I've been keenly interested in healing for the 20 years since my first really severe depression. It appears to me that different healing modalities work for different people and I haven't seen any one thing that works well for everyone. There also seems to be a placebo effect that happens for many people, i.e. the therapy seems to work well in the beginning and good reports abound; eventually, when the ill person's initial hopeful enthusiasm wears off, the benefit is not clear, and the modality is eventually dropped and forgotten.
I'm happy to hear people's suggestions about things that were helpful FROM THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE ... herbs or qigong or whatever. I value the experience of others. I think everyone here keeps the focus primarily on qigong; it doesn't seem to me that it hurts to share experiences with other healing modalities as an aside.
Shakurav, I appreciate your offer of distance healing. Any day is probably a good day. Friday, Jan 9 is a less busy day than others, and a time when I could be more consciously receptive. I had 4 telephone healing sessions from Master Lin, a number he suggested, and didn't notice any change in my general feeling state or awareness.
I have been trying some of Gallen's suggestions, trying to immerse myself deeper in the practice. The suggestion that seems the most helpful so far is the suggestion to notice my thoughts throughout the day and see if they're taking me in the direction I want to go. I've been doing longer qigong sessions, but I haven't figured out how to find 2 hours a day for sessions. It may be that I need to see some improvement from the hour a day I am putting in to devote 2 hours a day. In many of the stories in Master Lin's book, including his own story, the benefits came quickly and without much qigong practice.
I am open to trying and investigating things with open heart and mind. I don't seem to have huge amounts of faith. The only thing that has kept me doing SFQ this long without any apparent result is Master Lin's personal manner and energy, his lack of self-importance, his focus on kindness, love... and the healing stories from his book in which people report their own positive experience with SFQ.
