We had a 4 day congress here in Israel- The International Congrees of Chinese Medicine (ICCM), which attracted wonderful guests from abroad such as the ultimate symbol of girl power Barbara Kirschbaum, the wonderful Julian Scott and he-who-speaks-of-mysterious-and-intriguing-matters Prof. Heiner Fruehauf.
My mentor recommended Heiner to me, and my blogshpere friend Eric Grey wrote me “He is a wonderful teacher and will blow your mind, I guarantee it”.
Eric- you were absolutely right!
We had 2 seminars with Heiner and 1 lecture and each was… well, a Heiner (higher) experience.
Those of you who met him and studied with him know exactly what I’m talking about. To those who didn’t meet him yet, first of all- try and hear him talk. Not only will your mind will be blown away, but it will just open your heart, as well as your mind, in ways you didn’t know possible. And not because Heiner is a wonderful man (I’m sure he is, but I just don’t know him that well to write about it), but because of his outstanding knowledge and ability to make you understand what he is talking about.
The whole congress was a huge success, and the other speakers were wonderful and I will soon post about them separately, but to kick things off- we will start with the Heiner Experience- part 1.
I wanted to kick things off with the e-mail interview I had with Heiner a month or so back, but alas- my Inbox was all magically deleted and I don’t have his original answers. I could translate it all, as I have the answers translated to Hebrew, but I rather have Heiner’s own words. So what I’ll do is take some more time to look for the original answers and if I won’t find them, then I will translate it.
But now what? I still have part 1 of my Heiner Experience to write about!
I have to admit, the program promised 30 minutes of QiGong with Heiner. Well, the first time I saw this I rolled my eyes backwards, trying to think of ways to avoid it.
I don’t like QiGong. I had an ok teacher I guess, 9 years ago, during my first year of CM and after 1 semester I stopped. I felt like a lion in a cage after each class. I couldn’t stand it, and vowed never to do it again.
And here I am, going to do another 30 minutes of QiGong?? You’ve got to be kidding me.
This was on Friday, after the lecture and one seminar with Heiner, so he already cast his spell on me. So what do you think happened? I did QiGong, for the first time in 9 years!
This was a very different QiGong than anything I ever did before, Heiner had us all bouncing with our arms and legs flying all over, breathing loudly with eyes closed.
Being the CM reporter than I am, plus the fact that Heiner had his eyes closed so he couldn’t see I was cheating, I did part of it, but then I thought that maybe catching even 20 seconds of everybody bouncing around couldn’t be a bad thing:
Eric Grey
March 25th, 2008 at 5:27 am
I’m so glad you had a good experience! The Qigong video is great. I must admit I was reluctant to try Qigong as well, but it is a constant part of our program - we take a practicum of 1.5 hours a week every term AND a 3 day retreat every term. So there’s no getting away from it. Once I got over my resistance, I learned to love it. Now I can’t imagine my life without it.
I think you’ll find if you keep going over your notes from Heiner’s lectures that there is truly no end to what that information can teach you.
I can’t wait to read more about the Congress. What a wonderful opportunity!
Eric
Yael
March 25th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Hey Eric,
Thanks for your comment.
Nope, I’m sorry, no more QiGong for this red head. hehe
Some things are good in theory, you know?… Not a very good CM spokesperson, am I?
But that’s just another way, one of many, to make CM a part of your life. Everything I look at as of 9 years ago is being looked through Yin and Yang and the 5 Elements (phases). From rocks to family dinners- who’s the Fire element? Who’s Yang? So we each adopt what suits us best I guess….
Don’t worry, you will hear A LOT about the congress, you can count on it.
Thanks,
Yael
amy
March 28th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Great post, Yael! I have yet to meet Heiner Fruehauf, but your post and videos have inspired me to attend a seminar! I love the videos as well.
Yael
March 29th, 2008 at 3:03 am
Hi Amy,
I’m glad that my words have inspired you.
When you get the chance to attend a seminar, post your thoughts. I would love to hear about it!
Thanks for your comment,
Yael