Stress Relieving Study Break

This short, stress-relieving movement break includes gentle stretches, breathing practices, acupoint massage and tapping, and YOQI® qigong flows. It is especially helpful if you’ve been studying or working in a seated position.

This sequence helps release tension, stimulate the flow of qi (energy) and blood, and invites a few lighthearted moments along the way. By the end, you’ll feel more focused, centred, and refreshed—ready to return to your studies or work with renewed clarity and energy.

Transcript

Hello, Welcome to this stress relieving study break. Find a post or a door frame, Bring your right arm to reach back and hold onto it for a chest and arm stretch. We're taking purging breaths here. Three purging breaths in through the nose, Out through the mouth to help release stress and tension. Then slightly lower the arm, Find a slightly different stretch, Repeat those three purging breaths again. Stretching through the arm and the chest, Keeping your torso strong and straight. Lower the arm a little more and three more purging breaths. Slightly different angle of the stretch each time we move the arm. See if you can sink your breath down into your belly. Let's swap sides. Starting up high, Three more purging breaths. Stretching into the arm, The chest, Releasing all that tension around the chest and the shoulders after all your study and hunching over computers and books. Let's swap and lower the arm about midway. So again, A slightly different direction of stretch through the pectoral muscles, A little into your anterior deltoid here, And a little into the neck as well. Last arm position now, Three more purging breaths in through the nose, Out through the mouth. Keeping your core switched on to keep your body safe. Beautiful. Come to a Wuji posture with your feet shoulder width apart. We're going to massage an acupoint called Lao Gong right in the center of our palm, Pericardium eight. This stimulates our circulation, Clears anxiety and helps to balance our emotions. Tap three times, Swap sides. This point gets nicknamed the key point to happiness. Tap three times again, Clap, Rub your palms together, Generate warm healing energy. We're going to tap some essential points starting on the crown of the head, Breathe in through the nose, Out through the mouth again, And then in through the nose, Out through the nose to help benefit our brain and calm our spirit. Tapping GV20. Flick that off, Clap, Healing hands ready, Bringing them between the eyebrows, This time to our Yintang point. Breathing in through the nose, Out through the mouth, Relieving anxiety, Calming the mind. Breathe in through the nose, Out through the nose, Help to decrease overactive thoughts. Flick that off, Clap. Coming to your cheekbones now, Stomach two and stomach three. In through the nose, Out through the mouth. Grounding benefits our eyes and our sinuses. Breathe in through the nose, Out through the nose with a tonifying breath. Flick that off, Clap, Healing hands at the ready for kidney 27 this time. So just below the inner edges of your collarbone, Take a bird's beak and start tapping, Balancing our energy, Helping our mental focus, Balancing all the meridians, Those ancient energy lines in the body. And flick that off, Clap, Rub, And coming to the centre of the chest this time. Right in the centre of the chest, Tapping our CV17. This helps to unbind our chest, Releasing all that tension. Also helps us to open our heart. Flick that off, One more, Clap. This time it's like a bird's claw to the side of the ribcage, Spleen and liver points to help regulate our digestion. All that sitting and tension can impact our digestion when we're studying and getting stressed. So just releasing and balancing here. Flick that off and we're slowly turning to one side, Slowly turning to the other. Begin to speed it up. We're coming to knocking on the door of life, Keeping your spine straight, Turning from your waist. We're moving energy and blood. We're stretching and twisting our spine after all that sitting and studying, Getting the chi moving. And then coming to tap the front of the belly and at the back, Knocking on the sea of chi, Helping to clear stagnation at the front here. Again, Stimulating our digestion, Very grounding. Open your heart wide to the universe and fold forward. Fingers in a bird's beak position, Open to the universe again, Folding forward, Exhale. Inhale up, Exhale down into the drinking bird. Inhale up, Exhale down. Inhale, Bend your knees on the way up, Exhale down and bending your knees. Relax the arms, Clap, Activate those healing hands and tap from your sit bones all the way down the backs of the legs. Waking up the legs after they've been sitting, Tapping down the urinary bladder meridians. Flick that off, Widen the feet. We're going to come down into a squat and then fold forward, Release. Let's come into another squat, Opening up the hips, Forward fold and release through the neck, Down into a squat again. Last one, Forward fold and then heel toe, Walk your feet in, Shoulder width apart, Slowly roll all the way back up to a standing posture. We're going to shake the tree, Begin to bounce through your joints, Shaking off any tension. Then add the heart healing sound of ah, This helps to balance our emotions. Shaking it all off everywhere, Maybe on one leg, Then the other leg, Have fun with it. You might like to shift that sound into a ha ha ha, A giggle, Giggle, Giggle and wiggle, Wiggle. Get all that stress and tension out of the body, Releasing it around to the sides, Up high, Down low, To the front, To the back, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake. We're coming back to our standing Wuji, Feeling our buzzing, Tingling cells, Happy cells. Hands over our lower dantian, Our lower belly now. Let's start to slow the breath down, Allow the breath to begin to sink down, Down, Down into your belly. We're taking tonifying breaths now, So breathing in through the nose and out through the nose. Allow your shoulders to relax. Begin to massage your belly, Like you love your belly. Drawing all that chi into the center, Gently turn your palms to face the earth, Earth Wuji. Inhale, Draw the palms in, Exhale the palms float out. Exhale, You're caressing the earth. Exhale, Palms out, Inhale, Draw that earth chi into your center. Exhale, Caress, Inhale, Move fluid movements back to earth Wuji. Draw your left hand up through center, Gather heavenly chi, Exhale down. The right arm now, Right up through center, Gather heavenly chi, Draw it down through center and back to the left. Inhale up, Gather heavenly chi, Exhale down. Inhale the right arm up, While the left hand remains connected to the earth. Again, Inhale up, Gather heavenly chi, Exhale down through your central meridian. This is a line of energy that runs from the crown of your head through the center of your body and out the pelvic floor to the earth. Both hands now, Down through center, Gather earth chi, Draw it up, Gather heavenly chi and draw it all down through your central meridian. This is called dragon rises from the earth. It's our final flow today. All the way down through your center. Open your hands wide, Palm over palm, Over your belly, Drawing all that chi inside. Draw the feet together, Release all efforts, Let your body rock and sway. You're ready to continue with your studies. Thank you.