A MESSAGE FROM BILL DOUGLAS

Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

If humanity can "loosen up" and allow our collective imagination to expand open to new possibility . . . our future is limitless. T'ai Chi & Qigong's loosening movements, breathing and visualization techniques offer the world a powerful and enjoyable method for cultivating that skill in ourselves and in our children, who will need it even more than we do. By weaving T'ai Chi & Qigong into our society at all levels, education, corporate, healthcare, etc., a very gentle, subtle, and powerful evolution can permeate every action we take as individuals, communities, and nations. The results can be very desirable, contributing to a balance and harmony at all levels of local and global society.

World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day is a loose, fun, flowing, and profoundly effective global celebration and media / educational event that was created by people worldwide who have experienced the joy and healing of T'ai Chi & Qigong health sciences . . . and now for love of humanity . . . want to share them.

Thank you all for your efforts, your expertise, and your love. Below are some excerpts from my book and other information on my vision for T'ai Chi & Qigong into the future.

Bill Douglas, World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day Founder

WHO IS THE FOUNDER OF WORLD T'AI CHI & QIGONG DAY?

World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day Founder, Bill Douglas, is an American T'ai Chi teacher, author, and columnist who writes on natural health and global healing issues. He has founded two global healing events, and works with T'ai Chi & Qigong teachers worldwide to facilitate the use of these tools globally in health care, corporate wellness, and education.

Bill is the father of three children. His professional life has included serving as a human resources administrator for 5 international corporations, and working for human rights, environmental, and voter rights projects. Bill worked in Salvadorian refugee camps under the auspices of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees in Central America, and as a human rights advocate for Clergy and Laity Concerned.

He is the author of the best selling, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi & Qigong," and the internationally published inspiration book, "The Amateur Parent - A Book on Life, Death, War & Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe." He writes columns on natural health, environmental, social and geopolitical healing, and spiritual issues for publication worldwide in published several languages.

Bill began teaching T'ai Chi many years ago, and attempted to interest his family in it, including his parents. His parents never practiced T'ai Chi or Qigong because it seemed to "unusual" to them, and it's benefits were never explained by their physician or by mainstream media. Both Bill's parents died prematurely from heart disease. On her death bed, Bill's mother left a note saying, "I wish I could go back a few years and learn the arts of relaxation you tried to teach me, for a healthier mind and body. I would have so loved to see my grandchildren grow up."

This event fueled a desire in Bill to help millions of others worldwide enjoy the benefits of T'ai Chi & Qigong, which eventually led him to found the annual global event that is now known as . . . World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day.

In the beginning Bill was very "serious" about spreading the word on T'ai Chi & Qigong health benefits because he envisioned how they would save the planet hundreds of billions of dollars, and untold, unnecessary human suffering. However, two things happened that altered Bill's approach to spreading the word on T'ai Chi & Qigong, that would allow him to hold a lighter more celebratory approach that would eventually capture the world's imagination.

First occurred at a National Qigong Association Annual Conference in Maryland, United States. There Master Li, a great T'ai Chi & Qigong master, stopped Bill in the hall and asked this very important question, "Why are you organizing World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day? Are you doing it for love?" Master Li explained that the world's Qi, or energy field, is depleted of the energy of love at this critical time in human history, and his message was clear . . . World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day only had meaning if we are doing it for love, love of our own health, our community's health, and our world's health.

Soon after this, Bill attended a personal growth seminar in Aspen, Colorado, United States, where the moderator listening to Bill explain the important health research on T'ai Chi & Qigong, and why this is the reason the whole world should be practicing T'ai Chi & Qigong, interrupted Bill with a simple, yet profound, question. He asked, "Why don't people just do T'ai Chi & Qigong because it's fun?"

The simplicity and clarity of this question, combined with Master Li's question enabled Bill to begin to see a new vision of T'ai Chi & Qigong's potential in the modern world. Another moderator at the seminar encouraged Bill to, "Ask T'ai Chi what it wants to BECOME." This sounded strange to Bill at first, but over time these questions began to weave together an expanding possibility for T'ai Chi & Qigong.

Bill realized that the world needed the calming, healing, influence of T'ai Chi & Qigong at this critical stage in history, but that that calming and healing would come from approaching the public in a loving, and FUN way. The world is far too serious today, and by finding compassionate, accepting, approaches to explaining T'ai Chi & Qigong, their influence can spread much faster.

T'ai Chi began to unfold a new vision of what it wants to "become" in the modern world. The world is changing very rapidly, much more rapidly than any other time in history, and it is only getting faster. To live and thrive into the future we must become fluid in our thinking and action, to evolve our vision of the future as it rushes at us. Otherwise the massive change will rattle us apart, psychologically, emotionally, physically, socially, and globally.

The martial arts techniques of T'ai Chi & Qigong found power in a loose fluidity, constantly adapting to whatever the world threw at the practitioner with a suppleness that could not be broken. This technique of becoming "un-rigid" and "fluidly adaptable" is literally the prescription for the future.