Seated Evening Qigong: Gentle Cleanse

Simple and short Qigong (mindful movement) sequence, especially well-suited for the evening. The intention of the practice is to gently wash or cleanse your energy. We use gentle practices to release anything unhelpful from the day, wash our whole system with fresh, healthy energy, and reset our energy to a balanced state. Give the practice a try and notice how you rest tonight.

You can also draw on this practice at any time of day when you feel the need to reset your energy, gently releasing anything you picked up and bathing your body in fresh energy. It is appropriate for any season, any level of experience (including complete beginners), and all phases of life.

Note: Here, I guide the practice seated. I also released a guided standing version of the same practice.

Transcript

Sitting towards the front of the chair with your sitting bones firmly rooted on the seat and the spine rising naturally towards the sky. We'll start by rubbing our hands together to generate a little bit of warmth, A little bit of activity in our energy. We're not trying to activate the energy too much in the evening, But we'll get it a little bit active so that we can give our whole energy system a nice little cleanse and prepare ourselves for restful sleep. So when you've built up a little bit of heat, A little bit of warmth, Placing the hands on your belly, Just below the belly button and connecting to the center of your energy here. Noticing what you feel, What qualities of the energy are present. Might send some warmth or brightness, Maybe some movement. And bringing your awareness to your breath, Tuning in to the way the energy expands and contracts with the pace of your breath. So as you inhale, The energy gently expands from the center of your pelvis in all directions. And as you exhale, The energy folds back in on itself, Back to the center. You might imagine a light pulsing in your belly. So as you inhale, The light gets brighter, Illuminating your belly. And as you exhale, The light gets a little bit dimmer as it pulls back in on itself towards the center. It concentrates back to the center. We'll wake up the energy a little bit here with some self-massage as well. Circling over the belly, Nice, Gentle circles, Not too vigorous at this hour. And circling the other way. And changing direction one more time. And then coming to rest again at the center, Noticing the qualities of the energy now. Maybe something's feeling a little bit clearer, A little bit brighter, A little bit warmer, A little bit more active. And reconnecting with the primal state And we'll pulse the primary movement pattern of expansion of the energy with inhalation and a condensation of the energy with exhalation. Letting the light pulsate, The energy pulsate in your belly now in rhythm with your breath. And we'll expand this to include our whole body now. So releasing the arms to start. As you inhale, Allowing the energy to expand through the belly and continue to expand through your whole body. And then exhaling, Letting the energy fold back in on itself to the very center of your belly, Of your pelvis. And then the arm movement is this consequence of the energy expanding out to the fingertips and then flowing back towards the center, Towards its source. And letting the energy expand in all directions, Not just through the arms, But also down the legs, Up into the head. So that as you inhale, Your whole body becomes illuminated with this energy. As you exhale, We let the energy come to rest at your center. Let's take one more together. And then leaving the arms by the side, We'll expand it to the next layer, To the space beyond our body, Which is also part of your energy system. So inhaling, Letting the light expand through the belly, Through the whole body and into the space all around you. And as you exhale, Letting the energy, The light fold back in on itself, Condensing in the center of your belly. Continuing at the pace of your own breath, Letting the energy now illuminate your belly, The whole body and the energy space around you before returning back to its source to rest. And releasing this practice. With the next inhalation, We're gonna bring the arms back to the center. Bringing the arms up towards the sky. At the top, Pointing the fingertips towards the sky, Maybe looking up if that feels comfortable. Exhaling, Bringing the arms and the eyes down towards the earth, Releasing the fingertips to the earth at the bottom. Continuing again at the pace of your own breath in this practice of lift up, Pour down. We allow our body to be washed with fresh energy coming up from the earth through the soles of our feet, Up the legs, Up the torso. And then at the top, We release this energy towards the sky. And then we let sky energy pour down our whole body from the crown, Through the torso, Down the legs, Releasing the energy at the bottom towards the earth. So washing our whole body now, Our whole energy system with fresh, Healthy energy from earth and sky, Letting it take away anything from our day that we don't need to bring into our sleeping night. And replenishing some of our own energy with fresh, Healthy energy from the great sources of yin and yang. I'm gonna let this be our last one for this short practice. We'll bring our palms of our hands to our lower back, To our kidneys. I'll just stand up and show you either side of the spine beneath the rib cage. Connecting to the organ of the kidneys that store our essence, Our forming the base of our energy. So supporting this organ with our touch now. And we're gonna massage here a little bit. So nice, Gentle, Circular movements to again gently activate the energy in this organ with the intention to care for and nurture and support. So nice, Gentle, Easeful massage. And then from here, We're gonna tap down the sides and the backs of the legs as far as you can reach. If you can, Coming all the way to your toes. If not, Just use your intention. And then coming up the insides of the legs to the center of the collarbone, Down the inside of one arm towards the palm. And from the back of the hand, Coming up to the shoulder, Across to the other arm, Down the soft inside part to the palm. And from the back of the hand, Up the outer arm to the shoulder. And from the center of the collarbones, Coming up the neck, The face, Over the top of the head, Back of the head, On either side of the spine, Making our way back to the kidneys. And then we'll take two more circuits like this. So letting this tapping be of a gentler nature. Sometimes we use this practice in the morning to get our energy moving and active. Or any time of the day, If we feel like the energy's a little bit stagnant, We can use it to activate our energy. But we can also use it to settle our energy. And that is what we are aiming for here with this evening practice. So letting your intention guide the quality of the touch as we help distribute the energy cultivated in our practice all through the tissues. And at the same time, If there's still anything stuck or stagnant somewhere, We have another opportunity to let it go, To dislodge it gently. And the next time we arrive at the kidneys, We'll place our palms here again. And we'll take the same circuit now three more times, But this time we're sliding our palms on the body. So sweeping across the body. Like brushing our energy to allow it to flow with ease and unimpeded. So three circuits at your own pace, Creating healthy flow through your whole body. And once you've completed your three, Arriving back at the kidneys, Placing your hands there, Connecting with the organ that houses your energy reserves again, Noticing the energy there, And allowing some of the energy you cultivated in your practice to replenish those reserves to be stored in the kidneys. And then bringing the palms one over the other, Back on the lower belly, Connecting to the center of all your energy, Allowing the energy to settle and store here.