Qigong offers a vision for community harmony, prosperity, and peace -not just people, but the earth and all living beings, everywhere.
Our spiritual, educational, creative and environmental values all speak to the desire of the people here toward human evolution. The practice of Qigong can further that evolution.

The first annual Wisdom Healing Spiral, formed with 500 people in vibration of movement, sound and visualization, has demonstrated this potential. Master Gu will share the documentary video in the conference. Any kind of change—whether individual, social, economic, cultural transformation, even world peace—comes from engagement of community. It is very easy to understand and very accessible to experience on an energetic level, because when we connect our energy body with the larger field—the field beyond the individual body and the individual life—then we link to the field that encompasses all relationships, the earth planet and beyond. That is when energy changes within the body much faster, deeper, and in a more integrated way. When that change happens it must express itself in many ways; in social change, economic change, cultural change, political change--including world peace.

The Practice of Qigong
The whole purpose in Qigong is internal integration of all dimensions of the Self (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual). In the beginning stages of Qigong practice, one is cultivating awareness of the physical, emotional, and mental dimensions. If one is not aware of these it's very difficult to have them in agreement with each other. So the first step is awakening our consciousness to our experience.

The practice itself involves movement, visualization, sound, and conscious integration of your energy body with external energy. In that flow of energy you're literally placing yourself into the ocean. You're one drop of water in the ocean. You experience being a part of that oneness. The only thing that's required is experience, experience which comes from doing. People talk about being versus doing. They're the same thing. By doing you are being. You feel the relaxation in your own personal experience. You feel the deep peace. You feel the recognition of all levels of yourself in relationship, connected to that oneness.

When you cultivate your energy body, your mind goes to your Dantian (inside your naval). That's the creative energy center. All the body's energy flows through this center. Your meridian channel energy, your chakra system, your aura, your metal energy, goes there, stabilizes there, from all direction. It is said " Heaven and Earth unites." In practicing Qigong and focusing on a certain center we discover its deep meaning. The meaning and the deep experience uncovers by itself in the process of practicing. There are times when we just want to feel that peacefulness that's beyond description. We can use words like bliss to describe it, but it's beyond words. That deep space that we enter into embraces all of us, our physical, mental, and emotional layers. With that embrace comes peace.

By awakening our energy body, a new understanding arises about the importance of all aspects of life experience. On a physical and emotional level you gain new insight into the sensations of the body. From this deeper level, inner conflicts are resolved. For example, in a relationship you learn to check inwardly to recognize if an emotion or sensation is comfortable or uncomfortable. Adults must reawaken this sensitivity through practice. This cultivated sensitivity allows us to act rather than react. We're not caught in emotional reaction anymore. Awareness develops about what you're thinking and feeling at any moment. When you're 100% comfortable with any decision you make, because your heart and mind is in agreement, you know that you're making a really wise choice.

By practicing Qigong that gentle movement, with sound, with focused attention, you're awakening energetically to a pure energetic state. In that energetic state you no longer associate with your 'story'. On the surface of that state you can recognize certain feelings, certain emotions. Beyond the surface you go into the depths like you would go into the depths of the ocean. In the depths of the ocean, in the core of your being, there's no differentiation. You can call this state the state of grace, compassion, oneness, nothingness, undifferentiated.

No Man is an Island
John Donne, Poet

Be the change in your life field
Individual and collective changes are not separate. Internal and external changes are not separate. One starts with internal change. In the practice we learn to recognize the conflicts  and stress within that affect our own inner peace and health. Disease is the dis-ease of the inner being, absence of inner harmony. Inner conflicts always reverberate in our relationships. The practice helps us lose our old conditioning that emphasizes winning and losing. By simply relaxing, relaxing, relaxing into the body, by giving oneself space to not think about old things nor anything outside of your body, we start realizing that it's O.K. to let go of old habits, our old conditioning. When we relax and be present we become happier, stronger and healthier. That's the peace you can experience very easily when you practice Qigong.

Research at the Heartmath Institute demonstrates that when two people meet, their heartbeats entrain. This explains how energy affects communication on a physical level. It's how babies pick up a mother's love and how people can sense another's feelings of fear, anger, or sadness even if the person is trying to hide his feelings. It explains why insincere smiles don't fool us. We pick up the real feelings through our body rhythms. It also shows how energy healing happens. Qigong practice which furthers the feeling of inner peace creates a condition which is communicated on this visceral level. In terms of spreading peace, this is an important component. Peace means harmony, all-embracing acceptance, openness—first of all, ourselves, then of others.

When we say we love another we get into a heart space. When we agree with one another we've moved into a head space. The synchronizing of the heart rhythm is a confirmation of how two energy bodies respond to one other. That synchronization of the energy isn't just physical. It's emotional and mental too. In less differentiated states, people feel the emotional and mental resonance more. Sometimes people realize "I'm feeling the same sensation you're feeling." It may be sensations of warmth, lightness, relaxation, discomfort or unidentified feelings. We might call this sympathetic or telepathic resonance. That resonance can happen on the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels.
By shifting our attention to our own bodies and creative power of our mind, we become aware of how it's acting like bio-energetic feedback system.
This is how we experience energetic connection -- amplify all signals of energy. When friends know each other well, they come to this type of non-verbal communication very naturally. They can choose re-enforce either positivity or negativity.
By healing oneself, one can engage in this process of healing the collective through a positive intentional resonance. We have opportunities to do this all the time. Sometimes it's hard when we're engaged in life activities that require goal orientation, problem solving or stressful situations. It's always a challenge to practice the spirit of Qigong in a competitive work environment. For example when you start to feel more relaxed, you might find at first that you don't accomplish as much as you or your boss would like you to in one or two days. But in one week, you start to accomplish more. Then your managers become happy with you and want to know how you do it. So if you live in the framework of, how I want to please everyone now, that is very difficult. Instead, realize that you must please yourself. Then in three days or one week you will have pleased everybody. It's possible that you won't please everyone all the time, but in the big picture your contribution will shine. Change your focus from outer to inner. Get into a flow. It's more effortless! And it's more deeply effective.  In this way, you are cultivating the "secret" behind the "secret" -- align yourself internally with the universal flow of life, beyond your struggle against external desires and conflicts.

In the beginning effort guides you to an effortless flow. It becomes easier than you thought. You naturally become part of the flow. You become more engaged, happier. Flow also has to do with direction. On the one hand you're cultivating an expansion of the energy field, but on the other you're also guiding that energy in a certain direction, heading toward the ocean. When that direction is clear the flow becomes very strong. You're not running in a million different directions any more. Your focus is no longer sporadic. That direction, your direction, is very important. The flow can carry you as it gathers force. Keep your mind clear and focused. Keep your life purpose clear and focused. Keep your feelings simple.  This can activate the true source of healing: transformation of life energy field. This is the place we meet with the individual and collectives, with the internal and external.

Out beyond right doing and wrong doing there is a field
I will meet you there
Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Every time you practice you feel differently. People often ask "Why do I feel so different every day?" That's the way it should be. You feel stuck when you feel the same way every practice. That denies the flow of energy to begin with. It's not supposed to be the same. It's our preconceived mind that thinks of 'oneness' as 'sameness'. They are completely different things. This is how people misunderstand. In our lives we're looking for the sameness, for familiarity. In our lives, when dealing with relationships, we're doing the same thing, looking for predictability. We misunderstand oneness when you look for sameness and deny aliveness. Sameness on a deeper level is oneness. But on the level of appearances it's stagnation.
Differences help illuminate the complexity of the issue. All are limited. Beyond the limitation is the basis for peace. You can maintain your ground, your unique quality, your different methodology, but in a larger ground. The difference doesn't have to cause a conflict. But nowadays you see conflict coming from these differences because we don't know how to expand our view or how to appreciate differences.
Sometimes people think that conflicts are resolved by convincing others of our point of view or show them that their way is wrong. This is a purely mental approach. The energetic way is much simpler, much more effective and it's more peaceful. When we achieve inner peace we're living the model already. When we live at a cultivated, spiritual level of awareness, we're living as model of peace already. Without trying to convince or change other people's opinions, we are exerting an influence on them through example and through resonance. It's like a magnetic field around you. It's present and it's palpable.

Becoming Peace Messengers
The process is about recognizing that deeper level that we call pure energy. It's a creative energy. It's a healing energy. It 's a life energy, sustaining all phenomena. It's the same energy, "the force" that Star Wars talks about. The force be with you—with everyone, with all phenomena, not just the Jedi, even with the dark side! The only differentiation between the light and the dark is that the light comes from a loving space while the dark comes from a fearful space. This was what was shown so well in the movie—I don't like a lot fighting happening—that was just to entertain people, to attract them to the movie. But the deep message was so clear.
The implication of this for creating peace is to engage first on the energetic level—being aware of our own inner harmony—rather than engaging first on a mental level. There's no need to be argumentative, to get into the story. That's getting into a trap. This is very simple and very powerful. Oneness is within reach. Oneness within is the same as oneness without. From that perspective the community becomes so important because we reflect (energetically) on each other. You may have one piece of oneness or harmony within you on an experiential level and another person can bring another piece of that oneness. We give and receive from one another. We learn how to bring their oneness into ourselves and to convey our oneness to them. Our energy amplifies and integrates through being together. The energy of oneness becomes magnified. The field of resonance we create when we're with a group is much bigger than any individual field. (Teenagers know that!) Imagine a hundred people doing that. Imagine a thousand people doing that. Imagine all humans consciously doing that.
To be peace "messengers" we need to cultivate ourselves, recognizing that nothing is just for the self. Because whoever we are we share with the collective. The beauty of it is that we can change that collective without saying a word. (laughter) Sitting in Ashland, licking an ice cream, you could be sharing that peace. Being with neighbors lets it spread. If it's about winners and losers, we're all winners and losers together. It's not so heroic. It's never competitive, it's never about winning.

As Above so Below
Hermes Trismegistus
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Master Gu envisions a global annual Wisdom Healing Spiral. As he shared the powerful expression of this practice in last two decades in China, where thousands of people participated in a group such as a single spiral formation, he is eager to bring the creative energetic power of this archetypal format to the West. One's mind is drawn to both ancient wisdom and modern physics when Master Gu talks about the energetic importance of the spiral. Ancient Taoists studied the patterns of nature to gain insight into the attributes of the Tao. Ancient Alchemists sought to understand the transformative interactions of nature as a key to man's inner transformation. Today modern physics reveals that the spiral that one sees in the stars of the Milky Way is also found around the nucleus of every atom. This movement towards and away from the center invokes powerful creative energy. It is this energy which Master Gu wants us to co-create and experience. Community participation is important, because, he explains, there can't be a Milky Way with just a few stars. The power of the Milky Way comes from the huge number of stars spiraling within it. By participating, we compound the effects of Qigong practice on what binds us: a desire for harmony and peace in all our lives and in the life of our community, our nation, and our planet. 

Master Mingtong Gu is the founder of international Chi Healing Center and Wisdom Healing Foundation. In San Diego, Master Gu will be presenting "Qigong for Conscious Energy Healing: Ancient Art and New Science of Healing from China" – Feb. 20 and March 15-16. More information at 619-757-7387, www.chicenter.com.