Today Beijing was still overcast and a bone-chilling, damp cold slapped at all parts exposed to the elements.  We rose early and went downstairs to breakfast at a feast of a buffet that offered American and Chinese breakfasts.  It included my favorite bok choy, steamed buns with bean paste [...]]]> Day 2, Saturday, April 17 (Beijing)

           Today Beijing was still overcast and a bone-chilling, damp cold slapped at all parts exposed to the elements.  We rose early and went downstairs to breakfast at a feast of a buffet that offered American and Chinese breakfasts.  It included my favorite bok choy, steamed buns with bean paste inside, fruit (including lychi nuts), congee, dumplings, etc.  We had a wide variety to choose from.  The Chinese hotels, I think, serve the best breakfasts in the world.  I remember even in the home in which we stayed one night two years previously, we were served a varied and delicious breakfast with at least 6 different dishes, including several vegetables.

 Jing Shan Park

            We had risen early in order to go to Jing Shan Park right behind the Forbidden Palace. We wanted to be there with the locals when we began learning the Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade Qigong.  Since it was Saturday, families as well as retired people, all bundled up in winter coats and gloves, filled the huge park which is the largest in China.  We walked along an extremely wide flat stone pathway that was flanked by green spaces decorated with rocks.  No one stood or played on the grass as it was forbidden.  Chris told us that it was too much to keep up the grass with people walking on it, so there is a permanent keep-off-the-grass rule in all Chinese parks.

As we walked down the path that was at least 40 feet wide, we were fascinated by the variety of activities in which people were engaged.  Some played Tai Chi Ball with slow sweeping side-to-side movements as they batted a ball with ribbons back and forth in an elliptical pattern. 

Taiji Ball in Jing Shan Park, Beijing

We stopped by the wall of a building.  There, beside a group of people who were practicing Tai Chi and in front of two large red hanging lanterns on the side of a red and yellow building, Shawn led us in some exercises and began our instruction on the 1200-year-old Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade form of Qigong. It is based on a poem.  The practice of Qigong has been recorded for over 2300 years and probably is a tradition that is well over 5000 years old. 

Several Chinese joined us.  Others took pictures of the strange Westerners practicing an ancient Chinese art. 

Several Chinese joined us to practice Qigong.

During the course of an hour, we acquired quite an audience and more participants.  To Linda and I who teach Tai Chi in the US, it was one of the high points of the trip!

Afterwards, we continued walking through the park.  We heard various instruments playing music, both Oriental and Western with a variety of instruments.  Down a small ravine, a small crowd of people surrounded others who danced in the center.  Most wore Western garb, but a majority of the dancers were dressed in the traditional dress of their ethnic group.   All wore coats.  We stopped to watch for a few minutes.

When some of the watching crowd spied us, they asked us to join them and played “Jingle Bells” and other well-known Western tunes.  When we hesitated, some came to take our arms and pushed and pulled us to the center of the circle where we proceeded to dance, each one of us with a local.  Donna was the favorite as she is young, agile, and beautiful.

Dancing with the locals in Jing Shan Park

We danced with them, linking arms and kicking legs, and twirling until we became slightly dizzy.  Some bystanders joined in, smiling and obviously enjoying themselves with the strange Westerners who had come to stroll and exercise in their park on a Saturday morning instead of seeing the usual tourist sites.  Their friends in the crowd snapped pictures. We were reluctant to leave, and might still be there dancing if Yinong hadn’t tactfully extracted us.

The Forbidden City

After enjoying Jing Shan Park, we climbed over 200 stairs (China = Stairs) to a pavilion that overlooked the Forbidden City, so named because it was forbidden to ordinary folk like us many years ago.  The view was lovely through the mist, giving the famous buildings a surreal feel.

View of Forbidden City from Jing Shan Park

We descended the 200 steps and went to visit the Forbidden City.  The entire complex extends over 300 acres in the middle of a city of over 18 million people!  Of course it hadn’t changed in the two years since I had been there, but, being a few weeks into April, it was more crowded.  Most of the tourists were from Asia—bunches of Japanese and Koreans.  But, there were tour groups from everywhere.  Jan even heard Hebrew. 

Chris took me to the same 4 Star Happy Room (WC) we had visited the last trip as I wanted a better picture for my talk on “Chinese Homes, Schools, and Happy Rooms.”  After all, how often does one find officially rated bathrooms?  From the previous visit to the Forbidden Palace, I remember it had not been clean, did not offer toilet paper, and all were Asian toilets, BUT, and this may be why the four stars, it had a large, working radiator that went almost the length of a wall!  I did want to use the facilities, but it was too crowded with a long line.  Chris thought that I was “cracked” to want a picture of a bathroom. 

Pam, Yinong, and Jane in the Forbidden City

Chris (filled in by Yinong) told us of the history, the tragedies, and the drama of the place.   It was used up until the 1910’s when the Qing Dynasty collapsed!  The flowering bushes and trees were in full bloom despite the almost freezing temperatures.  Everyone was bundled up, including the three intrepid visitors below.  The cold was damp and penetrating.

Tiananmen Square

From the Forbidden City, we walked to Tiananmen Square through security guards, putting our backpacks and purses through a machine.  Some were inspected by hand by the guards.  It wasn’t too crowded at all.  I noticed that there were more soldiers than the last time.  Perhaps because it was Saturday, I also noticed that there were more Chinese families with young children who all held little Chinese flags with the five stars on them.  Each star represents a different facet of the population of China.

Chris told us that each year the government hangs a newly painted picture of Chairman Mao on the wall.  It is certainly huge.  Tiananmen Square is always impressive in size.  I kept imagining thousands of people practicing Tai Chi there early in the mornings… 

Hutong District, Beijing

            Exiting through the metal barricades that surrounded Tiananmen Square, we boarded our bus and rode to the Hutong District which has remained unchanged for hundreds and hundreds of years.  All the buildings in the District are no more than two stories and all are painted gray.  This day, a gray mist surrounded the gray buildings and street. The Hutong District used to be inhabited by Mongolians during the last dynasty.  Now, since it has become fashionable to live there, more wealthy people are moving in.  Unless a minority family has lived there for generations, they may have to move from their homes.

            As a side note, I need to point out here that I was told that there are 56 minority groups in China.  The Han People make up about 90% of the population.

First, we went to a delicious lunch.  As on our previous trip, I think they are feeding us to death, but what a way to go!  The restaurant was quaint, but then the Hutong District is very old.  They put us in an upstairs room (reserved for foreigners or wealthier clientele) that contained the usual large, round table, but this time, there was no lazy Susan. 

The most interesting dish and most excellent as well was beef in a lotus wrap.  Most of the meal, though, was vegetarian.  They also served my favorite baby Bok Choy and Chinese celery.  We have two vegetarians with us (one a vegan), so when Chris ordered the meal, he took that into consideration.  There always was a tofu dish or two.  This time it consisted of cold, thin, ribbed tofu strands in a vinegar sauce—really different but with a delightful flavor and new texture that we all found pleasing.  In this dish, I could actually taste the soy.  The delicious, delicate-tasting soup with rice noodles was served steaming in a metal bowl with a cylindrical metal heater (candle or something inside) to keep it warm.  The room, of course, was not heated, and dishes tended to get cold rather quickly.

After lunch, we took ride around the Hutong District in a red rickshaw, an interesting way to travel.  Our enthusiastic, hardworking driver lacked a few teeth, but smiled a lot and, after every stop, grinned from ear to ear and gave us the victory sign when he saw us come back to his rickshaw.  Each time, he gently and solicitously covered us against the cold air with a slightly worn blanket.  

One of our Hutong tour rickshaw drivers

Unfortunately for our poor driver, the chain on his bike broke, and he had to run, dragging the bike and us to the next stop which was quite a ways ahead.  He had to keep up with the group.  I was worried about him as he was puffing a lot and asked him if he was OK.  He seemed surprised that I’d ask, especially in Mandarin but told me he was fine.

At one point (but to no avail) he tried to fix the chain and got grease all over his hands. I gave him a Kleenex and Jan a paper towel she had found in the pocket of my brown jacket (borrowed for the trip).  He seemed touched.  He fixed the chain at the next stop.  Nice man. 

We stopped three times to see family courtyards.  One woman introduced us to her 92-year-old father, her brother, and a cousin.  The father was not pleased at the tourists even though the family was being paid to open their home to us.  At one stop, we went inside for a demonstration on making dumplings.  While that was interesting, it was being in an actual home that was the most exciting.  One family courtyard had a healing garden in it with all kinds of herbs. 

These were the first of many homes we were to visit on this trip, including one in Tibet!  The homes were not cleaned up or changed in any way for us foreigners.  One even had dishes in the sink.  These were regular homes in which families were living their daily and earning a few coins by letting a few Westerners take a peek.

All the families had dogs.  One older man proudly showed us his four obviously loved beauties.  The courtyards looked quite poor and were cluttered with old-looking “stuff,” and all was open to the elements.  Inside all the homes, the furnishings were simple, and while the interiors looked homey, they were only a little warmer than the courtyard.

Everyone had rosy cheeks from the cold.  The entire extended family lives around the courtyard in which wash hangs to dry (freeze solid is more like it), little gardens grow vegetables and herbs, children play, and family meet.  Chris told us that there were only a few family-owned courtyards left.  Most of the other families had dispersed as children grew up and moved away.  

After we bid zai jian to our driver and gave him a nice tip, we walked some more around the District, getting the flavor of it, steeping ourselves in the grayness of it.  I snapped a picture of the Dong Fang Xin Cheng Opticians for my son Jesse who is an Optometrist.

Dinner and amazing visit with Yinong’s doctor friends

In the entire day, we must have walked at least five miles plus climbed at least 200 stairs, so an exhausted group returned to the Beijing Best Western to clean up a little before leaving for dinner.  We had 20 minutes, barely enough time to get upstairs, pee, and back down again.

We walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner.  Jiji did not come with us as she was not feeling well.  Again, the food was terrific and varied.  Chris joined us this time as translator as Yinong had to leave to visit some friends (whom we would meet later).  Alice also is a Chinese American like Yinong.  She talks to Chris and Yinong in Mandarin which she said was rusty.  It didn’t sound rusty to me!  It’s nice having two Chinese-born Americans in our group.  Alice is quite a lady and tough.  At 84, she kept up with all us “young” folk, 20 years her junior.  She teaches Tai Chi and practices Tai Chi Swords as well as Qigong.  This is the secret to her continued youth—longevity in the Springtime of her life.

As I mentioned, dinner was terrific.  The green beans were ambrosia and permeated with many pieces of garlic.  The mushroom dish, decorated with baby Bok Choy was “to die for” (Pam’s words). 

After dinner, although thoroughly exhausted, most of us joined Yinong, Shawn, Yinong’s doctor friend and three of her friends in the small lounge area in the lobby of the hotel.  The two women were well-known, rather famous doctors, both trained in traditional Chinese medicine as well as regular Western medicine.  The two men and one of the doctors were Professors who, using Yi Ching, had developed a technology that changes the molecular structure of living and non-living matter. 

They demonstrated on a glass of Chinese rice wine. First one of the men poured the alcohol into two glasses.  He put one glass on the “mirror.”  Jerlene was the only volunteer, so she tasted them both before and after the transformation.  She told us that the difference was amazing in the “after” cup.  She was wide-eyed!  They gave the device to Shawn and Yinong.  They gave Jerlene a bracelet made of the healing meteorite to Jerlene.  We “felt” the bracelet and independently found that two of the beads were very charged with energy or qi.  They told Jerlene to watch her liver spots as they would slowly disappear.

We talked, Yinong translating, until quite late.  The conversation was about healing and alternative methods and way-out-there stuff that we all believed in. They were very surprised that a bunch of Westerners knew of and had experienced such things. They also were flabbergasted that four of us were Reiki Masters and two others were Reiki attuned, more than half the group.  They were shocked that our minds were so open.

Yinong’s friend took Linda’s hand and pressed acupuncture points in her hand and legs the entire time we were there.  Linda, exhausted, left a little earlier than the rest of us.  The doctor instinctively had known that Linda had a problem.  She slept well that night for a change!  So did the rest of us, exhausted as we were from such a full day.

I can’t believe that I’m in China again. Most Americans don’t ever get the chance to go at all. Those few who are lucky to visit usually only go once. Here I am in China a second time, this time on a Healing Journey of exploration. We six from Marco [...]]]> Day 1, Friday, April 16 (Beijing)

I can’t believe that I’m in China again. Most Americans don’t ever get the chance to go at all. Those few who are lucky to visit usually only go once. Here I am in China a second time, this time on a Healing Journey of exploration. We six from Marco Island arrived almost at dawn at Beijing airport, the same one where five other friends and I had arrived just two years ago. The huge international terminal opened in 2008, just two days before our last arrival. It still looked new this year. And, since our plane landed around 5:30 AM, Beijing time, the airport was, as before, almost totally deserted.

After we gathered our luggage, zoomed through immigration, and were waved through customs, our Wild China guide, Chris, met us at the gate to the outside, the COLD outside. He was young, earnest looking, and thin. He wore glasses and had a habit of pursing his lips together that made him look younger than his 30 years. He turned out to be an excellent guide and a thoughtful young man.

Inside the airport it was cold. Outside, it was icy. The temperature was in the low 30’s. Despite the frigid air, a smog haze hung over the city. The air was foul and smelled of burning coal. We all were very glad that we had our warm coats, hats, and gloves with us. Most of us also wore several layers underneath the coats, Florida wimps that we are.

Best Western Hotel, Beijing
After an hour’s ride during which we didn’t see much due to the haze and our bleary condition after flying for more than 12 hours and missing sleep, we arrived at our hotel—The Best Western Beijing. This hotel bested any Best Western I had ever slept in before. The spacious lobby with its tasteful decorations and amply-staffed registration desk felt more in line with a much more regal chain.

Due to our arrival at such an ungodly hour, our rooms were not yet ready so the hotel reluctantly offered to put us up in the rooms reserved for locals so that we could take a shower and nap until it was time to check into our proper room. I say “reluctantly” only because they thought us Westerners might be insulted by being given a small, windowless room on one of the lower floors. Chris informed us of this. Apparently, he had insisted that we were exhausted and wouldn’t care. In fact, would be grateful! We were.

The room was very small, but it was very clean with some lovely, though modest, decoration. The lack of a window gave us a slight claustrophobic feeling, but the shower was hot, the heater worked, the tea boiler brewed us a cup of Jasmine tea (it’s Spring—more detail later), and the beds, though rock hard for Chinese tastes, were heavenly. We showered and slept the sleep of the dead for a few hours.

After waking, we went to the lobby to inquire when we would be moving to our permanent room and to buy some water. I talked briefly to a young man and woman who staffed the gift shop. They actually understood my Mandarin, such as it was. I blew a kiss to the language CDs of Rosetta Stone. On the previous trip, after laboriously learning a little basic, survival Chinese, I had arrived all ready to try out every one of the 75-100 words that I knew. No one had understood me as I pronounced the tones all incorrectly and spoke too slowly, giving my words and sentences no meaning at all. But, this time, the young man asked my age (in Mandarin), as did others in the days that followed. When I told him, he was properly and politely shocked. Since, despite wrinkles, I don’t yet have gray hair (great genes), he probably didn’t have a clue. I bought two bottles of water.

The hotel gave us our new room on the 15th floor. It was very large with yellow, smoggy light streaming in through a large, picture window. The usual hot water boiler sat on a counter. Vases sat on glass shelves. The beds were softer for Western tastes. I preferred the hard ones.

After getting settled a bit, Jan and I bundled up and went downstairs in search of lunch which that first day was on our own. Jan and I opted not to leave the hotel in search of food but instead to try the small restaurant in the hotel. I actually had to ask for chopsticks. I guess the hotel was trying to be American, but at that point, we had yet to encounter anyone who spoke good English. This was OK with me. It gave me the courage and the excuse to dive right in and try out the little bit of Mandarin I had learned over the previous two months.

We encountered Pam and Jerlene in the restaurant. They had shared a pizza. Jan and I sat at the table they were just vacating and ordered noodle soup which sounded soothing after our long, tiring journey—Chinese comfort food. Jan ordered mushroom, and I asked for beef. The beef was grisly, and the soup was greasy with a greasy, unsavory flavor. It was not good at all. I tasted Jan’s, and it was very good. A cute waitress served me Jasmine Tea in a glass. Pam and Jerlene laughed at my dilemma—how to drink the tea through all those strands. I figured out that as the water cooled to a drinkable temperature, the strands fell, and I could drink a properly seeped tea. It was delicious.

After lunch, Jan went upstairs, and I went alone to a Bank of China a block away from the hotel. Upon our arrival, Chris had showed us where the bank was located in case we needed it. He had to spend the afternoon picking up the rest of the group from the airport.

Bank of China

Since we had a few hours of free time, and I wanted to stay awake to adjust to the 12-hour time switch, I decided to change a bunch of the 100 Yuan notes the Bank of America had sold me for smaller bills.  Having only the equivalent of $15 bills in a country where prices were usually low was ridiculous.  No one would be able to give us change, and we stood a good chance to be cheated. 

The Bank of China proved to be quite an experience.  Bundled up against the biting cold with a scarf over my mouth against the coal-smelling smog, I managed to cross a side street, maneuver around construction and several fences, walked through a crowded parking lot, and arrived at the bank.

At least four armed guards stood around the bank staring at everyone.  A bunch of people sat on benches in the middle of the bank.  Numbers flashed on a moving screen above the tellers, first in Chinese and then in English.  An automated voice announced in Chinese and then very accented English that “number _____ could go to Window ___.”  I realized that I needed to get a number, but where?  Then, with gestures and the word “number,” I asked where I could obtain one.  A nice young lady directed me to a machine in the corner of the bank.  I pressed a button and received number 133. 

Following the example of everyone else, I sat down in a hard chair and waited until the canned voice told number 133 to go to teller number five.  Luckily it was also streaming above the tellers, or I would have been in trouble.  On that first day, the Mandarin was spoken too fast for me to get the number, and the English was too unclear to understand either. 

I went to my assigned teller.  She did not speak English and looked a little worried.  She initiated the transaction by speaking to me in Chinese.  I gave her 700 RMG.  She asked “qi ba yuan ma?” (700 Yuan?) and when I replied “dui,” she looked much relieved.  I managed to convey that I wanted smaller bills. 

That transaction still required a passport.  I probably could have managed the exchange with gestures, but it was satisfying and so delightful to be understood even through a grill no less, that I walked in the clouds all the way back to the hotel.  60 hours of hard study had paid off in the short span of an hour.  To most people this does not sound very exciting.  To a life-long linguist, who also taught foreign languages, this was a personal highlight. 

Foot Massages and Mandarin

I arrived back in our hotel room to find a lady there giving Jan a foot massage and another lady waiting for me.  I lay on the bed, and she promptly began with my shoulder.  Since she, too, spoke almost no English, I told her with gestures and a few words of Mandarin that I didn’t want her to do my neck.  The massage was very hard and deep, but it felt heavenly afterwards.  I actually think she may have realigned the bones that had been out of whack. It stopped hurting!  But, both Jan and I did ache the next day.  Jan even had some bruises.

Then, buoyed by previous success, I got up the nerve to try a limited conversation in a mix of the two languages with Jan’s masseuse who spoke a few words of English.  We talked about our children (mine had one son).  Like the man in the gift shop, they wanted to know my age.  She also asked what I paid for my running shoes.  I told her that I still worked.  They also told me that they were very surprised that they understood me.  So was I.  Thank you once again, Rosetta Stone! Terrific method!

Dinner and the Group

Dinner in the hotel was in the large dining room.  It more than made up for my lousy lunch!  We met three of the four others in our group and Shawn Cartwright and Yinong Chong.  Shawn and Yinong were our Tai Chi/Qigong teachers from the Traditional Chinese Culture Institute International at Washington D.C..  Yinong, who over the course of the following two weeks shared with us some of her wealth of knowledge about Traditional Chinese culture, has a PhD in her own right and co-founded TCCII with Shawn.  Over the next two weeks, Yinong would give us a series of absolutely fascinating lectures.  But, we all learned much, much more from Yinong than she gave us in her lectures.  It seemed as if around every turn there was a lesson to be learned or something new to be explained or explored. 

Donna, Ted, and Jiji, the other three in the group, proved to be very compatible.  We chatted amicably, getting to know each other over at least 15 dishes which included a chicken mix in a pumpkin shell, lotus root in several forms, two types of dumplings (one beef and one veggie) plus a host of vegetable dishes, each better than the last—baby bok choy, broccoli rabe, asparagus in two different forms, straw veggie mix, etc.  We topped off our meal with fruit for dessert that included the usual watermelon.  Someone had carved a beautiful flower leaf with the watermelon rind to decorate the fruit plate.

After dinner, exhausted from our travels, we stumbled up to our room and slept the night through, thus eliminating any traces of jet lag.  I wonder why it didn’t work the same way on our return home.  It took us a week to adjust back to US time.

A side note on Restaurants in China

For those of you who are reading this and have not yet had the pleasure of traveling to Mainland China, I would like to note here that, for all of our meals, we were given a pair of chopsticks, usually wooden, a saucer-sized plate, and a small bowl.  There usually was a Lazy Susan in the middle of a large round table.  Wait staff placed dish after dish on the Lazy Susan which we spun slowly, usually the “polite” way—clockwise.  Most meals consisted of at least a dozen dishes plus soup.

Alice, a Shanghai-born CPA, joined us from the US the next day.  Although Alice objected to the practice and always asked for serving spoons or extra chopsticks, we often had to use our own chopsticks to grab morsels of vegetables, meat, tofu, or whatever from each platter and put it into our bowl.  I noticed that the Chinese put all their food on one plate or bowl. 

At first we Westerners separated all the dishes and used our saucer-sized plates for that purpose, only using the bowls for the soup, but we soon learned to use the bowl for everything, one flavor blending into another.  The plate was for bones and refuse.  Still, using the bowl, I took from one dish at a time (except the rice) so as to savor the flavor of each one.  Rice bowls catch sauces which blend to finish the meal.

The rice always was sticky, clinging together nicely so that we could easily push it into our mouths with our chopsticks, holding the bowl close to our mouths.  In fact, the locals eat with the bowl raised near the lips.  Dessert always consisted of various fruits and always with watermelon, called “Western Melon.”     The wait staff are always dressed in lovely, usually colorful uniforms, with each restaurant’s costume being unique.  Napkins are rare, and you usually have to ask for them.  There often are decorative pieces of cloth on each plate as you take your place, but these are not napkins as we quickly found out.  Napkins are very much like thin Kleenex and usually come in tiny cardboard boxes, often with a picture of the restaurant or area on them.  They are not at all like the napkins we use.  Usually restaurants provided only a few boxes of the “napkins” at our table.  We felt totally spoiled at those few restaurants that were generous with them. 

I know that paper was invented in China, but there sure is not a lot of it being used.  We often needed to provide our own toilet paper, were not automatically served napkins, and there was no Kleenex in the hotel rooms.

This video introduces you to the Qigong state and the Five Animal Frolics form [...]]]> The Qigong State and Five Animal Frolics medical Qigong were part of the Qigong credit courses that we taught to holistic nurses at their annual convention this year. All forms of higher cultivation including meditation and Qigong benefit from the Qigong state.

This video introduces you to the Qigong state and the Five Animal Frolics form (the Tiger, Deer and Bear are shown). The full form, along with several other forms, can be found on our Qigong practice DVD available at http://www.filmbaby.com/films/4744

This short video gives you an idea of what it is like [...]]]> On our recent China adventure, we took a group behind the scenes in a real traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy in China. They got to see exactly how the herbal prescriptions were filled and were introduced to a bewildering array of traditional Chinese medicine herbs.

This short video gives you an idea of what it is like inside a busy TCM pharmacy.

The turtle is revered in China by the Taoists for its longevity. Several forms of Qigong and breathing are patterned upon the turtle. [...]]]> We did Qigong in Jing Shan park, part of the Forbidden City on recent China trip. While there we saw this old man doing Turtle Walking Qigong and filmed video of his practice.

The turtle is revered in China by the Taoists for its longevity. Several forms of Qigong and breathing are patterned upon the turtle. Wudang Five Animal Qigong includes an entire turtle sequence.

The man’s movement was quite impressive, considering his age and that he did Turtle Walking all over the park, including up and down hills. Can you do it?

Today is a day you will reap great benefits from your practice. Spend as [...]]]> Today is the Summer Solstice. This is the time of maximum Yang, when the first seed of Yin begins to regenerate. Like the Winter Solstice and the Spring and Autumn Equinox, it is an important time for Qigong and Internal Alchemy practitioners.

Today is a day you will reap great benefits from your practice. Spend as much time meditating and doing Qigong as possible. Even the benefits of acupuncture and moxibustion are enhanced today.