Using Chi Kung in Daily Life
The first time I realized that chi kung (also spelled "Qigong") was having an impact on my life was in 1988, working as the producer of the 6:00 newscast at KMTV.
On one particular day, a wall cloud was passing the station, preparing to drop a tornado. People were running around the newsroom, doing live broadcasts, rolling big studio cameras outside the door so they could show the wall cloud on the air as it passed by -- there was a lot of shouting and screaming.
It was a little after 5 p.m. and I was at my desk, putting the final touches on the rundown and script for the 6:00 news. Suddenly I heard someone laugh. I looked to my right and the sports anchor was sitting at his desk looking at me.
"Doctor Chill," he said. "Everyone's screaming and panicking and you just sit there getting the job done."
I realized that I had been centering myself as I worked. I had become the eye in the center of the storm. The chi kung I began studying under Sifu Phillip Starr at the Omaha YiLi Chuan school was paying off.
The TV news business is tremendously stressful. You can be fired for making one mistake. I had seen too many stressed-out, screaming producers, anchors, and reporters in my career, and my goal was to be different. I knew that the calmer I was, the calmer everyone else was. It's true in any business that involves stress.
In my mind, this is the best reason to practice chi kung. Taoism is designed to help you ride the ups and downs of life without being capsized. Chi Kung is an essential tool in that effort. My calming your mind and body, putting part of your mind on your dan t'ien, and learning to center yourself, you then work to capture that centered feeling in times of stress and tension, whether it's at work, at home, or even driving on the highway.
It can be done, but it requires work. You have to try at first so that later, it just happens. Nothing comes easily, including inner peace.
I've found in the years since, that when I center myself during a crisis or a tense situation, relax my body and put part of my mind on my dan t'ien, I'm much better able to mentally handle the crisis.
--by Ken Gullette
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Ken Gullette
I have practiced martial arts since 1973 and began studying the internal arts in 1987. My goal is to cut years off your development time by coaching you in the real skills for high-quality Tai Chi, Xingyi, Bagua. To see more about my bio, click the "About Ken" link on the menu at the top of this page.
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