When the mess left behind comes to the surface… With the fast behind us, the crew here at Wandering Dao all assumed that the hard part was over and we would be able to simply bask in the golden light of health and wellness as we allowed ourselves to indulge again in fine cuisine and energizing foods. This was the case maybe for a few days, but the honeymoon ended quickly. The pain of healing and rebirth has been acute and all-present. Fortunately, qigong has provided us with many tricks to help ease the process.
As Maris shares, “My true healing crisis came after the fast – my lifelong allergy popped up on my face worse than than it had ever been. It was torture. I automatically started looking for outside reasons for it and it took real effort to look from the inside. When I went deeper into my discomfort, I eventually reached the place where I recognized my rash, swelling and itchiness as healing. There is a sense of tremendous release at the other end of the pain. Realizing that healing is up to me and my self-discipline gives me a feeling of being in control of my own life and what’s more empowering than that?”
Although release has tended to be unpleasant, some of our experiences have been more confounding – bordering on amazing. “I have been dreaming a lot more since the fast, and very vividly.” Jesse reflects. “Also, throughout the day, and during meditation as well, I keep having these strange memories and images of old friends… places, even just past acquaintances – many of whom I haven’t thought of in a long time, and certainly never considered to be of any significance. I always considered myself to have a relatively dull long-term memory, and always feel a little depressed that I can’t remember so many things from my life. It is exciting to think that maybe all those memories are still in there somewhere, just waiting to be unlocked!”
As our community continues to grow and strengthen, we have had to stand by each other through each of these trials, and with patience, as its clear there’s still a long way to go. So, even when the symptoms of life seem too grim and dire, we are lucky to still be immersed in our training, which teaches us that the so-called “magical solutions” take time and practice. What’s more, they may only look magical in retrospect. If we don’t maintain discipline, we may just quit every time we feel like crap!