AWCH Healing in Beijing

We were one of the first airplanes allowed to leave the country out of the Los Angeles Airport after 9/11. We took it as a good sign. We were flying to Beijing to study QiGong at the Beijing Red Cross Traditional Medical Exchange Center. In our group were an internist from Loyola Hospital, several QiGong instructors and students at various levels, including an elderly woman from Hawaii. We were mostly Americans with a few Canadians mixed in. We left the country feeling dazed, discouraged and vulnerable from the recent events. We were saddened by knowing that there would soon be more armed conflict and death. But this story should not focus on us but on Master Wan and his incredible students.

Wan Su-Jian was selected as one of the top ten medical doctors in China teaching traditional Chinese medicine. His successful work with earthquake victims who have suffered from paralysis has earned him high honors with the People’s Army and the Red Cross. We were all very excited to be learning from him at his clinic at the foot of the Tiger Head Mountain. Master Wan’s healing ability is amazing – his brain wave activity has been studied due to the enormous amounts of energy that he is able to create through meditation.

But even more incredible were his students. Some of the children were from small rural villages that he worked in after earthquakes or other disasters. They came to live with him at the clinic and would stay and study with him for years, often never seeing their families again. Master Wan and his wife became their new family. At the clinic they train in Chinese Taoist and Buddhist traditions for maintaining health and healing; Chinese herbs, BaGua XunDao QiGong, emittting Qi, acupuncture, Too Na massage Gua Sha and cupping. They also practice ShaoLin KungFu, Taiji and play ancient Tao music on traditional instruments. Each and every one of them were amazing to us. They were so accomplished and yet so humble.
In the mornings we would do our QiGong exercises in the courtyard with a couple of the students leading. Then after we showered and dressed the students would serve us breakfast, which would include mung beans, vegetables and broth with noodles. The rest of the morning we would spend having clinical QiGong treatments, attending classes or receiving wonderful foot massages. After serving us lunch the students would then become our tourist guides and translators as we left the Center in several vans to explore the city of Beijing and beyond.

We visited the Forbidden City and learned that much of the construction could only happen during winter when the huge stones could be pulled over the ice. We also were told that the competition among the many concubines to have their children become the heir to the throne became so deadly that a secret selection process was put in place. We walked on the Great Wall among the many other tourist groups, where our guides took pride in pointing out how different the Japanese groups acted from the Chinese – they felt the Japanese were loud and aggressive.

We travelled high in the mountains to an ancient Taoist temple near Cheng Du where we lit messages of peace to float down to the world, and floated down a river past the sleeping Buddha. Everywhere we went we practiced our Qigong and connected to the incredible energy in these beautiful locations. The Chinese people that we met in the parks or sites were always eager to speak to us in English and tell us about a relative of theirs that had lived or studied in the States.

Back at the Center the students dazzled us with their display of physical strength and KungFu skill – leaping and tumbling in faux fights. On other nights they dressed in traditional Tao costume and played beautiful music on traditional instruments. They were training in many ancient Chinese traditions and yet they were still just normal modern kids – they enjoyed singing for hours with us with the help of a big Karaoke video screen and sound system. Master Wan loved to sing too and with the help of good plum wine we sounded great!!

Master Wan’s motto is: “Make friends all over the world. Treat patients effectively. Enhance and develop Traditional Chinese Medicine teaching skills. Contribute to the health and peace of all people of the world.”

Thanks to the healing energy and love from Master Wan and all of the students, we returned to the States much stronger than when we had left, feeling healthy, hopeful and reassured.