One of the things I love most about teaching Qi Gong is the travel. I met Ely Britto, my Brazilian workshop organizer, in Thailand in 1997 at the ripe old age of 27. At the time, I was facilitating Mantak Chia’s Teacher Training in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Ely was the first student from Brazil to make the journey to Thailand to get certified. She and I became friends immediately. After helping her get certified, Ely said, “One day, I’m going to bring you to Brazil to teach.” Some 20 years later, I’ve been to Brazil five times.
Brazil is one of my favorite countries. The people, the food, the culture, the nature, and the sun make it a wonderful place to visit. I got off the plane in Rio De Janeiro at 1:30am. My good friend, Aion, picked me up from the airport. It had been 7 years since I had last seen him, and 10 years since my last trip to Brazil.
Even though it was the middle of the night, there were still food and drink shops open right on Copacabana beach. It’s truly is a city that doesn’t sleep. We sat there in the warm night air drinking coconut water right out of a coconut and reminiscing about his last trip to California. Middle of the night coconut is a great remedy for jet lag!
The next day, we spent the morning at the beach and the afternoon in the urban jungle right inside the city. I like to describe Rio as if someone took Yosemite, blended it with Europe and stirred in a little Hawaii. The city is surrounded by granite rock formations that extend up towards the heavens. The white sand beaches, stitch these mountain peaks together, in a continuum of breathtaking beauty. It’s an extraordinary place.
The beach was filled with people working out, playing volleyball, soccer, and combination of the two – volleyball soccer. Rio is a city of movers! We bodysurfed the waves, drank more coconuts, and got some Vitamin D and Vitamin Qi in the sun.
We went straight from the beach to the mountains. Rio is home with the largest urban jungle in the world. Up through the windy roads we went for about 30 minutes, the scenery transformed from buildings to tress almost instantaneously. We stopped at “China lookout” to take in the view of the city.
From there, we hiked to a beautiful waterfall, stripped down to our Qi Thongs, and dunked under the falls. It was a very dynamic first day.
My seminar was at an Eco Village in the mountains between Rio and Sao Paulo.
I taught a group of 30 or so Brazilian’s for 4 days.
Try a few exercises with me in the Jungle:
Aion, Sara and I went exploring on multiple occasions. The theme of the trip was waterfalls. I did Qi Gong movement, “The Waterfall” at all the locations. Here is a little montage of all the waterfalls.
Tuning into the energy of the waterfall, it’s easy to come away with some lessons.
The Waterfall teaches:
Let go
Relax
Flow
Move freely around obstacles
When one path ends another begins
Water is mutable, able to transform and change
Waterfall is the liquid and the mist, the decent and the rise
As rewarding as it is to travel, it’s great to be home. I’m gearing up for my Three Treasures Immersion weekends. This is the same course I taught in Brazil (minus the Portuguese).
If you’d like to participate online or live in person, check it out here.
Todo Ben (It’s all good) and Qi,
Lee