When Regina was looking for a way to support her son, who has autism, she discovered Zhineng Qigong. Amazed by the power of the practice, she decided to make Qigong available to all special-needs young adults in her circle. Focusing on people with neurodiversity, she achieved improved self-regulation in their emotional state, increased flexibility on a physical level, and a whole new level of happiness. My name is Torsten Lueddecke, and
this is the Wisdom Qigong podcast. Thank you, Torsten. It’s wonderful to be here and to have this conversation with you. So I came to Zhineng Qigong, I think, as many people do, looking for healing for my son, because my second son has autism, and I had tried many different methods to heal him, and, you know, things always got worse instead of getting better. So, in an attempt to
find a different way… To heal him, I came to Zhineng Qigong, and I really just fell in love with it for myself, you know, and was able to find a greater peace because, if you know anything about my family, it was a crazy family. We had my son with autism, it was only men, and a dog that was also a boy. My dog was a beagle. And if
you know it, beagles are hunting dogs. So, you know, the hunting dog and the, it was very crazy. I really needed peace and calm, and I was able to find it through Zhineng Qigong. Then, as I came to practice it more, I thought how interesting it would be if we could start teaching it for my son, his friends, and the groups that I knew, because I knew a
lot of groups, and by that time, they were young adults. So, there were classes that I started teaching. And of course, you know, the first reaction was, “Yeah, I don’t think you’ll be able to do it. I think this will be impossible, but you can try.” Sorry, was this your reaction or the reaction of the environment? The reaction of the environment was, you know, Zhineng Qigong is a
beautiful art, and many people are very precise about it, and I am also very precise about it. I love it. The more precise, the better. So that precision goes out the window when you try to bring it to people with special needs. And so the challenge was, exactly what am I going to be teaching here and how will I be teaching it? Because, obviously, many of the movements
have to be adapted, and it was hard to tell whether, you know, what exactly would be able to be communicated. And so I thought, for me, the important thing would be to help people with disabilities or with different neurological abilities to do just a few things. One of them would be to stop being miserable, because many times when you go into an environment of people with special needs
and those that help them, the first thing that will strike you is unhappiness. Right. So, no one is smiling, no one is having a good time, and everybody’s miserable. Yes, and so that was the first thing that I thought we could reverse. One of the experiences I’ve had, I think everyone in Zhineng Qigong knows that Dr. Pang used the Happy Quarter a lot, and that means that before
you even start to practice Zhineng Qigong, you practice happiness. Right? It means that you begin by singing, dancing, playing, joking, or laughing. And the reason Dr. Pang did that is because his hospital was a hospital for people who were sick, and they were also miserable. Right? The first thing is the obsessive thought about, I am sick, and I am so sick, and I want to not be sick,
and I want to not be sick, and that’s not a good way to not be sick. So the first thing that I did was introducing a happy quarter and give people a choice of a song that they love. And to my surprise, almost to my shock, they loved to come. They never wanted to stop coming to class because they really looked forward, first of all, to the happy
quarter. The second shock for me was that I began to see people smiling that I had never seen smile before. And so that already was a great lesson in, you know, what Zhineng Qigong is really all about and how to go. Can I just quickly ask, by Happy Quarter, you mean like a quarter of an hour where you do things that make people happy? For example, singing a
great song or telling jokes or whatever? Right? Yes. That’s what, yes, we call it in our community the Happy Quarter. And it’s because it’s the 15 minutes allotted before you actually start to practice, to break the ice, basically, and to allow you to enter into a different space where you can really release all the fixations, all the obsessions about where you are and that you don’t want to
be there, and realize that it’s okay to let go of those thoughts and those fixations and just be happy for a minute. Right. And so that became a habit. It was also interesting that the people who support those with special needs came to class as well, and they started to be transformed as well. I mean, they realized that they could be happy and have a good time with
the person they were working with. So the whole dynamic began to change. I think you said something very important that might make it a little easier for people in that situation to accept. Because being happy and having a good time aren’t necessarily the same thing. You can, well, insist on your unhappiness while having a good time. While it might be a little difficult to say, “Okay, yes, just
because I’m singing, it doesn’t change my fundamental underlying unhappiness,” the mere fact that I allow myself to still have a good time, even if it’s only for these 15 minutes, will shift something fundamentally. So, I think it makes it easier for people to say, “Okay, yeah, I don’t believe that Regina can make me happy, but I can, you know, I kind of get that I can have a
good time in 15 minutes here.” Right? So, I think it’s a very smart way of introducing this idea and getting people to make… Get them used to the thought, “Well, it’s possible to be happy, and if it’s only for certain time brackets,” and then it can, you know, take over and just start to become more of a habit. And you suddenly realize that in everyday life, there are
other moments where you’re happy as well. Exactly, exactly. And it becomes a habit, you know. Right. And it doesn’t have to be contrived, you know, it doesn’t have to be now. We will be happy, but it doesn’t have to be with music either. I chose music because people with neurodiversity love it. It’s like a universal thing. They love music. They might love different kinds of music, but this
is a really easy way to get into changing that dynamic of unhappiness. But if you, you know, we do work with people in the community who have deep trauma. Many people have very severe illnesses, and maybe music is not going to do it for them, but we can always choose different things that allow people to be happy for a minute, you know. So in our community, sometimes we
just share. Sometimes we don’t sing or dance, or sometimes we do, but I find that a simple share of, you know, today I saw a beautiful flower in my garden, and that was a moment that really made me very happy. And that’s enough. 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. Yes. Now, obviously your lesson doesn’t stop there. So after you’ve done the Happy Quarter, what do you do then, and in which way are you adapting your training to this group of people? So there are two more points
that I wanted to make. One was the Happy Quarter. The second, for people with neurodiversity, is the issue of self-regulation, which is very important. They have a hard time regulating their emotions and adapting to different things, such as transitioning from one activity to another. And many times, that creates anxiety and fear. So I wanted to give them a tool that would help them identify those moments and somehow
be able to cope. And so I found that saying the sounds was really effective for them, using not, all the sounds. But Chinese is a really easy language for people who have a difficult time speaking, right? Because they’re small, short syllables. Yes, and they can say them, and they can even chant them. So we might go into chanting. For example, sometimes we would repeat how “hao la,” the
word “hao la,” became a magic word. So sometimes we would chant it, sometimes we would repeat it during a movement. And I gave it to them as a tool to use when they were in the middle of a situation of fear or anxiety, and they began to say “how.” The parents started telling me, “What is this word? What is this ‘how’ thing?” And I just explained to them
it’s a magic word that makes everything okay. And they understood it, and they used it as a tool to calm down. Right. So that was important. We also introduced La Qi, which is a very easy movement. It was done also as a tool. We use the Chinese “kai hu,” which they can follow and use. And so we use “kai hu,” and they also use that as a tool
to calm down. So, if they find that they are escalating and they’re about to lose control, they can always sit down, breathe, hold the Qi ball, and Kai hu for a few minutes until they de-escalate. And so, that was the second tool that I really wanted to give them. The other one was Kai Xin. You know, the word Kai Xin, open your heart, means happiness. So, we sit
down, put our hands over our hearts, and just chant “Xin Xin.” They can say it. It’s a very good way for them to also practice speech because, you know, they have trouble breathing in and saying a word as they breathe out. So, chanting very simple sounds is also very effective. I also introduced, which is a little more complicated, but they love to chant it, and they find the
effect of it in their body, in their mood, to be like magic. So those are some really effective tools that I try to introduce for them to de-escalate, as strategies for de-escalation or just to have fun with it, to chant, you know. So it’s not only that you do these exercises, these chanting exercises, or La Qi in class; it is really something that they take into their everyday
life to be able to use when the situation arises. Is that right? Right. Yes, we also, sometimes, we do La Qi in class. Yes, also. But in order for them to use it as a tool, we also use it in class so that they get to see what it feels like, what it sounds like, and how to do it. And, you know, now what I like about La
Qi in particular in this context is, as you said, La Qi is a very simple movement. And there is no risk whatsoever that you start to compare yourself with others. Say if you do the Lift Qi Up or something which is quite complex, you can easily look at someone else and say, oh, he does it better or remembers the right movements, and I don’t, et cetera. But with
La Qi, we don’t have anything like this. Also, you can do it for as long as you want to, so there’s no failing. Yeah, if you do it one or two, three times only, that’s fine. You’re doing La Qi. If you do it for half an hour, that’s also fine. So I think this is a great exercise, apart from the mere fact that it’s extremely powerful, although it’s
so simple. So I think it’s a very clever way to do these. Are you also introducing more complex exercises? I mean, physically? Yes. And so this is the third part. This, right, okay. The third aspect of the class is the actual movements. So with the movements, I’ve done a number of things in the past. I did do Lift Qi Up, Pour Qi Down with one of my classes.
And I was very shocked to see, you know, that at the end of it, they were actually in a really peaceful state, which is what I didn’t think we could achieve. But as I finished the movement, I opened my eyes to see them in silence and in complete recollection. So that was quite a shock. But as time has gone by, we’re not doing Lift Qi Up, Pour Qi
Down anymore. I find it more useful to focus on three things for people with neurodiversity. One is the head area. And so we do Crane’s Head, Crane’s Neck, and I cut it in pieces. So before we do crane’s neck, I invented an exercise called the turtle. I use, I, I name them after animals. A lot of the movements because they can have more fun with it that way
, and they can be more playful. So we do. The turtle is basically just bringing your chin in and sticking the chin out and that before we even do the circle of the head. Just doing that is very helpful. So the entire, all of the movements with crane’s head, dragon head, also, are very simple movements. And the turtle, those are very important movements that we do. They are
extremely simple methods, but they are extremely effective because they work on the cervicals and they open the gate between the head and the rest of the body, and they allow flow which wouldn’t be there otherwise. And so, these are super important movements. We do also massage the skull, you know, massaging three times on one side, three times to the other, and then opening like this, and then pushing
the energy down. All of those are movements. We also do facial movements. I try to avoid moving the eyes. Yes, because that can trigger a seizure. So, we have to be very careful with neurodiversity because our kids do have seizure disorder. And so, I try not to do the tracking with the eyes because that can be tricky. But, the neck movements, and then I try to favor a
lot of the spine movements for the people with neurodiversity that can do wall squats. That is my favorite of all time. And that, of course, depends on the person’s ability. So, if you have someone with Down syndrome or with autism, you probably want to do wall squats, even if it’s modified, even if they hold on to a railing. But it’s so important because it opens the spine completely
and it allows the flow to the brain and back down. And so, that will be really one of my favorite methods. I do that with my son. My son is, though, very athletic, so he has autism, but physically, he’s very capable and very athletic. So, he can do that. If there is a diversity where the body’s very rigid and where the knees are kind of strangely compromised, you
probably don’t want to do wall squats. Right. But somebody with Down syndrome, for example, could easily do wall squats, and it would be very helpful for them. Again, we don’t have to have a perfect wall squat. And it can be modified. You know, the feet can be open to hip width if they need to, and they don’t have to go all the way down, but trying to go
a little, you know, there’s always the dance between, you know, what can be done, what cannot be done, and where we need to push a little bit. To get greater flexibility, I’d like to hear a little bit, Regina, about. You’ve been doing this for how long now? These courses? So, since I think before COVID, a few years before COVID, whatever, however. Good, good. So, can you see any,
do you get any feedback about, you know, that things have changed, changed in people’s lives because of them doing Qigong? Do you get any feedback on that? I do get feedback. I’ve had feedback about regulation, self-regulation. I’ve had feedback about flexibility of the body. We do other movements, but I don’t have to go over every single thing we do. You know, I do favor flexibility of the spine
and bringing down the energy from the head down to the lower Dantian is also very important. So, I just get feedback about, especially about flexibility and the need to continue doing it because, you know, because of the flexibility that people see in, you know, in their adults or their young adults that do the class. Now, I can imagine that any progress in the area of self-regulation will also
have an impact on their, you know, on their confidence and on how they go through life and how they cope with life. Is that fair to say? Absolutely. You can imagine that if there’s a self-regulation issue, right, there’s terrible fear, and there’s a very bad feeling after, you know, if somebody loses control and has a meltdown, they don’t enjoy it. They know it’s not right. This is evidence
of their disability. And so they feel embarrassed, they feel ashamed because there’s also the feedback from the community, which is a fear and astonishment that somebody’s losing control. So, everybody feels unhappy. So, when you give people the ability to regulate or to have a tool that they know is there for them, that they can use to calm down and to prevent, you know, escalation, that’s absolutely vital, you
know. Yes. Or for the person and for the people that work with that person. And you also said that the people that work with that person are often a part of the course. Right. So they practice together. Now, what happens in their lives? You know, does that have any effects on their lives? Do they see any improvements? Yeah, I think they’ve actually asked me to teach them also.
They actually, sometimes, request different movements. They’re the ones who actually say, oh, we really want to do, you know, this movement or that movement. I teach them how to do a few movements that are not adapted, you know, because, for example, hip rotations. We do, but it’s adapted. Yes. And they really, you know, I think they love it. And they love the, you know, the fact that some
of the movements, they realize, are a little bit challenging. So, you know, they might try to do them on their own later. And, you know, through COVID, I, you know, we would do Chen Qi sometimes. And this is mostly for the people who are accompanying them. Right. You know, I explained that this was a really good movement to do to make sure that you have good health in
your heart and your lungs. And so, they practice, too, on their own; when they’re not there, they do take some of the methods and they practice them. And I could imagine that, you know, the neurodiverse people and the people that accompany them, because they do these calls together, and they experience things together. I mean, they’re all doing La Qi together, doing the chanting together. That is also an
instrument to have something in common, right, and to overcome the natural separation. Because you feel so different when you have this disability, but then you are able to share a powerful experience like Zhineng Qigong now with the people around you. I could imagine that this also has an impact on the relationship and on the mutual understanding of each other. Or am I making this up? I mean, I’ve
never been to any of your classes, but it’s just my imagination running wild here now. What I can see in front of my eyes, what’s possibly happening. Yeah, I think sometimes the person with neurodiversity, actually, they try to practice together. They do that too, you know, and so it becomes a very bonding thing. And, as you say, an equalizer. And if you think about it, you know, we
think about neurodiversity, as you say, as a different population, but in reality, we really are all a different population. You know, whether we’re seeking to do Zhineng Qigong, because we have an illness or we have a trauma, or we have just the joy of living, we just love movement. Somehow we all find ourselves in the same boat, and we have to confront our own limitations, whatever they might
be, our own fixations, and become aware of our attachments and how to let go of them. Right. Because if you think about it, our own attachments are not that different from a person with neurodiversity encountering a little bump on the road because something didn’t go their way. Yes. So, they go to the store, they really want those chips, but they can’t have them. Yes, because you can’t have
chips every time you want them. But our own attachments are a little like that. You know, it’s those little chips. You know, you think about how much comfort you get out of whatever it is that you’re attached to. Yes, and the fixation that that attachment can really evoke and cause in your life, the havoc it can actually cause in your life. Yes. I’ve learned a lot about teaching
in general through teaching people with neurodiversity, but I also learned a lot about my own attachments, my own fixations, my own meltdowns, you know? Yes, yes. It’s only that, you know, they are probably a little more common or not so obvious to the outside world because we are better at hiding them. But, you know, they might do even more harm because a lot of our diseases and the
things that happen to us are actually caused by these attachments and by these meltdowns that we don’t want to look at. And then suddenly we wake up and we have this disease or that disease, and we’ve got no idea where it comes from. So, yeah, it’s. I can see how you make the. How you see these things in the people you work with and say, well, wait a
moment. On one level, I do exactly the same thing. It just shows a little differently. Right? That’s right. Yeah. Hopefully, it will show a little differently. Yes. All right, so let’s just go all the way back to where we started, where we were talking about happiness. So, is that, you know, if you look at the people they are working with and their families or the people that take
care of them, would you say that things have shifted over time so that they allow themselves more to say, wow, life is beautiful, and, you know, just enjoy the moment and go with the flow and don’t get too obsessed with the things that don’t work so well, basically letting go of the idea that something is wrong because, you know, fundamentally, there is nothing wrong. It’s just a difference.
That’s why we call it diversity. So, have you noticed something shifting there in their consciousness as well? You know, I mean, it’s amazing. I was shocked at how many things actually shifted from being, you know, like alone to people who are alone that are put together against their will or by force or by necessity, suddenly it became a community. All the people that accompany our adults are now
friends, and they get along, and they like each other, and they like the person that they’re working with, and they can laugh together, and they can make jokes together, and they can, you know, poke fun at each other with each other, and just, it’s… It became a really beautiful group. Now it’s a cohesive group of the people that go with our kids, who became friends, and our kids
that actually now enjoy being with one another. And so, it’s a really relaxed environment. You know, once they relax, it’s okay for your kid to not be perfect. Right. And so that vibe takes over, and the community sees it and is much more accepting and much more open, and there’s so much more flow all the way around. Very cool. Well, I’m glad we are talking, Regina. And I’m
just having this thought. If there is, you know, someone in the community listening to this conversation who is in a similar situation or would like to work, you know, with people with special needs, in particular neurodiversity, would you be willing to talk to that person? Can they get in touch to experience a little bit more firsthand experience from you or maybe the… A little bit of coaching or
advice if necessary, if they do want to start an initiative like you did themselves? Absolutely. I would love to, you know, explore and have a conversation with them if they need to. Great. Wonderful. So we’re putting your details in the show notes, obviously, for people to get in touch. But I also would like to know, I know you are also a regular Zhineng Qigong teacher. Do you also
offer courses, or is it mainly in cooperation with Teacher Wei that you help him organize his courses, or, you know, what else? Is there anything else you can offer here? Right now, I’m only offering the cooperation with Teacher Wei, but I am developing different courses at the moment. I will start teaching also for the City of Hope, which is a subsidiary of the hospital where they treat cancer
for people with cancer. And I’m beginning to develop new things, so possibly new things are coming down the pipe. Perfect. So we’re going to watch this space, watch your website, and maybe there’s an opportunity. If you do start a new initiative, please get in touch again, and maybe we can run another episode here. Wonderful. Thank you very much, Regina. And all the best to Los Angeles. Thank you,
Torsten. It’s a pleasure speaking with you. 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.
We need your consent to load the content of YouTube.
