Are our arts what is needed to heal the world?

At a time when technology is advancing faster than ever and the world is getting richer, our health seems to be getting poorer! We see more and more grey faces, lacking vitality as if our life force is running out. And our mental health is deteriorating even faster. We all know that humanity is on a downward slide: what we don’t know is what to do about it.

Fresh air, sunlight, Qigong - it’s not rocket science.

Do our ancient Chinese arts perhaps hold the secret to saving humanity?

Vitality, life force, these are what the Chinese call Chi and have been working with for thousands of years. Chi is a key element in Chinese traditional science and has been studied for millennia. Cultivating Chi, enriching our life force, boosting our vitality: that is Qigong (Chi Kung). Our ancient, low-tech’ practices are the perfect counterpoise to the stress of the high-tech’ world. There is no rocket science about getting up at dawn to head out into the fresh air and give the body, mind and breath a gentle workout. But it is what we need. We all know how invigorating fresh morning air is. Same for those first few rays of the morning sun. Then there is filling our lungs to capacity. By moving the body in different directions we get our body fluids moving properly. And by stretching we open our energy flow. As for the mind, this quiet start to the day, during which it connects with our bodies and our breath is perfect.

Proven track record.

Our arts have been used by the Chinese for 4,000 years to increase their vitality, longevity, productivity and quality of life. Their track record is proven and there is no doubt about it. Let’s take a deeper look at these values, though. In old style Chinese philosophy a long, comfortable fulfilling life was the ideal. Of course they wanted to be rich: but they knew that to achieve this goal they needed to be healthy, energised and focused. This is an area where many of us today are right out of balance - we over work until we are run down and hence the quality of our work suffers and along with it our prosperity. The Chinese solved the problem by getting up early and heading to the park to do Qigong and Kung fu so as to wake up, charge up and start work on a high. It worked for them - which is one of the reasons why they are so successful - and it works for us!

‘God helps those who help themselves!’

This was one of my mother’s sayings. She had a lot! She often used to to mean ‘don’t wait for someone else to fix things for you or for a miracle to occur - get up off your backside and fix it yourself because that’s the only way to be sure that it will get fixed’. How many people do you know who make absolutely no effort to care for their health - because that is the doctor’s job? It frightens me! Anyone can fix their health with these ancient arts: let’s tell them that and help get them started!

Sheila Armstrong - Master Iain's Mum

Begin by working on your self.

It is rather like the announcement before a flight: put the oxygen mask on yourself first because you won't be able to help your children if you pass out due to lack of oxygen. First, fix yourself. Elevate yourself and become an inspiration for others to do likewise. Give yourself the vitality and focused thought that you need to succeed in whatever you do. These are what underpins success.

Then help others.

Grass roots community-based initiatives work. This we can easily observe. But they do need capable and inspiring leaders. Government initiatives usually fail - because they are not embraced by the people. Our approach is to use our arts and our experience to turn ordinary people into extraordinary people. We want our people to shine out and inspire others. Ideally, we want to turn out great teachers who gather a following and inspire them, in turn, to do likewise. Hence momentum builds. This is happening right now with new Nam Yang branches appearing in different communities. From the outset, this has been our plan. We train strong teachers to be our ambassadors and spread our arts through the population. This way we make a difference - a real difference. Deep down, everyone wants to do good, everyone wants to help, everyone wants to make a difference - even people who we often write off as bad people.