I can’t say with any certainty when it began.
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, firm in the faith, I understood none of us are exempt from trials that will test us. But I also knew many of our trials are a consequence of prior bad choices. Because I was born with a strong healthy constitution and had a health conscious life style, complete with nutritional supplements, herbs & essential oils I felt like a candidate for one who could live to witness the second coming of Christ.
John & I raised ten children of our own, and as circumstances permitted we were professional parents to numerous special needs young people, then for nearly 16 years we operated a licensed Family Group child care in our home. We lived on an acre of land and had an amazing garden and all sorts of fruit trees and berries. I felt like my life style afforded me all the exercise I needed.
In the spring of 2015, I noticed it was difficult to move around in the cherry tree while picking. But when I climbed into the apple tree to string lights for our youngest daughter’s wedding reception in June of 2015… I knew my days of tree climbing were over.
After moving to Lady Lake, I transitioned to a holistic Dr. stating I had lots of abnormal symptoms. None, by themselves were serious, but I wondered if together they might be indicative of a bigger problem? April 30th 2018, by process of elimination and observation, Dr.Kraucak determined my diagnosis to be Parkinson’s Disease. For me, having a name meant I no longer needed to wonder why I had such a soft voice and drooling, why my hands were so weak, while playing family games, I couldn’t hold cards to shuffle and my handwriting was so small and unintelligible. A name meant I now understood why I felt like my feet struggled to keep up with my head and I couldn’t balance enough to participate in a water exercise class, etc..
It has taken NINE months since I received the name to target my research efforts… but now I am ready to begin to blog.
Welcome
I am DELIGHTED to have you here. If you haven’t done so already, please browse the website to learn more. I will try to make it easy for you, by linking my blog entries to the INDEX page,to facilitate your search for specific topics.
Don’t forget to click on FOLLOW so you stay up to date on additional new content!
I have already learned so much on this journey with Parkinson’s disease. I saw a blog called Parkinstand hosted by a lovely African lady seeking to locate other people of African ethnicity. I was prompted to create a forum where people of my faith could share their experiences to strengthen one another.
I can’t wait to share all that, and more, with you!
Stay tuned.
Standing up to Parkinson's 
Hi,
I wasn’t sure where to respond, so just thought I would do it on your introductory post. I’m actually responding to your post on Jeff Chand’s Qigong for Vitality site about Parkinson’s. I’ve had MS for almost 15 years and last year my doctor said she is fairly certain I have Parkinson’s as well – not a common combination, but it happens. I’ve chosen not to pursue the diagnosis as I’m not interested in the conventional treatments for Parkinson’s. I know the woman you were referring to and have both of her books. She practices Zhineng and follows Mingtong Gu, who is one of the only Zhineng teachers in the US (there are many in Europe). I have spent quite some time trying to figure out what the common thread is for the people who have had success in treating or curing their MS or Parkinson’s. I practice Zhineng, but, like you, I found the 3 hour a day recommendation daunting. I also follow Dr. Joe Dispenza and personally know several people who have had complete success with healing their MS with him and have heard of quite a few success stories with Parkinson’s. Dr. Dispenza has recently come to emphasize the importance of the heart/brain connection and getting people into a state of altruism (very much in keeping with Lynne McTaggart’s work). What I find interesting is that Dr. Pang, the man behind Zhineng, has very recently put out a book about the heart. It’s not been translated into English and the few people I know of who have read it in Chinese have all said that it would be a very difficult book to translate, however, the basic idea is quite similar to what all the heart/brain coherence studies in the west have recently been proving, which is that being deeply centered in heart energy is the key to healing. However, obviously, this is not necessarily easily obtained and requires some discipline. Dr. Dispenza proposes intensive meditation (every bit as time consuming as what Ms. Molle and Mingtong Gu suggest), but Jeff Chand has mentioned on one of his talks that if you hate the practice you are doing, the benefits will be quite minimal. If I were to do 3 hours of qigong that I hated, I’m certain I would not be one of the success stories. I know many of the success stories are from people who go to retreats and there is enormous healing power from the group at those retreats (Ms. Molle went to a long one in China at the beginning of her journey). There is also enormous healing at Dr. Dispenza’s retreats. But if you can’t afford one of those (which I can’t), I believe you can still find healing with the basic principles, which is to connect to “the field” and to your heart energy and literally feel yourself as healed. Zhineng focuses very much on this breathing in and out and connecting to the infinite field – that is essentially what Dr. Dispenza does in his long meditations. He also activates the pineal and pituitary glands through what is actually kundalini breathing and I’ve always had doubts about activating that without sufficient preparation. In Zhineng there is a much gentler, safer practice to connect with your pineal and pituitary glands that is known as right angle breathing (a video of this is on the Qi Channel on you tube, called Secret Practice to Develop Extraordinary Capability – it’s very short, very simple). The other component of Zhineng, which I believe is quite powerful is the sound healing. Other branches of qigong have sound healing, but I find the sound healing from Master Ning (a Zhineng teacher) to be the gentlest and most effective I’ve encountered (I’ve been practicing qigong for well over 15 years). Mingtong Gu has sound healing as well, but I really prefer Master Ning’s. You could try it out at the site of a woman, Denise Minter, in San Francisco. Her site is called Waking Up Energy and she has recordings to follow along with Master Ning and all of the sounds for the different organs. You can sign up to her site for free for a week and try them. She also has daily online qigong classes at 8 am Pacific Time and this morning I noticed Ms. Molle was attending her class (you aren’t on camera, but the names will come up). Denise was healed of cancer through Zhineng and another qigong practice. Anyway, as I’ve said, I believe the central key to healing is that heart connection and much of that comes through the flow state, which Jeff emphasizes. I still do Zhineng, but I’ve returned to doing at least one of Jeff’s practices a day because they make my heart happy. I think it’s possible to heal through the heart/mind alone, but, at least for me, it’s important to include a physical connection with finding true balance and appreciation/love for my body. I find that with qigong. Every time I chant the sounds for an organ, I imagine myself sending it love and appreciation. That is actually something very much emphasized by many qigong teachers and, according to the latest from Dr. Pang, that is perhaps the golden key – that flow state and the heart connection. I think that Jeff’s Shen video is quite helpful (heart oreiented) – well, most of his slower, flowing videos are for me. I apologize this was so long if you even made it this far. I guess I just really wanted to say that, although I don’t think the 3 hours are necessary, there is still a lot of value in parts of Zhineng, especially Master Ning’s sound healing and I think you might enjoy the Lift Chi Up, Pour Chi Down – there are quite a few demonstrations of this at different speeds and with different practitioners on you tube’s Qi Channel. Luke Chan also has a very helpful channel on you tube for different Zhineng practices. Best of luck!
Laurie
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Thank you Laurie!.. I will follow up / look into all of your suggestions. I currently am struggling with apathy… when it comes to exercise. I prefer to get grounded, working in the garden. Bless you for sharing all of your insights.
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Just one more quick comment. I totally get the apathy, but the key thing to healing is feeling a sense of purpose in life and joy. Master Pang (Zhineng) says that if you don’t practice at all, that’s OK as long as you “cultivate chi” throughout the day and that simply means feeling a positive, peaceful flow of energy throughout your body during the day, including letting your day’s schedule have a peaceful flow to it if possible. Gardening sounds pretty much custom made for that – connecting to the earth and sky is seriously healing. I live for going down to our creek in the woods each day. It also helps to try to consciously feel energy in your lower dan tien (if you’re up for any routines, Jeff’s kidney routine is great for the lower dan tien) and also in your heart. Just while doing the dishes or gardening, maybe try to be conscious of energy glowing there and connecting to your heart and then the upper dan tien in your head (for peaceful connection to spirit, my new favorite of Jeff’s is Cleansing the Bai Hui, which I shorten by leaving out some of the warming up exercises…even though I know you’re not supposed to). There’s a Zhineng practice called Connecting the Three Centers Standing – it’s essentially a deep meditation with some movements feeling a connection to the earth, sky and the three dan tiens….I think it’s completely achievable through gardening or lying under a tree, staring up at the sky. Are you familiar with heart coherence? Dawson Church writes very lucidly about this on his website, but it’s basically just breathing into your heart as much as possible during the day with a sense of deep peace and love. It’s astonishingly powerful for healing. Also, I don’t know if you listened to it, but I think it was on Jeff’s first Chi Chat (5 common questions), he mentioned a student of his who had Parkinson’s who initially had real difficulties doing simple routines, but, unbeknownst to him, she was continuing to do them during the week, between classes on her own – very simple exercises and only for maybe 15 or 20 minutes at the most a day. Anyway, she wasn’t miraculously cured, but in a relatively short period of time she had amazing improvements of all her symptoms and that was simply because she was getting into that flow state. I’m guessing you get into that flow state with gardening. Listen to your heart. Do only what brings you joy and flow – best medicine possible. OK…once again, not a short comment. Sorry!!! Take good care and enjoy this fall weather.
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thank you for all of your helpful suggestions. Blessings to you.
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my email address is grandma.connection@gmail.com
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