T’ai Chi, QiGong, Acupuncture, NMT & Yoga
T’ai Chi and QiGong
Anna Pergola was initially accredited as a Qigong instructor in 1997 and has taught continually since then throughout metropolitan Denver. Some of the current forms she enjoys teaching include, T’ai Chi Chih®, TaijiFIT™, Moving for Better Balance, Coiling Silk Qigong, Five Animal Frolics and Taiji Ruler Qigong. She has also been certified to teach GZSPN™ Foundations, an innovative fitness program designed to benefit people with Parkinson’s disease.
Anna shares the wide range of Qigong benefits with students enrolled in classes at recreation centers, health clubs, hospital wellness programs, community mental health programs and private studios, and has conducted presentations for various organizations including OLLI West/University of Denver Speaker Series, Jefferson County Public Schools, Colorado Department of Education, Special District Association and The Tennyson Center for Children.
What is QiGong?
QiGong (pronounced “chee-gong”) is a practice rooted in Chinese philosophy and energy medicine. “Qi” is the vital energy force that flows through the human body and all living things, and the word “gong” means work or skill, making QiGong a form of energy work. The gentle, flowing movements and rooted postures of QiGong coordinated with relaxed breathing and a quiet mind serve to activate, refine, circulate and harmonize the qi.
Acupuncture and NMT
H. Gail Smithson, LAc is state licensed and board certified (National Commission for Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology. He has extensive additional training in energy techniques, including Body Restoration Technique (BRT), JMT Technique and NeuroModulation Technique. He has been practicing Vipassana meditation for over 30 years, a form of meditation that blends body sensations with awareness practices. It was as a result of his meditation practice that Gail became interested in Chinese Medicine and energy techniques. He is a gentle and caring practitioner, committed to health and wellness. To this end, he blends many approaches, working with you and the wisdom of your body to find the most effective treatments.
Acupuncture is the act of inserting needles into specific points on the body to relieve pain, or to help treat disease or illness, and it supports general health and well-being. Acupuncture is based on an ancient Chinese belief that there is life energy in every living creature called Chi or Qi, and that this energy flows along specific pathways called meridians. Acupunture.com states that “as long as this energy flows freely throughout the meridians, health is maintained, but once the flow of energy is blocked, the system is disrupted and pain and illness occur.” “Acupuncture works to “re-program” and restore normal functions by stimulating certain points on the meridians in order to free up the Chi energy.
It is a practice within Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which has developed over thousands of years with earliest documentation being 2696 BC. Wikipedia.com offers this definition of Traditional Chinese Medicine: “TCM says processes of the human body are interrelated and constantly interact with the environment. Therefore the theory looks for the signs of disharmony in the external and internal environment of a person in order to understand, treat and prevent illness and disease. TCM theory is based on a number of philosophical frameworks including the Theory of Yin-yang, the Five Elements, the human body Meridian system and others. Diagnosis and treatment are conducted with reference to these concepts.” Chinese medicine is based on a different paradigm than Western medical practices. As an example acupuncture treats the human body as a whole with several systems of functions that are associated with physical organs. As a treatment method acupuncture has the goal and objective to put balance back to those systems and re-harmonize the body.
NeuroModulation Technique (NMT)
By H.Gail Smithson, L.Ac. and Melanie Smithson, MA, ADTR, LPC
For many people, there is still a major separation between physical, mental and spiritual health. Western medicine and culture teaches us to see the body as separate from the emotions and the brain as separate from the spirit. Some of us have always been intuitively aware that this doesn’t make sense. We have experienced the effect of our physical state on our emotions, as well as the impact of emotions on our body. In the last decade or so, neuroscientists and others have started to recognize the interrelatedness of all our parts. Many, many brain/body/emotion studies are in progress. During this exciting time of research, there are new breakthroughs in medical care almost daily.
In the many years of attending trainings and seminars, I have found NMT to be the most comprehensive and effective in treating physical ailments, and emotional ailments manifesting in the physical body. NMT embraces the interconnectedness of body, mind and spirit and systematically incorporates these concepts into healing.
NMT is a proprietary system of health care developed by Dr. Leslie S. Feinberg of Oregon, and is a result of his many years of studying the multitude of methods of energetic medicine. In 2002, a breakthrough in his research resulted in the creation of a powerful system of healing based on the marriage of accepted principles of western science with Traditional Chinese Medicine concepts.
NMT is directed at re-establishing the body’s innate capacity to heal. When illness happens, it is often a result of factors that confuse the body’s internal control center, the Autonomic Control System (ACS), making it impossible to regulate the body to a healthy state.
Some of the factors affecting the ACS include allergies, toxic agents, confusion in the autonomic nervous system, errors in sensitivity settings, environmental chemicals and pernicious synaptic patterns (PSP’s). Dr. Feinberg defines PSP’s as errors in recording of data in the nervous system that compromise regulation of body function. They are patterns of reacting set in the body, based on past experience and family patterns.
How Does NMT Work?
NMT accesses and assesses the autonomic control system (ACS) of the patient through muscle response testing, utilizing verbal and/or non-verbal semantic questions and statements. The ACS is then instructed to make modifications with a combination of verbal and/or non-verbal corrective commands and statements. This process is further augmented and reinforced with gentle stimulation of vertebral segments (tapping on the spine), specific breathing patterns, and other sensory stimuli. It is based upon widely accepted neurophysiologic models. There are no vials, special reflex points, or potions used. The NMT method is based on generally recognized principles of neurophysiology, physiology, psychology, Traditional Chinese Medicine, linguistics, and anatomy and constitutes a unique and proprietary system of health care protected by applicable laws of United States patent, copyright, and trademark laws.
What Conditions Respond to NMT?
NeuroModulation Technique treats virtually all forms of illness which are provoked by faults in the function of the autonomic nervous system. This list includes all allergies, chronic degenerative diseases such as arthritis; multiple sclerosis and other demylenating diseases; Crohn’s disease, IBS, and gastric reflux disease; infectious disease processes; colds; flu; all autoimmune diseases; acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions; addictions, emotional, psychological and sensory/motor neurological disturbances. Many clients with ‘incurable’ diseases have responded positively to NMT.
