Healing Ways - The Teachings of Kenneth Cohen


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Ken Cohen is a renowned health educator, Qigong GrandMaster, and practitioner of indigenous medicine. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing and Honoring the Medicine: The Essential Guide to Native American Healing, as well as numerous Sounds True audio/DVD courses and more than 200 journal articles on spirituality and health. Ken speaks and reads the Chinese language, and his academic training includes graduate study of Taoism and theology.

Highly respected as a traditional healer, singer, and storyteller, Ken was mentored since his youth by Native American/ First Nations elders. His training was strict and rigorous in what today is called “experiential learning.” Ken is a member of various medicine societies and maintains close ties with his adoptive Cree Indian family in Canada. Ken also spent many years traveling and participating in cultural exchange with indigenous elders from various lands. He feels truly blessed by the wisdom they so generously and graciously shared.

Photo by Cheryl Wiles

Ken is a leader in the dialogue between ancient wisdom and modern science, believing that each can respectfully learn from the other. He was able to demonstrate extraordinary bioelectric states in the laboratory of Ed Wilson, M.D. and was one of 9 "exceptional healers" studied in the Menninger Clinic’s 12-year research project “Physical Fields and States of Consciousness.”

Ken’s lectures and workshops have been sponsored by the American Cancer Society, Health Canada, the Mayo Clinic and numerous medical schools, conferences, and organizations. In 2003, he won the leading international award in energy medicine, the Alyce and Elmer Green Award for Innovation and Lifetime Achievement. Ken Cohen has been involved in these healing ways for more than 45 years. (To see more detailed biographical information about his Qigong or Native American cultural training, please click on the Qigong or Sacred Earth Circle websites, accessed on this page.)

Native American Healing Traditions

Indigenous North American Indian healing (Native American/American Indian and Canadian First Nations, Metis, and Inuit) shares much in common with original healing traditions worldwide. It is different from both generic shamanism and New Age flights of fancy. Indigenous healing is grounded in landscape, language, culture, and the wisdom of the elders.

From the indigenous perspective, everyone has a gift, a calling. Health is enhanced when we discover our gifts and life purpose—whether through intuitive insight or in dreams and visions—and when we have the courage to express and live these gifts. By learning traditional Native American values such as gratefulness, respect, generosity, humility, and courage, we can walk a path of genuine power, balance, and beauty.

The Way of Qigong

Qigong (ch’i kung, chi gong), China’s ancient system of energy medicine, consists of exercises and meditations that stimulate the flow of qi, life energy. Kenneth Cohen personally teaches both the theory and practice of qigong and related arts such as Tai Chi (Taiji Quan) and Chinese tea culture. Qigong has many applications. Sometimes called “medical qigong,” it includes exercises for health and vitality as well as “External Qi Healing” to assess energy, dissolve blockages, and replenish life-force in a client or patient.

Athletes enjoy qigong because it improves strength, stamina, coordination, and other skills necessary for peak performance. As a spiritual art, rooted in Taoism (Daoism), it deepens awareness of self and nature and creates a feeling of harmony, tranquility, and peace. Qigong is a holistic path to well being; hence in modern China is often called yang sheng, “ the art of nurturing life.”