Qigong Moving Meditation For Joy & Renewal

Replenish, recharge and renew in this guided moving meditation Qigong practice, recording from the live Qigong Yoga Nidra Circle on 23 July 2023. Qigong is an energy cultivation practice with its roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine. You'll be guided through shaking, spinal movements, weight shifts and fluid, flowing movements to circulate and cultivate energy and restore your body, mind and spirit.

Transcript

Want to invite you to join me as we do a gesture to welcome each other in our circle.

We'll have one hand,

In one hand we hold the past that we cannot change,

But we can shape how we want to face the past by the stories we write and the narrative that we tell ourselves about who we are,

About what unfolded in our lives,

And about the identity of what we bring with us into the present moment.

And then in the other hand we hold the future that is unknown,

But we can choose how to face this unknown future.

And then we intertwine them,

We connect them through the thin thread that we call the present moment,

And we form this bird that is you,

And you can fly through past,

Present and future.

That's the true nature of your being.

And we intertwine them,

Crossing the palms in front of each other,

Forming this winged bird that is you,

And we rest this bird in front of your heart space.

Both in a yogic tradition as well as in Taoist tradition,

The center of the heart is a sacred space,

The middle of the heart,

Where we connect with this heartfelt wisdom and intuition.

So we're going to take three breaths here as a collective for the three levels of existence.

If it feels good for you,

I invite you to let your eyes gently close,

Guiding your awareness inwards to the texture of your skin touching against your heart.

And let's take a long deep breath in through your nose,

And now as you breathe out through the mouth,

Send the breath to the earth.

Begin to feel the earth,

Know the earth and trust the earth.

The earth representing the tangible aspects of you,

The most concrete,

The most real,

Sometimes mundane.

You can feel the ground beneath you,

The weight of your body,

All the sensations you feel through this vessel that is your body.

Now the second round,

We connect with your heart space,

Inhale through your nose,

And exhale,

We breathe out and send the breath to your heart.

Feeling the well of your heart,

Connecting with the feeling that you are never alone,

We are here together.

The heart is where we give and receive love,

And you are here in community,

You are seen,

You are heard,

And we witness and we see each other.

And the last one,

Connecting with the heavens,

Inhale through your nose,

Exhale,

Send the breath to the heavens.

Aligning with the heavens above,

Which represents the intangible aspects of your being,

Your thoughts,

Your ideas,

Your dreams,

All the ephemeral things,

Your higher self,

Which you can't quite grasp or hold in your hands,

But you know it's there,

And you connect with that through the space between your eyebrows,

As well as the crown of your head,

That is all that is above you,

Feel that guide you in moments of darkness and uncertainty.

And then slowly and gently,

Between the three levels of existence,

Align your spine from sit bone to crown,

And with the next breath out,

As you exhale,

Let your head bow slightly down towards your heart,

Acknowledging everything that made it possible for you to be here today,

In this present moment.

And then very slowly and gently,

Letting your eyes blink open.

Welcome everyone to our circle,

And welcome to our practice today.

We're going to now start in a standing position.

If you like to practice barefoot,

You might want to have a yoga mat or some kind of padded surface underneath your feet,

And there are many different powerful acupressure points underneath your feet,

So it's always good to keep your feet protected.

So we're going to come to stand.

At any point of time,

If you are working with a specific health condition,

If you are pregnant,

Menstruating,

If you're working with any injuries,

Or if you're recovering from something,

You know yourself the best.

Let yourself be your inner teacher.

I'm here as a guide with various different offerings.

I will point out various different things you might want to try and experiment,

But at any point of time,

If they don't resonate with what feels right for you inside of you,

You're always welcome to listen to your heartfelt guidance and intuition.

That is the most important.

So let's begin.

As you come to stand,

Let your feet come hip distance apart,

And at any point of time,

If my audio or video is not great,

Please let me know.

I will do my best to adjust and align so that you can hear me and see me okay.

Good.

So we start with the feet hip distance apart,

And this separation of the feet from together to apart symbolizes the separation of the great union of everything into two equal and opposing forces that complement and balance each other.

They are yin yang.

We're going to exhale to relax your shoulders down,

And then inhale to grow the back of your head up to the sky.

So also this yin yang,

Exhale,

Releasing and letting go,

And then inhale,

Feel an organic lift upwards.

Let's try that two more times.

You exhale and see if you could,

In a standing position,

Let go and soften all of the joint spaces in your body,

And as you inhale,

You grow and allow yourself a slight expansion and lengthening.

One last time on your own,

Letting go with your exhale and expanding and growing with your inhale,

Finding your vertical alignment with the crown of your head aligned with the heavens and your perineum as if there is a plumb line dropping down to the earth.

So you are that bridge between heaven and earth with the heart right in the center of it all.

We're going to ground your energy to the earth with a small grounding movement.

The next time you breathe out,

Soften your knees and let your hands,

As if gathering energy from the earth,

Let them sweep down and inhale,

Guide this energy to rise up,

And then as you exhale,

Let the palms flip down and re-center and ground your energy down.

So the knees are very soft.

As you breathe in,

Lift 10 toes off the ground,

But feel the rainbow arches of your feet,

And then as you exhale,

Spread the toes and let them touch and feel the earth.

One last time,

Deep breath in,

Drawing the energy up,

Lifting the rainbow arches of your feet,

Feeling the Yongquan,

Bubbling spring points,

And then spread all 10 toes and let them feel the earth,

Know the earth,

And trust the earth,

Keeping this connection with the earth.

Of course,

At any point of time,

You're welcome to adjust the feet so it feels stable for you.

Let's start by exploring how it feels to be in the vessel of your body today.

So we begin with full free-form movement and there's no right technique.

Maybe you feel like opening your heart or your chest,

Perhaps you feel like folding forward,

Maybe you feel like exploring the sides of your body,

Maybe you feel like exploring rotation through the spine.

We take the next five to seven breaths to move in a curious and explorative way,

Discovering the nooks and crannies of your body and sensing and feeling into them.

Very often in life,

We are so preoccupied with doing things right.

Am I doing this right?

Is my form correct?

What if there's no form?

What if the form is to be with yourself and to allow this movement to be an unfolding,

An expression,

An exploration of the presence that is you?

What if through this movement you could become more sensitive to what it feels like to be inside of your body and to witness that today?

Maybe you feel tired,

Maybe you feel energetic,

Maybe you feel open and spacious.

Now as you explore your body,

Notice if any words come to surface.

Now some of our regulars will know usually when we do our Qigong Nidra practice,

I invite our practitioners to share in the circle three words to acknowledge what's going on for them and we do this at the beginning.

So today I want to invite you as you move,

Sense and feel your energy and the quality and texture of your being.

If you could pick three words to describe how it feels to be inside of you now,

What would those three words be?

Let's take a few breaths here to connect inside and allow those three words or maybe even just one word to surface.

As the words surface,

Acknowledging them.

Also notice if any judgments come up.

Perhaps you start to notice that you are thinking that you should not feel this way.

What if you can let go of that judgment and be with the fact that perhaps you feel tired or be with the fact that you feel joyous or be with the fact that one part of your hip feels sore today.

You're welcome to continue exploring in whatever way feels good for you or you're welcome to join me as we come into vertical alignment,

Coming back into the stance that we call Wu Ji.

So if you're new to this practice,

So many of us are new today and you might not have practiced Qigong from before,

We let the feet come hip distance apart and relax your shoulders down.

Soften the joint spaces in your body,

Especially your knees and you want to allow the last part of your tailbone to drop just slightly under.

So what the flat part of your hip,

The back of your hip is,

Which is called the sacrum,

It's as if there's a plumb line dropping down towards the earth and there's a invisible stool underneath your sit bones that you're perched on and the shoulders stay relaxed.

There's a little bit of space between the arms and the sides of your lungs so that you can expand and create this spaciousness.

And the back of your head aligns with the sky,

Your jaw is relaxed,

Your tongue lays naturally in this position inside of your mouth.

When we relax the jaw,

For many of us the tip of the tongue naturally will find it behind the back of your front teeth.

Connecting with this soft rounded shape,

Limitless stance,

Wu Ji.

From here,

We'll come into a very gentle Qigong shaking.

As you shake,

Allow the whole of your body to gently release to this vibration,

To the ebb and flow that is you.

This might be a slow gentle rhythmic shaking or this could be a rather big movement that is vigorous.

Notice what is coming up for you and allow it to unfold.

There's no right or wrong here.

Find the rhythm that feels good for you,

The amplitude that is able to allow you to feel connected with whatever needs to move through you.

And as you are rhythmically shaking,

If it feels good for you,

You can inhale and let the arms flow up to any degree,

Maybe just halfway and down,

Maybe further up or not and down,

Maybe all the way up to the sky if that feels good and is accessible for you.

Feel free to do this as many times as you wish.

Another nice movement to do is to rotate the spine.

I like to breathe in through the center and breathe out to turn and look behind one shoulder and slowly breathe in to come back before trying the other side.

Feel free to do the same and follow your own rhythm,

Your own pace.

And we'll stay here shaking for about 15 to 20 more breaths.

Let this shaking be a way to support you to let go of something that you might have been holding or clenching on to without realizing from earlier this week or this month or this year.

As you shake and clear,

Maybe you visualize little droplets of water flicking away from your fingertips.

Any weight,

Any burden that you're carrying,

Feel them slide off your shoulders.

And there are two more invitations.

You might lift and land your heels to pump through the balls of your feet.

Remember to keep the balls of your feet under the big toe mound and the little toe mound tethered to the earth so that you feel this balance and connection.

And only your heels and only your heels gently lift and land,

Lift and land.

And the final invitation,

Again all of these are optional.

Feel free to come back with the heels on the ground.

Feel free to let the shaking be very gentle or hardly any movement at all or let it be as rigorous as it feels right for you.

The final invitation is to begin to release any sounds that need to come out from your body.

Perhaps you begin with a gentle fluttering of the lips or any vocalizations that feel like they help to express and release.

Oh,

We'll keep on shaking and clearing for about five more breaths.

Ah You're very,

Very welcome to continue shaking for as long as that feels like it is good for you.

When you feel you would like the shaking to gradually come into stillness,

If your heels have been lifting,

Let them reaffirm the connection with the earth.

If your arms have been shaking,

Let them float and begin to rest by the sides of your body,

Framing the sides of your body.

Take a moment and as you exhale,

Soften all of the joint spaces in your body.

And as you inhale,

Witness the energy that you are made of.

Feel the rise and fall of your breath,

The ebb and flow and the pulsation of this life force.

In yoga,

We call it prana.

In qigong,

It is called qi.

Many different names for this.

Feel this energy,

Witness this energy that is you.

And we connect with this energy and we continue to cultivate this energy.

We let your palms begin to sweep outwards and as you inhale,

Gather all of the things that you want to clear out.

We've reached beyond the midway point.

So we're now in July,

Almost towards the end of July reach and all the way up to the brim.

Filling up with the things you want to let go of,

Want to clear out from your system.

As you exhale like a pump,

Imagine you could begin to clear it out.

From above the crown of your head,

Right in front of you,

You let the palms gently move downwards in front of your face,

Your chest,

Your lower belly,

Until the space about three fingers below the lower belly.

Now second round,

Connecting with the heart.

From the heart,

A line of your intention for whatever you want to welcome into the rest of the year,

What you would like to harvest in your manifestation garden.

Fill to the brim,

See this garden in full bloom,

Ripe and ready for harvest.

And as you exhale,

Let that manifest,

Let that begin to saturate your consciousness.

Align and connect with this intention and let it drive your actions.

In the last round,

Connecting with this determination and this deep knowing beyond the mind,

Like knowing that you know.

Sweeping the arms all the way up to the sky,

Connecting and sealing it in like that last layer of glossy varnish that we paint over an artifact,

A painting.

Let this coat over you to protect you through the weather,

Through the rainstorms.

Let this garnish be like determination and this trust,

Unshakable trust,

That you know what you want to manifest.

It is already true.

It is here.

Now we bring the palms softly into non-violent fists and keep the shoulders relaxed,

The knees soft.

Let's come into a couple rounds of spinal cord breathing.

As you inhale,

Begin to spread the collarbones,

Shine your heart,

Lift your chest up towards the sky.

And then as you exhale,

Round the spine,

Draw the belly in,

Let the inner corners of the elbows move towards each other.

Let every inhale be an expansion outwards into the world.

And every exhale be a returning,

A drawing within.

Inhaling to connect and express into the world,

With the world.

Exhaling to return into yourself,

To reflect,

Refine,

And realign.

We'll keep going for the next couple of rounds.

If you are new to this practice,

What you want to make sure to do is as you open the chest,

You want to avoid thrusting the hips forward,

But you still keep that soft roundedness in the spine as if you're still sitting on this imaginary stool.

And then as you round the spine,

Draw the belly in and feel the spaciousness behind the back of your heart as the shoulders protract.

We'll keep going for about a few more rounds,

Maybe two to three more rounds.

And you might be moving faster or slower than me.

What matters is that you follow your own rhythm,

Your own breath.

If this feels good for you,

You are very welcome to linger,

To stay longer.

If you feel you would like to join me as we transition into the next form,

We gently release the palms down by the sides of the body.

Give your hips,

Your shoulders a gentle shimmy.

Notice if there's any tension,

Especially in the joint spaces of your knees,

Your hips,

Your shoulders.

Do any kind of small adjustment or movement so that you come into a soft rounded shape and feel that spaciousness in all the tiny joint spaces in your body.

Then we bring the palms together right in front of the lower belly and we start with letting the fingers and the palms touch.

Feel the texture of your skin on skin.

Maybe you feel the warmth and pulsation of your blood through your capillaries,

Your veins,

Your arteries.

Connect your left hand with your right and feel that in the center of both palms there is an energy point.

We call this the working palace,

Lao gong.

It is connected with the pericardium,

The heart protector.

Slowly let these two points connect in the center of the palms and let the hands move apart while keeping the center of the palms aligned with each other as if there is a golden thread connecting the center of one hand with the other.

As you hold this imaginary ball,

This sphere in your hands,

Imagine you are holding whatever you would like to manifest,

Whatever you would like to grow,

To have more of in your life.

What if that could be inside of your hands?

What if you could hold it,

Grasp it,

Mold it?

This might be joy.

This could be love.

It could be abundance.

It could be courage.

Maybe it is unshakable trust.

Whatever you would like to welcome in your life,

See it and feel it within your hands.

And with your next breath in,

Let this grow with your breath and let the arms begin to open,

Making space for it to grow.

As you exhale,

Let it condense and consolidate so it becomes more concentrated,

A little smaller.

Every breath in is an expansion.

Every breath out is a refining,

Returning to source.

Let's keep going for the next couple of rounds.

This Qigong form is called Experiencing Qi.

Qi is a word that has many meanings.

It means your breath.

It means vital life force.

It means energy.

Even if you don't believe in what we can't see with our eyes,

This is a great practice to cultivate and improve your psychomotor skills.

So let the hands stay connected.

Continue to listen to the space between your palms,

Cultivating this sense of awareness.

And you're welcome to linger here if this feels right,

If it feels good for you.

And if you would like to join me as we transition into the next form,

The next time you exhale,

Let this energy ball consolidate so it comes right in front of the lower belly area,

Not too far,

Meaning your arms aren't outstretched or the elbows unlocked.

Neither is it too close,

Such that there's no space for it to expand.

If it's too close to your body and you're holding it too tight,

There's no space for it to grow.

So just slightly in front of the lower belly,

And there's a little space between the sides of your arms and the sides of your ribs and waist for this potential.

We have a little bit of space and emptiness,

Something can fill,

Life can support us,

It can offer unexpected opportunities to fill.

Holding this energy ball,

We'll revise a form that we often do in our circle together,

Holding the Tai Chi.

So we'll let one hand float up,

The other hand float below,

As if you're holding planet earth.

North pole and the south pole,

One hand supports the north,

The other hand supports the south,

And then you gently rotate them,

Symbolizing a shift in perspective.

As you're doing this,

Keep the whole of your body fairly relaxed.

Notice if there's any unnecessary tension in your body.

The hands always stay connected,

As if you are holding a real sphere or real ball within your palms.

And notice if you are staring at your palms or looking very intently between your hands.

Let your gaze look slightly forward,

But draw your awareness inwards,

As if you are listening to the space between your hands.

What if you could trust without looking that the palms always stay connected?

How would that feel like?

You're welcome to stay here if this feels good.

If you would like to join me as we come into the next form,

Slowly and gently,

Let's all meet with your right hand on top,

I am your mirror,

And the left hand is below.

My shoulders are relaxed,

Your arms are by the sides of your body,

Lots of spaciousness to allow this expansion.

Slowly and gently,

We begin to rotate your chest slightly to the right,

So the energy ball comes close towards the space that is above your right hip.

Now here,

Notice if your left heel has come off the ground,

And if your knee has sickled in.

You want to avoid that by tethering the four corners of your feet to the earth.

You're still perched on the imaginary stool,

Your knees are soft,

All four corners of your feet stay connected with the earth.

Now feel this connection.

Let the hand slowly swap,

A shift in perspective,

So the left hand comes forward on top,

And the right hand is below.

Now we follow the top hand,

Which is your left hand,

And you let your chest glide and turn across to the left side,

So that now we're on the opposite side,

And you're turning to face towards your left.

At the end of the movement,

The same thing,

You are still connected to the earth with both heels,

Both of your feet.

Once again,

Let the hand swap,

And then we glide across to the starting point where we began.

That's one round.

We'll try a few more rounds.

The palms swap,

And you glide across.

Palms swap,

You glide across.

Now if you found this fairly easy to follow,

And you feel aligned,

A very small layer that we might add to the practice is a shift of weight of your body from the center of both of your feet to the outer corner of the foot on the side where your chest is turning.

So after the hand swap,

The weight of your body is on the foot where your hands are on.

Then we follow the hands and your chest to glide across,

And the weight of your body shifts to the other leg,

Which is on the same side where your hands begin to end their movement.

The palms swap from one side,

You glide across to the other.

As you do this movement,

All four corners of your feet still stay connected to the earth.

I'll stop talking for a couple of moments so you can enjoy the pleasure,

You can enjoy the presence of yourself,

Of this movement meditation that we call Holding the Tai Chi.