MEdical qigong- the grandfather of accupuncture

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION AND FOR THAT REASON WILL HAVE TYPOS:)

Welcome to the, my natural wellness podcast with Dr. Michelle triage, giving you your holistic healthcare perspective.

Welcome back. Welcome back. I'm Dr. Michelle, and this is a holistic healthcare perspective podcast, and I'm so happy to be here today. Joined by my guest Janine. Uh, Janine is gonna be talking to us today about Chiang, and I'm very excited about this because Janine will also be, has been welcome to board on, um, the practice with my natural wellness. So she'll be helping some of my patients, many of my patients actually at the office. So if you're listening and you are one of my patients, or you've been to the office, Janine will be there as well to, to help with the energy work that is so powerful with, with Chiang. So welcome Janine.

Hey Michelle. <laugh> thank you so much for having me on here. This is exciting.

I know it's really exciting. So, so for people who are listening, who maybe have never heard of Chi Kong, um, and, and don't know you, why don't you tell us a little bit about you and how you, how you got started with it, how you started with practicing and how it's helped you?

Um, well first at Qigong itself is a, is a branch of Chinese medicine. So kind of like how you have acupuncture and, um, herbal medicine, martial arts Qigong is that fourth branch of Chinese medicine. And it's based off of, um, nature. It's an ancient healing art, which it's really, really cool that I get to pass that down. It was passed down to me from my teacher and, um, now I get to pass that on to any clients that I work with, which is pretty neat, um, and such a gift that I get to serve in this way, in that I've had this opportunity to learn this, this ancient art, um, which is also a healing modality, um, on an energetic level. Um, I got into it, um, cuz I started going to a Chinese medicine doctor who was certified in all different branches of Chinese medicine.

And um, I started going to him for acupuncture and he started doing this chigong thing on me and I was feeling, feeling really good. I was feeling better. It was, it was really working for me. It was giving me, um, practical tools that I can use on a daily basis in my own life to help heal things such as anxiety and um, sleep issues. Or if I, even, if, if I'm just having a bad day, I can whip out, um, a, some, one of the tools that he, he teaches me or that he taught me. And um, and then he told me, Hey, do you wanna take a class? I'm going to offer a certification. And then, um, I got into that just to learn more of the exercises for myself and ended up staying for all the different, um, modules of the class. And I got certified and now I can practice in on people and heal and help heal and, um, their healing processes, which is really exciting.

That's awesome. That's amazing. And I, I've always, you know, I talked to my patients a lot about acupuncture and how important it is, um, and, and how it can be an additional modality to help with, um, healing. Can you explain kind of the differences between, you know, acupuncture is needles are inserted into the body, um, and it helps move the energy of the body. Can you explain kind of the differences of acupuncture versus Chiko?

Okay. Um, so she itself is energy. She is, is the definition of it is the life force. It's what animates us. It's um, what gives us energy? Um, it's our movement. It it's everywhere, right? Energy is everywhere. We learn it in science growing up in grade school. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, so it's a real thing. Our thoughts are energy. It's, it's kind of that unseen, but felt, um, sort of

Forced, forced, right? Yeah.

That we're working with. Um, so, so Qigong works directly with the energetic body, which ultimately will impact the spiritual and the physical body as well. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so everything is always going to be, um, impacting each other in different ways. So if you, you know, if I decide I want to lose weight, um, I can impact that from a state of I'm gonna just eat different foods and that's gonna move energy just by the foods that I'm eating or the exercise that I'm doing. Um, or I can come at it from a more emotional, spiritual level or an energetic level where I'm impacting what, uh, what's going on, energetically. And, and then I can shift and move things that will help me to be able to, to lose weight in that sense as well. And then that'll help me to make better decisions and eat better. So it's just kind of approaching it from a different, from a different body, but they all kind of work with each other. So when you impact one, you impact the other type thing.

Yeah. And I love your explanation too, that you've given to me about what she is. Um, when you walk into a room and you feel sort of the energy, it's really good, either there's music going or people are excited, you feel that energy, or you've ever walked into maybe a room where there's a lot of sadness. You are immediately hit with it. Like you, you feel it as if you've been literally

There's no, no words seem to be said, you can just walk into a room and you feel, you know, you can feel joy, you can feel like an excitement or you can feel a heaviness of whoa, what's going on in here. I don't know if I like this. Um, that's all reading energy. Um, and so the purpose of, of Keong is to move energy. So basically what I do is I work with people to allow them to bring up what's what's up. So there's layers of things, right. And we're just trying to find alignment. We're trying to find clarity. And I, I, I feel like I can do no harm to somebody mm-hmm <affirmative> cause I'm not, you know, putting a needle in somebody in a spot that maybe I think needs it, but I'm more working with what you're bringing to the table, what you are, what's present with you at the moment.

And it's giving that, that time and space to allow whatever that is showing up for you to be up mm-hmm <affirmative> and then working through it and moving it. So during the sessions, we're just moving energy and it's, it's talking a little bit, it's getting on the table and allowing me to just kind of do my work and read your energy and, and it, but it's all about what's up for you. What's up at that moment and what your body is telling me, that's ready to be moved and then remove that layer. And then the next time you come in or the next time you, or I might give you an exercise that you can do at home and you can continue to move and process through things. And it's just kind of like the onion just layering little by little. And it's, it's about what's up for you at that moment.

Yeah. And I can, I can personally, like earlier this week, you and I had a, a session together and I had come to you and said, okay, this week has been particularly difficult. I've had some things going on, you know, work family, things that, um, caused me to feel like my, there was some stuck energy and I know everybody who's listening can like when you feel that sort of heaviness in your chest or that sort of like heaviness in your throat where maybe there's something that you need to say speak up about, or maybe there's something that has been bothering you or something is going on and it's, um, more on what's happening externally to you versus what's physically, you know, physical healing is going on. And after our, we, we just spent maybe 30 minutes together. Yeah. There was more lightness. I was like, okay, I feel so much better.

And I was able to move through this, um, these difficulties that naturally come up in life with a, with a lot more grace, I would say, and, and patience and compassion versus, you know, when I came in <laugh> I was like, I'm angry. <laugh>, which everybody's felt before. I have a lot of anger and it sits in my chest. And, and so, you know, it was just, it just helped me to approach the situation with more grace and more patience and more compassion for the people that I was sort of working with or dealing with, or with myself too. So, you know, that, I love that we <laugh>, I didn't love that I had that, uh, this week, but I love that we were able to work together this week so that I could kind of share that on this, um, podcast about how that, that helped me sort of from an emotional perspective. But what, what, what do you think about from a, from a medical perspective, like when someone's going through, like they're trying to heal something, maybe it's in their gut or maybe they it's in their mood or maybe either something really there's some dysfunction going on. How does, uh, medical Chiang help with that?

Well, like I said before, what, what is manifesting physically is, um, can be impacted by what's happening energetically. So when we're moving that energy, it's kind of aiding in that, like giving you more vitality, giving, giving you aid in the healing process. Um, so many books out there. Now that things start with the thoughts or, you know, things manifest physically last. And so when we can attack it from the energetic level first, then we can, well, if we attack it from there first, we can prevent things from happening altogether. But if they're already manifesting, we can just aid in that healing process with whatever doctors you're working with and, and just making you stronger, giving you tools to, to deal with certain anxieties about it, or, um, it just, it's very relaxing. It's, it's processing through things in a way where you have, um, a little bit more control too, because it's not so much about what's hap like trying to tackle it's it's, uh, it's about getting to the root mm-hmm <affirmative> through revealing the layers mm-hmm <affirmative> through what, in the moment, which, um, I find to be an adventure at the same time, um, because it's not so much about giving you all the answers.

I'm the PR I was the kind of person where my Pegon practitioner that was working on me, I would say like, well, what, what are the steps what's gonna happen in the future? What, you know, how's this gonna help me? Where am I going? Give me all the steps, give me all the things, give me all the answers. And, and then, and then I can attack from there. And sometimes it's like, we can have all the, we can be given all the answers. We can listen to all the podcasts in the world. We can read all the books in the world, but in, in the end, those are seeds being planted and a Chik session and learning these exercises are, um, an experience mm-hmm <affirmative>, so it's fully integrating into the experience and that's something that even, I can't even explain properly. Cause you have to just experience it for yourself and, and, and then you, you deeply connect with it at that point. I don't know if that makes sense. <laugh>

Yes, yes. You and I do agree. You kind of have, you have to experience it for yourself and you know, that's true. I have a lot of patients that come into the office too, looking for like, I want the answer and we talk about how there's, there's pathological things going on, biological things going on, there's genetic things that may be going on. And then there's this mental, emotional, spiritual level that most, I would say most primary care physicians or, or in the traditional medical model, in the United States that is not addressed that sort of like pillar, that's really important to your total healing. And so there's a lot of like talk therapy and things like that when you wanna. But what if you have no words, right? Why so using the body itself to heal itself, which it is, I've always said it on here too. The body's a self healing organism. And so learning to move that energy, it, it just really makes sense to me from that level. And, and it really kind of fulfills that, that, that pillar, that needs to be fulfilled for total, for total health. Oh yeah. So

Fully embodying it, experiencing it going with where you are at it's it's, there's no right or wrong. There is no answer. The answer lies within you. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so we're just kind of help, like, what I'm doing is just kind of sitting there with you and like, okay, this needs to be moved. This needs to be shifted. Okay, this we're gonna move this over here. We're gonna take this out, send, send it down into the earth kind of thing. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, and, and learning how to really process through things. Like I think that's where the healing really happens is where we continue to process the layer until we're in a place of alignment. And, and we have clarity, we have groundedness and, and that's a place where you can really grow and, and stand within yourself, be, be the mountain. So to say,

Yeah, and I think that we're so used to processing with the thinking brain, and we're not used to process, but we have this whole rest of this body. <laugh> what he calls it. A meat suit. These, we have the whole rest of it that we can use to process anger, resentment, happiness, joy, dissatisfaction, like all of the things that go with life, all

Of the things they're making decisions,

Decisions. Yes. All of that can be processed with the whole body. And what I, what I find and continue to read in books is that when we do not address something emotionally, it will show up in the body, like you said, so in traditional Chinese medicine, different organ systems have different emotions, right? So liver area can be the seat of anger and resentment and gallbladder can be another area of emotion. Obviously your heart is one area of emotion. And so moving that energy helps to prevent disease, but also helps to facilitate the healing process that may already, that is already taking place because your body's always trying to heal. But what I really like about Chiang is it's accessibility, right? So it's not, you can teach me things to take home and, and exercises to do that. Um, so I don't have, I mean, I come and I come and I see you, but it's practical.

It's much more practical than making an appointment. Um, with my acupuncturist, you know, every single day I can't do that, but I can move the energy myself. And so mm-hmm, <affirmative>, um, I'm always trying to empower people and say like, I'm just gonna give you the tools only you are, you are responsible for eating the right things. And, you know, making sure that you're meditating, making sure that you are spending time in nature, drinking, water, breathing, good air, you know, sleeping eight hours at night. You it's all, it's all kind of up to you. Um, so I really like that about

It's practical and it's spiritual and it's, it's just, you, you go on this healing adventure towards wholeness imbalance is what you're doing. Mm. And you know, life. And then as you continue Tolay and delay things as they come up and it's like, oh, this is now ready to move. Oh, this is now ready to move. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. But then, I mean, eventually you get to a place where you feel pretty balanced, but then life is always gonna throw things at you. Mm-hmm <affirmative> life is always the, the external is always gonna throw things at you. But when you hit this place of, I have my tools, I know what to do when this happens. I, um, I can always go back for another session and, and create time and space to deal with this particular thing that's coming up, because then what happens is the more life throws at you.

And we just kind of let it sit in different organ networks, then it just sits there and then it, it FES and it doesn't go away. So in, we learn to work through those things, we process it's, it's not just not just talk therapy or not just taking an herbal medicine. It's kind of integrating all of it. And you having control too, to learn how to do it yourself and have those tools as well, to process through things. Cause stagnation is that's the stuckness mm-hmm, <affirmative>, that's, that's the, that's where the disease starts. Cause we want everything flowing. We, we have, we just want, we want everything to be free and flowing. That's what we wanna be a nice balanced body that is free lowing, clear, balanced, and aligned and, and that's, and that's the goal of, of Keong is to help you get there and to help you stay there

And, and to teach you practical tools that you can use every day. I mean, that's, that's what I really love about it. That you can just take that with you. And, uh, I remember when we first started talking about Chiang, it's almost been a year now when I was like, I'm going to this retreat <laugh> and I'm gonna practice Chiang and I've never done it before. Um, this is gonna be great. And we just started to kind of over the last year, talk more about, about this practice, about, um, the benefits of it. And, um, and that's how it evolved for us to have you come into the office and, and meet with, um, clients to, to work with them. Um, which I'm super excited about, because I feel like that is, um, that is the area that, like I said, is that other pillar that needs to be addressed.

Um, you know, we can do so much with food and we can do so much with, with lifestyle change and exercise, but there is this other level that has to be addressed in order for you to feel that complete sort of healing take place where that energy, like you said, is flowing and moving and not, um, stagnant. And you can feel it when it's like, I felt it in my chest on Monday <laugh> I knew it was stuck there. I was like, I can feel it stuck here. Um, and I think a lot of women have stuck energy in the heart, you know, heartbreak, divorce, um, J just end ending of relationships and men too as well. That's why I feel like heart disease is the number one killer in the United States is because we have, we are a, we are a generation, we are a society of brokenhearted people and heartbreak is sort of a natural part, but we don't process it. We don't move that energy. It gets stuck in the heart, it gets stuck in the arteries. And then we add to it by not eating the things that are going to be helpful for our cholesterol and our arteries. So, um,

Yeah, and remember that Chinese medicine is, is an art form, so it's very poetic and beautiful mm-hmm <affirmative>. So when we talk about the heart or the liver, it's, it's, um, it's more giving things, a language to how you can heal or, or to even diagnose to a certain extent. You're like to know what what's going on. Like, well, I'm feeling this, um, like maybe your earth, your earth element, which is also your spleen. Everything kind of goes together like that in Chinese medicine. So let's say your earth element is a little bit off. And the person who earth element is off is somebody who, if you're just walking down the street and somebody might like just kind of lightly tap you and all of a sudden you just fall over mm. Like your earth yet that grounding that mountain, like think of the earth element as like the mountain it's just stable. It's strong. And like, when that, and that's the example of a person that can be off on their earth element. And so then we try to balance it with the other elements mm-hmm <affirmative> within the body and move those things. So it's, it's really beautiful.

<laugh> what have you, you know, people that you've worked with in the past, or what, or what have you seen that's um, like maybe a, you can tell us something about someone that you've worked with in the past that, um, was, had saw the significant change once they had started to integrate Qigong, um, into their life.

Oh, they just seem lighter. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> seem lighter. They feel, they seem confident. Um, and it's not just them. It's me too. I mean, the reason why I feel like I'm a good practitioner is that it's helped me so much in my own life. And I use the tools on a daily basis and it's provided freedom and flowing and ease and, and balance and peace mm-hmm <affirmative>. So, and one of the coolest things, when I'm actually giving, um, a session, doing a session on somebody is, you know, we usually like put like a little massage pillow over the eyes, but then I'll see like tears coming down their face when I'm working on a certain organ network. And they won't even know that they cry when they wait, when they kind of come out, they'll just be like, I'll just be like, do you know, you were crying when I was working on your liver or something. And, and they'll just be like, no. And, um, and it's just so neat, like when you see it impacting

People. Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. They don't even know the body's moving this energy and it's coming out through the eyes. Yeah. I think is beautiful. I think we don't cry enough. We should, we should let these emotions out through our eyes. I think that's what it's

There for crying release is a cortisol.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's why, you know, kids do it all the time and they're so they're so happy

Kids there's crying or sometimes people will flat out be snoring while I'm working like on one part on one organ network and then wake up for another part mm-hmm <affirmative>. So, I mean, it just kinda shows where all the different balances are, or something's a little more heated than others, but then by the end of a session, you've moved, what you came to move, whatever has been showing up for you. We moved it, we moved it. We did what we needed to do with it. And then on the next session we work on what's next, or what's coming up, or maybe something is a tendency that keeps coming back. So we teach an exercise so that you can do it at home. And every time that that particular anxiety or thing comes up, you can do that exercise to help work through it.

Yeah, I can. And I can attest to what you said about the lightness. You know, the, the feeling like even when you're dealing with something, you can still flow through life with a lightness, even when things are happening with you at home, things are happening with you at work. Your body is not cooperating with you the way that you want it to cooperate with you, that lightness of, um, sort of like there's no, you're not trying to force anything. You're not trying to push anything. You're just flowing with what is makes it so that you're not fighting. <laugh> you just, you just are present with yourself. So I really, um, I really resonate with that sort of personally with that, that lightness. Um, so,

And it means you where you're at.

Yes,

Exactly. You don't have to be a certain person. You don't have to tell me the right things or what do you think I wanna hear? I, it has, it does nothing for me. <laugh> yeah. So it's just about where you're at, what is showing up and we move it and it, it, it's, it's a great practice for anybody also, who is who struggles with, with wanting to just kind of get through life really quickly and just like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna get to the comfort zone, but it's more about just like, well, this is where I'm at. I don't need to know the future. I don't need to know what's next. What's under that layer. I'm just gonna move that layer. And then I'm gonna go with what's next and see what's what's coming up now.

That's awesome. Well, if you're listening and any, what we're talking about has really resonated with you and you're feeling like you'd like to reach out to us and talk more about how you can integrate Chiang. You can, um, reach out to me, uh, Dr. Michelle at my natural wellness, um, or you can, um, also gimme a call at the office and we can set up an appointment for you with Janine, or we can set up a time for us to, to connect, to talk more about what Chicon can do for you. Um, is there anything else you kind of wanna leave us with Janine before we, before we close?

Um, just that again, there's no, there's no right or wrong place to be, and that these tools will help you process through stagnation through blocks. And I mean, that's really, I think the key to life is just continuing to work and process through what's up, what is here now, what is happening now and allowing things to be revealed in its due time. And, and my privilege and honor is to get to hold that space for the clients, for anybody who needs it. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And, and that to me is just a beautiful gift and a service that I get to give to the world that I hope to continue to share to anybody who needs it.

Well, I can definitely, um, I can definitely attest to it. And, um, I, I know Jeanine and I know her heart is, is really there to help others. And, um, so I'm very excited to, to offer this service in addition to what we already offer at my natural wellness. So thanks so much, Janine. Um, I am excited about all of this and thank you for joining me on the podcast podcast and thanks everyone for listening. Um, stay tuned for the next podcast. I'm sure we'll have a new and interesting person to talk to that will enlighten and, um, empower you to make positive changes in your health and wellness.

Thank you for listening to the, my natural wellness podcast with Dr. Michelle