There are Qigong centres around the world, and they provide a great way to learn, train and to meet some likeminded people. However, the stress, the pressure and the demands of modern life mean that it’s not always easy to go on a retreat. Luckily, there are exercises and courses that you can take at home.
There are many of these available, but it’s always best to study with an accredited centre, one that is guided by an experienced master and one that offers a comprehensive series of courses. This way you’re not just taking a one-off course that will teach you a few basics and then leave you in the lurch. You are taking courses that always lead toward other courses. There is always an end goal, and that goal is to take you from a basic or nonexistent understanding of this ancient practice, into complete comprehension, at which point you can become a Qigong master.
Such is the case with the courses offered by the Spring Forest Qigong Centre. Based in the US, this centre is run by Master Lin and as well as a series of retreats, it offers a number of home study courses that are easy and fun to follow.
Main Courses
The main courses available at the Spring Forest Qigong Centre aim to get you from a basic understanding to a complete understanding. These courses are split into five levels, beginning with simple comprehension offered by the SFQ Fundamentals course, and going all of the way to the 24 Step Advanced course, where you can awaken the master within you.
You can study at your own pace and you can jump in at whatever level you feel comfortable with, but unless you have an advanced understand of Qigong already, we recommend beginning with the fundamentals.
These courses aim to guide you through a number of Qigong exercises and meditations.
Additional Exercises and Techniques
As well as the main courses, there are also additional courses that you can take. These include everything from the Qi-ssage Healing course, which is recommended for level 1 students, to the many meditative guides.
You can also log onto the Spring Forest Qigong Centre Youtube channel to learn some simple exercises, techniques and meditations from Master Lin himself. These cover the basics and are nowhere near as compressive as the guides you will find on the main courses, but it’s a great way to start and to introduce yourself to the centre and to Master Lin’s teachings. Master Lin has also written a book titled Born a Healer, an inspirational tale of how Master Lin came to found the Spring Forest Qigong Centre, as well as an informative guide on Qigong.
Teleseminars
Teleseminars are live group calls that are headed either by Master Lin or by one of the other masters at the Spring Forest Qigong Centre. These calls typically last for an hour and there are two different ones available:
- The Healing Connection: This is more of a communal call and is a great way to get a feel for the community spirit at the Spring Forest Qigong Centre. In fact, these calls feel like you’re taking a retreat at the centre, listening to Master Lin guide you and the other students around you. There is a question and answer session during this call where you can ask Master Lin any questions that you might have. These calls are taken on Tuesday evening and they begin at 9pm Central Time, which is around 14.5 hours behind Australian Central Time. This puts it at a very respectable time during Wednesday morning.
- Working With the Masters: Learn from the best with this prerecorded course that runs for over 2 hours and is headed by Master Lin and Master Vincent, who also teaches at the Spring Forest Qigong Centre.
- Awakening the Master Within: This is an advanced course that can be used to complement the 24 Step program of the same name. There are 8 sessions in total.
The Working With the Masters teleseminar is a prerecorded call that you can download as an MP3. You will get just as many benefits from this recording, as this is more of an informational call than anything else. If you miss a call from The Healing Connection course then you can also download MP3s, but if you can make the call, you will get much more out of it. Either way, we recommend downloading the MP3s after you have finished the call, so that you can play it back at a later time and make sure that you do not miss anything.