2024 - Why Struggle? - Week 51 - Movement And Mindfulness

Barbara J. Faison shares ideas, insights, and simple practices to live an intentional life and thrive. Enjoy meditations, affirmations, and practices along with musings from daily living. This is an episode about how using movement can be a mindfulness practice.
Leave a comment, observation, or reflection after listening.

Transcript

Greetings and welcome to the Why Struggle Podcast.

I'm your host,

Barbara J.

Faison,

And my intention with this podcast is to offer ideas,

Insights,

And inspirations so you can live life better.

Greetings and welcome to 2024 Week 51,

Movement and Mindfulness.

If you're new to the podcast,

Welcome,

And if you listen regularly,

Thank you.

This is an episode about how using movement can be a mindfulness practice.

Welcome to the 5th M in the 5 Mindful Practices,

Movement.

So far,

I've shared music,

Mouth,

Meditation mindfulness,

And memories as ways to struggle and stress less through life.

You can check out the beginning of the series starting with episode 47.

So,

How are you moving these days?

Are you using movement in your life mindfully?

I encourage you to listen to this excerpt from 5 Mindful Ways to Struggle Less and Enjoy Life More.

The final M of the 5 Mindful Ways to Struggle Less and Enjoy Life More is Movement.

How are you moving these days?

Are you consciously standing up and moving around?

Our body is naturally designed to move,

Walk,

Run,

Jump,

Play,

And more.

Movement can be as simple as getting up every 30 minutes and walking around,

Walk around when you're on the phone,

Or doing squats a few times a day.

Movement is crucial for our mental health.

When I was younger,

I was into tennis,

Aerobics,

And walking.

As I have matured and listened to my body,

My movement has matured as well.

Mostly,

I walk,

Do water exercise,

Qigong,

Tai chi,

Or light stretches.

Whether you are doing aerobics,

Walking,

Working out at the gym,

Cycling,

Yoga,

Qigong,

Or tai chi,

You can reduce depressive symptoms and also reduce anxiety by making your fight or flight symptoms seem less reactive.

I feel better when I have movement as one of my daily activities.

Now,

I'm going to share a few of my favorite ways to move,

Even when I may be challenged with mobility from pain or an injury.

Note that if you become dizzy or lightheaded,

Please stop the movements.

There should be no pain experienced with any of these movements.

Let's start with something I learned during the pandemic in my qigong practice.

Qigong is an ancient Chinese medicine practice that optimizes the energy within the body,

Spirit,

And mind to maintain and improve overall well-being and health.

Qigong has been called moving breath meditation because it connects you with your breath timed with moving your body.

I really find it to be very relaxing or energizing depending on what I need at the time.

Make sure you are able to be fully engaged with this practice.

If you are unable to stand,

You may be seated and still benefit greatly from the practice.

We will start with qigong bouncing.

I absolutely love bouncing.

It is great to shake up the energy in your body.

I will warn you,

You might begin to smile or laugh when you're bouncing.

Ready to try it?

Let's go.

Stand with your feet firmly rooted beneath your shoulders.

Do a quick toe squeeze to be sure that you're grounded.

Gently bend your knees and start bouncing up and down.

Allow your arms and upper body to be loose.

Relax your shoulders.

Relax your neck.

Relax your arms.

Relax your fingers.

Go with the lightness of this practice.

Keep bouncing,

Going up and down very gently.

And why not put a smile on your face if you feel like giggling?

Go ahead.

Notice how you are feeling as you're bouncing.

Keep bouncing up and down and noticing how you feel.

Keep bouncing gently as I share a little about the benefits of bouncing.

Bouncing balances your whole body.

It supports the immune system.

It strengthens the kidney energy.

It improves digestion,

Strengthens the spine,

And supports the immune system.

And to me,

It feels really good.

Okay,

Begin to slow down and stop your bouncing.

Take a moment to check in with how you feel right now in your body.

Name that feeling or emotion.

Bouncing can be done whenever you want to be present and in your body.

It's kind of hard to be mad,

Upset,

Or feel too bad when you're bouncing.

For the second movement practice,

You will use your entire body and raise your arms out and over your head for this practice.

This is called the chin-up.

Chin-up is a Chi Gong opening.

You may have seen images of older people doing Tai Chi or Chi Gong,

And this is one of those movements you may have seen.

Chi Gong is about being intentional with your breath and movement.

You will breathe in slowly through your nose as you raise your arms and breathe out slowly through your nose as you lower your arms.

For this practice,

We will breathe in for a count of five and breathe out for a count of five,

Just so you have an idea of where your arms should be.

Your palms will be facing up on the in-breath,

And as you bring your arms down on the out-breath,

Your fingers will be facing each other and the palms will be facing down.

The fingers do not touch each other and you do not touch your body.

Envision this movement like you sweeping down the front of your body.

When you practice this movement on your own,

You can decide how slowly you want to raise and lower your arms.

You may have to take a few breaths in and out until you get the slow breathing rhythm of the in and out breaths.

It's just practice.

It's time to practice.

Ready?

Let's begin our Chi Gong opening practice.

Stand firmly with your feet beneath your shoulders and with your arms by your side.

As you raise your arms,

Palms facing up,

Breathe in two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Before your fingers touch,

Allow them to float down in front of your body with the fingers facing each other and the palms facing down as you breathe out two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Again,

Raise your arms,

Palms facing up,

As you breathe in two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

As you lower your arms,

Your fingers are facing each other with the palms down as you breathe out two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Once again,

Breathe in through your nose,

Raising your arms two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale as you lower your arms with the fingers facing each other,

Palms down as you breathe out two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Continue flowing through this sequence as I share a few benefits of this practice.

Practicing this for as little as five minutes a day can help with releasing tension,

Anxiety,

Irritability in the body,

Which impacts the liver.

If you have allergies,

Weak immunity,

Or breathing issues,

The lungs benefit.

The digestive system benefits from this as well,

So improvements may be felt with digestion,

Bowel issues,

And appetite.

If you have issues with low energy,

Back,

Knees,

And sleep,

The kidneys are helped with this exercise.

How are you doing?

Keep flowing.

I usually do this practice in the morning.

It really helps me center my thoughts,

And before bed,

I find it to be relaxing.

Okay,

Let's bring our Qigong opening practice to a close.

Take a moment to check in with how you feel right now in this moment.

Name that feeling or emotion.

Okay,

I have one final movement practice I absolutely love and I must share with you.

I call it the temper tantrum.

Have you ever seen a small child stomping or screaming at the top of his or her lungs?

That's it.

The temper tantrum is a wonderful way to release tension and bottled up energy from your body and also is movement.

Examples when you can use it is when you want to shift your mood or energy.

Whenever we shake up our body,

It relaxes us and allows us to move more quickly into the next moment,

And that also helps us struggle less.

So,

Let's try it.

It's similar to bouncing but more forceful.

Try stomping your feet,

Then adding pounding motions or clapping motions with your hands.

If you like,

You can jump up and down and add a scream.

I'll give you a few moments to really get into it.

Okay,

Let's come back to this moment.

How did that feel?

Name that feeling or emotion.

I hope you can add bouncing,

The Qigong opening,

Or even a temper tantrum when as simple movements to do during your day.

Let's recap what you learned about how to struggle less and enjoy life more.

Music changes our brain chemistry,

And you can use the power of music to help you be relaxed,

Energized,

Be inspired,

Or however you want to feel.

Understanding the power of your mouth and affirming what you want in your life can be done using your phone reminder by changing the word alarm to something powerful you want to own in your life.

Having go-to phrases or affirmations allow you to manage how you feel in the moment.

An example,

I am willing to trust my inner guidance,

Is very affirming.

Meditation and mindfulness are tools that can be used when your alarm goes off by doing five breaths in and five breaths out for two to five minutes.

You can also connect with your senses anytime during the day to be fully engaged in the present moment.

Go-to memories remind you to remember joy-filled and happy times so you can be connected with your body and feel the power of enjoying life and struggling less.

And the power of movement daily is an overall elixir for health and well-being.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey.

I hope you have learned ways to connect to your personal power and your ability to consciously decide to enjoy life and reduce the need to struggle.

Please continue using the five M's,

Music,

Mouth,

Meditation,

Mindfulness,

Memories,

And movement in your life so you can reset when you need to enjoy life more.

Namaste and be well.

End of excerpt.

I learned Qigong about seven years ago and I really enjoy adding it as part of my movement practices along with walks in nature,

Gentle stretching,

And water workouts.

How did you enjoy the Qigong movement?

Leave a comment,

Observation,

Or reflection where you're listening to this podcast.

Reviews

Excellent way to move energy and struggle less! I really enjoyed this practice. Namaste 🙏🏾