Qigong Practice: The Art of Intention and Acceptance - Wabke Bouman

As a Qigong teacher & Huyuan Qi therapist herself, core Zhineng Qigong principles are no stranger to Wabke Bouman. In today’s Qigong podcast Wabke speaks on many Qi gong principles: intention, trust & acceptance.

Intention is a crucial aspect of both personal and spiritual growth. When you have an intention that truly comes from within, you connect with the Qi field. The more you build and connect to the Qi field, the open you are, the more possibilities arise. Connecting with the Qi field or the universe opens up pathways and opportunities that might not have been visible otherwise. We often have a narrow reference frame work of what intention is and doing so can close off so many possibilities, as Wabke explains.

Trust is not only an essential part to intention, but to the Qigong practice as a whole. While setting a clear direction is important, it is equally vital to surrender to the journey or Qi field and trust that the universe or life will guide you towards your goals as Wabke notes. With consistent Zhineng Qigong practice you can re-build trust. This trust is about trusting life itself to treat you well and lead you to where you need to be. Western culture has a thought pattern of protection and one that’s rooted in fear, where as in Qigong with an open heart and mind you learn to let go of the need for control and embrace the unknown.

Qigong teaches acceptance of all situations, good or bad. By removing judgment and embracing the moment, you reduce suffering and find unexpected blessings. Wabke shares a personal story of how accepting an injury led to unexpected kindness and growth.

Happiness and gratitude is another central Zhineng Qigong theme Wabke explores in this episode. It is important to recognize that happiness and fulfillment are not just end goals but are present throughout the journey, Wabke clarifies. It’s the trust that you can be happy before reaching your goal,  the acceptance in the midst of challenges, the gratitude in enjoying the journey and finding happiness in the present moment - all key principles of Qigong and navigation systems for life.

Mindful moments:

• Intention & Qigong: Intention guides Qigong practice and opens new possibilities.
• Qi Field Connection: Connecting to the Qi field expands potential.
• Trust in Qigong: Trust in the journey and the universe.
• Letting Go of Control: Embrace the unknown and reduce suffering.
• Acceptance in Qigong: Accept all situations without judgment.
• Happiness & Gratitude: Find happiness in the present moment.

Links and Resources:
Discover Qigong Game: https://tinyurl.com/ymuywb6x
La Qi Method E-learning Course: https://t.ly/iHe79
Connect with Wabke: https://www.wabke.nl/
Torsten’s take: https://torsten-lueddecke.com/2017/01/24/the-cause-of-all-unhappiness/ 

🎙️🌟Explore more podcasts, events, and resources visit:
https://www.zhineng-qigong-students-hub.com/

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Transcript

Is there a conflict between having a clear intention and accepting life just the way it is? Or do both go hand in hand together? Our guest today, Wabke Bouman, is sharing her insights with us. My name is Torsten Lueddecke and this is the Wisdom Qigong Podcast, Wabke is a well known Zhineng Qigong teacher and Huyuan Qi Therapist, in the Netherlands..

And when I asked her what she would like to talk about, she said, well, let's start with intention. And I've got some thoughts on that. So maybe Wabke, you would like to share, you know, what your thinking is. 

Yes. Thank you, Torsten. Thank you for being on, for inviting me here. Yeah, so you asked me like, okay, what angle can we take on this, on this podcast today

and I've been thinking about it. And I thought like, well, when I, when Zhineng Qigong came my way, because that's, that's the way it happened. I was already involved in meditation for about 15 years. I think I, I, practice it quite intensively. I still practice it. And theZhinengng qigong came my way.

I was, I, I had, I had been working with someone who was teaching in this meditation method. And later on, I was searching like, okay, how can I share this? What I already learned. And in that searching for how can I share, Zhineng qigong came my way. And, in Zhineng Qi Gong, we often say like, okay, it's very important to have your intention, to have intention for your practice, for your life, for your projects, for everything.

And, ever since I started with it, I felt like a yes for it. And at the same time, a bit of a doubt, like, Yeah. How does it work? Does it really work like that? And when I now would look at this subject, it's both. I think it's both good to have an intention, like with an intention, and when it's really coming from the inside and really everything in you, in you decides like, okay, this is the direction that I want to go in with my life or with my practice, things open.

It's like a communication with. the universe with life itself. And at the same time, it's, it's, it's also this opening, and also in this opening, it's letting go. It's submission. It's letting, inviting actually life, like, okay, where does life want to lead me? So it's, it's, it seems like it's opposite to each other.

It's like, okay, I want to have this direction, or I open up to where does life want to take me? And, but more and more, I think like it's both setting this direction, this intention and opening up, or, like I heard from another podcast, a submission, submission to life and really also acceptance of everything, that's already.

I understand that, and I think it has to do a lot with how narrow we define intention. If we have a very narrow, concrete intention, we might actually closing ourselves up to new opportunities and to other ways of getting there. But often now what we, what we, describe as our intention, there is often an underlying intention that is much broader.

So, maybe this would kind of resolve the puzzle here that, you can still have your intention, but it might be much broader and underlying than what you initially have formulated. So, for example, if I say my intention is to get, get to Rome, maybe what I'm really saying is my intention is to get exposed to a new culture and see historical sites.

Now, if I go on the website and looking for flights to Rome and I discover there's a great flight to Cairo, I might just change my plan and go to Cairo because my underlying intention of exploring a new culture is still being met. And, I think so you're making a very important point because if we, if we define our intention to narrowly or close down or don't see what life brings up as opportunities, we might actually be missing out and we might be struggling because we are attached to some very narrow minded idea rather than the, than the broader underlying force that drives us.

Is that kind of, you know, does that kind of make sense to what you're saying? 

Yeah, it does. And it also reminds me of, for instance, in healing retreats, where people come who are really, have, different illnesses. And often we start actually with, okay, what's your intention for this retreat and for your life?

And people, most of the time, when you're ill, it's, it's very logical, they write down, I want to be healthy again. And that is, of course, it's very logical to have this intention. And it's also a good intention. At the same time, It's important to open up to the richness that sickness can actually also give.

It's, it's not only like, okay, we have to be healthy. It's more like, okay, can we embrace the richness of life? And the richness of life is in health, and also, but also maybe we get sick and we can learn to different qualities within ourselves. Sometimes, for instance, my mom, she broke her arm a couple of weeks ago, which is, Of course, she was not happy about it.

And at the same time, now that she's recovering and she tells me like, well, I learned really like there were so many people who were helping me out who were people that I hardly know that I only know from, yeah, hello in the, when you go to the fitness or anything and buy and have a short chat, but that's it.

And they were helping like, okay, I'll come, we'll come pick you up and things like that. So. The, the broken arm was of course, not so nice. And of course she also had her intention on, recovering again and as soon as possible also made use of Qigong there. And at the same time accepting what is here at the moment and embracing like, oh wow, this does, does enrich me with quite different experience.

So. It's, it's, we have this intention of, health, for instance, most of the, it's, it's so most of the time a positive intention that we have, but not, when we, we, we define it to, to, too small, we do not open up to the richness of all other possibilities. And we, I think there's also the, risk of that we are still thinking of, Oh, I'm not doing it.

Well, I'm not good enough. I should be healthy already. Things like that. While, with your intention, you put the information there and then you've set out on this journey to manifest it and have time to develop it, including everything that comes up. And not only like a goal, like, okay, when I, when I'm healthy again, then my life is fulfilled.

But till then I'm still not, well satisfied I cannot, yeah. Embrace life. So much. 

I think, I think this is a very important lesson here, Wabke, because how often do we do this? Even subconsciously, a bit like, if I have that, then I will be happy. I mean, that is the underlying thought, right? If I have that car, that house, that wife, then I will be happy, happy.

Or if I have overcome my illness, then I will be happy. If I get my

And, what you are promoting here is to say, it's all good and fine to have an intention, you know, to find a great wife. But, along the way, there's so many learnings and so many things to be grateful for and so many things to enjoy, even, you know, with the example of your mother, which I think is a wonderful example, because, during the time while her arm is broken.

She is receiving so much care and interest and support, which is a very heartwarming thing and which will make her happy. Now, does that mean she wants to run around with a broken arm for the rest of her life? No, of course not. Right. So she can have this intention of healing, healing the arm, but it should not be at the expense of And of not seeing and enjoying everything else that is happening in your life.

And, and, I've got an example like this in, in my family at the moment where somebody else is, is, is, actually, Exposed to a very serious health challenge. And it it's kind of, it doesn't allow to see any of the other beautiful things happening in her life at that moment, because there's always the thought of, yes, but, Now this and this is not okay and I need to solve it.

So all the beautiful things, all the wonderful things happening in her life, she just doesn't see it anymore. And that is, so I'm, I'm glad you make this point because you can have a serious illness or something like that. And yet there are beautiful things happening in your life and yet you can't enjoy them.

And yet you can have your intention for perfect recovery at the same time. But it doesn't mean it's only about that, that, fulfilled intention. And I think that is the point you are making here, right? 

Yes. True, true. And I think also think that when you. do open up to what is there, what, what the positive qualities that are already in your life, then you're also opening up the Qi field and the possibilities can, enhance, and there are more possibilities arise, because you open up when, as long as we are, setting our intention, but are not opening up, we do not see the opportunities and That's the beauty, I think, of Zhineng Qigong, especially with this Qi field, setting up the Qi field, connecting to the universe and to the Qi field of Zhineng Qigong or, to each other, or to your projects or to your house or anything, it's like communication and it's a much wider communication than you are probably used to.

consciously aware of. So by accepting what is there and from there setting your intention for, okay, this is where I want to go, communicate with the universe or with the Hunyuan Qi and then, and, or with life itself. And then life can respond to it. And what I experience a lot of times, and I'm quite sure you also have that, is that then there are opportunities that you did not think of before, but that are much greater or much, more beautiful than you could have imagined.

And. It's important, I think, also to not think like, oh, I open up to the blue sky or to the universe and then the universe has to come back to me and answer me. This universe can also be the other person, right, who gives me an answer, or the weather, or whatever circumstances there are. It's all within this communication.

And when we open up, beautiful things might happen, just life gets more smooth, more easy, more easy going. First, because you, you mind about things and you care about things, but when things change, you can more easily change, make the change yourself as well, without resistance. And, at the same time, yeah, for instance, when I set out a new c ourse, teach some teaching or retreat or anything, I envision like, okay, I want to have this amount of people.

in my course. And of course I make steps to it. So, okay. I, I write a newsletter and I put it on my website and on Facebook and everything. And at the same time, I somehow communicate like, okay, if the universe think it's, thinks it's, it's a good idea to have this course and to have this amount of people and they can really benefit from my program, then Let it be like this.

And it's, it's amazing how it works because many times it works like that. It's more or less, sometimes it's a bit more, sometimes it's a bit less, but more or less, it's, it's about the figure that I, had envisions, and it's, so I do put my effort in it, but I also, I put it in the Qi field and I trust, and that's also an important subject, I think, trust.

I trust like, okay, whatever, however, the Qi field finds these people, let the people who can really benefit from it, let them find this way. And, and, and my program, or someone else's program. And then I let go. Becauseh, it's, it's, it's one of the aspects that I think qi nang qigong also, can provide is that you let go and trust.

So it's not like trusting in yourself. We have a very, a culture in the West very much like, oh, I have to, I have to self trust. But that's, that's very, in itself. But when we can trust life, that is this Qi field, or the, then it's much wider. And then it's not so much about me doing good or bad or things like that, but much more like, okay, I trust that life is treating me well.

And, I ask it to treat me well, and then in the Qi field, it just, starts to exist like that. Right, 

right. We have a way you can discover Qigong. So, at the Zhineng Qigong Student Hub, we know that understanding Qigong is important. It's very important and also that Zhineng Qigong in itself has various nuances that people can't easily comprehend.

So we've approached it in the style of a video game. On this page, Discover Qigong, you can select your character. So you can either be a beginner, a practitioner, or a holistic healer or self healer. And you click on your character and it takes you to these different sections. In these sections, you can explore the nuances, and when you click on a card, all of the resources pop up, and we've made it really fun, and not many people know about it.

So, if you are interested, have a look, and discover Qigong. 

I hear two things in what you're saying that I'd like to come back to. One is that you seem to promote here that you're also not too attached to your intention or to a specific goal because you trust that the universe or life or whatever will Basically bring whatever is best.

And, and, that is the second point that I want to make because in our Western mind on our human mind, we are actually a very arrogant species because we always think we know what is best. While in fact, we haven't got a clue. So the universe might bring up something completely different. And only later we discover, wow, that wasn't so bad after all.

Right. And, but. We always set out with a certain idea, pretending that we know what's best. And no, we don't. This is just an ingrained arrogance, I think, in our mind. And you, you, you pointed that out, or you said you spoke about this in this direction when you said, in our Western culture, it's about, you know, us achieving a certain goal.

And we want that because we think this is important. And we think this is it. No, it isn't. Now life is out there and life will do whatever it does and we need to be in harmony with life and we need to embrace life and we need to surrender, that's the word you used earlier, to life and then we can have it unfold in all its beauty and we might discover, you know, whichever way it takes, it's actually a wonderful thing.

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And it's also, when you, a lot of people, there's, as an example, a lot of people who have a burnout, there's, there's, there's lots of people having that, or also with sickness. Many people afterwards, and not in the moment itself, then it's, it's just, low energy and, u not so much to, to enjoy.

But many, many people afterwards say like, okay, it changed my life. It, I started on a journey, more inward journey, for instance. To discover different qualities within myself. What I, and when we start out on life and are not so much involved yet in qi neng ji gong or in meditation or in self explorance, we have this goal, like, okay, I have to get this career or a certain, external, material things that we want to achieve.

And there's nothing wrong with that. It's, it's, and we can find also bliss within that. But for many people, there's also, and, but, also that there's a lot of, insecurity at the same time. A lot of thinking going on and this, this mind that goes on and on and on and we cannot stop it anymore and other feelings of, not being satisfied or, searching for something.

And many times life has to put the brake on our life first before we really address this topic in ourselves. And then this, you could say, like, our first thoughts, our daily thoughts, are like shouting more. They are in our face all the time. But when we go inward and Zhineng qi gong or other forms of meditation, it's more like a more silent voice within ourselves.

That as long as we are in this worldly daily thinking and achieving, the silent voice, we do not hear it anymore. But, and then when, the silent voice actually calling us like, okay, but I have to, there's something different in myself. There's something different here that wants to be explored and that wants to be, yeah, explored.

And then life puts on the brake and like, okay, stop here. And then it's the invitation to, okay, what happens when these shouting thoughts, these thoughts, that these daily thoughts, when they just. die away a bit. And what is the silent voice within? And I think Zhineng Qigong has a beautiful way to explore this silent voice, but in a very soft way.

It's also, of course, the voice that tells us like, There are patterns that we are not so proud of. We all have these patterns or these hang ups that we are, we would love to just hide it away. Like, oh no, this is not me. But on the inner side, we do have these patterns like, okay, yeah, it is like it is.

It's more silent voice. But the beauty of Zhineng Qigong, I think, is this silent voice gets more heard, you listen to it, you start to listen to it, but without having to listen to the, the negative thing of it, but just exploring it like, oh wow, there is a different feeling in me, there's a different layers of me, which is much more connected, connected already, with life, with others.

And there is not so much, judgment in can more, and then we come back to accept it or, submission to life itself. And that is the beauty of Zhineng Qigong, I think. It is the, and from this subtle voice, when the intention comes from there, it's different. Then when it comes from our daily thoughts, our shouting voice, so to say, our, our, first mindset.

And I think we all know that the one who is loudest in the room doesn't always have the most interesting or important thing to say. So And, and there is a reason why these voices are so loud because they are the panicky voices reacting to everything outside in our life. While, you know, the, the, the more silent voice from within is obviously what we would call the inner self, the core of who we are.

And this is where the important messages are, but there is no way to listen to that, as long as the radio is on full volume, because you don't hear it, you don't hear it. And, and so, you totally have, you know, I have a point when you said Zhineng Qigong is a beautiful method to get there, because ideally we don't need to go into a burnout before, because, you know, it's no fun, as you said, and, it's a serious situation, and we don't want that for us.

So anything we can do, and Zhineng Qigong certainly is a path, to come to that silent forest and listen there and find our real underlying intention. Now we are back to the intention because it is coming from the silent forest. It is coming from within. Anything we can do can only be greatly supported and encouraged.

So Wabke, you mentioned the word trust earlier. And I know this is a concept, an idea that many people struggle with or misunderstand or don't know how to use it, because trust is not something you can force upon yourself. Just like love. You can't say you have to love that person or, you know. Yeah. Or you have to trust this, trust and love is nothing you can force.

So please explore a little bit your, what your thoughts are on this trust. 

Yeah. Trust is something that I, that I think many people are searching for. We have a world, especially in the West, but I think worldwide also, which is more and more only directed at, we have to be safe. We have to get vaccinated.

We have to have big cars so we can drive safely. We have to, in the Netherlands, we have a culture of biking and, now there's the discussion, oh, we have to get helmets on. So we, Do not fall or we do not. And of course, there's much to say it's it's it's nothing bad about it. But I think our culture and our media are very much trying to, Get us into into this position of fear of not trusting because fear sells, it's, it's, it's something that, of course, I buy that helmet or that, big car or anything like that , but it's out of fear.

Many things we do out of fear. And, that's something that's so. Well, it's, it's, how do I say that, it touches my heart, you know, like, oh, I would love to have more people like, okay, trust, trust again. We are, and it's, it's also, we are much, trying to control life, controlling everything and then trying, yeah, and that way we have to, then we can, you know, more or less trust as long as it's in our controlled borders.

But, I think when we relax and, when in relaxation already, there is a lot of trust. Because when I do not trust anything, I cannot relax, and when we relax, and when we put our Qi field, when w communicate again with the, with the Qi field, with the blue sky, with the universe, then we can gradually starting to trust life itself again. It's Something that is gradually, it, it takes time, but by Going back to this relaxation again and again, and going back to this, connection to the blue sky or the universe, to the Qi field, we can gradually, increase this trust. Because I think life is, trying to give us the best we best it can.

It's not so much that life is, putting all these obstacles in there. But there's, it's almost more like going to into religious, thoughts, but, I think life is really a very, when, when you see the u in, in the spring when it comes out, the new life coming, the new birth, it's, it's so joyful and somehow.

we have to trust that life is not only this birth, but it's also the death. So when we trust life, it's also, it's this whole cycle that we start to accept again, like, okay, life is not only the thing that we can control and that we have to make and, but it's much more like, okay, what is life actually? And what is being human actually?

And then we can yeah, we come back to our inner self, to this more silent voice, what we talked about. And, and from there, we are much more in connection. And when we, when we are connected, when we feel connected in this, this one, or in this Qi field, or, then we can relax. And then it's, we can trust again.

So it's like a, like a self, evolving cycle. Like, okay, I can relax. By relaxing, I feel more connected. By feeling more connected, I can more trust. And by trusting, I can more, become more relaxed again. So it's, strengthening each other again. And it's, but also the other way, like, okay, when I do not relax, I, I keep on fighting with life and with everything that is, in my life or whether it's it and it doesn't matter whether it's my personal thoughts or emotions or it's something outside.

Whatever I'm fighting with, both inside or outside, it's the same. It gives me stress. My It has more tension, and then the energy cannot flow anymore. So, okay, we relax, connect and we trust. 

And now, the one thing, the one thing that is constantly bombarding our trust, and is the, the, The issue that when you say we start, we start fighting something, it is judgment.

Judgment is the one thing that will make sure we don't have trust because if we judge everything that life brings up, this is good, this is bad, then we are, yeah, there is no trust. So, this brings me back to the arrogance I brought up a little earlier. If we stop that, And we just observe life and say, you know, it's no matter what comes up.

It's always good. It's fine because this is life. Just as you said, yeah, there's birth and there's death. If we start to put a label and say birth is great. Yeah. Death is awful. Then, you know, we are in the same boat. cycle of judgment and then we will judge everything along the way and we will constantly be in resistance and obviously we won't trust because if something bad happens or that we call bad, label bad, our trust is broken.

Now how can the universe do that to me? How can I trust the universe if, if this is happening to me? While, really, we have no idea. where the whole thing is going, what the universe bigger plan is. Maybe it doesn't even have a plan. It's just a continuous cycle of a birth and, and death and new things coming up.

And that's fine. That's good. That's what things, how things are. And we can totally surrender to that basic idea, and trust that. So I also loved how you, how you, I'm not speaking about trust a specific thing or a specific method or a specific person. You were talking about trust in life in general and, and that is, that is important because if I put my trust in someone or in something, it's easy to say, Oh my God, they didn't expect, they didn't react or expect the way I wanted them to.

This is why I don't trust them, them or this anymore. No, it's not about this. It's really about trusting life. In itself. And, so I'm glad we brought up this point, because I know it is a very interesting thing to explore. And, I think it deserves maybe an additional podcast one day where we just look at the whole trust issue and what does trust really mean.

All right. I don't want to keep you much longer and vodka. That was a really beautiful. Is there anything else you would like to add where you feel like, Oh, I would like to explore this a little more. We touched about on it briefly, but there's more I would like to say about that. 

Just one thing, one short thing, also still on this trust subject, because this week I've been thinking about, okay, what are we going to talk about and things like that.

And this morning, actually, I woke up with, I started my day with the thing like, okay, that is judgment that is against trust. It's so subtle. And it's actually in every moment that we think like, life should be different than it is. And I think when we can, change that, like, okay, really accept like, okay, this is how life is.

No good, no bad. This just this is how life is. And then we already, yeah, have much, we win a lot. And we, we can enrich our lives. And from where life is, this is how life is. And from here, I, when we come back to our initial subject, a subject from intention. From here I can put my intention. Okay, from here when I'm now, where I am now at this moment, I can say like, okay, I'm going to do my Qigong exercises because I want to be healthy or I want to be fight, whatever is your intention with the, with the Qigong exercises.

So it's really accepting what it is and setting out this intention for the direction you take. And having this clear intention helps to actually, in every moment, make a choice. Like, okay, sometimes in the morning I wake up and I do my meditation and I feel like, I'm not, I'm not feeling like meditation.

Just let me do something else or watch my phone or anything. Okay. Oh, and I see my intention. Ah, no, no, no. My intention is that I do my Qigong exercises, for instance, or my meditation, because that's the direction that I want to take. So, That's, that's the two parts that I wanted to, 

Great, great. And I want to come back to the first part because, many, many, many years ago I wrote a little paper called the cause of all unhappiness.

And it's exactly about what you were saying, because the cause of all in any unhappiness is us wanting. That life does something different, or that someone does something different, or that I am something different. If we don't have that, if we no longer resist that and just accept this is life, this is the other person, this is me, there is no unhappiness.

It is always the same. So, this is, this is a story about two people who got together and decided to and, yeah, and just look at what is beautiful and then, live happily ever after. So it sounds a little bit like a fairytale now. So thank you very much, for joining me on this very exciting podcast journey today.

And yeah, I'll wish you all the luck. Of course we are putting all your details below the show notes. So I encourage everyone who resonated with what you've said, to be in touch and to see what you offer and how you can support people on their journey. Thank you very much. 

Thank you. Thank you, Torsten.

We trust you enjoyed this conversation and we invite you to subscribe to our podcast so we can stay in touch and notify you of future episodes. We will end today's episode with the eight verses meditation performed by Qigong teacher Katrien Hendrickx. Enjoy.


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