Pediatrician Overcomes Chronic Pain and Autoimmune Arthritis Through Qigong and Mindfulness

I did feel an emotional shift. I had been struggling personally with where am I gonna go? And I felt a calm and a sense of more of a direction, I think. Like, just helped me focus on me a little bit and on my choices and where, you know, what I wanna do and where I wanna go. I'm Laura Bierwagen, and I live in San Francisco, California. And I am a pediatrician, but I'm actually retraining in functional medicine because the traditional medical system failed me personally, and so that's where I wanna focus my energies now. I wanted to be in the room with Pedram. That was my motivation. I have been a member of the Urban Monk Academy for a long time. And in the wellness space, there's so many different people, and I had met Pedram in 2018, and he speaks to me, and I trust him, and I know that he is science-based. If he says something, he's got evidence and he knows it. I feel confident with Pedram. And so getting out of my long-term chronic illness, I know that part of it is your mindfulness and your mental health, and I needed to do something. And I picked the Urban Monk Academy and Pedram's platform. And so I made a commitment to myself this was what I was gonna do to help improve myself, 'cause I've gotten a lot better, but there's a- there's still a ways to go. And then Pedram told us about this program that he has developed called Upstream, which is brilliant. It's a program talking about the microbiome and how we now know the microbiome is pretty much running everything, you know, and we need to take care of it, and we haven't done that with mainstream medicine at all. I was looking to meet other people that, you know, were in similar spaces and had s- you know, similar mindset. And I also wanted to be in the room with Pedram because I wanted to talk to him about Upstream. Then that made it so I could justify spending the money to go. One of the most impactful moments for me was the opportunity to have lunch with Pedram and his wife and some of the other participants. It was a beautiful retreat center. The food was natural, and it was all gluten-free and dairy-free, and we were eating outside. The place had a sense of healing really. There were just big oak trees over us, and it was just ... There was a real ... It was a special place. And that for me, I think, was the most impactful time. I noticed ... It was actually a pretty amazing shift for me. My history, I was on crutches for 10 years, and I had horrible autoimmune arthritis and chronic pain and just it was ... It hurt to move at all. And that was how I had been at the previous retreat. It was very difficult to move. This time I was in such a much better place. I was actually able to physically do the routine without modifications. And I started feeling my body unwind. It felt smoother. I felt my balance improving. And I shared this at the time. That was just incredibly exhilarating. Well, since the retreat, we made a commitment to do the practice that he taught us, which was a Qigong routine called Silk Weavers. And a gong is 100 days. It's a commitment to yourself. Yesterday I was at the dentist, and I've seen this dentist for 20 years. She came in and she said, "What have you done?" And I said, "What? What?" And she said, "You look peaceful and serene and vibrant." And I honestly, I think it's participating in the retreat and then doing this continued exercise and the Qigong and taking care of myself. If you're considering attending the Urban Monk Retreat, take the chance. It will help you in ways you cannot even imagine. It's whole body wellness. It is worth it. It's a gift to yourself, and it will benefit you in ways that you cannot even anticipate. Pedram is an incredible person. He's a teacher. You know, he has this knowledge that needs to be passed down person to person where he teaches it. And there's something really incredible about being taught from a lineage. Just being in the room with other people and hearing other people's questions and his answers, they're like-minded people who are interested in health and wellness and improving themselves. Honestly, it's like going and having a giant hug for the whole weekend.