Register Nurse with over 47 years experience and Cancer Survivor
Three years ago, with no warning, I experienced a grand mal seizure and near death experience. I was diagnosed with ‘Left temporal Lobe Epiliepsy’ and told by the neurologist that I MUST go on anti-seizure drugs, that this diagnosis “does not get better, it WILL get worse and you could die.”
Teacher Karin Cooke RN – over 25 years Qigong experience
I teach Zhineng Qigong and I tell people their bodies know how to heal if given the tools and they do their work. Here was my opportunity to “walk my talk”. I absolutely believed my body could heal from this new unwanted diagnosis with qigong. I definitely did not want to go on meds and then also have to deal with side effects of the drugs.
I increased my daily practice (which admittedly had fallen to perhaps weekly at best!) to two and three hours each day. I rested more and set the intention to move through the day in a qigong state as much as possible. Action starts with intention!
I have never taken a single anti seizure pill, and I have not had another grand mal seizure to this day. For about a year and a half, I did still experience decreasing neurological symptoms, ‘simple-partial seizures’, but for the past year I have been totally seizure free and have more energy than I felt for several years. Over those three years, I realized if I got busy, like on vacation, and neglected my practice for more than a day or two, the symptoms returned and were stronger. Now, my morning qigong practice is like brushing my teeth and having breakfast; just part of my regular routine! I absolutely love the peace I find in my practice.
And, oh yes, I was admitted for a week to an epilepsy monitoring unit last yearfor follow up and with the intention (on the doctor’s part) of locating the diseased part of my brain that caused the seizure activity. I was put through many weird exercises (like 24 hour sleep deprivation, twice, and flashing lights in front of my face) to try to induce seizure while connected by EEG leads to a monitor. I never had a seizure under that treatment and the EEG results showed vast improvement. The Epileptologist said there was no sign of the Left Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and only slight minor EEG changes that should heal! I know my brain is now healed, and the only intervention I used was Zhineng Qigong!
Karin Cooke, RN and Lew Whitney, M.Ed, who own and operate HIQI and Kokolulu Wellness Center in Hawi, on the Island of Hawaii (AKA The Big Island) began studying qigong together in
1993 and have studied with many masters in China. They travel often to Hainan, China, to study and practice Zhineng Qigong at the Hexianju Centre with the masters there who trained and worked at the Hua Xia Zhineng Qigong Training Center (called the Medicine-less Hospital by Westerners). Zhineng Qigong is the cornerstone, along with the Food As Medicine component, of the program they teach at HIQI/Kokolulu Farm and Wellness Center.
Influenced by Karin’s journey as a caregiver for her late husband and her own personal cancer experience, as well as the help, support and influence of Dr. Jeanne Achterberg (who had gone through her own cancer journey) and the encouragement of Dr. Earl Bakken (inventor of the heart pacemaker), Lew and Karin decided to turn their farm into a retreat center for those battling cancer and other chronic disease, as well as for those interested in learning qigong for their own preventive care.
During her personal cancer journey, Karin encountered challenges in the medical system that left her feeling betrayed. She knew that anger would only serve to worsen her health and she needed to find a way to forgive. Karin believed healing meant seeking harmony and balance in one’s life, and now she, herself, had to learn to trust life again. In her successful journey, Karin went on a personal qigong retreat and reflected on her next steps to meet the challenge she was facing.
During that retreat, she found the clarity she needed and believes her road back to health through qigong became one of the most empowering experiences of her life! As an RN at a large teaching hospital in Oregon, she had become acutely aware that western medicine left a void when it came to teaching patients that they have a role and responsibility in their own healing, or in teaching tools (like ZQ) patients could use to augment their healing processes.
As Karin and Lew walked the path through cancer together and learned what it means to trust again, they gained a wisdom that has now carried over to their work with HIQI at Kokolulu Farm and Wellness Center to help empower participants to take charge in their own life and healing journey with the help of Zhineng Qigong.