JOYCE SETTLE, retired University of Hawaii academic counselor, recalls that seven or eight years ago, she had to roll out of bed onto the floor and pull herself up because she was "a mess."
A Chinese healing art looks
inward to treat diseaseBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comShe had a bad back, the beginning of arthritis and scoliosis, and her "knees were shot," she said. "I had little cartilage."
She was hospitalized 10 days in traction after her back gave out at Thanksgiving, she said. "I suffered all over. I got really bad," she said.
She said her job required her to travel to the neighbor islands. "I carried boxes I shouldn't have. ... My stress level was high."
Today, she has no pain, she does martial arts and is strong enough to "carry a massage table, and some men can't," she said.
She said she owes the dramatic reversal in her health to the ancient Chinese healing art qi gong.
It requires a personal commitment, she said, "but if you do it, the rewards are great, tremendous. It changed my life."
In Chinese medicine, qi, pronounced "chee," is the fundamental life force, the energy of the universe that is channeled from nature that permeates all things. Gong refers to the manipulation of that force through breath, movement, mind and meditation.
In an attempt to improve her health, Settle attended the first qi gong class conducted in Honolulu five years ago by Hong Liu, 56, a master teacher in the healing art and a medical doctor.
Liu, of Arcadia, Calif., travels frequently to Hawaii for consultations with Honolulu clients and hold classes for students. "I love Hawaii," he said, explaining that he swims and gets synergy from the sea.
He was here recently arranging for weight management classes, "Six Healing Sounds for Inner Health, Outer Body," from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 22 and 29 in Room 216, Gentry Pacific Design Center, 560 N. Nimitz Hwy.
In an interview assisted by interpreter Moses Yu Jr. and Settle, now an apprentice to Liu, the master explained how using the body's energy, or qi, can treat disease. "It is the medicine of your body," he said.
He said the qi flows from internal organs along natural pathways called meridians. Stress, physical and emotional problems and disease occur when there is not enough qi or the energy is blocked, he said.
It's like a freeway system, he said, with a disease causing a traffic jam. With qi, he said, "We try to open up the traffic jam so the system is working."Liu uses qi, herbs and food to attack disease and balance the body's yin and yang. Combined with that, he prescribes eight specialized exercises to prevent and treat physical problems and diseases. He stresses coordination of breathing, sounds and movements.
Problems occur when the kidney, lung and liver systems are out of whack, he said.
"Energy is not balanced."
Liu was raised in Shanghai, China, where his mother was a medical director for a hospital. He enrolled in a military medical college after high school and became a physician.
He began hearing of qi gong teachers as a medical student and saw some who visited his mother's home. He said he began pursuing the healing art after witnessing a "miracle" performed by Master Kwan.
A table tennis champion was injured because of the repetitive motion of the sport, and standard treatments and physical therapy failed to cure him.
Faced with the threat of China losing face in international sports if the champion could not play, Kwan was summoned from a cave atop a mountain near Canton to treat him. Liu said Kwan touched a few spots on the player's back, and he was healed.
He saw Kwan later that night in a garden practicing martial arts. "As he performed his graceful routine, winds blew and swayed the plants and trees around him. It was impressive, exhilarating and frightening all the same time," Liu described in his book, "Mastering Miracles."
Now he says what he saw that night was very much like the fighters at night in the courtyard in the Chinese movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Thinking it would be better to combine Western and Eastern medicine, Liu became Kwan's student and apprentice. He expanded upon qi gong with exercise and movements.
He arrived in the United States in 1990, began practicing qi gong and has developed a following with many students, and even doctors, attending his classes to hear what he has to say.
His daughter, Nancy Yen, in medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, also is trying to integrate Western and Eastern medicine, Liu said.
For more information about qi gong or the upcoming classes, call Settle at 377-1512 or Liu's California office, 800-279-7208, access code 00.
