Qigong involves gentle movement combined with deep breathing and mindful presence with the bodily experience. This class will be seated.

Mast Cell Action is delighted to share our new weekly Qigong class. These sessions will be led by Duncan from Tai Chi Rutland and hosted by volunteer Community Champion, Deborah. These sessions are designed for people who have MCAS or care for someone with MCAS.

We have graded this event as using two spoons of physical energy.

Sessions will continue weekly on Tuesdays at 7pm. Please book a place for each session you wish to attend. Sessions will run in 4 week blocks with the 5th week being a break.

Duncan says:

Hi, I’m Duncan and I am delighted to have been invited by Mast Cell Action to teach seated Tai Chi Zoom classes (primarily the ancient Chinese art of Qi Gong) to those of you who live with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, as well as your carers.

I have been practicing Tai Chi and Qi Gong for over 20 years and teaching these beautiful arts for around 10 years. I regularly teach seated Qi Gong to the elderly and those with arthritic and other conditions that make standing for too long challenging.

The beauty of Qi Gong practice is that you only need to do what is absolutely comfortable for you and however low your energy levels, or however restricted your movements, you really can benefit. You will find that no two classes are the same and I will always try to add something new to help develop your knowledge of this art. I particularly like focusing on the seasonal changes to the body’s energy patterns, according to the the teachings of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Most of all, the classes will be fun and I sincerely hope you will come along and join in. Please remember when you join a class, just do what is comfortable for you and don’t get into any position that causes you any pain or discomfort. Even if you just listen and watch, it can be of benefit. I look forward to meeting you soon!

Our sessions are only suitable to those living in the U.K, this is due to our funding and due to the differences in medical systems, benefits, treatment and medications around the world. If you live abroad you are more than welcome to explore our free resources on our website or view our videos on YouTube.

Please choose a donation ticket if you can.

Your support means the world to us! As we strive to keep our virtual sessions accessible to all, your donations enable us to keep the lights on, and the virtual doors wide open for everyone eager to learn, connect, and grow with us. Every contribution fuels our mission to deliver quality content and engage with our community in meaningful ways. If you are able to donate, please do give what you can.

Together, let's continue to nurture a space for our community. Your support paves the way for brighter futures for those living with MCAS.

What you need to know

We will be running this session virtually through Zoom, you are welcome to attend with your microphone and camera off if you feel more comfortable doing so. We will email out the Zoom link to join 1 hour before the session. Please check your spam folder if you can't find this link.

Please book a place for everyone who will be attending online, even if you'll be attending using the same device. This helps us keep the event running smoothly and safely and also helps us to decide what kind of events to organise in the future.

Please note: We will be taking a register so if there are many participants, it may take a while – please be patient if you are in the waiting room. It will make the process of admitting people and taking the register much quicker if you could change your name before joining, to the name you used when booking. You can access a step-by-step on how to change your name here.

Please contact events@mastcellaction.org with any questions.

Please ensure you register for each session that you would like to attend individually. If you change your mind or your plans change then please cancel your place(s) so we can offer someone else the opportunity to attend.

Please note that, by joining the class, you are agreeing to the following disclaimer:

Qigong is a gentle healing practice. It can help to lower stress and pain in the body, and promote better energy levels and sleep. It is not a magical cure all for health issues however, but a valuable part of the puzzle in managing them.

Qigong honours where the body is at today, and emphasises working within your capabilities. It involves slow movement and deep, slow breathing. If you have trouble breathing as slowly as I do, speed the movements up to be in time with your own breath.

If an exercise causes any pain, try to reduce your range of motion until you get to a point that's comfortable for you. The practice should never be painful. If a movement or breathing exercise is not possible due to pain, or because of dizziness or low energy levels, focus on your breathing instead. If you find that the movements are not accessible to you, you can even close your eyes and imagine yourself doing the movement-the brain is a powerful thing, and you can get similar benefits just by pretending! Mast Cell Action will not be held responsible for any injury sustained.

How Mast Cell Action Uses Your Data

We will collect the information you provide on Eventbrite to gather statistics about how many people attend our events and how many people return to our events and also demographic information about who is attending Mast Cell Action events. These statistics are vital to helping charities like Mast Cell Action demonstrate the impact of our work, and we use them to report to our funders and other groups to demonstrate the difference that funding support can make.

In our database, your name will be stored along with these statistics but identifying information is never included in reports. We don’t collect or store more information than needed to generate these statistics and have no access to any financial information you provide to Eventbrite.

All information is stored in line with our GDPR policy.

Unless you ask us to, we won’t sign you up to any mailing lists and will only send you information related to your attendance at this event. If you want to hear about more events like this in the future, please sign up to be a friend of Mast Cell Action.

Weekly QiGong class