BRINGING INSPIRATION AND HOPE TO THOSE WHO SUFFER FROM SO-CALLED INCURABLE DISEASES
A picture of Fleur, cropped from a group photograph taken at the UK Summer Camp in 2007
Firstly, and most importantly, because my Sifu does not lie.
-- Fleur
The following discussion is reproduced from the Russbo discussion forum posted on 26th February 2008.
Originally posted by master-lu
To the wahnam students, do you believe your master has these cancer curing abilities? You must admit it's a very interesting claim.
Hi master-lu,
Yes, I do believe that, for three reasons - though my Sifu's abilities are only part of the equation.
Firstly, and most importantly, because my Sifu does not lie.
Secondly, because I know of, and some of my seniors know personally, a few people in our school who have cured themselves of cancer with Sifu's help.
Thirdly, because I can extrapolate from my own experience (and that of many others I know) of overcoming a so-called incurable illness through practicing high level chi kung.
As I mentioned in the post above, I had some fairly serious health issues when I started training with Shaolin Wahnam. I've had asthma and other respiratory conditions for as long as I can remember (inherited from both sides of the family) and for many years underwent the usual western medical regime of drug treatment and operations, for upper respiratory tract problems. The aim of all this was to control, not cure, the various conditions, but I still had a few emergency hospital admissions, regular chest infections which, even with antibiotic therapy, laid me out completely, episodes of aggravated asthma when I'd have to take yet more steroids; in short, my general state wasn't at all good.In retrospect this sounds grim, but at the time I was actually quite stoical, accepted this was how things were, and like most people in a similar situation, got on with my life as best I could. About ten years ago, though, following another trip to A&E and a week in hospital, I was given the standard lung function tests, which revealed ?permanent, irreversible damage'.
Apparently there was scarring and loss of flexiblility to the airways, and the diagnosis was the first stages of COPD, which was bad news at my relatively early age. (I've never been a smoker, btw). The medics said it would never improve, but I had a chance of limiting further damage by adopting an even more aggressive drug regime. I explained that taking high doses of steroids made me feel somewhat depressed, and their answer was, 'well if you're depressed, you need to take antidepressants' (!)
Great.
I don't know why, but something made me think, this can't be right. That was when I started to explore other avenues and approaches to healthcare. These included homeopathy and acupuncture, which helped overall, but didn't really touch the core problem.
A friend recommended I try qigong, which led me to my first school. I experienced windows of improvement, but no long-term breakthrough, although these windows gave me a glimpse of what was possible and motivated me to keep trying. I'd like to reiterate that this was a good school, and if I'd been a better student, who knows. But in the end it wasn't quite the right system for me.
Fleur (on the right) practicing weapon application with Clair during the 2007 UK Summer Camp Weapon course. Clair has deflected Fleur's sword attack with her Butterfly Knife and moves in to attack with the other Butterfly Knive.
When I discovered my Sifu's book, ?The Art of Chi Kung' one of the things that intrigued and inspired me was the notion that from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, there is only ?one disease' — yin-yang disharmony caused by energy blockage. Blockages can be cleared by practicing high level chi kung, which enhances energy flow, thus restoring yin-yang harmony. The principle applies to cancer as it does to asthma, diabetes, depression or the common cold.
In a way, this sounded too good to be true. To many, it might seem simplistic. But I'd spent my life looking at things from an academic/intellectual viewpoint, and experience had shown me the limitations of that approach. Also, at that point I wasn't looking for a cure, (I don't think I really believed it was possible in my case,) I simply wanted to improve my health so I could enjoy life and fulfil my potential.
My Sifu always emphasises that his (or anyone else's) words shouldn't be taken on faith alone, but tested through direct experience and personal understanding. So although I had a strong feeling that my first course with him would be a real turning point, I approached it with an open mind — even a touch of healthy scepticism.That first course was brilliant. It exceeded my expectations in every way, and I realised I had been given skills that could transform my life. This is an important point in relation to master-lu's question. There are three factors in the equation for successful chi kung practice — the master, the method and the student.
My Sifu doesn't claim to "cure" anyone, or any disease. He initiates the healing process, and transmits, heart-to-heart, the tools for people to cure themselves. This obviously demands a certain amount of commitment from the student, ie regular, correct practice,.
He also doesn't claim to be the only master who can help people overcome serious illnesses, but it has to be someone of his calibre, and unfortunately these are few and far between.
I practiced what I'd been taught, and over the years have made more progress than I could have believed. This progress hasn't always been smooth or straightforward. (I've experienced several episodes of ?deep cleansing') but I've received so many incredible benefits from my training, which have sustained me through the hard times.
About a year ago, I had quite a bad asthma attack. I was surprised, and actually a bit disappointed, but bounced back quickly and felt fine. Anyway, I ended up having the very same tests I'd had 10 years ago, and when I went for the results, I was told they were fine. So I asked about the ?permanent damage', hoping it hadn't got any worse, and the specialist had another look at the results and told me there was no damage!
I said "Are you sure?" and she explained the results showed I'd recently had an asthma attack but everything else was normal, and they didn't need to see me again. This was quite a shock; although I knew from my own experience that my health was so much better, it felt strange to have it confirmed by the medical profession in this way.
Since then I've had to use my ?reliever' inhaler just three or four times in the whole year, compared to about ten times a day when my condition was at its worst. I'm also on a very small maintenance dose of ?preventer' inhaler, yet my peak flow readings are the best they've ever been. I can't say I'm cured yet, but I reckon I'm at least 90% of the way there. Looked at another way, my health is about 500% better than when I started my training.
More importantly, I am happy, enjoy life, have energy to spare (enough to train Shaolin kung fu) and hopefully, am a better person. I've discovered my Sifu's teachings aren't at all simplistic; rather, simple but profound.
I'll call it a day there, as this has turned into a bit of an epic, for which I apologise. I got the impression doc thought I was reeling off some kind of advert or manifesto in my last post, and I wanted to show I was actually writing from the heart. But my story is not at all unusual in our school, these kind of results are to be expected from diligent practice.
Best wishes,
Fleur
Other masters in Shaolin Wahnam also have helped students overcome cancer. For example, Carmen from Costa Rica overcame cancer after practicing Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung learnt from Sifu Rama Roberto. This picture shows Carmen enjoying a chi flow during a regional chi kung course taught by Grandmaster Wong on the Blue Mountain