inhaled, supporting scientific
predisposition for success in treating the cancer.
2. Our emotional state ultimately affects the
physiological functions of our organs and systems. A lot of studies have supported the notion,
that many cancer patients survived trauma prior the disease discovery, or are
prone to depression, anxiety, worries, pessimism, had been mistreated or were
subject of the stressful life events. As the emotional state of cancer patient
changes to better, the cancer growth may slow down. Walking Qigong promotes calmness, spiritual wholeness,
relaxation, and other emotional benefits, which have their part in fighting the
cancer.
3. The bio-electromagnetic field of cancer tissue is substantially
different from the normal body tissue; the bio-voltage of cancer cells is much
lower than that of normal body tissue.
For example, with liver cancer, the bio-voltage of the cancer part of
the liver is negatively charged, similarly to the negative pole of a battery. As
the Chi energy, among other things, consists of an electromagnetic field, by
practicing Walking Qigong, you are able to enhance your bio-electromagnetic
balance.
4. Group practice is the best way to arouse interest and
bring good cheer. Interest helps one concentrate on doing the qigong exercises,
and cheerfulness produces a beneficial effect on the organism. As the first
step in curing cancer, Guo Lin had the patients come together as a group and
swear an oath to resist cancer, for increasing their fighting spirit. Willpower
was applied as a healing technique. In a large group of patients (Guo Lin's
cancer therapy groups usually consisted of seventy people), there would be one
or two of a more sensitive disposition, achieving the beneficial effects of qigong
earlier than the others. As soon as one or two patients had shown good results,
the rest of the patients would be encouraged to have greater confidence, and as
we know, a positive attitude plays a role in curing disease.
Exercises
Walking Forward and
Walking Backward
* Walk slowly forward eight steps.
* When you lift your leg up the arm on the same side as
that leg should rise up. Right leg up and right arm up. Left leg up and left
arm up.
* Lift your heel, then knee, then foot as high as you
can, but keep your balance. Your foot might be one inch or 12 inches above the
floor, depending upon your ability and physical condition. Do not strain - go easy.
* Keep your body upright, head up, and relax.
* As you lift a leg up, your weight should be in the
opposite leg with the knee bent.
* As you place your foot down place your heel down first.
Step out only as far from the other foot as necessary while keeping the weight
on the opposite leg. Do not
overstep.
* Step gingerly, carefully, gently, and with
caution. Walk like a cat.
* Transfer weigh to the front leg and roll onto the ball
then toes.
* Lift your back heel, then knee, then toes. Move the leg to the front.
* Walk slowly backward ten steps.
* When you lift your leg up and back, the arm on the same
side as that leg should move back. Right leg up and back, and right arm back. Left
leg up and back, and left arm back.
* Lift your toe, then knee, then heel.
* Lift your leg as high as you can, but keep your
balance.
* Keep your body upright, head up, and relax.
* As you lift a leg up, your weight should be in the
opposite leg with the knee bent.
* As you place your foot back and down place your toe
down first.
* Keep your feet apart and your foot to the side. Do not cross your feet.
* Step gingerly, carefully, gently, and with
caution. Step like a cat.
* Transfer weigh to the back leg and roll onto the ball
then heel
* Repeat the exercise numerous times. Concentrate on some
aspect each time: balance, heel placed first when stepping forward, same arm as
leg, knee as high as possible, walking slowly, shifting weight from side to
side (empty-full), enjoying learning something new to do with your body like a
young child, smiling, breathing naturally but fully, retreating safely,
gracefulness, martial implications, etc.
Sources and
Additional Information:
