After a six-year retreat, my first teaching tour has concluded, receiving much positive feedback, particularly from those who attended my workshops over four consecutive days. Some attendees have even reported transformative changes.
During my first workshop on this tour, I was welcomed back by 42 students. Initially, I thought it would be overwhelming since I had been living in solitude, rarely speaking to anyone for six years, especially in English! Surprisingly, I was able to get back in smoothly. During the break, a long-time student who is also an English teacher even told me my English had improved!
It seems that to improve speaking skills, one can take a different approach; instead of frequent practice, a meditative retreat can also be effective! Historically, many enlightened monks were initially illiterate but went on to create remarkable poetry and literature after their enlightenment. I believe part of the reason is because their practice stimulates the part of the brain associated with language.
Speaking of language, an Austrian university professor told me that he began practicing spoken English a few years ago for the sole purpose of communicating effectively with me at my future workshops, which was quite touching! As the Head of the Science Education Department, he has incorporated parts of Shibashi into his program to boost his students’ creativity. Following positive results, he is now conducting a project to quantify the creativity enhancement from qigong (specifically Shibashi set 1) alongside other methods.
As you may know, many studies have proven that meditation is an excellent way to increase creativity. However, not everyone can meditate; some people find it impossible to sit quietly (both physically and especially mentally) no matter how hard they try. On the other hand, moving qigong like Shibashi is much easier, and almost anyone can do it.
Another method that may boost creativity is soft drugs. Many years ago, a student who is also a tech CEO told me that one of his staff’s creativity had increased after attending an ayahuasca retreat. He himself also planned to experiment with LSD to enhance his creativity, saying it is a common practice in Silicon Valley. However, I believe it is unnecessary because diligent qigong practice could achieve similar results.
For instance, a student who attended my workshops for 4 consecutive days told me he had reached a very deep meditative state after the workshops and described his experience. I pointed out that his experience was similar to what is described in “The Secret of the Golden Flower,” a book about Daoist Inner Alchemy. He mentioned that previously, he could only achieve such a deep state through hallucinogens.
You see, it is really not necessary to use soft drugs to enter a meditative state in order to boost creativity. Practicing qigong and neigong diligently can achieve these results without any side effects and even improve the overall health. While soft drugs might give a temporary boost to enter a deep meditative state, dependence and addiction can lead to unwanted side effects. For example, that tech CEO’s staff member who attended the ayahuasca retreat eventually became so addicted that he quitted his job and moved to South America so that he could have access to those ayahuasca everyday!
During this teaching tour, I can still clearly see the impact of the pandemic, even though the “authorities” have announced it is over. For example, five students had to cancel at the very last minute due to sickness at one of my workshops. This is something I had never seen among the hundreds of workshops I conducted before the pandemic. Quite a few students are still suffering from the pandemic’s impact physically, which I will talk more about, along with solutions, in the next newsletter.
Meanwhile, I have just added Level 1 and Hua Shan Healing Qigong Workshops in Toronto, Canada, at the end of September. More workshops will be added in the coming months.