The Pleasant Surprise of Online Learning

 by David Harold

Like many longtime students, I have not lived near enough to Dr. Yang to attend regular weekly classes, and I was deeply disappointed when summer camps were canceled for two years in a row. Such is life in the pandemic. online Sunday classes seemed like a weak substitute for summer camp, but they have been invaluable, particularly because of the deep detail addressed.

Particularly intriguing has been Dr. Yang’s approach to teaching “gong,” that elusive quality of internal power and integration we seek in our practice. In every class, he focuses on at least two qualities of practice that help build gong, such as breathing patterns, initiating movement from the core, weight shifting, using intention to direct energy, spiral (silk-reeling) movements, and imagining moving through water. 

By the time we finish a particular form, these approaches have all been practiced, and Dr. Yang has explained how they help foster benefits in our daily life, like proper sleep, balance, and equanimity. We all know that nurture is key, yet knowing how to nurture ourselves is often challenging. These qualities of practice, in addition to the stillness developed in static standing and sitting meditations, give us a map for—and an experience of—nurture in each session.

While some students have chafed at the slow pace of the class (completing the 48 forms may take more than two years), I believe it is the key to attending fully to the complexity of the practice and to truly supporting the integration process that leads to gong. Almost every class, I find an insight or principle I’ve missed in the last 20-plus years of study.  

I very much look forward to the camaraderie, challenge, and energy of in-person training, but I will continue the online class because it offers a wonderfully different doorway to learning.