It’s ‘acupuncture without needles’
A two-time world tai chi champion wants to establish a holistic health clinic in Timaru.
David Thew’s clinic will focus on qigong, an old Chinese holistic health belief system. It is said to elevate the qi, or life force. The gong is translated as skill, so qigong together is considered to be cultivating energy.
Thew established a qigong clinic in Christchurch in 2012, where he taught and gave seminars after studying the cultivation of energy for eight years.
He moved to Timaru at the end of last year.
‘‘Qigong is acupuncture without needles,’’ he said.
Working around the body without contact, Thew said he transmits qi through his palms to a patient.
The
importance
of
the circulating life force flow was enabled through posture, mental focus and breathing, among other techniques. Thew includes tai chi as a method of treatment after a session.
His journey into the Asian arts started when he was about 12 and watched a Kung Fu series starring David Carradine on television.
‘‘I liked the way David Carradine conducted himself and the moral base appealed to me.’’
He took up judo but after leav- ing school, in his first job as a spray-painter, he slipped off a ladder, breaking his knee-cap.
Not able to continue with judo because of the injury, he heard about the benefits of tai chi and learned from elderly master Loo Chi Hu for the next two decades.
It taught him self-control and how to release stress.
Tai chi could also be used as self-defence through taking advantage of an aggressor’s force, he said.
‘‘It was originally a martial art handed down from father to son by world of mouth. It was disguised (from others) through the forms.’’
He went on to scoop national and international tai chi titles.
In 2010 and again in 2012 he gained a gold and a silver medal at the world championships in China. It was no mean feat considering there were 2500 contestants.
Thew’s scores were in the top 5 per cent.
Using his knowledge and experience, Thew hopes to offer 15-60-year-olds a dynamic form of tai chi, as well as qigong, at the clinic in Timaru in the near future.