by Yang Yang, Ph.D.

It is the time of the year to reflect on the past and make a plan for the future.

The three weekend-workshops at Kripalu were fully enrolled. We are grateful to present Chinese wisdom of meditation and movement in evidence based programs. These are practical and effective ways for people with little background, or even little interest, in Chinese healing and/or martial arts to benefit from the essence of the practice.

The three 5-day immersion training camps: the saber camp, the 48 camp, and the EBQT teacher training continue to provide a great opportunity for participants to more deeply understand the health benefits and martial applications of traditional practice. Participants are also learning a unique teaching method for sharing this ancient art with others.

The New York Sunday class is a community where busy professionals in NYC come together on weekends to have a “Qi workout” for our self-care. This workout includes meditating on our path in extending kindness, positive emotions, energy cultivation, agility, classic t’ai chi form, and push-hands.

The classes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York often reminds us of the deeper meaning and value in our work: developing optimal health through ancient Chinese movement and meditation art. This class inspired the team to create our online program, available to the general public for the first time just a few weeks ago.

We are approaching the one-month anniversary of launching our online platform: wa-qi.com. I have to admit that this project is a challenge! It takes tremendous energy and resources to prepare, produce, and upload the content. I now feel that it is more demanding than my doctoral work was.

The initial result, however, has been very rewarding. Just to share one comment from a guest: “Bless you all for this marvelous resource!” The benefits experienced by members of all physical conditions and different t’ai chi/qigong skill levels have been energizing the team to continue providing high quality content.

The team and I have been hyper-focused on the content but have not always thought much about the logistic part. One member said that she wanted to support the venture by making a payment immediately, before the two-week free trial expired. But she could not find a button for making payment. It got a laugh from us.

Our goal for wa-qi.com is simple: To share scientifically validated wisdom from ancient Chinese healing and martial arts to help individuals achieve optimal health and well-being at home.

So far we have successfully rolled out two of our online programs:

WaQi This Week serving the general public on cognition, vitality, agility, balance, sleep, and stress issues. We have been releasing video materials three times a week focused on t’ai chi form, qigong, agility, standing meditation and sitting meditation.

WaQi for Cancer Care Community (CCC): helping friends in the cancer care community deal with challenges of stress, sleep, fatigue, cognition, and balance.

Gradually, we will release WaQi programs specifically for sleep, mood and stress, balance, and pain. We encourage you to join us in learning and sharing.

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year in 2020,

Yang and the team.