The 12th World Congress on Qigong & TCM was a great success

Dr. Chow received a proclamation from Senator Yee's office

After a whole year preparation and with sponsorships from East West Academy of Healing Arts (EWAHA), TC Media & KungFu Magazine and 22 other outstanding organizations and companies, the 12th World Congress on Qigong and the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was concluded successfully on April 25 in San Francisco, California. Dr. Effie Chow, president of East West Academy of Healing Arts and founder and Chair of the Congress, announced that with the vast interest from the participants, the Working Committee of the World Congress will expand the Scientific Symposium portion of the event to a full day program. The Congress will invite more scientists and scholars to present their valuable research on Taichi, Qigong and the TCM.

This year the World Congress on Qigong & TCM joined the effort with the World Taichi & Chi Gong Day (WTCQD) to address the most essential elements for the health of human beings as well as of the planet. Dr. Chow stated in the opening ceremony that energy, air, food, and water are the basics which deserve the global awareness. While the health care reform bill is starting to be implemented in the U.S., there is still time to voice out that natural health care, i.e. TCM, Medical Chi Gong and Taichi Chuan, is mainstream and should play an important role in our future health care system.
 

Dr. Shin Lin at the Science Symposium

David Chiu (President of San Francisco Board of Supervisor), Gavin Newsom (Mayor of San Francisco), Mark Leno (Senator of 3rd District), Leland Yee (California State Senator), Tom Ammiano (Assemblyman of 13th Assembly District), and Eric Mar (Supervisor of San Francisco District 1) sent their congratulations, greetings and proclamations for this event. David Chiu, president of the Board of Supervisors appeared at the Grand Opening to present to Dr. Effie Chow a proclamation of April 24th 2010 as Tai Chi and Qigong Day in San Francisco. 

The activity-loaded Congress was kicked off at 10 am PST with a Lion Dance performed by Leung’s White Crane in the Union Square, San Francisco. This free, well-designed outdoor program was divided into four groups by functions: live Taichi and Chi Gong performance by masters and their students, general practice of simple Taichi and Chi Gong forms by the audience led by masters, live medical Chi Gong healing demonstration by masters, and testimonies by the patients of medical Chi Gong. The weather was gorgeous with bright sunshine and gentle breeze. Many pedestrians joined the celebration and enjoyed the free show which ended at 3 pm on Saturday.

Sifu May Chen of Ohlone College and students demonstrated Taichi Chi Gong and the fluid Yang Style Taichi Routine 24 Form (see video clip below). Ann Colichidas, Cathy Cheung, and Joe Quinn led an international group Chow Qigong students in the Precious Eight practice.  Dr. JD Zhang performed daring Chi Gong feat which he used Chi Gong with his left eyelid to lift a bucket with water using a fine thread. Carol Ayers and others played the Taiko Drum.  The Shaolin Temple San Francisco shocked the audience with its hard style Chi Gong performance with many daring acts. Master Wayne Peng and Sophia Zhou did a Zhao Bao Style Taichi Form. Sifu Philip Wong, Mei Zhang Hong and students from the Pacific Wushu Corp exhibited highly entertaining kungfu routines.
 

Lee Holden led the Qigong practice

Famous PBS/KQED Taichi program host Lee Holden led the crowd to experience the Magic of Chi Gong. Dr. Roger Jahnke shared with the audience the “Tai Chi Easy” movements which lifted the spirit of the attendees.

Dr. Hidy Hiraoka and students used Cosmo Power to bounce people off and block attacks. Dr. Stanley Ngui and Master Justin Ngui utilized the Six Healing Sounds to relieve pain and discomfort of the voluntary participants. Dr. Chow also applied Breath & Brush Qi Power to ease the pain of the audience who came forward voluntarily.

Chow Qigong students and clients Michael Hernandez, Crane Kirkbride, Deborah Hatch, John Kyle (via wife Ann Colichidas), and Carolyn Bass testified their healing experience with the audience.

Saturday's exciting Grand Finale produced by Sifu Philip Wong, and Mei Zhang Hong
featured the Pacific Wushu Corp student groups of all ages exhibiting highly entertaining performances of Wushu and Taichi Quan.

During the Saturday night’s Gala held in historical Whitcomb Hotel, Musician and Calligraphy Master Terry Luk led a 10-person Chinese Orchestra and performed a number of famous Chinese folk songs. In addition to award presentation (see Winners of 12th World Congress on Qigong & TCM Awards for the awards and their recipients), Dame Dr. Sandra Rose Michael and Dr. Roger Jahnke shared their views on the current Chi Gong development with the attendees. There were astonishing healing performance by Dr. Effie Chow and Dr. Philip Lei Yang and entertaining shows by Dr. JD Zhang, Xiaole Li, and the monks of the Shaolin Temple San Francisco.

 The Scientific Symposium was chaired and organized by Dr. Shih Lin of UC-Irvine. Professor Jonathan Schooler of UC-Santa Barbara reported the “Using mind-wandering to assess the impact of mediation on mindfulness”. Gloria Gronowicz, PhD, examined the “Effect of human bioenergy on cellular function in cultured cells”. Dr. Ge Wu of University of Vermont shared an interesting research of “Biomechanical analysis of movements” and compared the result of practicing Taichi versus walking or climbing stairs. She also introduced a Tele-Taichi project to promote the long-term Taichi practice and its benefits. Dr. Michael Irwin of UCLA talked about the research result of “Improving Immunity and Sleep in Older Adults by practicing Taichi”. Dr. Shin Lin’s topic of “Introduction of the Convergence of Eastern and Western Medicine for Optimal Health and Healing” energized the attendees by highlighting the future of medicine. There will be separate articles to report these presentations in this column at examiner.com.

During the Sunday Luncheon, Lama Tantrapa and Dr. Linda Hole shared their passion about Chi Gong Coaching and Hawaiian Chi Gong Style respectively with the audience.

Sunday afternoon, there were eight different workshops: Dr. Philip Lei Yang on Medical Chi Gong, Dr. Sandra Michael on “the DNA Creative Dance and Healing”, Sifu May Chen on “Eight Section Brocade”, Dr. Hayano on Chi Gong Healing Basic, Dr. Stanley Ngui on “Happiness the Qigong way”, Dr. Alex Feng on “Medical Chi Gong”, Dr. Michael Mayer on “Psychotherapy and Chi Gong”, and Lama Tantrapa on “How to overcome anxiety, insomnia, and depression.” Since these workshops were held simultaneously in two sessions, many attendees felt it was hard to pick only two over the others.

In the Sunday evening, there was a special presentation by the Trivedi Foundation to highlight some of the amazing research results of the Trevedi Effect. A mass blessing to the attendees was also performed by Trivedi’s two senior disciples.
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