Here’s the solution to all the licensing madness: safeharbor through practice exemption. It’s been done in 11 states, Maine being the latest so far and Massachusetts and Wisconsin could be 12 and 13. It exempts complementary and alternative practitioners out of broadly written BS scopes of practices contrived by these anti-competitive special interest groups and creates a clear set of common sense prohibited acts within which they need to operate. Like you can perform surgeries, prescribe drugs or administer radiation. Boom – done – problem solved. No more arbitrary practice board harassment and everyone can start getting along like adults again.

Janice,
I don’t know if you have experience in the field of qigong but I must say your response toward Sifu Anthony is disrespectful. There is no doubt he has confidence in his ability to teach and lead or he would not have taken on such an enormous task to teach an on-line course, after teaching in a studio setting for many years, to educate and help others.

Telling him to just do it and stop complaining shows once again disrespect and also your lack of understanding regarding what is involved. All his years of experience, knowledge and learning from many qualified Masters in China and others, means nothing in this country. You obviously did not read the entire bill that has been written.

To state you like the idea of regulating qigong also proves you are not educated in what regulating means. For starters, this is not about separating the real qualified instructors from the fake instructors. This is about the government, yes, the government governing this modality, which means another way for them to put more money in their pockets by means of the licensing fees collected. The colleges and universities are also involved because instructors will have to take credited courses as outlined in this bill to qualify for this license. That means although the colleges and universities will benefit, guess what?, the universities are government controlled and guess who receives that money. That’s right, the government.

The people who run the government will decide how we teach, what we can teach, and dig deep into the pockets of the teachers for taxes. Qigong now becomes owned by the government. If you know anything about this modality, you will find this is not what we are about. We are about helping others not about politics.

As Sifu stated, licensing does not prevent fakes. There are people who have been arrested after practicing medicine for several years with a license who were not qualified, how they managed to obtain a license is not clear. So regulating will not prevent the fakes, if anything it may produce people who teach qigong with their only interest being about money. I agree with Sifu Anthony, this should be in the hands of all involved with qigong. I am against qigong being regulated and becoming political.

You should take time to read the entire bill and research all the information Sifu Anthony highlighted for you to click on in his article. Then enter an intelligent response.

I note that the proposal would, strangely, legislate qi into existence. Like, it’s real and has real effects. Cupping and Traditional Chinese Medicine including herbs are also included in the legislation; I’m confused. Don’t want to know how Westerners propose to become experts in regulating Eastern arts.

What about reiki practitioners? Do they get legislated too? I ask, only part jokingly, could they send long distance reiki across state lines? (Tough to monitor or enforce, right? 😉 )

Shaking my head; it’s too close to bedtime for this. Sounds like it would get struck in part or while if challenged. And agreed: there are good and bad licensed professionals in every area. It’s just a demonstration of competence with meeting continuing education requirements (for architects and engineers: permitting departments check our work before anything gets built. Doctors don’t have such tight supervision right?)

As qigong proves itself to be more effective than other medical modalities, and more people want to take it up, there will probably be more of this kind of attempt to stifle it. This is simply demonic. They work through the government, but they are not really motivated by the desire to protect the public; they use that as a ploy to protect their selfish financial concerns.

Janice, this legislation would do nothing to protect against bad or fake teachers. If anything, it would block experienced teachers like me from teaching. Licensing and certification do not protect against bad teachers. There are plenty of bad acupuncturists despite all of the licensing and regulation.