I started back at work this week - teaching yoga and running Community Acupuncture, whilst continuing to integrate from 4 weeks in China. I am inspired to share more about my adventures with you all and thought a blog is the easiest way so here I am. It’s been a while since I’ve been travelling overseas (unless you count Tasmania) and I must say I experienced a huge culture shock. Even though I was warned (and slightly nervous) about the language barrier it didn’t prepare me for the reality - thank goodness for technology and translating apps! First up was a one-day Great Wall tour, we visited an area that was quietest in terms of tourism and had a few hours free time to roam. I felt quite emotional and elevated (scuse the pun!) being on the wall after 17 years of dreaming about it. When I was 15 I went to Vietnam with school and on the last night we each picked a world wonder out of a hat and promised ourselves and each other to visit it in our lifetime, I chose the Great Wall of China.
The main reason for this trip was to visit The Five Immortals Temple for a short course in Daoist medicine. I’d heard about this place from a friend and as soon as I did I decided I would go there one day. It was incredible, more than I could have ever imagined. Arriving itself was like stepping into a dream world - a 1.5-hour hike up many steps to the (almost) top of a mountain where a beautiful temple houses a welcoming community and faces out to incredible vistas. The days were full, we woke at 5:30 to the gong and chanting as the temples were opened and offerings began. We welcomed the sun each day with morning Qi Gong and also learnt Haha Gong & Longevity Gong. In the first week, we went back to physical practice after breakfast to drill the routines and lock them into our muscle memory. There was so much theory and soon enough we spent a lot of the days listening and learning from Shi Fu - topics such as 5-element theory and ba gua to moxibustion and fire therapy to cupping and blood-letting, needle techniques, herbal formulas, healing music and more.
The ritual of life at the temple is so enjoyable, I loved reciting the food prayer before each meal and eating in silence (no English spoken at the table), we sang in Mandarin together before each class and harvested wild veg in the break time. The food was plant-based, fresh and full of life: food as medicine. Every night we practised Healing Qi Gong and silent meditation before bed around 10:30. They were long and full days, and I loved every minute - even when I was meeting with mental resistance, my inner adolescent/rebel and physical pains.
Daoism feels quite new to me and I am grateful to have had some insight into, and a small taste of this deep and long-standing philosophy and way of life. Witnessing the new and full moon ceremonies that occurred at the temple was a very potent and rich experience. We also visited a Daoist University close to the temple that has been running for 800 years. We had the opportunity a few times to visit LaoYing (a small town at the foot of Wudang Mountains - the very place Tai Ji was born) and went into the mountains after the course was completed. I was on a pretty tight schedule so I only had one day in the mountains, and what a special day it was. New Moon in Taurus, attending the morning scriptures at the Purple Cloud Temple, a meandering walk through the forest to a 2782-year-old ginkgo biloba tree, and her 2500-year-old brother, we were invited in for tea before making our way back, said goodbye's and I continued on my solo adventure.
I had my heart set on visiting the Traditional Chinese Museum at Shanghai University for Chinese medicine, I am so glad I made the effort! I got to see ancient texts that I had referenced multiple times at Uni, remodels of the first bone and metal needles, bamboo cups and gua sha tools made from horns. I wandered through looking at endless samples of herbal medicine - plants, animals, minerals, had history lessons via anime cartoons and even got to practise my pulse-taking skills on a robot hand.
My last 5 days were spent at Guilin and Yangshuo - two wonderfully picturesque towns in the southwest where I got to do some hikes, cycle through small villages (that grow so much food!) and visit an organic tea farm.
The trip was both huge personally and professionally and I am so grateful that I had/created the opportunity to make this dream a reality. I am now inspired to learn Mandarin for future trips (wish me luck!). There is so much more I could write and share, and there is so much more I could research and learn (all in good time) but here is a little taste of my first experience visiting China.
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