Unlocking Inner Healing: The Power of Qigong and Practical Neuroscience with Sifu Boggie on Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning | Guests on Air
Welcome to Season 13 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, where we delve into the fascinating intersection of brain science, emotional intelligence, and educational training for enhanced well-being and performance. This episode features Sifu Boggie, also known as Paul Brighton, who brings over 40 years of expertise in qigong, a discipline involving breath work and self-healing techniques. As stress and anxiety reach unprecedented levels worldwide, Sifu Boggie shares how qi-gong can help alleviate ailments like chronic pain, migraines, and even mental health issues.
Join host Andrea Samadi in an enlightening discussion about the role of mindfulness and meditation in managing stress and maintaining mental peace. Sifu Boggie, introduced to martial arts at the age of 12, guides listeners through practical exercises for achieving emotional and physical balance, including breathing techniques and posture corrections that can be easily integrated into daily life. Discover how understanding and altering your energy can bring about transformational changes, fostering a stronger connection between mind and body.
For today’s episode #362, our next guest caught my eye as I noticed that my stress levels have reached some high numbers recently, with the data I see from my Whoop wearable device.
Watch our interview here https://youtu.be/lYexvaGU8M0
For today’s episode #362, we meet with Sifu Boggie, where we looked at:
✔ How Paul Brighton (Sifu Boggie) discovered this pathway from Chaos to Calm, when he was 12 years old.
✔ What classes does he teach, and how does he know how to help someone, or guide them towards improved health?
✔ How would Sifu help me with persistent neck pain?
✔ How can we learn to open our minds to learn deeper truths, that can help propel us forward?
While my average daily stress has decreased by 12% over the past 6 months (Whoop measurements) with the average amount of daily stress I’m facing dropping from close to 4 hours/day to 3 hours and 25 minutes, I know I still occasionally see days where daily stress hits well over 6 hours/day. I know there’s got to be something ELSE I can be doing to mitigate this stress, since I know that dis-ease in the body, leads straight to disease.
It’s clear that globally, we have reached unpresented times with anxiety, stress and depression. I can’t be the only one who wonders what ELSE can I be doing.
We know that:
1 in 5 Americans suffers from a mental illness (NIMH).
Anxiety disorders are the highest reported mental health issue in the US with 42.5 million Americans claiming to suffer from this illness. (Mental Health America).
Mental illnesses start showing symptoms by age 14 (National Alliance on Mental Illness),
About 1 in 4 American adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, and one in 10 will suffer from a depressive illness, such as major depression or bipolar disorder (Johns Hopkins).
10.7% of the world suffers from some form of mental illness. (Our World in Data).
STATISTICS FROM https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/mental-health-statistics/
While looking at my own stress one day, I received an introduction to our next guest, who will share the knowledge he has gathered over the past 40 years, where he has learned how to help others help themselves with ailments like... Anxiety, Stress, Chronic Pain, Depression, Fibromyalgia, Crohn’s Disease, Migraines, ME, MS, Arthritis, poor circulation, back problems and so much more.
He does this by teaching us Qi Gong (Breath work exercises) and self-healing techniques that will help you to maintain your body, mind and consciousness.
Without further ado, let's meet Sifu Boggie (Paul Brighton) from the UK (where I was born) and see what he can teach us with his wisdom and knowledge from being immersed in this work, since he was 12 years old.
Welcome Sifu Boggie! Thank you for coming on the podcast today! Where exactly have I reached you today? (I was born in Worthing, Sussex).
INTRO: Sifu, I listened to some of your past podcast episodes, and I enjoyed learning through your experiences. I do want to start by going back in time to when you were age 12, and met someone who saw that you were talented, when you felt like you didn’t belong. Can you start with explaining how you found this pathway to help others understand themselves better at a young age?
Q1: What does your name mean and how does it tie into our podcast where we work on learning strategies to be the best versions of ourselves?
Q2: I can see your talent and what makes you truly unique and I’m jumping at the chance to speak with you, to ask you questions for your perspective, but what has been your experience having a talent that takes ancient practices that can hold the secret for healing modern ailments? Can you break down WHAT exactly it is that you do in your classes, and how each class is tied to support a specific ailment of injury?
Qi Class: Qigong for Health, Fitness and Well-being, what ever your ailment or injury There is a Qigong for it...
Jing Class: Neigong ( Qigong Yoga) great for Stretching the body, Strengthening the tendons and releasing trauma/ PTSD/ Depression...
Shen Class: Shengong ( Qigong Meditation) lots of different variations, especially "the Island" a Daoist Meditation to heal mind,body and Spirit plus other Energy Meditation styles...
Eastern Reiki Class: The Traditional Version of Reiki has Hatsurie Ho ( Japanese Qigong), Kotodama ( Japanese Mantra), and Reiju ( Empowerments) done as a Weekly Class so you build and grow the energy and Traditionally Symbols were not used.
DragonDog Shaman Reiki: A particular Version of Shun Qi Shen ( Chinese Reiki) based on the Daoist Shaman practice, this has 3 Classes... Theory, Practical and Lightcode...
Q2B: So if I have pain in my neck, that’s persistent and always there, how would you help me to eliminate this pain in my neck? I ask, as it’s been this way for me for over 20 years, and I’ve tried everything! Chiropractic work, massage, oils, saunas, and even hypnotherapy (which I would have to say is highly effective). What would you say to me about this persistent pain in my neck and how would YOU solve it?
Q3: I know a lot of this involves the mind. I heard you say something that made me think a bit, and I wonder if you can explain how you interpret when Hong-Kong, American martial arts and actor, the late Bruce Lee said “it’s like a finger pointing away to the moon” urging us to NOT concentrate on our finger, or we will miss “all that heavenly glory” and that we must NOT think, but learn to FEEL more. How does this quote tie in here? Learn to listen to our body and feel more, rather than get stuck focusing on (our finger) or whatever it is that hurts us in our body? What would you say here?
Q4: So here’s another quote I heard you say that I just love. I connected with it as I worked for 6 years in the motivational speaking industry and met some of the greats in this industry, right alongside those who had all risen to the top in their careers. Most that I met were open to learning NEW strategies and ideas for success, that took them to these great heights, and they didn’t have to be scientifically proven, they just had to work. You mentioned a quote by Rockefeller that said “millionaires don’t use astrology, billionaire do” suggesting that more successful individuals, particularly those at the highest wealth levels, may leverage astrology for strategic insights beyond simple fate beliefs. Can you explain how this quote ties into your work?
Q5: Before my next question, I would love it if you could give us your take on Energy 101 and what we should all know about energy fields, and frequencies? I’ve mentioned this concept on a few different episodes where I talk about how we are all spiritual beings, with an intellect, living in a physical body (EP 67[i]) and that we must change our frequency to move to different levels of vibration. How would YOU explain this image and concept?
Q6: Since we now can see how important energy is, in Arizona, where I live, we can find stores on reading our energy, our aura (I’ve done this recently) or classes on how to bend a spoon, psychokinesis and dowsing (all classes that I took the FIRST year I moved here over 24 years ago). Can you tell me what you learned from your work with Uri Geller years ago that might open our listener’s eyes to different techniques for success that you have seen either yourself or others use to give them a razor’s edge for success?
Q7: Ok, another quote here from Nikolas Tesla “magic is science not yet understood.” I’ve been working hard to make the connection with neuroscience and some of those age old success principles that I saw working in the seminar industry back in the late 1990s. Our most downloaded episode is a 4-part series on Applying The Silva Method[ii] for Increased Intuition, Creativity and Focus. My favorite quote from this series is that “once we learn to use our minds to train it, it will do some astounding things for us, as you will soon see.” What kind of magic have you seen over the years with people you work with who have learned to train their mind (like Bruce Lee was so well known for?).
Q8: In the Silva Method, he has this activity where we learn how to see things on the “screen of our mind.” What have you learned from your study of ancient physicists about developing our minds, or our “third eye” and why is this advanced awareness important if we want to take better control our our health and wellness, as well as our success, in the future?
Q9: This has been a lot, and I could keep asking you questions, but I wonder, “where do we begin?” I didn’t know that Yin/Yang (dark/light) means Tai Chi or that Dao means “the path, or the way.” Can you highlight the best way forward for someone who notices they are off bal
