In Memoriam (cont.)

Now, John is gone, but in his last messages to us, he told us he was very proud of the Foundation and where it has arrived in its journey to offer the service of empowering people to greater function, health and well being through Tai Chi and Qigong.

As a person, John was an example of “walking his talk” and even living his talk. In his life journey, John was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and shortly after started taking Tai Chi classes. His teacher, an American Bagua master, gave him some Tai Chi exercises and asked him to practice for 20 minutes every day without fail. John did exactly that, and applied himself to practice simple movements, breath, posture and self massage every day. Just after that, John was involved in a drug study, which involved about getting off the Parkinson’s medications  in order to try a new drug. The requirement was that the test subjects, like John, had to be in early stages of the disease, and John qualified. John still practiced simple Tai Chi throughout the study. The study was rigorous, and John’s blood was evaluated frequently, and he was also subject to random psychological evaluation. Finally, the researchers singled him out one day – and asked if he was doing something like taking his old medications, which was not allowed as part of the test. Unbeknownst to John, the research technicians were seeing something in his blood work and symptoms that made no sense with the results they were seeing in other test subjects. Since it was a double-blind study, the technicians and handlers didn’t know who was on the medications and who was not. He was watched very carefully: his diet, his blood, his mind was evaluated more than anyone else in the study. John of course was doing Tai Chi, but John practiced diligently at least 20 minutes per day during the study. When the research was completed, John asked to see the results, and he learned he was on the placebo and not taking medications throughout and experiencing what appeared to the researchers as dramatic improvement.

In this dramatic story, John became convinced that his “inner healer” (healer within) had been awakened, that his body had come to utilize his natural resources to heal itself. His Tai Chi practice and the experience of participating in the study gave him confirmation about the role of medications in his life, and he was able to work with a doctor to reduce his medications dramatically. More importantly, he also became a teacher of Tai Chi and helped many people and their families living with Parkinson’s. John said that in working with Parkinson’s patients exclusively, he began to observe that Tai Chi helped people who were otherwise very afraid and stressed about moving to relax and move with grace and control. He thought that he was teaching the Parkinson’s students to, like he did during the study, apply Tai Chi as a resource to help manage the symptoms of Parkinson’s. After that, he was convinced this worked. He received certification as a Tai Chi Easy Practice Leader and then went on to get certified as a teacher with IIQTC. Because of his personal experience, wanting to help disseminate the practices was a great passion for John. Shortly after, John served on the board of the Healer Within Foundation, and as the story goes, brought us where we are today.

“Applying Tai Chi Easy and practices like it…that is HWF,” John said. This is like saying Tai Chi and Qigong and related practices can be harnessed and directed for healing and empowerment purposes to help people live better lives. That’s when the process started to make Tai Chi Easy more available to everyone by training more people every year.

This last year of 2018 the Healer Within Foundation trained a record number of practice leaders. It was not the work of one person, but many. John taught us and encouraged us to stand together and make our offering with pride and with love.

We will miss his light and leadership, and we are happy to have had his leadership. Thank you, John Middlebrooks for making the Healer Within Foundation what it is today!

- Josie Weaver, President, Healer Within Foundation