Those who know me reasonably well will probably wonder how it is that I found myself at a 7 day Chi Gong retreat (also spelled Chi Kung, Qi-Gong etc.) on the relatively remote island of Quadra in British Columbia. Certainly nothing could be further from life in Tel Aviv, or Toronto, for that matter!
Well, it’s complicated.
First, as a result of OHIP residency requirements, and Mike’s intensive summer coursework, I had decided I would leave Tel Aviv during its excruciatingly hot and humid summer, in order to enjoy the almost as hot and humid Toronto summer. By coincidence, this put me in Canada for my sister’s Viv’s milestone birthday in August, and naturally my mother, my other sister, and I thought this might be an opportunity for us to celebrate all together, possibly even persuading my brother to join in. This is not as simple as you might think, since Vivian lives on the island of Quadra, (population +/- 3,000), which is two drives and two ferry rides from Vancouver, and she was understandably reluctant to leave its beautiful setting. Chris would have to come all the way from the also beautiful Channel Islands (add one short-haul, and one overseas flight to the two ferries and two drives), and I would have to fly from Toronto (okay…not such a hardship). Our amazing Mum, of course, was game for almost anything that brings us all together, but we quickly ruled out cruises, long drives to the interior, and a couple of even quirkier retreat options.
As Chris and I sat in her living room in Guernsey one evening in May, just brainstorming about the whole situation, she received an e-mail from an organization called Natural Movement, offering a week-long Chi Gong retreat in August. This was to be held just before Viv’s birthday on, of all places, her island, Quadra! (Not exactly a common retreat destination). Even more improbably, it was being put on by a practitioner that Chris had known personally in London over 20 years ago, with whom she had completely fallen out of touch, when he left for Australia! So let’s see…Guernsey gets the e-mail, a guy from London goes to Australia and somehow gets to Quadra…in August…, 20 years later, a week before Viv’s birthday… to lead a retreat…how this email found us was unclear, but its timing was dead-on. It seemed “meant to be”.
The stars thus aligned, we made all the arrangements, as I tried to ignore the subtle warning signs that would normally put me off such a venture. First there was the issue of 16 participants and two bathrooms…hmmm… Then there was the need to share a room… I put my foot down on the bunk bed idea however… and yes, the complete lack of WiFi or any cellular/data connection at the retreat house and environs. This was rounded out by a schedule of six hours a day of Chi Gong (an activity completely new to me), starting at 7:00 AM, and finishing at 8:30 P.M. with breaks for swimming, hiking, napping and…yes…searching for WiFi. And no wine of course…(It will probably not come as a surprise to learn that our busy brother opted out of this part of the trip.)
So what is Chi Gong exactly? The “Gong” part is easy…it means work … so “Chi Gong” means “working on Chi”. And what is “Chi’? (A fair question.) It is a Chinese term which is literally translated as “air”, and figuratively as “material energy”. Other popular renditions are “life force” and “energy flow”. I had to look this up because the assumption in class was that we all totally understood this. (And probably most people did). Personally, “air”, and “material energy” strike me as somewhat contradictory, but no matter; in the practice room, the notion of energy flow and/or life-force seemed to prevail, even if not fully articulated. Apparently there are many different versions of Chi Gong, all traditional, that were only fairly recently lumped into one category. So depending on who you work with, you may learn very different movements and approaches.
The practice we were following consisted of a very extensive repertoire of movements, called “forms”, some quite complex, mostly with the arms and upper body. When I say “extensive”, that is code for: “so many, it is impossible to remember them”. (You can do a lot in six hours a day, but remembering it all after the fact is another matter entirely.) Usually these forms were done while standing in bare feet, on a hardwood floor, which was beautiful to look at, but tough on the feet. As the week wore on, and the process became more familiar, it felt a bit like a moving meditation. The view from the practice room was gorgeous, overlooking a tree-lined lake that reminded me a bit of the Haliburton area in Ontario.
I had somehow envisioned that the whole experience would render me a calm, centred and vaguely “zen-like” person, and with that beautiful view, it certainly should have. But this was not at all the outcome, nor in fact the purpose, as it turns out. The real goal was to get our “chi” (however defined) moving, and eventually balanced. At one point about 3 days in, I innocently asked how I would know if it was “working” since up to that point I had been practicing 6 hours a day to no discernible effect.
Well, this was a question with no clear answer. First of all, it seemed that in the course of the week, just about any unwanted physical symptom had something to do with “chi”. Insomnia?…yes…too much “chi”. Faintness and nausea?…yes, that was stirring up “chi”. Intense sleepiness?… Headache? all “chi-related”, and so it went. (I should say that this was nowhere in the fine print.) From my perspective, I evidently acquired an abundance of “chi”; this I know since, despite the quiet and tranquil surroundings, I barely slept a wink the whole time I was there.
The ultimate goal of course, was to work through all this to achieve an enlivened and centred state, and some people probably did.
So I would just note, that while I liked Chi Gong, I could have stood to have a bit more variety within the six hours allotted to practice…with the afternoon sessions perhaps dedicated to a complementary type of activity such as Pilates, or even Feldenkrais for example. Six hours was a bit much for me.
But there was more to the retreat than Chi Gong. Among many of the lovely features of the whole experience was the beautiful setting. The weather was warm and sunny, almost unusually so for B.C.
And even the cell phone problem could be remedied, somewhat improbably, by taking a 20 minute hike through a dense forest to reach a stunning and secluded promontory overlooking the ocean. (see below) Somehow it was in reach of some cell tower. From this lovely spot I had an animated conversation on “What’s App” with Mike who was in Tel Aviv working on some paper or another! One of those weird juxtapositions that only modern technology can deliver. Later, my sisters and I clambered down the rocky cliff and went swimming. It was a warm enough day that even the chilly water was a pleasure.
Another great treat: the food that was served was excellent; healthy and truly delicious with, to my surprise, the occasional meat offering. The young woman who came in to cook had to deal with a list of food allergies/sensitivities/preferences as long as her arm…among which the most perplexing were from two people; one who could eat only raw vegetables, and the other who could only tolerate them if cooked! She somehow accommodated us all.
While it is always a treat to eat delightful things that also make you feel virtuous, I did notice as the week went on that some participants smuggled in chips, chocolate and other “chi deficient” items. And on the last day, even my uber-healthy mother broke down and got into the act, which I recorded lest there be any subsequent “mis-remembering”, or disbelief among those who know her.
But the best thing of all, was the chance to spend a whole week, with my mother and two sisters. We all agreed the experience was magical. There was lots of time for walking, talking, and relaxing with each other in this beautiful quiet place, and there were also new and interesting people to meet. With the busy lives that we lead, at such great distances from one another, this kind of opportunity is rare, and we savoured every moment, I am happy to say.
This retreat took up only one of the two weeks that I was out west; the other week will be covered in another post, and will focus more on the island of Quadra, and some off-beat stores on Vancouver Island. My elusive brother, also a BC resident, will make an appearance, along with his wife and daughter and some other eclectic family members! (You know who you are.)