Listen to your own body and keep all the movements in your own comfort zone. This is gentle, low impact, simple versions of Tai Chi and QiGong moves so that it’s easy to follow along. If the sun is shining – get out into the garden or local green space, observing social distancing guidance, and repeat it again – taking in some deep breaths of fresh air.
Over the coming days/months I’m hoping to sometimes ‘live-stream’ but I will have to practise first ??? All the YouTube content is FREE to watch and FREE TO SUBSCRIBE – PLEASE SUPPORT ME ? Views, likes, comments and Subscribers all help support my small You Tube Channel. Share amongst family and friends and anyone who you think will find these exercises beneficial.
Take care, stay safe, keep well and keep in touch. best wishes Daphne
Shibashi QiGong 18 Form is a sequence of 18 individual QiGong movements that have been designed as a gentle QiGong exercise routine that promotes full body health. It aims to work and cultivate our Qi, whilst moving and working the major parts of the body. It is also performed in a flowing, rhythmic manner which enables us to develop a mind body connection, that can be very relaxing and mindful.
Shibashi QiGong 18 Form is one of the most popular QiGong sequences practised throughout the world. As with all QiGong, if practised on a regular basis it offers a plethora of benefits to the mind and body. With its origin in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it nurtures and nourishes from the interior to the exterior of our physical body, with its connection to breathing and mindfulness it brings peace and balance to our mind and mental health.
The list of benefits from regular QiGong practice are as follows :-
PHYSICAL – develops optimum function of the body through maintaining balance of yin-yang, effective Qi and Blood Flow and Zang Fu Organs. Its exercises develop better posture, body alignment and awareness, builds strength, tone and flexibility, keeps us active without heavy impact on the joints and bones. Increased lung and chest capacity through deep breathing techniques.
MENTAL – like a moving meditation, develops being present in the moment and mindful of movement, takes us away from everyday stresses, nurtures our mental health, calms an anxious mind, reduces chatter, provides relaxation and builds positive self-esteem. It also creates focus, intention and confidence for the practitioner.
SOCIAL – provides an opportunity to meet new people in a class, builds a community of like-minded people, develops caring, friendly and supportive relationships between people. This can uplift a low mood and reduce the possibility of social isolation, which can lead to depression or mental illness by providing a non-competitive exercise class to take part in.
Please press on the video link above to listen to my Introduction to the Shibashi QiGong 18 Set and press this link here to view the whole of my Shibashi QiGong 18 Playlist : – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8yseQESUF5_rfKdJhJ3sRwCy74ETk0KU
Each of the videos in the playlist will concentrate on an individual Shibashi QiGong 18 movement and provide repetitions and progressions to formulate into its own individual short QiGong flow. I also have a SEATED VERSION of each Shibashi QiGong 18 movement. My Freshfield Fitness Tai Chi PT YouTube channel has lots of other FREE Tai Chi and QiGong videos that you can follow at home. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE – thanks.
Hi I’ve had a request to do some more Seated QiGong sessions. So what I thought I’d do is incorporate all of the specific Meridian Qigong exercises. Put them together in a flow but perform it SEATED. This playlist here that will give you a detailed description of each of the QiGong exercises that I’ll be covering. Make sure you’ve got a sturdy chair that’s not going to tip over and you’ve got lots of space around you so you’re not going to knock anything off. Also position yourself on the chair a little bit further forward than you would normally so that you can sit tall, you’re thinking about that elongation, that lifting up from the crown, and that
stretching out up the spine, so we want to hold good posture, core engaged but most importantly we’ve planted our feet flat on the floor. So take them hip width apart if you can, so it’s a good solid foundation there for your feet during the exercises. I’ll take you through the QiGong Lung exercises.
The first one of which is called ‘wild goose flying’. Bringing our hands up to shoulder height here, inhaling as you go, lifting up and opening the chest and then relaxing as the hands are coming down. We can incorporate a heel raise so as the arms are coming up, we’re going to lift our heels off the floor so that the balls of our feet have got the weight in them. Plant them into the floor, really feel that floor underneath you. They’re rising up and bringing them down. Keeping the core engaged will help with your balance while we are sitting here to maintain that lovely posture.
Second exercise is ‘holding the Qi forwards’. Our hands come up forwards, we’re taking them out to the sides, a little squeeze of the shoulder blades here if you can, and an opening of the chest if the shoulders will allow. We’re bringing the hands up and then we’re gonna press down. And when you press down and you’re doing seated exercises really press your feet and your legs into the
floor. So you should be able to feel a little bit resistance there added to the exercise. Hands up, palms facing up, squeeze of the shoulder blades, lift it up and pressing down. Nice big inhale here. Exhale on the effort of that press.
Next exercise is ‘scooping the sea and looking at the sky’. We’re bringing our hands down, if you can incorporate a little bend forward. Just make sure you’re not gonna tip over. Again plant those feet well. We’re lifting up and opening out the chest looking at the sky. Let’s do that again. Doesn’t really matter which hand you have in front as you’re scooping. I tend to alternate mine. If you don’t want to incorporate the body bend then just round the shoulders, keep the arms a bit higher here don’t need to go too far and that helps you keep it within your comfort zone.
Next exercise is ‘sink and stretch to the sides’ Just going to bring the arms up. Cross hands here and then push out to the sides but again when you push, really push your feet into the floor aswell. Engage that core. Scoop it round. Nice inhale here and exhale as we push. I’m pushing my feet into the floor. And push out.
Exercise number five it’s called ‘squeezing the shoulders’. We’re bringing the hands up to chest height here and going to bend the elbows down, turning the hands so the palms are facing each other. Then the idea is that we squeeze the shoulder blades, open the chest and take the shoulders back. Just do this within your own comfort zone and visualize yourself taking this further and if it’s a bit restricted at the moment. So we’re opening the chest. Just lifting the chin a little bit to release that chest. Then we are relaxing and bringing the hands down to go again. Lifting up, dropping the elbows. Expand. All the while trying to keep hold of that posture. Lifting up, dropping the elbows, turning the hands.
Six exercise is ‘holding the book’ The hands are coming up, nice expansion here and then we are slicing through to hold the book. It’s quite a contraction here in the chest and then we’re releasing that to our stretch. We’re bringing it back in, releasing that stretch. Inhale here and exhale on this contraction.
Quick recap on ‘polishing the lungs’ our next exercise. Our hands are coming down and we are bending the body forward. Again make sure those feet are planted on the floor. Turning our hands around so that when they come up the palms are facing upwards. We’re then going to circle them around, behind it’s quite a big opening for the shoulders here, so definitely listen to your own body and then we’re pushing forwards. Let’s go again. Taking them down, scooping them forwards, Lifting high, taking them round the back and pushing forwards. Again you can keep this smaller – don’t bend forward as far and you don’t have to lift as far, you don’t have to come back as far and push forwards. They can be as small all the way through. Definitely lift as high as you can here and visualise yourself doing a much bigger exercise if that helps. Scooping down, scooping back up, lifting high, taking it round and then pushing it forwards. Relaxing and stretching high. Push forwards.
Next exercise is ‘flowing circles’ so I’d like you to take one foot a little bit further forward than the other so that we can transfer our weight from one to the other. Bring in the opposite hand across the body so it’s always pointing on top of the forward leg here. Transfer your weight into that front leg, turn the palm to face out and then follow the hand and we can transfer the weight into this back leg here. Nice flowing circles and you should feel your weight transfer from one side to the other on the chair. Making sure your chair is solid, it’s not going to tip over. Replace that foot and let’s go to the other side. Bring it slightly further forward. Both feet should still be flat on the floor. Bringing this opposite hand on top of this forwards leg and turn in the palm transferring
the weight back and then transferring the weight forwards. Following the hand. Flowing circles. It doesn’t have to be a big movement. You can still feel that transfer of weight that’s really important as part of this exercise we can incorporate a slightly different weight transfer while we’re sitting down.
Moving on to exercise number nine. This is called ‘opening the chest, opening the heart’. Our hands are coming up to shoulder height here, turning the palms and then we’re opening the chest. We’re going to bring those hands back and if you can visualize that you are really pushing them together. Adds a bit of something. Again you can push into the floor here, grounding those feet. And same again on this push down.We’re lifting up, inhaling here, gonna exhale as we expand here, inhale, we bring the hands together and exhale. Keep the posture tall, lifting from the crowd. Next exercise is ‘bear goes swimming’ so just like a breaststroke we’re going to just scoop through that water here with our hands and bring our hands back into our chest here, so that we can go
forwards again. OK I’m incorporating a forward bend here, rounding the shoulders, rounding the back, sucking that belly button
through to the spine, as I am swimming forwards. But again a little modification you can just do it a bit smaller, it doesn’t have to be as big. Keep it nice and within your own comfort zone. That’s been a little recap on all of the ten different QiGong Lung exercises. A lot more detailed descriptions in this playlist up here goes through each one has five videos covering two exercises in each but hopefully you’ve got a good flavour of the bare bones of those exercises.
We’re going to put them together in a QiGong flow. I’m going to do two repetitions of each exercise or one on each side. ‘Wild Goose Flying’ ‘Holding the Qi forwards’ ‘Scooping the Sea, Looking at the sky’ ‘Sink and Push to the Sides’ ‘Squeezing the Shoulders’ ‘Holding the Book’ ‘Polishing the Lungs’ Flowing Circles’ ‘Opening the chest, Opening the lungs’ ‘Bear goes swimming’
Good posture here. Calming the breath. I hope you really enjoyed that Seated Qigong session. Check out some of the other videos and let me know how you’re getting on. Thanks
INTRO
Hi, Welcome back to this Seated Tai Chi and QiGong session. My name’s Daphne and I’m here today to share with you some Tai Chi, QiGong and Low Impact Exercises that you can perform sitting down. So, let’s get started. If you haven’t already done so, check out the first video in this Seated Sessions Playlist. Clicking on the link will take you there because that video goes through, in a bit more detail, how to sit on your chair and position your posture correctly to get the best out of these exercises. I’m not going to spend much time on this today. So what I will do is start straight away with our warm up, our loosening off, so we’re going perch forward, planting our feet on the floor, grounding those feet, pushing into the floor. Lifting up our posture, and elongating that spine, keeping the breathing nice and calm.
WARM UP
And we’re just going to turn our head to the right, and back to centre. Doing all of our exercises within your own comfort zone. Keeping all our joints relaxed. Let’s take our chin to our chest and with care to the ceiling. Ear to our shoulder. Focusing on each area of the body that we are moving. And seeing if there’s any tightness and trying to relax it out. We’re going to do three shoulder rolls, and three forwards. Just using the top part of our back we’re just going to roll down, nice and slowly, and rolling back up. And open the chest. And again. We’re going to do Knocking on the Door, so just twisting from your waist. Turning within your own comfort zone, arms swinging freely. And bringing it back to centre. We’re going to peel our heel off the floor, and the other side. Let’s do that again. This time taking the foot completely off the floor if you can. We’re inhaling, big breath in, reaching to the sky and exhaling, coming down. And again, reaching up. Final one.
EXERCISE 1
OK let’s move on to our main exercises. Keeping our feet at parallel and posture tall. We’re Squeezing our Hands in tight and we’re pushing out. We’re doing that again. Squeezing tight, nice inhale, exhaling as we’re pushing out. Stretching those fingers out and again. Final time.
EXERCISE 2
Next exercise is Pushing a Small Qi Ball. So the small Qi ball, about the size of tennis ball, we’re going to hold in our right hand, just in front of our shoulder here. We’re going to use our left hand as a barrier in front of it. We’re going to engage our core and engage our arm muscle to push that Qi ball forward and open that barrier. And then we’re going to take it round and follow it the side, in like a little circular motion. So pushing forward and taking it round, and again. Focusing on those palms, as they’re moving forwards and to the side. Repeating that on the other side. Holding that Qi ball in our left hand this time. Right hand comes across the body in that barrier. We’re pushing it forward, taking it to the side. And one more.
EXERCISE 3
Holding a slightly bigger Qi Ball, about the size of a football this time. We’re turning the waist so that we’re looking to the right hand side and we’re lifting our ball towards the sky and Gazing at the Moon. We’re bringing it back down to centre. So you need to make sure that you’re just turning and lifting as far as you can, within your own comfort zone. Looking at the sky, gazing at the moon, bringing it back down to our centre. And again. And if you can each time, maybe just extend that reach a little bit further, gazing slightly behind you.
EXERCISE 4
Next exercise is Pushing the Waters. We are adding some footwork to this move. So we’re going to lift our right foot, heel, toe, we are replacing that foot into our parallel stance. Then we’re going to push down, using the thigh muscle to really push all the way through the foot and into the floor. As we do so our hands are coming up and we are pushing the waters, as if we’re pushing against an invisible wall next to us. Pushing, so we can engage our arm muscles, our core and the leg pushing into the floor and then we’re bringing it back to centre. We’re doing that all on the left hand side. So peeling this left foot off, heel, toe down and transfer your weight into it as you push against that wall, bringing those waters back to the centre. Heel, toe right, push. Heel, toe left, push. And again. Following the hands, focusing on that energy. Really using that natural resistance like we’re pushing and pulling our hands all the way through that water.
EXERCISE 5
Final exercise is called Clasping the Hands and Pushing Forward. Couple of different options for you to try here. The first is to clasp the hands, bringing them up to chest height, turning them over and pushing them forward. Now as you can see there’s quite an extension here, quite a stretch in my wrist joint. If you find that a bit challenging, difficult or it’s just not within your range of motion you can do exactly the same exercise but keeping the hands apart, means when that you push forward you can decide how much you stretch that wrist joint out so it can be a lot gentler for you. And we’re going to bring our hands down. So we’re clasping our hands, inhaling as we are lifting the hands to the chest and turning them over and pushing forwards. Now this time you can increase that stretch so it goes into the shoulders and upper body just by dropping your head in between your arms. Then we’re going to release that stretch and lower the hands. Going again, clasping the hands, bringing them up, turning them over, pushing forwards. Extending that stretch, releasing the stretch and taking them down. Pushing forwards, nice exhale on that push. Let’s do one more.
FINISH
And bringing the arms round, gathering that energy, holding it here, breathing in and breathing out. And again, nice big breath in and out. And final inhale, feeling relaxed.
INTRO
Hi, Welcome back to another Seated Tai Chi and QiGong Session. My name’s Daphne and I’m here today to share with you some Tai Chi, Qigong and Low Impact Exercises you can perform at home. So without further ado, let’s get started. If you haven’t already done so, check out Session 1 Video of this Seated Tai Chi and QiGong – the Seated Sessions Playlist. That will run through in a little bit more detail where to position yourself on the chair so that you can plant your feet onto the floor. And the posture that you want to try and maintain all the way through the exercises. So I’m not going to spend much time on that today but we will plant our feet, get into that posture, grounding our feet into the floor, lifting up and breathing nice and calmly.
WARM UP
And we’ll start with our head to the right and back to centre, and to the left, chin to your chest and with care to the ceiling. Keeping in control, we’re going to look forward and take our ear to our shoulder. Remembering to move our body just within our own comfortable range of motion. Bringing our hands to our sides, we’re going to do three shoulder rolls backwards. So listen to your own body, making sure we’re not pushing it too far. And the other way. Keeping our joints nice and relaxed, all the way through. We’re moving the top of our back only, rolling down nice and slowly. And we’re going to open the chest, lifting it up, looking at the ceiling. And again, rolling it down, opening that chest. Exhaling as we go down and inhaling as we come up. We’re knocking on the door, twisting, just within your own comfort zone, twisting from the waist, only as far as you can, swinging those arms. And bringing it back to centre. We’re just going to lift our heel, peel it off and place it down. And the other side. And again. This time progressing it to a lift, bringing it back. And lift. One more on each side. Big breath in, all the way up, stretching to the sky and bringing it down. Inhale, all the way up, and all the way down. And all the way up and exhaling down.
EXERCISE 1
OK, so our first exercise we are going to hold that Qi Ball, about the size of a football. I don’t mind which hand you have on top. And all we’re going to do is turning this Qi Ball. We’re turning it round. We’re focusing on our breath. So inhaling on the turn, exhaling as we push down. Inhale, opening that chest, and exhale, push into the floor with our feet. Let’s do it again.
EXERCISE 2
Next exercise is called Punching with a Twisted Punch. So we’re actually going to punch forwards but with our palm facing upwards. So making a fist we’re going to punch forward, then going to twist it round and bring it back. And we’re going to punch, twist and bring it back. Let’s do that again. So punch, and twist and bring it back. One more time. Punch, and twist and bring it back. So we’re going to add a step to the side. So just really putting our foot, replacing it in our parallel stance. We’re going to lift our right foot, and put heel, toe and as we do so we’re going to twist to that corner and we’re going to repeat the punch. So we’re going to punch, and twist and then we’re going to bring our foot back into position. So we’re going to do that the other side. So heel, toe, twisting at the waist and we’re going to punch and as we do so we’re going to push into that foot. Bring it back and place it back. So heel, toe and punch, and bring it back in. And heel, toe and punch, and bring it back in.
EXERCISE 3
Our next exercise is called Cross Hands. So we’re bringing our hands, crossing at the wrists, we’re extending them out forwards and we’re bringing them down to our sides. We’re going to do that again. So bringing them in, cross hands, extending out forwards and placing them back down again. And again. Bring them up, take them forwards. And you can push down into your thighs and into the feet as you bring your hands down. Open out and down.
EXERCISE 4
Back to our Qi Ball. We’re Holding up the Heaven and Earth. So we’re reaching out and we’re pressing one palm down and one palm high, and bringing them back to the ball. So taking this lower hand, pushing it out, up to the ceiling, opening that chest and bringing it back down. Bottom hand, lifting it high and bringing it in. Bottom hand, pushing high and bringing it in.
EXERCISE 5
Final exercise is called Wild Goose Flying. So we’re do the arms first, it’s a nice inhale as we spread our wings and bring them back down. And again, opening the chest as we reach out through the fingertips and bring them down. Remembering to keep our arms soft, our elbows aren’t locking out, we’re not over extending. And as we are lowering our hands we can push back in, using the thigh muscles to push down into the floor. Now we’re going to add a heel raise. So as we are lifting our arms up we’re going to lift our heels off the floor, keeping the balls of the feet on the floor and bringing them back down again. So lifting up, lifting those heels and bringing them back down. Big breath in and all the way down. Final time.
FINISH
Gathering the arms into the Dan Tien. Let’s hold it here. Three breaths in. Inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale.
INTRO
Hi, Welcome back to another Seated Tai Chi and QiGong Session. My name’s Daphne and I’m going to share with you today some Tai Chi, QiGong and Low Impact Exercises that you can perform sitting down. So, let’s get started.
If you’ve already followed Session 1 then you’ll know the correct position to sit at in your chair. If not, check it out. Session 1 goes through in a bit more detail but we’ll recap now very quickly our correct posture on the chair. So we’re sitting at the front of the chair, perched on it, bottom on the chair, thighs not on the chair. If you can, our feet hip width apart and we’re grounding our feet. We’re planting them in that parallel stance, so feeling that floor underneath us. We’re lifting up and elongating the spine so stretching it out from top to bottom. Keeping the abs engaged so pulling belly button through to spine, chest lifted and all our joints stay loose and relaxed and soft all the way through all the session.
WARM UP
So taking that posture, calming the breathing, we’re going to turn our head to the right and back to centre and to the left, and back to centre. Chin to your chest so looking to the floor, and with care to the ceiling. Looking forward, ear to our shoulder and the other side. We’re going to do three shoulder rolls, backwards. Just stay within your own comfort zone so always listen to your own body, and the other way. Just working the top of the back, we’re rolling down and opening the chest. Exhaling on the effort of the bend. Big breath in, inhaling as we’re coming up and again. Knocking on the door, twisting from the waist, again just keeping it inside your range of motion. Two more, and one more. Moving onto the legs, we’re lifting the heel, and lifting the heel, and again. And take the foot all the way up this time. Next,big inhale, stretching right through the fingers and exhaling on the way down. And again. One more time.
EXERCISE 1
So we’re going to hold a ball. About the size of a tennis ball and we’re going to pull it apart and push it back together. Now we’re going to visualise ourselves pulling and pushing our arms through water. It helps to use the natural resistance and engage our arm muscles. So we can waft our hands or if you want to get the most out of the exercise, really feel that movement and really work those arms. So we’re going to inhale on the way out and pushing together with an exhale. And inhale, and exhale, and again. We’re going to add some footwork by placing our right heel on the floor and pushing, as if we’re pushing against a wall behind us. And then we’re going to bring our hands into that Qi Ball position and we’re going to do the inhale and exhale. So do it with the other side, so left heel out and bring it in, and open and close. And again, heel and Qi Ball. Inhale and Exhale. One more time, heel and back. Nice inhale and exhale.
EXERCISE 2
Our next move is from Tai Chi and it’s called Stroking the Horses’ Mane. So we hold a Qi Ball and we are going to imagine a horse in front of us and we’re going to stroke that horses’ mane, stroke all the way down the back of that horse and at the same time we are going to hold the mirror up and look at our palm. And then the top hand becomes the top of the ball and the bottom hand scoops underneath. So let’s do that again the other way. So stroking the horses’ mane and holding the mirror. One hand on the top and one hand on the bottom. So we’re going to develop that with a twist of the waist. So stroke the horses’ mane and turn to face the mirror and bring it in. And the other way and bring it back. Focusing on the palms, they’re our energy points, and it helps develop mind body connection, making us feel present in the movement.
EXERCISE 3
We’re going to push our hands out, as if we’ve got two walls either side of us, we’re pushing against those walls and then we’re going to bring our arms and push our palms together, really engaging those arm muscles. And once we get them to about directly in front of our face we’re going to open them out and lift the chest. Bringing them back in and pushing them out. And again, bringing them in, inhaling on the way up, nice big breath and exhaling on the way out. Final time.
EXERCISE 4
We are going to do Golden Rooster next. So we’re going to bring our foot into an empty stance so we’re lifting our foot and placing it down and at the same time we’re going to place our left hand on a tabletop next to us and right hand in golden rooster.Then we’re placing the foot down, placing the hand down and bringing our left foot forward and our left hand forward. Taking it down and I’m doing it mirror image so hopefully you can follow along and taking it down. And again, lift the foot and tap and bringing it back. And tap and down. Really focusing, keeping that posture going and keeping the breathing nice and calm.
EXERCISE 5
Our final exercise is called Twisting and Bending like Bamboo so we’re going to clasp our hands, we’re lifting them up to chest height, we’re turning them over and pushing forwards. And then we’re going to lift them high above the head. If you can, but just keep within your own range of motion. You can always do this with your hands on your hips here. Absolutely fine. So we’re bringing it up. Keeping the shoulders relaxed, we’re going to lift and turn, just to the corner and bring it back and to the other side. Then we’re going to lift high and just side bend. Not too far because we don’t want to tip over. And the other way but stretching out and bending like bamboo. And we’re going to bring our hands all the way down and then we’re going to repeat that. Bringing it up, pushing it forwards, lifting high. Twisting to the corner. Just as far as you can, listening to your own body and the other side. Reaching high and bending. And the other way. And all the way down. Let’s do that again. so bringing it up, pushing it forward, lifting it high, twisting. And again. Lifting and bending. And inhale here and exhale on the bend. And inhale and one final time. Just adjust my shirt and again lifting up, and pushing forward and high, keeping the shoulders relaxed and twist and the other way. Lifting and bending and the other side and all the way down. Let’s just shoulder roll. It’s quite a workout for your range of motion with those bends and twists. And bringing it round.
FINISH
Let’s just breath, nice and calm, breathing in and breathing out. Checking out the body. Feeling any tension and letting it relax. Thinking nice and positive, and calming the mind.
INTRO
Hi. So pleased you could join me for this Seated Tai Chi and QiGong session. My name’s Daphne and today I am going to share with you some Tai Chi, QiGong and Low Impact Exercises that you can perform sitting down. They’re designed to work your major muscles, get your body moving and develop that mind body connection that helps us relax. So without further ado let’s get started.
SAFETY TIPS and POSTURE
So first of all make sure that your chair is sturdy and solid, and it’s positioned on a level ground so it’s not going to tip over. Make sure that you’ve got enough room so that you can stretch your arms all the way up and all the way to the sides. And that the floor space in front of the chair is clear of anything that might be in your way. We need to sit ourselves forward, if we can, in the chair, so we’re perching on the end. My bottom is on the chair but my thighs are not touching, they are in front of the chair. And this is so that I can plant my feet firmly on the floor in front of me. I’m placing my feet hip width apart and I’m going to ground my feet into the floor.
I’m going to lift up out of my hip sockets so that my spine is elongated as if someone’s pulling from the top of my head and pulling me down to the ground and stretching out the spine. I’m going to keep my abs engaged, so my abdominal muscles here in the stomach area, keeping them engaged, which means I’m pulling my belly button all the way through to my spine so this core area is strong. And I’m trying to keep that going all the way through all the exercises today. My chest is lifted and in Tai Chi we talk about ‘song’ the joints. We’re not taking anything to a position of stress or tension, we’re trying to relieve that tightness and relieve that tension. So keeping our elbows, our shoulders, nice and relaxed and soft.
All the way through the exercises listen to your own body and do them within your own comfort zone. Remember to stay within your safe range of motion.
WARM UP
OK so sitting with the correct posture and good form, keeping the breathing nice and calm. I will do all the exercises mirror image so you can follow along nice and easily. So we’re going to turn our head to the right, and back to centre, and to the left. Chin to your chest, and with care to the ceiling. Looking forward and we’re going to do ear to our shoulder. Oh feeling the tension and trying to relax. Taking our hands to our sides, we’re going to do three shoulder rolls, taking them back nice and smooth, and three forwards. Again putting our hands on our thighs, we’re just going to roll the top of the back, just ever so slightly, just loosening it off and we’re going to open the chest as if we’re pointing it towards the sky. And do that again. Exhaling as we are going down, and a nice inhale, lifting the chin. Next is ‘Knocking on the Door’. So we’re twisting our waist, from side to side, arms swinging freely, just as far as you can, loosening off that spine, and bringing it back to centre. We’re going to peel our heel off the floor and place it back down. And the other side. One more time. This time we’re going to take this foot all the way up, taking it off the ground, peeling it off and placing it down. Peeling it off and placing it down. Final time. We’re just going to come in and hug and loosening off, and again. Final time. We’re going to do a nice big inhale, so all the way up, if we can, rising our hands all the way above our head. And bringing it down. And again, all the way up. Inhaling as we’re going and exhaling as we’re coming down. And again inhaling and exhaling.
EXERCISE 1
So keeping our feet hip width apart, we’re going to start with our first exercise which is called ‘Balancing the Qi’
So all we’re doing here is lifting our hands to chest height, we’re turning them over and then we’re pressing down, and as we’re doing so lowering our hands we’re pressing our feet into the floor. Lifting up with an inhale and pressing down. Nice big breath in and breath out. And in and out.
EXERCISE 2
Our next exercise is called ‘Holding up the Heaven’ so we’re taking our hands out, trying to keep our shoulders nice and relaxed, following our hands. Our palms are facing the ceiling and our fingertips are facing in towards each other. We’re going to press up to the ceiling. Then we’re going to release that stretch, moving our hands, turning them to face in towards our chest and then bringing them down ready to go again. Lifting up our hands with an inhale. Pressing all the way up and relax. And again. Reaching up and relaxing that stretch. Feeling it all the way through our body. One more time. And relax.
EXERCISE 3
We’re going to move our feet this time. So bringing them together to start and we’re going to do something called ‘Opening Stance’. Now I have modified this so that we are moving both legs, and both feet and placing them into our parallel stance. If we do just one side we would be a little bit off centre as we’re sitting on our chair. So we are going to move both feet and do our opening stance arms. So if we follow along. We’re going to peel that left foot off and place it into our parallel, so just hip width apart. And we’re going to take the right foot and place it into our parallel stance, hip width apart. We’re going to breathe our hands up to shoulder height and then as we’re exhaling we’re lowering our hands and again we’re going to press down into the thighs so that we can feel that running all the way down to our feet on the floor. We’re going to replace our right foot in and then left foot in. Let’s do that again. So peeling that left foot off, peeling the right foot off. Nice hip width apart, parallel stance. Breathing in, our arms up, setting our intention, breathing out. Bringing in the right foot, and then the left foot. Let’s do that again. Peeling that foot off, with intention, and again. Breathing in. And left foot in and the other foot in. Final time. Peeling that foot off and again. Breathing in and breathing out. And this time leaving our feet in our hip width parallel stance.
EXERCISE 4
Our next one we’re going to make some fists so we’re bringing our hands into our hips and we’re going to push forward, really engage this core, as if we are pushing something heavy out of the way. We’re going to turn our wrists and we’re going to make our fists and we’re going to pull them back in to our sides. We’re going to turn them round and push forwards. We’re not locking out our elbows, we’re keeping them soft but there’s strength in our softness. Engaging those arm muscles as if we’re pushing something heavy out of the way. Bringing it in and taking it out. Exhale as we go out, inhale as we pull in. We’re going to repeat the same exercise but we’re going to take it to the corner and just do it with one hand at a time. So taking my right hand first, I’m going to twist my waist to the left hand corner and I’m going to push across my body and bring it in. Let’s do that again, push and pull. And then turning to the other corner. Left hand this time, pushing it across the body and again.
EXERCISE 5
Our final movement, hands placed on the thighs, we’re going to bring it down, rolling down, vertebrae by vertebrae, just as far as you can and then rolling up again taking it nice and slowly, and pushing up to the ceiling. And we’re going to relax our hands, bringing them in to the thigh and pushing out. Rolling down, rolling up. And taking it up to the ceiling and all the way down. Bringing it in. Exhaling as we’re rolling down. Inhaling as we’re coming up. Pushing up to the ceiling and taking it down. Bringing it in and down. Nice and slowly, taking your time.
FINISH
We’re going to bring our hands to rest at the Dan Tien, one on top of the other. And we’re not going to move our hands now, we’re just going to close our eyes. WE’re going to breath in and breath out. Focusing on our body, relaxing, breathing, nice and calm, peaceful, final breath.
