Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy

A Blessed Pregnancy

My little Xiang Xiang is so adorable that no one could resist tickling him when seeing him. People usually are surprised at the fact that I gave birth to him at the age of 41 after being married for 8 years. “Wow, you were so brave to have chosen natural birth at this age without the use of epidural analgesia or vacuum extraction.” “How nice! You only went through 5 hours of labor!” Those are the responses I often hear whenever I share my childbirth and child rearing experience with my friends who have become mothers recently. As a matter of fact, I am proud of myself for the bravery, too. And I know that there is a reason behind all this – Tai Ji Men. I got all the good luck by practicing qigong day and night regularly.

I used to get sick easily because I had had poor bodily constitution since childhood. Before I was introduced to qigong, I had diarrhea almost everyday. My menstrual period always came late; sometimes it even delayed for 3 months! And when I had my period, I would also have cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. I had muscle cramps during sleep quite often, not to mention headache, sleep disorder, and constipation. I had very poor state of health and always caught one cold after another. I always thought negatively and tended to get depressed easily. For example, before my younger brother was about to enter the military, I was so worried as to burst into tears just to think about the possibility that he might be picked on in the military.

In the process of practicing qigong, Shifu taught dizi to learn to relax oneself, quiet down, be natural, and have a happy heart. To my surprise, my sleep disorder immediately improved after I learned to relax. Intake of icy cold food used to cause me diarrhea, and it’s totally gone now. I have been feeling so refreshed ever since my physical health improved. I also learned to be happy and think positively and not to worry about things that haven’t happened. Very often people would say that I’m leading a carefree life and that I look like a person with very good fortune.

My husband and I have shared common opinions about how to start a family. We wanted to take it easy and thus decided to take the natural path to having a baby. We both think that we need to have both bodily and mental health in order to have a healthy baby. Although the elders in the family had been looking forward to grandchildren, they did not put pressure on us. However, they couldn’t help but start to get anxious when I reached the age of 40 and would suggest us to try IVF treatment. Just then I realized that I had conceived naturally and successfully.

We have been taking special care of this hard-won baby. I felt so lucky for having been practicing qigong over the years, and that in turn improved my immune system and bodily constitution. I didn’t stop practicing qigong during my pregnancy because it had become an important part of my life. H1N1 influenza reached the peak of infection when I was pregnant. Many people started to worry, and pregnant women were especially at higher risk of becoming infected. The confusion that was caused by the controversy in the news about whether to get a vaccine made the situation even worse. Just when I had doubts about the disease, my Shifu Dr. Hong, Zhang-men-ren of Tai Ji Men, told us not to worry, not to get nervous, and not to get upset. I kept Shifu’s words in mind and continued to practice qigong so as to keep myself calm and keep thinking positively. At the end, I passed through that dangerous period of time just fine. Who could believe that I used to be the kind of person that catches one cold after another yearly.

Older pregnant women bear higher risk during pregnancy than average pregnant women. Many years ago I went to an OB/Gyn doctor for abdominal pain. The doctor informed me of my unusually thin uterus after an abdominal ultrasound inspection. He also predicted that it would be hard for me to conceive, and even if I got pregnant successfully, I might have miscarriage easily. But my constitution had improved because of my practicing qigong; therefore, I went through the pregnancy very smoothly, and I didn’t have constipation, which usually bothers many pregnant women. My husband and I would practice qigong together. Shifu told us to always think positively; his words of wisdom helped us very much during my pregnancy. We decided to take it easy to expect the baby, leaving all the risks involved to the doctor’s judgment.

During the one month postpartum period, my cousin-in-law saw me walking around with endless energy and asked her mother out of curiosity, “Mom, Yu-Yan just gave birth to a baby, where did her energy come from? My own sister is only 31, but she looked really weak after the childbirth!” Her mother also attributed my energy to qigong. That’s right! Qigong not only helped me with the smooth pregnancy, but also quickened my postpartum recovery.

Little Xiang Xiang is now over a year old. He is healthy, lively, full of energy, not shy at all, and always smiling. I am very pleased with this heavenly gift, and I’m especially grateful for my qigong practice at Tai Ji Men.

Figure: Yu-Yan Jiang, a Tai Ji Men dizi, gave birth to her son naturally at the age of 41after a natural conception. Now her son is over one year old. Seeing him growing happily and healthily, Yu-Yan is very pleased with this heavenly gift and grateful for her qigong practice at Tai Ji Men.