The Origin of the Biyun Qigong Method
Grand Master Fan Xiulan
Qigong and medical knowledge comprise a heritage that has been carried in Fan Xiulan’s family for generations. She was just 6 years old when her grandmother decided that she was the one in the family to carry on this medical heritage. The grandmother (who was a Qigong master and doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine) started teaching her grandchild the simple but very health- promoting movements of Qigong. During the next 7 years Fan Xiulan practiced daily, - although she loved dancing and would have rather moved around freely. When she was 13 she rebelled against the training, and for many years she only practiced sporadically.
It was not until she was 33, and for the first time in her life was seriously ill, so ill that the doctors feared she was dying, that she realized what a precious treasure her grandmother had passed on to her.
Fan Xiulan now put all her focus into healing herself through the Qigong method she learned as a child from her grandmother. She practiced intensively – up to 5 hours daily – and at once sensed how her energy fields opened and qi-- life force-- started flowing. After one week of intensive training – after a session of 2 hours of Stillness Qigong – she suddenly knew, intuitively, that there was a turn-around. She realized that the illness had let go of its grip on her body. And sure enough, when she returned to the hospital for an evaluation, the doctors could testify that, much to their surprise, all of her blood counts were back to normal. Her healing was miraculous.
One year after her recovery Fan Xiulan started studying Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
In the 1980’s the practices of Qigong and TCM started blooming in China. Scientific studies were made, and showed that Qigong training had a positive effect on a number of illnesses, cancer and lung problems among many others. Many people started practicing Qigong – and got better.
In the 1980’s there were a large number of different methods of Qigong. But Fan Xiulan intuitively felt that she needed to develop her own method. She wanted to combine the movements she had learned from her grandmother with those she developed herself. Her methods were created by combining her intuition and her experience as a TCM doctor. The result of this is the Biyun Method, which is a unique combination of philosophy and TCM principles and is expressed in the soft and simple movements of this unique form of Qigong.
In 1985 Fan Xiulan founded a health center for older Chinese people who were somewhat worn down by life and had health issues. Many of them, when they arrived at the health center, could not breathe without oxygen. After a while of Qigong practice they were able to breathe without the machines, and to move around freely.
The rumors of these amazing results were spreading fast, and studies, conferences, and reports were created concentrating on the Biyun Method. One day in 1989 Chinas Minister of Health, Cui Yueli; appeared in Fan Xiulans health consultation room. Cui Yueli was a strong believer in Medical Qigong, and he named the methods, “a treasure for mankind”. He had suffered from heart/vascular problems for many years, and when he appeared at the health center he was very ill. Because he was the Minister of Health he naturally had access to the best medical doctors and the most effective medicine. But nothing had seemed to help, and he now wished to try the Biyun Method. Like many other patients he was breathing through a machine when he arrived, but after one month with Qigong practice combined with acupuncture and Chinese massage (Tuina), he did well without the machine.
The treatment and healing of Cui Yueli, and the research into this method of Qigong have made the Biyun Method internationally known. Shortly after Cui Yueli’s recovery, Fan Xiulan was invited to Japan to teach. Also, China’s national TV station, CTV, asked her to write a book about, and do a TV series featuring the Biyun Method. The series drew a large number of viewers and has been broadcasted several times since.
It is a fact that Medical Qigong has a healing effect on the serious lifestyle illnesses such as heart/vascular diseases, respiratory problems and diabetes. International studies have shown that this method can even positively impact cancer and HIV/AIDS.
In 1991 Niko Nygren invited Fan Xiulan to Sweden to teach, and today many in the world know about her work and feel privileged when she visits. Besides teaching and educating instructors in Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) Fan Xiulan frequently travels to USA and Brazil to teach. Fan Xiulan has educated instructors in Denmark since 2002.
This is a short version of newspaper article published in Denmark in the spring of 2011, translation by Elsebeth Krogh, proofreading by Lyn Doucet
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