One of the things that drew me to Shaolin Wahnam and Cosmos Qigong is just how many benefits these arts can have with only a short amount of regular practice. Beyond restoring health and vitality, Grandmaster Wong has always maintained that our practice should enhance our daily lives. After all, it’s beautiful to be in a blissful state of spiritual expansion and deep meditation, but that’s not where the day to day of our lives happen. So, our practice should enrich every aspect of our lives, not just the parts devoted to mindfulness and meditation.
This is a story of how Qigong profoundly changed something that I’d previously struggled with my entire life.
Wait for it…
I used to be deathly afraid of public speaking.
Yep, that’s right. Me, the teacher, the blogger, the speaker. It terrified me. I’d get up sweating, heart pounding, voice shaking, and awkwardly fight my way through presentations and panel interviews. Ugh, it was a nightmare.
As I made my way through graduate school, I knew I was going to have to find a way to slay that demon if I wanted to be a successful acupuncturist. Part of our practice building is teaching and educating others. Nevertheless, I just didn’t see how I was supposed to make it past the near crippling fear that gripped me each time I got up to speak in front of people.
Then in 2014, I had the great fortune to attend an intensive course taught by Grandmaster Wong on Kauai all about cultivating Zen and using it in everyday life. To say it was a life-changing experience is an understatement. While there, I was on a boat ride with some dear friends, one of whom is a sought-after public speaker. I was a few months shy of graduation and no closer to overcoming my fear of public speaking than I had been at the start of school. My friend gave me some tips, but nothing really seemed to convince me that I was going to improve….
Later that day, we returned for our evening training session with Grandmaster Wong. Imagine my surprise when he said that we were going to learn how to apply Zen skills to public speaking. He discussed a variety of different tactics including entering into a Qigong state before starting to speak, beginning with asking a question to give yourself more time to find your words if you’re struggling with them, and thinking of the Dan Tian if you start to get anxious, among other things.
He had us practice these skills first with an imaginary partner, and then those of us who wanted to volunteer could give a five-minute speech on a topic chosen by other attendees on the spot. No prep time, just do it. What could be more Zen than that?
Every fiber of my being recoiled at the idea of getting up there to speak. Fortunately, I have a strong sense of needing to try the things that are the most difficult for me, so I volunteered. The topic chosen for me? Finance.
Ten years later, I have enough financial savvy that this would be no problem for me, but at the time, let’s just say my knowledge of that topic was scant at best, AND I was still afraid of public speaking. Ooh goody. Fear and lack of knowledge. What a winning combination.
All the same, I found an aspect of the topic I could speak on, used Grandmaster Wong’s teachings, and spoke from there. Some of the shaking eased out as I thought of my Dantian, I felt a little more confident, and I even made a few good jokes. Certainly, there were been better speeches, but it wasn’t half bad, especially given my starting point. I was applauded and sat down still shaking inside, but proud of myself that I put my fear aside and did it anyway.
Sometimes in Cosmos Qigong, as a person is cleansing and removing their blockage, it will flare up one final time before it goes away. I’d heard fellow students talk about this, but had never experienced it myself. The morning after I gave that speech, I woke up and my voice was completely gone. I wasn’t just hoarse; I could barely aspirate words. Mind you, I’d never had laryngitis before. I’ve also never had it since. I’m sure it could’ve just been a fantastic coincidence, but to this day I truly believe that was the last of my fear surrounding public speaking leaving me.
Like all things in Qigong, it wasn’t an instantaneous change, but rather a powerful shift and public speaking started to become easier and easier. I still won’t say that it’s my strong suit, but I enjoy it and I enjoy experimenting with different tactics to improve that skill. A decade later, my friend and I still laugh about that day he gave me public speaking pointers on the boat.
There’s the obvious big stuff that shifts with our practice- depression, chronic pain, fatigue. These are all things that vastly improve quality of life. Then there are the smaller things, public speaking for example, that help us not just because we’re overcoming fears, but also because they are the seeds of things that can help us professionally, or follow a thread that we may not have had we not developed that skill- like teaching Qigong for instance.
What breakthroughs do you want to make? Do you have some old stories that you want to stop telling yourself? Qigong for Health and Vitality is just around the corner. Discover how this mindful practice that combines energy and breathwork can help you make the changes- both subtle and not so subtle- that you’ve been wanting to make in your life.
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