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July 11, 2005
How Qigong Helped A Counter-Terrorist Trainer Pass His Kettlebell Snatch Test
Did you know that there's now a university in California offering all kinds of courses in anti-terrorism and urban warfare? One of the trainers attended our June 2005 Russian Kettlebell Instructor Certification program and afterwards posted these comments on the dragondoor.com forum:
“I had the pleasure of meeting John Du Cane in June, at the RKC workshop. He's not a big and intimidating individual, as a matter of fact he was very soft spoken and gentle but yet the hardest to forget out of everybody. He's just different...though he's soft spoken and gentle there is a balance and strength in him that’s hard to put words to, and even harder to forget.
On the third day of the RKC workshop I still had not passed my rep test (32reps) ("which was agonizing since I was doing about 40 hardstyle snatches at home") I THOUGHT since I was too tired to let nervous anxiety steal my focus, that Id be good to go...But once they said to get on the floor to start the day, those old feelings were back, and strong as ever.
We started the day with Qigong, after which I was very focused and calm. We all went immediately out to the field and I completed my reps in front of Steve Cotter. I felt I could have went a couple more too. For about two weeks this anxiety was killing me and was the biggest contributing factor in failing the test.
It got worse & worse until John put my energy in check and I was able to focus on the task at hand. Thanks John I hope I get a chance to meet you again.”—Jeremiah
Well, hopefully Jeremiah’s initial comments won’t expand the size of my head… which is big enough already, according to my friends and relatives… but it does illustrate some qualities qigong practice can give you, which are very hard to quantify.
Longterm, diligent practice of qigong methods will usually change your energy enough that other people will start to “feel” something about you that they sense as strong, without there being any overt display of power.
It’s as if we all had one of those light switches in us that let’s us gradually change the brightness in the room. Most people deplete themselves so much, they’re eventually lucky if they can emanate much more than a dim flicker.
Qigong practice will normally recharge if not supercharge your internal energy system to a powerful glow, as it were. Nothing mystical here, really, just common sense, once you know what to do and practice it on a regular basis.
And the other part of this is qigong’s impact on Jeremiah’s nervousness, which sapped his physical strength. The hallmark of an elite athlete is their ability to be very relaxed while also turning on the tension and strength when they need it.
And qigong is superb at helping train this skill. I wasn’t surprised when I heard that Phil Jackson had my friend and former Dragon Door qigong author Terry Dunn come in and conduct qigong classes for the Lakers, for two of the years they won the championship. Hmmmm…
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at July 11, 2005 6:52 AM