Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy

Transforming the life of a boy who used to suffer from allergies

My husband and I always joked that Gary was an unexpected gift falling from heaven. My older son was 14 when Gary was born, so Gary was just like another single child in my family. Raising a young boy was quite a challenge for me, who was over 40 at the time. Gary’s most troubling health issue was his allergy problem. Living in California meant he had to suffer allergies three seasons of a year. He started to develop allergic symptoms when he was about 5. That’s the age a child starts to spend a lot of time outdoors. Because he developed allergic reactions to the pollens of many kinds of plants, I felt so sorry that he could not play sports like soccer or baseball which requires to play on grassy fields. His major symptom was nasal congestion, which made him look like he was having a cold all the time. Of course, I took him to see doctors to seek help. His pediatrician suggested to take weekly allergy shots for six months, but it could not guarantee his wellness. A pediatric ENT doctor recommended a surgery to remove nasal polyps, but a new polyp might develop again if he could not keep himself away from allergens. I remembered I always felt heartache when I heard his heavy breathing, especially when he was asleep.

Luckily, I learned about Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy from a friend, and I immediately joined and started to practice Tai Ji Men qigong. Gary followed me to join the following year when he was 10. Amazingly, his nasal congestion was almost gone in just three months! Gary’s school has overnight trips for 4th graders to 8th graders. I had to turn in medication for Gary’s allergy problem to the nurse for such trips before he joined the academy. After he started practicing Tai Ji Men qigong, I packed the medicine for his trip once, for emergencies only, and from then on, it is no longer necessary to send medicine for his trips. Looking back, I am so appreciative of Tai Ji Men qigong and consider it a miracle that Gary’s allergy could have improved in such a short period of time! He is now a very healthy 17-year-old boy and doesn’t even remember his previous sufferings at all. Many Tai Ji Men’s brothers and sisters are not even aware that Gary had a severe allergy problem before because his nasal congestion improved so fast.

Another major improvement of Gary is overcoming his fear of public speaking. From early on, kids at Tai Ji Men are trained to speak up in front of other members. Gary once shared that what he was afraid of was not to speak in front of others but the fear of failure. Through Shifu’s teachings and brothers’ and sisters’ sharing, he learned how to overcome the fear of failure. We frequently share our thoughts with others at Tai Ji Men, but many young kids dread to do so. Instructors would try every means to encourage kids to speak up, and gradually they would be able to speak in front of audiences. When Gary was 13, I noticed for the first time that Gary was able to organize his thoughts in a short period of time and speak in front of many brothers and sisters during an event at Tai Ji Men. I was quite amazed that he did so with a very calm attitude. He later even participated in an international forum on human rights where he had to present his research with PowerPoint. Usually, he was the kind of kid who would not raise his hands in class, nor would he volunteer to participate in public speaking or speech and debate activities at school. However, at Tai Ji Men, he has many chances to learn all kinds of skills. He was guided to help with the academy’s media group in many events, so he had learned to interview guests and write articles for some events. I believe these experiences have enriched his life and helped him with the essays and personal interviews for college applications. This is also one of the reasons he got accepted early by his first choice of college last December.

Gary will soon move to the Chicago area for college. He will certainly encounter all kinds of obstacles and needs to try his best to survive in a new environment. I am not too worried about him any more because I know he has acquired courage, wisdom and patience through Tai Ji Men and gets to explore a new chapter of his life without fear!