3 Tricks to Relieve Stress and Boost Immunity

Three Tricks to Relieve Stress and Boost Immunity Hello, I am going to share with you three simple tricks that everybody can do to relieve stress and boost immunity. There is always stress especially recently with the pandemic. These are techniques that I learned from many years of being a western family physician and tai chi teacher, as well as my practice with Chinese Traditional Medicine. These tricks are simple - you can do them anywhere and anytime. First of all, I want to make sure you understand that this is not intended as a substitute for medical advice or treatment. They are simply three useful and easy tricks, based on medical, tai chi and traditional Chinese medical knowledge. Please do them well within your comfort zone and check with your chosen health professionals before you start. First Trick: Dan Tian Breathing Breath is life. Breathing the right way can improve our lung space, more importantly it is related to the nervous system. The right way of breathing activates the parasympathetic system, which is in charge of relaxing, enhancing healing and recharging the body. I would like you to be aware of this area named the Dan Tian. You don’t have to know the name, but it is located at the centre of the body, three finger breadth below the belly button. Please put your palm over the centre of your body, or Dan Tan. Alternatively visualise your palm on this area. Then we are going to focus our breathing on this spot. Please allow yourself to relax, standing tall but not tense. It is fine to do this seated, be sure your back is well supported, and your posture is upright. Try to have your body as upright as much as possible, try to think of this dan tian area like a balloon. When you breathe in. gently fill the balloon with air, just gently allow the balloon to expand outward a little. Do this gently, thinking about it would be good enough. When you breathe out gently contract this area and press in with your palm like squeezing the balloon very gently. Do this as many times as you like, whenever you feel any discomfort please let go and breath naturally. Now, follow me, breathing in gently, and breathing out gently and contracting the dan tian very gently. If you find it hard to do, contract the pelvic floor muscles gently, or the muscles around the anus. Just a gently contraction as you breathe out. Try to keep your body upright, but not tense. Keep your body vertical to the ground as comfortable as possible. You can do that without your hand on the dan tian, breathe gently and softly. Do a full breath in without overdoing it and breathing out. You can do that anytime but stop if there is any discomfort. You can do this anywhere, for example you can do this sitting down. Be sure you have a chair that is comfortable and safe. Feet on the ground and if possible, sit forward a little so that you are not leaning back. But if you need to lean back that is ok too. The key is to keep your body upright as much as possible without being tense. The rest is the same, your dan tian area, breathing in expanding and breathing out contracting the balloon. I travelled around the world teaching tai chi, by five years ago I have flown a million miles for it. Inside a small seat of an aeroplane, it is almost my second home! This is how I keep myself well, to avoid air sickness and to replenish my energy, I do my dan tian breathing three hourly. And I also do my tai chi using visualisation within the seat, but I talk about that elsewhere. This is the breathing trick, take it anywhere and do it anytime. But it is nice to have a routine. I would suggest early in the morning do three dan tian breathing, or six or nine. It would not take much time, you will find if you do it regularly, especially daily, and when you are tense, that would really helpful to health! Second Trick: Mindful Walking... for more details check it out at the Tai Chi for Health website www.tchi.org under articles/guides