FUN WITH QIGONG

#1: Shaking the Body

Five Flows Exercise #1

General Description

Recommended Time: 1-2 minutes, or many more 

Release tension by relaxing the muscles and other tissues of the body. Open the joints, gently bounce the organs, detoxify every cell.Movement: Bounce up and down.Main Purpose: Releases tension in every part of the body.Main Qigong Principle: Less thinking and more being in your body leads to health. 

Description of Physical Movements

To begin, stand in a shoulder-width stance. Start the movement from the bottom of your feet—not your ankles (you want to stand on the ground, not on “your own two feet.”) Shake in an up-and down-motion. Be gentle. Breathe freely and fully. The arms can be either hung loose or actively shaken in concert with the rest of the body. Shake for a minute to several minutes. Finish the exercise by making the motions smaller and smaller until they are physically imperceptible. Then be still and feel the continuing internal vibrations. You will feel warm, tingly, and open with increased blood and Qi flow. 

Shake up and down

Let the Earth shake you

Shaking is Relaxing

Modifying the Exercise

Find just the right speed and intensity of shaking for you. If you shake to hard or too fast, it might tense you up. If you don’t shake with enough movement, it won’t relax your body and warm you up as well. If anything at all hurts with the shaking, find a way to shake easier, smaller.

Mental Focus

Imagine the cells of your body opening and releasing old, used up energy to be washed into the ground. Visualize this cellular cleansing while intending a downward energy flow. As you shake, old, stagnant, or toxic Qi will sink into the ground, like rainwater washing dust off a tree. Let the space between your cells expand. 

Energetic Focus

Sense your energy field begin to brighten and strengthen in intensity. 

Discussion of Shaking the Body

Let go of the stresses of the day by shaking them out. Release tensions and revive yourself. Shaking seems simple (and is) but is actually a powerful, effective Qigong technique. It relaxes and warms all of the muscles, organs, joints and fascia of the body and even the multitudes of  cells of your body. Whole-body shaking is an excellent way to exercise and detoxify every cell of the body. Besides being an effective warm-up, Shaking the Body can make bone marrow strong, strengthen the spine, and support the kidneys and adrenal glands. In fact, every organ and tube in the body is enhanced by Shaking the Body. Lymph flow is enhanced so that more gunk is cleared out and your immune function improved. Blood flow increases and hormonal secretions will benefit your skin. Bouncing up and down like this also adjusts the magnetic field, organizing and balancing it. Shaking can strengthen cells through the quick, extra force each shake places on the cells. It adds a sudden dollop of extra-gravitational force, creating a need for all of the cells to buck up. It can help sagging tissues regain or hold their tonicity.

#2: Turning the Waist

General Description

Recommended Time: 1-2 minutes

Movement: Turn the torso from above the pelvis, left and right, letting the arms flap loosely to each side.Main Purpose: Opens the waist.Main Qigong Principle: Turn the torso with the waist.

Description of the Movements

While standing with feet shoulder-width, twist from the waist, loosely letting the arms swing from side to side. Let the hands flap on the buttocks. Try to twist mainly from the waist, which is—in the secret language of Qigong—the lower back muscles. It is best to move the pelvis as little as possible and to let the arms and shoulders be moved freely from the turnings of the back. The pelvis is the base upon which the turnings of the rest of the torso above it rotate. As you twist push the lower back in a slight reverse arch to the rear, but don’t hunch over. Keep the spine gently stretched tall.

Be gentle with yourself (always be gentle with yourself) and get into a rhythm. Swing for several pleasant minutes if you like. Rest for a few moments and feel the internal vibration.

Let arms hang

Turn waist to the right

Turn back to the center

Turning to the left

Flapping arms on the hip

Modifying the Exercise

Don’t over-twist. Small movements are as good as large movements for Qigong. It just depends upon your body’s capacities. If the lower back hurts, slow down the turns considerably and just get a slight, warming movement.

Mental Focus

Focus on horizontally rotating the waist and abdomen, keeping the legs rooted in ground.

Energetic Focus

Turn the Belt Vessel. The Belt Vessel is an energetic channel that can be thought of and felt as a belt that wraps around your midsection at the level of the belly button.

Loosen and Massage

The Turning the Waist exercise loosens the spine and shoulders, increases blood and Qi flow in the body, and focuses you for a great practice. Even better, it teaches you to move rotationally from the waist, which is highly beneficial to your lumber spine, Kidney health, and overall energy. By turning with the waist you are giving your abdominal organs and bowels a good massage. Be sure to keep your knees and hips forward when turning, thus learning how to save your hips and knees from dangerous sideways force.

#3: Waking the Breath

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 6 to 12, or more.

Imagine you are breathing with your entire body with this exercise, as if you are pumping fresh air into every cell.Movement: Inhale raising straight arms high; exhale lowering straight arms to the sides.Main Purpose: Deepens breathing.Main Qigong Principle: Coordinate breath with movement.

Description of the Physical Movements

Inhale as you raise the almost straight arms in front of the body until the hands are over the head. The arms are levered up, not pushed up. Exhale, arcing the straight arms down their respective sides (left and right.)

Begin to Inhale

Raise the arms

Arms continue to rise

Until arms are over head

Begin the Exhale

arcing arms down the sides

Finish exhale as arms come to hips

Modifying the Exercise: Double Breathing

If you are unable to breathe comfortably through the entire slowness of the inhale or exhale, you could take more than one cycle of breath through each cycle of hand movements.

Modifying the Exercise: Smaller Circles

Another way to modify is if one or both shoulders creak or complain when you raise the arms above the head. If you are unable to do the full raising and lowering of the shoulders, trying to make yourself do it just creates constriction, muscular resistance, and a shutting down of energy flow. By moving smaller, you can gain relaxation and qi and fluid flow.

Mental Focus

Imagine your whole body is breathing.

Energetic Movements

Inhale healing Qi to all parts of your body from every direction, spherically.Exhale, releasing tension and stress to all directions.

#4: Outer Qi Shower

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 1 to 2 times through the cycle, or moreMovement: Tap hands all over the body.Main Purpose: Vibrates the “dust” loose.Main Qigong Principle: Purge stagnations to improve Qi flow and health.

Physical Movements

Slap the areas below in a soft and kind, but vigorous, fashion. Spend just a few seconds on each area so you can finish the whole exercise in a minute or two.

1.    Slap the belly with an alternating rhythm.2.    Slap the chest with an alternating rhythm.3.    Slap with one hand under one arm down the side of the ribs; then do the other side.4.    Again with one hand, slap down the inside of one arm to the palm, then up the outside of the hand and arm to the shoulder. Use an alternating rhythm. Second arm likewise.5.    Use an alternating rhythm to slap up the face and sides of the head to the top of the skull, down the back of the cranium, and down the neck.6.    Slap the kidneys and low back with both hands (alternating side to side each slap) and down to the sacrum.7.    Slap the hands down the outside of the legs in a simultaneous rhythm.8.    Slap down the backs of the legs in a simultaneous rhythm.9.    Slap down the front of the legs in a simultaneous rhythm.10.    Slap up the insides of the legs in a simultaneous rhythm.

In Photos

Slap the whole belly

Tap the chest

Tap the Outer Ribs

Tap the Inner Arm

Tap the outer arm

Tap the face

Tap the head and neck

Tap the back

Tap down outside of legs

Tap down back of legs

Tap down front of legs

Tap up inside of legs

Feel the Qi buzz

Modifying the Exercise

Don’t tap or slap a place that hurts when you do so. Or if it hurts, can you tap it more gently? Tap as gently as you need to. You can use the back of the hands or sides of the hands to tap the lower back and sacrum if you can’t reach easily with palms. Sometimes bending forward a little at the waist can help with slapping to the rear. If you can’t bend all the way down the legs standing, can you do it seated?

Mental Focus

Feel, sense and imagine your are breaking loose stagnations in your body.

Energetic Movements

Old, stagnant, toxic, or stuck energy is leaving the body.

Wake Up Your Body

This is a quick body waker-upper and circulation improver. It is simple to perform and pleasantly invigorating. I learned it from Qigong teacher Minke de Vos at Silent Ground, in British Columbia. I have altered it somewhat.

Simple Tapping

In the Qi Shower method, you are basically following the flow of the meridians, tapping in specific directions. If you know the meridians, you can use this extra bit of awareness to increase

the pleasurable effects of the exercise. If you don’t know how they flow, that’s okay. It still works. If you don’t remember which way to slap, any light slapping is good, for the lymph, blood flow, skin, bones, muscles, cells, and interstitial fluids and intracellular fluids are all benefiting for your administrations.

#5: Inner Qi Shower

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 6 to 12, or more.Movement: Cleanse cells with descending hands and a vocally descending “Shee” tone.Main Purpose: Clears the cells of sludge and excess heat.Main Qigong Principle: Use sound vibrations to clear the body of toxicity.

Description of the Physical Movements

Raise arms above your head, inhaling. Energetically connect to a clear, healing energy. Make the healing tone “Shee”, as you draw your hands down the front of your body. This sound will start in the high range and descend smoothly to a very low, base tone at the feet. You will get a long, falling sound. I find the sound evocative of the famous cartoon foil Wily Coyote in the old Warner Brothers cartoons. As he is falling to the bottom of a deep canyon after failing to capture the clever Road Runner there is that long trailing sound that ends with the coyote grounding solidly into the earth. “Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” End the tone as your hands descend as far as they can in front of your legs and your consciousness reaches the bottom of your feet. Follow the hands down with your head, watching as they descend. At the end of the movement your hands are at the thighs and you are looking down at your feet.Note: don’t bend down, just look down. if you bend down to far you might end up putting more energy back into the head.

Inhale as you raise arms

Begin a high-pitched "shee"

Clear down through the cells

Finish with a low-pitched "shee"

Modifying the Exercise

If, for you, it is too difficult to perform the whole movement in one breath cycle, you can use more than one breath to do the cleansing. For instance, you could breathe in until your hands are over your head, then exhale. Then take in a good full breath and start exhaling as you “Shee” down your body. When you run out of breath, hold the hands where they have gotten down to while you inhale. Exhale again, as you cleanse with the “Shee” sound further toward the earth.

Mental Focus

Focus mainly on your inner, cellular self.Where the hands pass, visualize a cleansing of your tissues with clear Qi.

Energetic Movements

The Qi flow is in a head-to-feet direction.Qi Washes through the tissues, organs, muscles, fascia and cells of your body like an inner shower. The Qi here is like water in a shower, descending toward and into the earth to enact it’s cleansing

The Art of Healing Sounds

Using specific sounds for healing is an important category of Qigong. The “shee” vocalization is a good introduction to the power and effectiveness of the art of healing sounds. Uttering it, you will begin to feel how the vibration of the sound reverberates through your body.

Clearing the Cells

The Inner Qi Shower is a superb way to clean muddy or discolored energy from the cells and surrounding spaces in all of the body. Each repetition should leave you feeling more clean internally. You want to get a sense visually of a cleaning of the cells, like a squeegee cleaning a windshield. Even more you want to palpably feel the cleansing, as if dirtiness in and around your cells becomes progressively more clean, shiny, and sparkly.

Hot Flashes and Heat Discomfort

The Inner Qi Shower is a wonder in cooling down from feeling too hot physically, especially feeling too hot in the head. If someone is suffering from incipient heat stroke or from hot flashes try the “Shee” sound. I have several times seen the “Shee” sound work with astounding quickness and completeness. Faces red with uncomfortable heat often become normal-colored and at ease in just a few repetitions of the sound.

#6: Charging the Center

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 12 to 24, or moreFill and warm up your lower abdominal power center.Movement: Hands on lower abdomen. Slightly tilt the pelvis with an inhale. Exhale to neutral pelvis.Main Purpose: Builds power in the lower energy center.Main Qigong Principle A: Belly Breathing.Main Qigong Principle B: Pelvic Tilt.Main Qigong Principle C: Fill the Dantian, the lower energy center.

Description of the Physical Movements of Charging the Center

Place hands on the lower abdomen between the belly button and the pubic bone. One hand is over the back of the other hand.  It doesn’t particularly matter which hand is on the body. Inhale

through the nose, bending the knees slightly and engaging a pelvic tilt. You want to breathe into the lower  Abdomen; the shoulders should not rise. On the exhale through the nose straighten

your legs, reversing the pelvic tilt.

Inhale to belly, bending knees and tilt pelvis

Exhale, straighten knees and pelvis neutral

Modifying the Exercise

Avoiding PainThe movements of Charging the Center are small to begin with, so most people can do them easily enough. But if there is some kind of pain when you perform it, say in the hips or knees, then move in a smaller way. Most of the power of Qigong is in how you focus your mind and breath. Moving with a smaller amplitude still allows you to feel the whole body, sink the weight

into the center, and fill the center fresh Qi and body consciousness.

Sitting If you have difficulty practicing this exercise standing, or you are in a wheel chair, you can practice it sitting down.

MenstruationDuring menstruation you may want to skip this exercise and do more of Exercise #7: Charging the Kidneys. Some teachers say that women should not practice at all during menstruation.

Pregnancy

If you don’t yet practice Qigong, you will probably want to wait until after the birth of your child. If you already practice Qigong and you become pregnant, you will probably want to continue your practice. I suggest you skip Charging the Center and do more Charging the Kidney.

Mental Focus: Dantian

Relax your mind while lightly focusing on the center of your lower abdomen. Putting your mind into your lower abdomen draws excess energy out of your head and other areas above the abdomen. In the internal arts from China, this geo-energetic center is known as the Dantian (“DAWN tee en”) or the Lower Dantian.

Energetic Focus: Dantian

Dantian is pronounced “DAWN tee en”. This is  a word meaning literally meaning “field of elixir.” Qi comes into your body through the inhale, then descends to the belly to enter the Dantian. Qi from your head, neck, shoulders, chest and back also sinks and enters the Dantian. You might feel your dantian heat up as a fire would. Allow the Dantian become magnetic to healing energy. On the exhale, the Qi is encouraged to stay in the Dantian and build up there.

A Real Healing Field

As a field of elixir, the Lower Dantian is a place of natural healing medicine. It is the center of the body and is associated with coordinated movement, physical power, deep breath, and life force energy. The Lower Dantian is also a repository and refining center for Qi.

Coordinating Breath with Movement

I talked about this important Qigong health principle on Exercise #3: Waking the Breath. Here it becomes even more explicit in your practice. Your movement begins and end with the beginning and ending of each half of your breath. Breathing in, you begin to pelvic tilt. Your inhale then continues smoothly as you bend the knees and lower the body at a regular pace. Your body lowering ends exactly as you reach the end of the inhale. Exhale in the same way, by starting the body rise and exhale together and ending them together after a smooth, linked middle.

Balanced Inhale and Exhale

You want to tend toward a breathing rhythm that is the same frequency and ease on both breathing in and breathing out. Practicing Charging the Center is an excellent method to regain a more healthful breathing cadence and capacity.

#7: Charging the Kidneys

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 12 to 24, or moreMovement: This is Kidney breathing with the hands on the lower back and a pelvic tilt.Man Purpose: Builds energy in the Kidneys, bringing more vitality to the body.Main Qigong Principle: Open and charge the Gate of Life.

Description of the Physical Movements

Hand PlacementPlace your palms on your back, over the Kidneys. The location for the Kidneys is higher than most people realize. In general, each Kidney is half-beneath the lower ribs and half-covered by the soft tissue of the big spinal muscles. Consult a good anatomy book for accuracy. (I recommend Atlas of Anatomy by Netter.)The fingertips will point inward and down slightly to the circular place on the back of the body known as the Gate of Life. This is a dime-sized area located on the spine exactly opposite the belly button.

Movement DetailsInhale: Pelvic tilt forward with a bit of a squat back and slight knee bend. The lower back will push backward. Lean the upper body just a bit forward to compensate for the squatting back. It is important that the tailbone moves forward, not backward. This ensures a flattening of the lower spinal vertebrae, which helps open the flow of blood, lymph, and Qi to the Kidneys.Exhale: Release into a neutral position, standing normally, hands still on the back.

The actual location of the Kidney

Inhale to Kidneys, tilt pelvis

Exhale into Kidneys, pelvic neutral

Modifying the Posture

Some people have a little difficulty with amount of the stretch on the joints for the basic posture of Charging the Kidneys. If you cannot reach all the way back comfortably, it is okay to modify the contact. You could practice with just one kidney at a time. Let’s say it is the left kidney first. Place the left hand over the kidney on the back, and the right hand in front of the kidney on the abdomen. Turn the torso a little to the left to bring the right hand over the right abdomen and relieve any strain on the left arm and shoulder.Another method of modifying the posture is to place both palms on the abdomen, in front of the kidneys.

Mental Focus

Your focus is on the lower back, especially where the Kidneys are located. By putting your awareness there, you will draw energy and consciousness to the Kidneys, helping these oft-depleted organs to recharge.

Energetic Movements

Feel the Kidneys fill with life force energy. On the inhale draw the Qi to the Kidneys.On the exhale, send the Qi into the kidneys. You’ll know you are getting it right when the kidneys warm up and feel more lively and full.

Back Pain Can Disappear

Chronic Low back pain can disappear with proper breathing practices. I’ve seen it happen for people, when they do a practice called low back breathing. This exercise of Charging the Kidneys

is similar to the previous exercise, Charging the Center, except the breath is focused more to the lower back area, rather than the lower abdomen on the front of the body.

Push the Lower Back Backward

On the inhale, tilt the pelvis forward while bending the knees a short few inches more. The bending knees give room for the pelvic movement. The pelvic tilting pushes the lumber spine backward, bringing stretching and all-important movement to that over-tensed area of the body.

Strong or Weak Kidneys

Weak Kidneys make you cold, tired, susceptible to illness, pale, fearful. Strong Kidneys lead to vitality, bodily warmth, warm hands, haleness and heartiness, courage, and wisdom. The Kidneys are also thought to feed and strengthen all the other internal organs. With weakened Kidneys, or Kidneys emptied of Qi through illness, lifestyle factors, or overexertion all other organs suffer, as does your health.Strengthening the Kidneys is always good to do, and the whole body/mind benefits.

#8: Charging the Qi Ball

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 12 to 24 or moreMovement: Hands at the level of the lower energy center, expand hands outward, then compress them back to the center.Main Purpose: Builds healing energy in the hands and entire body.Main Qigong Principle: Use the whole body to move the hands.

Description of the Physical Movements

Bring the palms to face each other at the same level on either side of the Dantian (left and right sides.) The palms are about 6 inches apart to start. Inhale with a pelvic tilt while expanding your arms wide to the sides. Exhale, drawing the hands back together while bring the pelvis to neutral. This is exactly the same pelvic motion as is done on exercises 6, 7, and 10. Remember to move slowly and use belly breathing. A rhythm of 3 seconds out and 3 seconds back is a good rate to reach for.Keep your palms at the height of the Dantian for the entire exercise, being sure not to let them rise as you expand out.

Feel the Qi between hands

Expand the Qi-connected hands

Compress the Qi

Modifying the Exercise

I suggest a 3 second inhale, 3 second exhale rhythm for this exercise, but it could be 2/2. for shorter cycles of breath, don’t expand the hands out as far. For longer cycles, say 4 or 5 seconds out and the same back, you have several choices. You can either move more slowly, expand the hands wider, or do both.

Mental Focus

Initially, pay attention to how your hands feel. As you get comfortable with the exercise widen your attention to include your arms. As  you become skilled at Charging the Qi Ball, have a whole body awareness as you widen out, then come back inwardly.

Energetic Movements

Many people like to imagine a light, energetic connection between the palms. As you perform the repetitions you will actually feel a kind of a magnetic Qi taffy being stretch, compressed and blended between your hands. Eventually the whole body will feel like it is expanding out and sinking back

Discussion of Charging the Qi Ball

You don’t want to be blocky with this movement. Relax the arms as much as possible and get into a flowing, seaweed in the-waves-like motion. Allow the elbows and wrists to move in slow-motion flexing and extending—all the while keep the palms facing each other.

Scientific measures of people before and after practicing Qigong show that Qigong practicing both increases and balances the energies of the hands, left to right. In Charging the Qi ball you can use a direct method to elicit this principle. Moving the arms out and builds Qi in the palms—which you can feel as warmth and tingling and see as a red and white mottling. This simple movement also sends feedback up the sensory nerves of the arm and into the brain in such a way that the brain corrects imbalances.Charging the hands this way is also a method of self-healing for the internal organs. As blood and qi flow increases, and the arm tissues and joints relax and open, Qi follows the meridians into the depth of the body to nourish and regulate the organs. You may begin feeling a whole-body, magnetic pulse.

Charging the Qi Ball is a strongly charging exercise that becomes a balancing flow—a perfect intersection to the next exercises in the set.

Gentle Exercises for Optimal Health

#9: Streaming the Fountains

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 6 to 12 reps, or more; in each direction Movement: Bring Earth energy up the inside column of the body and down the outside orb of your energy field in a fountain. Reverse the directions for Heaven energy.Purpose: Energizes and balances your body between Earth and Heaven.Main Qigong Principle: Keep hips, knees and ankles centered and lined up.

Description of the Physical Movements

Earth MovementBegin: Slightly bend at the knees, hips and waist to scoop from the earth with your arms.Inhale: Stand up, drawing the hands up past the legs, waist, chest, head, and finally, overhead. The hands face the body as they travel upward.Exhale: Lower the arms down the sides and slightly bend at the knees, hips and waist to again scoop of the earth with your arms.

Transition After the last Earth Movement, where the arms lower down the sides, rise from the squat and draw the arms up the chest, crossing them at the forearms.Lower the arms as you squat back down, uncrossing the arms. Raise the arms up the sides until the are above the head.

Heaven MovementThis is essentially the reverse of the Earth Movement.Exhale: Lower the hands to pass the head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, legs into the earth. The

hands face the body as they travel downward.Inhale: Draw the hands up the sides until they come again to being above the head.

Reach deep into th Earth

Bring the Earth energy up

Continue to draw the Earth Qi up

Draw the rising energy out and up

Modifying the Exercise

If it hurts the knees to bend them, bend them less. If your back hurts when you bend over to scoop Earth Qi or Release Heaven Qi, bend less.

Mental Focus

On the Earth Movement: Connect your mind to the varied treasures below your feet in the earth; the energies and colors and nourishment of rocks, dirt, water, magma. Feel the solidity and the rooting gravity of the earth.On the Heaven Movement: Connect your mind to the orbiting planets, twinkling stars, and spiraling galaxies. Feel the expansion and space of the levitational heavens.

Energetic Focus

Streaming the Fountains teaches how to connect the flowing energy of the body with flowing energies outside of the body, and healthfully blend them all. When rising with the Earth Movement, the Qi of the earth, courses through the your body like water through a pipe. When lowering the arms, the Qi spreads all around in a 360 degree fountain. This fountaining Qi, as it reaches the ground, then joins the rising Qi that courses back up your body. (I’m not sure fountaining is actually a word, but it works for me.) With the Heaven movement you are showering in a reverse fountain.

Improving Leg Configuration and Coordination

It is important to keep the hips, knees, and ankles all be lined up and in tune with each other as you squat down and rise again. Wiggly legs lead to less strength and more joint problems. Move straight up and down with your squatting and you’ll strengthen your joints, build muscle, smooth out your Qi flow, and improve coordination.

Lower Back Fitness

Back pain is a national epidemic in the USA. Millions and millions of people have back trouble. If you haven’t had back problems, chances are you will eventually. Back health is something valuable and to be sought. (And that’s not just me the Chiropractor talking.) Bending at the waist is good for the low back and should not be avoided. It must, however, be executed to a degree that is within your safe limits. If you avoid bending at the waist, eventually you won’t be able to and the slightest twist and misstep could cause painful impingement. Lubricating the back through repeated, appropriate bending and unbending will probably lead to greater ability to bend farther and to lead to fewer back pain episodes in your future.

Knee Caps

It is important not to let the knee caps (patellae bones) protrude farther than the front of the toes. When you bend the knees with all of your weight on them, keep within the limit of the front of the toes. If you look down and cannot see your feet because your knees are in the way, you have bent too far forward. This is hard on the knees and could  and probably will cause pain and problems you don’t want.

Building Leg Strength

Squatting lower (safely) builds greater leg strength, particularly of the muscles on the front of the thighs. These muscles are called the quadriceps and are designed to be extremely strong. I call

them the longevity muscles because when they get weak, it becomes more and more difficult to walk and get around. This leads to weakening of all the body, inside and out, making the body more susceptible to illness, accidents, and premature old age. It is common for Tai Chi masters to have strong legs—and robust health—into their 80’s and 90’s.

#10: Riding the Waves

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 12 to 24, or moreMovement: Raise arms up and lower them down, pelvic tilting on the down motion.Purpose: Balances the energy flow vertically in the body.Main Qigong Principle: Move with the lymph rhythm.

Description of the Physical Movements

This exercise is like the starting move in many Tai Chi Chuan forms.Inhaling, perform a pelvic tilt with a slight knee bend while raising the arms in front of you to about shoulder height. Exhaling, lower the arms to the level of the pelvis while straightening the knees slightly and coming to pelvic neutral. Keep the elbows soft and heavy, bent toward the earth. Let the wrists wave like seaweed in the surf as you raise and lower the arms.

Modifying the Exercise

If you are the type of person who has too much energy in your head, be sure and focus on keeping the vertical flowing up-and-down movement in the legs and torso.

Mental Focus

Feel, and visualize the energies of the Earth and Heavens moving through you. Earth Qi rises as your arms rise (and knees bend.) Heaven Qi travels down through you as the arms lower (and the knees straighten.)

Energetic Movements

With the inhale, Qi rides up through the body from feet to head. On the exhale, Qi flows down to the feet.

Lymph Flow

A significant part of what Qi is–as it is experienced in the body–is the full and fluid flow of the lymph. A strong and regular lymph flow will cause a pleasant, deep relaxation in the whole body. This brings faster healing to both acute and chronic problems, and robust immunity to diseases. By inhaling for 3 seconds on the rising arm motions; and then exhaling for three seconds on the

lowering arm motions, you will get in synch with the rhythm of lymph flow in the body. This is a strong method of assisting the immunity of the body.

Raise the arms

Be sure to tilt the pelvis

Lower the arms

#11: Centering the Qi

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 3 to 6 or more. Finish every practice by guiding Qi back to the dantian.Movement: Reach up and out, then lower the hands, gathering energy to the DantianMain Purpose: Guides energy to the body’s center to store for later use.Main Qigong Principle: Guides energy to the body’s center to store for later use.

Description of the Movements

Breathing in, raise your arms to the sides until they are overhead with palms facing down. Exhale as you draw your palms down the front of your head and torso until they come to rest briefly in front of the Dantian in the central lower belly. The hands do not touch the Dantian.

Modifying the Exercise

Smaller MotionsAs always, smaller motions are the remedy for pain. If big arm motions hurt, do little motions. Reap deeply received body benefits by doing movements that are easy, relaxed, whole and appropriately-sized.

MenstruationSome Qigong authorities recommend that menstruating or pregnant women should not bring energy into the Dantian (lower energy center.) The hypothesis is that the Qi will leak out with the

menstrual fluid. If you are on your period or pregnant, I  suggest you check this out for yourself. If you feels this is true for you, no problem. Instead, draw the energy to the Kidneys. The arm movements are pretty much the same; the focus is different.

Mental Focus

Put most of your focus on the Dantian–perhaps 80 percent of your focus. The rest of the focus is on the sphere of Qi in and around you. Intend to collect extra Qi with your palms and guide it to the Dantian. Imagine the outer Qi moving toward and into your Dantian.

Energetic Movements

Qi Streams toward your center. Qi in your energy field, your body and your consciousness all stream toward and into the Dantian. It is like the Dantian is a magnet that pulls all this free energy into it.

Discussion of Centering the Qi

At the end of each Qigong session, make certain to bring your dispersed energy back to the dantian. This is very important. You don’t want your energy stuck up in your head or heart, as this can cause scatteredness and emotional problems—even Qi psychosis could result.

Raise the arms to the sides

Draw the Qi to the center

Guide the Qi into the center

#12: Nurturing the Qi

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 6 to 12 breaths, or moreMovement: Hands and mind are on the lower energy center. Eyes are closed.Main Purpose: Lets the healing changes from practice sink into your being.

Main Qigong Principle: Balance activity with quiescence. The necessary quiet after activity that calms your inner being down.

Description of the Physical Movements

Lightly place your hands, one over the other, on the lower abdomen. It doesn’t’ especially matter which hand is on top, though I like to have my hands in the opposite position as on #6, Charging the Center. The hand closest to the torso—the one touching the torso—is placed so that the thumb just touches the belly button. The thumb on the belly button is a guide so you know you are in the right spot. The fingers are relaxed and slightly open. Close your eyes. For a number of breaths, hold your hands over the Lower Dantian and breathe easily.Finish by opening your eyes slowly. Notice your surroundings. Gently let your hands slip to the sides of your body. Go about your day feeling more centered, relaxed, energized and happy.

Modifying the Exercise

Some Qigong authorities recommend that menstruating or pregnant women should not store or charge energy in the Dantian (lower energy center.) If you are on your period or pregnant, I  suggest you check this out for yourself. If you feels this is true for you, no problem. Instead, store the energy in the Kidneys. Simply place your hands on the back, covering the Kidneys, and absorb and root there. Your Kidneys will thank you.

Mental Focus

Focus on and in the Dantian, as if it is the center of your being (which it is.) Quiet the mind.

Energetic Movements

Keep your energy in the Dantian. Feel wisps and tufts and tendrils of extra energy in your body being gently drawn to the lower abdomen and absorbed into and blending with the Dantian.

Discussion of Nurturing the Qi

Nurturing the Qi is a soft approach to gathering and building energy in the lower dantian. Earlier in the set, you practiced a more active method with Charging the Dantian. Nurturing the Qi also charges the Dantian, but in a more Yin way. It is quieter, all internal in focus, and there is no outer movement.

Allow some quiet time to absorb

14 Powerful Reasons for Slow Qigong

Many Qigong exercises are done slowly, sometimes very slowly. Why is this? There are many reasons that going slow is one of the best ways to get the most out of a Qigong practice. There is overlap between the many reasons given below, as every piece stated contributes to all of the other pieces. We are whole beings, not a conglomeration of separate parts. I speak of each reason separately for ease of personal exploration. There are more than 14 reasons for frequent, slow movement practice.

The Race to Slowness

Engage in the oft-missing luxury of unhurried movement. Life is so fast, especially modern life. We get out of balance with the speed, intensity, complexity. Slowness is something we miss, at a deep level, something we crave.

1.  Improve Lymph Flow

Going at slow speed activates the pulsing lymph flow in the entire body, because it resonates with the slow, rhythmic way lymph likes to move. An enormous flow of lymph fluid can move through your body. Optimizing your lymph flow will increase the many valuable tasks that the lymph does, such as clearing up cellular wastes, draining toxins, reducing inflammations, fighting infections, preventing illness and generally cleaning up the interstices of your body. Going at Tai chi speed activates the lymph flow in the entire body. Lymph likes to pump through the many nodes and vessels of the body at a slow rate: a six to 8 second pulse is ideal.

2.  Notice More

The more you can discern in a relaxed state, the more you empower yourself. Practicing any movement slowly allows you to notice more within the movement. You enhance awareness of sensations, your breath, where your mind is, and different aspects of your body. Going fast, you skip over things. There is so much to notice in your body that you never have before. The more you can, in a relaxed state, notice, the more you empower yourself. Take time to enjoy the scenery, to partake of the pleasures of movement. Learn and assimilate what you notice.

3.  Allow Time to Connect More of your Body Together

In Qigong and the internal martial arts you practice using all parts of the body. You don’t want any portions of your body languishing, lazing, hiding. You want complete movement everywhere. Slowness allows the ignored or left-out places a chance to engage in the movement. These shadow places are areas of pain, chronic problems, lowered function, and trauma. Getting them involved in the healing movement is quite empowering on many levels. Parts and places are better; and the whole is better

4.  Ground, Root and Center

Three of the most important principles of Qigong are Grounding, Rooting, and Centering. Each of these are easier to learn and enhance by going slowly. Grounding is when your body’s energy flow is equalized within and without (like the grounding you would do with an electrical wire.) Rooting is relaxing the tension downward to create physical stability. Centering is putting your mind into your lower abdomen (Lower Dantian.)

5.  Improve Your Breathing

It is easier to take deep, full, even, long and  relaxed breaths when you move slowly. In slowness, it is easier to integrate your breath with your movement. Improving your breathing is probably the most basic and most useful method of a long life of health. Qigong at it’s bedrock level is really breath training. Proper breath training can alleviate, improve or cure just about any chronic illness you can name. Chronic illnesses, whatever they are called, are, in a big way, a failure of whole body, healthy breathing.

6.  Switch from Fight/Flight to Relax/Heal

Our stressed out nervous systems are usually unbalanced in some kind of futile fight against the intensities of the modern world. The autonomic nervous system handles the various internal processes of the body like organ function, digestion, blood cell production and internal communications. The sympathetic part of this system is Yang—active and fast and easily overfed by stress. Slow Qigong practice releases the hole of the overworked sympathetic side and engages with the too-ignored parasympathetic side. It is the parasympathetic nervous system where most healing is enabled. The parasympathetic slows you down (think “parachute.”) The

parasympathetic slows us down (think “parachute.”) This is the Yin aspect of the autonomic (automatic) nervous system of the body.

7.  Qi Moves like Water

Qi is a vast concept that basically means full, fluid, intelligent, enlivening flow. The Qi of your body connects distant parts of your body into one unit of movement. But it does it within certain rules of motion. “Qi,” it is said, “moves like water;” while consciousness moves as fast as light. One aspect of health, is the full flow of Qi throughout the body. Qi, like water, flows by going under, over, through, or around obstacles in it’s path. Whatever obstacles you may have in your body—whether through tension, injuries, congestion or compression—your Qi has to find a way through. Water and Qi are ever-changing. This takes a moment. With your thinking you can just be somewhere—poof, instantly. With Qi, which is the interconnecting flow of your body, it takes time. If you go too fast, you don’t give your Qi time enough to authentically flow. Going too fast is a mechanical approach dictated by your brain. Going slowly, you give your Qi time enough find its way and to strongly flow. Going too fast is a mechanical approach dictated by your brain.

8.  Coordinate Posture, Movement, Breath, Mind, and Qi

Aligning these five factors is Qigong. When all five aspects are engaged in synchronized, mutually-supporting, principle based concert, you are practicing Qigong. For instance, when you begin a move, you begin to inhale. Likewise, when you finish the move, you complete your exhale. All through, the movement is smooth and regular, as is the breathing.

The effects of Qigong can be felt very early in your training. Your body is not doing one thing while your mind is doing another. You are not exercising while thinking about the movie you watched last night. You are not haphazardly breathing while sending Qi to your toe and slumping your torso. Yet, it takes a long dedication to practice and refinement of principles to gain gobs from Qigong. (Remember: practice is fun.) When these five factors are all moving together, in a whole-body synchronization, you are engaging in great self-healing work. You will like what you feel and love not getting sick much (or at all.)

9.  Strengthen Muscles

Many of us use faster movements to propel our body into movement. We use momentum rather than strength. Throwing ourselves around with willpower, we drain our internal resources. (This is the story of my first 30 years on this planet.) Slow movement develops a full-muscle strength that is different than that unhealthy explosive power. By actively using more of each muscle in each moment of time within the full extent of a motion, we become more integrated. Your muscles become smarter, stronger, and gain greater endurance. More importantly, this kind of strength, this longer, slower, easier strength leads to more relaxation. The muscles of the thighs (the longevity muscles) are particularly important to strengthen and Qigong (and Taiji) are great at developing them.

10.  Relax the Heart and Blood Vessels

Cardiovascular exercise strengthens the heart and strongly pushes blood through the blood vessels. Slow Qigong moves blood through the body by relaxing the heart and vessels. Qigong helps regulate a heart that is often too anxious and working too hard. Moderately vigorous exercise is important for long-term health. Overly vigorous exercise is usually an imbalanced behavior that, if continued, will eventually lead to serious health problems. Besides the physical health issues of heart and blood, over-work of the heart and over-energization leads to unhappy emotional issues. A tense heart is also a heart prone to anxiety.

11.  Increase Body Awareness in the Moment

Practicing slowly is moving meditation. It is meditation that doesn’t put you to sleep. You can better access the peace and promise of this moment. If  you have heard of the benefits of meditation but cannot seem to sit still for it, trying these slow Qigong approaches. The moving meditation of Qigong brings your focus to the present moment, the place of healing. Moving out of the past, we let go of the dragging hold that past has on us. We can let go of fears that were once valid for us, but are not more. We can release, day by day, the hold of our previous injuries, mental, physical, and emotional. We can better access the peace and promise this moment. For myself, I would much rather move to meditate than sit. Many people extol the benefits of sitting meditation, yet, we in the 21st century already sit so much. Our bodies stagnate and so do our minds. Get off the cushion, off the couch, off the chair and get your calming meditation in as you move your joints, pulse your lymph, massage your organs, and breathe with Qi.

13.  Develop Smoothness of Motion

Gaining smoother movement is both a method of and sign of healing. Herky Jerky motions are indications of blocks and rocks and dry spots in your inner environment. When you slow down, you notice the places that are not smooth and fluid. The clicks, and ratchets, and hatchets in our movements; the sticky, stagnant, and stuck places; the rickety, rackety, hacked places. Noticing, you can take measures to bring more fluidity to each spot.

14. Release Tension and Finally Relax

Slowness encourages release of tensions throughout your body, calmness in your emotions, clarity of your focus in the moment and superior whole body, whole being relaxation. Relaxation leads to the healing of stored traumas and a sense of well-being now.