Search the Community

The essence of this story is one of destiny. I was being called to The Art and I had the courage to listen and act even though the people closest to me thought I was crazy. The gift I received for my courage and willingness is beyond all compare. I would love to hear your stories of coming to this ancient art that calls out to so few. Thank you in advance for listening. I have a wonderful story to share about how I came to apprentice with a Grand Master. For anyone who is interested, grab a cup of tea! As my sifu was fond of saying, but never really doing, "to make a long story short..." I had been living and working as a healing therapist in Rhode Island (US), for 19 years when I became overwhelmed with a sense of impending dread. I am not one to be fearful, but I was beginning to feel like maybe a huge tsunami was coming. The first glimmer of understanding came at a spiritual workshop I attended in the southwest, when a complete stranger, Cindy, kept following me around and introducing me to people as though I lived there. I turned to her and said, "I don't know what you know, but I live in RI and don't see myself moving here any time soon." She looked right at me and said, "Maybe not, but you are moving." Hmmmm. I returned home from that workshop with a new bug in my ear. Mind you at this time I had been a dedicated practitioner of meditation for years and believed that the answer lies within the silent spaces of our minds and heart, but I was overwhelmingly baffled! Unable to ascertain for myself through meditation or prayer why this foreboding feeling would not go away, I consulted a friend, Neri, who is a gifted intuitive and professional dowser. After an hour of the blind leading the blind, she received the message that all information was blocked because I first needed to commit to moving. My friend gave me advice on steps to take to mentally free myself for a move and then she invited me to the Northeast Dowsers Association annual Conference. Taking her advice I began telling people, " I'm moving; not sure where, just letting you know." You can imagine how that went over with family and friends. Still I was beginning to feel energy return and excitement at the prospect. Step 2: I drive to the dowser’s conference in providence, RI where I meet a famous dowser, John Wayne Blassingame. My friend, Neri, asked him to dowse a map for me because I felt too embarrassed to ask him myself. John let his pendulum twirl all over the map while he drew my energy out by asking me what I was looking for in a move. To be honest I didn't feel like I knew what I was looking for as much as I was surrendering to something beyond myself. I didn't feel like much help, but nevertheless his pendulum hovered over Arkansas. He relayed a few interesting facts about Arkansas and we left it at that. Inside I felt nothing for Arkansas and let it go for the time being. Later that night after an evening of dining and singing with my friend and many of the dowsers at the conference, I was saying my goodbyes when John Blassingame said, "Give Arkansas some thought." Damn, confused again. Remember the woman from the Southwest, Cindy, who divined that I was moving? She emails me extolling the gifts of a friend of hers who is an astrologer that helps people with relocation. I am aware that it must sound to the reader that I am putting important decisions about my future into the hands of strangers. Yet somehow it felt more like surrendering to a higher power that was working through these people. After looking at the particulars of my birth location, she charted the most beneficial or affirming places for me to live in the world. Melbourne, Australia was top of the list. I quickly informed her I was not prepared to leave the US as I have children and a limited budget. Really no budget. Taking my limitations into consideration, that left Texas, Arkansas, and southern California. Sorry, but Texas was out and southern California seemed so far away. OMG; that was 2 strikes for Arkansas. Soon after that the woman from the southwest, Cindy, who knows nothing of my investigation into a move so far, sends me an email. She is so excited to inform me that she is moving to stay with a friend of hers. Here is where we insert a drum roll. Yes she is moving to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. When I read her email the walls came tumbling down and I was filled with wave of realization. Three strikes for Arkansas. Arkansas was it, that was where I was going to move and now I had a place and a person whom I knew there. If I sound nuts to you then you are in the company of just about everyone I know, whom I told, I am moving to Arkansas. Let me redeem myself by saying I first flew out to meet my southwest quazi-friend in Hot Springs Village to check out the area. Hot Springs Village is nestled in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. I arrived at dusk and woke in the morning to the beautiful sounds of nature. I went outside and took a short walk to get a feel for the land. My whole body felt so at ease energetically. OK, long story short, I had no real idea of what this place was, but it felt right and so during that stay I found a place to rent and put down a deposit for the following month and flew home to Rhode Island. This next part I really want to skip because everyone I knew thought I was insane, including my parents who would have preferred I said I was moving to the moon than Arkansas. There is a lot of prejudice out there for Arkansas! My children hated me and truthfully I could not provide any substantial reason for the move accept that I was being called. As for being called, from the moment I decided to move to Arkansas a wave of Grace descended that lasted throughout the entire move and well into our arrival one month later. Amidst much disapproval and disharmony, I packed our belongings into a 16' U-Haul and with the help of a friend who needed to clear her mind, drove with my children to our new home in Arkansas. Grace was with us and within a week I found a salon where I could practice massage therapy and my kids joined a youth group that they loved. A month had gone by and one of my clients at the salon invited me to go a local Karaoke Bar with her and a friend. Life up until then had been pretty uneventful because as it turns out I moved to a predominantly retired community. Yahoo, a night out! Later that night I met my new friends at the Karaoke Bar and enjoyed a glass of wine. An elderly man came up to us and began talking about himself and the restaurant he used to own in the village and everyone he knew. We had a couple of dances, and before parting I handed him a few business cards and asked if he might help me network since he obviously knew everyone. That is the last I saw of that man, whose name is Robert. I am going to leave the story there and skip to just shy of one year later when I get a phone call from Robert, who after asking if I remember him, invited me over to his house to meet a friend of his visiting from Chicago. He said his friend was John Tsai, a Grand Master of Kung Fu. That call came right about the time I was seriously questioning why a single, young, woman such as me had moved to a retirement village. I had to accept based on the grounds that it was the most interesting offer I had had in over a year. Well my patient listeners, if any of you made it thus far, that introduction and meeting with Grand Master Tsai was to be the ending of one life and the beginning of another. John Tsai is a 17th Generation Shaolin Kung Fu and Mei Hua Qigong Grand Master. He is a legend in Kung Fu in Chicago and the coach of many champions, including Arlene Limas, a gold medalist in the Seoul Olympics. GM Tsai asked me many questions about what I thought energy was that first day. He was friendly and unassuming, an easy person to talk to. Three hours passed quickly by and I left feeling curious and excited to have had a small adventure. Three days later I was invited back to Robert’s house to spend more time with GM Tsai if I was interested. He didn't have to ask twice; somehow being in the company of GM Tsai was stimulating and lively even though he was a man of 64 years. This time another woman was there as well and GM Tsai had both of us lie down on the floor and practice a breathing meditation he called Dantian Tu Na. After an hour or more of Dantian Tu Na he had us stand up. He called me over to stand near him and he placed his hand on my Dantian. Next thing I know my spine is moving in slow wave like motion. I was scared because I couldn't understand why my body wanted to move like that. Sensing my apprehension, GMT had me sit down and explained to me that what I felt was my own energy moving through me. I'd love to say that cleared everything up, but I was clueless although less afraid. He repeated the same technique on me and this time because I was less inhibited my spine moved in rhythmic waves that sent a lovely energy to my head. GMT seemed pleased and I felt great. Long story short; I somehow fell into a pattern of arriving at Roberts’s house nearly 7 days a week at 6:00 am to train with Grand Master Tsai for four hours. After greeting me with warm green tea he would ask me to sit down and take dictation while he spoke about Qi and the practice he was teaching me. I didn't understand what I was writing, but I wrote it down anyway. GMT would show me a new technique and then walk away for 45 minutes, leaving me to practice. Something was happening to me, I was changing from the inside out. I was experiencing a quality of energy and connection to life around me that was heightened in a new way. I began to feel ten years younger and had a new desire to challenge my physical abilities. Namely that resulted in climbing trees and wrestling with my teenage sons, What I was unaware of at the time was GMT's plan. He was grooming and training me to be his chief instructor for a Qigong school he was going to open in Arkansas. That is exactly what transpired. After giving a workshop we had a group of people interested in training and on the first meeting date GMT handed me a uniform and I became an instructor. I am a humble person and so at one point I questioned a promotion that GMT gave me saying I have only been practicing for a short while. He seemed somewhat offended and said, "you are training with a Grand Master. What I am teaching you takes some people a lifetime to learn on their own." That is why I call myself a master instructor. I do not have the years that many practitioners have, but I have a masters level of knowledge. I don't practice what I know, I know what I practice. And so it went on for 5 years until Grand Master Tsai moved on to teach others. I took over teaching at our school until I moved back to Rhode Island so that my children could have an easier relationship with their father. I continue to teach the techniques for building a Qi body that I learned from GMT and I continue to learn from the Daoist Classics and other Teachers of Nei gong. Thank you for your time, Leah