Qigong: The Dao of Wellness & Compassion

I am very lucky to be in my late 70s and relatively healthy; I was born in Chicago, raised in Texas, and moved to California after college. I had an interesting, challenging and joyful career as an attorney in California for more than 40 years. Going to law school and becoming a qigong teacher were two of my best life decisions! My favorite joyful activities now are dancing, walking in the redwoods, and teaching qigong every Sunday at Wen Wu School.

I am very thankful to Grandmaster Hui Liu, my Dayan Qigong teacher whom we call Shimu. After taking about two years of qigong classes at Kaiser Hospital, I was curious and eager to both meet (and take classes from) Grandmaster Liu at Wen Wu School. Remarkably, I expected to meet a highly extroverted person who had a lot to say in many loud words. To my surprise, I met a soft-spoken, quietly confident, most generous, and very modest person, who didn't pitch hard balls like many of my colleagues in the legal profession.

Shimu's teaching was firm but not aggressive, serious but not intimidating and I noticed one of her biggest goals was always to see us succeed.  She also had a shy but marvelous sense of humor.  These are hallmarks of a great teacher.

Another thing I noticed, over the years, was that Shimu was a keenly observant scientist. Working with what she learned from Grandmaster Yang Meijun in China, Shimu focused intensely on the flow of qi in her own body while practicing and carefully observed how certain modifications and refinements made some movements more powerful. From time to time, when we had our teacher re-certifications and Form check intensives or during special advanced classes, she showed us the changes she had made to the Form and warm-ups to make the practice more effective.  This is the hallmark of a great leader.

Last but not least, Shimu taught me how to be more compassionate.  I did not initially come from a culture where compassion was well understood.  During her funeral service in August 2021, I learned that in her last three years, Shimu had painted 100 images of the Bodhisattva Guanyin, the exemplar of compassion. I understood that Shimu's paintings were not only an enormous artistic feat for an accomplished painter but also represented the pinnacle of spiritual growth in compassion.

It was in the days following her funeral that I came to realize that some of Shimu's compassion had rubbed off on me while I knew her.  I sincerely thank Shimu for teaching me compassion as much as for teaching me Dayan Qigong. Shimu will live in my heart always.

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