A case of recovery from Ankylosing Spondylitis

 

Jackie Zhen (From Hong Kong)      Age: 40    Occupation: Company Executive

 

In 1991 I started suffering from ankylosing spondylitis. I constantly had pain in my back and neck muscles that were pulling so taut that I could not move my back and neck freely. Every now and then I also had iritis and my neck as well as upper spine were gradually bending forward. In the past ten years or more, I had tried taking medicine, massage, chiropractic treatment, acupuncture and physiotherapy, etc., but the effect had not been satisfactory. Since 2000, I switched to practising qi-gong for an hour and taking Chinese herbs. Although there was improvement in my neck pain and iritis, I still cannot make the bent neck restore its original position. In the past ten years or so, I had become shorter by 5 cm, and to my annoyance and frustrations, I was often mistaken by my friends to be lost in deep thoughts when I was bowing my head involuntarily.

 

On the Christmas Eve of 2005 I came across Master He’s book on Taiji Five Elements Self Recovery Program (TFESRP) in a bookstore and bought it. The book cited three recorded cases of patients who had recovered totally from ankylosing spondylitis. As many western doctors and Chinese doctors all said that there was no cure for the curved neck, I thought there was no harm in giving it a try at any rate. So starting from mid January in 2006, I took a basic course of TFESRP, and then took part in the group practising sessions at the WISH Asia-Pacific Centre. I practised intensively for 6-7 hours on average every day. After 10 days, my neck started to turn by itself for 40 minutes. Since then everyday when I started practising TFESRP, my neck would turn automatically as if it had a built-in automatic massager (except that the feel of addressing the problem areas was more precise than being massaged by a masseur). Every day I felt my neck and back muscles being pulled and stretched with varying force and from different angles. After continuously practising for 40 days (during which I had joined an Intensive Course and had a 6 day fasting and semi-fasting, and air ingesting therapy), towards the third week of February 2006, my neck had noticeably become more relaxed and straightened up. There was less forward bending curvature, I could turn my neck side way, left and right, to a much larger degree, and the tension of my back muscles was released. All these improvements made me feel very much encouraged. My younger sister who often had a flu and arthritis also started taking the TFESRP course from WISH. As she is younger, the qi-gong practice was able to take effect faster. She could move her tensed-up joints freely even on the first day of the course.

 

I think the effectiveness of this TFESRP has helped in enhancing the confidence of the learners. Their group practising sessions and teaching approach have also been very effective. Some of my friends felt quite surprised when they learned that I practise qi-gong for 6-7 hours every day. In fact I had been practising qi-gong for some years in the past, and I had heard that to use qi-gong for healing purposes, one needed to practise for at least 7-8 hours a day. However, finding a place to do the practice is not easy. It’s usually very noisy and distracting to practise qi-gong at home or in a park, with the latter being easily subjected to the changes in weather, which was why in the past I could only practise for an hour a day. But now in the WISH group practising sessions, I could easily concentrate on the practice for 6-7 hours and then practise for 1-2 hours more afterwards when I go home, which has enabled me to achieve the maximum healing effect of the qi-gong within the shortest time.

 

After experiencing years of poor health, I have realized all the more the preciousness of good health. So I am very thankful to Master He, WISH President Christina Chiu, and all staff and members of WISH Institute for promoting TFESRP to the community, enabling me and the other learners to restore our health.

 

11 March 2006

(Special thanks to WISH volunteer Mdm Wanda Lau for her kind translation of the original text)