COVID and It's Emotional Effects
Dr. Robert J. Woodbine, N.D., M.Ac.O.M., L.Ac.
Dr. Robert J. Woodbine is a retired licensed Naturopathic Doctor (ND). He earned his naturopathic medical degree in 1996 from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine (known now as the National University of Natural Medicine) in Portland, Oregon. While no longer in active clinical practice, he maintains his New York State Acupuncture License (L.Ac.). He earned his Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (M.Ac.O.M.) degree in 1999 from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine also in Portland, Oregon.
His interest in the healing arts was influenced by his grandmother who was a midwife and herbalist, his mother who was a seer, and his father who was a respected healer in Harlem and the person who taught him Foot Reflexology while a teenager.
Dr. Woodbine began studying, practicing and teaching Qigong and Taijiquan in 1985 with Master Mantak Chia. Since then he has studied with various well-known teachers. Most recently, he successfully completed a three-year training program in Qigong and Taijiquan with Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming in Northern California. Having returned to Harlem in July 2019, he founded Urban Qi FIT (www.urbanqifit.com) dedicated to preserving and teaching indigenous healing arts to cultivate self-reliance and resilience.
In 2007, with the blessing of the founder of World Tai Chi and Qigong Day (Bill Douglas), Dr. Woodbine created, produced and hosted the Annual Harlem Celebration of World Tai Chi and Qigong Day in St. Nicholas Park until 2019. As a member of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce’s Harlem Healthy Living committee, Dr. Woodbine received support from Tony Rogers, the Chamber, the Harlem Community Newspaper, and WHCR 90.3FM New York to make his vision of celebrating World Tai Chi and Qigong Day in Harlem a reality. Unique to his venue design was the inclusion of local holistic wellness practitioners who offered their expertise for free to community participants during the event each year. The objective was to increase awareness and access of these wellness options in the community. Dr. Woodbine was a presenter and panelist for the World Tai Chi and Qigong Day’s 2020 Online Summit on September 26, 2020.
In the aftermath of the Katrina hurricane, Dr. Woodbine organized a fundraiser during the HARLEM WeekTM wellness venue to support Acupuncturists Without Borders’s efforts to treat survivors and first responders. He subsequently served on the Board of Acupuncturists Without Borders and founded a free acupuncture clinic for the Black Veterans Residence in Harlem. He currently is on the Advisory Board of Acupuncturists Without Borders. Dr. Woodbine also worked with Safe Horizons in Harlem as an Acupuncture Supervisor managing several NADA ADS providers, taught Qigong classes, and coordinated wellness care for homeless LGQBT youth.
Dr. Robert J. Woodbine
He taught Qigong and Taijiquan to seniors as part of Harlem Hospital’s Walk It Out! Program, the Harlem Food Pantry on 116th Street, and SAGE in Harlem, Midtown and the Bronx. As a Certified Tai Chi for Arthritis & Fall Prevention Instructor (Dr. Paul Lam) he teaches seniors through the New York Department for the Aging, the Jewish Community Center Manhattan, and Temple University’s online Zoom services.
For seven years (2007-2014), Dr. Woodbine was also the host and producer of a weekly wellness talk show, Strategies for Optimum Wellness, on WHCR 90.3FM New York.
Dr. Woodbine is a writer and published author. He co-authored the novel Sun Chasers with Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, wrote a Foreward for Dr. Yang’s The Dao De Jing: A Qigong Interpretation, and was published in Kung Fu Magazine. He was a member of Sonia Sanchez’s Black Writers Workshop at the Countee Cullen Library in the early 1970’s and is a member of the historic Harlem Writers Guild.
An avid believer in the benefits of sound as a therapeutic modality, Dr. Woodbine studies and plays the Australian Yidaki (Didgiridoo), does vocal harmonics or throat singing, and has used Quartz Singing Bowls therapeutically and in performance.