While living in Seattle in 2008, I was hired by a man from Kirghizistan. He had been half-paralyzed by a strike of lightning 10 years prior, and had healed thanks to strictly following the teachings of a Qi-Gong master. The day before we met, I was telling a friend the first story in the book « Musicophilia » (by Oliver Sacks): a man was struck by lightning, survived, started hearing piano in his head. He got so obsessed that he bought a piano and started practising. His wife left him, he left his job as a surgeon, and became a renowned classical concert piano player. So I was intrigued. To make a long story short, I became his assistant and translator, because his english was poor – Russian was his main language. His thing was to teach Qi-Gong together with « The TRIZ method« , a method invented by a Russian engineer to face unusual situations. So here we were, in a facility with social workers and educators in Renton, way south in the suburbs of Seattle: a Kirghiz guy teaching Qi-Gong and Triz in Russian to teenage high-school dropouts in a re-engagement program, translated by a Frenchman! After a few months, he let go and quit because he didn’t find satisfaction. I held on and became a taijiquan instructor for these kids. I loved it.
