Qigong to Feel Stronger

In qigong, strength comes from resilience and flow within your system - it's not just about muscular strength, which is helpful but not the whole story. Here's a routine to ground and strengthen you. KNOCKING ON THE GATE OF LIFE This warmup gently wakes up and eases out every joint in the body. Keep the arms very relaxed, so that they swing out from the turn of the waist. Loose fists knock on the lower back and belly, and on the lung points at the front of the shoulders. SHAKING Again, feeling that gentle ease and bounce through all the joints, as the shaking releases any stuck tension. THE THREE THUMPS This resets the energy system. Start by tapping just below the inside edge of the collarbones, at the ends of the kidney meridian. Then tap over the thymus gland beneath the sternum. Finally, tap on the ends of the spleen meridian, on the sides of the ribcage. TWO HANDS HOLD THE FEET This exercise grounds us and increases our physical energy by working with the kidney meridian. Only go as far as is comfortable - visualising the flows is just as effective. Place both hands over the lower dantien, on the belly. Inhale. Exhale and bring the palms round to the back, fingers touching on the spine and palms over the kidneys. Inhale, imagine that you are drawing energy up the legs and into the kidneys, and leaning backwards just a little. Exhale and bring the hands to the front. Inhale, reaching to draw energy from the sky. Exhale and bring the hands down, connecting to the earth energy. Inhale, drawing earth energy all the way up the legs and into the lower dantien. EMBRACE THE WIND, CARESS THE MOON This beautiful flow works with the solar plexus to strengthen the stomach and spleen meridians, to clear overthinking and worrying. Connect your palms with the energy of the earth. Inhale and turn your palms up and circle them round, bringing the backs of the hands up to the solar plexus. Exhale and bring the hands down in front of the lower belly. Inhale, drawing energy from the earth all the way to the solar plexus. Exhale and release, imagining that you are breathing out tension and worries. Inhale, drawing energy up to the forehead. The palms face down, directing chi back towards the earth. Exhale and push down, again releasing any tension down and into the earth. THE CELTIC WEAVE A healthy, strong system is full of weaving and flowing energy. Here we encourage these deep flows and strengthen the whole system by activating the radiant circuits. Rub the palms together, activating chi in the lao gong points at the centre of the palms. Hold then at a comfortable distance from the sides of the head. Inhale, drawing the elbows together at the chest. Exhale and draw two circles in front of the head and chest with your palms. Repeat. Then move down to the belly level and repeat. Finally, bend as low as if comfortable and repeat, imagining the circle extending over your legs and into the earth. Scoop energy up from the earth and bring it up, to tip over your head so that it can flow all the way down through your energy field. THE LONG CORE One hand at the belly and the other on the forehead. This simple hold connects the central and governing meridians, which provide an underlying circuit of your energy system. Imagine a line of energy reaching from the heavens above you down into the earth, with you held safe within it. COMPLETION One hand over the other on the belly, allowing you to absorb the chi we've generated in this practice. Wishing you balance and peaceful strength. 😊🌸 Thanks for practising with me! If you enjoyed it, great. Please do like, share and subscribe - I'm looking forward to being able to stop ads showing in the middle of my videos! ABOUT AMANDA I've been practising tai chi and qigong and meditating for 25 years now. I love to share these techniques - they are truly awesome. .