Dr. Murtaza Akber Hameer (Arusha, Tanzania) is a medical doctor turned teacher. He pursued his medical degree in India and did the United States medical licensing exams in the USA. He also has a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Dar es Salaam. He is the author of the book, “Learning How To Learn: Doing well in school, college and beyond”. He is passionate about education and teaching, with interests in philosophy, science, theology, and spirituality.
I
recall it was the year 2012 and I was in New Jersey, United States of America. I didn’t have health insurance and as those who live in the West know, the cost of health care there is humongous. So, I was forced to find ways of maintaining wellness and staying physically healthy that would not break my bank account.
As a medical doctor, while I was trained to diagnose and manage diseases, I was not trained about practices that can cultivate health and maintain physical and mental well-being. It just wasn’t part of the training in medical school. As I explored the ancient methods of maintaining health, I came across practices from the East that had evolved as part of spiritual traditions but in recent decades had been studied by Western universities for their health benefits. I thus began my journey on the path of Qigong.
Qigong (Qi/Chi meaning ‘life force’ or ‘life energy’; gong meaning ‘cultivation of’ in Chinese) was similar to Tai Chi and involved combining mindfulness and visualisation with breathing and posture as well as gentle movements. These practices were said to promote general health and wellbeing and scientific studies on them had shown promising results.
About three weeks into practising Qigong, I started getting the feeling of coming down with a scratchy throat and a potential upper respiratory infection. I recall taking about 10 minutes to perform a qigong exercise called The Moving of the Yin and Yang as part of Spring Forest Qigong (SFQ) that I had learned from a book and video of Mr. Chunyi Lin, founder of SFQ. My focus and visualisation were so clear and I was “one” with the practice, ever so determined to beat the ‘flu’, that after about 10 or so minutes of the exercise, I sat down and just observed my body. I recall that the scratchy throat feeling had disappeared and so did the feverish feeling. As a result, I did not come down with anything at the time. For me, it was a fascinating first-hand account of the power of such practices on our health. What else was possible?
Psychosomatic practices such as qigong, tai chi, and yoga have been shown to have several benefits for physical well-being including,
Improved balance and stability of the body
Enhanced blood circulation throughout the body
Increased flexibility and mobility of joints and muscles
Strengthening respiration muscles and improving lung function
Pain reduction in conditions like fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis
Stress reduction
Improved sleep
These benefits are those that have been scientifically documented. There are still several case studies whereby individuals with chronic or terminal illnesses undergo ‘miraculous’ healing after such practices as qigong and meditation. (For those interested in reading about such case studies as well as about the practice of Qigong – in particular, Spring Forest Qigong, I recommend the book Born A Healer by Mr. Chunyi Lin.)
It is important to note that some of these practices originated as ‘spiritual practices’ in the sense that they were designed to calm the mind and help purify the soul (such as meditation and maybe even yoga) while others (like qigong and tai chi) may have originated as a means to keep healthy and develop martial arts techniques so as to help protect the monks from thieves and bandits at the time. After all, one needs to remain alive to carry out any spiritual practice!
The mind-body connection is still very mysterious despite the advancements in our understanding of how the brain and body works. We still have no consensus as to how Consciousness is produced by the brain (or if it is produced by the brain at all for that matter!) As our science continues to evolve and improve, one thing we all can do individually is to take charge of our health and explore the “spiritually turned health maintaining” practices of meditation, yoga, qigong and tai chi to see where they may lead us. I believe the results of such practices if done regularly and consistently, will surprise us as we continue to understand and redefine our notions of what it means to be human.
Dr. Murtaza Akber Hameer (Arusha, Tanzania) is a medical doctor turned teacher. He pursued his medical degree in India and did the United States medical licensing exams in the USA. He also has a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Dar es Salaam. He is the author of the book, “Learning How To Learn: Doing well in school, college and beyond”. He is passionate about education and teaching, with interests in philosophy, science, theology, and spirituality.
