Pain Killer Sales Soar - Why not try Medical Qigong

[Kempomaster]

The following article appeared today in my local paper it came from wire services out of New York.

 

Painkiller sales Soar around U.S.

 

"Sales of the nation's two most popular prescription painkillers have exploded in new parts of the country, an Associated Press analysis shows, worrying experts who say the push to relieve patients' suffering is spawning an addiction epidemic"

 

The article goes on to describe how the DEA figures has shown a dramatic increase in the sale of OxyContin, Percocet, and Percodan from the year 2000 to 2010 with some areas around the country seeing a 16 fold increase in sales. Other areas of the country are experiencing a significan increase in the sales of hydrocodone the ingredient in Vicodone and similar products.

 

This increase in sales has also coincided with an increase in overdose deaths and pharmacy robberies. The article maintains that according to the Center for Disease Control that these products accounted for 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008.

 

So with so many problems arising from the use of extremely powerful narcotics do we have such a problem getting mainstream acceptance of Medical Qigong and Taoist Medical Application?

 

Obviously - Pain is and has become a huge problem in the U.S. and other countries. One physician that I spoke with today described the problem of treating patients for pain syndromes as being very complex. He stated that he feels the need to address their pain issues but does in fact wish he had alternatives to pain med's that are highly addictive. He added, that in todays society he is afraid that if he doesn't address the patients pain and prescribe something for them -- they may try to sue for malpractice, yet, if he prescribes pain med's for all that seek pain med's then the DEA will come to pay him a visit and may revoke his precribing priviledges. So, he is forced prior to initiating treatment to have the patient take a drug screening test to see if they are currently on legal or illegal drugs and this just adds to the cost of treatment for those that are legitimately suffering from pain and need help with their situation.

 

Knowing that this problem (pain med abuse) will continue to grow in our society, I suggest we do more to inform the Medical Community and the Public regarding the use of Medical Qigong for the treatment of pain. Previously on this forum - I have presented many case reports on the use and success of Medical Qigong for pain.

 

Tell me what you think of this growing problem and how best to inform the Public about Medical Qigong.

[Mokona]

Honestly,

 

More 'students' need to reach a level where they can perform real healing. (And they have to be willing to use that ability). It would become mainstream on it's own, then. (IMO)

 

Twitter is a good way to reach a larger audience, as well as youtube video. If someone was willing to sit before a camera, state the issue and what they had done before to address it, and allow taping of the chi kung healing, then come back onto the camera to talk about the healing... It's easy to catch a large audience that way.

EASY.

[Marblehead]

Painkiller sales Soar around U.S.

I agree that this is a real problem, in America especially.

 

I have no suggestions but agree that more people should be made aware that there are alternatives.

[Jetsun]

I think if you want mainstream acceptance of Taoist medicine it first needs to be explained more thoroughly to the modern Western mind, to the average person most of it probably sounds like mystical mumbojumbo, terms like "sick Qi", "listening", "non linear" wont mean anything except to those who practice. Bruce Frantzis does quite a good job communicating how his techniques can heal using more familiar language and psychological understanding but I don't know if it is even possible with other Taoist medicine whether it can be explained more rationally due to the fact that it isn't dealing with that part of the mind. The other option is to use things like brain scans and neuroscience to show the benefits like many Buddhists are now doing. Without this there is no way to distinguish it from all the hundreds of other alternative therapies out there.

[Ya Mu]

I think the physicians are caught in the middle between a rock & a hard place with the pain meds. I have talked with many about this subject as well. Like you say, danged if they do and danged if they don't. And once someone is hooked on some of these it is extremely difficult to get off them.

 

Really I don't know how I could have tried much harder than I have over the last 30 years or so to get this message across. I have been on TV where I did a live unrehearsed session on a medical student with a stomach problem who had been hospitalized and through the mill of every specialist with no results and the Taoist treatment made their pain go away live on TV - not what I said but what they said. One would think this would have made some type of impact but really I don't think it did. I have taught at 2 different medical schools exposing many 4th year med students to this and one would think that it would have made a bit of difference. I don't think it really did - they graduated then went right on into the western medicine mill. I have taught thousands of students. One would think these people would take this stuff and run with it and indeed many have. But the ratio of people who learn a bit of this and those who complete the study and will go ahead and open medical qigong clinics is - well, I can't complain but it certainly would be a great thing if the ratio were higher. Others & I have dedicated our whole lives to this and one would think that by now more people would be aware but... I guess in general way more people ARE aware. If we look at the membership of the NQA we will see that the numbers have increased significantly. I have students all over the world learning this and already achieving great results so I guess my bitchin above isn't such a great thing. I just wish more people would be aware of how amazing medical qigong and Taoist medicine is and the degree of efficacy it offers and I wish more would learn it to help humanity. This is desperately needed in today's society, especially with the increase of toxic meds and the cost of western medicine bankrupting people.

[Gerard]

Issues to consider:

 

1. Karma. No matter how you treat the patient if there is no sure, there is no cure. Very unfortunate issue but it is how things work.

 

2. If they don't want to heal themselves no amount of medical treatment provided will help.

 

Better teach the human so they can empower themselves, and maybe they will heal themselves (Karma again).

 

Thanks for bringing up this issue, anyway.

[humbleone]

[Ya Mu]

I believe a lot can be learned by how acupuncture was accepted in the western world. Perhaps Medical Qigong needs to go down the same path?

...

One thing that was initiated by the same organization that certifies acupuncture, the NCCAOM, was initiating a certification is Asian Bodywork Therapy (Dipl.(ABT), NCCAOM) which included medical qigong. This was many years ago. I was one of the first to get certified in Asian Bodywork Therapy by this organization. Unfortunately, if one were to ask the public, or heck, even here on this forum, which IMO SHOULD represent a more informed aspect of the population, what a Dipl.NCCAOM(ABT) is, most would have no clue. My point is that, to the general population, these things mean nothing. I think the NQA (NQA.ORG) will be the certification agency if medical qigong laws are initiated as their certification program is now quite thorough.

 

But Mokona brought up a good point:

Honestly,

 

More 'students' need to reach a level where they can perform real healing. (And they have to be willing to use that ability). It would become mainstream on it's own, then. (IMO)

First, people have to be willing to study this and then willing to go out to the clinics and do it. Students willing to really study this are difficult to find. Most are unwilling to put in the time and effort. Also, just look on this forum, which IMO again SHOULD represent a more informed aspect of the population, and you will see far more interest in semen and ejaculation (not that there is anything wrong with understanding such) than in learning medical qigong to help others and you will see only a handful of medical qigong practitioners.

 

I think quite possibly this is just waiting for a consciousness shift, and it is my belief that will occur and that one day, medical qigong WILL be future's medicine. It is simply too powerful to ignore. We can have Future's Medicine Today for those willing to put in the time & effort.

[Kempomaster]

Well first I want to address the comments made by Jetsun - regarding the verbage used to describe some of the Medical Qigong.

 

"Sick Qi"

 

"Non-linear"

 

"Listening"

 

To make an acurate call on these words - one must have some experience with Medical Qigong. It does sound as if you have studied with -- is that correct -- as opposed to read material by - Mr. Bruce Frantziz (spelling).

 

Most Western medical terms have come from Latin words or Greek that highlighted the body parts or condition as it related to the human body. Let's look at the term - "Blood Poisoning" Webster says this is a diseased condition of the blood due to microorganisms or other poisonous matter; septicemia. Then consider the term - "Sick Qi" which seems to me to accurately describe the condition of sick - diseased, of sickly color etc, etc and then the term Qi - which I am not finding in Websters. I have also heard/seen the term "Stagnate"- foul from lack of movement; and "Turbid" - muddy, cloudy, dense dark clouds of smoke. To those of us that have seen "Sick Qi" expelled from the body I think we'll agree that any of the terms used above will be adequate to describe "Sick Qi". What perhaps is more important is trying to bridge the gap with Western Medicine by explaining to patients and Western Medical Doctors what we mean by these terms. I have treated numerous patients that have said - "something just ran out the bottom of my foot , and wait a minute, now my pain is gone"! Ah yes, sick qi has left your body!

 

I am certain that most of the Latin terms used in Medicine were unusual to the public until they heard them many times. Then they learned how to speak the language - isn't that what we are talking about. The Medical Qigong Terms get repeated often enough by Skilled Practitioners that people become comfortable with the language. Consider some of Western Medical tests - CAT scan - Why do I need a cat scan, I don't even own a cat? Magnetic Resonance Imaging - we are going to try to hold together two magnets over an image and... I don't get it. We need to run some Labs - I prefer English Setters.

 

So let's not get bogged down in the language. We can try to get a more thorough understanding of the language used. As I pointed out the meaning of "Sick Qi". Let's move on to "Non-Linear" - which Linear means in a line, measurement of length. In otherwords often in Western Medicine - take this medicine - lets say antibiotic - take it for 10 days - you should start feeling better in 3 - 7 days. If not better in 2 wks call and we will try a different antibiotic. So a time line is in place - most of us understand this form of measurement and the measurement has built-in limits - 3 pills per day, take for 10 days etc. Now - "Non-Linear" would imply by the combination of the words - TO BE WITHOUT LIMITS, NOT MEASURED in a LINE. So we take away these limits - potentially all the limits. For instance, I set my Intent - add the Energetics - and boom - we may not have to wait 10 days or even 10 minutes to get the results that we and the patient want. In addition, we don't put limits on our healing. Example - a person has pain from inflammation in their elbow - Western Med - take NSAID - hopefully it will be hurting less in week, 90% better in 30 days, if you have stomach upset call and we can try a different NSAID. or Medical Qigong - Intent plus Energy - manifest the elbow is instantly healed and the person has a higher understanding of the spiritual calling, and, and, and - no limitations , i.e - Non-Linear.

 

The last Term in question - "Listening". You have to be a Medical Qigong Healer to understand this term. In addition, the Stillness-Movement Lineage helps one develop the skill of Listening and their are "Past Masters that have ascended that will help the Practitioner once they have developed and Advanced themselves through diligent practice of Stillness-Movement. "Listening" - to make a conscious effort to hear, attend closely, so as to hear." When we are treating patients - yes we need some ability to use our intuition - however, the ability to listen goes way beyond this. This is an ability that a person develops as they continue to practice and as a practitioner you develop a higher awareness of what the person being treated actually needs, you may receive helpful direction on what to do during treatment - it's kind of like having a team of consultant Qigong Practitioners available for you to call on -- at least in Stillness-Movement Lineage - I can't speak about other systems or lineage. So this is needed for the Practitioner - not for the Western Medical Community to understand the term.

 

What do we really need to do...

 

Well I will post a thought on that below.

 

Thanks,

 

Kempomaster

[Kempomaster]

To get Medical Qigong more mainstream -- we need for Qualified Practitioner that have also taken the time and effort to enroll in and complete a Medical Qigong Practitioner Certification program.

 

Then, their efforts aren't quite complete yet - they need to take the documentation of their certification and complete the application and then be recognized by The National Qigong Association as a Certified Medical Qigong Practitioner.

 

By doing this we can help get Medical Qigong on the map as a legitimate treatment that is available for the public. Massage - many years back was not thought of as Massage is thought of today. Massage is looked at a therapeutic option that can help people with many physical problems that they currently have. Such recognition is because of the certification has been somewhat standardized - may vary from state to state - but most recognize that a student must complete a study of 500 hours in a Certified program to be able to apply for state license.

 

The National Qigong organization - recognizes several different levels of Certification - their highest level is a Level 4 Teacher certification. Many of the Level 4 teachers then offer a 500 hour Medical Practitioner Certification program that in turn the N.Q.A. will then recognize the students completion and issue certification upon completion of application and proof of malpractice insurance.

 

Why is it important to be certified? Well if we want acceptance by others as a legitimate practice then certification is needed. Yes - I have seen many capable individuals that have attended 1, 2, or 3 or Michael Lomax's seminars be able to be very good healers. But, if they or anyone else wants to open a Medical Qigong Clinic -- then I think certification is needed.

 

Through certification - perhaps we can bridge the gap between Western and Eastern Medical Qigong. I don't think it has to be one or the other. It's not a competition there are plenty of people out there that need help. I think we can join forces - so to speak - and together do what is best for the patient.

 

I have opened the eyes of many Medical Doctors throughout the area that I live. My "day job" has me in these Medical Practices daily and I have talked the language with many Medical Doctors and treated them and their staff. Now, many call me when they have an issue or one of their staff needs treatment. As one person though, I can only achieve so much....I have seen attitudes in these medical practices change drastically though -- from the 1st time I offered my services - I usually get the look - "quick nurse, go get the straight jacket" to wait a minute, how did you do that, are some kind of magician? No I explain, I am not a magician - just A CERTIFIED MEDICAL QIGONG PRACTITIONER!

 

Getting certified takes commitment! It isn't easy working full-time, have a family, attending to a 500 hour program, treating patients to gain experience (sometimes 10 - 15 per week). But if you are supposed to be a healer -- you feel it in your heart, no - you know it in your heart....then you should investigate attending a Qigong seminar and investigate enrolling in a 500 hour Practitioner program.

 

I would suggest Michael Lomax's program -- I have learned so much from Michael and through his program and i always pick up something new at the next seminar. Take the time to investigate - then enroll your time and effort and see if you can make a difference and help bridge the gap to gain wider acceptance of this amazing stuff - Medical Qigong.

 

Thanks,

 

Kempomaster

[Owledge]

@Ya Mu

I previously tried to hint at those concerns that you have, and luckily you are looking at it from both sides. You acknowledge that which you already have accomplished, but you have also set goals, and not seeing them come true makes you inflict suffering onto yourself. Goals can be a great motivation, but we should see them for that purpose only. If we cannot let go of that (mostly arbitrary) goal, we will drive ourselves crazy.

If you know that what you do is good, then that process already is the achievement. The world will never be paradise. There will always be struggle. Getting rid of everything is not the point. Making our humble contribution during our lifetime as best as we can is a sufficient purpose. If you can make a living with doing what you love, you are blessed, and everything else should be considered extra.

Edited April 7, 2012 by Owledge

[Ya Mu]

Owledge,

I would ask you to please not use such words directly to me indicated you have knowledge which you don't have of my thinking, or mind process, or anything whatsoever related. I have not "inflicted pain on myself" and you do not understand what you think you understand. PLEASE stick to the thread topic and do not stalk me here.

[Owledge]

I am still only offering perspectives and people's behavior/reactions are a language of itself. It's not me assuming I know what you are thinking, it's you talking freely about it all over the place, between the lines, but still very apparent.

Even children can teach us important lessons if we don't think we are in all ways superior to them. We can all learn from each other.

 

You say that you wish medical chi gong would be accepted faster than it is. So apparently that it is gradually, slowly accepted is not enough for you to feel fulfilled. But that means you are unsatisfied, so you suffer. This is spiritual root stuff. Maybe you are uncomfortable looking at it from the root.

You are also not giving any information about how you do supposedly think, so there cannot be exchange of understanding. If your spiritual practice is so awesome and advanced, then demonstrate your skills in everyday life.

 

You say you perceive my suggestions as stalking. That is a relatively harsh perception, and that, too, is your own manifestation. We create our reality by attaching labels to stuff, and it is our free choice to shape that process as we wish. I did not intend to 'stalk' you. Do you want to be stalked? Your choice. Do you not want to be stalked? Your choice, too. You create your reality.

I keep hinting at it all the time: It is an inner process, not an outer one.

You are writing stuff on a spiritual internet forum. That already gives a very clear framework about what to expect and what skills to employ.

Maybe the lesson is too harsh for you right now, but it will keep knocking on the door. Maybe you can live without learning it, but maybe not very happily.

[Aetherous]

Two things are required for gaining widespread acceptance (similar to massage):

 

1) Reliability. The specific healing modality must work nearly 100% of the time for what it claims to do.

2) Accessibility. The healing modality and training must be readily accessible to most people (for instance, at least one practitioner in each state and a training center at least in a neighboring state).

 

This is all that is needed.

 

Massage has met these requirements, and that's why it's accepted for what it claims to do, and why people sometimes pay the high price for an hour of it. These two basic requirements ensure that people will put the time and effort into publishing legitimate studies on it, so that it gains acceptance even from the very vocal very ignorant skeptics. For instance, exercise is free and not something drug companies can make a profit off of, yet people have put a lot of money towards understanding its health benefits in detail...

 

...because it is reliable and accessible.

 

Until these two basic requirements are met, in relation to effective medical qigong, pain pills will be the choice. Even for me. Seriously, if I were in severe pain I'd go to the doc right now and get some pills...and I even fully believe that medical qigong can work. I don't trust NQA members to alleviate my pain, since despite being a good credential and way to organize qigong practitioners, it's worthless in terms of whether the person is actually an effective healer...for instance, if I have a headache, can the local NQA member alleviate it reliably?

 

I think the truth is: no, they cannot.

 

It only says that they have SOME training in SOME form of qigong. Most forms of qigong are almost useless...just my opinion.

 

It's understandable that when you aim for quantity, you inevitably lose quality. Take Spring Forest qigong for example. Chunyi Lin has a lot of good qualities: he encourages the students to try healing, the healing information can be applied almost immediately, it's simple, the materials are inexpensive and don't necessarily require traveling to see the teacher in order to start healing, he has worked in coordination with Mayo Clinic and has gained some more acceptance, etc. The Spring Forest healing approach is very accessible, but it loses points on reliability. I wouldn't pay a Spring Forest healer to alleviate my shoulder pain, because I don't think they really could.

 

Some thoughts.

[Jetsun]

I am certain that most of the Latin terms used in Medicine were unusual to the public until they heard them many times. Then they learned how to speak the language - isn't that what we are talking about. The Medical Qigong Terms get repeated often enough by Skilled Practitioners that people become comfortable with the language. Consider some of Western Medical tests - CAT scan - Why do I need a cat scan, I don't even own a cat? Magnetic Resonance Imaging - we are going to try to hold together two magnets over an image and... I don't get it. We need to run some Labs - I prefer English Setters.

 

Perhaps the terminology is the best available to describe the techniques , but if possible I think you are more likely to connect widely to the public by changing your own mental frameworks to communicate rather than trying to bring the public into your own. An example of this is if you read books by modern Buddhists like the Dalai Lama they now reference a lot of their work to psychological studies and neuroscience and have cut back with a lot of the more obscure and mystical Buddhist terminology, so they are using skilful means to try to bring the Dharma into scientific Western culture by trying to communicate about it within existing Western mental frameworks.

 

I don't know if it is possible to do this with medical Qigong as most Western people don't even believe in Qi which is quite a big stumbling block to get over, and many Taoist techniques may be too poetic in nature to frame in such cold logical terms. But maybe certain aspects can be explained further for example if you talked about the medical qigong healer in terms of being a human biofeedback mechanism which can send different signals to diseased parts of the body disrupting feedback loops it might be understood better. I may try to write that boring left brained book about it myself if I ever become a healer.

[Ya Mu]

I am still only offering perspectives and people's behavior/reactions are a language of itself. It's not me assuming I know what you are thinking, it's you talking freely about it all over the place, between the lines, but still very apparent.

Even children can teach us important lessons if we don't think we are in all ways superior to them. We can all learn from each other.

 

You say that you wish medical chi gong would be accepted faster than it is. So apparently that it is gradually, slowly accepted is not enough for you to feel fulfilled. But that means you are unsatisfied, so you suffer. This is spiritual root stuff. Maybe you are uncomfortable looking at it from the root.

You are also not giving any information about how you do supposedly think, so there cannot be exchange of understanding. If your spiritual practice is so awesome and advanced, then demonstrate your skills in everyday life.

 

You say you perceive my suggestions as stalking. That is a relatively harsh perception, and that, too, is your own manifestation. We create our reality by attaching labels to stuff, and it is our free choice to shape that process as we wish. I did not intend to 'stalk' you. Do you want to be stalked? Your choice. Do you not want to be stalked? Your choice, too. You create your reality.

I keep hinting at it all the time: It is an inner process, not an outer one.

You are writing stuff on a spiritual internet forum. That already gives a very clear framework about what to expect and what skills to employ.

Maybe the lesson is too harsh for you right now, but it will keep knocking on the door. Maybe you can live without learning it, but maybe not very happily.

You are STILL DOING IT! Please STOP!!! And please delete the above two posts. This type of non-professional psychoanalysis you are doing is both insulting, and if taken as "informed advice" by others, dangerous.

CEASE YOUR STALKING!

[Owledge]

You are STILL DOING IT! Please STOP!!! And please delete the above two posts. This type of non-professional psychoanalysis you are doing is both insulting, and if taken as "informed advice" by others, dangerous.

CEASE YOUR STALKING!

Alright, I am sorry that I am hurting you. I will stop now. (I promise!)

(I won't self-censor though.)

Don't be afraid. I'm not dangerous. Except to fears maybe.

[Ya Mu]

Alright, I am sorry that I am hurting you. I will stop now. (I promise!)

(I won't self-censor though.)

Don't be afraid. I'm not dangerous. Except to fears maybe.

Damn if you didn't do it again! I did ask you kindly to stop. You have not. You have been reported to the mods by me and others.

You are not "hurting me" but utilizing some crazy thing you made up in your mind that you have the power to psychoanalyze people and make ill-informed, non-professional, psychotic, and may I add really stupid suggestions to them.

 

I also ask the mods to remove your posts as you keep coming into threads and stalking me. I also strongly suggest you never do this weird "analysis with suggestions" on other members of this forum as well. I do think that if anyone desired your non-professional services they would inquire to you.

Edited April 7, 2012 by Ya Mu

[Ya Mu]

Two things are required for gaining widespread acceptance (similar to massage):

 

1) Reliability. The specific healing modality must work nearly 100% of the time for what it claims to do.

2) Accessibility. The healing modality and training must be readily accessible to most people (for instance, at least one practitioner in each state and a training center at least in a neighboring state).

 

This is all that is needed.

 

Massage has met these requirements, and that's why it's accepted for what it claims to do, and why people sometimes pay the high price for an hour of it. These two basic requirements ensure that people will put the time and effort into publishing legitimate studies on it, so that it gains acceptance even from the very vocal very ignorant skeptics. For instance, exercise is free and not something drug companies can make a profit off of, yet people have put a lot of money towards understanding its health benefits in detail...

 

...because it is reliable and accessible.

 

Until these two basic requirements are met, in relation to effective medical qigong, pain pills will be the choice. Even for me. Seriously, if I were in severe pain I'd go to the doc right now and get some pills...and I even fully believe that medical qigong can work. I don't trust NQA members to alleviate my pain, since despite being a good credential and way to organize qigong practitioners, it's worthless in terms of whether the person is actually an effective healer...for instance, if I have a headache, can the local NQA member alleviate it reliably?

 

I think the truth is: no, they cannot.

 

It only says that they have SOME training in SOME form of qigong. Most forms of qigong are almost useless...just my opinion.

 

It's understandable that when you aim for quantity, you inevitably lose quality. Take Spring Forest qigong for example. Chunyi Lin has a lot of good qualities: he encourages the students to try healing, the healing information can be applied almost immediately, it's simple, the materials are inexpensive and don't necessarily require traveling to see the teacher in order to start healing, he has worked in coordination with Mayo Clinic and has gained some more acceptance, etc. The Spring Forest healing approach is very accessible, but it loses points on reliability. I wouldn't pay a Spring Forest healer to alleviate my shoulder pain, because I don't think they really could.

 

Some thoughts.

 

You have some good points.

 

The reliability is taken care of, at least in what we train in and practice: I offered for 35 years GUARANTEED pain relief or no fee. It always was totally understood before hand that this was up to the client to decide if it was true NOT from my assessment. While I can't require any of the students that train with me to offer this same thing many of them do. And why can any of us get by with that? Because it does have the repeat-ability efficacy. Otherwise I would have gone broke.

 

Accessibility. This is one of those chicken and egg things. It will never be due to the facts that Mokona brought up. Until enough students learn and apply this and take it to the next level it will always be not as widely distributed thing. Unless a benevolent benefactor came in and donated the millions required to initiate training centers in every state, it is always going to be up to the few who do put in the time & effort to do this. And right now those are few compared to the overall population. Although many states now have multiple practitioners who are available to the public. Take Indiana for example. I know of 3 practitioners available to the public in Indianapolis. Or Missouri - 4. Or Illinois - 3, and several other states which also have practitioners. But yeah,it certainly has a long way to go.

And as far as schools even right now it is similar accessibility as to many other different specialties in other fields of study. For instance if massage therapists want to learn specialty techniques they have to go where those specialty techniques are. To ask the teachers of those techniques to open a school in a "city where you live" is a bit far fetched as it will most probably never happen. Of course any massage therapist as in our example who wanted to actually put in the time & effort could contact the teachers of any specialty technique and try to set up such in their particular city.

 

NQA:

 

Unfortunately, I do agree with you on your comment on forms of qigong. If the form is just calisthenics or even just geared at minor energy circulation and was not specifically used in a medical qigong system, it most probably will never get a practitioner to the point of being able to perform medical qigong; they will also not have any medical qigong training. And of course so many people seem to not realize that qigong and medical qigong are two totally separate things. In other words, no amount of study of just qigong alone will train a person in medical qigong as medical qigong is a different thing by its very definition of utilizing the term "medical". This is clinic & hospital based therapeutics (and yes the term has been bastardized in some instances.) Which is analogous to a western MD getting a residency in another specialty but not in brain surgery then stepping in and saying that they can do brain surgery because they have the basic requirements to practice medicine.

 

Here are the NQA requirements that I posted in another thread:

 

The first program, Clinical Practitioner, requires generally a 3 year period. The 2nd one posted here, the Level IV Teacher, requires far more than 10 years of study as it requires 10 years of teaching instructors and clinical practitioners.

 

from www.nqa.org:

 

"Clinical Practitioner

This describes the person who practices applications of healing qigong with emission and projection of qi and may also teach prescriptive exercises. This level has the ability to generate qi, absorb qi from the atmosphere, and have trained their qi. They have built a strong energetic foundation through disciplined practice of qigong and possess an understanding of healing principles

 

at least 500 hours documented formal Qigong training

includes at least 350 didactic hours (see website for description) 200 of which are specific to Qigong

includes at least 100 hours of qigong treatment which may include contact and non-contact qi emission, adjunct massage manipulations, and teaching of prescriptive exercises or any combination thereof.

at least 2 years clinical experience

must carry a current liability insurance policy

 

 

Level IV Teacher: The Highest Certification Level Granted by the National Qigong Association. While not necessarily the clinician, the Teacher has at least 1000 hours of training and demonstrates a level of knowledge and understanding deeper than Level III. The Teacher should be able to generate qi, absorb qi from the atmosphere, has trained his/her qi. The Teacher has built a strong energetic foundation through disciplined practice of qigong and possesses an understanding of healing principles.

 

This is the top internal certification/recognition of the organization and denotes wisdom, insight, qi transmission, and empowering. These senior practitioners have taught instructors of qigong or qigong clinical therapists for 10 years or more. They act as mentors for others in the field and are acknowledged senior practitioners by the NQA. This level is recognized to teach all levels of formal instruction.

 

At least 1000 hours of documented formal instruction in qigong and at least 10 years of qigong teaching and passage of an interview process is required. These interviews could take place at the annual NQA conference and needs to include at least three members of the Application Review Committee.

 

at least 1000 hours documented formal Qigong training

at least 10 years Qigong experience teaching teachers.

must sit an interview with members of the Application Review Committee

A student of a level IV teacher has the option of, in lieu of listing course information from that teacher in the application, substituting a strong letter of recommendation from a Level IV NQA Certified Teacher that includes the number of hours of relevant instruction, general description of coursework, and descriptive comments about student ability."

 

Now is this enough to insure that a practitioner is going to have results? Not really, in the same manner that all MD's who graduate are competent because they have degrees. It wouldn't be true.

But what it DOES do is show the public that a person has indeed received training. And believe me, they are VERY strict with this and have a dedicated committee that review every single application and definitely makes inquiries as to all detail (HA HA, ask Kempomaster what sort of scrutiny he went through to get his certification).

[JustARandomPanda]

I myself am torn over this issue and I'm not even a physician. However...I do experience pain. Enough so that some days I have to take Ultram. However, that is only as a last resort.

 

On the one hand I am a bit bummed that something like Medical Qi Gong in all its permutations can be such a powerful pain killer, yet is not all that well known.

 

On the other hand I do not like disparaging Western Medicine either. How many gunshot Qi Gong-ers would choose to use ONLY Qi Gong to nullify their pain while physicians were busy cutting into them to dig out the bullets? It was my understanding even possessing this ability requires an incredibly high degree of spiritual attainment. Exceedingly so. To ask this of the ordinary Qi Gong practicer - much less one who doesn't - is more barbaric than I'd care to think about.

 

And when it comes to long term chronic pain management we're still hampered I think because the entire mechanism of pain is not completely understood.

 

I do like the work of the American Pain Foundation although they take a Western-oriented approach.

 

My fear is that with the rise in Governments clamping down on dispensing of painkillers it will inadvertently leave a lot of people who are in legitimate need of painkillers (so they can lead a normal life again) without any help.

 

Qi Gong is still deemed Pseudoscience by a lot of the Medical establishment. Witness the crusading against it by Stephen Barret and guys like Michael Shermer. When the NIH opened up a (very tiny) sub-branch - Office on Alternative Medicine - the Scientific Materialist guys had a hissy fit.

[Ya Mu]

I myself am torn over this issue and I'm not even a physician. However...I do experience pain. Enough so that some days I have to take Ultram. However, that is only as a last resort.

 

On the one hand I am a bit bummed that something like Medical Qi Gong in all its permutations can be such a powerful pain killer, yet is not all that well known.

 

On the other hand I do not like disparaging Western Medicine either. How many gunshot Qi Gong-ers would choose to use ONLY Qi Gong to nullify their pain while physicians were busy cutting into them to dig out the bullets? It was my understanding even possessing this ability requires an incredibly high degree of spiritual attainment. Exceedingly so. To ask this of the ordinary Qi Gong practicer - much less one who doesn't - is more barbaric than I'd care to think about.

 

And when it comes to long term chronic pain management we're still hampered I think because the entire mechanism of pain is not completely understood.

 

I do like the work of the American Pain Foundation although they take a Western-oriented approach.

 

My fear is that with the rise in Governments clamping down on dispensing of painkillers it will inadvertently leave a lot of people who are in legitimate need of painkillers (so they can lead a normal life again) without any help.

 

Qi Gong is still deemed Pseudoscience by a lot of the Medical establishment. Witness the crusading against it by Stephen Barret and guys like Michael Shermer. When the NIH opened up a (very tiny) sub-branch - Office on Alternative Medicine - the Scientific Materialist guys had a hissy fit.

 

We are not advocating anyone to go to a medical qigong therapist if they are gunshot. I certainly wouldn't until AFTER I had visited the medical doctor. Of course that would be an extremely ill-informed thing to do and I honestly don't think anyone ever would. But what you are missing is "what happens after the person has been to the doctor?" The person has to have some pain relief as this is an extremely traumatic injury. Their choice is to take drugs, which in my opinion is the appropriate thing to do for the initial trauma. But what happens if the person shot continues to have pain? Should they continue to take drugs for the pain? This can lead to addiction and in many cases has. These drugs are also toxic in the long term - just read what the pharmacy says about them. Also, the person probably would not be able in most cases to resume work - difficult to function walking around drugged.

 

Also it appears you are making the same assumption that many do make. And I do realize it is an honest assumption. And that is that we are anti-western medicine. This is far from the truth. This is "complementary therapy" - not "alternative therapy". We work WITH physicians and get referrals from physicians and have physicians come to us for therapy. The physicians themselves recognize the danger of long term pain meds.

We advocate taking the best of world medicine and integrating it into a workable system.

 

And while I am not attempting to pick your argument apart as it represents a valid viewpoint, I will point out that only a portion of the population that actually needs long-term use of these type of drugs are able to continue to function with "normal" lives. Often what happens is higher and higher doses are needed, stronger & stronger meds are needed; a vicious cycle indeed and one that leads to a most definite non-normal life. But I too advocate that meds which are needed be available. Due to abuse it has gotten to be an extremely difficult process.

[Aetherous]

The reliability is taken care of, at least in what we train in and practice: I offered for 35 years GUARANTEED pain relief or no fee. It always was totally understood before hand that this was up to the client to decide if it was true NOT from my assessment. While I can't require any of the students that train with me to offer this same thing many of them do. And why can any of us get by with that? Because it does have the repeat-ability efficacy. Otherwise I would have gone broke.

 

This is why I am saving and planning for the June workshop. Finally.

 

And as far as schools even right now it is similar accessibility as to many other different specialties in other fields of study. For instance if massage therapists want to learn specialty techniques they have to go where those specialty techniques are.

 

Very good point.

[Kempomaster]

I want to add that if you re-read parts of my post(s) I in fact said that I would like to see Western Medicine and Medical Qigong partner - not compete against each other.

 

The patients that we typically get are those that have been to several Medical Doctors and tried a variety of Medicines as well as physical therapy and have many times been told - we have done all we can do - we will try to use Med's to help you cope with the pain.

 

Now a legal factor that many may not have thought of or about: What if you are taking a Controlled Substance for you chronic pain issue and you are pulled over for speeding or some other issue and the police officer decides that you might be under the influence of the controlled substance? Does the fact that it is legally prescribed to you keep you from being in BIG trouble? The answer is no! Don't operate heavy machinery etc including your automobile while under the influence of these med's and God forbid you are involved in an accident, it is your fault, they do a blood test and determine that you have taken pain killers (schedule 2 or 3 narcotic). Many local governments have made these arrests become big business for them. You will need to hire an attorney, you will probably have to attend Narcotics Anonymous and Alcholics Anonymous meetings - go to other counseling, lose your drivers license for at least 90 days, and the grief goes on.

 

So - yes it can be difficult to find a Medical Qigong Practitioner that can treat these chronic pain syndromes but when you consider the grief you might suffer in the above mentioned case perhaps it would be less grief in the long run by searching out and trying a Medical Qigong person.

 

The NQA is what we have at this point for Certification - I don't know how many members they have that have attained the position of Medical Qigong Practitioner. But, I would assume as with most groups/organizations that you have talented individuals and you have not-so-talented individuals and that the overall numbers usually follow that of a Bell-Shaped Curve - with extremely talented being at one end and not-very talented being at the other and a variety of abilities in-between the ends. This is true in almost every profession though - you have Medical Doctors that are members of the AMA and some are extremely talented Medical Professionals and there are others that barely skim by.

 

I will say that most of the individuals that I have met at the workshops I attend are all pretty talented individuals in regards to Medical Qigong. Yes - some more so than others - but time and effort is important and so is attending a quality program.

 

I bet we have people on this forum with a diverse amount of talent and abilities. Some, probably have the right connections to get a Medical Qigong study funded, organized, and initiated. Others have expertise in communications and could get Medical Practitioners interviewed on Public Radio to help educate the public on this amazing medicine.

 

What is your talent? How can you help?

 

Thanks,

 

Kempomaster

[gendao]

I think the physicians are caught in the middle between a rock & a hard place with the pain meds. I have talked with many about this subject as well. Like you say, danged if they do and danged if they don't. And once someone is hooked on some of these it is extremely difficult to get off them.

 

Really I don't know how I could have tried much harder than I have over the last 30 years or so to get this message across. I have been on TV where I did a live unrehearsed session on a medical student with a stomach problem who had been hospitalized and through the mill of every specialist with no results and the Taoist treatment made their pain go away live on TV - not what I said but what they said. One would think this would have made some type of impact but really I don't think it did. I have taught at 2 different medical schools exposing many 4th year med students to this and one would think that it would have made a bit of difference. I don't think it really did - they graduated then went right on into the western medicine mill. I have taught thousands of students. One would think these people would take this stuff and run with it and indeed many have. But the ratio of people who learn a bit of this and those who complete the study and will go ahead and open medical qigong clinics is - well, I can't complain but it certainly would be a great thing if the ratio were higher. Others & I have dedicated our whole lives to this and one would think that by now more people would be aware but... I guess in general way more people ARE aware. If we look at the membership of the NQA we will see that the numbers have increased significantly. I have students all over the world learning this and already achieving great results so I guess my bitchin above isn't such a great thing. I just wish more people would be aware of how amazing medical qigong and Taoist medicine is and the degree of efficacy it offers and I wish more would learn it to help humanity. This is desperately needed in today's society, especially with the increase of toxic meds and the cost of western medicine bankrupting people.

Any paradigm shift takes measurable time to gain mainstream adoption.

You are simply an innovator in this country. Your students and patients are early adopters. And as this trailblazing group steadily grows up to 16%, only then will it hit the tipping point into the mainstream...and then "go viral" much more quickly..

But, we're already starting to see a little mainstream exposure to alternative healing, even now though..

This episode on Oprah actually featured energetic & TCM treatments for eczema & vitiligo for "mainstream sheeple" - both with noticeable results in time!!!

 

So, I see this stuff following the same trajectory as yoga, which spread amongst the fringe underground here for years until it finally exploded out into the mainstream and is now so popular it's trendy (for better and worse). Once the sh*t hits the tipping point, look out!!!

Edited April 8, 2012 by vortex

[Friend]

You may ask why it comes so far that so many people need pain killers.

 

"A story told that a emperor praised a medical because he has helped him survived a critical and dangerous illness. And even so the medical told that his brothers are far more great. The Emperor thought the brothers could heal greater illness.

The Medical told that his second brother is better than him because he would see from the signs that one has the illness and can stop it before it get dangerous.

But big brother is even better - he not let any illness occur."

 

Selling pain killers is buisness. Short cut them will raise the demand.

Even create a blackmarket for these things when it seems lucrative.

When one has medical Qigong, faith healers, psychic surgeons, natural healer etc.

People who are either trained in concentration or energy.

Then one has additional competioner on the market. Companies like to control the market alone and like to milk the customer. Old and ill are kept alive so one can

sell them the drugs. It works like addiction. For them it is "No Pain not Gain".

They produce the things because they want to sell them not to help people- its buisness.

It is dangerous to heal someone as it will leads to lots of complication which may turn out permanent. A painfree patient after 2 Sessions cost less than 2 years on pain killers.

 

I from time to time do a healing but I will mostly let time past on the request

because time heals normally and second I tell the patient to ask the doctors first for help and do things which are more common sense. If really nothing works then I offer the healing.

And well they get the result. A direct result and a over time result on healing.

Mostly I need 5 Minutes when it is a local problem, I general refuse to take money

as I am here to help.

 

And on gunshot Serene Blue.... Common Sense is to use appropriate tool on a specific situation in specific place. Walking on water?- just take a boat! You still can walk on water if you can not swim when the boat sink....