by Debbie Tuma
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, depressed or even a bit sluggish over this holiday period, here’s a good way to beat the winter blues and kick up your mood and energy. The Green Earth Natural Foods & Apothecary, of Riverhead, has been around for decades, as a center for health products, medicinal grade certified organic herbs, international textiles, crystals, gemstones, hand crafted jewelry, and has had Reiki Circles and massages available, but now they have something new and special.
They are presenting workshops and group sessions by international trainer and healer Paolo Boletti, of Italy and Manhattan. He is the founder of Qi Tapping, a powerful system of energy regeneration and meridians balance– an ancient way to boost the immune system, for anti-aging and life extension. It is a branch of Qi Gong, whose roots came from Chinese Medicine and Daoism. Boletti uses Asian handcrafted instruments—high quality bamboo sticks and a wooden mallet, to teach the class how to tap along the meridians of the body, which raises the Qi energy, stimulates the blood flow, relaxes the muscles, and helps with anti-aging and also emotional problems.
Paolo Boletti, born in Italy, is an interdisciplinary trainer, therapist and educator in the Mind Body Field. As a young man, Boletti left his native village outside of Venice, to travel from India all over Asia, to study Eastern medicine and the healing arts. He earned his degree in Clinical Psychology in Italy, and in India he studied Yoga, Zen Meditation, Shiatzu and Japanese Massage. He earned certifications in Pilates Mat Work, Massage Therapy, Yoga Therapy and International Thai Massage. In Bejiing he studied Medical Qi Gong and in the Philippines he got certified in Advanced Pranic Healing. In Nepal he got certified in Singing Bowls Healing Therapy, and over the years he studied traditional healing systems in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and India. He taught Fitness Pilates in Viet Nam, assisted private clients in Geneva, Switzerland, and taught Pilates and Yoga in Honolulu, Hawaii and in St. Barths, as well as Manhattan.
When asked why he got into Chinese Medicine, Boletti said, “Because it’s the oldest medicine in the world—over 2,000 years in recorded history. I wanted to increase my ability to learn how the body works. It’s been a fascinating journey to work with the Masters in Chinese Medicine and Daoism.
From this, he developed his own branch of Qi Gong Tapping, sharing with people who like to improve their inner energy.
“Tapping is for ordinary people,” he said. “Everyone can benefit, even without any knowledge of Chinese Medicine. Our classes are very precise, so you can learn how to keep fit, have healthy emotional and cognitive thinking, invigorate your internal energy, and clean your system of toxins which accumulate over the years. Your skin, lung and liver meridians rejuvenate.”
In his classes, which have started at the Green Earth Natural Foods on Main Street in Riverhead, people sit in chairs, in a circle. The classes require the purchase of the bamboo sticks and wooden mallet, and he teaches the people about the 12 meridians in the body, and how to tap up and down them with the bamboo sticks. He hands out charts so people can see where the meridians are in the body. There are three different Qi Tapping Sessions—Tapping One, of the legs, Tapping 2, of the arms, and Tapping 3, using acupressure points to create special health benefits.
One class member, Sue Dawson of Riverhead, said she enjoys the tapping. “It makes me feel joyous and more alive. I’m glad I signed up and I’m learning more about my body.”
Steve Siegelwaks, owner of Green Earth Natural Foods Market, said he is honored to have Boletti work in his store. “Every now and then a great healer presents himself, and I have promised myself as both shopkeeper and a healthcare facilitator, that when I come across someone of Paolo’s stature and experience, that I would accommodate that kind of professionalism and healing excellence. It’s in that vein that we offer his services.”
For more information, call the Green Earth at 631-369-2233.
