The Path to Heal

The Path to Heal

International Women’s Day Reflection

by Zuzanna Grzywacz

Celebration of International Women’s Day was combined with a celebration of the big project that both Kathy and I had created after working on it for a long time – the KZ Qigong Project. We created a platform on which to build a community to help encourage women to transform any traumas and pain into a strength for self-healing and self-transformation.

8^th of March – International Women’s Day has a significant meaning for me. It is a celebration of being a woman – just as you are, with all your beauty and imperfections, scars, fears and any traumas. It is a celebration of your nature with all your life experience, celebration of love towards yourself and appreciation of your body. It is a day that reminds all us – women – that beauty begins within us. In my opinion, the expression of ‘being a woman‘ has so many definitions, as many as there are women on this planet. It is an individual thing – and that makes it so special and unique.

Qigong for HER program was designed to help with healing. It is a personal voluntary work of mine and Kathy’s to help women of all ages who are seeking to relieve physical and mental pain. I wanted to share with others the tools that have worked for me in my own self-healing process. Qigong and general soft body movement helped me to shake my body, which allowed me to shake my mind and change the perception of how I see myself.

There was a time in my life when I felt that I was not good enough, I complained a lot about myself, I was feeling a lot of regrets and I was hiding pain in many places inside my body. I was feeling that my body and mind were completely disconnected. I was dealing with many fears and shame for being vulnerable. I was chasing perfection every day, demanding more and more from myself, which ultimately, was making me more and more miserable and I wasn’t celebrating my successes in life anymore. I did not know where the joy and happiness was hiding within me…. I did not feel them anymore.

What I would like to say to my students is that your trauma can be your strength to become a greater human being – greater than you can even imagine. When you know more, you can now grow more. You know what you do not want and you study about what you would like to become. You start to create yourself again and again, becoming the best artist of your own life. Moreover – becoming the best version of yourself. My pain encouraged me to share my story with other people and to share my knowledge and experience on how to move the body to release pain – and through this movement, work on your ‘monkey mind’ (or noisy mind) that tricks you every day. My goal and dream is to help heal as many human beings as possible on this Earth. No matter how crazy it sounds, I will pursue my goal step by step every single day and I will not give up on my dream. I believe in the KZ Qigong project and all the wonderful participants of the Qigong for HER workshop, who assure me and give me hope and confidence that this community can bring healing miracles.

You start to create yourself again and again, becoming the best artist of your own life. Moreover – becoming the best version of yourself.

It is important to realize how many traumas we are carrying from childhood, teenage years and in adulthood. Every single day we face difficult situations in life that can push us to the ground and even make us sick. We carry those experiences and sicknesses sometimes our whole lives as an open – bleeding wound – all the time without an environment to heal. Can we forget it? Push it away? Where can we seek help? How do we start life again?

During the Qigong for HER workshop we had a time to go deeply inside ourselves and have a moment to reflect on where we are currently with our lives, how we feel, what we carry in our hearts and what we would like to work on. We did some self-care exercises – which gave us an idea of how to become a better friend to ourselves, how to cherish our own lives, how to be proud of ourselves, and ultimately, how to forgive ourselves. All the ladies during the workshop in Lisbon were given the challenge to do a one-week self-development journey with themselves that included daily positive affirmations and coming back to the roots of happiness within themselves – to do things/activities that made them feel really happy, as much as possible.

In addition, participants of the workshop learned how to connect and how to renew the connection with their own bodies through self-massage. Ladies had the opportunity to not only learn a little bit about Chinese medicine but also about the main points of meridians in the body and how to massage them in order to improve their health.

The main focus of the workshop was on learning 5 gentle exercises – Qigong for HER program – to help circulate the Qi (energy) in the body. It is worth mentioning that any stagnation of Qi in the body according to Traditional Chinese Medicine can lead to sickness and disharmony of your body and mind. Our program was inspired by Taiji Qigong and Taijiquan theory and it includes:

1. Cleansing Qigong – Cleanse your heart and mind.
2. Nourishing Qigong – Nourish your body and soul.
3. Rooting Qigong – Root yourself in the new way of thinking and being. 
4. Blossoming Qigong – Allow yourself to bloom and grow.
5. Protecting Qigong – Protect your personal space while discovering your boundaries.

In conclusion, my goal was not only to share our specially prepared Qigong for HER program, but also to share my experience and some knowledge about Qigong and Chinese medicine, as well as to give an idea how to heal traumas and pain, to transform the body and mind, and to inspire self-care and self-love in each of the women in the workshop.

I would also like to share an important message with all my readers:

I do not promise you that Qigong will fix you or your life in one single day or in one International Women’s Day workshop. However, I can give you a tool today that can be your beginning of a mind-body self-transformation. I can promise you that with persistent work on your self-development every day – shaking your body with the healing movements of Qigong and practicing meditation – YOU WILL HEAL. All of these practices will help you to calm your ‘monkey mind’, release tensions in your body, work on your fascia, open blockages in your joints, harmonize general body movement, encourage you to treat your body with love and attention, boost your immune system and release endorphins – hormones of happiness. Besides that, you have both mine and Kathy’s support through our KZ Qigong platform. There is nothing better than – the feeling of knowing – YOU ARE NOT ALONE. We support you and we go through this together with you.

The last thing that I would like you to remember is that it is “okay” to feel your trauma or pain, however, it is “not okay” to dive into every single day leaving it unsolved. Each event can be changed into positive action. It is always about what you choose – your intention, where you focus on and how self-aware you are living your life. Qigong for HER will not solve the problems immediately, but it alerts you and brings more awareness, shaking your body and calming your mind, so you can decide more clearly for yourself how to use your ‘super power’ for your own self-healing. Because each of us have it. Trust yourself. 

The great scholar and poet Rumi said:

The wound is the place where the light enters you.

Let the healing Qi be with you and Be Healthy.

RISE UP Girl! ??

Zuza