[Interview] Annette Wellings

Annette Wellings is a Pilates instructor who suffers from major scoliosis.

She began exploring different ways of keeping her body flexible and healthy whilst working as a linguist and artist in Australia and subsequently, she retrained in rehabilitation Pilates.

Her book, Curves, Twists and Bends: A Practical Guide to Pilates for Scoliosis (Singing Dragon, 2009), looks at how scoliosis sufferers can benefit from the practice of Pilates.

How did you first find out about Pilates?

While working as a linguist and an artist in Australia and Fiji, I became increasingly aware of my body becoming more hunched and painful with scoliosis.

By the time I was about 35, my spine was rigid and my torso was becoming increasingly twisted.

I realised that I needed to do something and explore options, instead of passively sitting by and lamenting the ‘degeneration’ of the spine.

I began exploring different ways of keeping my body flexible and healthy, and I discovered Pilates.

How easy is Pilates to learn for the complete beginner?

The beauty of Pilates is its simplicity and versatility.

Essentially it is a gentle form of exercise that is constantly adjusted and moulded to suit the particular needs of the individual.

For the complete beginner, it is important to go to a good qualified teacher who understands your condition.

Pilates is a subtle process and, like many effective exercise programmes, it requires time and focus in developing a mind-body awareness. Rather than instant gratification or a quick-fix, it bears gradual profound benefits over time.

Your new book Curves, Twists and Bends looks at how scoliosis sufferers can benefit from the practice of Pilates. How can Pilates complement traditional rehabilitation medicine?

Whether individuals have opted for surgery or not, it is vital that people with scoliosis (particularly severe curvatures) keep the spine and body as healthy, supple and lengthened as possible.

Pilates provides gentle exercises that can help improve flexibility, posture and alignment, and lengthening.

Pilates can be particularly useful for scoliosis, by teaching how to move and engage separate muscle groups. This can help tease out asymmetrical patterns of muscle use, encouraging the strengthening of weak underdeveloped muscles, and breaking down the dominant bossy muscles which develop on one side of the torso.

While surgery focuses on straightening out the spinal curvature, it is important to highlight that Pilates exercises are not designed to restructure the spine. Their purpose is to encourage flexibility and length, and enable the body and spine to be as healthy and supple as possible. As such, Pilates is suited to all people with scoliosis. The basic exercise movements can then be modified and developed more precisely to suit the particular shape of an individual curvature.

Your co-author Alan Herdman suggests that the message of Pilates is ‘Quality not Quantity’. How often would a typical scoliosis sufferer need to practice Pilates to feel the benefit?

Alan is right. Pilates requires you to be mindful and put time and effort into any programme, particularly if you’ve got scoliosis.

To get full effect and benefits, two to three times a week is a great start.

Including it as part of your everyday lifestyle is ideal.

There is no quick fix for scoliosis, and it’s good to put in consistent time and focus over the long term, learning and listening to your body.

In the book you look at different strategies for living with scoliosis. As a sufferer yourself, what is the best advice you can give to other people living with this condition?

First, accept your scoliosis and recognise that it makes you unique. It is a symbol of your individuality.

Get information about your curvature, so that you understand and are aware of what your scoliosis involves (e.g. location, size and type of curve).

You should explore options available for treating your scoliosis and keeping your body strong, lengthened and flexible.

It’s important to make yourself a health care plan for life, including adequate rest, a healthy diet, and a gentle regular exercise routine to keep the body as supple and healthy as possible.

Think length. It’s wise to avoid movements and circumstances which jolt or compress the spine.

In short, let go and listen to your body. Accept, observe and explore your condition with curiosity.

(c) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010

This article was first published in the Singing Dragon Newsletter in October 2009

Possibly related books:

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Related articles:

• Early diagnosis of scoliosis can prevent surgery later, By Chris Zdeb, Montreal Gazette, June 21, 2010
• Scoliosis, Curvature of the Spine, by Courtney Norris, The Pilates Edge, January 6, 2010
• The Pilates Bookshelf: Curves, Twists and Bends: A Practical Guide to Pilates for Scoliosis [Book Review], By Alexa Thorson, Pilates-pro.com, November 11, 2009

[Interview] Henry McGrath

Henry McGrath studied oriental medicine for nine years, obtaining diplomas in shiatsu, acupuncture and herbal medicine.

He is currently the Acupuncture Course Director and Academic Director for the College of Naturopathic Medicine and has undertaken clinical placements in the Herbal Medicine Oncology Departments of several Chinese hospitals in Nanjing and Beijing.

Henry is an Orthodox Christian and is interested in the links between religion and medicine. He currently runs his own private practice and works at Penny Brohn Cancer Care.

He lives in Bristol, UK.

His books include The Traditional Chinese Medicine Workbook (College of Naturopathic Medicine, 2007) and Traditional Chinese Medicine Approaches to Cancer: Harmony in the Face of the Tiger (Singing Dragon, 2009).

Why did you first become interested in Traditional Chinese Medicine?

I’ve been interested in Eastern culture ever since childhood. I started yoga when I was about 18, then martial arts, and soon became interested in Eastern philosophy. I started studying shiatsu, Japanese pressure point massage, when I was about 26, and this led on to acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

How can Traditional Chinese Medicine complement the approach to cancer in the West?

Western medicine focuses on the illness, whereas Chinese medicine focuses on the person.

The West looks at the detail, the Chinese look at the “big picture”.

Western medicine tends to see human person as a machine, whereas Chinese medicine sees the human as an integrated entity of body and spirit, intimately related to his surroundings. Disease is always a reflection of an imbalance of the whole organism, and even of the whole of creation.

In your new book Traditional Chinese Medicine Approaches to Cancer, you talk about qi and how strong qi can protect us from illness. How can we improve the strength of our qi?

Good quality food. Exercise. Fresh air. Cultivating harmony with those around us and with the planet. Most important of all, spiritual development. In Chinese medicine spirit influences qi.

What changes can we make in our diets to enhance our health?

Perhaps surprisingly, I would say the most important thing is not to become obsessive about food. Relish your food, enjoy every mouthful. Eat lots of organic food, without being fussy about it. Eat a little of everything. Give thanks for food, say grace whenever you eat. Fast sometimes, but in a spiritual context, rather than purely for health reasons. For example, in our Orthodox Christian tradition we abstain from animal products during Lent, and on Wednesdays and Fridays. This transforms one’s relationship with food.

What can Traditional Chinese Medicine hope to teach doctors in the West about person-centred care?

A lot of GPs I speak to recognise that it is very important to build a relationship with patients: I would encourage them in this.

It is one of the tragedies of the NHS that many doctors' surgeries are moving to a team system, whereby the individual relationship between a patient and a certain doctor is lost. Patients like to feel that someone knows them properly.

People seem aware of the depersonalising effects of Western medicine, but nobody seems to be doing anything about it. With something like cancer, the GP could be the person who takes care of the patient through the whole confusing process, at present there is often nobody who does this.

I think it is very positive to see medical students learn something about complementary medicine: I recently had two trainee doctors spend a day with me in my clinic and receive a treatment as part of their training. They were both very inspired and said they saw the human in a very different way. Perhaps more doctors could visit us and talk to our patients about their experience of complementary medicine.

(c) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010

This article was first published in the Singing Dragon Newsletter in September 2009

Possibly related books:

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Related articles:

• Traditional Chinese Medicine Approaches to Cancer: Harmony in the Face of the Tiger [Book Review], By Simon Robey, The Journal of Chinese Medicine
• The Use of Acupuncture in the Management of Cancer, By Henry McGrath, Chinese Medicine Times
• Orthodox Christianity and Chinese medicine [Essay based on presentation given at the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge University, July 2006], By Henry McGrath

[Interview] He Jinghan

He Jinghan is the author of Bagua Quan Foundation Training (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009) and Bagua Daoyin: A Unique Branch of Daoist Learning, A Secret Skill of the Palace (Singing Dragon, 2008).

A fifth generation practitioner of the BaguaQuan lineage, he was introduced to Master Gong BaoZhai at the age of 23 and began to specialise in Bagua.

He Jinghan is now dedicated to the cultivation and promotion of the Bagua Daoyin.

When did you first become interested in Bagua Quan?

I was interested in the teachings of Gong Bao Zhai, my teacher, before I began to learn the art of Bagua Quan.

I started practicing Bagua Quan because I found it had more depth in comparison to the other Chinese martial arts that I had previously spent some years learning, like Taiji Quan or Xinyi Quan.

As I started to understand the philosophy and theory of Bagua Quan through physical practice, I began to experience the real depth of it. It is since then, that I have been interested in Bagua Quan.

What are the main benefits of practicing Bagua Quan?

There are many different ways that you can benefit from Bagua Quan. The different stages of Bagua Quan, each have there own different benefits.

Firstly, you experience physical and mental improvement, secondly you begin to grow in self-confidence; however the most powerful benefit is the understanding that is gained of the "cause” and “result”. The results tend to be physically visible, and understanding the roots of the cause for this visual difference is truly the greatest benefit.

What would be your advice to anybody considering starting to practice Bagua Quan?

I would recommend that you read my book in order to understand what Bagua Quan is and whether it is for you.

Set your goal and start from the very beginning. The foundation practices won't seem too difficult. However, it is very important to practice with awareness of yourself, your capabilities and ensuring that you don’t think about fighting from the beginning.

Make sure that you feel right and comfortable in every practice. Move to the second practice only once you completely understand and feel comfortable with the first practice.

Have faith that the result will come naturally if the cause is right.

What or who most inspires you?

I was and still am inspired by many Who's and Whats.

We are inspired only if we have a “subject” and a “question” in mind. To me, it is Bagua Quan, that is both a subject and a question on body and mind improvement. The key to this lies in what my Sifu once told me: “ask why about everything, find the roots and understand the connections.”

Therefore, I could be inspired by a phrase in a book, a child’s posture, a mistake made by myself or somebody else, a creature from nature or even an advertisement on TV ...

What was the last book you read?

I read many different kinds of book. I usually read different books in one period of time.

I have just finished reading the speeches of Mr. Nan Hwai-Jin, a Daoist book on Chan Tong Qi and also his speech about a Buddhist book Jing Gong Jin. I was reading these whilst I also finished reading the beginning of heaven and earth a book about Mr. Hu Lan-Chen, a debatable character in the last hundred years in China.

(c) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010

This article was first published in the Singing Dragon Newsletter in June 2009

Possibly related books:

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Related articles:

• The Circle of Eight: Bagua Master He Jing-Han Discusses Tradition, Fast Food and Art of Sax [Interview], By Gigi Oh (with Gene Ching and Jonathan Oh),Kungfu Magazine, 2004
• Master at work: He Jing-han keeps the bagua quan tradition alive in Taiwan [Interview], By Jules Quartly, Taipei Times, September 23, 2007
• Ged Sumner [Interview], Conversations with Writers, April 21, 2010

[Interview] Ged Sumner

Ged Sumner is a practising craniosacral therapist and Chi Kung teacher.

He has also studied shiatsu, healing and attachment based psychoanalytical psychotherapy.

He is Director of the College of Elemental Chi Kung.

His new book You Are How You Move: Experiential Chi Kung has just been published by Singing Dragon.

How and when did you first become interested in Chi Kung?

When I was 25 I went to a class by a Chinese Chi Kung master in London and was completely blown away.

The movements were like nothing I had seen before and the energy was remarkable. I could instantly see it was an amazing mix of exercise, meditation, and subtle energy.

Since then I have been studying with different people, learning more about it, practicing and teaching it.

What is experiential Chi Kung?

The art of deepening into chi is to become skilled at being body and chi aware.

You have got to experience what's within the movement forms so that you deepen into a body sensation and a chi field state. You feel chi, you don't think it or have an idea of it.

What will people gain from using the Chi Kung methods described in your book and what kind of people will benefit from them?

Everyone will benefit.

Regular practice if only for a short time will bring greater vitality, more suppleness in the body and greater stamina and mental focus. When you practice them a lot you can overcome illness, transform your mind and your whole approach to life and become much more attuned to your life's purpose and the subtle forces and movements within nature.

What or who most inspires you?

People who are using their energy, skills and resources to make a difference in the world today by creating greater awareness of the need to live a life in attunement to our environment.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time (other than Chi Kung)?

I like driving my tractor around my land. I like taking my kids to the beach. I like cooking.

(c) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010

This interview was first published in the Singing Dragon Newsletter in May 2009

Possibly related books:

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Related articles:

• You Are How You Move by Ged Sumner [Book Review], By satia, Satia's Journal, June 15, 2009
• Michael Acton [Interview], Conversations with Writers, April 12, 2010

[Interview] Michael Acton

Michael W. Acton is Founder and Senior Instructor of the Wu Shi Taiji Quan and Qi Gong Association UK.

He has been training for over 30 years and is the sole representative of Dr Li Li-Qun, a fourth generation Wu Style Taiji Quan master and a leading Qi Gong master.

His new book entitled Eternal Spring: Taijiquan, Qi Gong, and the Cultivation of Health, Happiness and Longevity has just been published.

When did you first become interested in Taijiquan and Qi Gong?

When I was young I was fascinated by Indian Yoga and so I began to practice meditation when I was eleven. I was without a teacher then and pretty much in the dark. There were no yoga teachers anywhere near my home town in the early sixties and I certainly had not heard of Taiji quan or Qi Gong then. I have always been drawn to yogic practices.

I was also interested in all things Chinese and especially Chinese painting and its Daoist roots. I was already a good candidate for Qi Gong and Taiji though still knew little to nothing about it.

My first introduction to Qi Gong was a small book of Daoist Yogic practies and I also found a book by the American dancer Sophia Delza who had studied the Big Slow Form of Wu Style Taiji Quan with Ma Yueh Liang when she had lived in Shanghai. I think that was in the 1940's. The illustrations in the book were hopeless to learn anything from and although I got the first few moves I got no further. It was not until many years later, after university, that I found a teacher of Taiji Quan.

I am not sure when I first saw Taiji even. There were only a few teachers in London at the time. I was however lucky enough to meet a young Chinese Malaysian who was starting a small group. When I saw him practice the form I was deeply impressed with the beauty and natural elegance and sense of integrated power. I started to learn the Wu Style form, Tui Shou and some Qi Gong from him. As fate would have it, it was the same form which Sophia Delza had studied and whose book I had struggled with back in my school days.

It was many years later (1992) in Shanghai that I would eventually find my true teacher; 16 or so years after my first Wu style teacher had returned to Malasia. During that time I had kept up my practice though not always systematically and even learned other forms and worked with and met other teachers. Only one, however, really impressed me. He was an old Chinese artist from Shanghai who had left China for London. His Traditional Yang Style, Hsing Yi and Ba Gua were quite remarkable and inspirational. When he stopped teaching and moved to Australia I realised that I would have to go to China to get what I wanted.

What do you think is the particular relevance of Taijiquan and Qi Gong for a Western audience?

Their relevance to the Western audience must surely be the remarkable ability of Taiji and Qi Gong to bring about good health, self healing and restore a sense of vitality and mental clarity. It also bring us back into contact with our true nature and the natural environment and the conditions of life.

Western Science will no doubt eventually explain much of what Qi Gong is and what it can do. But we don't have to wait for explanations, we can cultivate the experience now. We can rediscover our innate ability to restore and heal ourselves and rest in mental dimensions that will always remain beyond science. In a world where we are sensorially overloaded and so many of our experiences are tailored, limiting and manipulative, we can discover an internal freedom and strength and a sense of real liberation and empowerment and perhaps even spirituality. The methods for this were cultivated thousands of years ago. It has taken a long time for the West to notice them.

What would be your advice for anyone in taking up either Taijiquan and Qi Gong?

Find a good teacher and a good and mutually supportive group and don't get caught up in the politics of who does what and which form is best.

Always avoid conceit and arrogance in a teacher and never submit anything for the promise of 'secret knowledge'. Just do it with no aim other than giving yourself up to the experience.

It may take a long time to feel you are getting somewhere so persevere and do not look at the end goal. The key to the achievement of Taiji and Qi Gong are firstly perseverance, then slowness, precision, lightness and correct awareness. I rate correct awareness very highly since, without it, form often remains only beautiful movement and the deeper levels of achievement will remain a mystery.

There are often long periods when you do not seem to achieve much but progress often occurs when you least expect it. Suddenly you may discover that your level of practice is deepening and your ability to maintain a steady and undistracted awareness is maturing. Always return to the experience, perseverance is more important than talent and never give up.

The extraordinary lies hidden within the ordinary.

What or who most inspires you?

I think it must be the people in China who rise early and go to the park to practice their Taiji or Qi Gong. In a way they have transcended the discipline of practice because for them it is as ordinary as eating rice; just an everyday activity. One feels good, the other tastes good and both are important for a long and healthy life.

My teacher Dr Li Li Qun is one of them and he has been practicing since childhood. He is now in his 80's and still cycles to the park each morning. Such an inspiration. His belief that Taiji and Qi Gong is for everybody is also inspiring.

Finally, I should say that I am inspired also by the humility of such people and their deep connection to an ancient and remarkable tradition and belief.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time (other than Taijiquan and Qi Gong)?

I make no distinction between spare time and Taiji and especially Qi Gong time which I try to practice continuously from morning to night.

I am also an artist and so I am often thinking about paintings.

I spend a lot of time with my wife and daughter and the rest goes on working to make a living. My first Taiji teacher said that making money must come first, then the family (since without money the family would not be secure) and finally the practice of Taiji Quan. It is a good rule of thumb in our modern world though I'm afraid I have done it the wrong way around.

(c) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010

This interview was first published in the Singing Dragon Newsletter in April 2009

Possibly related books:

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Related article:

The benefits of bodymindcore work, Conversations with Writers, April 2, 2010

[Interview] Noah Karrasch

Noah Karrasch is a certified Rolfer and licensed massage therapist.

He teaches core bodywork skills and has recently published a book, entitled Meet Your Body: CORE Bodywork and Rolfing Tools to Release Bodymindcore Trauma (Singing Dragon, 2009).

How did you first become interested in Bodywork and Rolfing?

25 years ago I picked up Ida Rolf's book, Ida Rolf Talks about Rolfing and Physical Reality (Rosemary Feitis & Ida Rolf) for $1. At the time I was a music teacher, but the cover and the concept captured me.

As I read the book, and her quote: "This is the gospel according to Rolf: When gravity gets flowing appropriately through the body, then spontaneously the body heals itself," I was hooked.

Though I had no training or inclination in this area, I immediately resonated and knew I wanted to learn her work. Within a year, circumstances allowed me to pursue the training in Boulder, Colorado. I've been employed as a bodyworker, and more recently as a teacher of bodywork since that time.

What are the main benefits that bodymindcore work can offer people?

Years back one client sent me a beautiful card after her work that said, "Thank you for giving me my body back."

Though many clients come for symptom relief from back, neck, or foot pain; fibromyalgia; as an adjunct to other therapies; or many other reasons -- my belief is that all of us are wound too tightly and holding on to old traumas down to our core layer. If I can touch someone's core experience and convince them to breathe and release old trauma, everything in their life becomes freer and better.

Ida Rolf suggested -- and I agree -- that it's less important to change symptoms and more important to allow people to find balance in their lives so the symptoms can disappear. So CORE work intends to give people a greater sense of who they are and how they go into the larger world.

What do you hope people will take from your book?

First, I hope they will learn to believe they're in charge of their own body and process, and start to treat their bodymindcore appropriately.

Second, I hope they will find practical and useful information that will allow them to learn to operate more efficiently and joyfully in their own body.

Without beating people over the head with my ideas, I hope everyone can find within the pages, specific ideas that can allow them to make profound changes in their world with simple awarenesses and exercises.

I want us all to move more freely and joyfully through our lives.

What or who most inspires you?

The new president of the United States inspires me for his ability to listen to alternate viewpoints without getting defensive. The American people inspire me for their choice of him to assume the office.

My father-in-law, an 85-year-old who is still out making friends and saying 'yes' to new experiences, inspires me to remember to stay open and enthused about all aspects of life; even those that at first appear negative.

The challenges of the times -- financial, environmental and personal -- inspire me to remember to stay grateful for everything that comes my way.

What are you reading at the moment?

I've just finished several light reads of British mysteries ... those are always fun for me since I visit England so often these days, and recognize many locales.

I just finished a Ken Follett book about medieval England, and enjoy historical fictions from nearly any era or location. I'm planning to revisit the Colleen McCullough series on Rome soon -- she's perhaps my favorite author for her extensive research and her ability to create such vivid characters.

(c) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010

This interview was first published in the Singing Dragon Newsletter in January 2009

Possibly related books:

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Related article:

Dr Susan Shumsky [Interview], Conversations with Writers, May 14, 2007