I firmly believe that exercise is a powerful self-help remedy that can improve one's physical and mental well-being. Indeed, I am pleased to receive positive feedbacks from patients and their caregivers. From the experiences of cancer patients and others who had attended CancerStory.com's qigong and yoga lessons, they have reaped the benefits of these gentle exercises after regular practices. Some of the benefits are given below :

• Relieve pain and side-effects from medical treatment and medications
  
  
• Feeling more positive and energetic
  
  
• Improve blood circulation
  
  
• Improve mobility and flexibility
  
  
• Improve other bodily functions and general well-being
  
  
• Relieve stress and depression
  
  
• Relaxation of mind and body
  
  
• Improve appetite

Getting patients to take up a life-long exercise is never an easy task. Very often, they give excuses that they do not have time for it. However, I reckon the main problem is the lack of enthusiasm and determination to get well through movement. Some patients had also admitted that they are lazy and have no discipline to engage in any form of exercise. It is so much easier to pop pill so long as one can afford it.

Indeed, the 'lazy bug' in the human body can be more difficult to kill than cancer cells. I am at my wits' end and resigned to the fact that only the patients have control over their laziness. However, taking Yu Gong as a role model, I will continue to advocate healing through movement. Yu Gong is the foolish old man who removed the mountain in the ancient Chinese story of "Yu Gong Yi Shan". Hopefully, my unwavering belief in Yu Gong's spirit and endurance will bring me success in the fight against human's laziness. Most importantly, patients must be self-motivated and have the human's wisdom to do what is beneficial in the battle against their illness instead of dying from laziness.

A well-fought battle is better than giving up without a good fight.

Only do what you feel comfortably able to manage. If you do not feel well, stop the exercise immediately.

Patients must have the SELF-DISCIPLINE AND DETERMINATION to practise it diligently as a life-long exercise.

I would like to share the beneficial experience with the Qigong lessons that I had attended under your auspices. It is testimony to its effectiveness and long-term benefit. I had been doing only 5 of the movements (actually the first few that we were taught and the easiest to learn) religiously each evening and my acute back pain is a thing of the past. I would say 95% it has gone away.

I am quite sure qigong had a lot to do with my recovery. My chronic backache occurred after my radiotherapy in 1995. I went through weeks of physiotherapy that was palliative. Occasional pain remained. This was aggravated after my radical neck dissection. The pain was so bad that I could not bend my head forward or even sit for more than a few minutes in the toilet throne.

That was when I signed up for the Qigong lessons. If you would recall, I had severe discomfort in the back during the first few lessons. This became less acute over time but persisted nonetheless throughout the rest of the lessons. To me, it appeared that Qigong was working as it seemed to provoke a reaction in my back.

Unfortunately, I was not disciplined to practise it everyday. The pain resurfaced and physiotherapy did not help. I had acupuncture done at Dr Cao's clinic and this sparked me on my return to normalcy. Since then, I go through the Qigong routine everyday, some times more than once and my back is almost back to pristine condition.

I am sometimes amazed by what a couple of simple exercises can do in terms of relieving a chronic medical condition. Of course, this would not have been possible if you had not organized the Qigong class in the first place. This goes to prove that Complementary and Alternative medicine really has a role to play in treating cancer patients.

In February 2005, I referred a stroke patient to seek help from the Society for the Physically Disabled. As the patient is on the public assistance scheme, he was offered free physiotherapy/rehabilitation support. However, he did not take up the offer as he had found a quick fix by making daily trips to a shop to receive free massage by sitting on a chair that is selling at $9,000/-. He claimed that it had helped him in his urination and bowel movement. Sadly, he failed to see the long-term benefits of physiotherapy/rehabilitation.

Fortunately, there are other stroke patients who believe in movement therapy. I had referred them to learn some simple exercises/yoga movements from a dedicated teacher.