Let's review ☥ apply these concepts Qigong style to help us heal and move forward. Colonizers function like the Wizard in that they use resources to create illusions of power that are sustained through psychological manipulation to the point that ☥ Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People succumb to coping mechanisms that cause us to willingly pay colonizers to hustle us (Portia sacrificial webs of deception). Daily Qigong practice dismantles these concentric circles of psychosis and teaches us how to pull back the curtain on the Wizard in order to see the truth and realize that our power was hidden from us because we were passive with our Qi. Once the Wizard is exposed, he becomes relieved to release the burdens of sustaining the illusion so that he can heal and learn how to cultivate his own inner power. With daily Qigong practice, the concentric circles of psychosis are then transformed into ripples of healing that reverberate out to the community allowing us to build a better world.
The sloth is like a Spirit Guide for the practice of Qigong. We can see from its genetic makeup, that it holds what appears to be a permanent smile on its face, and it moves slower than any animal I've ever seen. Baby sloths move slightly faster than the adults. I learned about sloths in Costa Rica during a four hour tour at a sloth sanctuary. They are delightful animals, and they have helped me to gain a deeper understanding of presence, cultivating joy in the midst of hardships and the art ☥ magic of slow movements.
Think about your favorite radio station. It is always on the air at a particular frequency, but until we turn the dial to the number of our station, we will not hear its broadcast. Similarly, our Qi is always available to us, but we need to move slowly in order to tap into its ‘frequency.’ Slow movements are like turning the dial on the radio to the station of ourselves. ☥ ☥ Dr. Phyllis SHU Hubbard ☥
Why Qigong Movements Are So Slow
In the Rising With The Sun blog, we are introduced to the power of slow movements. Imagine that we are in pool of water. As we look off in the short distance, we see a beautiful flower. We begin to move quickly towards the flower and make ripples in the water which pushes the flower further away. The faster we move, the more ripples we make. If we continue to move quickly, we will never get to the flower. However, what if we were to stop, gather ourself and move in slow-motion towards the flower? If we could move so slowly that we didn’t make a ripple in the water, we would be amazed at how quickly we would reach that flower. Sometimes, fast is slow and slow is fast. I first came across this concept while studying to become a Qigong teacher.
I learned that we often do not achieve what we want, but not because we don’t deserve it. We don’t achieve our goals because we too often move towards those goals with the wrong energy.
Have you noticed that the really cool looking shots on TV and in the movies are revealed to us in slow-motion? In the example above, we were presented with two ways of approaching the flower. The fast way represents acting on impulse which causes a ripple effect that pushes our goals out of reach. The slow way represents what happens when we are led by our innate intelligence. It is the way that comes to us when we breathe, pause and then check in with the truest part of ourselves before acting. Sometimes the action that we are guided to take seems slow, but it gets us to our goal quicker than the action that appeared to be faster. Examples of when fast becomes slow include:
☥ Throwing trash across the room and then missing the trash can and having to get up
and put the trash in the can
☥ Saying “yes” to something without checking our calendar and then realizing that
we’ll have to figure out how to back out of the commitment or fit it into our schedule
☥ Having to redo a project because we rushed through it
Qigong is an art ... You should understand that it does not matter which version you practice; the basic theory and principles remain the same. ☥ ☥ Jwing-Ming Yang ☥
Let’s look at some examples of how slow can become fast:
☥ Taking the time to learn a software program that simplifies and reduces our tasks
☥ Setting and enforcing healthy boundaries with family and friends and then reaping the
benefits of earning their respect ☥ having healthy relationships
☥ Reading the instructions and understanding the process before installing hardware
Now that we have a better understanding of fast and slow, let's apply this concept to the practice of Qigong. Fast abrupt movements keep us from accessing the Qi. In the same way that slow movements allow us to reach a flower floating in a pool of water, slow movements allow us to make direct contact with our Qi (energy field), which we can actually feel. The feeling can manifest in a number of ways including:
☥ Temperature changes such as a feeling of heat or cold
☥ Vibration, pulsation or tingling
☥ A magnetic feeling, sort of like two magnets of the same polarity pushing each other
apart or two magnets of the opposite polarity pulling towards each other
☥ A feeling in another part of the body such as a sore muscle, a taste in the mouth, etc.
☥ A sudden insight or "ah-ha" moment such as a realization or a solution to a problem
Although we may be doing the exact same movement repetitively, each movement is different because of the energy flowing through us in that moment. This is because we are feeling what is going on with us in the present moment. People who become bored with Qigong because of the repetitive movements are unable to remain present. However, presence comes with our ability to stick with the practice and learn to transcend the distractions. In time, our practice will evolve to the point that each Qigong session becomes a pathway that takes us into deeper levels of fulfillment. It is true that some feelings may be unpleasant. The discomfort during the practice is usually a reflection of energy that needs to be cleansed and removed in order for us to heal. During these moments, it is important for us to stay focused on breathing and moving through the discomfort. Our body is a self-healing genius and will lock us down before allowing us to hurt ourselves.
I have experienced this locking down of the body directly and witnessed it with my participants as a Qigong instructor. The first time it happened to me was during a 40 minute power breathing session. I was concerned about the length of time because I was struggling with lower back pain and didn't think I could lie on the floor that long in one position. Before the exercise began, our Qigong teacher prepped us for the possibility of the physical lock down, so I was not afraid when it happened. Our teacher explained that the lock down could happen to prevent us from interfering with the body's healing process. That said, it was still a somewhat intimidating experience and an awesome display of the healing power of our bodies. After about 15 minutes of power breathing, I realized that I couldn't move. I was literally paralyzed from head to toe. The only thing that I could do was breathe. So, rather than panic, I stayed focused on the breath and connected to the exercise. My body remained in the locked down position until we got to the cool down part of the exercise. Then, I realized that I could move my hands and feet. Within a few minutes, I was able to move my entire body. I slowly rolled over to my right side and inhaled as I lifted my body up. My lower back was hot. It felt almost like it was on fire, but the rest of my body was completely relaxed. I looked under my yoga mat to see if I had accidentally placed it over a heat vent and was surprised to find nothing there. Then I went to the bathroom to look at my back in the mirror because it was so hot that I thought it was glowing red. The heat persisted for another 45 minutes, and when the heat finally dissipated my back pain was gone. I had only attended the Qigong conference to get some continuing education credits for my massage license, but after that experience, I was convinced that I had to become a Qigong Instructor so that I could teach it to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People.
How To Practice Qigong
Although there are many different styles of Qigong and a litany of protocols established around the mass marketed forms, the truth is that no one can teach us about our Qi. Teachers and those who call themselves "masters" can only help us to find the connection that leads us back to ourselves. If I only taught you one movement and left you alone to practice that movement consistently, your Qi would eventually teach you all of the movements that YOUR body needs for you to learn for whatever path you are to take during your life. To my dismay, I've discovered that very few people want to hear that truth. Most people want me to tell them exactly what to do, and they spend more time looking at me to make sure that they are doing it "right" than connecting with their own energy. This pattern of behavior is yet another reflection of our social programming.
The rebel in me generally teaches a free-form style of Qigong during workshops in order to encourage people to trust themselves and connect with their own energy. I basically give participants a few guidelines and then we practice with music and no instruction until I lead them through a closing procedure. I love to observe the transformation in people. At first, they are self-conscious and watch me to see if they are doing it "right," but after a time, they transcend their inner critic, begin to relax and settle into their own style. If they are moving too fast, I slow down even more and ease my way in their direction which helps them to slow themselves down enough to connect with their own Qi. Then, finally, they start trusting and listening to their innate wisdom, and their Qi begins to guide their movements - the true beginning of their Qigong practice. It generally takes at least 15 minutes of silent practice with no instruction to get them to this point. I keep them practicing for at least another 20 minutes so that they can distinguish between their energy and the energy of the other participants. This is when the energy of Bat ☥ Goddess Of Interdependent Opposites becomes apparent. Even though the entire group is doing their own movements, I begin to notice a dynamic synchronicity within the group. When I taught Qigong on Miami Beach, people would often slow down as they walked by. The bliss in our practice space becomes almost palpable at this point.
I'm sharing these stories because I don't want the details of any specific form to keep us from practicing Qigong right now. There are only a few rules to follow that serve as a framework to help us connect with our energy and maintain good posture ☥ body mechanics:
☥ Move in slow-motion, as if moving through water without making a single ripple.
☥ Breathe slowly and deeply. Most movements that expand outward are driven by our
inhale, and most movements that relax inward are driven by our exhale, but if we
focus on our breathing, this will happen naturally without having to "think" about
it. The "thinking" will abruptly jar us out of the flow of the exercise.
☥ Stay in the present moment.
☥ Resist the temptation to fidget.
☥ Inhale through bodily discomfort.
☥ Practice sitting/lying down if fatigued (in other words, if we start to practice but
suddenly feel extremely tired, continue the practice either sitting or lying down). Qi
follows the mind, so even if we are imagining ourself doing the form, we are practicing
Qigong.
☥ Place our feet shoulder width apart.
☥ Tuck our tailbone under.
☥ Gently pull shoulders up, back, down.
☥ Keep our knees and elbows slightly bent.
☥ Keep our spine erect but not rigid.
☥ Relax the focus of our eyes (this is the "glazed over" look that people give you when
they have "zoned out").
Consistency is key and the power is in the practice. Five minutes of Qigong every day is better than an hour sporadically. Consistency cultivates trust between our body ☥ mind and strengthens our energy field. Would it be better for us to brush our teeth everyday or once in a while when we feel like we'll have the time?
We now know all that we need to know to get started. Applying many of these "rules" to our everyday life and work is tantamount to practicing concealed Qigong in public. Start moving and breathing. Our body will take over and teach us the rest. Ah, but I know my readers, so I've included another short video (below) that combines a few sitting and standing forms that we can practice until we trust ourself enough to be led from the inside. We'll know when it happens because we'll see something in the video, but we'll naturally feel like doing something different. It will feel right to us and will be a calm, quiet, intelligent nudge. When this happens, it is our Qi guiding us so go with the feeling. Qi is dynamic so the feeling we have today may be totally different from tomorrow. Social programming is in our head right now judging whether or not we can do Qigong "right." However, because Qi is everywhere, there are no limits to when and how we can practice Qigong. We may only want to watch videos for a while, and then suddenly we'll want to be in nature by ourself. Trust that the wisdom of our body is guiding what we need for that particular day. Second guessing ourself is a social program that will dissipate over time with daily Qigong practice. When in doubt, breathe and move with the feeling in super slow-motion.
Healing Benefits Of Qigong
Consistent Qigong practice enhances our body's innate ability to heal itself and offers a wide array of benefits such as:
☥ Enhancing circulation
☥ Developing reflexes and dexterity
☥ Preventing osteoporosis
☥ Nourishing our nervous system
☥ Reducing stress, blood pressure
☥ Healing internal scar tissue, injuries, etc.
☥ Improving communication ☥ connection between body ☥ mind ☥ emotions
☥ Increasing mental focus ☥ acuity ☥ self-awareness
☥ Transcending psychological manipulation, racial and emotional fatigue
☥ Sending advance warnings of entrance into/progression of the stages of dis-ease
The advance warnings come to us through our intuition and sometimes in the midst of our Qigong practice. During the debrief of one of my extended power breathing sessions, one of the practitioners, who is a high level executive, said that they now see how their reluctance to speak up for themselves is a major blindspot that has been sabotaging their efforts at work. As they were doing the breathing exercise, they kept having to clear their throat and recognized this phenomenon as communication from their soul on a way to level up their life. Another practitioner had a similar throat clearing episode, but for them it was an indication that their body was doing some deep cleansing because they finally recognized the pattern of their body's communication. I mention these stories because people can have similar experiences with different interpretations that apply to their life, or they can have wildly different experiences. This particular session was with 70 people. Here is a snapshot of a few other reports from the debrief:
☥ I'm on medication that gives me dry mouth, but as I started the power breathing,
my mouth filled with saliva for the first time in seven years.
☥ Breathing has always been hard for me, so I am amazed that I was able to get through
this exercise. I had a heart attack three years ago and this is the first time since then
that I've been able to take a deep breath.
☥ Thank you for walking by and nudging me to push through my resistance. I now realize
that whenever I am afraid, I hold back. But your nudge forced me to see how I sabotage
my own success and convinced me that I need to take a deep breath to push through
the fear and take action.
☥ I was so angry with you for putting me through this exercise. I couldn't wait until it was
over so that I could get up off the floor and smack you in the face. But then something
happened, [she starts to cry] and it's hard to explain, but it's like the anger reached a
crescendo and dissipated - then I was filled with so much joy ...
All of these reports were evidence that a person's innate wisdom can heal them. I did not do anything except guide them through the technique that helped them make the connection with themselves.
People do not wish to feel that death ensues from neglect on their part … they seem to forget that there is a cause for every ailment, and that it may be in their power to remove it. My chief desire in presenting this book is to impress upon somebody’s mind the possibilities of prevention. ☥. ☥ Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler ☥ From, 'A Book Of Medical Discourses: In Two Parts' ☥
Social programming has convinced us that dis-ease is a random occurrence that spontaneously erupts within our body - leaving it helpless and causing it to break down. However, our body is a self-healing genius. There has never been and will never be a machine that can do what our body can do. Even if a 50-year-old person has a heart attack, it means that their heart ran for 50 years straight on bad fuel and under high stress. What machine can do that? A car can't even handle a dose of sugar in its gas tank. If we give our body what it needs, our body will heal itself. Qigong is a practice that teaches us how to listen when our body speaks and nudges us to take action based on what we hear.
One of the participants who attended a different power breathing session happened to be in a wheelchair, the result of an accident that "paralyzed" them. However, they reported that, in the middle of the exercise, they were shocked to feel a tingling sensation in their spine, and the last time they felt anything in their spine was when it snapped during the accident. I had an extended conversation with this person after the debrief and urged them to keep practicing even though they may not notice improvement, because it takes nerves a very long time to heal. This person posts their progress on social media. The last time I checked, I saw a picture of them in a physical therapy session. They were using parallel bars to assist them in strengthening their muscles and sharing their determination to walk. My nerves were cut during an intense wisdom tooth extraction which left my chin completely numb for a few years. My dentist said that the feeling would not return to my chin, but I never gave up hope, because I know how long it takes for the nerves to heal ☥ the necessity of putting in the work when there is no physical evidence of improvement. After two years of daily Qigong practice and massage, I finally felt some tingling. The numbness completely disappeared after another year of work. I am positive that this person will walk again if they continue to put in the work. The healing potential of Qigong is vast because Qi is everywhere. Harnessing the power of our Qi is somewhat like brushing our teeth in that it needs to be done everyday. Qigong is not something to try. Qigong is a lifestyle. If you've been reading my blogs, you may begin to see how colonization has strategically broken up and dispersed these healing practices. I invite you to continue to study until you recognize the patterns that emerge from Ayurveda, the Chakras, Qigong and other healing modalities that we'll cover over time. They are the pieces of one puzzle ...
Daily Qigong Practice also helps us to balance our Third Eye Chakra so that we can recognize and transcend herd manipulation. I was having a conversation with an East Indian researcher from an Ivy League institution. He said that he had been in the United States for eight years, and the pressure to conform to eurocentric culture was "overwhelming." I had just published my Three Elephants Blocking Our Healing blog, so I sent it to him. I told him that if he caved into the pressure, everyone loses because he becomes "white" and we don't get to learn about East Indian culture from an authentic source. About five months after our conversation, he decided to move back home to India. I was happy for him, but sad for America because if we had allowed him to show up as his authentic self, we could have enjoyed a lifetime of cultural exchanges. Colonizers often use social programming to “trend” unhealthy behaviors that they want to continue. Consider the following scenarios that we've seen promoted and celebrated in multimedia:
☥ Colonizers use words like “prude” as a peer pressure device to lure Black ☥ Indigenous ☥
Immigrant People into unhealthy behaviors.
☥ Male colonizers use words like “douchebag” as a peer pressure device to lure Black ☥
Indigenous ☥ Immigrant and even white males into proving their worth or manhood.
☥ Affluent Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant males will ignore or divorce a compatible,
striking, accomplished and professional Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant woman in order
to date or marry a white and often much less attractive/accomplished porn star.
Other examples include colonizers who attempt to minimize their historical or current behavior by making comments such as:
☥ Africans had slaves too (without mentioning that colonizers forced Africans to either
sell or be sold)
☥ Slaves were given free room and board (without mentioning that the enslaved were
forcibly removed from their land, raped and pillaged)
☥ My organization helps feed the poor in Africa (without mentioning how colonizers made
money by stealing Africa's resources and then makes more money by obtaining funding
to set up organizations to pretend as if they are feeding the poor - even though the poor
are still poor and hungry)
☥ Gentrification helps clean up bad neighborhoods (without mentioning the strategic
efforts to disenfranchise the neighborhood which also includes purposely bringing in
drugs, etc.)
I used to teach Qigong regularly at a few different luxury spas. One day, I had a very interesting mix of attendees. It was mostly older people, and one young biracial male who was air boxing in front of the mirror as he waited for the class to begin. I wondered if he realized that he was in a Qigong class and would have to move in slow-motion. However, as the class began, he settled into the slow movements and was my best practitioner. I love working with professional athletes, because they understand the value of consistent practice to refine their skills. He hung out after class to talk to me. He was an Olympian athlete who came to America to recover from an injury. He was very disappointed that his injury during the fight cost him the Gold Medal (he did win the Bronze though). I attempted to help him understand how good of an athlete he would have to be to win a Bronze Medal while injured. I asked him a question that caused him to attend many of my Qigong classes while he recovered:
Qi is energy. Every action has an energetic signature that precedes and follows it. What if you were able to tap into your Qi and feel the energetic signature that occurs just before your sparring partner throws a punch?
He thought about that for a long time, and came to my indoor and beach Qigong classes until he recovered and returned home. My motivation was to help him understand the wisdom of Bat. In order to move super fast, he must master super slow-motion. Qigong cultivates the development ☥ refinement of fast twitch muscle fibers and can teach him how to switch between fast and slow without injuring himself. It also teaches him how to be in the zone of heightened awareness (which slows down time when he moves at warp speed) so that he can be keenly aware of how to best respond in the midst of fast movements. I hoped that he would understand what I was attempting to communicate through practice and not just intellectually. Young athletes can often feel as if they are invincible and can be too easily pushed by their trainers to sacrifice safety in the quest to win. Social programming convinces us to win at any cost, but the root cause of most injuries is a lack of self-awareness. Yue Fei was an acclaimed general and martial arts master during the Song Dynasty. His unusual strategy of infusing Qigong into the training program for his soldiers turned them into "bad ass" fighters, increased their dexterity, prevented injury and preserved their health. The form that he developed has evolved into what is now called "Medical Qigong." I've noticed that most trainers would rather push the athlete to win and "patch them up" later, than take the time to infuse self awareness ☥ injury prevention strategies into their training programs. Their ignorance of Qigong causes them to view it as "new age fluff" instead of a powerful strategy to increase self-awareness ☥ response time ☥ sustain energy throughout each round of fighting. It is imperative that young athletes have the right team of professionals supporting them who can help them stay grounded, protect them from injury and exploitation and help them to fulfill ☥ sustain their potential.
I had a few conversations with one of his trainers because I was disturbed by the opportunistic twinkle in his eye. These type of trainers are often more interested in the lure of "the next big win/champion," than the sustainability of the athletes. This trainer did not take me or Qigong seriously. He basically humored me, and I got the feeling that he thought the Qigong classes were a waste of the young athlete's time. I thought about this bright-eyed young boxer recently and hopped online to check in on his progress. I was happy to learn that he won the Silver Medal, but as I continued to read, I saw his life take same painful turns. Although he won most of his fights, he suffered multiple injuries, endured over a dozen surgeries and is now legally blind which forced him into retirement. I used Qigong breathing to move the heaviness that I felt in my chest as I learned more about his journey. His encounter with me was a missed opportunity to redesign his training program, which would have helped him to cultivate emotional resiliency, amplify his skills, prevent injuries, speed up recovery times in preparation for subsequent fights and ensure success in the long run. He is still young and multitalented, so I hope that he'll remember to reconnect with the truest part of himself, revive his Qigong practice to help him heal and find lasting fulfillment through co-creation with SPIRIT to design the next chapters of his life.
Qigong Radiant Health Lifestyle Strategies
☥ Practice Qigong daily
☥ Stay hydrated
☥ Eat whole ☥ clean foods
☥ Harness ☥ apply the wisdom of our chakras
☥ Speak ☥ live the truth
☥ Set ☥ enforce healthy boundaries ☥ benchmarks for trust
☥ Respect ☥ spend time in nature
☥ Accept the reality of the moment and connect with our innate wisdom first into order
to take the appropriate action that serves the highest good
☥ Keep our eyes unfocused during Qigong practice
☥ Keep our eyes keenly focused during everyday activities
☥ Be pleasant to ourself
☥ Be pleasant to others without relaxing healthy boundaries
☥ When our Qi guides us to speak or act, breathe deeply to transcend reluctance, fear
or hesitation ... then speak or act accordingly
One day, I noticed that I could bend my thumb on my left hand by itself, but when I bend my right thumb, my right pointer finger wants to bend as well. I couldn't isolate the muscles of my thumb in order to bend it independent of my pointer finger. Energy like a muscle, and when we practice Qigong, we learn how to isolate energy in a similar way to isolating muscles. Isolating and identifying different types of energy is a vitally important skill for us to develop because it helps us to distinguish between energy that evolves us and energy that sabotages our efforts.
When the average person goes to an apple orchard, [they] will usually pay attention only to the fruit. If they go to a nursery, [they] will notice only the beauty and fragrance of the flowers. Few people consider that the fruit and flowers are only the result of a great deal of planning, preparation and hard work. In the same way, when most people see another person’s success, few will stop to think about how that person could be so successful. ☥ ☥ Jwing-Ming Yang ☥
If we are only happy when good things happen and sad when bad things happen, then we are easily manipulated and controlled by our environment. ☥ ☥ Dr. Phyllis SHU Hubbard ☥
eurocentric science helps colonized people to understand and validate what we already know to be true. For example, colonizers mock and shame Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People for dancing, but then spend hundreds of years studying us so that they can develop/market/sell somatic movement. Somatic movement basically means that we focus more on the internal connection than what it looks like on the outside, which is of course how Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People naturally dance and move. I blog extensively about social programming because I’ve come to realize how it causes us to run on default, makes us vulnerable to many forms of manipulation and causes us to play “hot potato” with our suffering. Let’s digress here to explore an exit strategy. This is a somewhat short digression, but I had to grab some healthy snacks to get through it, so if you haven't already grabbed yours, now would be a good time.
Our results show that the physical reality of an object cannot be separated from the context of all its interactions with the environment, past, present and future, providing strong evidence against the widespread belief that our world can be reduced to a mere configuration of material building blocks … this observation provides a new perspective on the use of measurement outcomes in descriptions of reality. ☥ Tomonori Matsushita and Holger F. Hofmann, Hiroshima University ☥ From The Research Article, ‘Do measurements produce the reality they show us?’
Quantum physics is fascinating to study because it provides me with eurocentric language that can explain our pluralistic way of being. In quantum physics, what we observe in reality changes because we observe it. It also changes based on the type of observation tool that is used. In other words, if I am lifting weights by myself, I may lift one way. But if a gorgeous, physically fit man comes into the weight room to lift weights, I may lift the weights in a different way, because I am being observed. These concepts are interwoven within pluralism, but because of colonization, we have been programmed since birth to believe and validate eurocentric thoughts and beliefs about reality to the point that we often perceive other ways of knowing and doing (i.e. our indigenous ways before colonization) as being foreign, unnatural, embarrassing, scary or dangerous. Let’s unpack some pieces of the above quote and apply it through the lens of pluralism.
physical reality of an object cannot be separated from the context of all its interactions with the environment, past, present and future
The key word that I’m encouraging us to focus on is “environment.” What we perceive to be real is shaped by what happens around us. When I was a young child, I never thought that I could afford to be on a cruise ship like The Love Boat. However, when I was older, I was awarded a four-day cruise through my performance at work. I LOVE water and was so excited. I didn’t care that my room didn’t have a window because I was so happy to be on the ship. But then, the person’s cabin across from mine was being cleaned, and I noticed that their room had a little window. So the next time, I was on a cruise, I scraped up enough money to get a window. Then, I attended a conference on a cruise ship that had payments which allowed me to spring for a balcony. I thought I was in heaven, because I discovered that I love to sail, but I don’t really like cruise ships because they are too crowded, and I have no interest in most of the activities. On my last cruise, I was able to afford a small suite and the bigger bathroom + walk in closet was a dream. But, I learned that there were other suites, one of which was like a full apartment with a chef who comes to your suite and cooks your food. I’m truly done with cruises, so I never went that far, but I can honestly say that it would be the only option for me if I were to ever cruise again. I started dreaming of a private yacht for my sailing adventures after my balcony experience. Environment is of paramount importance. What we observe, and the people who surround us determine who we are and how we perceive our potential.
What would you do if you were powerless? The answer is: You have to find a rescuer. Therefore, you give up power over your life—because you believe you have no power—and hand it to someone who is recognized as a rescuer. A medical doctor, a pharmaceutical agency, or whatever it is, will take care of us. That is what we are teaching. ☥ ☥ Bruce Lipton, From The Research Article, 'Bruce Lipton, PhD: The Jump From Cell Culture to Consciousness' by Craig Gustafson ☥
Companies favor healthcare economics that require a patient to take a drug every day for their entire life, and are often misaligned with good healthcare outcomes. ☥ Tyler Golato
Many years ago, I came across Bruce Lipton’s work. In The Wisdom of Your Cells: How Your Beliefs Control Your Biology, he shared the story of how he proved that DNA is not destiny. In other words, if our great-great-great, great-great, great and grandmother all have cancer, it doesn’t mean that we will get cancer. Cancer doesn’t come from heredity, it comes from the inherited environment that we create/is created for us. He gave the example that if two identical ships left port at the exact same time, but one of the ships made a one degree change in course, it would end up at an entirely different destination. In a similar way, if cancer runs in the family, but we heal ancestral/familial trauma, set healthy boundaries and actively engage in self-care, it will be difficult for us to inherit cancer because we have healed the environment that surrounds the cell. However, when he presented his findings to his department chair, he was told that his results would force universities to change the way we teach science and that there was too much money invested in the current way of thinking. He left the university, and continues to lecture on how our beliefs affect our biology. He has a Ph.D. in Developmental Biology, but has been branded as a pseudoscientist because of his unconventional approaches to healing. His work is a eurocentric way of explaining the concepts of Ayurveda ☥ Qigong ☥ other African ☥ Indigenous spirituality ☥ healing practices.
It is also important to contemplate that global wellness is now a $5.6 trillion dollar industry and is on track to grow another 52% by 2027 (Source: Global Wellness Economy Monitor). The industries reporting the largest earnings are as follows:
☥ $1,089 billion - Personal Care and Beauty
☥ $1,079 billion - Healthy Eating and Weight Loss
☥ $976 billion - Physical Activity
☥ $651 billion - Wellness Tourism
☥ $611 billion - Public Health, Prevention and Personalized Medicine
☥ $519 billion - Traditional and Complementary Medicine
☥ $398 billion - Wellness Real Estate
☥ $181 billion - Mental Wellness
☥ $105 billion - Spas
☥ $51 billion - Workplace Wellness
☥ $46 billion - Hot Springs
Where in the data above do we see a commitment to humanitarinism or solutions to the problems of world hunger, poverty, homelessness, racism, oppression and disenfranchisement? Is $5+ trillion dollars more than enough money to solve these problems? Are we willing to contemplate why we have the resources and infrastructure to solve the problems, yet people are still hungry and homeless? Can we claim global wellness if we are not healing the true global wellness problems of the world? I’m mentioning this data because it helps us to gain a deeper understanding of how colonizers play with the definitions of words to justify their actions, and for additional context that may have influenced Dr. Lipton's choice to leave the university. It also reveals why Indigenous healers do not get access to the funding that we need to create, develop and grow the reach of our work. Less than 1% of these industries are owned by Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant (of the African ☥ Indigenous diaspora) People. With the exception of Workplace Wellness, Spas and Hot Springs, the industry has completely recovered from the pandemic and has grown exponentially.
Let's look at this issue from a slightly different vantage point by contemplating the following questions:
☥ The global tea tree oil industry has grown to over $53 million dollars. We learned about
tea tree from Aboriginal People. How many Aborigine People own tea tree oil
businesses?
☥ Burning sage incense is a common spiritual practice of African ☥ Indigenous People.
When I lived in New Mexico, I could purchase sage from Indigenous tribes. However, it is
almost impossible for me to find an Indigenous distributor. The same is true for African
plants that are used for healing and cleansing such as African sage (the sage that
grows in America, also grows in Africa and has been used for similar purposes for
thousands of years) and imphepho. How many African ☥ Indigenous People own sage
and other herbal incense businesses? I have yet to find a Black South African owner of
an impepho incense business, and I'm determined to give money directly to Black
Africans. I haven't found a good source for the financial information, and I suspect that
the numbers are hidden because distributors are being "outed" for cultural
appropriation. Look for African ☥ Indigenous distributors at local farmer's markets and
buy as much as you can to keep them in business so that they can grow.
☥ The global shea butter business has grown to over $2.07 billion dollars. We learned
about shea butter from Africans. How many Africans or people of the African diaspora
own shea butter businesses?
☥ In Discernment ☥ Wisdom Of Our Chakras, I shared a collage of images of white models
who were appropriating Kamitian (Ancient Egyptian) culture. Many of the images were
disrespectful and inaccurate. It took me five hours of scrolling to find 70 images of Black
People who were sparingly placed between 350,000 images of white people, some of
whom were spray tanned.
Those images represent 350,000 modeling and photography jobs that Black People did not get to represent their own culture.
My search revealed so many Blackface images, I am convinced that Blackface is heavily
subsidized and is as active today (primarily in the underground market) as it was
during the 19th century. It is also very common for me to find pictures of monkeys or
apes mixed in with images tagged for Africans, seductive/near nude pictures of
white women tagged for Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant men and white people shot
in low light/spray tanned to attempt to give the impression of a Black ☥ Indigenous ☥
Immigrant Person. Every Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant culture has white models
posing in stereotypical/disrespectful/culturally ignorant scenes. As an example, I
continually find white models dressed as cavemen/women as I scroll through images in
a search for Aborigine People. To be clear, at no point do I search for "cave" or "cave
men/people," so the only way for the images to come into my feed is if they were tagged
"Aborigine" or "African." What daily actions can we take to protect our psyche from
covert and overt psychological attacks? Given the fact that Black and Latinx consumer
spending surpassed $1.8 trillion dollars in 2024 and is steadily increasing, what daily
actions can we take to defund racist practices and invest in Black ☥ Indigenous ☥
Immigrant businesses?
Social programming puts the definition and practice of Qigong into a box, but Qigong is a lifestyle. Qi is everywhere. The energy that drives us to make a poor business decision is a type of Qi. The same Qi can be cultivated to make a profitable business decision. The energy that fuels self-hatred is a type of Qi. The same Qi can be cultivated to transform self-hatred into self-love. The belief in a fallacy caused by social programming is what happens when we are passive with our Qi. The wisdom to recognize and reject social programming is what happens when we actively cultivate our Qi. When we are passive with our Qi, we have no/poor boundaries and are continually vulnerable to the manipulation of others. When we actively cultivate our Qi, we have strong ☥ healthy boundaries that garner respect. When we teach children how to cultivate their Qi, their inner wisdom drives their outer actions and protects them from manipulation. If we do not cultivate our Qi, we leave ourselves open and vulnerable to attack in every area of our lives.
As AI tools get smarter, they’re growing more covertly racist ... ☥ The Guardian ☥
... On a middling journey, To out pace, To open chase, To claim supremacy, To reign indefinitely. Haste and paste, Control altering deletion, Unstable desire remains undefeated, The fate of AI still uncompleted. Responding with fear, Responsible AI beware, Profits do snare, People still dare, To believe our humanity is more than neural nets And transformations of collected muses, More than data and errata, More than transactional diffusions ... Can this power be guided with care? ☥ ☥ Dr. Joy Buolamwini ☥ From Her Poem, 'Unstable Desire' ☥
Unstable desire is a root cause that drives colonizer behavior. The video below contains an excellent interview with Dr. Buolamwini (Her TED talk and NPR also offers an introduction to her work). However, it is also interesting to watch the social behavior of white guy sitting to the side of her. His actions become so distracting that the person running camera adjusts the camera to cut him out. He is sitting right across from the camera, so he had to know that his actions were distracting. Though he is just a silent observer, his actions speak louder than words and reflect how no Black person can escape blatant disrespect.
There have also been several cases where zero-days and spyware have allegedly been used to target human rights dissidents and journalists in Ethiopia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries with poor human rights records. There have also been similar cases of alleged abuse in democratic countries like Greece, Mexico, Poland, and Spain ... From: 'Price of zero-day exploits rises as companies harden products against hackers. A startup is now offering millions of dollars for tools to hack iPhones, Android devices, WhatsApp, and iMessage.'
I would also like for us to consider privacy issues. For almost 20 years, I have struggled with computer hacking issues. It started with a business credit card of mine that was used to purchase tickets to an Aerosmith concert in Nevada. At the time, I lived in New Mexico, and was on a business trip in Boston. When I worked at a nonprofit organization, someone attempted to apply for unemployment as me. Then, my computer sounded an alarm to warn me of a potential hack. Although I appreciated the protective software for preventing the attack, I ended up having to do a professional internet security investigation and purchase a supersonic "Fort Knox" firewall to protect my IP address. I cannot stress how hard/many times I have worked to change every password, clean every system and start over again. After a deep series investigations, I finally realized that my problems started after I signed up for Facebook. I wanted to leave social media completely, but felt Spiritually guided to do more of a gradual wean off of platforms by building a new business page that would serve the community as "Online Time Devoted To Self-Care." It required that I keep my personal page, so I removed my personal data, labeled it as inactive and use it only to direct people to my business page. I am trusting that there is a purpose to not yet getting the green light to shut down. I believe there is something else that I have to learn through the clean up process, and if I disconnect completely, I won't know how the technology is evolving/how we are being tracked.
When GPS became normalized, I googled my home and was devastated to see that it could be viewed at almost every front camera angle. If I were standing outside, a person could capture me on camera. I discovered that I could request to blur the camera and took immediate action. My request was completed within seven days. I then goggled all of my childhood addresses and found them on camera. The camera did help me to solve the mystery as to why I couldn't escape being hunted in elementary school. As I googled the school, I was surprised to realize that the white boy who hunted me (and who lived across the street from the school) could see my front door from his window, and that's why he always knew I was coming even when I tried to hide inside a barricade of kids. Please keep in mind that the elderly/disenfranchised people who do not understand/have access to the internet may not realize that anyone can google and watch their home from multiple angles. I have been diligently working to erase my data footprint. It is a troubling process on a number of levels, and I'm positive that Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People are exceptionally vulnerable to digital abuse. I am still in deep contemplation about my place in the digital world, and am keenly aware that I cannot be passive with the technology.
Colonizers found a way to create a very toxic environment for the purposes of controlling Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People. Although they have been incredibly successful with their acquisitions, nothing seems to satisfy them. The wisdom of Bat teaches us that concepts are interdependent. So, what a colonizer does to us, they do to themselves, and they cannot separate the two. For example, if they sabotage us in order to win a race, they have also sabotaged themself, because they will never know if they have what it takes to win on their own which drives them to psychotic behavior in order to sustain the public illusion of their success. Furthermore, a wealthy colonizer may feel superior over a Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant Person (BIIP), but if we observe how they got their assets, we’ll find that they took them from a BIIP which binds them to that person. They need the BIIP in order to both feel superior and continue to extract the wealth.
Qigong is a practice that helps us to see things as they truly are. Because the Qigong practice places us in direct contact with our energy field, we can interact with it ☥ change our reality to reflect the truth ☥ transcend social programming. Daily practice is essential because:
☥ We need to put in the work to untangle, heal and dismantle a lifetime of social
programming and other forms of psychological manipulation.
☥ Qigong is a highly intelligent form that prioritizes our healing path based on what our
body needs. For this reason, what we want Qigong to heal, may have to get in line
behind essential “clean up jobs” unknown to us that Qigong must complete before we
get what we want. If you'll recall my earlier example about the numbness in my chin, I
wanted the numbness to go away quickly. However, the surgeon had to cut my nerves
because they were wrapped around the bone (an indication of emotional trauma that
occurs during childhood), so my nerves needed to regenerate, the suppressed trauma
locked within and released from my jaw had to be healed, the myelin had to be repaired
and many neural connections that were severed had to be reconnected. Qigong did all
of that and restored the feeling in my chin in just three years - with NO SIDE EFFECTS.
From my perspective, three years was an exceptionally long time to feel numbness,
because I wasn't thinking about the intricate detailed work that had to happen
internally. For those reasons, I made sure to talk to the person who had been
"paralyzed" because I didn't want them to give up the work simply because they hadn't
yet seen "external" results.
☥ We don’t know how to heal and we haven’t cultivated trust with ourselves.
☥ We need time to release social programming and recognize the messages that have
The next piece that I’d like to unpack is, the title of the article, Do measurements produce the reality they show us?
Although we can see from the discourse above that measurements are tethered to what it happens to be measuring in a given moment, we’ll need to apply the concept differently to overstand our lives and condition. Let’s consider the Wikipedia version of the parable of the blind men and an elephant:
In many ways, our monolithic culture behaves like the blind men. We are presented with one aspect of something, and we believe ourselves to know it, or even worse, to be the authority on its definition and application within our lives. Even if the blind men took the time to talk to each other, they would have to factor in their inability to physically see the elephant. If they could physically see the elephant, they still would need to view it from different vantage points. What is an elephant to an ant vs. an owl vs. God? Our reality has been presented to us in the way that colonizers know, believe themselves to understand and enforce upon us through social programming. How do we co-create a better world if we can’t see beyond our social programming? How do we set ourselves free if our environment determines who we perceive ourselves to be? Can we change our environment based on how we choose to see it? What if we could change what we observe and measure because of what and how we choose to observe and measure it? Enter daily Qigong practice.
Harness Your Qi ☥ Breath ☥ Life Force ☥ Movement ☥ Cultivation ☥ Work
☥ॐ☯
☥ॐ☯
Epilogue ☥ Your Treasure Map For Self-Care
Thank you for taking the time to actively engage in your own self-care. If you have ever spent time at a hammam ☥ steam room ☥ sauna, you will notice that it is a comfortable space because you are wearing minimal or no clothing and you can just be yourself. However, after a short time, it starts to get hot, and you begin to sweat.
This is a good thing because you are helping your body to eliminate toxins. If you want to detoxify your body correctly you will:
☥ Breathe slowly and deeply to help your body adjust to the intensity of the heat.
☥ Sip water every 15 minutes to stay hydrated.
☥ Have a piece of fruit ☥ pumpkin seeds ☥ favorite healthy snack available.
☥ Take a shower after excessive sweating.
☥ Go into a cold room/take a cold plunge/cold water rinse off to cool down before doing
another sweat and to stimulate your lymphatic system.
☥ Go for a walk in nature, spend time in meditation ☥ contemplation, have a healthy meal
and give your body some time to complete the healing process (which could include
sending you messages through your intuition about your next steps).
As you journey through ☥ interact with the blogs ☥ other content on phyllishubbard.com, you might have an insight that causes you to suddenly feel mentally ☥ emotionally “hot” -- which could show up as:
☥ “Ah-ha” moments
☥ A hop-in-the-bed-and-cry-yourself-to-sleep or fetal position crying time of intensive
self-care
☥ Intense feelings of anger/regret about something in your past
☥ Disorientation caused by the realization of truth
☥ Strong reactions such as heightened senses, vomiting; an urge to release emotions
such as yelling/screaming, going outside for fresh air/to take a walk, punching a
boxing bag/pillow; a feeling of tightness in the chest, etc.
If you find yourself having a strong reaction, I encourage you to flow with it while helping your body to release mental ☥ emotional toxins by using the same five self-care strategies listed above for releasing physical toxins. Your body talks to you all the time, but unconscious adherence to social conditioning can mute its messages.
Strong reactions are your body’s way of letting you know that there is a deeper issue requiring your attention.
Keep revisiting the content ☥ utilizing the five self-care strategies until you no longer experience the strong reaction, release fears and have identified ☥ transformed ☥ removed the root cause of the issue. You will find additional strategies throughout this website that you can add to your mental health self-care toolkit.
Self-Care Sustainability Suggestions
☥ A Cross-Cultural Healing Haven – read this blog to understand the purpose of
phyllishubbard.com and the meaning behind its organization ☥ symbols.
☥ Revisit the content periodically and make a note of if/how your perceptions have
evolved. Check out our blog page for an experiential healing journey.
☥ Check out the other pages on phyllishubbard.com:
☥ Home - watch the videos. Click on the images in the Spiritual Guidance
section. Each image has a story that might assist your self-care journey. Learn
about other spiritual practices.
☥ About - Learn about my background ☥ reasons for co-creating
phyllishubbard.com with Spirit. Explore healing through the image carousel and
videos.
☥ Shop ☥ Kamitology - Purchase and download vital tools for your personal growth
☥ development. Order The Chakra Emotions Energy Wisdom Quick Start Toolkit to
help you identify and heal feelings as they arise.
☥ Reclaiming Our Humanity - Help us develop and disseminate video courses.
☥ Rise TV - Practice breathing and movement exercises and deepen your
understanding of healing through the experiences of community members.
Check back periodically to discover new/re-experience the content.
☥ Journey - This is your invitation to own the journey to radiance. Experience the
journey and download healing resources to share with your friends, family and
community.
When you share healing, healing comes back to and flows through you.
About Sharing ...
During my first presentation to an all-Black audience, I introduced 20-year-old research on the hazards of sitting. I presented the research because I noticed that people sat for way too long at convenings and realized that the information was not disseminated to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant communities. I was determined to intentionally include this research, often surprising participants by getting people up to stretch. After more than 13 years of intentional work, Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People are just barely beginning to normalize conscious movement. We still have a long way to go, and it is important that we share what we know as much as we can to prevent the disenfranchisement of wellness information to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant communities.
Copy/Paste Version Of A Full Citation Example:
Hubbard, P. S. (2020, September 27). Epilogue ☥ Your Treasure Map For Self-Care. PHYLLISHUBBARD.COM. <https://www.phyllishubbard.com/post/epilogue>
Please do not keep phyllishubbard.com to yourself. We will not co-create a better world until we heal our current, past/childhood traumas. We will not love others until we learn to love ourselves.
☥ॐ☯
☥ॐ☯
Qigong Bonus! A Snapshot Of My Qigong Journey
If you made it this far, take a long, slow, deep breath. Then, when you are ready, I invite you to please revisit this blog. It may take many repetitions to embody the lessons ☥ continually apply them to novel life situations as they occur. Be gentle with yourself and patient with the process.
