Mental Health Champions: Why & How Master Zhi Gang Sha Is Helping To Champion Mental Wellness
An Interview With Michelle Tennant Nicholson
The purpose of life is to serve. People sometimes do not realize how much power they have to help others or the great benefits they can receive themselves by doing so. I say that love heals all blockages. If we cultivated more love in our hearts and souls, we could create a world of love, peace, and harmony and have happier and healthier lives. I created the Love Peace Harmony Foundation to create a world family and invite people to discover how they might find more inner peace and joy by helping others and supporting Mother Earth.
As a part of our series about Mental Health Champions helping to promote mental wellness, I had the pleasure to interview Dr and Master Zhi Gang Sha — Speaker, Author, Meditation Wellness Expert.
Dr and Master Zhi Gang Sha is an award-winning wellness expert and global icon in psychology, mental health, meditation, spirituality, and holistic health. He is an 11-time New York Times international bestselling author on relationships, mental health, meditation, and personal development. Known across the globe as an internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher, Master Sha has amassed a huge global online following.
The impact of his global teachings in meditation, mindfulness, and mental health have seen him become a close spiritual guide to some of the world’s most visible celebrities, world leaders, and CEOs, including David Meltzer.
Author of over 30 bestselling books — including “Unblocking Your Life”, “The Power of Self-Healing” and “The Power of Unconditional Forgiveness”.
He is also a major voice in improving mental health and promoting resilience — his two latest conferences in July and October were attended by 55,000 people and featured keynote speaker Deepak Chopra. Specifically, he is the founder of Tao Meditation — a particular form of transcendental meditation which is now practiced by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide (including in 10 meditation centres across North America, UK, and Europe).
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I was born in a small town in northwest China. At six years old, my family moved to Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, an ancient city of about two million people that is renowned for the Terracotta Army sculptures. My father was a top executive of a coal mine with ten thousand employees, and my mother was a technician at the mine. If there ever was a cave-in or other crisis at the mine, my father would be the first to risk his own life to organize a rescue crew for the workers. He set an example for my life.
I was a sickly child who once fell into a coma. My family felt that it was acupuncture that saved my life. This early experience led me to learn acupuncture later in life. At only six years old, I saw a tai chi grandmaster teaching in a park. I convinced him to take me as a student. Tai chi taught me persistence and internal power. I learned at a very young age that I could push myself beyond pain and accomplish great control of my body and was inspired to learn several Eastern arts, including qi gong, kung fu, the I Ching, and feng shui.
My health improved, and I excelled in school and became a class monitor. This gave me the opportunity to tutor students who needed help. I had compassion for all the students and never felt superior or that I was doing anything special.
As a teenager, I saw people suffering from chronic health conditions and decided to become a doctor. Matriculating at Xi’an Jiaotong University, I became an MD of Western medicine. I also became a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, an acupuncturist, and also received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at the University of the Philippines, where I treated VIPs and opened a free clinic.
You are currently leading an initiative that is helping to promote mental wellness. Can you tell us a bit more specifically about what you are trying to address?
As an MD of Western medicine myself, I never discourage people from using those modalities. But I know from experience that there are alternative ways that can add another way to relief from these conditions. I am addressing this urgent problem by offering ancient wisdom and practical techniques to ease anxiety and depression.
I share a holistic approach to healing that engages the soul, heart, mind, and body. Mindfulness has been proven to be effective for anxiety and depression, but I believe that the soul is even more powerful for healing and that engaging the heart is essential.
I teach a universal law of creation and transformation: the Universal Law of Shen Qi Jing. Shen is soul, heart, and mind. Qi is energy, the life force. Jing is matter, our physical circumstances. Ancient wisdom teaches that the heart houses the mind and soul. Depression and anxiety are shen qi jing blockages in the heart area. To transform depression and anxiety, we need to clear these shen qi jing blockages in the heart area. We need to transform negative information, energy, and matter to positive information, energy, and matter.
In my most recent book, Tao Calligraphy to Heal and Transform Depression and Anxiety, I include a Tao Calligraphy that creates a healing field that carries the most-positive love, light, frequency, and vibration. Readers can connect with this field to remove shen qi jing blockages and heal depression and anxiety.
Along with the calligraphy, I teach a special breathing technique to inhale positive and exhale negative information, energy, and matter. There has been clinical research led by Dr. Peter Hudoba that shows the benefits of these practices.
I also recently joined a diverse group of thought leaders at the Tapping the Source Summit: Mental Health Edition. This was a meeting of world-class thinkers who are uniting spirituality and science to offer a holistic approach.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
It is estimated that about 1 in 13 adults in America suffer from major depressive disorder. Anxiety and depression also affect many children, from teenagers to very young children, and have generally increased over the last two decades, accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.
For American adolescents, depression and suicide are unquestionably major concerns, with about 1 in 5 having seriously considered attempting suicide, and about 1 in 10 actually making the attempt.
When I learned how widespread and urgent these problems are, I felt I had to share the special techniques that I know have helped many people, young and old.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “aha moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
At a young age, I knew I had a calling to help people live healthier and happier lives and continually developed and studied with spiritual masters. I received a clear message that the purpose of life is to serve. My aha moment could be expressed in the statement: “Heal the soul first; then healing of the heart, mind, and body will follow.” I decided to devote my life to teaching people about the power of the soul and their self-healing abilities and giving them the tools to connect with Tao, the Ultimate Source, and transform their lives.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
There are so many heart-touching stories that it is difficult to choose one. To see people find relief from physical and emotional pain and recover from long-term and life-threatening conditions is always remarkable. I have seen people forgive and reconcile with family members after years, and I have seen people who have suffered from crippling depression and anxiety heal and live happy lives. One of the amazing stories is of David Lusch, someone who overcame a severe case of OCD. He had been suffering since childhood when I met him and faced a lifetime of continually taking medication that caused strong side effects, preventing him from living fully — physically, emotionally, and mentally. After a year of doing the Tao practices that I teach, he recovered, and, under the guidance of his doctor, was able to stop taking medication. His recovery has lasted now for fifteen years, and, inspired by his own experience, he has become the director and one of the leading teachers at the Tao Academy that I founded to train people in these simple but powerful techniques.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
I am very grateful to my family and all of my teachers, from elementary school through medical school, and have had some very special spiritual mentors.
One of my most important mentors was Doctor and Master Guo, who had a renowned clinic in China. In China, masters do not easily take on students without some testing to see if they truly have the loyalty and commitment. I followed his teachings for twelve years before being accepted. He adopted me as a son and taught me his special healing system called Body Space Medicine, and many other sacred soul and Tao secrets for healing.
I also was honored to learn a unique form of Chinese calligraphy from the extraordinary Professor Li Qiu Yun, I was deeply inspired by her. She was a world-renowned Chinese language expert, recognized by the UN. At over 100 years old, she had been the keeper of the knowledge of Yi Bi Zi, a special one-stroke calligraphy, for her lifetime and had not passed it on to anyone. What an honor it was to be chosen as her sole lineage holder to continue this unique style.
With this great gift, I was inspired to create Tao Calligraphy, infusing this one-stroke calligraphy with Tao positive messages and energy. I am dedicated to creating art that goes beyond art to help people experience more inner peace, joy, and well-being.
According to Mental Health America’s report, over 44 million Americans have a mental health condition. Yet there’s still a stigma about mental illness. Can you share a few reasons you think this is so?
I think the key is a lack of compassion. Compassion is one of what I call the greatest Tao qualities, which are our true nature. Without compassion, we cannot understand what people are going through.
As human beings, we judge others and make distinctions. One of the major teachings of the Dao De Jing, the classic text written by Lao Zi over 2500 years ago, is to be humble and not to judge others.
Fear is also a common response that many people have, including fear of what others might do and fear of their own issues.
Compassion and focusing on serving others and helping people overcome their challenges is the key,
In your experience, what should a) individuals b) society, and c) the government do to better support people suffering from mental illness?
As I said above, the focus should be on compassion and understanding. As individuals, we can treat people who are suffering with more love and kindness. I believe it would be helpful if in the general society there would be more of an open mind about the benefits of alternative healing approaches. As for the government, support for alternative healing would offer many people another way to overcome their mental struggles.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a mental health champion?
The Dao De Jing by Lao Zi. This ancient classic teaches the way of all life. It is taught in philosophy departments worldwide and has been recognized for centuries as teaching the deepest wisdom. It is difficult to understand, but the rewards of learning how to follow Dao, to follow Nature’s Way, are great for developing inner peace and mental health. I currently teach a free course every Monday on Facebook at 2 p.m. ET entitled “The Power and Wisdom of Dao De Jing through Tao Calligraphy and Tao Song.”
If you could tell other people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
The purpose of life is to serve. People sometimes do not realize how much power they have to help others or the great benefits they can receive themselves by doing so. I say that love heals all blockages. If we cultivated more love in our hearts and souls, we could create a world of love, peace, and harmony and have happier and healthier lives. I created the Love Peace Harmony Foundation to create a world family and invite people to discover how they might find more inner peace and joy by helping others and supporting Mother Earth.
How can our readers follow you online?
I welcome everyone to visit the website drsha.com to learn more about events, retreats, and classes where people can find out more about how to improve physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. I am also on Facebook and Instagram.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Inspired by the father of PR, Edward Bernays (who was also Sigmund Freud’s nephew), Michelle Tennant Nicholson researches marketing, mental injury, and what it takes for optimal human development. An award-winning writer and publicist, she’s seen PR transition from typewriters to Twitter. Michelle co-founded WasabiPublicity.com.
