The Dark Side of Qigong
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This is a vitally important post for you to read and understand. I am encouraging you to go out and actively find yourself a qigong instructor to learn qigong from directly. So I feel a sense of responsibility to you because there are a lot of very odd characters (to put it nicely) out there who you may come into contact with during your search for the best teacher for you.
Here are 7 Rules to keep in mind during your journey
1. Maintain a healthy skepticism – question the motives of anyone in a teaching position or leadership role. It’s not necessarily true that they are great people, they may just be great at one thing. A lot of people in the Yoga world got famous because they are so flexible – but there’s a heck of a lot more to yoga than that.
A good question to keep in mind when someone tells you anything is ‘according to whom?’
The 6 Honest Serving Men and the importance of analytical thinking.
Every journalist knows the poem below by Rudyard Kipling, it’s essential for analytical thinking. We are not taught how to think at school we are taught how to memorise facts. Here’s the part of the poem:
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
These 6 honest serving men are the fundamentals for a decent article and also for your own thinking.
I know a man who was told by his yoga instructor that if you drink your own urine you’ll be more flexible. He’d have benefited from asking the question ‘according to whom?’
Some stuff you can take on faith, but not potentially when there is a cost. E.g. I’m going to open up the first 3 of your chakras by having penetrative sex with you – you might want to take a step back. Sorry to be crude, but this type of thing does happen.
2. Beware of Narcissists – be wary of anyone who requires a stage or a platform because it is a blatant form of narcissism.
I know a world famous relationship counsellor who states that you should exclude having a relationship with anyone who is a model or an actor because you know that narcissism runs them and that relationship will always be about them.
Narcissistics feed on your adulation and you’ll see it. Some teachers have humility, but many don’t. If you don’t see humility in a teacher be careful. The more someone has to talk about how great they are, the less likely they are to be it. Arrogance and all that stuff is based on insecurity and it’s a clue.
Ensure that the teaching is about you and not about them. Are you propping them up or are they supporting you?
3. Don’t give your power away – There’s a psychological phenomenon known as “obedience to authority” where we tend to believe—without question—the words spoken by an authority figure we respect. This can be a parent, schoolteacher, politician, “guru”, priest…anyone who you perceive as being in a position of authority. The danger is that you may—to a degree—hand them control over your mind. After all, you’ve lowered your “mental guard” with these people, tending to believe them, agree with them and, worst, you may even obey them too. It was the psychologist Stanley Milgram who coined the phrase “obedience to authority” and you might want to look up the results of his experiments to see just how far people go with this phenomenon (it’s scary).
4. Observe the conduct of the teacher – Do they sleep with their students? That is an abuse of their position of authority. I spoke with one Yoga teacher who told me that he only taught Yoga so he could look at the women – does that shock you? It should and you need to know that this stuff happens.
There is a tendency to associate grace with enlightenment, but a teacher can be very graceful with their qigong and still be an idiot. Keep in mind that people can play parts. It’s not hard to appear really cool and spiritual for an hour long class. A dancer can appear really ‘slutty’ on stage, yet be a devote Christian who would never consider having sex before marriage.
Avoid judging by appearances, don’t assume anything about your teacher and above all don’t sleep with them.
5. Are there clear boundaries? – this was one of the things I learned early on. I’m not your friend I’m your teacher. Yes I will be friendly, kind and compassionate but I will maintain a clear boundary between us. You are paying me money in exchange for a service – that’s not a friendship.
Just because a teacher is in a position to teach you qigong doesn’t mean he can teach you about your diet – but that might not stop him trying.
6. Trust your own instincts – what is your gut telling you? It’s important for people to claim their teachers are credible. And in conversation the abilities of a students teacher easily get exaggerated. Why does this happen, because we want to be associated with them and if our teacher is the greatest in the world then by default we are great too.
Be very careful of attaching yourselves to a Guru or a Master, because if further down the line you begin to question that attachment, it can be very hard for you to break away and if by that time you are a teacher too, you risk damaging your own credibility if you speak out against them. As one person told me ‘it’s not easy leaving the matrix’.
Are you attending a class or are you signing up for a cult?
7. Never be afraid to walk away – there are plenty of other instructors, schools and classes out there. Taking the time to find the one that’s right for you is time well spent.
In a Nut Shell
There are a lot of good teachers out there, but you need to keep in mind that there are a few “whacko’s” as well. Especially in the qigong/martial arts world. Never give your power away, never stop thinking for yourself and always maintain a healthy degree of skepticism. At the end of the day trust your own instincts, listen to your gut and despite what the ‘master’ may say never be afraid to walk away if something doesn’t feel right.
I wish I had read this article before I started out on my journey into qigong and the martial arts, it would have saved me from many uncomfortable situations. Please feel free to leave questions or comments in the box below.
Bye for now
Marcus James Santer
Useful links: if you’ve been part of a school for a while and are having doubts about its orientation or the ethics of it’s ‘leader’ then check out this useful questionnaire on cults. https://www.gospelassemblyfree.com/facts/questionaire.htm
