Comments on: Ask Sifu Anthony: Chronic Pain, Trauma, Digestion, and more.

By: ozumu

ozumu — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 11:34:34 +0000

This sounds like one of those conversations that really sticks with you. Sifu Anthony touches on chronic pain, trauma, digestion, and how they’re all connected in ways a lot of people don’t always think about. Instead of treating symptoms in isolation, he talks about listening to the body as a whole and understanding how stress, past injuries, and emotional trauma can show up physically over time.
What makes it compelling is how practical it feels — it’s not just theory, but insights you can actually reflect on in your day-to-day life, whether that’s how you move, breathe, or even how you eat. It comes across as both thoughtful and grounded, especially for anyone who’s been dealing with lingering pain or health issues and looking for a deeper, more holistic perspective.

By: Sifu Anthony Korahais

Sifu Anthony Korahais — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 15:01:02 +0000

In reply to Aria.

Hi Aria. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been struggling for so long. I’m familiar with POTS and I know how debilitating it can be.

Qigong can absolutely be done seated. I have many students who are wheelchair bound. The article you read was about practicing qigong with a cold or the flu. It wasn’t referring to chronic illness.

This article will explain how you can start practicing in a chair, and also why qigong works so well even if you cannot stand:

https://flowingzen.com/tips-for-practicing-qigong-in-a-chair/

You can certainly join the Qigong 1010 program in January, but you don’t need to wait. Get my book, sign up for the free online course that comes with it, read the article above, and get started this week!

The cost for all my program is the same: $597 for 13 months of training (that’s 12 months plus a month of bonus materials).

In the book, there is a section about the 2-Minute Drill. That is going to be your new best friend as you try to implement a daily qigong habit.

My programs are not for healthy people. Most of my students are dealing with one more more forms of chronic illness. I have tons of students with long covid, ME/CFS, POTS, etc. Your will fit in fine, and everything can be adjusted to your own, personal situation.

By: Aria

Aria — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 13:21:13 +0000

Hi,

I have been chronically ill for most of my life but was only very recently diagnosed and receiving treatment at 34, it is called POTS and is a disregulation of the autonomic nervous system that causes automatic processes in the body to not function correctly. This goes into things like breathing, blood pressure, temperature intolerance to the point of creating hot flashes, saliva and tear production, etc. etc.
The main symptoms are tachycardia and low blood volume (combined with faulty responses to being upright) which makes it so not enough blood gets to the brain and vital organs when standing. When raising arms above heart level the blood sinks out of them and will cause muscle burning and circulation/nerve issues, pins and needles, etc. The chronic fatigue, debilitating brain fog, and pain are 24/7 for me even when laying down.

The past 4 years I have been bed bound and have been trying and failing time and time again to get started with physical therapy, even at a very low level. I can only do the movements. I am only allowed to stand for a minute at a time, and only sit for a few hours a day, physical therapy only allowed horizontally and very gently. So most of my day I spend laying down or seated to ensure I don’t get sicker than I already am.
I feel Qi Gong is the right way to go for me, but almost everything I read and see on Qi Gong is how important it is to be standing upright while doing the practice.
There is very little information for very sick bed bound people to get started. Even in your blog post on being sick it recommends getting off the couch to do standing exercises, which for now is unattainable for me. While I do want to work that direction to hopefully in a few years no longer be bed bound, but I feel I need to learn to gather more Qi and clear any blockages to get there, which makes it a paradox to get started.

I would love your advice on this!

My current (self invented) practice is about 5-10 minutes a day of gentle cross legged sitting (with back support) Qi Gong with my elbows resting on my knees just trying to feel a ball, and over an our of meditation.

I would also love to work towards being able to do your course in 2025, can you tell me what the price point is?
And if I would be able to adjust the exercises in that course to laying/sitting/leaning level for very short bursts at a time? I’m worried the level is for healthy people only and I won’t be able to adjust or accommodate for my illness, what do you think?

(Perhaps a few blog posts or a course on this topic wouldn’t be a bad idea either, after COVID lots of people have developed POTS, disautonomia, Long COVID, and ME/CFS. For most of these people standing can increase symptoms and exercise is not recommended for them so they need to be very careful and gentle. I’m sure a lot of people would be interested in something like this!)

Thank you for your advice!