How Qigong Can Calm Your Mind and Body

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2024

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Studies show qigong can strengthen your body and mind, and reduce cortisol levels. We explore this Chinese meditative movement practice that dates back over 4,000 years.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/2ywsck4e

Episode summary: Finding calm in your day to day life can be stressful, especially in a world that seems to be moving at such a rapid pace. Your life can change in an instant– and it can be really difficult to get yourself on your feet again. On this episode of The Science of Happiness, Ace Boral, an Oakland-based chef, joins us to try Qigong. Ace talks about his health struggles over the past four years, and how incorporating Qigong into his life over the past few weeks has helped him find mental clarity, emotional balance, and confidence in himself. Then we hear from Harvard psychologist Peter Wayne who has practiced and studied the benefits of Xigong.

Today’s guests: Ace Boral is an Oakland-based chef.

Peter Wayne is an Associate Professor of Medicine, and serves as the Director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, jointly based at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Learn more about Peter’s work: https://tinyurl.com/342xndna

More episodes like this one:

Moving Through Space, with Dacher Keltner: https://tinyurl.com/3u844n4d
The Science of Synchronized Movement: https://tinyurl.com/n4bcrb5j

Tell us about your experiences with Qigong. Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness!

Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcript

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0:00.0	20 specifically in March when the shutdowns happened my
0:08.7	restaurant started feeding the public like we just started feeding like
0:12.4	these food insecure
0:14.2	and immunocompromised populations in Long Beach.
0:16.9	Like because I had a fridge full of food
0:19.0	and I had staff that had nothing to do.
0:21.4	So we did that for a couple weeks and then the LA Times picked up on it, did a little like thing about us.
0:27.0	Long Beach City found out about us and then they just started like supporting us.
0:32.0	People just donating because they saw what we were doing and that was felt great. I was like, oh my God, you know, people want to help and they're helping the helper. I was like, okay, I think that's what I need to do.
0:44.0	So we were like rolling with that from March until August.
0:47.6	And in August I was like, you know what?
0:50.8	I'm done with like traditional capitalist chase with like a successful business let's just get into
0:56.6	the business quote-unquote of helping people
0:59.5	So I announced to people that we were starting a nonprofit the day after I announced that
1:06.2	the restaurant had a fire an electrical fire and it pretty much burnt down.
1:17.4	I would say that I kind of just let my health go after the restaurant in Long Beach.
1:20.4	I ended up like going from pre-diabetic to diabetic.
1:28.4	I packed on 50 pounds man. It was bad like I've never felt so just so disassociated so not a person just so not myself and you know since then you know I'm getting treatment you know check the old
1:36.0	ticker the heart's doing okay like really pushed myself to get better and chasing
1:40.8	that happiness that peace and so the past four years has been just completely
1:45.0	Rise of the Phoenix yada yada,
1:47.0	but I really do feel like ashes to where I am now.
	...

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