Welcoming Ivan Forest To our Weekly Teaching Staff!

We are so happy to have Ivan bringing 5 Element QiGong to Be Free on Fridays at 10:30am! (Starting Jan 9th!). We asked him some questions so you can catch his vibe…

When did you first start practing QiGong and what drew you to it?

I first started practicing QiGong years ago with a dear friend who studied Chinese Medicine. My friend was recommending QiGong to help me work through a fast paced stressful lifestyle. At the time I wasn’t showing any symptoms of a stressful lifestyle. But somehow she knew.

   Fast forward to years later. She was right! Multiple conditions started surfacing. Then the pandemic happened. That’s when I decided to take a deeper dive into practing QiGong. I felt some benefits right away and decided to start practicing QiGong on a daily basis. Since I was put on full disability it was possible for me to this.

How have you seen this practice improve your life?

Now what I would say is my energy level and immunity is much more vibrant and resilient that ever before.

Who do you think benifits most from the QiGong practice?

With that being said, anyone with low energy and mobility issues would probably benefit from practicing QiGong the most. Although QiGong is designed to maintain health. Healing with QiGong takes more effort than maintaining with it.

When you're not doing QiGong, what else are you up to?

When I’m not practicing QiGong I’m a devoted father and grandfather. I spend time walking, bike riding and working out at the gym. I can be found hanging out at the Food Co-Op, volunteering at my child’s school and hunting for driftwood along the river. Working with driftwood is my art and passion.

What's currently lighting up your world?

  Spending quality time with my daughters and granddaughter light up my life. But I have to admit practicing QiGong during a beautiful illuminating morning sunrise is right up there with one of my favorite things to do.