I've been through a lot during the past three years. The onset of atrial fibrillation, three procedures to try to fix it, and the horrible side-effect, which was the closing of my left pulmonary veins.

No blood is going to my left lung. No blood is being oxygenated by the left lung because no blood can go from my left lung to the heart.

The same procedure that caused my pulmonary veins to shut down also paralyzed my right diaphragm. So I'm living -- and doing kung-fu -- with 2/3 of one lung.

It can be a challenge.

For over a week at Cleveland Clinic in late 2009, I was on a ventilator. The photo above is from that time. I nearly died twice. My weight dropped from 206 pounds to 157. I lost a lot of muscle. I looked like a concentration camp victim. I was determined to recover and to do kung-fu again -- tai chi, hsing-i and bagua. It has been a struggle. Even though I'll never be able to use my left lung, and the right diaphragm is still paralyzed, I'm determined to continue my progress in the internal arts.

So imagine my reaction when well-intentioned but very misguided people send me emails telling me that the reason I developed heart and lung issues is because I was doing qigong wrong.

Last fall, I went to Mayo Clinic for a second opinion. Doctors were shocked that I was in the latest issue of Kung Fu Magazine. They were stunned that I was still teaching and practicing taiji, xingyi and bagua. One of their top cardiologists stopped when I cracked a joke and said, "I find it amazing that you have a sense of humor after what you've been through."

He also told me that I was alive because of the physical condition I was in when the crap hit the fan. The photo below is from last year -- 2010 -- practicing fighting applications for Hsing-I's Dragon form with Chris Miller.

So let's get real here, and let's move beyond the fantasy that exists in the minds of so many chi kung practitioners.

Every now and then, we see in the news that a particular person is the oldest person in the world. In fact, here is a Wikipedia article that lists some of the oldest people in the world.

I don't see any qigong masters on this list. Do you? They are typically little old women who probably haven't exercised in 40 years and wouldn't know what qigong is.

Can you name a chi kung master who was born before 1911 and is still alive? I can't. So why are they not still here, thriving and immortal?

Because chi kung is a way of managing stress. It's a way to find mental balance and remain centered in a hectic world. It has some health benefits due to its stress-management aspects, but you can still get cancer, you can still get MS, and yes, you can still get atrial fibrillation, even if you practice qigong. It doesn't lower your cholesterol and it doesn't heal congenital defects.

In the email I received yesterday, this well-intentioned but misguided man told me that the qigong that he practices would have prevented my illness, and obviously, the tai chi that I practice is too "yang," or hard. It was a slap at Chen tai chi, I suppose.

I replied to him that he was a good person, but he was missing the point.

After everything I've been through, I'm still practicing and teaching. Doesn't that mean that my chi is strong, and perhaps I've been doing all the right things?

I didn't get a response.

Qigong is like religion in many ways for a lot of people. If you don't believe what I do, you'll go to Hell. If you don't practice the qigong I practice, you can't be healthy.

Let's get real. All chi masters who were born more than 90 or 100 years ago are dead now. Just like everyone else.

And the oldest person in the world is probably a little old lady in a nursing home in France. You can look it up.

I received an interesting question today in an email. Here it is:

I was watching your training video on the yi jun jin and have some questions for you. Hopefully you can help me out here. When I was taught the the yi jun jin as a stationary palm set( pretty much identical to movements you teach)  I was told to use actual physical tension in the movements. Teacher said that it would build muscle size and endurance, and that if the muscle growth was too much to then do the movements without the physical tension. My Pai lum teacher was completely against weights and the Pai lum version of the yi jun jin ( the Koon Lun Monks form) had no real phsyical tension as well. But my northern shaolin teacher said the monks trained the muscles very hard and as such we should lift weights and train the yi jun jin with physical tension as well. I have researched both ways, and have found no difinitive answer. I would appreciate your thoughts on this if you have the time to answer.

It's true that Shaolin monks often trained Qigong with muscular tension. A friend of mine who teaches Shaolin often teaches the exercises with muscular tension -- the theory being that when you finally relax, chi will flow better. I have a lot of respect for Shaolin kung-fu and its various styles. I have a lot of respect for Shaolin monks. I differ with the idea of muscular tension in chi kung.

Since I don't believe that chi is a scientific reality, I don't think we need to worry much about holding tension so that chi will flow better when we relax.

On the contrary, I believe the biggest benefit of qigong is to teach you to relax, center yourself, and remain calm in any situation, particularly in situations that normally cause people to tense up or panic -- whether it's an argument with your spouse or a sudden burst of anger from your boss.

It's hard to remain calm and centered when you're tensing your muscles, so for that one reason, I believe doing chi kung with muscular tension is not the way to go.

The primary goal of chi kung is to center yourself -- relaxing and calming every muscle in your body as you learn to also center your posture and your stance. You detach and turn your mind inward. You keep part of your mind on your Dan T'ien.

After you learn to do this, your goal is to apply that same detached mind and relaxed, calm, centered state when you face a crisis or a tense situation -- whether someone cuts you off on the highway or someone insults you in school. You keep part of your mind on your Dan T'ien (your "center") as you remain calm. This is what it means to "remain centered."

When you learn to manage your stress your body functions more efficiently, hour health improves, and you can focus on problems much better than when you are not centered and calm. Stress is a killer. Qigong helps you ease stress. Why would you want your muscles to be stressed while doing it?

An interesting thing about qigong -- especially postures such as standing stake, the Hsing-I San Ti stance, Bagua's Dragon stance, and some of the moving exercises -- they strengthen the leg muscles. So you can still relax and build muscle if you do many of the moving exercises (or standing stake).

I also believe strongly in being as healthy and strong as you can be, and that requires cross training -- weight training, plyometrics, cardio (running, jumping rope, etc.). One sport or exercise does NOT and never will do everything for your body that you need.

But the primary goal of Qigong is NOT to build strength. The primary goal is to learn to maintain your balance and your center -- physically and mentally -- at all times. You don't need muscular tension to do that.  

In recent years, it is said that the Chinese government represses members of the Falun Gong cult. 

Some people like to claim that the Falun Gong has something to do with tai chi.

Sima Nan is an investigator who tried for years to find a real chi master in China. As an investigative reporter, he was beaten severely by the followers of some masters who turned out to be frauds. In fact, Sima Nan (who is Chinese) never found a real chi master.

Hmmmm, so what does that tell you? 

When I first heard about how horribly the Chinese government was treating the Falun Gong followers, I did some research. The Falun Gong believe there is an eye in the sky and if you meditate long enough, you can see anything that happens around the world.

Okee dokee, then. As Woody Allen said, "Excuse me, but I'm needed back on the planet Earth."

Here is an interview with Sima Nan about the Falun Gong. It sheds a little light about the founder. There are reports that hundreds of Falun Gong believers have died as a result of government action. That, of course, would be very unfortunate. But our own government was investigating the Jim Jones cult when that tragedy happened, and a congressman was shot to death at Jonestown when the mass suicide happened. Should the "spiritual" beliefs of people be subject to investigation, or should they be left alone to be taken advantage of by folks like Jim Jones and the founder of the Falun Gong? 

It's an interesting controversy, but it has nothing to do with tai chi or chi kung. The Falun Gong is a cult. 

  I finished an e-book this week to go with the newly revised and expanded Chi Kung (Qigong) DVD.

The e-book includes 51 pages and 136 photos covering every exercise from the DVD in detail. People who buy the DVD will get a free copy in a reply email. It's the perfect reference when you don't have the DVD. Just print it out and take it with you.

The new DVD includes three 5-minute routines for people with little time; two 10-minute routines; the 8 Pieces of Brocade, and all 36 exercises in the Yi Jing Ching, including the Palm Set, the Fist Set and the Moving Set.

I've been practicing these exercises since 1987 and can testify to the benefits -- primarily teaching the mind and body to remain centered, especially in tense situations at work, at home, or out in the world.

The key to Chi Kung is to practice the exercises daily, then recapture the same centered feeling when you run into a situation that would normally cause you to react with stress, anger, fear, etc.

Chi Kung isn't magic or mystical -- it's simply a matter of learning to ease and manage stress. When you can do that at will, you will find that many things improve, including health, relationships, and your ability to handle pressure. Chi Kung isn't going to prevent or heal a serious illness or disease, but I've had students who have used it to cope with and manage the pain of cancer and a variety of other illnesses. Some have seen their blood pressure drop, too.

I enjoy putting e-books together. A few of my DVDs have e-books that are given as a bonus. I do this because as a martial artist who has bought a lot of videos in the past twenty or thirty years, there were many times I wished I had a reference when I didn't have a way to play the video I had purchased.

The e-book is also on the online schoolfor members to download free as part of their membership.

I got a Google Alert on a blog post that I found interesting. The post sort of brushed aside people like me who are skeptical and require extraordinary proof of the existence of chi. When a "chi master" does a miraculous feat with his chi, I always want to find out how he cheated. In my opinion, too many in the world of tai chi turn their heads, or say "well maybe it's true because you can't explain everything that happens in nature," or "Western science is biased against chi," or things like that. A lot of folks say, "I've felt and seen strange things I can't explain, so maybe it's true."

Today, another tai chi teacher told me that I was too critical. I admit I'm critical of people who make extraordinary claims that crumble under a test from a skeptic. I'm guilty.

 A couple of weeks ago, there was a biography about Houdini (photo at left) on a cable network. He was a magician and escape artist -- one of the fascinating people of history -- and in his final years, he exposed many frauds who claimed to be able to channel spirits of dead people.

The "mediums" hated Houdini and flamed him unmercifully.

I discovered Houdini when I was 11 and saw the movie with Tony Curtis. I read every book I could find on Houdini. I studied magic, put on magic shows for neighborhood kids, and challenged all my friends -- even my dad -- to tie me up with ropes so that I couldn't escape. I always escaped, although I think one of my teachers thought I was a little pervert when she found me on the playground, escaping from some ropes after being tied up by my fellow 6th graders. :)

As an adult, after studying the internal arts for several years, studying acupuncture, training in Iron Palm -- I began to suspect that things weren't all they were cracked up to be, and I began requiring more proof. I never connected my skepticism with Houdini's influence on me until I saw the documentary a couple of weeks ago. Then it made sense. Houdini made me look for proof when people make miraculous claims, whether it's about religion or the martial arts.

When a "chi master" performs, the same thing happens that happened in Kreskin's performance. Students play along. They don't want the teacher to look bad, and they don't want to be left out of the miraculous feat of chi. Take a look at this video showing a self-proclaimed "tai chi, chi kung, and nei kung master" moving a student with his chi.

Now, you can see how the "master" is moving his hands to match the student's movements, and then positioning himself so that the student can see how his hands are moving (ironically the student's movements more closely match the hands when he can see them). If you believe this demonstration is honest then move along. There's nothing more for you to see here.

Then there's the "chi master" who could easily demonstrate on his willing students, but he claimed a 200-0 fighting record and offered $5,000 to any fighter who could put his chi skills to the test. This video shows the student demos and then shows the master getting beaten silly by an MMA fighter.

Then there is the Randi Foundation. It has one million dollars in escrow, to be given to the first person who can demonstrate psychic or chi or other powers in a double-blind, clinical trial (in other words, they take away the ability to cheat). Richard Mooney, who has taken a LOT of money from martial arts suckers who want to believe in the supernatural, tried to get the million bucks. He was profiled in magazines showing him knocking his own students down without touching them, and he has hosted many seminars where he "teaches" this empty force art (amazing how few of his students can do it).

You can read about the test here. Mooney failed miserably. The reason -- none of the people who were put in front of him knew what he was trying to do. The test took away the ability for anyone to manipulate the results. This failure didn't stop Mooney from taking money from suckers willing to attend his seminars.

Finally, take a look at this news report from Chicago, showing a "master" doing the same type of crap that George Dillman claims. This time, the TV reporter brought in outsiders. Watch this very well-done news story.

Despite all this, believers will not be swayed.

A lot of folks believe that you can condition your body to withstand terrible punishment. Iron Shirt chi kung is one of the training methods. All you have to do is look at Muhammad Ali and a lot of other boxers to see what abusing your body does over time. When you're young, you bounce back over and over, but it takes a toll that you can't always see immediately. You see it later. If you want to develop callouses on your hands from beating them on rocks for years, you can do that, and you can desensitize yourself to pain. But wait until you get older and try to use your hands to tie a tie or shake someone's hand without the pain of arthritis making you want to scream.

One of my favorite quotes from Chen Xiaowang is about Iron Shirt chi kung. He said, "Iron Shirt good for demonstration, not for fighting." The Chen family doesn't practice Iron Shirt. They can fight, though. How well can an Iron Shirt guy take a good punch to the nose, I wonder? Does his chi protect his eyes? How about his knee? Can it take a good sidekick?

In the fantastic book, American Shaolin, Matthew goes to live and train with the monks in the Shaolin Temple for two years. It's a true story, and he sees what happens to the monks who put on the demonstrations for the public. The monks who break concrete or ice blocks with their heads end up talking in stutters from the damage to their brains. Other injuries are common to the monks.

Sima Nan was a reporter in China who tried to investigate the claims of chi masters. The chi masters didn't want their fraud revealed, so he was beaten and tortured for questioning the claims of these masters. Read about him here.

Here is the bottom line for this post -- you can't abuse your body for very long and you can't use chi to protect you or to move (or knock down) other people. You can't heal people by laying your hands on them. There is plenty of evidence to show that it doesn't work, and very little to prove otherwise. Until we embrace this fact in the internal arts and move away from the supernatural, we will always attract flakes and nuts to our classes and we will continue to be called the "soft" arts.

If we believe it or even say "it might be true," we do a disservice to ourselves and our students.

This guy sent me this video link by email. Apparently he's on the Internet trolling for stupid. Talk about spam!!!

I sent him a reply challenging him. I'll give him $5,000 if he'll do this to me.

Notice that when he's behind his student, he moves his hands in reaction to the way the body is moving. When the student can see his hands, the movement of his body matches the hands a lot more closely.

The sad thing is -- this was shot in 1987, so this guy has been fooling a lot of gullible, weak-minded, supernatural-seeking people for decades. Another sad thing is that all of these frauds -- from George Dillman to Rich Mooney -- give themselves an "out" -- an excuse -- because they know this doesn't work, and so when someone doesn't play along, they pull out the excuses. This guy below says that both people must be "connected." So if I faced him and he didn't move me (he can't because "empty force" is a lie) it's because I'm not connected. See how they work it?  

A few years ago, I put some good chi kung exercises on DVD. It was 35 minutes long. I've never liked to spend my money on short instructional DVDs. Some of my single DVDs run up to 2 1/2 hours, so I've always felt that 35 minutes wasn't enough.

I've now expanded the Chi Kung DVD to include the Eight Pieces of Brocade and 36 exercises that make up the Yi Jing Ching -- the Palm Set, the Fist Set, and the Moving Set. Buy the DVD through PayPal.

I've practiced these exercises since 1987, and they helped me learn to center myself in just about any situation -- from tense situations at work, to the highway when someone cuts me off, even to the dentist's chair. The best give of Chi Kung practice is teaching yourself to remain centered at all times.

Here's the real secret behind Chi Kung. It isn't magical and it isn't mystical or supernatural (oh, how people want you to believe it's supernatural). What Chi Kung does is teach you to calm the mind and body -- then recreate that feeling when you find yourself in a tense situation.

Stress is very hard on your body. Easing stress enables your body to work more efficiently. Chi Kung teaches you how to ease stress. These exercises are easy to learn but it takes weeks and months of practice to internalize the principles. It takes a while to learn to relax the body (we aren't taught to do that normally) and calm the mind.

Check out the new DVD. If you're not practicing Chi Kung, it will help you start on the road to a more balanced mind, and hopefully a more balanced life.

I received a very nice email this morning from a good man in Rio who suggested that I've been having breathing problems due to performing chi kung improperly.

I certainly appreciated his concern and the fact that he reached out, and I understand he has good intentions (he has worked with chi kung for 30 years) but -- it will come as no surprise to those who know me -- I couldn't let this go by without a challenge. Don't blame me. I'm a stickler for facts and critical thinking.

Here's another way to look at it. Perhaps my condition hasn't gotten a lot worse because I do chi kung properly. 

In my reply to this nice guy in Rio, I asked him if he could supply me with any clinical evidence to back up his theory. I prefer, of course, peer-reviewed trials, preferably double-blind but at least something that can be duplicated by other medical trials.

I would like to issue this challenge to anyone reading this. Can you supply me with valid, objective clinical trial evidence, peer-reviewed, that suggests you can be harmed by chi kung?

Because you see, I don't think there's any way you can become ill or experience the onset of any type of physical problem by practicing chi kung, whether you are doing it properly or not. Okay, you might do a squat or low movement and injure a knee, but that's not what I'm talking about. After all, if you can develop serious medical problems by doing chi kung wrong, millions of people who buy chi kung DVDs and practice at home should be in the hospital.

I'm not interested in anecdotal evidence. That isn't true evidence. It's highly subjective and often, people will tell an acupuncturist or chi healer that their treatments work when, in fact, they don't.

I've heard stories--anecdotes--of people who went to a tai chi class and did chi kung. Suddenly they felt weak, dizzy, tingling, felt pain somewhere, began crying -- you've probably heard these stories, too. And I don't doubt that it happened. I simply believe the people who reacted this way brought some heavy emotional or physical baggage with them into the class--emotional or physical illnesses that can easily be disguised when people don't know you well.

There is nothing dangerous at all in the breathing, calming, centering, even moving exercises of chi kung. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Can't happen, unless you practice in a room where people are exhaling the flu bug into the air, or you're in a cold, damp place and susceptible to a cold. Or if, by calming down, you suddenly experience a flood of memories of childhood abuse or something. But that isn't caused by chi kung, is it?

A lot of us buy into this myth when we first study chi kung. I was told early in my Hsing-I training that if I practiced certain fist postures incorrectly, the corresponding organs in my body would be damaged. Now seriously. What's amazing is that modern, college-educated folks will buy into that crap just because a "teacher" or someone who appears to be in authority tells them its true. Or they read about it in a magazine article that is sloppily written and poorly sourced, relying on anecdotes, personal exaggerations, or evidence from sources with a financial interest in perpetuating the myth. We carry the problem forward by repeating it because,  by God, we're in the internal arts, and to be in the internal arts means you must be mystical, right? You HAVE to believe in this stuff.

Wrong. You have to believe in the truth, in something real, in something that is backed up with real evidence that can be repeated and can stand the test of a double blind inquiry, which greatly reduces the ability to cheat either by the doctor or the patient.

Let's face it, we all get older, little things go wrong, we deal with them or get them fixed. Tai chi masters die young and old. They grow feeble and pass away. They develop diabetes and heart problems and clogged arteries. Their joints go bad (even Chen Xiaowang has had knee surgery). Chi healers develop cancer just like everyone else, and sometimes they pass away at relatively young ages. Anyone remember Jane Hallendar?

Last year, for no known reason, my heart developed additional electrical pathways and began beating strangely. Chi kung didn't fix it, but Dr. Michael Giudici at Genesis Medical Center in Davenport (a genius, by the way) did. Unfortunately, while on the table, I aspirated into my lungs. The stuff from my stomach triggered pneumonia in the lungs, and I was improving through January, teaching classes, making videos, but I was coughing my head off 24 hours a day. I fought to get stronger cough syrup but they don't like to prescribe it, so by February, the coughing had torn something in my left lung. I've been coughing up blood since that time (not every day but sometimes 3 or 4 times a day) and now we realize it isn't going to heal without extra help - cauterization at the Cleveland Clinic. One lesson from this is to be a strong advocate for yourself and if you need something stronger, don't let the doctors keep it from you.

Conditions like these happen to chi kung practitioners, they happen to wonderful people, they happen to bad people. They happen to Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists and athiests.

"It" happens. And it has nothing to do with chi kung. How you deal with it shows what you're made of. And I see myself competing in tournaments next year.

If you can show me that chi kung can be harmful and create this type of problem, and you have evidence that would stand up to peer review and would be published in a reliable medical journal, please send it my way.

Otherwise, please stop perpetuating the fantasy, in your own mind and in the minds of others. That does more of a disservice than anything you can possibly do. You might as well believe that an invisible being is going to fix you. That makes just as much sense, and works just as well from a placebo effect.

I'm just sayin.'   :)  If you have evidence to prove me wrong, bring it on.

One of the most interesting magazine articles I've ever read is in the June, 2009 issue of the Atlantic. The article explores a 72-year study, following young Harvard students from the 1930s until now, an amazing study of the changes that people go through in their lives, trying to ask the question -- what makes us happy, and what factors create a happy and well-adjusted life.

Some young men who were apparently well-adjusted and happy ended up killing themselves as adults. Others, who were immature or pessimistic as young men, changed over time and became better adjusted.

If you reach age 50, there are factors that seem to play a part in whether you will be happy or even alive at age 80. A man with at least 5 of the following traits was more likely to be "happy/well" at age 80 -- education, stable marriage, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, exercise, healthy weight, and the ability to make mature adaptations to life's events.

Men who had 3 or fewer of these traits were much more likely to be "sad/sick" at age 80 -- or dead.

The relationships you have with people seem to be a major factor in longevity and happiness. Those with poor relationships are in trouble.

Of those who were diagnosed as "depressed" by age 50, 70% of them were dead or chronically ill by age 63.

What does this have to do with Tai Chi? Plenty, in my opinion, especially if Chi Kung (qigong) is included as part of your personal practice and lifestyle.

Tai Chi has been described as "iron wrapped in cotton." The movements appear very relaxed, and yet because of the establishment and manipulation of the ground path and peng jin in the body structure, there is great strength beneath the appearance of relaxation and flexibility.

Through the practice of Tai Chi and Chi Kung--exercises that help you calm the mind and body and "center" yourself--you learn to maintain mental and physical balance. In my view, and in my experience, this balance and understanding of the nature of things can give you an emotional iron wrapped in the cotton of a happy or relaxed demeanor.

I'm 56 years old. In my life, I have struggled to make a living; I have lost a daughter; I have been bankrupt; I have lost jobs (as recently as last year); I have made bad decisions on who to marry, resulting in terrible heartbreak--and yet I feel as optimistic and happy today as I was when I was 20 years old and felt that anything was possible.

Through all of these events, I have learned and attained skill in the internal arts (my passion); I have achieved a wonderful marriage with a loving wife (Nancy); I have raised two daughters who are smart and funny and loving; I have grandchildren that I adore; I have made a positive impact in the lives of young broadcasters who I hired and coached to be successful; I've made a positive impact in the lives of kung-fu students; I've overcome financial hardship and forged a media relations career that earned a decent salary; and currently, after losing my last job due to the economy, I have launched my online internal arts school and have never been happier in any previous job in my life. I absolutely love waking up each morning to work on this.

I believe you can achieve emotional iron wrapped in cotton through the practice of Tai Chi and Chi Kung. Through the Eastern philosophies that I've studied since the early Seventies, you realize that there is no one to blame when things go wrong. Bad events and good events are part of the yin/yang of life. You must accept hard times if you accept good times. When things are very good, you can bet that something will go wrong at some point, or a tragedy might happen. Likewise, when things are very bad, you can get through it by understanding the yin/yang of nature--that sooner or later, the wheel turns and the positive returns if you just hang in there and don't give up.

When I first began practicing Chi Kung, I calmed the mind and body, put part of my mind on my dan t'ien, and mentally detached. One of my favorite things is to stand outside and do Chi Kung, feeling the wind, listening to the birds, as I detach from the day-to-day and try to feel myself a part of nature--of all the sounds and energy around me. I am part of the same energy that made the stars, the planets. the black holes, the wind and snow, and the warm sunlight.

There is a peace and comfort in this feeling, and there have been moments of enlightenment during these Chi Kung experiences that give me a deeper insight into the nature of things. Most of us are self-centered. When bad things happen, we ask, "Why me?" We take it all very personally, and for some people, that produces emotional reactions that are unhealthy. Sometimes we blame invisible beings -- blaming God for bad things that happen to us.

We all have the ability to guide our lives. The decisions we make have consequences. We can choose the right path or the more destructive path. We can choose to love people and do good deeds, or we can be selfish. We can choose to create laughter in others or we can turn an angry or intense face to the world. We can look at things as having an impact on only us, or we can try to create win-win situations and see that we are connected to everyone and everything.

But despite all of our best intentions and decisions, bad things will happen. Someone we love will develop a fatal illness. Someone we love will die. We will lose a job through no fault of our own. We may find ourselves in financial difficulty. We may put our trust in a partner or spouse who betrays us. There are things that happen outside of our control, and it requires emotional iron to ride out the storm.

A lot of uncertainty and unhealthy feelings can happen when we look at ourselves as the center of the universe. A different feeling happens when you contemplate your part in the universe and how connected you are to everything and everyone. You are part of it, not the center of it.

There is another recent post on this blog that describes how to begin your Chi Kung training. Relaxing the mind and body, putting part of your mind on your dan t'ien, and detaching your mind from your daily problems and activities--that's the first step. From there, you train yourself to recapture this feeling when you face a crisis, a problem, or a tragedy. This understanding and ability helps you build the emotional iron that you need to cope with the unexpected events that life throws at you.

Last year, a week before I lost my job, I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation -- a heart problem created by too much electrical activity in the heart. Instead of beating normally, my heart often raced and fluttered, setting up a dangerous condition that could lead to stroke.

On top of the job loss, this came as a shock. I had always been the picture of good health. So I decided not to worry about it. My goal was to return to normal. I underwent three heart surgeries last year and had my heart problem fixed. During the last surgery, I aspirated something from my stomach into my lungs and developed a horrible pneumonia that I'm still trying to overcome.

During all this, I launched my online school, created more than 300 video lessons, e-books, and other material, I've produced 7 new instructional DVDs, and I've continued to practice and improve my skills.

The job loss and the heart problems were temporary things that I would outlast, I decided. Hanging in there, waiting for the yang part of the circle to cycle back around, and continuing to be positive about the future--it has become a natural reaction to events.

Life can throw anything it wants at me. It can't damage the iron beneath this cotton. We are born and we die, and in between those two events, there is a journey that includes tremendous highs and horrible lows. Accepting that fact is step one in living a well-adjusted and healthy life. I learned this through the study of philosophy and the practice of Chi Kung and Tai Chi.