Ba Duan Jin Qigong - The Least Energy for The Best Effects

For these 7 years, I have learnt that I can maintain a well balanced immune system, hence maintain excellent health, through SEED concept :

S Sleep and rest well
E Exercise regularly
E Emotional stability
D Diet

What all of us can provide thus far, is D - Diet through great Nutritional Immunology products and the knowledge of the Science of Nutritional Immunolgy (the relations between nutrition and our immune system.)

Then, we went on to learn about spiritual healing through conscious creation, such as learning about our chakras, energy and mind. (all these in ACIM)

Having done that, we are resting well too, through meditation and being joyful and peaceful all the time.

So, we have been doing the 3 things from SEED concept.

Now, I am fortunate to have met a qigong sifu who is all too willing to teach me the Ba Duan Jin Qigong. There are so many qigong techniques in the world, and I have been seeking and searching, finally, this happens to resonate with me. As always, since I am doing it, I email to all my friends who want to practise it too.

The qigong exercise is called BaDuanJin Qigong. Only 8 steps. I practised it after watching the Sifu performing the exercise on a VCD. I realised that I perspire more than I walk for the same amount of time which is 30 minutes.

My heartbeat, when I do brisk walking, is at 30-32 beats per 15 sec. Now, just by doing these 8 steps qigong exercise in my living room (under the fan), stretching and breathing, repeated the steps 10 times, my heartbeat is at 30 beats per 15 sec. I am burning calories already.

When I first did the exercise, my body heats up so much that I got a fever the next day. Mild one, so I drank a lot of water and took a rest, body temperature subsided in the evening.

I am impressed, so I wanted to learn the proper steps and perfect my posture. And so happen, the universe got me to meet the sifu himself. He is the one who appears in the VCD through my friend. It was my friend, Mr Goh, (64 years-old but still energetic and runs an Insurance Agency with so many agents under him) who introduced him to me.

Sifu is Mr Sam Siew Tong, he is 74 years old, looks so great and jovial. He has been teaching this qigong for more than 30 years. He started teaching at the carpark in Tong Shin Hospital. He is also a Chinese Physician giving holistics advice in a Chinese Pharmacy in Cheras. He has a huge followings after these 30 years of teaching. He has groups even in East Malaysia and Brunei. He is also a Vegetarian Cooking practitioner, so good that he even teaches the art of cooking vegetarian meals and so publish his own cook book too.

In the above pic, Sam SiFu is in white explaining the benefits of Ba Duan Jin Qigong to about 20 friends who came to my apartment to listen to his talk and then proceed to learn the exercise.

To return the Sifu joy of teaching, we gave him RM120.00 for 3 sessions at 2-hour each. He said we should be ready to practise after 6 hours of lessons.

Recipe for Macaroni Cheese Bake

I like to cook my dinner. Because cooking is so simple and pleasurable. I find cutting vegetables and the preparing the rest of the ingredients very therapeutic. The creation is very satisfying, especially seeing it rise and simmer and browning and crispy and it smell so tantalising. It is like all the goodness of a day's work are turning into something so wonderfully tasteful, and can be eaten too.

Cooking for dinner sometime takes an hour or more. But sometime it takes less than 30 minutes. Look at this recipe for Macaroni Cheese Bake, it takes only 30 minutes to prepare and baking time is only 25 minutes. While it is baking, I will take my shower and rest, the oven will go "tiing" and you know your dinner is ready. So, I sit back, turn on my Astro, sometime light some candles, turn on the air-cond and enjoy an evening of casual dining at the comfort of my home.

Having a peaceful evening is just so simple. Moreover, I always know my time, when I will be back home and I make sure I make appointment for myself to relax and enjoy my very own evenings - and I have lots of them, hehehehe!!

Macaroni Cheese Bake
(Serves 4 if with other dishes, serves 2 if this is main course)

200g macaroni
Butter for frying
2 medium onion, chopped
Some bacon chips
¼ cup flour
2 ½ cups milk
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 ½ or more cups grated cheddar cheese
Canned tomato puree (optional – to top with cheese)

1. Preheat oven to 180º C.
2. Add macaroni to large pan of boiling water and cook until tender, drain (Tips : add salt for taste and a little oil so that macaroni won’t stick.)
3. Heat butter in a large pan; add onion and bacon. Stir until fragrant, add flour and stir for 1 minute. Add milk gradually, stir until mixture boils and thickens. Simmer over low heat for another minute. Remove pan from heat. Stir in nutmeg.
4. Add pasta and 1 cup of the cheese to pan. Stir until combined, spoon into a 1.5 litre ovenproof dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. (Or you may want to add a cup of tomato puree to add to the taste.) Bake for 20 minutes.
   
   
   
   

Your Biography is Your Biology

"Your Biography is Your Biology." Caroline Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit

I have read many books by Caroline Myss. I started reading her books when I got my hands on one entitled "Anatomy of the Spirit". Then I got another one entitled "Why We Don't Heal and How We Can". After that, I found another book also by Caroline entitled "Sacred Contract". All 3 books tell us about what we were meant to be but didn't. We were meant to be powerful and know how to heal ourselves, but we didn't. We were meant to live a happy and rewarding lives but we didn't. We were meant to co-create loving and joyful relationships, but we didn't. So, the silence from all the hidden fears such as anger, depression, jealousy etc will somehow gets blown up and became cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, joint-pains and so on.

I love the way Caroline puts it : "Your Biography is Your Biology"; which simply means that if I had cancer, that is my "biology", so I should go back and look seriously at my "biography" and heal it from there. That is the cause of all that surfaced. There are a lot of real study cases in her books where I can relate because I see it in myself too. Before any degenerative health matters turn up in my "biology", I better spruce up and re-write my "biography". Am I too stressed up? Am I angry over a phone call? Do I make judgment about selling? Am I seeking approval for things my heart yearns to do? Am I conforming to society because I am afraid of being left alone? So, I work on these issues everyday to be The Peace I am seeking.

Recently I saw some of her CD collections at MPH. There were a few where she read from her 3 books. I am amazed to find that she has another few collections which she recorded in front of live audiences. And the subject she expounds is very simple yet very profound. One such subject is Self-Esteem.

The 2 CD collections, one is on the subject of Self Esteem. The other is about Essential Guides for Healers. Each of this collection contains 4 CDs and they each run a 5-hour lecture.

I have listened to the 1st one "Self Esteem - Your Fundamental Power" and this is what I got in my own words :

• When you walk into a boutique, your self-esteem is already hanging on the rack, shouting at you to get it. (means, what your self-esteem is, you will choose the dress and colour and look of the choice of your "self-esteem".)
• Her definition of self esteem : Self Esteem is Your Spirit in Action!!
• When everyone has high self esteem, we will not need to have wars and take over countries to fill the void.

Well, I have listened to the CD once, I am going through them a few more times, as I picked up the notes, I will write what come to my mind then.

Recipe for Plain Muffins

Just want to show that I can cook too. When I went on sabbatical in 1999 for 1 whole year, I had so much time to refine my culinary skills. I bought some cookbooks and picked up fantastic cooking tips. Now, I make great soups and many types of Italian pasta. Of course, I cook Chinese and most Malaysian dishes too.

One great tea time treats I like is muffins. It is very easy to make, just 20 minutes preparation time and 25 mins baking time, wallah, I can have English Tea with Muffins topped with cream, strawberry jam and butter. I do sometime eat muffins with kaya and butter - Malaysian style!!

I like Periplus cookbooks, they are informative and easy to follow. Lots of colourful pictures too.

When I choose a cookbook, I want to know what kind of cookwares and utensils to use for some particular kind of cooking. I want to have information about various spices and ingredients with pictures too. I tried out Periplus cookbooks and its cooking methods. So far, most of the recipes turn out perfect.

Plain Muffins

Preparation time : 15 minutes
Total cooking time : 25 minutes
Makes 12

2 ½ cups self-raising flour
¼ cup caster sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups milk
160g butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to moderately hot 210ºC (190ºC gas). Brush a 12-hole muffin tin with melted butter or oil. (I do it with fingers, because it is easier and faster.)
2. Sift flour, sugar and baking powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre; add combined egg, milk and melted butter all at once. (I combine the eggs, milk and melted butter into a big bowl, kacau kuat kuat - mix it well, then pour into the flour mixture.)
3. Stir gently with a fork or rubber spatula until mixture is just moistened. (Do not over-mix; batter should look quite lumpy.) (I just use a fork to fold the mixture and turn the bowl round and round and round until all the mixture becomes lumpy, less than 5 minutes - done!!)
4. Spoon mixture evenly into prepared tin. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Loosen muffins with a spatula and transfer to a wire rack. (I usually use my senses - scent and sight - to check out the golden brown muffins, it may take another 5 mins to get to the level of brown-ness I want.)

And that's it!! 12 mouth-watering, lip-smacking, finger-sucking, sight-tantalising golden brown muffins just roll out from the oven. Enjoy!!