Going with the flow Last qigong master brings lessons in movement to Maine

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It’s a bit incongruous, watching a venerable Chinese man go through a series of dancelike movements in a former dance studio on Mount Desert Island.

But Duan Zhi Liang, taoist adept, Chinese doctor and qigong master, is on a mission. He’s introducing Americans to a more healthful lifestyle.

In this room in Town Hill, he’s preaching to the choir. There’s Paul Weiss, director of the Whole Health Center, who has brought Master Duan to Maine for two weeks. There’s Weiss’ adult son, Isaiah, who is studying qigong. There’s Duan’s wife, Tian Juan, and his translator, Frenchman Jean-Christian Raoux.

Kneeling up front, recording Duan’s every movement, are filmmaker David Westphal and his assistant, Patricia Ryan. The photos and footage are for a book and video of Duan’s system that Weiss is putting together.

That’s because Duan, who is 96, is the last master in his system of qigong, called wuji hundun, which means “primordial chaos.” The form combines qigong, taoist healing methods and martial arts. He learned medicine from his grandfather and martial arts from his father, a bodyguard for the last emperor. As a child, he played within the palace wall of Beijing’s Forbidden City.

Through Raoux, Duan explained that “every move has a very special purpose in improving conditioning. There is a very strong medicinal base. In martial arts forms without medicine, it’s very easy to get injured. It’s essential to know the medicine in order to train in a healthy way.”

Qi (pronounced “chee”) is the Chinese term for the energy of life that courses through people, animals and nature. Gong (pronounced “kung”) is translated as work or effort. So qigong is using the body’s energy to do work.

Duan, a Roman Catholic in a communist society, uses similar principles as a doctor in Chinese traditional medicine. He seeks to identify where there is excess qi in various regions of the body, and combines acupressure, massage and qigong to release qi and channel it to regions needing it, to create balance within the body. He may further prescribe medicinal herbs or diet.

TLC is also part of the prescription: “He seeks to enter the heart of the person, to take care of the emotions,” Raoux said. “Tenderness and love are ways to enter the energy field of the patient.”

While he works out in a gold embroidered jacket and black pants, Duan appears to be at least 30 years younger than he is, with black hair, salt-and-pepper moustache and a white beard and, most of all, fluid, sure movements.

“He’s not just strong and supple for a 90-year-old man,” Weiss said. “He’d be strong and supple for a 20-year-old.”

As an example, after sparring throughout a recent daylong workshop, Duan came back to Weiss’ home and kicked around a soccer ball with Isaiah.

Duan has three more public events planned during his stay: workshops 9 a.m.-5 p.m. today and Sunday and a talk at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, all at the former Town Hill Dance Studio on Route 102. He’s also doing private health consultations.

Most of the written material about wuji hundun was wiped out through China’s civil wars and the Cultural Revolution, Duan said. That gives Weiss’ project added impetus, and he hopes to get all he needs for the book and video during Duan’s visit.

“We’re trying to re-create some kind of legacy of teaching, through careful documentation,” Weiss said. “We want to use these for practice and as a reference guide.”

Weiss first met Duan on his initial, nine-day visit to China in 1994, part of his continuing, decades-long study of Eastern medicine.

“Of all the people I met on that visit, he stood out in my mind,” Weiss recalled.

On his next visit, Weiss stayed in Beijing for several weeks to study with Duan. He has five times since then, most recently with a group of 20 in May.

Duan has been visiting this country since September, teaching in southern New England.

“Just in the short time he’s been here, there’s been a tremendous amount of interest [in his methods],” Weiss said.

In last weekend’s workshops, Weiss got to see Master Duan in a group setting.

“He’s got natural instincts, skills and intuition as a teacher,” he said. “He took a group of 26 people and kept them fascinated and learning the whole time.”

Duan, who was wearing a small American flag pin on his jacket, said he has enjoyed his time in America.

“He finds Americans to be straightforward, courageous and friendly, qualities he appreciates,” Raoux explained for Duan. “He’s never been teaching so much as here, largely for political reasons. I’ve seen him teaching in China before, and he’s never taught that way there.”

Duan’s form of qigong is quite different from martial arts Americans are more used to, such as karate or tai chi.

“The movements are all very gentle and soft, yet there’s a certain inner strength in them that’s very powerful,” Weiss said. “All parts of the body are working all the time. Every movement has a special martial-arts application, and he’s been able to demonstrate most of those in practice.”

The form has 18 different movements, each of which can be practiced independently or combined in creative ways. A workout can range from minutes to hours, Raoux said.

Duan said that Americans have been very receptive to his techniques.

“They could only learn tai chi before, which is like gymnastics,” Raoux said. “With him, they could experience qi directly in a form that is, how you say, internal, and people are very happy about that.”

What advice does Duan have for Americans?

“Be sure to have better balance in life, among work, leisure and family,” he said. “Don’t get too exhausted. Also don’t rely that much on Western medicine. Learn to make more use of medicinal plants and healthy foods.”

Weiss has been enjoying his time with Duan, his wife and Raoux.

“It’s been very beautiful having him here,” he said. “There’s been a lot of hanging out. It’s been a very warm time together. It’s been like one big extended family.”

For more information, call the Whole Health Center at 288-4128.