Qi gong is a form of gentle exercise that moves the Qi in the body, ascribing to Traditional Chinese Medicine understanding of how the body functions optimally. It can be done by anyone at anytime, with no experience, and there is a broad range of benefits. We will focus on the benefits of the nervous system, the lymph system and the digestive system which will have the most benefit for all at this time.
This will be a simple series of Qi Gong moves:
Breathing into Abdomen
Place your hands on your abdomen, give a cheesy grin, and take a few deep breaths.
Qi Shower
Inhale and float the arms up and spiral the hands to face the sky, then exhale your arms down the front of your body
Shake the Tree
Shake out the hands, shake out the shoulders, and begin to bounce into the heels and the whole body. Relax the shoulders and keep the neck straight. The more you relax into the shaking, the longer you can sustain this movement. It’s amazing for the lymph system. Shaking and smiling are one of the fastest ways to let go of stress!
Feel the Qi
Stop at any point in this practice to just feel your energy.
Spinal Cord Breathing
Make a light fist, inhale, look up and arch the back
Exhale, round the back and draw the elbows together
Squeeze and tilt the pelvis to pump qi up the spine
This is a flexion and extension of the spine to bring blood flow, oxygen and qi up and down the spinal column which is connected to all aspects of the body.
Qi Massage
Knock on the kidneys area and all the way down to the sacrum and tailbone.
Knock on the hips and down the outside of the legs down to the outside of the foot.
Then wrap around and come up the inside of the leg.
Then move around to the Sit bones and knock down the backs of the legs, calves, around the foot and come up the inside of the legs.
Knocking on Abdomen
Knocking on right side, liver
Knocking on spleen, left side
Knocking on heart
Knocking on lungs
Knock down inside of arm
Knock up outside of arm
The fountain
Now disperse your hands out to the sides then draw the backs of the hands up the midline of your body then circle around.
Inhale as the hands draw up and exhale and circle around
There’s a slight undulation of the spine as you draw the energy up and then bend the knees as you go down.
This pose is all about gentleness.
Move your body like water.
The slower you move, the easier it is to feel your bodys qi.
With each breath, see if you can relax just a bit more. Feel your body fluid and flowing, everything moving as one smooth unit. Let that life force energy move through you.
Qi Ball
Now bring the hands palm facing palm in front of you and we’ll make a ball of qi. Inhale as the hands move apart, exhale as the hands come together. Notice how your palms feel. See if you can feel the space between your hands. Like a magnet. Use your elbows to guide the movement and use your hands to feel the energy. Imagine your hands come together around a ball of energy that you’re holding right in front of you. Softly pulse the ball three times like a magnet pulsing around a sphere. Rotate the ball and pulse 3 x. Rotate the ball 3 x. The energy in your hands is your unique life force energy. Imagine the energy is becoming brighter and brighter. Now bring the ball back to the center and imagine the light expanding in your arms.
Centering
Now drop your hands down in front of your lower abdomen. Then circle the right arm up over your head and down the midline to your center. Now left hand circles up as you inhale and down the midline as you exhale. This is called centering and is a wonderful thing to do at the end of any qi gong practice.
Breathing into the Abdomen
Place your hands on your abdomen, give a cheesy grin, and take a few deep breaths.
This is a great video on the physiology of Qi Gong:
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