Two years ago Clyde Nakashima sustained brain damage in a devastating car accident and was in a coma for six weeks.
The doctors had almost given up on him. He wasn't responsive. He couldn't speak.
Today Nakashima is walking with a cane, talking about his experiences and dining on pork buns with friends.
How did he get from his hospital bed at Royal Columbian Hospital to the Grand Palace Restaurant in Coquitlam. It's taken months of rehabilitation and Nakashima credits several things for his success thus far: his wife, for sticking by him and refusing to let the health system give up on him, the doctors and occupational therapists who worked with him for months and his own determination.
But the master carver and former computer sales rep also gives a lot of credit for his hard-won mobility to his friends who practice qi (pronounced chee) gong and the group's leader, Dr. John Loh, a Port Coquitlam chiropractor.
"I knew inside my head something good is happening," Nakashima said of his gradual healing.
Nakashima was one of more than a dozen qi gong practitioners who had dim sum together last Tuesday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Coquitlam group.
Almost every Sunday morning for the last 20 years, about 30 to 35 people take part in a series of 52 exercises to channel positive qi energy. They meet inside Coquitlam Centre (outdoors on sunny days) near the Target store, formerly Zellers. In addition to their individual exercises, group members share their qi energy with people recovering from serious illnesses or injury.
Dr. Loh has been leading the exercises for free because he believes in their powerful effect. But participants make a small donation to Crossroads Hospice, and over the years have generated $15,000 for the local charity.
Loh's interest in healing started early, as a child in Malaysia, watching his father suffer from an illness no one could explain.
He got better, but Loh stayed interested in the healing arts, eventually becoming a chiropractor, and moving to PoCo, where he and his wife, Trudy, raised their two sons.
"They are very soothing movements," explained Loh, of the exercises, but the channelling of the energy also causes the body to shake, something that is distinctive about this ancient Chinese self-healing practice.
Doug Thomas, who has been practicing qi gong for 17 years with Loh, said it helped him overcome whiplash from two car accidents.
"This was a natural outlet for me," said Thomas.
The qi gong classes run Sundays at Coquitlam Centre from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in front of the Target store.
