It all started back in 1991, when in the excitement of childhood games, I fell from a tall tree and received a compression fracture of the spine. Since then, with varying and intermittenmt success, i have tried all the shamans, manual therpaist, massage, osteopathy and other specialist who claimed to be able to solve my back problems. Im not going to throw stones at anyone, because in principle i thibnk that a doctor is a conductor of healing, and not its source, and you either ready to accept their truth or not. For me , Traditional Chinese Medicine solved my problems for a lomng time. But this was precisely the trap; i became a hostage of a specific therapist and carried around with me a crystal vase that had to be constantly repaired. Long, tedious and expensive.
My history with sports is even more sad, at school I was forever freed from gymnastic and any movement trainijng due to the danger of another crisis, that sealed the imprint of " trauma" in my brain. Therefor i approached any physical activity with fear and tension. During my life i tried a variety of types of group classes, yoga, swimming, gym, personal trainer, i enjoyed it and learemd something but nothing changed in my condition.
The last round of my battle came with a coccyx injury, that only a "vase" like me could earn over a bicycle ride. No old solutions and specialist could help, as if pushing me out of the usual order of things, filled with tears that i wold not be able to ride a bike again. That was when i flew to bali with my husband , where on the very first day i met with my qigong instructor Elisa. I remember that day as THAT day. I was immediatly shown how to sit on a chair for more than 5 minutes, i rode a bike for a month, exersicing qigong and my back only got better.
I was immediatly "infected" with the enjoyment of the practice, so much that after a short and useless search for a replacemnt in Moscow i went to Chiangmai to learn more.
Now 5 years has passed and its difficult for me to remeber myself of the beginning of the journey, my personal experience in qigong has already sprouted through personal contacts, 2 years of study online 3-5 times/week without breaks, teaching and communicatinmg with Ajahn, my collgues and fellow students.That first month in Bali with Elisa gave me the most important thing - love for classes, the state of body and mind each time, the beauty of its simplicity, depth and integrity.
Now, trying to write about my favorite mentor and collgue Elisa, its hard to remeber when everyting was overshadowed by the time when she helped me to adapt and get on the path of teaching, how she gently supported me and set me up with a purpose constructively.
How wonderfully Elisa worked with my mom Galia during the most difficult months and always gave me the feeling I was not alone, but in a team and im still incredibly grateful for the fate of meetimg Elisa on that fateful holiday to Bali, the other side of the world.