My friend Yuliya and I recently had the honor of discussing Qigong and Daoism with our teacher, Sarah Cherry, who is a Doctor of Medical Qigong and Daoist Teacher. The original idea was to talk with her about current events and indications about 2020, the “Year of the Metal Rat”, feng shui and to get her advice on personal practices that might be helpful for healing in this contentious, sometimes lonely and uncertain timeline.
“When you consider who is always there when “I” am in trouble, well, that would be “me”. Sarah Cherry
One of the questions I have been exploring is the practice of forgiveness, more to the point Ho’Oponopono, which we had discussed during one of our Daoist classes with Sarah. It is not a qigong practice but does have similarity to several practices within the Daoist, Buddhist, Christian and other esoteric traditions that teach forgiveness as a necessary part of life. Some we have explored in our training, like the mantra “Song, Kong, Tong, Bing Chuan Yu; the forgiveness prayer; the return of energies. Ho’oponopono is somewhat simpler and, as Sarah pointed out, especially at this time, elegant and very potent-the practitioner meditates by stating four sentences: I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.
Why should people who have been wronged feel like they should do it? Isn’t that a little like blaming the victim? Her answer begins around the 20:40 minute timestamp. It is best summed up by considering her words, “Forgiveness is nothing more than taking full responsibility for your actions.” Wait, what? No way! I’ve been wronged- how am I responsible for that? “When we are working on helping other people,” Sarah explained to us, “we learn in qigong how to move energy and that can be really helpful for other people. But spiritually, the only being we have the capability of changing is ourselves.” This requires a movement from the purely individual perspective to the universal. It does not mean that people cause their own mistreatment, nor that the perpetrators will not have to deal with the consequences of their actions because they are forgiven. It does not mean we no longer have a responsibility to speak out about injustice or to seek justice. It means that a person practicing radical forgiveness can recognize two things: that holding anger, resentment or heartbreak within their energetic fields is poisonous to the soul, which can eventually do damage to the body. So, part of forgiveness is taking responsibility for harming self. Also, within the larger context of balance and justice, i.e, Karma (both this and other lifetimes), it is also an opportunity to dive deeply into an eternal, transcendent self, there finding empathy for that place within a unique consciousness that has the same brokenness which caused the other person to do harm. Even if one doesn’t believe in a concept like reincarnation, he or she can still tap into the collective field of history to find how, given circumstances, we all have the capacity for cruelty, abuse, or neglect- really, all the messy wrong things. Acknowledging this, it’s easier to see that we have not been able to examine, much less forgive, ourselves for similar wrongs we have committed in thought, word or deed. That’s the snag that must come undone. Feel it, forgive it, heal it and the forgiveness extends to all others. Sarah states, simply “When I am able to transmute something in myself, it is (also) transmuted for everyone.”
The realization Sarah help me come to about this question was only part of the whole interview, and of course, the full answer could take years to contemplate. Read Yuliya’s blog post for more on this discussion. Watch the whole video or take it in parts (highly recommended) so you can savor each point! I have provided a timestamp with the subjects we talked about.
Timestamps by subject:
Beginning- “Year of the Metal Rat” and a little background on Feng Shui (click on the titles to see Sarah's articles)
15:21 Personal practice advice
20:40- Personal to Universal- Forgiveness/Higher Self
35:10: Karma, Radical Forgiveness, Akashic Record, Ho-Oponopono
45:06: Self care practice in the “new normal”
50:31: Distance and Remote Healing Treatments (Zoom, Skype, Facetime, etc)
Ho'oponopono represents 4 simple phrases: I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you. Click here to read more about Ho'oponopono from an article produced by Uplift Connect.
Thank you to Sarah for guiding us on this beautiful and daunting journey toward reality!
Do you Zoom? I Zoom, too! Join our weekly virtual Qigong practices! Monday evenings, 6pm-7pm or Friday mornings, 10:30am- 11:30am. Can't attend those times? I can send you a recording or video as we go! $10 a class, payable online through Square, Paypal, Venmo, or check. Email me: cyndlclark2@gmail.com for more details and an invitation. Call or text me @ 615-509-7321. I would love to talk with you about the benefits of doing this powerful practice.
See also: https://www.3baohealing.com/