Welcome to the Qigong Community Podcast. My name is Torsten Lueddecke, and this is today’s story. The diagnosis of a fatal disease would come as a shock to anyone. Even more so if one of your parents fell victim to the same disease and it is discovered that it runs in your genes. How do you transform this information, deal with the emotions of fear, and build the confidence that you
can rise above and heal completely? When Maiki Joshitska was diagnosed with the early stages of ALS, she took things into her own hands and started an extraordinary journey towards complete recovery. Let’s dive right in. Thank you very much for joining today. We’re going to dive right in because your story with Zhineng Qigong and discovering what’s possible started with a diagnosis, or a possible diagnosis, for ALS. Yeah, that’s
right. Maybe you want to explain a little bit about your family history, what happened exactly, and how you discovered it. Yeah, my mother got sick with ALS when she was in her mid-30s, like 33 or 34 years old, and she died three years later. And, yeah, this is how I grew up, learning about this disease. From this point on, she was the only one, the first one in
the family. So no one would think about, okay, it could be a genetic thing or whatever. It was just. Just, yeah, like bad luck. This was what everyone was assuming. And when I turned 32 or 33, I discovered some mild symptoms in my body that could be connected to this kind of disease, which is a neurological disease related to the motor neurons in the brain that are responsible
for the movement of the muscles. Yeah, the motor neurons in the brain and the brainstem control every action of the muscles and the nervous system. And so, because I was very aware of this disease and what it could cause, I went to a doctor and saw two or three different neurologists, and they did several tests. Yeah, one found that there were early signs of this kind of disease
through different muscle tests. And, yeah, they said it’s possible that I could also be affected by this disease. At the same time, because I have two siblings, one is my sister, and one is my brother, my sister decided to get tested genetically. If this is something that runs in our family, which was first discovered, maybe, or expressed in my mother, she did this testing, and they found a
gene in her genetics that is possibly linked to ALS. And, yeah, so I got tested as well, and I, too, have this gene. So, this was the information I had up to that point. And, yes, this is when it started, that I began looking for any option to deal with this situation, because there is no known cure so far for ALS or motor neuron diseases. How, yeah, it’s
mostly called in English, so there’s only some, I don’t know, things to help with getting along in your daily life, some assistant things like wheelchairs or whatever. It’s a progressive disease that goes sometimes slower, sometimes a bit quicker. And, yeah, basically, people lose their muscle strength and control so that they need help pretty soon. Yeah, so I was looking around, so what could I do? Because this is
a really devastating thing to know about yourself and your life. And, yeah, so this is where I started. And, yeah, ALS usually leads to death eventually, right? Because the heart muscle is also affected, and then at one point, there’s no way forward. So you said, okay, well, I know that Western medicine doesn’t have an answer, let me see, what else is there? What? Is there someone out there
who has an offer to make that could possibly work for me? Is that how you approached it? Yes, yes. This is basically how I approached it. I mean, I think the heart muscle, it’s not sure if it’s affected, but most people die from respiratory failure because they can’t breathe anymore or they, yeah, have lung infections. So I was searching for any possibilities, and at first, I found a
really good holistic doctor who is not in Leipzig, unfortunately, but in Brandenburg, close to Berlin, which is okay to drive to, I don’t know, one or two hours there. And he was looking at me, not at a disease. He was looking at the whole body. And he was looking, okay, how’s everything working inside your body? The cells, how are they communicating? Is everything all right with your nutrition
and whatever? So this is how I started. And he had a really strict protocol, which I followed. I went to Berlin once a week before work to see him and have this kind of treatment. But, yeah, this was one side, but on the other side, it was emotionally really frightening. I was so scared. Yeah, because I didn’t know what would happen to me. I just knew how it
went with my mother. So, I was looking for something that could, yeah, give me some strength from within. Not only medicine, but, yeah, some strength from within, like a perspective. And this is how, yeah, I researched, and then I found a group on the internet that is called Healing ALS. It’s mostly people from the United States. And there was one woman. There were, I don’t know, some people
who tried different approaches. And then there was this one woman, and she practiced Zhineng Qigong, and she had a really severe form of ALS and frontotemporal dementia. Yeah, so she, she also had this dementia part, and she was practicing, and yeah, she really had good results. She really could stabilize her well-being and improve her health. And so, this is, yeah, how I got first to know Zhineng Qigong.
I think the first lesson that always, you know, whenever people tell me stories like this, the first thing that I’m reminded of is that so often when we go to the doctor, we get wrong information, which is they give you a diagnosis and then they say, there’s nothing one can do. Well, really, what they should say is, “There’s nothing I can do as your doctor because, in my
realm of knowledge, there is nothing. I don’t know what I can do.” But that really doesn’t mean that there are no other approaches. And I can’t remember any disease where there haven’t been other approaches that actually healed people. So I think this is an important message for everyone who gets a devastating diagnosis. All they are saying is that with their toolset, they don’t know how to deal with
this issue, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t somebody out there with a different toolset that could work. And you gave us this example of the lady in the US who was already in a much more severe stage of ALS, and she could work with Zhineng Qigong. Obviously, that seems to have inspired you. Right. So how did your story continue? Yeah, so I’m not living in the US, I
live in Germany. And so I was searching for someone practicing Zhineng Qigong in Germany. And I’m really lucky that there are so many people in Germany practicing and teaching Zhineng Qigong. I found a wonderful teacher, and she offered a one-week retreat, like a one-on-one retreat. So I stayed with her for one week, and I had Qigong lessons on a one-on-one basis, not in a group. Yeah, it was
really individual, and this was my start. And I think for me, it was really good that I found this intensive start, where we practiced every day. Yeah. So it was not like, okay, half an hour every second week or so, but really one week, morning, afternoon, and evening, we were practicing. Can I ask for the name of that teacher? Yeah, that was Birgit Peterson. Yeah, yeah. Backup. Yeah,
yeah. Okay, great. We’ll put your contact details in the show notes because I think that’s also quite unique, to have an offer where you can practice one-on-one for a week. It’s actually the first time I’ve heard that. And it’s obviously great because, basically, when you think of the workshop center where the whole medicine-less hospital started, where Qigong was used to tackle diseases like this, people would also practice
for eight hours a day and would always be in an environment. So I think you kind of did the right thing here, not just learning an exercise in 215 minutes a day and hoping things will get better, but really diving deep into it, understanding that this is a very serious matter. So, yeah, sorry if I’m talking too much here now, but I want to point this out because
a lot of people I know who have a serious diagnosis don’t have the same kind of commitment. They say, “Ah, I wish I could practice more, but I’ve got my job, I’ve got my family, etc., etc.” And I say, “Look, this is your life now. This is not just okay, will my kids get a hot meal this evening? I’m sure there’s a solution to find, and I’m sure
somebody’s going to take care of your husband’s laundry. So, make yourself a priority here. Do what you need to do.” And in this case, you know, you did that. You went there and spent your whole day practicing Zhineng Qigong. I just needed to say that because often I’m frustrated. You know, people have a serious diagnosis and they say, “I don’t have the time to do anything about it.”
You know, that’s really, really sad to hear. But I’m glad you acted differently, you responded differently. So, please continue. Yes. So, this was my entrance into Zhineng Qigong. And so it was, yeah, it was a wonderful week. I’m really, really grateful for Birgit and her teaching and everything. Yeah, so it was really good. And from there, I started. Yeah, and then I had a little toolkit that I
could use at home to deepen my practice and really practice on my own. And I found it really helpful to not always practice on my own. So I, at first, attended some online courses as well. Then I joined a different retreat with Master Zhu Ping from, he’s located in the UK at the moment, and he was with other German teachers. They offered a retreat so they could deepen
it, and that was really, really important for me because the first thing that was so important is that in Zhineng Qigong we do the physical practice, that’s for sure. But the most important thing is the information practice to change the information about yourself, your life, whatever. Yeah. And this is something that I really want to point out to anyone who’s listening here. This is what I spent. I
mean, I practice the physical movements as well, but what I really found really helpful was spending a lot of time in changing the information. Yeah. You can use different tools. I used writing, for example. Yeah. So I wrote down, I had like files of pages and pages where I wrote down the information I wanted to have about my life. Yeah. I didn’t want to have this illness information;
I wanted to have, so how will I live? How will I feel? How will I look? How will I move? Yeah. So to really repeat it, repeat it, repeat it, to write it and read it, and write it and read it again and again. Yeah. Until it’s really internalized. And then use this information in the Qigong practice. Yeah. Because this is what every teacher, every master is saying.
Yeah. The information is so crucial in this practice. It’s not enough if you do Lift Qi Up – Pour Qi Down twice a day. You really need to change the information about yourself and your health and your well-being, your life, whatever. I mean, this is a vital point that you’re raising there and you are coming from. When you explained earlier, you also had to deal with your emotional
state. And the emotional state was the result of you having information like, “Oh my God, I’ve got something really serious, and what is my path going to be?” And, you know, all the worries and concerns, and that is obviously a very, very important part, to transform this information into seeing yourself healthy, imagining how your future looks like, and seeing yourself walking, playing, running, having fun, smiling, and all
of that, because that is the information that you put out there. And the body will respond, no matter, you know, whether we’re talking about Zhineng Qigong theory here, where this is very obvious, but it’s also true in other theories, you know, that we know the body responds to our thoughts. So it is like giving the right instruction to the body to do whatever needs to be done to
be healthy. So I’m glad you followed that. Although I must say, I mean, a lot of people find that very difficult when they get the diagnosis. What helped you to actually, you know, get there? Because it also doesn’t help to fool yourself. There’s no point, you know, standing in front of the mirror and just saying, “I’m healthy, I’m healthy,” while you have the dialogue, “Oh, my God, what’s
going to happen with me?” So how did you get to that point? I mean, at first, for me, it was… I didn’t share the illness information with many people. I just, I took, I don’t know, two or three people. I mean, this is like five, four or five years ago when I got the diagnosis. And I just, for example, I told my parents just one month ago. I
didn’t tell them all the time because it was so important for me to not have the information myself and for other people not to see me as the sick person. So I picked two or three people that I knew would support me in whatever I chose to do or even help me in looking up different approaches and whatever, or practice Qigong with me. And so, yeah, I didn’t
share the illness information. So this is maybe one point. And then, I mean, there were lots of days and weeks where I was struggling or not really believing myself, what I was saying or writing down in my files with all these positive things. But for me, it was more the feeling that I have no other option. I have to do this. And then I did. And I felt
like constantly, yeah, things changing. Yeah. Even if I didn’t feel, maybe didn’t feel a change in my body, but I felt a change in how I was feeling in that day, in the moment. Yeah. So how I was feeling in my workplace or. Yeah. With other people. So I just felt these little, little changes. And so I just discovered this is the right path. And I mean, today
I don’t do this writing anymore that much because I have it now, like, more internalized. And I have certain thoughts that I can come back to. But this helped me a lot. My name is Leila Cupido and I’m the project manager of the Students Hub. Our team is constantly adding events, teachers, videos, and other resources to take your practice to the next level, improving the quality of your
life and the life of the people around you. We do this work for you, so please use it. I’m reminded of another interview I had the other day with a teacher from the US called Federico. So if anybody wants to listen to that very interesting interview as well, feel free to check it out. And what he spoke about is, because we often say you have to believe that
it’s working, but really, it’s very difficult to force someone, including yourself, to believe anything, because either you do believe or you don’t. It’s not a choice to believe, right? But what he was talking about was confidence. You know, you have to have confidence that it is working. And I think confidence can be built up exactly by these small results that you were mentioning. So you’re practicing, you’re seeing
something moving, you experience there is a change, and that is the confidence. Yeah, that you have actually, you know, control over your life, control over your health, that you can influence the information field. And it’s this confidence, yeah, that is probably easier for people to go into rather than saying, “I have to believe,” which doesn’t work. And so I think that is one point I wanted to make.
And the second thing is, I don’t know how, how you knew, because when you got the, you know, the diagnosis first, you knew nothing about Zhineng Qigong, so you weren’t really aware of how important it is to have the right information. But still, you decided not to share with many people, which was a very smart move on your side, because, you know, once you’ve got your whole environment
looking at you like, “Oh, my God, this is the sick one, and poor you.” Yeah, it’s very difficult because they put you, unwillingly and obviously with good intention, they put the wrong information into the Qi field. And that’s also why, you know, if you go to, if you went to the workshop center or today to any healing retreat, you know, with actual Gong Masters organizing, they will always
look at you, at your complete health. They will not even, they will not spend a split second, you know, on your disease because it’s not important. It’s not what they want to focus on. They focus on your health, and that’s the way they approach you. And that’s also why, you know, they don’t need much information about you or what’s wrong or whatever. They don’t even want to go
there. They just look at your healthy state, and, you know, subconsciously you knew how important it is that your environment also doesn’t feed, you know, the wrong information. So that was, you know, just amazing. I don’t know how you did that because most people, you know, wouldn’t be so clever to take that step. But well done. Yeah. I mean, I think I was really aware of any change
in my body because I knew the story of my mother, of course, and I lived with her as a child. So I think I went to the doctor really early, and I had no, I don’t know, visible symptoms that people could see, like, okay, there is a sickness or diagnosis or something. So I think this was maybe another good thing that I started so early, to prevent it
from going further. Yes. Yes. Okay. And then now, so, okay, you did more training, and did you ever go back to the doctor, or were the symptoms you felt no longer there? Or how did you, you know, because you’re sitting in front of me five years later, or how long has it been, five years later? Healthy, beautiful, shining. So that’s, you know, obviously you’ve been very successful with
what you did. So did you go back to the doctor, or how did you handle the whole situation? At first, I did not go back to the doctor because I thought they didn’t have anything to offer me. Yeah. They can just, I don’t know, make a record of anything in my muscles or whatever, if it’s, like, decreasing or whatever. So I didn’t go back for many years. I
just kept practicing. And of course, there were times when the symptoms came back or worsened. Yeah. But I really had this treasure already of knowing, okay, I had already experienced it getting better, so even if it’s getting worse now, it will get better. I knew that. Yeah. So, I was really confident about that in that moment. Yeah. And so, yeah, I kept practicing. I did a variety of
different practices, a lot of La Qi, which is pretty easy, but helped me a lot because you can make Li with any organ or any part of your body, every Dantian. So, I did a lot of La Qi with my brain, so this helped me a lot. And then Level One, Lift Qi Up – Pour Qi Down, a little bit of Level Two. I learned that in a
retreat. And, yeah, so I mixed some methods. I didn’t follow a really strict schedule, but it was really important to practice a lot and every day. So, this is really, really important. I think I just want to mention one more point that you said, because I think that’s also something that some of our listeners sometimes forget. You, you said how important it was to have a reference of
it has been working. So, when things get better, remember that. Remember that, you know, you’ve done your Zhineng Qigong and things got better. Because I also… This is, I think, very sad. You know, I see people that come with a disease or an illness, they practice Zhineng Qigong, and they have a huge success. And then, at one point, you know, for whatever reasons, the disease comes back. And
although they know now they have done it before, they, for whatever reason, you know, often just don’t go back and say, “Okay, I need to go back into my rigorous routine and training routine to have the same success that I had before.” You know, I’ve seen so many people that, although they have the reference that it has been working, they don’t use it again. And I don’t, yeah,
I’ve got problems understanding that, because if I had this, this experience once, now if I could do it once, I can do it twice. And I think that’s kind of what you knew and what gave you the confidence that even on days when it wasn’t so good or where you felt like, oops, what’s happening here? You had the confidence, you’d done it before, so you can do it
again. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes, this is a really good reminder, like, I found for myself a really good reminder that maybe there was something, maybe a bit too much stress, maybe I didn’t practice a lot for a longer time. Yeah, just a little bit every day. So it was a good reminder to come back to the path and to check in with myself to see, okay, where
I am at the moment, what would be good, which kind of practice, and how long I should maybe start to train again or practice again every day? I don’t know. I know that fear, fear is the worst thing in all of this, in these diseases and whatever. Because, of course, whenever there’s a new symptom, the first thing that kicks in is fear. Oh, my God, now it’s happening.
Yeah. I could, I don’t know, prevent it for some years now, and now, now it’s really kicking in. Yeah. And then to really relax, calm down, come back. And I think this is really helpful as well, that we have this community. Yeah. Because we can support each other. Yeah. And this is something that helped me a lot. Whenever I was a bit, maybe like struggling or I felt,
okay, now I got to this point, but I think it’s getting worse, so that I could always talk to someone or listen to some teachings from Master Liu, for example, or attend some classes. And then I got back on the path and I felt it again. Okay, it’s getting better again. Or I even forgot about the symptoms I was worrying about before. Right, right. So this is always
the best sign when you forget about it. Yeah. And, yeah. So I think this is really, really important, this kind of community. Now we kind of didn’t finish the story, whether you did get a new diagnosis from a doctor or not. Did you actually eventually go back, or did you just say, I know I’m healthy? Okay, good. Yeah, I went back last year in March. Like, yeah, more
or less one year ago, I went to a clinic. Because then I said, okay, now I really want to know. Yeah, so. Before, I was. Yeah, I saw a neurologist, one in Berlin, one in Leipzig, but they were here. Yeah. I had appointments at Amarno for half an hour, and then I went to a clinic in Tübingen, which is specialized in this kind of disease, especially in the
genetic forms. So I went there for, yeah, almost a week. Spent like a week in the hospital, and they did every possible test on me. Yeah. So they have this specialized ALS or motor neuron disease department there, with professors and whatever. So, I went there, and I thought, okay, now I’m three years into the diagnosis, so if something was happening, it would show. Yeah. And they did every
test, and the results were like three years ago. They said, yeah, there are some signs that this disease started, but it didn’t develop any further. So it remained, like, silent or stable at this point. Yeah. So there’s no progression in it. Right. Which, in their understanding, is not possible for this kind of disease. So they said, okay. So, yeah, if there’s no progression, you can’t have this because
there’s a sign of a… But it didn’t develop any further. So, okay. And this was enough for me because then I knew, okay, yeah, I know that what I did was the right thing. And now I can really, yeah, I don’t know, like, close this file of this diagnosis and the doctors and whatever. So, yeah. Yes. And I think, I think it’s also an important thing to keep
in mind: there is no point in running to the doctor once a week to get an updated diagnosis because, you know, sometimes… You know, it’s also… sometimes you might be in better shape, sometimes not so good shape. And all you’re doing is you’re continuously feeding into the wrong information of disease and your consciousness consistently creating doubts. While, you know, I think it’s perfectly fine to just, you know,
practice, trust that over time, you know, things might also take time sometimes. So, but what you’re doing is working. And even though some days might be better and some days might not be so good, you trust the process. You have the confidence that you can do it, and you don’t need a diagnosis, you know, every week or anything like that. So I think that’s actually supportive in your
healing progress rather than, you know, checking every five minutes what’s going on, you know, what’s my current temperature? Do I have, do I have a temperature or not? Or whatever. So I think that’s, yeah, I think that also supported you in continuing to set up the right information. Yeah. Okay. Is there anything you would like to add, or should we look a little bit into the future and
who you are now and what your plans are? Because I know you decided to join the Hunyuan Qi Therapy program, and you’re already quite far. You’re going to be finishing or completing your program and hopefully getting certified in autumn this year when you go to Austria. So, it seems that you really enjoyed Zhineng Qigong so much and that you believe in the power of it, that you decided
to make it at least partly a profession. Or what is the plan then? I’m still in progress. I started with the therapy program for myself. Yeah, for my self-healing at first, but over time I know now I’m in a group. Yeah, like the team that is with me, I don’t know, that started with me together. So we are meeting regularly, like once a week, to have an exchange
and a Zoom call and talk to each other. And over time, I mean, I didn’t really— I just kept it for myself, practicing. I didn’t really share it much, but over time there were more and more people coming. For example, another woman from Cyprus, Britta, introduced me to her; she has ALS as well, and I’m in contact with her. So there were different people coming, and yeah, I
started to have experiences with healing or, yeah, giving treatments and all this stuff. Yeah, I think that’s a wonderful thing because people will assign a lot of credibility to you. You’re not just, you know, talking about things; you’ve actually done it yourself before. So that is a great example of, you know, what is possible for them as well. I remember that in the children’s training, very often, you
know how the master works with the children. He just waits until one of the children has managed to do whatever the exercise was. And if he can do it, then he says to everyone, “If he can do it, you can do it.” And they get it immediately. You know, if one person has the skill, I don’t know, to do spoon bending with closed eyes or something like that,
if one person can do it, then everybody else can do it. So in a way, you know, you becoming a therapist now, it’s the same idea, because people know, okay, if she could do it, then I could do it. Because, you know, nobody is less. Everybody has the same abilities to do these things if they feed the right information, obviously, and have the right commitment and the right
intention for their life. So, congratulations on that, and I’m sure you’ll be hugely successful and have a lot of fun along the way. And this conversation today, I think, is also a great start because people that are listening in, who have a diagnosis like yours or something else that is very serious, need to hear about people who said, “Okay, I’m gonna turn this around.” I’m not just trying
to manage the illness or I’m not just getting medication to make it less painful or like that. I’m really looking into this and saying, “Okay, it doesn’t have to be that way because there are ways.” And I’m not just talking about Zhineng Qigong here, now Hunyuan Qi therapy; obviously, there are also other great forms in the world that might resonate with somebody in a different way, but there’s
not a single disease that I’m aware of. There have been people that used something other than Western medicine and were very successful. That’s true. So I can’t thank you enough for the conversation, Maike. I know it’s very, very helpful. It was a pleasure to have you on the show to talk to you today, and thank you very much for sharing all of this with the community. I look
forward to seeing you one day in person, maybe in Austria or maybe on one of your other Qigong trips. Yes, thank you very much. It was a pleasure. We trust you enjoyed this conversation, and we invite you to subscribe to our podcast so we can stay in touch and notify you of future episodes. We will end today’s episode with the Eight Verses Meditation performed by Zhineng Qigong teacher
Katrien Hendrickx. Enjoy. To get your free eBook on the Eight Verses Meditation, please check the show notes below.
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