Category: Qigong

100 Poems & Possibilities for Healing

I am about to be a published poet, again! On January 9, 2024, “100 Poems & Possibilities for Healing” hits Amazon “bookshelves.” I have 4 poems to be published in this volume along with my story of “A Healing Journey through Community.”

 

I’ll post a link here when it goes live. You’ll be able to purchase the  e-book for a limited time for only $1.99!

Remembrance: a poem about surrender

Remembrance

I feel a distance that is not there,
separating, carving an empty gulf
that’s not real, only imagined in a
foolish mind.

As the distance narrows, disappears,
I sense resistance pressing hard to
release the powerful pull of a
longing heart.

As the resistance softens, collapses,
remembrance grabs my wandering
soul. The Sufi Zikr lights the way
showing all I need to know.

Mergence is that simple way, no distance,
no resistance, only remembering:
There’s no reality but God;
There is only God.

©2023 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.

Heart Sutra Vibe

Heart Sutra Vibe

Picture a plucked string:
See it vibrate to invisibility,
Moving from something to nothing:
Beyond sound,
Silent stillness.

Picture a still string:
See it stretched to stillness,
Its potential waiting, surrendered:
Beyond sound,
Silent stillness.

There is something in that stillness:
A waiting note not yet heard,
An emptiness filled with hope.

There is nothing in that high vibe:
A note beyond hearing ear,
A form, a new song of hope!

Locked by the Clock

Locked by the Clock

Teaching Qigong I often say:
“Locked knees block Qi.” Energy:

It flows from the earth, through the feet
Into the core of our being. Feel it,

The force of that flow surges
Like the tide lifting the heart. Listen:

The roaring surf, the salt spray
Glistening in the hanging mist, suspended:

The shimmering light of winter’s
Sun. Such times at the shore!

It is easy to float, drifting within the
Tide, not locked by the clock. Free:

No thought, merging with the
Ocean, emerging as One.

January 3, 2020
©2020, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.

And then this happened…

Once again there’s been a delay between posts here. Many of you already know why:

Sometime, just after the “Lion’s Gate” event on 8/8/2017, I had a heart attack. I am a bit vague about exact time here because my symptoms were pretty mild – no great drama, no race by ambulance to the hospital, no life-saving actions by first responders. No, just a few days of chest pressure and a restless, mostly sleepless night on 8/10.

On 8/11 I taught my Friday morning Qigong class. This felt good, but the pressure in my chest continued and began migrating to my back. Hmmm! Between Rosemary and me we decided to give our local “urgent care” a try. Good experience. They sent me to the emergency room with EKG, chest X-Ray and instructions to Rosemary to get me through triage fast.

Long story short my troponin level, a protein marker for heart attack, was through the roof. By early morning on 8/12 I was on my way via ambulance to Washington Hospital Center for catheterization to determine the cause of this heart event. In at 8:30; by 9:00 they knew I had blockage that needed CABG (the cardiology short-hand for Cardiac Artery Bypass Graft) – three of them in fact.

My CABGx3 got scheduled for Tuesday, August 15 (Mary’s Assumption Day, so I knew I was in good hands!). I spent the rest of Saturday through Monday in the hospital under acute observation; I had this time to prepare.

I continued my Qigong practice. There was this lovely atrium window on the fourth floor where I could go through my morning routine in nice light. I knew at this point that Qigong had saved my life, kept me healthy and strong enough  to endure/survive the heart attack. I certainly wasn’t going to stop practice now, especially prior to surgery!

Surgery was routine, as these things go. I suspect splitting open a person’s chest to access the heart’s arteries is never quite routine. My care at Washington Hospital was stellar! I can’t imagine my experience going any better. (OK, the food was not gourmet but it was edible!). By Saturday, 8/19, one week after admission, was released with new drugs and a few restrictions. No Qigong for a few days! But I walked out with the “heart of a 20-year old” (according to the cardiologist who read my echocardiogram) and new plumbing.

And I have been on a fast-track to full recovery ever since. I started my Qigong classes up again on 9/22 – added two make-up classes to cover the missed August classes.

And now I am launching my next series of classes for the Fall 2017; they run from October 6 through December 29, 10:30 am in West Annapolis. And these classes are available LIVE via internet. You can find the details here on the website.

Qigong saved my life. It continues to speed my recovery process. And I am committed to bring this ancient, life-saving technology to as many people as I can reach.

Join me!