רונית מלכין - מורה לצ׳י גונג ומטפלת שיאצו

​

במילותיו של כריס:

​

Qigong is the Mother of Them All

”Qigong is the Mother of them all”.  These words are etched fast in my memory. Spoken by Peter Yates, my friend, teacher and mentor way back in the early 1990’s, as we talked once again about the importance of this most ungraspable of disciplines. 

He had asked me to assist him at a Qigong weekend workshop. I asked why me of all people, who had been studying with him a mere three years at the time. “Because you do your stuff”, was the response.

Peter was a man who studied the ancient texts like a monk but lived life to the full. He passed away around 18 months ago, way before his time, but also perfectly - he had done all he came here to do and was ready for other challenges. 

And so, we honour the memory of a wonderful man who took training as seriously as any I have met, but was ready to laugh uproariously at the slightest provocation.

He taught me the Ba Duan Jin - on Tuesdays, in the park, for a miniscule financial contribution. Rain or shine, we stood there and moved and learned and enjoyed our time together on the grass and in the coffee shop afterwards. 

After one or two years practice, I changed the sequence of the form he had taught me. Nervously, I presented the changed programme, upon which he exclaimed: “excellent - I’m taking that”. Within the form as I tweaked it, we find a revealing and informative order. Two, in fact. The basics I will reveal to you as we practice, and as we rest, I will explain some of the details.

Following on from this exploration, we will go on to practice a very short and elegant programme called Harmonising the Five Elements to illustrate and embody some of the concepts elaborated.

We will finish our seminar with a short, seated form, which I call Ling Gong. 

It came to/through me on the eve of midwinter last year. It concerns the Universal soul, the Numinous, that which the Chinese call “ling” and the Japanese “rei”. 

I will explain the movements and postures as we go along and finally, I will explain the details of the Chinese character used to convey this unconveyable concept as we enjoy the final posture.