Guo Lin Qi Gong for Cancer and Chronic Illness

It's taken me about a week to recover from the trip to meet the Guo Lin Qigong master and learn the practice.  It was a rather intense trip.

There is so much to discuss here -  this post will briefly cover a little about the people who we met and some of the general principals and ideas of the practice.  I got to do some interviews and am working to have those up at some point. 

What is Qigong?

A many thousand year old Chinese  practice that involves coordinated and relaxed breath and movements.  Qigong is about building Qi - or life force - or prana - or vital energy.
Guo Lin Qigong is the only form of Qigong that involves a walking exercise... in fact, a large part of the practice is walking.
Guo Lin Qigong (and I would imagine other forms as well) are about gathering and building energy, as opposed to exercise which expels and uses energy.  I feel more energized after practice, not in the same way as the initial buzz after regular exercise, it's more gentle and long lasting. 

Guo Lin Qigong is a specific practice that was created by Master Guo Lin to cure herself of terminal cancer.  The inheritress of Taoist texts and lineage, she practiced Qigong but did not find that it helped her as her cancer progressed.  However, she was convinced that there were Qigong exercises that would, and so she went back to ancient texts and created what is known as Guo Lin Qigong.   Master Guo Lin went on to live another 30 plus years, ultimately dying of a stroke.   She worked up to the end.

Cut to our Master Sun.   Master Sun too was diagnosed with breast cancer in her mid-forties.  She had her breasts removed and did chemo and radiation.  I am not sure how much later, but the cancer returned and had metastisized into her lungs.   The surgeons opened her up and then immediately closed her, telling her there was nothing they could do.  She was given a death sentence and sent home.  She and her husband found Guo Lin Qigong through an article they read.  And immediately Master Sun began to practice.  I am not sure what herbs or diets she also took on, but I do know that Master Sun frowns upon sugar and too many carbs or meats.

From there Master Sun joined a group and began to practice, I believe 3 hours a day.  Six or so years later, she sought out Master Guo Lin to learn directly from her.   Master Sun continues to this day, 30 plus years later to practice at least an hour a day and is, and has been for more than 2 decades, cancer free.

To be able to personally be taught by someone of Master Sun's history and lineage was an honor.  

I met several other members of Master Sun's group.  Some starting out on their journey like a stage 4 kidney cancer patient who experienced a 40% reduction in the size of his tumor after practicing for about a couple months (but also he is taking a drug designed to halt the growth of the tumor - I say that because although the drug was not known to shrink tumors I just feel it's fair to share this info), a young esophageal cancer patient (he did surgery, chemo and radiation and was about four months into his journey), a man who had cancer of the tracea about 10 years prior (he did chemo and surgery as well, but said his practice helped him speed recover and gather more energy) .... other members I did not meet - like a woman who had sixteen years prior been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer who was beyond the bounds of medicine and so did not do chemo, radiation, or surgery (it took her nearly 8 years, as the tumors shrunk and then calcified, to be completely cancer free).

Master Sun taught us the level one exercises for the health issues I mention in a previous post.
Guo Lin Qigong Lesson.   

Our practice schedules are intensive - and it is recommended that we practice an hour a day outdoors in fresh air under the sun.  This so far, has not been possible.  However, I do know that when I practiced with Master Sun, I felt better.  So now my mission is to integrate that into our daily lives - a challenge that I will patiently and persistently work on.