8-Minute Qigong To Unwind The Upper Body

A simple 8 Qigong practice with four standing movements to release tension held in the torso, shoulders, and spine. Each movement is slow and deliberate, helping your nervous system shift out of stress and into a calmer, more grounded state. Suitable for all levels — no experience needed, just a small amount of space to stand and move freely.

Transcript

Welcome. We're gonna do a nice four movement practice that's really just really nice for the torso. It's like a gentle stretching and loosening up through the back, Making sure the spine feels nice and long while the whole torso also feels relaxed at the same time. So we're going to start off once again with the loosening movement. The key thing I want you to focus on on this is about always being comfortable. Don't go past your limit. So I'm going to show you some variations when I think it's necessary. But for example, When you're bringing your arms up over your head, Whenever you feel pain, You're just going through your 70%. I never want you to push past pain. Keep that in mind when you're doing any of this kind of work, Which is always be comfortable. Never move past your 70%. We're not straining. The breath should always be slow, Deep, And relaxed. So the first thing we want to do is just kind of loosen our back. Imagine if you've been sitting a long time or. Some reason your back feels stiff. So what I mean by that is we want to tuck in the tailbone, Tuck in the chin, Round out the back a bit. You're going to make fists. And as if you're going to jump up. So you inhale, You expand the chest, Arch the back, And just let the hands come out. Exhale, Tuck in the tailbone, Tuck in the chin, Round out the back. And as you inhale, Bring the awareness to the bottom of the spine. Feel everything kind of nice and loose. Let the arms accentuate the movement. So, The way it will look is like this. Once again, We're not overdoing it. We don't need to go, You know, Too far with the tuck of the tailbone. Just nice and loose. Exhale as you come back in. And relax. Now let's work on stretching the sides. So what we're gonna be doing here, It's a nice flowing motion. Is we're going to be bringing one hand up and one hand down. The hand that will go up will be palm up. The hand that will go down is palm down. Now, It's very common. A lot of people have shoulder issues. You don't need to bring the arm completely above the head. Once again, Find that 70%. If you come here and that's as far as you can go, That's fine. So just work with that 70%, Don't move past your edge. So you're gonna bring one hand up as you inhale, One hand pushes down. And you want to lean the body gently to the low hand side. That should accentuate the stretch. So it's actually the slight lean to the low hand side is actually going to accentuate the stretch more than how high you bring the upper hand. As you exhale. High hand comes low, Low hand comes high. They're going to meet somewhere around the sternum. And change sides. Slight lean to that low hand side. You should feel the stretch through the upper arm. Go really slow and check in. Make sure you're not pushing past your limit. There's no right way to do this. You're not trying to look like someone else. You need to really listen to your body. And realize the point of this. Is just to kind of. Having the back feeling really nice, It's not to look a certain way. Let's do one more each side. Inhale as you stretch. Exhales the hands come back down. And how we stretch. Exhale, Come back. The next movement we're going to do is a gentle twist. This will probably be the most challenging one we do. So I want you to be very kind to yourself. Don't overdo it. So you're going to put Weight on your left foot, Raise the right. Step back with the right. You don't need to go really far, Just a bit. Stay comfortable, But only on the toes and the ball of the feet. Okay, Then exhale and slow, Not fast. You're gently going to twist over this front leg. Make sure the knees are not past the toes. You rapping. So this is my front leg, This is my left. I'm wrapping my left arm around my back to my chest. Okay, For me, I go to the lower right back. If you can't make it that far, Keep it by the left, Doesn't matter. And then gently bringing the right arm across, Almost like it's blocking the sun. So I'm going to show you this facing backwards. I want to show you once facing forward. We're here. Very important with the twist, More important than probably anything, Which is not to overdo it. As they say, You want to move to your edge. And then actually take a gentle step back. So that's why this is a very practical reason you need to stay mindful through the movements. Okay, So twist very, Very slow. So I'm over my right leg, My right hand goes behind my back, My left hand goes in front like it's blocking the sun. And I do not go past the edge. Very important when working with the twists. The twists are excellent whether you're doing them on the floor in yoga or this movement. It's just very important not to overdo it. So I want to show you how this is done. So you see me from the back. So I'm going to step back with my right foot. If you notice, It's only toe and ball the foot. Exhale. Nothing crazy. Don't need to go too far. Come back. And come on back. Now to finish up the practice, Let's just work on just a nice stretch through the whole torso. This is once again, I want you to focus more on this feeling of opening. This feeling of creating space through the torso rather than, Oh, Trying to stretch really far. Now I'm going to be bringing my hands up really high. Now, If that's bringing you pain through your shoulders, You got two options. You can bring the arms out more in front. And then bring them down. Or you could bring them where they just barely come above your head. Okay, I'll show you three options. So you're going to bring the feet together. You're going to bend the knees slightly. You're going to bring the arms out to the sides. Raise them as high as you kind of comfortably can. Then the palms face the head. And as you come down, It's a feeling that you remain very tall. Through the spine. And yet everything softens and relaxes around that rising spine. So bending the knees, It's like you're pushing off the feet, Like you're going to jump up. You rise, Rise, Rise, Feeling as tall as you can possibly feel. And then when you come down, Connect to this feeling of the body softens and relaxes. This is what we're looking for with our posture, That you feel as tall and aligned, The spine erect, Yet the body relaxed and soft. Now if that movement is too hard for you, I want you to still feel this finishing practice of this set. Where you're feeling this space. Feeling this openness through the torso. So two options, Just come up and very simply just bend at the elbows and the hands come here. Feel tall. And then just still complete that motion as you come down. Very simple. Sync. Just bring them up, And then when the elbows come to the shoulders, Just bend the elbows. As you see, My hands will barely come above my head. But the most important thing is connecting to that feeling of feeling tall and relaxed at the same time. Third option. Start the same as we did before but bring the arms out more in front. And when you feel like your edge, You just bend the elbows. Sink and relax. Bring them out. And then bring them more in front, Not to the sides. When you feel your. At 70%, Bend the elbows. You connect to that feeling. Spine rises. Everything relaxes around the rising spine. All right, So I hope you enjoy that practice and you stay with it because it's an excellent practice and really nice way to loosen up the back. Make sure your posture and your body feels good throughout your day. Thanks.