Songs for the Water Dragon / Poems for Plants & Planets / and Others

This volume of poetry contains three different chapters. Songs for the Water Dragon are a diary of experiences following Shui Long (Water Dragon) qi gong practice, with each poem referencing the place and date of the practice. Shui Long is a Mongolian/Buryat form of qi gong with shamanic roots, requiring physical communion with water, fire (or sun), and wind. The second chapter: Poems for Plants and Planets were poems written during the same time, as Shui Long practice often opens up a practitioner's creativity and perception of the natural world. The third chapter, "Others" contains poems about love, relationship, changes in the natural world, and one poem of much more recent composition that is the result of personal insight into past trauma.

Isabeau Vollhardt received her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and English Composition from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, in 1980, where she studied Novel Writing with Charles Johnson, and the Philosophy of Science Fiction with Michelle Beer. She was exposed to the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke in a class on Existentialism presented by Eva Hagemeyer. A longtime reader of Victorian era authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, she was writing The Casebook of Elisha Grey in part as an homage to Doyle and in part as a result of her readings of esoteric works on Atlantis, when she began studies at Samra University of Oriental Medicine in 1991. Graduating with a Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine and receiving licensure to practice acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, she then went on to receive training in Reiki, reaching level IV (Seichem) Reiki training. Energy work and intuitive work in a variety of realms have been part of her personal and professional life since 1985 and encompasses study of Kuang Ping style taijiquan, shuilong qi gong, feng shui, clairvoyancy, Western Astrology, Native American journeywork, and Iai-Batto-Ho. Her experiences resulting from her shui long qi gong practice resulted in a volume of poetry which is now published: Songs of the Water Dragon / Poems for Plants & Planets / and Others. She lives in Ashland, Oregon, where she has practiced Chinese Medicine and taught tai chi, qi gong, and Chinese Medicine theory since 1997. Her short story "Farewell at a Graveside" was published by Innisfree Magazine in 1990. She continues writing with her focus on speculative fiction, and an occasional poem, because 'poems happen'.
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