The Winds of Change!

I can’t quite believe that it is mid-February 2022, time is flying by, and the winter storms have certainly been piling through - like a metaphor for life in these crazy times. After a long period of deep reflection, and a blissful few months of avoiding social media, I decided it was time to hit the keyboard and give an update on Zu Qigong. I am very aware that there are those of you who have been waiting patiently for me to launch an online training package for Zu Qigong……. My sincere apologies to you, but the online training is on indefinite hold whilst I recalibrate my life and my relationship to the therapy world as it currently stands.

It is not through a lack of thought and effort that the online course has failed to manifest but it is simply that I am now allowing the heart to rule the head, a relatively new concept for me having spent much of my working life in science and nursing where academia rules. My beliefs and perspective have shifted considerably, a process that began over a decade ago and has most definitely accelerated in the last 2 years! Try as I might I have felt that there was something not quite gelling in my attempts to put an online package together and having taken time to understand what the problem is I realise that it is because I have been trying to conform to the expectations of the therapy world, mould the Zu Qigong course to fit the parameters defined by the clinical model that has, for better or worse, become the gold standard, something that Zu Qigong was specifically designed to avoid – it is after all a simple and gentle energy technique that aims to support the individual using a totally non-clinical approach with no diagnosing and no treating of specific ailments. Added to this the personal interaction that enables training days to flow and change with the needs of the students is effectively removed when we transfer learning to an online version, not something I am wholly comfortable with. There is no getting away from the fact that talking via a screen is not the same as the energetic exchange we experience when working together in the same space.

From the various questions that I have been asked regarding the prospective course content, and having spoken to many therapists along the way, the expectation appears to be that I will follow the previously tried and tested path that I duly complied with when delivering face to face training – the now standard training formula, working only with trained therapists (Zu Qigong having been categorised as a CPD technique – slightly frustrating!) offering up lots of theory based discussion and PowerPoint slides, “how to do” demonstrations, case studies etc, then at the end of the process provide bits of paper to the “trained” therapist giving the “powers that be” – aka professional bodies and insurance companies - assurances that a certain level of understanding and practice has been achieved by the student, which does seem a bit obscure and perhaps rather pointless when we would be working entirely online. This level of assurance also requires me to complete multiple forms, jump through numerous hoops and submit not insignificant sums of money to the said professional bodies for the gatekeepers, who will not have actually attended training with me or for that matter even fully understand my work, to give my course a pass mark, something that is deemed essential by the vast majority of my colleagues before they will subscribe to the training.…..and should the course be divided into multiple stages (which in the case of Zu Qigong would be the reality) the whole process has to be repeated for each module. The fees and paperwork then require renewal on an annual basis, all creating an illusion of professional standards and theoretically ensuring public “safety” because the therapy world has become so fixated on a one size fits all clinical, academic box. I have effectively been trying to make the round peg of Zu Qigong fit this square academic box and it doesn’t sit well with me – in short, I have a dilemma, do I conform and comply with the current model or allow my inner voice to be heard, offer a much less formalised approach and risk alienating the rule makers and my colleagues.

Perhaps I am simply a maverick, but my instinct tells me that it is time to start questioning the narrative, what do all these current rules achieve / prove with specific reference in this instance to energy therapies? As a science undergraduate some 40 years ago, I was taught to question everything, take nothing at face value, research, think laterally and reach my own conclusions – skills that have stood me in good stead over the years, (never more so than in the past 2 years!) and indeed lie at the root of how and why Zu Qigong was developed. Does the energy therapist really need a certificate in anatomy and physiology to participate successfully in training? I would suggest that no, they don’t, they are simply working to deliver energy into the energy system which ironically is one aspect of anatomy that you will not find in the A&P syllabus. Certainly, the therapist may find it interesting to learn more about the workings of the human body but that should be their choice and not a pre-requisite. Once the student leaves the training room, often having only spent a few hours together, or in the case of online training where the student has only a remote experience via a screen, can the trainer honestly state that the student will follow the exact protocol that they have been taught, can they be certain that a full understanding of the knowledge shared has been correctly assimilated, will the student be able to perform the protocol as demonstrated in a few weeks, or even several months’ time? The answer to each of these questions is no, so what exactly does the issued certificate prove? Yes, they attended a course of instruction but reading books and sharing knowledge informally with colleagues can be equally as enlightening, and where does that leave online learning, how do we prove that this provides effective learning for a hands-on technique? Even the completion of case studies merely demonstrates that the student is effectively using their own version/interpretation of your teaching. As a tutor I aim to share my experience and knowledge, how the student then chooses to use this is entirely at their discretion, no two therapists will ever work in exactly the same way – we are all unique individuals, and every client therapist interaction is unique to time and place. The only people benefitting from these certificates are the insurance companies who will add another therapy to the list and charge you a higher fee. Then we come to the old chestnut of client safety. Apart from the obvious necessity of providing a clean, comfortable and safe environment which again is at the discretion of the individual therapist and no self-respecting therapist trying to build and maintain a business is going to deliberately fail to do so, from the therapy perspective the Zu Qigong therapist is simply acting as a conduit for universal energy – the vibration and frequency of Source, choosing a pattern of delivery applied via gentle touch, the worst that can happen is a slight overload in one part of the network which may leave the client feeling mildly uncomfortable for a few hours – the human body is remarkably resilient and it is worth remembering that all healing is directed by the body not the therapist. A similar scenario exists for other energy-based techniques such as sound or colour therapy. It is interesting to note that for many clients if they don’t experience some discomfort then they assume the therapy is not working, slightly ironic when the energy therapist is using gentle and carefully applied techniques to support healing and avoid causing discomfort! These clients certainly aren’t going to go rushing to make a claim against you and your insurance because they briefly experienced a mild headache or episode of nausea. Market forces, operating via word of mouth, will enable the good therapist to succeed based on the effectiveness of their work and client experience, regardless of how many certificates they have acquired.

Having taken a step back to review this problem, where do I perceive this nonsensical situation to originate from. I suspect this primarily stems from the consistent shift over the last two decades where the therapy world has moved from being vocational to an industry. With this change we see commerce taking front and centre stage in an increasingly competitive marketplace, the result being somewhat territorial with a tendency towards one upmanship - this certificate trumps that certificate, a focus on financial value/gain, ego, control, and a relentless push towards “regulation”, which coincidentally creates further financial gain for those self-appointed experts at the top who make the rules.

I fully accept that the current model of academic training and clinical approach to working suits those therapies designed around a diagnostic and prescriptive approach. It stands to reason that if for example you are prescribing medicinal plants where the correct prescription, awareness of interactions and sensitivities are important; or applying deep manipulation of physical structures where there is the potential to cause significant harm, then a robust training and regulatory system is necessary, but for the gentle holistic techniques that now abound, this imposed control is, in my humble opinion, unnecessary and has led to an environment that stifles learning and development with so many academic hurdles to cross and the resulting financial implications effectively excluding many. There appears to be a deep sense of anxiety amongst therapists who are now competing in an increasingly crowded market, one that is destined to be impacted significantly by inflation and global recession in the coming months and years, further feeding insecurities and the need to compare themselves with others, worrying that they have less than adequate training, constantly stressing about doing the wrong thing and feeling a need to frequently consult with “the mother ship” for reassurance. A situation that is reflective of the nanny state that we are subjected to in everyday life, something that I sincerely hope is destined to change as we move into the new paradigm.

It can be challenging to let go of situations or things that we have become accustomed to and feel comfortable with, boundaries that are familiar, but the boundaries in this case are an illusion. In our rapidly changing world, we seem to have reached a fork in the road, a chance to regain balance between clinical and holistic, an opportune point to reflect on where we are going as individuals, do we continue with the familiar or take a risk to follow the path less well trodden. In these evolutionary times, there is an opportunity to return to a more heart centred approach, a genuinely holistic perspective, apply the laws of nature, supporting and enabling the individual to achieve and maintain health and well-being whilst retaining our autonomy. Neither path is right or wrong, just different and represents the two halves of the equation – Yin & Yang, we need both to achieve balance but for too long now the Yang aspect has dominated and controlled, it is time for an injection of the Yin approach. For those who are ready to embrace the challenge of change there are different options to explore. The past couple of years have changed all of us, in a multitude of different ways, our priorities have changed, and our viewpoints have shifted and will continue to shift and evolve. The winds of change are blowing through every aspect of society, the old systems are collapsing, nothing is returning to the “normal” that previously existed, I feel hopeful that by embracing change and exploring different ways of thinking and working we can create a much happier, more balanced, and cohesive world. I am allowing change to change me; my thinking, priorities, and approach to life, taking things at a slower pace and it feels good.

So where to now for Zu Qigong? Having eased myself into semi-retirement and with other commitments in my life, including a potential relocation this year, my available time is limited but as long as I am physically able to, I will happily continue to support my Zu Qigong colleagues around the world in any way that I can, and additionally the book, website and the Qi-Laxation technique are all easily accessible and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Please remember that I am always contactable if you have any questions.  For the future, sharing my experiences and knowledge on an informal basis will continue and if there is sufficient interest, I will create some simple instruction videos but unfortunately for now, until there is a significant shift in the therapy world, I am listening to my inner voice and opting out of the formal therapy training game.

I realise that I may be a lone voice but if you have similar concerns, perhaps you are an energy therapist who would like to see a change in the current system, the development of a model that supports the re-emergence of a simple, balanced, back to basics holistic approach to therapies - then please get in touch via email or Messenger, preferably not Facebook!…..let’s connect.