Cultivating the earth element.
The earth element is associated with the season of the late summer,
Early fall.
As we make that transition from the heat of the summer into the kind of calm and energy of the fall.
With the earth element,
We're connecting with the area around the lower abdomen,
More specifically with the stomach and the spleen.
In the sense of being connected to the earth and being very grounded.
So we're going to start the practice by,
As they say,
Pulsing the lower dantian.
So you're going to take both palms.
You're going to bring them close to the lower belly,
The palms facing the lower abdomen.
And just keeping this distance.
Same distance as you inhale.
The belly swells.
And the hands kind of move gently away from.
The body as you exhale.
Belly contracts,
Hands move closer in.
You can close your eyes.
And just be with the rise and the falling of the belly.
And let the hands just kind of flow.
As if the lower abdomen moving the hands.
Hands are weightless.
Taking three more breaths like that,
All your tension in the lower abdomen.
Expanding and contracting.
Relax.
Next movement is this rotating and spiraling of the earth.
So what we're going to be doing is holding our hands as if we're holding a small earth and we're just going to be moving earth-like feeling between the hands as it spirals and rotates around the body.
We'll start low.
By the lower abdomen,
Move it up to the heart center in the chest,
Then up to the head and above the head.
So once again,
You just want to have this feeling that you're always connecting as if the center of the palms,
These are the long gone cavities,
These energy points are always facing each other.
What you're going to do is you're going to start off,
I'm starting off on the left side,
The opposite hand and arm is high.
So I'm on my left,
My right arm is high,
Left hand is low.
I'm going to rotate.
Earth feeling across the body.
Then as I inhale,
I spiral.
My left hand now becomes high,
Right hand low.
And then I exhale,
I shift the weight and turn my waist,
I come over.
Watching.
The ball.
Watching the earth.
Rotating Shift your weight,
Turn the waist,
Spiraling the earth.
Rotating as it moves across.
And now bring it up to about the mid-torso.
Always maintaining that connection between the palms of your hands.
You spiral.
As you inhale,
And then we rotate from side to side with the exhale.
Bringing up to the level of the head,
What they call the third dantian.
Keep that connection.
Connect with that quality.
You feel rooted into the earth as well as connecting to the feelings.
Of this earth that rotates and spirals on its natural trajectory.
Around the sun.
This blue planet.
Third stone from the sun.
Bring it back down.
Keeping the same general movement with change in the hand positions.
So now the upper hand is across the body.
Palm facing you,
Lower hand down by the hip,
Palm facing in.
We shift the weight,
Turn the waist.
As you come across,
The palm faces down.
Till you get to side,
Palm faces out.
So upper hand now when it's on the same side of the body.
High hand low,
Low hand high.
You shift the weight.
Turn the waist,
Come across so the arm should feel weightless like clouds.
On the inhale,
High hand low,
Low hand high.
I start to shift my weight I turn my waist,
My eyes follow the middle finger of the upper hand.
Shift the weight.
Turn your waist and just connect to this feeling of these weightless clouds floating across the sky above the earth.
Push off the feet.
Power through the legs.
Turning the waist.
Do two more each side.
And bring it back.
Got a couple practices now really cultivating a sense of connecting in a very concrete way,
As they say,
With the earth.
This is called drag and walking.
So what we're going to be doing is we're going to be bringing one heel up with the hand.
So I'm going to be bringing up my left heel in that left arm and hand up to about shoulders.
And then.
Very slow and controlled,
Slowly lowering that heel onto the ground with the hand until I feel very rooted in that left foot and then bring up the right.
Just on toes and ball of the foot.
Then I slowly come back down with the heel.
I rise.
Just a feeling of a dragon,
I guess,
Walking.
Very slow.
In control.
Rise through the one arm.
Hand.
All flow together,
All integrated.
And connect.
Coming on toes and ball the foot,
Rising with the heel.
Coming back down.
And one more each side.
And relax.
We're going to come into a classic ancient stance called the horse stance.
We're going to actually lower our stance here.
All right,
Everyone needs to find their 70%.
So you don't want to be upright.
So you're going to slowly come down.
The feeling is not that you're bending your knees a lot.
You're essentially folding here through the hip flexor,
Through the groin,
As if you're sitting in a high chair or a bar stool.
You sink in.
Once again,
But keeping the back straight.
Going to bring the hands out.
Thumb and index finger creating a 90 degree angle.
Hold here for a few breaths.
Make sure you don't rock back too much on the heels.
You want to be even weighted through the feet.
You feel a little burn through the legs,
But don't go so deep that you feel very uncomfortable,
Your breath gets short.
Now we want to connect with this bit of air.
Power and energy,
Having that power connect us through the earth.
So you're going to make loose fists with the palms up.
Take an inhale and on the exhale take one of those fists in as if you're punching someone in slow motion.
In the hand coils until when you finish,
Now the palm faces down.
You bring it back,
Inhale.
Exhale.
All while maintaining that low stance really feel.
The energy and the power is coming from the power of thought.
Foot connecting to the earth and that's bringing the power up through the leg and the hands.
And return,
Relax,
Come on back.
We're going to bring the feet together as we close down.
We're going to do a practice called cultivating the three dantians.
These are the three major energy centers we use in Qigong.
The upper dantian,
Kind of between the eyebrows,
The middle dantian and the lower dantian.
So you're going to take one hand,
Bring a palm up underneath the navel.
The other hand will come up above the head.
And then you come down.
The fingers up.
And you're going to stop here.
This upper dante on the spot between the eyebrows.
And we cultivate a sense of clarity.
And wisdom.
And then bring it down to the heart center.
Down here,
The middle of the chest.
Connecting here with the feeling of kindness and compassion.
A sense of connecting well with others around us,
Friends,
Family,
Colleagues.
Finally we bring it down to the lower abs and put one hand on top of the other.
Doesn't matter which hand.
One way will feel more right.
And here,
Once again,
This now connects us with the earth because this is where the lower Dantian,
This is where we feel grounded.
Is our energy source and once again we're not looking just for super hyper energy.
We don't necessarily want to just be always super relaxed.
It's about regulating,
Balancing our energy.
Getting the correct energy for whatever we need at that point in our day.
Feeling grounded in the earth.
At the same time.
Feel a sense of rising.
Creativity.
The sky.
Now we'll go with the other hand.
So coming up with the other hand.
You didn't do yet.
And coming down,
Stopping here.
Upper Dantian,
Cultivating clarity.
Wisdom.
Kind of qualities we usually associate.
With the brain and the mind.
Coming down to the middle dantian.
The heart center.
Like all the Eastern traditions,
These feelings of kindness,
Compassion.
Connection.
Very important to cultivate.
Friendships.
Social relationships.
And bring it down to the lower dantian.
Let's take three breaths here.
Feeling a sense of groundedness in the lower dantian as well as through the feet into the earth.
Feeling the energy balance.
Not too hyper.
Not too relaxed.
Just optimal balance state.
As you finish up the practice,
You can bring the feet apart again.
And just connect.
This optimal stance.
Feel rooted into the ground,
Feel the toes.
Balls of the feet,
Heels even weighted,
Knees slightly bent.
See if you connect to that feeling of being rooted into the earth,
Yet at the same time this rise in qualities.
If the spine and the crown of the head are trying to rise up to the sky,
Yet at the same time the body is rooted into the ground.
Were rooted.
Physically in a very practical way.
But we're also rooted into our lives,
Into our sense of being and our energy.
Take that feeling with you through the rest of your day.
Whenever you need to cultivate these feelings,
Return to this practice.
Thanks for joining.
