“I can move again without pain! Thank you for Rainbow Sun Qigong”says Dick Tippett

Dear Ellie, I took your course on Qigong in Santa Cruz, July 2008. I started doing the exercises seriously in October of that year. I had badly torn my rotator cuff in my right shoulder three years before. Couldn’t lift anything above my head. When I went to throw a ball I would have no idea where the ball was going to go. I had no real control over the shoulder movement. I knew that I didn’t want surgery. Conventional therapies like cold lasers and massage and exercise had pretty much done as much as they could.

I’ve now done your Rainbow Sun Qi Gong for a year. On average, I do the work five times a week. Depends on my schedule, also on whether I need some extra energy for an intense or a late-night project. I can work again above my head, with tools. I can load things on racks above my head without fear of pain or dropping whatever it was I was putting up there. I can throw a golf ball to a friend, or a baseball to my nephew or a toy to my dogs and be reasonably certain that they will get to where I’m aiming at.

It is wonderful to be able to do these things again. Without pain. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

Regards, Dick Tippett

Pain free! I’m pain free!  Story relayed to Ellie Drew

Ellie relays this story, “I was attending a large workshop in Tucson, Arizona, when out of the blue, an older woman ran at me and gave me the biggest hug. I’m not used to getting hugs by enthusiastic strangers. This woman had heard a presentation I’d given and purchased the Qigong for Seniors. She said, ‘Ellie I want to thank you so much for Rainbow Sun Qigong! It has changed my life. I had been in pain for over 30 years but after doing the Rainbow Sun Qigong I’m 90% pain free! I’ll skip my shower before I’ll skip my Qigong! Thank you!” (Ellie Drew is co-producer of the Rainbow Sun Qigong DVDs)

Qigong for KIDS: A Success Story from Kim Kersbergen

I would like to share some stories and successes with teaching middle school kids the Qigong for KIDS form I learned at an all day workshop at the 2004 National Qigong (Chi Kung) Association’s Conference. I have told other teachers and several people around here (Sioux Falls, SD) about it and would now like to share these stories to get the word out about working with kids. My latest adventure was with middle school girls who were participating in an after-school program through the YMCA.

I decided that it would be interesting for me (and them!) if they would briefly journal their feelings before and after our Qigong sessions. I observed that all the girls seemed rather scattered as they wrote before our sessions. They seemed to struggle to find words or even to focus on what they were doing. After our sessions, they got right to work and seemed enthusiastic about documenting their feelings. Here are some of their comments: Before qigong: "crabby, hyper, sleepy, "grrrr", jumpy, talkative, sad, scared, nervous, excited, headachy." After qigong: "happy, joyful, calm, energized, relaxed, excited, loving, soothed."

Sometimes they drew pictures. One of my favorites was drawn after a qigong session. It was a picture of a girl standing by a cozy-looking fire. The caption read, "I feel WARM!!" Another girl interpreted her feelings before class by drawing a mass of squiggly lines bunched up in a really bumpy circle and put the words "nervous" and "scared" around the outside of the circle. After Qigong her circle was contiguous, smooth and devoid of any lines at all. Her words were "calmed," "relaxed," "happy," "soothed." Another girl, after our session drew a freeform shape and filled it with spirals. Then down the side of the page she wrote: "I feel happy! I feel relaxed! I feel ready! I feel excited! I feel complete! I feel soothed! I feel encouraged! I feel energy! I feel silly! I feel comfort! I feel cuddly! I feel happy!"

After about three sessions all the girls commented that they could really feel the energy as we did the Gathering the Qi movements. They liked the warmth and tingling they experienced. One girl shared with me that she used some of the slow breathing to help her relax before a test that she was nervous about. That was when I knew that I had given these girls the beginnings of some skills that they can use all their lives. Yeah!! I was so rewarded by all the thanks that I got from these girls. I really like teaching the Qigong for KIDS I learned at the conference because it's such a simple, fun and powerful form. Everyone that I've shown the form to picks up on the movements very easily. I plan to bring Qigong to more kids programs in the area. Thanks, Institute for Conscious Change and NQA!

Product Review from Australia! Rainbow Sun Qigong DVD by Pauline Roberts

Searching for something that disciplines the mind whilst unblocking and healing one's body and spirit? Well in Rainbow Sun Qigong from Ellie Drew [www.ConsciousChange.org], I've finally found it. Let's face it, I'm not a great exercise type (about the only thing in the Blood Type Diet I found to agree with!) but even I can do these exercises and feel them making a difference to my body, and definitely, finally, yes FINALLY helping to quieten the chatter in my mind. Oh the challenge of putting one's attention fully on one's hands and in this video, Ellie politely and firmly encourages you to focus your full attention.

Qigong is the basis of many martial arts techniques, but in this form, by gathering and using Qi (energy) we aim to help ourselves heal and become whole by clearing and integrating every facet of our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental selves.

The exercises start with a simple warm up routine that gets the blood, lymph and Qi circulating in the body including gentle "bouncing to remove 10,000 sicknesses" as the Chinese call it, probably my favorite exercise, and one that can be done anywhere with great benefit, no fancy equipment needed here (!), just yourself. Then, after slow, deliberate, vertical stretching and twisting, it's time to 'gather the Qi' together so that it can be consciously utilized. All the movements are graceful and executed with great purpose, and it seems to me the greater the amount of attention you can hold on what you are doing - stilling the chattering mind - the more Qi you can generate for yourself. So there's a challenge in this part and like ice skating which also looks so simple and graceful, there's more to this than meets the eye!

Once the Qi is gathered, it can be put to work clearing mental, emotional and physical bodies; filling the three energy centers and helping to dissolve pain and sickness. Once that is completed, the energy meridians of the hands, face, scalp and ears are activated followed by a sealing in of the energy so that it can continue to suffuse us throughout our wonder-filled day. All this in 20 minutes - and if that seems too long, then you definitely need to do it!

On the video, Ellie does the Qigong exercises with her Mother in her 70s and Grandmother in her 90s, so there really is no excuse for me or anyone else who gets drawn to this ancient practice not to do it regularly. This disciplined activity never fails to leave me with a big smile, calm mind and a sparkly feeling inside, a great way to start any day!