Welcome to the Zhineng Qigong Community Podcast, Wisdom Qigong Uncovered. My name is Torsten Lueddecke, and this is today's story.
Something is going on in the tiny country of Slovenia, where suddenly 4, 000 people start practicing Qigong. Inspired by a simple idea. To use the concept of breathing and nature, Andraz Purger is introducing basic Zhineng Qigong exercises to the public. In today's story, we explore the importance of nature in our practice, and we hear from Andraz how he managed to get the government to fund this incredible initiative.
And he does a lot in terms of community work, and he actually is running a project currently that is supported by the government of Slovenia, which is an unusual thing. These days that government support these projects. So I'm very interested to hear about it. And it's called Breathing with Nature. So maybe Andraz, she would like to say a few words about what this program is and how it came about, please.
Yes, thank you for inviting me, Torsten. I'm really glad I can share more about this project. First thing I want to explain How is this possible that we got tender from Ministry of Health to support this project because I work as head of the educators in Association, which have a humanitarian status, and it's called, , School of Health Association.
And we have more than 5, 000 members across Slovenia, and we are active in 90 municipalities, , which means that we are all across our country. And, , because we gain status of humanitarian organization, we could, , apply to another tender, which is only for humanitarian organizations. And we were, , , positively accepted in with this program, Breathing with Nature, in the, , Middle of, , call it, , , area, , in 2021.
And we, , focus on, , , mental health of, , citizens of Slovenia. So, , when this tender was out, , we as a big organization starts to think about it. And I got the idea, of course, I'm a general teacher. I know about mental health, about. , , anxiety, depression, , all these, , emotions, which are, were hold in people's lives, , that we can offer something and with support of the ministry of health, we can do it for free.
So the idea was born and we will, we will get the green light for do it. And, , like in short, , descriptions. In the last, , three years, we will, we were really active. , and we also got extended of the tender for another three years. So, , we are till 2025, we are doing it. That is
wonderful. That's wonderful.
Maybe a congratulation for the extension. First of all, I didn't know that. And maybe you want to explore just briefly what you are doing in this program. What actually does breathing in nature, breathing with nature mean and how does it tie into Zhineng Qigong
yes. So the main idea is that, , it's the, the, the, , exercises are leaded by volunteers, which are educated through our program.
And, , I give you an example. So, , we, we meet at a park outside and, , we go for a walk, like five, 10 minutes walk, , around the nature, connecting with nature. And then we go. To some spot in the nature, we make a circle and, , here I can explain some parts which are, , the base of Zhineng Qigong. So we organize Qi field, so we connect to each other into the nature on the information level.
, then we add, , simple breathing exercises. which, , activate our, , stomach breathing, like basic nature, natural breathing of hans. And then, , we do three exercises for our spine. So when our mind is really calmed down, we connect ourselves to the nature. We start, , this exercises are, , , part of, , Master Liu Yuantong, , Qi core improvement, , some, , exercises from body and mind, and one is from, , Taiji ball in Zhineng qigong.
And after that, we tap along meridians, like we call this method or tapping or body, which is from body and mind, and we, , connected all these exercises in 40 to 50 minutes, , long, , exercise, and, , it's really well accepted.
And the people that participate, , are they always the same people or do you get different people?
Is it a once off for them or do they come on a regular basis?
So, . These, , exercises are free to anyone to join. There is nothing to be paid or any commission for us. It's, , because we are financed already. And, , the main, , visitors or, I mean, , people who are joining are females. , from 50 to 70 years old.
So, , but we have also, , children and younger and older people coming. And in the period of one, two months, the group is, , kind of organized and then more of the same people are coming, but some visitors, , cause we are publishing all the time through media that, , everybody's in white.
Very good. So what you're doing is you're using some basic qigong exercises, very powerful ones, as I've just heard, but you are kind of tuning people in by taking them into nature first, which obviously is a very good environment to do these exercises and to calm them down via simple breathing exercises.
So is that, is that in summary, what you're, what you are offering to the people?
Yes, I mean, our goal is to bring people out and to relax, you know, to have a one hour per day for themselves, disconnecting from crazy world around and just be more mindful.
Yes. And that is a good, that's a good point because I also would like, you know, our listeners to benefit from it.
Not everybody will be able to physically participate in, in what you offer there, but what is your advice to people, you know, how can they use what you've learned there and what is obviously working so well, how can they use it in their daily life? If they are living in Australia or the US or in Mexico or somewhere, how would you advise them, you know, to use your experiences here?
Interesting question. And, , I could say that, , first you need to know why you are doing this, you know, what is your intention of, , relaxing or what do you want to achieve? Right? And I, , I usually explain it like, , Imagine you have, , two types of brain. One is a red brain, which means that it's fully active and it's full of emotions like, , fear, , anger, , sadness, you know, all the daily challenges we have, you know, in this red brain is, is kind of vibrating inside and then we have a green brain, which means a relaxed.
, nervous system, , slow breathing and being in one of these two brains, it's a whole difference on body health. Right. So what we want to achieve is the green brain, the next state, which opens our mind and heart to connect to our daily work, to our family, to our life intention, , and, , Escaping from the daily routine and, , crazy schedule, , we offer this, , paths to this green brain and, , by joining exercises like this, or practicing zhineng qigong, , we are developing, , A new state of mind, which in the beginning, it's, it's not so usual.
So our brain starts to, , have a lot of distracting thoughts, but more and more you practice your mindset to get calmer, quieter, more transparent, and here you have a base for, for, for, , development, , better life. My
name is Leilah Cupido, and I'm the project manager of the Students Hub. Our team is constantly adding events, teachers, videos, and other resources to take your practice to the next level.
Improving the quality of your life, and the life of the people around you. We do this work for you, so please use it. Hunyuan Lingtong
And is it mainly the connection with nature that supports you in that or is it more the breathing exercises or what would you say is the key to, you know, to, to get on that path of moving towards the green brain?
Yeah, we, we actually, the, the type of breathing with nature , if we go behind this title is actually the basic theory of Dr Pang. So connecting with nature, exchange energy with nature and han bodies. So this is the connection that it's you often in living in the city, it's it's cut it, right? Yes. Or because our mind is too busy and breathing with nature means we go out, we connect to the nature.
We also had, , like when we stop before making, , before, , organizing the chief field organizing information for the practice. We put a simple task for participants that, , connect to the nature in your own way. So you can hug a tree, you can touch the earth, you can smell the flower. You have five minutes to explore, you know, just do it in your own way.
And after the practice, we do it again with the calm mind, mindfulness, And hugging the tree again or smelling the flower. It's a whole different experience. And, you know, people never practiced before. Now they have experienced the difference between calm state and full of, , energy. Mind, I mean, , like a busy mind, , experience, you know, before and after, and they see how they, , how they benefit from it.
And I can share,, , one of my, , participants said, , you know, , she's lady like, , 65 years old. And, , at the beginning she said, you know, I have, , trouble, , challenge with sleeping. You know, I never sleep the whole night. Happening for years, you know, and then after two months she came and she said, you know, after each Tuesday we have a practice, I sleep all night and then the whole week I again wake up, but only Tuesdays I sleep, you know, how is this possible?
And I said, you know, because you consciously relax your nervous system and the body response, response, mind, and you make a environment for good sleep. And you can do this every day if you want to sleep good.
And I think you're saying something very important here because I picked up the word mindfulness before and, , and making a conscious choice also.
So it is, I mean, a lot of us, you know, know what it means to walk through nature and we enjoy it and we feel much better afterwards, but very often our mind continues to be in the other state and you call it the red state or what is the color that you attributed it. Did you say red screen? Yes. So, so my mind still, you know, thinking about all everyday troubles and problems and so on and so on.
So I am in nature, but I forget to connect. Well, what you're inviting people here to do is now to either with their own way, , or, you know, with some guided exercises from you, but to actually, you know, Put this aside for a moment and actually make conscious efforts to connect with nature. And I think that makes all the difference because that is the time that you have where your, your mind can then calm down.
That is the time that you have, , to get a totally relaxed state. And, , and I think that is what most of us are forgetting. And I think this is what your training can actually teach every one of us here and remind us all of, , that it's not just about having a walk, but also, you know, Then shifting your mind from the everyday thoughts to actually appreciating nature, connecting with it and being one and being in touch with what's going on in nature.
I think that is, that seems to me, , you know, what you achieve through these trainings there, right?
Yes, maybe, , I can add that, , it's, it's a difference when we say, you know, I go to meditate and I will like, , , Zen meditation, you know, I will just empty my mind, you know, observe the thoughts, you know, this is one kind of meditation.
But what I really like in general, Qigong is that we, our awareness. Is always leading by some instructions, right? Visualization, which, , like pushes my mind to think just on one thing, right? So, from my busy mind, I start to, , imagine center of the head. You know, I start to go through all my physical body, then I start to aware one meter around me and back in and going out and connect heart to heart, mind to mind.
And all this process leading my awareness to back inside out, inside out, it calms my brain frequency. To the state of like we say, Qigong state, right? So to be a perfect calmness and, , using this, these tools, this method, it's actually, , the beneficial, right? And this is Dr. Pang ideas of how he, , serve this information, which is, , really, really, , amazing.
And would you suggest to.
To, I mean, when I practice, when I practice at home, I, I do what you say, but I don't connect to nature explicitly beforehand. And I was just having this thought that, you know, why don't I just open the window, you know, listen into maybe a bird's singing, or just, you know, look at some leaves at the tree or look at the cloud if there's no tree around.
So to do, to get this connection with nature set up. Before I actually start my, my, my exercise. So that could be an easy way of using some of the things that you've learned there with your practice of using it with your daily practice. And through that enhancing, , , the practice, , by making a conscious effort to connect with nature.
, is that something that, , you know, could be useful or how do you, how do you feel about that?
Yeah, actually, , what we used in Breathing with nature is, , forest, , bathing, , which comes from, , Japanese. Japan and they actually did a lot of scientific study of this how you connect with the sounds of nature and Just looking into the river Looking through the leaves, you know when you just look to the trees and you know, there is a lot of leaves and your Your eyes get like lost inside.
They they discovered that this , looking in this kind of nature since it relaxes the nerves of the eyes, which relaxes the whole brain, right? So it's, it's really powerful methods. Connecting with nature just by our, , , like hearing, , smelling, tasting, looking, right? It, it, it all have so many beneficial, , effects on our brain.
So I would, , definitely, , you know, when we are more conscious about, , you know, our, , life, you know, we can connect all these, these things all the time, you know, just, , Operating from the green brain, , more and more often.
Wonderful. Thank you very much, Andraz. Is there something else you would like to share from this program? Maybe how the people, , you know, reacted, whether some of them took on more of Zhineng Qigong, whether they got interested or, , You know, what is the reaction of the people? , do they find it easy?
, they find it difficult. How do you help people that find it difficult? , let's explore that a little more if you want.
Yes. S , the main effect, , because we did the like, , question or is before and after. Because this, , project is, , limited to six months per year, like a free classes, six months, because we are dependent on, , whether, so during the winter, we don't have it during smer, two months, we have a pause because a lot of people inside the site, we saw this during years.
, and, , People, , most of them, I mean, , we got the results that the quality of sleep was really improved. , and, , we see like from comments from the people, they really like it. They enjoy it. It's, , you know, , we had one question, if the environment, , notice change of you, right. Practicing and they said, yes.
Family members, friends, you know, they see that they are more calm. , they say they are more aware of their words, of their, , behavior. So we have, , a little impact, , on lives and societies. And, , I'm, I'm really glad that, , we are supported and, , this project is going on. And, , what I wanted to mention is that, , , if it's like a proposal, if anybody who's watching this have opportunity to, to reach to humanitarian organization.
, which has, , some members, , through humanitarian organization, you can apply on the tenders. And you give this mindfulness approach, , Chi Gong approach, , to, to apply for the standard and, , I'm glad to, to, to give you all information about the projects, how we do it, , what do you need, , and just, , do it in your own country because, , last year we achieved 4, 000 participants in 26, , locations.
And it's, we have some impact on, on the Slovenian country. We are working on it and,, , it's, it's idea who, who is, it's, it's good. And, , it would be nice to hear that.
That is a very, very, , great success. I mean, the impact you are making there with so many people. I've got no doubt that it has an impact on the society of your, your country. I mean, your country is not big. So, so that's, , it's obviously easier, , to make that impact in a smaller country, but it's wonderful.
And, , yeah. And, , I, my guess is that maybe the approach you took, you didn't say, okay, here's the qigong course, because a lot of people have never heard of qigong. You came up with a, with a concept that integrates, , elements that are familiar to people. Now people know what breathing means, what nature means, and it's easy for people to imagine how that can add value to their lives.
So you use these elements to make it easier for people to join you as well. I can imagine that people that, that, you know, read in the paper about breathing and nature. They say, well, that might be something for me that might not have said. So if you said we're doing exercise of genetic gong, right? , so I think that's a very clever approach, , to open up people to these ideas and then have them experience whatever the experience, , when they come to you and when they work with you and when they have this wonderful, this wonderful time in nature.
And, , and I think that is something, you know, if any of our listeners out there, you know, has the initiative and wants to create something for the society and the communities around them, that might be a very good inspiration to say, okay, let's come from an angle that is easier for people to relate to than something they might never have heard of.
And, , I guess that's also the reason why you had so many participants and now people are practicing Qi Gong exercises at home, , without ever having heard of it before and benefiting from it. And I think that is also ties nicely into the vision of Dr. Pang, , because for him it was, you know, to have as many people, , benefit from the experiences and what, what he, what he knows and his expertise as possible in the world.
And you're making a great contribution here.
Yes. Thanks a lot. I mean, the challenge we have is, , that there in Slovenia, we're actually just, , two certified, , genomic teachers. So working with valent, , volunteers, it's, , it's, it's a challenge because they just Do it in their free time. And if even if you offer, , education, you know, it's their free choice, you know,
So you, you need to be a motivator all the time to, to, to bring people together. And, but it's, , it's three years of the project I think we are doing, , good. And, , hope that we extend this and, , you know, get more and more people involved.
Okay. Wonderful. So thank you very much. And that was very insightful and maybe we have inspired someone somewhere in the world to take up your idea.
We will obviously have your contact details in the show notes. So if somebody feels like, wow, this could be something I would like to bring into my community, , then they are free to get in touch. And so, yeah, and I'll, , thank you again for this conversation. I wish you a lot of success with the ongoing project.
And also on a personal side, , Andraz has just become a father again, his second child. So there's lots of things happening in his private life and, , all the best for that as well.
Thank you. Thank you, Torsten for inviting me. And, , I would like to join again. Okay. Cool. Absolutely.
Thank you very much, Andraz.
Thank you. Goodbye.
We trust you enjoyed this conversation, and we invite you to subscribe to our podcast so we can stay in touch and notify you of future episodes. We will end today's episode with the eight verses meditation performed by Zhineng Qigong teacher Katrin Hendricks. Enjoy.
[Meditation]
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