She Tried Qigong—And It Quietly Shifted Everything (with Sue Crites)

In this episode, Tracy is joined by Sue Crites, a certified Spring Forest Qigong instructor and master healer, to discuss the transformative power of Qigong. Sue shares her personal journey of discovering Qigong, which began with pain and frustration and led to profound emotional and physical healing. They delve into the basics of Qigong, its benefits, and how it differs from practices like Tai Chi. Sue also guides listeners through a short, calming Qigong exercise and discusses the holistic approach of Qigong to harmonize with nature's rhythms. The conversation wraps up with insights on the importance of gratitude and upcoming retreats Sue will be hosting.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:55 Sue's Journey to Qigong

07:05 Discovering the Benefits of Qigong

14:55 Understanding Qigong

28:30 Practical Qigong Exercise

33:38 Speed Round and Fun Questions

39:20 Upcoming Events and Conclusion

You can connect with Sue Crites and explore her Qigong offerings by visiting suecrites.ca or following her on Instagram (@suecritesqigong).

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Transcript

She Tried Qigong—And It Quietly Shifted Everything (with Sue Crites)

[00:00:00] 

You have the power to heal yourself from the inside out. That quote is straight from my next guest website, and I couldn't think of a better way to kick off our conversation today. You'll actually hear me talk a lot about how you have the power within many times as we go on this journey together to rediscover just how beautiful life truly is.

But I'm so excited to share one of my latest beautiful fixes. It's a practice that taps into your life force energy, helping you restore balance and reconnect with yourself. Today, I'm bringing my friend Sue Crites on to [00:01:00] share how Qigong can transform your life. Sue is a certified Spring Forest Qigong instructor and master healer based in Northern Alberta, Canada.

From her peaceful forest home, as well as through virtual sessions and immersive retreats. Sue works with clients worldwide to help them reconnect with their true selves. She empowers others through Qigong and holistic wellness practices, guiding them toward greater peace, balance, and personal growth.

Whether through personalized healing sessions, mentorship, or Qigong training, Sue helps people unlock their potential and nurture lasting transformation. Welcome, Sue. Thank you, Tracy. It's so nice to be here with you today. It is. It's so good to see you. It's, I think it's been like less than a month since the last time I saw you.

It feels like a while. It feels like a while. But Sue, I'm going to jump right in. I want these episodes to be, they're, they're fixes. [00:02:00] They're quick, you know, fixes. And so let's get right to it. I'm curious. What was your moment when you realized that life needed to be different. Uh, well, um, it's a little bit of a story if that's okay.

And it really is, you know, really is how, how I came to Qigong, this story, and I'll, I'll share it with you. I'll try and be succinct, but I was around 2007, I have two kids and at that time they were quite young and I had been traveling back and forth to Toronto. I was being trained by a naturopathic doctor there in a modality and he recommended that I use Qigong to help me with my clients at that time.

And he gave me like, it was like a dusty VHS cassette and I played it. So I'm really dating [00:03:00] myself here, but I played it and you know, it was only in Chinese and it was super boring and I just thought, okay, well. I shelved it and just carried on and thought, you know, Qigong's not really for me. And then, um, you know, fast forward again, um, my, my kids were still young, but maybe about four or five years later, I was coaching my daughter's gymnastics team.

And I got carried away one night with a hula hoop, because can you believe that you can forget how to hula hoop over time? Like, it's not like riding a bike. And I just persisted all night and I couldn't get it. Excuse me. And I ended up getting, um, bursitis in my hip, like an inflammation in my hip from repetitively trying to hula hoop.

And if you know, I know, right, it's crazy. And if you know anything about bursitis, it's like an inflammation that doesn't go away. Like I don't have to keep hula hooping to experience the pain. The pain was [00:04:00] in everything I did that involved my hip. So, you know, walking, um, You know, and again, as I said, I had these, these two little kids and, uh, getting down on the floor hurt, going up the stairs, hurt, um, all, everything hurt.

Sue, I don't mean to interrupt you, but isn't it amazing how things that you did effortlessly as a little girl, as you start to age, that's, um, anyway, I'm sorry, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, no, totally. And I was in my early forties in that time and I was quite active. Like I've always been very active. So I was really bumping up again against a bunch of frustration because of this pain.

And it's not something I'd ever had before. And, you know, I did what we all do. Like I went to the doctor and the chiropractor and the massage that like, I tried everything to clear it and it just wouldn't go away. And, you know, it was kind of like one of those things that was going on in the background, you know, [00:05:00] 24 hours a day, like, you know, I'm, I'm enjoying a time with one of my kids or we're going for a walk and in the background.

It's like this pain is always there, you know, like those toy monkeys that clang the symbols like lined up or that's, it felt like that was kind of going on in the background all the time. And I was really frustrated. I also, um, you know, was running my business at the time I was. A nutritional consultant at that time.

So I had a private practice and like I had these two young kids and my son was also, um, not well as a, as a little, as a baby and a young child, he was sick all the time. He was underweight and he was, this is kind of another whole story that I won't go into, but he was like diagnosed with failure to thrive.

So, you know, as a mom hearing that diagnosis, that your kid isn't thriving, [00:06:00] There was, I had all this sort of angst around that too, like constant worry and, you know, it really wasn't until one night we were having supper and, you know, my son, he just would never eat. He didn't like to eat. And I just, one night I just lost it.

And I, I said, please eat your damn supper. And I slammed the fork down on my plate. I made this. Big clatter and my whole family like my husband and my two kids everyone just stopped And we all just got quiet and everyone looked at me and I just right then I knew something had to change like I had to I had to Fix this, but I also needed to learn how to manage what I was feeling with both the stress and worry of my son, you know, my business, being a mom, but this pain and [00:07:00] then, you know, I just got thinking about what else might help me.

And I remembered five years before this naturopath, he also said that qigong is good for pain. So I remember that, or I think someone reminded me of that at that time. And I, again, I didn't like that. Um, practice that he shared with me. So I just went on YouTube and I just searched Qigong. And I found a video.

It turns out it was from the teacher who I ended up learning from. But just a video on YouTube and I just started doing it. In my kitchen and I didn't do it every day. I wasn't, you know, I was also a research scientist before that. So I feel like I was kind of skeptical. Um, but I, I had reached a peak. I felt that I had to take responsibility and figure out a way to calm down, um, my emotions, but also the pain.

So [00:08:00] I just started doing it and I started to notice a few things like I noticed, um, I felt good while I was doing it. So like in the moment, I, it felt peaceful. So maybe it was only 10 minutes, but it was like 10 minutes where I was like, Hi, I felt like I was kind of letting go during during that 10 minutes.

And then I started to notice these other things. And again, I didn't do it every day. I wasn't super consistent. But I noticed my kids didn't fight as much. I noticed my husband was nicer. I noticed my little farmhouse was more spacious. And like it seemed bigger. And then everywhere I went in nature, I noticed like more beauty, more color, like more vibrancy.

So, it was really [00:09:00] interesting, um, to notice these positive changes happening, but yet I hadn't really put it all together yet, but I liked it. Like, whatever was going on, I, I was like, what, what is this? And I, I just decided, okay, if it is the Qigong, I want to learn more, having a science mind. So, I sent away at that time for a home study kit.

It was like a, you know, there was a, it was like a DVD and a manual. And so it had like a few more movements that they didn't have on YouTube. So again, I just thought, okay, well. I'm noticing that things are seeming better. I'm going to just try this set of exercises and see. And you know, I, same sort of thing, like I felt better and better and more expansive.

Like I had more space in my life. And [00:10:00] I had more patience, and I was calmer, but you know what? I completely forgot about my hip. Like that, I don't even remember when that went away. It just did. And the other thing though, when I look back on it, I didn't realize that I had some depression. I didn't realize that I had anxiety, and that I was an over thinker, like constantly in worry mode.

And you know, I think That's pretty normal for moms in general. But what I didn't know was how it felt not to be that way until I had been practicing this practice. And it was, it was really so interesting to notice that my internal set point moved from Um, anxiousness and, and worry intention to more peace and gratitude, like gratitude really [00:11:00] started to bubble up within me.

And I felt so grateful for the things that I, that I have, or that I did have then. And also, um, Looking more at the things that were working well for me, instead of the things that weren't working well. So again, you know, gratitude tends to do that, um, for you, but what I noticed is I wasn't consciously trying to do any of this.

This practice just did it. It's like it seeped into all these areas of my life, and I, I really didn't expect it, and I didn't know I even needed these other areas of my life, um, needed any support there. I just thought I need to clear this hip pain. But other things like my, I went through menopause without it.

an issue. I started sleeping better. I had chronic sinusitis at night. I have a lot. I had a lot of allergies that all went away. [00:12:00] Um, I just learned to relax about life more. So I, you know, I had a nutrition practice at that time. And I would see people in person and subscribe, you know, remedies and supplements and lifestyle changes and, you know, exercise and, and, you know, they would do that, but they'd have to take quite a, like, it would be costly because I'd put them on homeopathic things and vitamins and, um, they would feel better, but sometimes it would take them.

You know, like they'd feel better right away, but maybe a year to make big changes in their life. Or so I started just sharing a movement or two with some of the clients that I knew well, and I thought they might be open to, to trying it. So they'd come back in a week or two and they had like this sparkle in their eye that that wasn't there before.

And they started like coming to the big change right away. Like, so usually it's. [00:13:00] a relationship, or a job, or a house, or something that needs to change in our lives. We often get these, you know, sort of like taps on the shoulder, which are like symptoms. And they would sort of come to the big kind of solution so much faster.

They didn't need to see me for half as long. They were making the changes on their own. So that really inspired me, their feedback too, so that I'm like, hey, it's not just me, like, this is working for them too, and I just was so inspired by that, and I, I just wanted to learn more, and I dove right in and studied it and started to teach it.

Ooh. I had no idea. There is so much more. There's so much to unpack it. We're talking for four hours at this point that that was truly a mate. First of all, I just relate it to so many points in your story. I mean, the overwhelm that you can start feeling from life in general, add [00:14:00] on being a mom, then add on having a child that is, you know, um, that, that diagnosis failure to thrive.

Was that what it is? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, wow. Just, I, I, you know, I have four sons and three of them had life threatening allergies. And so their childhoods were very, I developed like a, a fear of food knowing that something that you know, could, it's supposed to be nutritious, could, could kill my, one of my sons if I just simply gave them the wrong thing.

So it's, it's just not an easy journey, but so I could relate to your whole story. I had no idea. It's not where I thought you were going to go with Qigong. I thought you were going to say it relieved my back pain. And that would have been amazing. The fact that things started showing up in your life, improvements outside of yourself with your husband and your relationship and your children and your home and being able to see the world differently.

I mean, so, okay. So for those that are maybe just hearing about Qigong for the first [00:15:00] time, can you, can you, um, unpack it for us a little bit? Like what, what is it? What, What is it? Yeah. Yeah. Sure. So it is an ancient practice that started in China over 5, 000 years ago. And qi is, um, like our life force energy or our vitality.

And gong is like to work or to cultivate. And so when we put those two words together, it's like we're We're moving or working with our life force. And so I didn't really know what that meant either, but, um, I didn't need to know actually to, and that was better for me as this sort of overthinker person to just, you know, just do it and not analyze it.

But then my mind does. I don't want to research. So that is when I started studying it. But so really what we're doing is we're moving this energy through our bodies. When we slow down, we [00:16:00] use our focus, our breath, slow, gentle movements, and I'm holding certain postures. And what that's doing is it's, you know, we have, there's, there's chi all around us as life force.

And so when we, we slow down and we breathe and we use some visualization techniques, Like we're able to activate our own internal Qi, which is like in our bellies. We have an energy center there. It's called our lower Dantian, not really important, but it's kind of like we have like a cauldron of our innate elixir or our innate medicine.

And when we do these movements that have been, you know, passed down forever, it's like we start a, we start a little fire. underneath that cauldron and it starts to warm up and it starts to steam and heat up and then this this energy starts to rise and gets activated and starts to move through [00:17:00] our bodies and we have these energy channels called meridians where it moves through so maybe if you've gone to acupuncture Uh, that is actually part of what, what we're doing is activating the chi in these areas.

So it's sort of like acupuncture without the needles, but it goes deeper than that. It affects, you know, our core being and our core essence, because what was happening to me is my heart was starting to open. So I was activating more love. And you know, when you do that. It takes some time, but, but you start to have more compassion for yourself, as well as for others, you start to have more kindness for yourself, and also more forgiveness for yourself, and then for others as well.

But I, when nothing external changed. [00:18:00] And I was experiencing all these other changes. It really reinforced to me that it was me that was changing from the inside. And so a, my energy was moving better throughout my body, my mind, my spirit, but also I was moving better. Like, you know, that resulted in like physical changes, but it's the emotional changes that.

That just blew me away. I just did not expect that at all. And understanding that this chi, then it actually moves beyond us. And we, we sort of have these chi fields around us and, you know, sometimes there's just people that feel good to be around or maybe you're even sitting on a plane or a bus and you feel kind of good next to someone sometimes and maybe not good next to someone sometimes.

But that's kind of like their energy, [00:19:00] right? Like you, you can perceive their energy. When you practice Qigong, you get even more in tune with other people's energy. But the premise that I'll just kind of summarize what it is is the other thing is it's it's based on Um, which I guess is really what hit home for me.

It's also based on what's happening in nature. So we have seasonal cycles and these seasons are what these ancient masters, masters studied and they looked at, you know, the sun and the sun angle and the crops and the trees and the plants and the birds and felt the earth and notice the planets and studied and meditated their bodies and what they.

learned was that we are not separate from nature. In fact, we are an integral component of nature. And what's happening in nature is also happening within us. We have all the elements within us. [00:20:00] So each of our, you know, we have like five sort of main core organs. They're related to what we see outside right now.

These organs are, um, supported when we live in alignment or in accordance with the laws of nature. So it's like we can't swim upstream. It's learning how to be more in flow and in harmony with the world around us. And that in turn supports our, our physical form, but also our emotional and spiritual form.

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It's, it's just so also beautiful. I mean, we are truly energetic beings, and I love that we're waking up to that and realizing that it's this whole other sense in our body, um, it's, it's real. And like you said, oftentimes you enter a room and before someone even speaks, our energy is already communicating with each other.

 I, I was fortunate to take a session from you. Um, and I, I didn't know. I didn't know too much about it. I didn't exactly know what we were doing, but I loved it. It was very meditative to me. It was very relaxing. And we were outdoors, which just adds a whole nother element to it.

 I just actually did an episode on forest therapy with Karen Richter. [00:22:00] And it was that same thing. It's so, it's such a natural healing process to be outdoors. But, but in your session, I just felt very relaxed. Um, very present. You know, my mind wasn't racing because I'm also over thinker.

 I, I wonder how much you know about Tai Chi and are they cousins or are they like completely different? And my other question was around some of the movements reminded me of some of the movements I do when I'm trying to do, um, exercises to help with lymphatic drainage.

My son is a senior in, college getting his nursing degree and he was telling me, mom, your lymphatic system. does not move the way the body circulates your blood. There is no pump like the heart. And I thought, Oh, you're just the idea of something becoming stagnant. So I've been obsessed with trying to jump.

I've got trampolines. I've got the vibration plate. And some of the, some of the movements you did, it felt very similar. So. Yeah, sure. Um, so the Tai Chi, Qi Gong is sort of like the [00:23:00] grandmother of, of Tai Chi. So Tai Chi is more designed. It's actually like a martial art training. So you're doing these slow movements, but it is the lineage comes from preparing to be in martial arts.

So it is great. Tai Chi has great health benefits, but it doesn't have the same self healing benefits that Tai Chi has. Chigong does and I will just preface all that by saying there's thousands of different forms of Chigong and The form that I teach and practice is called spring forest Chigong. It is a medical form That means it's healing, self healing, and it's also a meditative form, which means it's very gentle, accessible, and slow moving.

And, I think, for some people, like, I used to be, like, a boot camper. And, you know, I'm in my, like, late fifties now, and so going to boot camp, you know, was very We'd say young, [00:24:00] like you're, you know, lifting weights and running and doing pushups. And, and there just came a time in my life where I was like, that is just a lot for me, not really enjoying it.

And so coming into Qigong, I mean, you don't get the same sort of cardio as you would from something like that, but you are getting a lot of strengthening and toning of your muscles. The other thing that I like is it's so accessible by people that maybe can't do the more rigorous forms of exercise or yoga, for example, because you could do it lying down.

You can do it seated. You can do it standing. Yeah. Okay. Um, and then the other, um, Part you talked about was the some of the cupping and and things that we do and how that's similar so the idea with the cupping we do a lot of cupping and tapping when we open and when we close and it's very similar to Like as you worded it lymphatic drainage [00:25:00] But with a different purpose or intention is we're stimulating our meridians.

So we're stimulating those energy channels and it's like we're waking up the body. And so when we do that, and then we go into our practice of moving or breathing, we're activating this chi that's now flowing through all these sort of channels within us. So it's like, we're, it's like we're sending energy to places where maybe it hadn't been blowing before. How long is a practice? If someone's interested in looking into this a little bit, um, in general, does it, is it 30 minutes or does it depend? Yeah, you know, I'm sorry, my dog keeps wanting in and out of this door. I've got, we have no water today in our house. We live on a farm and the, and the well's not working.

So there's like my husband is trying to, so it's a little noisy here, so I'm sorry. No worries. We are a pet friendly podcast though. Okay. Um, my dog is just trying to decide where she should be. [00:26:00] Um, so this is another great question is that, you know, I, I shared with you my story, like I just started with five or 10 minutes.

Okay. That's a great place to start. If you only have five or 10 minutes, you can still take the time to connect to yourself in this really profound and deep way that resets your nervous system. Um, as you get more. Uh, into it, and if you want to get more results or faster results, the longer practice is always better, but you know, generally, um, between 10 and 30 minutes a day is great, and we have this sort of good, better, best philosophy that my teacher, um, taught me.

So, um, some days you're good, might not be the best as other days, but just your intention of taking a couple minutes for yourself. It's great. So there's really no wrong. It's kind of like this good, better, best philosophy. And I [00:27:00] think if we start to say, like just as, as, as a healing practitioner that you need an hour a day, you need to do this every day of the week for an hour a day, we're setting people up to fail.

It that is people who are overwhelmed don't need to hear that. But if you said, well, do you have five minutes? Do you have 10 minutes, you know, maybe three times a week, let's just start there. And that's really a perfect, a perfect place to start. And you will notice the benefits just with that small amount of practice.

And that's what I was going to ask. How soon can you expect to fill benefits? But I feel like I already know the answer because I just from doing that one session with you, um, I immediately felt. Just relaxed and very present and, um, you know, and I think that's true for most things in life. So I know for me, I'm definitely recovering perfectionist and that's one thing that is opening up my world again.

It had gotten so small because when you're a perfectionist, it's not that you do everything perfect. It's, it, there's an underlying fear to it. [00:28:00] A fear of failure, a fear of getting it wrong, a fear of being judged. And I'm putting that all to the side and doing it messy. And for me working out, it's hard for me to be consistent.

But if I can say, Tracy, one minute, you don't have one minute versus you have to do it for an hour and you have to, you know, everything just to do something. Yeah, it's getting there, right? It's just getting there. Like we say, getting to the mat or getting to the cushion or getting to the gym. And once you're there, it's easier to stay.

Yes. Yes. So, Sue, do you also do breath work? So that's a part of Qigong is the breath. And like, I don't know what your time is like, but do we have time for a short little exercise? Yes. Okay. Just like three minutes. Okay. So, and whoever's listening, let's just do this with us. Um, So just, just relax and the, and the thing with Qigong is we have a bit of a posture.

So you want your spine straight. So even if you're lying down, you can just [00:29:00] think about your spine being straight and we just draw the chin in a little. So it's like we have this straight line that goes right up the spine. And you can have your palms, um, facing up on your lap, unless you have high blood pressure, then put them down.

And now just drop your shoulders and you can close your eyes and put a gentle smile on your face. So smile stands for start my internal love engine. So we automatically can feel that smile, like our heart is smiling and just breathing in and out of your nose.

Let's take a few deeper breaths. into the belly.

And I'd like you to visualize, pretend, or imagine that you have a [00:30:00] soft light shining in behind your belly button.

Just breathing as you imagine this soft, misty light shining there. And now just imagine or visualize or pretend that you're breathing in through your skin like all the pores in your skin are inhaling this beautiful universal energy and it moves through your skin through all your cells and organs and collects with that light that's shining in behind your navel.

And then exhaling, just letting go of what you don't need and see it shooting out of your skin like mist or smoke and going back to the ends of the [00:31:00] universe. And so just focusing on this type of breathing this way in and out of the skin for a few breaths on your own.

And then I have one more fun little step. If you just want to bring your hands in front of you, like you're holding a ball. And your palms are just facing one another. And just bring them a little closer together and a little farther apart. And just notice if you can feel like a little bit of energy between your hands, like maybe [00:32:00] there's a bit of resistance or like a magnet feeling.

So that's like any tingling in your hands. That's the chi. That's your activating now. And you can just relax your hands down and just take another deep breath into the belly. And exhale, and we kind of ground ourselves by just opening the eyes and rubbing the hands together, palm to palm, getting a little bit of heat.

And then you can just massage your face in this heart shaped way, so the fingers go up the ridge of the nose, palms over the eyes, and then fingers parting like curtains, meeting along the jawline at the chin about three times.

Yeah, how did that feel? Oh, so it's like a warm [00:33:00] hug. It's, it was just perfect because it was so relaxing. And speaking of, you know, the whole recovering perfectionist thing, I don't know if you heard the ding go off. I thought I had my notifications turned off, but it happened and then my cat came up and meowed.

But you know what? It was all good. It was all good. Cause that's beautiful. And that was three minutes. Yeah, I mean, just that, like just that little bit of connection really can help, can help you and there's momentum when we do it, you know, every day or every few days, but we do start to build a momentum with it.

Well, just for fun, I'm going to take us from total Zen to speed round. I'd like to play a little game, a little fun game, which I call Beautiful Fake Speed Round. And all you have to do is just answer with whatever comes to mind. You ready? Okay. Yeah. All right. Sue, what makes you [00:34:00] come alive? What makes me come alive?

Um, well, being in nature makes me come and I can't come alive for sure. Um, but also, uh, what really lights me up is when someone makes some small change in their life and they notice the results. Like, I just love it when someone comes to class and they're like, you wouldn't believe what I did this week.

And then this happened and I just get charged right up by that. So that's a big one for me. Love it. Favorite song. Oh, favorite song. I, I can't say I have a favorites. I love music. Um, right now I'm listening to Rising Appalachia a lot. I don't know if you know them, but they're great. Yeah. Check them out.

Really beautiful music. Um, I like Coldplay. Um, yeah, I don't have a favorite song. Sorry. Pass. I get it. It's a hard [00:35:00] one. Favorite, favorite book. Oh, the favorite book. Well, that's easy. That's the Tao Te Ching. So that's the written by Lao Tzu. And that's sort of, again, a master that was from ancient China that did a lot of this, um, work that we culminate into Qigong today.

I'll have, I've heard of it. I will have to definitely read it. Um, favorite movie. Favorite movie. Oh, man, that's a hard one. I don't have a favorite movie. I like anything that's feel good and positive. That's it for me. I Yeah, got it. Favorite quote or affirmation? Oh, favorite quote is a it's by Lao Tzu. And it's the soft overcomes the hard.

Oh, favorite place to reset or recharge or just the most beautiful place in the world to you. Um, well, my forest right outside my [00:36:00] door and Baja, I love Baja, the Sea of Cortez and the beautiful beach there and the sunrises. They feed my soul. What's your guilty pleasure? Guilty pleasure. Um, maybe like. binge watching something on Netflix.

I always feel guilty when I do it, but it's fun. That's, that is absolutely mine. Any, any other beautiful fixes that you'd like to share with us today? Um, you know, I think just appreciating ourselves and appreciating nature and finding gratitude for both those things, I think that creates this energy of beauty and positivity and appreciation, which then begets more beauty and positivity and appreciation.

I agree. I would say on my journey, gratitude was the start. [00:37:00] When I really started appreciating everything, I mean the little things, not the big huge cars and homes, but the little tiny things, appreciation for running water in my home, you know, uh, especially today. Cause I don't have it. Exactly. Yeah. So gratitude is a huge, huge practice.

Well, I really agree. And you know, it's so funny because I think it's so easy to say that. But once you do it, you start to feel it. And then there's a different vibration to that. It really is heart opening. And I found in my journey also to have gratitude for my challenges. Um, cause they really are stepping stones.

They teach me so much about who I am and they help us get on the right path. So like even my, you know, my son being sick, I wouldn't be here in this practice today if it weren't for him and what he went through. [00:38:00] So I think we can, you know, have gratitude for all of it, but sometimes it takes a bit of space to get there.

That is beautiful. That is it's absolutely even think about your sore back. It led you to all of this led you to where you are today. I learned I don't remember who said it, but don't label stop labeling things as good or bad, because sometimes what you think is bad, there's a message there for you.

There's a reason why you're going through it, you're going to come out the other end even stronger. So just Stop labeling things, you know. Well, I shared this with my class the other day that my teacher says, um, exactly what you just said, but it's like, you know, well, look at a glass of milk. Is a glass of milk good or bad?

Well, it depends. Like if you're lactose intolerant, a glass of milk is, is bad. If you know, if you're someone that loves milk, a glass of milk is good. So it, a glass of milk isn't good or bad. It just is. It's our perception. of whether or not it's good or bad. Is that what, you know, so I think that comes back again to [00:39:00] the seeing things in a, with a gratitude, uh, lens on really helps us see that perspective as well.

So true. And that can be attributed to anything life. It's, it's all in your perception of it, how you perceive it. Well, Sue, thank you so much for sharing this beautiful fix with us today. Um, I just was wondering if you could share, like, how can people connect with you? What, and what exciting things do you have coming up in 2025 that they should be aware of?

Sure. Um, well, I have a weekly practice group, it's a Qigong community that I started in 2017, and we meet every Tuesday and we have a Beautiful community where we share what's going on in our lives and we practice Qigong together and I lead a meditation. And so that is my passion and my family. So I have that and I, you can find me on Instagram at Sue Krites Qigong.

I'm also on Facebook and I have, [00:40:00] I teach workshops regularly, but I do have two retreats coming up in the Baja in 2025. One is called Nature's Rhythms and that is going to be in March and it's for all levels. It's going to be beautiful. We practice Qigong as the sun is rising out of the Sea of Cortez and that has a lot of fun and joy and high vibe experience.

Uh, with it. So that is happening in March. And then you said you have a second one? I do have another one in April, also in the Baja. And it's, it's a level three immersion. So I teach Qigong for certification. So if people who have taken level one and two, they can come to this level three immersion that's at this beautiful, um, Kasatara Retreat Centre that I'm so excited about.

Wonderful. Well, please check it out. That is my hope that that people today listening and we'll just find out a little bit more about Qigong and possibly give it a try. I also [00:41:00] have tons of videos on YouTube, so you can try it all for free there. Wonderful. All right. Well, we'll include links in the show notes.

Um, but I just want to thank you. Thank you for spending this time with us. Thank you so much, Tracy. It's really lovely to connect with you. Thank you.