Join the 28-Day Qigong Challenge: An online course with daily follow-along videos that teach beginners simple techniques to combat stress and help the body heal.
For Day 7, we are putting together all the pieces from the first six days into a practice session.
Enter your practice area and stand with your feet a comfortable distance apart. Make the three intentful corrections: body, breath, and mind.
Body: pay attention to your posture. Float the top of your head. Check your chin. Allow your spine to straighten, creating space between the vertebrae. Expand the ribs, creating space for the organs.
Breathe in, thinking of the top of the head.
Breathe out, thinking of the soles of the feet.
Breathe in deeper. Breathe out slower.
Take another deep breath and gently exhale.
Now smile from the heart. Let the joy well up inside of you, filling you up, and blossoming out. Allow this feeling to culminate with a physical smile on your face.
Begin the gathering breath, breathing in as your hands gather from earth, all life around you, and the sky about. Breathing out as your hands descend over your body, bringing these healing resources to your body and flushing out tension and stress.
With a relaxed and focused mind, thinking only of this exercise, repeat the gathering breath ten to thirty times, but don't bother counting.
Then transition into Bending Forward, Bending Back.
Exhale as you bend forward, forming fists and bringing them together with dynamic tension in front of your body, your spine in a gentle C curve, tense your entire body from head to toe.
Relax and inhale as you bend backward, opening hands, arms overhead, palms to the sky.
Continue with Bending Forward, Bending Back, pumping the lymph system.
Use your intuition and transition to Shi/Shi/Hu (In/In/Out) breathing when ready. Start slowly and deliberately with a belly breath, followed by chest breath, followed by a long slow exhale. Breathe in as fully as is comfortable, with comfort being the key.
When you feel energized and refreshed, relax more and begin increasing the rhythm of the in/in/out breath cycle. Breathe in and out through the nose, if possible. It's also okay to breathe out through the mouth. Don't hyperventilate, stop before you overexert yourself, and return to natural breathing.
Add in a nice, relaxing sigh of relief. Ahhhhh....
Continue on to tracing the meridians, hovering over the body with a soothing, smoothing motion, your mind relaxed and focused on what we are doing and open to sensations.
Relax. Feel. Flow.
When done, open your eyes, you closed your eyes to relax more all through the session, right? No? No worries. We'll do that next time.
For now, simply think of your belly button, then purposefully come back to the room, noticing shapes, colors, and sounds.
And go about your day.
Note: this is a full and complete qigong practice session. I've provided an audio version so that you can download it and use it on the go.
Enjoy!
P.S. I added videos showing how to modify this practice for seated and laying down positions. Don't do them all, just choose the one that bests suits you at this time. In general, standing is best, if you can.