Do you know someone who suffers from dementia? Witnessing a loved one slowly lose their memory and reasoning skills can be a very painful experience. Dementia is a persistent syndrome that tends to get worse over time–affecting memory, thinking, and behavior. It is distinct from Alzheimer’s in that Alzheimer’s is a specific disease, but general dementia can stem from a variety of unrelated brain illnesses.

All over Shanghai there were people getting together every morning, hundreds of people in dozens of places, to practice these seemingly simple forms of exercise to fight their cancer. These groups were run solely by cancer survivors who had used this form of exercise. In Shanghai alone, there were almost 3,000 people in these cancer recovery clubs, and besides the exercise they also scheduled group trips, met for yearly anniversaries of members survival, and generally supported each other in their fight.

Check out this wonderful resource: www.linkholistic.com Practitioners can share events, join the holistic directory, read articles and post questions to their experts. LinkHolistic is now the leading holistic professional and community site, featuring teacher events, practitioner listings, group support and holistic forums.

Several weeks ago I went through a spate of night sweats and hormone induced tossing and turning that left me wide awake at 2:30 or 3:00 every morning, heart pounding from the surge of adrenaline and completely unable to fall back asleep…. Each wee hour I’d grab a fresh dry night shirt and plod downstairs, resigned to Law & Order reruns and arguing with the cats for four hours about why they couldn’t go outside right then. After several nights of this I decided that I really had to do something better with my time.

Sound Healing with Master Mingtong Gu – Lesson One: “Setting the Chi Field” Here at Merlian News, some of the staff have been enjoying the online Home Study course “Sound Healing” from www.chicenter.com . What we’ve found is that the first lesson, “Setting the Chi Field” is critical for gaining the most from your Qi Gong practice. Do it right and each session is deeper and more profound, do it wrong and you may feel better than not having done it at all, but you won’t get the best healing and benefit that you could.

Two weeks ago I attended, along with friends Glenna and Lisa, a marvelous seminar at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. It was led by Mingtong Gu, the celebrated Qi Gong master, and involved 5 days of the most wonderful, inspiring and healing exercises and lectures. I have been practicing Qi Gong for years, and have long been a fan of Mintong’s work… This week, however, was the first time that I was participating in a live class and meeting him in person.

We cannot say enough good things about the online courses from Master Mingtong Gu and the staff at www.chicenter.com ! This is a phenomenal resource for learning Wisdom Healing Qi Gong. We all know that there’s nothing like learning from a true master, taking the time to sit with him or her and soaking up the wisdom, skill or techniques that will help you advance physically or spiritually. Unfortunately, in this busy day and age it can be difficult to take the time off necessary to devote to learning, or worse, the teacher you need may live on the other side of the country.

Sound Healing Qi Gong with Mingtong Gu: Lessons 5 & 6 All of us here at Merlian News were deeply moved by the story of Lindy’s Transition, in the fifth section of the online course, “Sound Healing.” In the opening moments we learn that an active member of the community has died: “A treasured member of the Wisdom Healing Qigong community, Lindy Bianchi, died shortly before the Advancing Weekend Workshop…. Her journey of healing was woven into the fabric of our chi field, as is yours.” The resulting portion, part meditation and part prayer, resulted in a sensation of qi all around that was especially powerful.

Sound Healing with Mingtong Gu – Lesson Four: Sound Energetics Listening to this portion of the online course, “Sound Healing,” all of us at Merlian News felt like this was one of the most important lessons in the course. It includes the basic instructions for chanting “Haola” and “Kai Hui” as well as how to work with the sounds in the most effective ways. As highlighted in the course material, the deep energetic benefits made possible by sound healing include emotional healing, and a deeper energetic connection with the organs, the energy gates and energy centers.