Olga Pchelintseva-Mares was born in Russia and grew up and studied there for 20 years of her life. She moved to United States in 2002 and started a chocolate business while preparing herself for entering the University at the faculty of Piano Performance. Stress, accumulated from having a private business, working long hours and spending hours a day at the piano, resulted in psoriatic arthritis, which was progressing at extreme speed. She finished her studies in December 2007 with a piano recital, which was painful to perform. Already in January 2008 she could hardly walk or hold a cup of tea. That’s when the diagnosis came followed by dangerous drugs, which proved to be hardly efficient, if not more debilitating than disease itself. She had been looking for alternative ways to treat herself until finally she found out about the power of Qi Gong some time in November 2008. It took her some time to find a great instructor and a wonderful person, John Walcott, to start intensive practice with him 3-4 times every day without missing a day. In April the results of the practice were so amazing that the doctor made a conclusion that the disease is in remission. She is now strong, healthy and drug-free.
“As a new instructor and a person who had a health challenge I would love to share with people the story of my fight with my disease . I understand the struggle that people have, when they function only on 50% of what they should be. John is a well of knowledge for me and I’ll continue learn from him and other great masters so I could share it with people, who most need it”.