Yang Sheng | Qigong For The Summertime

In this session, Teja Bell introduces participants to the practice of Yang Sheng, an ancient method of nourishing life through Daoist Qigong. He guides through energy practices that open subtle body channels, regulate Qi, and enhance internal vitality. Emphasizing breath control and physical alignment, Teja Bell demonstrates various Qigong forms focusing on improving lung and overall organ health, with special attention to the integration of extra breaths during movements to maximize the benefits of the practice.

Transcript

Greetings,

Kind and warm welcome.

So now our theme over the summer is Yang Sheng.

Just to reiterate,

This is the ancient way of talking about nourishing life and nourishing life being certainly our practices of Dao Yin,

Qi Gong,

Nei Gong,

The stretching and so on,

The opening of the joints that we do.

In a way,

Dao Yin is like Daoist yoga,

You could say.

It's,

Of course,

Uniquely different from the Vedic traditions and the Indian yoga,

But they have some interesting and important similarities.

Our Qi Gong energy practice is one in which,

As we are engaging with it,

We're nourishing the Qi and opening the subtle channels of our body.

Now one could easily say that this is the nervous system and had our ancients had the biological,

Anatomical,

Physiological knowledge that we have available to us today,

They might have correlated nervous system with the meridians and channels,

But they are indeed uniquely different.

And the way that we access them and clear that flow of life force,

Of energy,

What a wonderful thing to do because it helps to bring that natural vitality.

Often you can feel stagnant or geflumped and you just,

You don't know why.

Moving the Qi through the channels,

Through the body,

Stretching and opening certainly the myofascial planes and so on,

That can often just release that stagnation.

This is one of the ways that in our Qi Gong and certainly in traditional Chinese medicine,

It's spoken about.

Spoken about Qi that's stagnant and Qi that is overactive,

Like in the internal organs or in the brain,

In the glands and so on.

So our Qi Gong practice does help to regulate this naturally.

And it has been a wonderful proven methodology for helping to bring that sense of balance and essential harmony through the system.

Today as we work with our practices and do our Qi Gong Dharma,

I'm going to offer a way of engagement in our forms that really enhances the energy and vitality that we get through the breath.

You know certainly that one of the primary ways we bring energy into the body is through food.

And that food is assimilated,

Of course,

Through the health and the vitality of the stomach and spleen and intestines and liver and all of that must be in the best possible order,

You could say,

That it can be.

And our practices that work with the internal organs,

Which is most of them,

Many of them for sure,

Help to nourish that internal vitality.

Often we can just be in such a way that we're not really moving the inside of our body.

And moving the inside of the body,

Even with practices as profound,

Simple and profound,

As natural abdominal breathing,

Allows that greater pulse of the internal space to take place.

So the fluid space inside of our bodies,

With all the amazing network of intelligence and fascia and,

Of course,

Organs,

Blood,

All of that is enhanced by these practices.

Now you don't have to know exactly what's taking place,

But knowing that the nourishing and the pulsing contributes to greater circulation,

To greater nourishment through the blood,

Through our practices of the breath,

Why that is an important feature.

And if we can accent that in such a way that that contributes to the enhancement of what we do in natural abdominal breathing,

And in some cases,

Reverse abdominal breathing.

So if reverse abdominal breathing is new to you,

Hang in there.

We'll eventually get with that.

I usually teach that in the advanced courses.

And it's not that it's beyond you at all,

If you haven't done it.

It's just,

It's a very specific practice and I like to take the time to develop it.

So,

Today we're going to do our practices with this enhanced flow with the breath.

And what that will do is increase not only the connection of the air that we're breathing and obviously the oxygen,

But also how it moves inside the body,

Especially the lungs.

So as we connect with this,

It's not rigorous or aerobic in that way.

We're still doing our qigong in the flows that we are,

But we're connecting with the practice in such a way to increase,

Take a little extra time with an in-breath and out-breath inside the opening and the stretches that we do.

So I think this is excellent for brain health.

This is excellent for the health of the lungs.

And as we say in our internal arts practices,

If you enhance the wellness of any one feature,

You're contributing to the wellness of all the other features.

Wellness of the heart contributes to wellness of the lungs,

Vice versa,

Liver and so on.

So we take those practices up often with the flow of the five elements qigong when we're working on the internal space.

In the northern hemisphere of the blue pearl we call planet Earth right now,

We are in the summer months.

We celebrate those of you that are in the so-called southern hemisphere in your winter time.

There is no contraindication to doing summer qigong in the winter or winter qigong in the summer.

We'll have an opportunity to learn this flow of practice and engage with that.

Just a delight to be here with you today.

So happy about it.

In the previous session,

We began with the practice of cloud hands,

Working with this flow of folding in the quad from side to side,

Center to side,

With this gesture of fluid motion.

Keeping the sense that the palms of the hands are in relative relationship,

Flowing from side to side,

So feel that essential alignment.

As you come to the side,

Don't lean to the side,

You know,

This is it.

Breathe with ease,

Nice natural abdominal breathing,

Really settling that breath through the whole system.

It's just our way of connecting here,

Feeling the flow through the limbs.

Just stay in it.

Try to feel the fluid nature,

The smooth nature of the movements and the flow,

Whole body moving,

Whole body breathing.

That's it.

Good.

Now as you come to the center this time,

Just let that settle down in breath and integrating breath.

One more.

Good.

Just let that settle for a moment.

Feel the features of your alignment,

So you can spend a moment of connecting with the bottoms of your feet,

Through the hips,

Knees not locked,

Really settled down,

Whether you are seated or standing.

Do the central column has that uprightness with the natural curves of the spine,

Chin in,

Head lifts.

Very nice.

Just stay here for a moment.

All right.

We're going to use the practice,

The Negong practice of uniting the original chi to begin the exploration of this enhancement through the patterns of the breath and the gestures We'll begin just with this natural flow of uniting original chi.

As you fold to one side,

Arms come out to the side.

There's your in-breath up to the zenith here,

And then exhale down the side.

So,

This is a circle,

Of course.

So,

Just come into that,

Feel the whole body aligning,

In-breath,

Lifting,

Flowing up,

And exhale flowing down.

Now,

As you fold to the qua on this side,

Then flowing to the other side,

Opposite direction,

The feeling in this movement is smoothness and whole body connection.

So,

There's a sense of synchronicity,

Just ease and wholeness in the gesture that we're doing.

Great form in and of itself,

Rest,

Relax.

One cycle of integrating breath,

Breath here,

That's great.

Just let that rest,

Empty out,

Settle in.

Now this practice of the enhancement,

Working with the breath,

Is like this.

We're going to be extending,

And then when we come to the top,

To the zenith here,

We're going to take an extra breath and extend upward,

And then exhale to the side,

Just normally as we do.

Here's your in-breath,

As you come to the zenith,

Exhale up,

In-breath stretches up a little bit more,

And then exhale.

If we were counting,

It would be like this,

One,

That's the in-breath,

Two is the exhalation,

Just a little bit of reach,

Three,

Or one is the in-breath stretching up,

And then two exhale down,

So in-breath,

Ex,

Stretch and open,

In-breath a little bit more,

In-breath and now ex,

That's two.

Let's do one more time on this side,

In-breath,

Ex,

Here's an opportunity to feel that extension through the breath,

And then a little bit more with the in-breath,

And then ex.

We're going to change direction now using this pattern,

So in-breath,

Exhale lifts and lengthens,

And then exhale,

Two.

One,

Two,

One,

And two,

One,

Two,

Just take a little bit of extra time to feel that opening in-breath,

And now ex,

Let's do this pattern one more time on this side,

In-breath,

One,

Two,

Exhale,

Two,

In-breath,

Extend and open,

And now exhale,

Good,

Let's just practice integrating breath here,

Just a single cycle,

And rest for a moment,

Empty out,

Good.

So,

That extra lengthening that takes place in the extension,

Certainly in the exhale you extend,

In the in-breath you extend even a little bit more.

Now our extension,

The way that we practice it is from inside the body,

Nei Gong,

So when we lengthen here,

It's not trying to use the muscles,

It's like relaxing the space of the joints and letting that stretch and open.

That happens in the wrists,

Hands,

Fingers,

Elbow,

It's not stiff,

Right,

So you're feeling that opening.

When you're doing that stretch up,

You're really allowing the sides of the body and the length of the limbs to really open.

You can feel the same through the torso,

And this is an opportunity to feel that the space of the internal organs,

Relaxed and open,

Have that pulse that happens with the breath in the stretch.

Now that's a great,

You know,

Rhythm,

You can experiment with doing an exercise like extra breath,

As we have done it here with when you come up,

You're taking an in-breath and then you're exhaling,

In-breath,

Exhale,

In-breath,

And then settle that down,

Each time opening and lengthening in the body.

So a couple of cycles like that can be very useful,

And yeah,

It definitely is going to open your body.

And what it does,

Especially in this next Qigong Daoyin that we're going to do,

Is from the Five Elements Qigong practices,

And this one,

Of course,

For the summertime,

For the art,

For the color red in the direction south,

All the things summer.

So now,

When we practice this,

We come out of this uniting the original qi,

And we flow to the side.

So let's just get this shape to begin with,

And then we're going to add the features of this extra breath,

And that's going to enhance the movement of air in the lungs.

I kind of hesitate to say compression,

Because it's not exactly compression when you're extending here,

But there's a greater fullness that you'll feel in one side and then the other.

So the gesture that we're doing from here is flowing up,

And this one doesn't reach too much.

It is right at about the shoulder height.

The little finger is up.

Heart channel.

Right into the heart,

And this one is kind of a support.

Then when we do this practice,

We release the hands out,

Let the cycle come all the way around.

We come to the other side.

And this one.

You've probably done this with me before.

Last summer?

This practice.

And then you release the hands out,

And then do another cycle.

So now what we're going to do is we're going to add that pattern of breathing to hold.

So we exhale here.

We're going to take an in-breath here,

And then exhale.

We'll start with one cycle,

Come all the way around.

We'll do this as a flow in just a moment.

I just want you to get this pattern.

Excellent.

So you exhale here,

In-breath,

And then exhale as you release the fingertips outward and do that.

We'll continue that cycle.

Let's practice that as a flow with this extra breath,

And then we'll practice it one more time.

Great practice,

Joel,

For sitting.

You modify this.

It's an excellent one for heart and lungs.

We'll practice that just as the normal flow of the five elements heart.

Practice,

And then we'll add that extra feature of the extra flow.

So it starts with an in-breath,

Flowing to the side,

In-breath,

And then exhale,

Settle down.

Then we flow to the side,

Press,

Complete the exhale down,

In-breath,

Fullness of in-breath.

Begin your exhalation as you come to the side.

Complete the exhalation with the fingers out,

And you might have to modify this rhythm of the breath according to what's appropriate for you.

Good.

In-breath.

Feel that press to the side.

You'll have a good alignment,

And you're pressing.

Let's do this naturally one more time on this side.

Release,

In-breath,

And you begin your exhalation.

Complete that exhalation.

Press,

Press,

Press,

And then release hands down.

In-breath and integrating breath.

All right.

So to keep the lungs healthy,

We add an extra cycle of in-breath and out-breath in the gesture from the side.

So we're completing the exhalation here,

Right?

Now,

In-breath,

And then exhale.

On the exhale,

Then we release and begin the next cycle.

That movement here with the extra in-breath is going to bring more presence of air into the side and into the lung of that side.

And we do,

Of course,

The other side,

Right?

You exhale,

In-breath,

And then exhale.

So let's practice that as a flow.

We're going to then add one extra rhythm of the breath or cycle of the breath,

So we'll have two in-breaths on the side.

And if you practice this on your own,

You can do this for three,

If you like.

For right now,

We're going to practice with two.

So let's practice with one,

And then we'll come to two.

Here it is.

In-breath.

Come to the zenith.

Begin your exhalation.

Complete the exhalation.

Hold the gesture.

In-breath.

And now exhale.

In-breath begins.

Exhale begins.

Complete the exhale to the side.

In-breath.

Hold that gesture.

And now exhale.

In-breath.

And exhalation.

That's right.

Good.

In-breath.

And now exhale.

Fold in the qua.

To the side.

Here's your exhalation.

Now take the moment to in-breath.

Exhale.

Release the hands out.

And in-breath.

Integrating breath.

Release and settle for just a moment.

Now we're going to practice that with two cycles of the breath on each side.

So you're holding this gesture,

And that's increasing the chi,

The life force through and into the lungs here,

And featuring one side at a time.

So it's excellent for lung health.

Well,

When we're doing lung health,

We're increasing aerobic health by the presence of the air in one side and the one side that's featured.

So keep the limbs soft.

Don't hold that with any tension and strength.

The aspect of our connection here is in the breath.

There's an exhalation.

There's another in-breath.

Be sure to feel that fullness and then release.

All right?

Let's practice this together.

We begin with an in-breath to the zenith.

Then begin our exhalation.

Settle that down.

Press.

Holding this gesture.

Good alignment.

In-breath.

Ex.

Feel the fullness now of the in-breath.

And then release.

Fullness of in-breath.

Now you begin your exhalation.

Complete your exhalation here.

In-breath.

Good.

Exhalation.

That's right.

One more in-breath.

And ex.

Release the hands,

Wrists out to the side.

In-breath.

Begin the ex.

And ex.

Let's do one more.

Holding that gesture.

Feeling that pulse.

Release the breath.

In-breath.

And ex.

In-breath and integrating breath.

Clearing through.

Clearing through.

One more.

Integrating breath.

So good.

Just let that settle for a moment.

Feel the refreshment of the chi in the body.

The aliveness in the space of your lungs.

All right.

Wonderful.

That pattern of holding the gesture to the side.

A little more yogic isn't it?

In that sense.

So you're holding the gesture.

Breathing.

Feeling the side.

Then release.

So there's not a lot of muscular tension in these movements.

You want to have the fluid sense.

It's a wonderful way to develop fluidity and muscular strength along with the myofascial stretch here.

We're going to take this practice again into the gestures that we have been working with called half circle full body breathing or whole body breathing and full circle whole body breathing.

So when we do that we take an extra breath in certain parts of the gesture.

So let's just practice the form a little bit.

This certainly can be done seated as well as standing.

So from here we're going to just open out.

This is the first gesture to the side and then press the palms out.

As you press the palms out you're settling the spine.

This is the exhalation and normally the exhalation would come to here.

And then we'd open with the in breath again to the side.

Release the line here and let that settle down.

So we'll practice this pattern now with the flows of an extra breath in these two critical places.

One here and one here.

So here it begins.

There's your in breath.

There's your exhalation.

Press the palms out.

Now in breath here.

And as you exhale come to the front.

In breath.

Now as you exhale you move to the side.

In breath.

Exhale as that settles down.

One more time with this gesture.

In breath.

Press the palms out opening the channel through the heart and lungs.

In breath.

And exhale.

And this time the exhale brings the gesture to the front rounding the back.

In breath.

Exhale and as you exhale let that open out to the side.

In breath.

Exhale and let that settle.

One more time in this pattern.

So keep the joints in this gesture opening and closing.

We're not using a lot of muscle to sustain the gesture.

This is an energy practice really working for the health of the internal space especially the lungs in this case.

In breath.

And ex.

In breath.

And ex.

Fingertips pointing up rounding the back.

In breath.

Fullness of in breath.

Feel that.

Exhale.

In breath.

Good.

Just let that settle.

Feel a certain release flush through the limbs.

Wonderful.

An extra breath inside holding those gestures can be very useful.

It develops the strength in the same way that standing meditation develops strength.

As we're holding the gesture,

Yes,

We're only holding it for a brief moment.

But as you get used to this in your capacity and the strength of your lungs and the myofascial joints,

Muscles,

All of that strengthens,

You can do a few more extra ones.

But as always I say let the development of these things happen organically.

Let them happen naturally so you're not trying to do five or ten extra breaths here and really exhaust your joints.

You know,

Contraindicated.

You're going to have diminishing returns on that.

So just an extra breath here.

An extra breath here.

And so on.

Great way to develop,

Gradually develop,

Regain,

Reclaim strength and vitality of your internal space.

We're going to stay with this.

We're going to stay with this for just a moment in the full circle whole body breathing practice.

This one's fun.

Not that the other one wasn't.

But what we're going to do is this one we're not bending at the wrists.

Let's just review the practice and the flows of the breath here.

So we take an in-breath and an exhalation.

This is,

Relax your arms for just a moment.

In this particular practice,

In this particular way of doing it,

The gestures of in-breath and exhalation are an opportunity to really open your wings.

Now the opening,

Maybe no one else can see it,

But you can feel it.

You can feel it because your in-breath,

Exhale,

There's a little bit of opening.

Now in-breath opens and expands more.

If you feel through the inside of the body,

Kind of the line that moves through the field of the heart and lungs here,

Right about here,

You can really feel that stretch.

The stretch of the myofascial planes,

The arms,

The muscles,

The bones are strengthened in this gesture.

So each time we do a various movement here,

You have the opportunity to feel that.

Remember this is wu-wei.

This is effortless.

So if you notice that you're putting strength in it,

Then back off.

Really let the action open gradually.

Show you what you're body wants to do with this gesture.

All right,

We're going to practice the flow now.

We'll practice the gestures and the rhythm pattern,

And then we'll do a couple of flows.

So first of all,

In-breath and exhale.

In-breath,

There's an extra one.

Nice.

And then exhale.

Now from here,

We're just going to open into the cycle of the flow to the side.

There's an in-breath.

I'm looking to the back.

So as I'm doing this,

Looking to the back.

So I've done this.

In-breath,

Exhale.

In-breath,

There's a nice stretch in that lateral position.

And exhale,

Close to the front.

Now in-breath as you're opening to the side,

A little more of that natural compression inside the body.

Now in-breath.

Now we have exhale here,

And now in-breath again.

Exhale.

In-breath as you flow back to this original position.

Exhale.

In-breath,

Open across,

And exhale,

Release.

Take the time in the release to really empty.

Let the natural flush happen.

You'll feel the musculature,

The flow of the blood.

Just really let that relax.

This requires a little more strength.

This requires a little more rigor in the motion.

That's why we're only going to do one cycle of the extra breath.

When you've practiced this a few weeks or a month or two like that,

And then you feel like,

You know,

I'm ready to do two breaths,

Then do two.

For right now,

We're just going to do one.

Full circle,

Whole body breathing.

First gesture,

In-breath.

Now exhale.

In-breath.

Good.

Now exhale.

In-breath,

Exhale.

In-breath,

Good.

Now exhale to the front.

One hand stays stable.

In-breath.

Spiral the body to the side best you can.

Look to the back.

In-breath,

And now X.

That is your extra in-breath on that side.

In-breath.

Exhale.

Now exhale.

In-breath,

Exhale.

In-breath,

Exhale.

In-breath,

Now your in-breath.

Good.

Exhale.

Complete to the front.

So good.

In-breath.

Stay with it.

Exhale.

Nice lateral in-breath.

Feel that opening across the heart lungs,

And now release,

Relax,

Let go.

We're not going to jump right into another cycle.

We're going to relax into the flush,

Relax into the release.

Some Qi Gong at its very best.

Let's do this practice one more time on this side.

Flow,

In-breath.

Now X.

Feel that opening,

The stretch.

In-breath,

Enhanced a little bit more.

Now exhale.

From the front,

In-breath.

Cycle one more time.

One side to the back,

Look to the back.

In-breath,

Or exhale here,

Now in-breath.

Now X as you come back to the front.

In-breath.

Nice opening.

Now,

Further opening with that exhalation.

In-breath opens a little bit more.

Now exhale.

We'll complete here.

In-breath,

Exhale.

In-breath,

But stay with it.

Exhale,

Extend,

Open.

In-breath.

Great stretch,

And exhale,

Release.

Smooth release down.