Pm Jing Essence Qi Gong

Winter is a time of rest & going within. It is also the season of the Kidney system. The goal is to move in a restful, flowing, slow way to nourish the kidney system, which includes the bones, ears, etc. This PM class is part of a daily practice of movements that support the kidney system. This audio track is a recording of a live Qi Gong class. If you haven't taken one of my classes, you might want to wait until you can join us live.

Transcript

Our Jing essence is mostly made up of energy that we receive from our parents at conception, Believe it or not. It's a finite substance, But we can replenish and not draw into that bank account when we eat well, Breathe well, Exercise well. So movements like this every night save this precious vital essence so we can have it for a long, Healthy and happy life. For this we don't do our usual coming into the space. We just come into our posture and do a little bit for breath. So step the feet about one and a half times, I mean just a little bit wider than shoulder width. The knees are slightly bent, The pelvis is tucked, The spine elongates, The shoulders relax down and the head gently tucks just ever so slightly. We're going to begin with the most vigorous of the movements, The most vigorous to least vigorous and that will be our kidney stroking. In this position bring your hands as high as you can. If you can only bring them down here, That's okay and if you're not able to bring them onto your back at all, I'll show you what to go ahead and if you have glasses take them off you can just massage in between the eyes on the inner campus here. That's bladder one and so that's a good place to massage if you can't stroke down the bladder points along the spine. So bring your hands to your back, Keep that strong position and we'll begin gently stroking down. Breathe gently, No you don't synchronize the breath with movement here, Just a gentle breath. Take the hands off the back each time you come up. Breathe, Don't hold your breath. We'll do six more stroking down. And release. Now we'll be moving our chi. Make a ball shape with your hand bringing your right hand on top and I'm going to not mirror because I also need to move in the right direction. Chi gong is different from yoga in this way. The directions in which we move are very important for us as instructors as well. So go ahead and bring the right hand on top, Left hand underneath, The palms face each other. These are very powerful energy centers. It's the Lao Gong point number, The pericardium point, Six Lao Gong, Eight sorry, So Lao Gong point. We're going to gently inhale, Turn to the right and then shift your hands and exhale, Pull back to your left. You'll notice at night we'll slow the movement down a little bit more and we will be here for a while. So just feel into the movement. As you move the left hand on top and the right hand underneath and the right shifting as you come back, Keep the palms facing each other. Inhale right. Exhale left. And just let the weight of the legs shift, The hips rotate with the waist, Just naturally don't plan or do anything on purpose with the lower body. It'll just move how it moves as you move the chi ball from side to side. Breathe gently with this inhale right. Exhale left. And remember you can always just gently breathe in and out your nose if the slightly longer breaths are challenging for you. The gaze is soft in the distance. Let go of your day. Come into the space between your palms. Feel the energy between them. And if you can't feel that energy, That's okay. You're still moving that energy. They say it takes two weeks to create a habit. That's why we're doing the morning and evening this week, Monday through Friday and next week too. We'll do six more each direction so this is one. Last one each direction. And bring your hands to what we call the lower dantian, The lower energy center, The thumbs above the navel and the fingers pointing down below. And we'll do one slow long deep abdominal breath to focus our energy here. Release. Now say the letter N and where your tongue lands just behind your teeth on the palate. So on this kind of hard part behind the teeth there. Not touching the teeth though. Let your tongue stay there for the next two exercises. The first is moving the chi. You're going to inhale the arms up to shoulder height. Then you're going to bend the elbows, Soften the hands, Let the wrists soften and then press down with the hands pointing the fingers to the earth. And we reverse the imagination of the flow of energy. So we're going to imagine first energy coming up the back of your spine on the inhale as you lift the arms. And then it comes over the top of the head as you exhale down coming into this lower dantian. So inhale. The energy moves up the back of the spine to the top of the head. And then exhale. The energy floats down your face, Your neck, Your torso, All the way down. Going underneath the perineum and back up the spine. As you inhale down the front as you exhale. This lets us bring the energy down for the night to settle. Inhale through the nose, The energy comes up the back. And then exhale. Float the energy down. The gaze is soft in the distance. Touching your tongue to the palate closes the energy loop and makes it a smooth circuit with everything flowing in the right direction. Inhale the energy, The chi moves up along the spine, The neck and the head. Over the top of the head and down the face, The neck, The torso, The abdomen. Underneath the perineum and back up again. And down again. We'll do two more. And bring the hands into this diamond shape again. One long inhale and exhale. Let the lower abdomen move out as the diaphragm moves down. And squeeze it in, Focus as if you can feel a ball of light energy right behind your navel. We're going to draw that energy into our focus for embracing the Tao. We're ending with our most calming and still exercise. Cross at the wrist, The left hand is on the inside. The shoulders relax down, Knees are slightly bent, Feet are hip width apart. Perineum roots down as the pelvis tucks forward. Shoulders relax down. And we breathe long, Slow, Deep breaths in and out of our nose. You have that same position of the tongue, So you say the letter N, Let the tongue touch. And close your eyes to 70% closed or fully closed. It is night time and we're inviting in the Yin. And I will take you through a guided imagery as you breathe deeply. Picture the ball of energy behind your navel. A warm, Glowing, Loving energy. And on your next inhale, You bring this light out into your aura. And now that ball of light is connected to the outside. And on the next inhale, You let this energy expand out even further to your entire state or province. Simply picture dimensionally how far it's moved. You exhale, Keep the light on these outer edges. And on the next inhale, The light moves out to encompass the entire earth. You're connecting with all of this energy. Even as you exhale, The light stays expanded. You see the connection. And then it moves out through the solar system to the edges of the galaxy all around you, Above you, Below, To the sides and front and back, Every way. And on your next inhale, You move this energy, This light. You see within your lower dantian connecting to the cosmos, To the universe, Spreading out ever wider, A warm, Healing energy. And this time as you exhale, That light moves back to encompass the Milky Way galaxy. Inhale. Exhale the energy through the solar system to the edges of the earth, The surface of the earth. Inhale. Exhale the light energy to the boundaries of your state, All the nature within the place where you live, The rivers, The trees, The animals, The rocks. Inhale. Exhale, Move the light to your aura. Inhale. And as you exhale, Bring your hands to center all this nourishing, Restful, Peaceful essence into your lower dantian, This water element chakra zone connected to the kidneys, Our home of the Qing essence. Step your feet side by side and close your eyes. Breathe gently. Feel this warm light within, All of the energy moving down and in for the night. Smile gently, Thinking yourself for bringing in this beautiful Qing energy. Release your hands. Open your eyes.