Five Finger Qigong Exercise for Anxiety

I found this guided 5 minute video on youtube which is a quick Qigong meditation.. very relaxing.
5 Finger Qigong for Relaxation & Relief from Anxiety 

Enjoy!

A quick meditation

How our emotions can cause illness

This is an excerpt from an article by Dr. Christiana Northrop:
Most of the blockages in our vibrational systems are emotional in nature. It’s helpful to think of your vibrational system as being like a stream of water flowing along. As long as this energy flow is healthy and you are feeling good about yourself, there’s much less risk of disease. Environmental toxins, dietary fat, and excess sugar or alcohol (to name a few) usually don’t manifest in disease unless other factors have already set up the pattern of blockage in the body’s energy system in the first place.¹ Environmental or dietary risk factors can be likened to debris carried along in the body’s energy flow. This debris stays afloat unless there is a felled tree or other blockage to the water flowing in the stream. When there is, the debris collects in the branches of the felled tree and accumulates. Over time, similar accumulations in the body’s energy flow can result in physical illness. In fact, scientific research has associated a failure of the flow of information between cells with the induction of cancer in those cells. A physical barrier of any kind that blocks communication between cells is a carcinogenic influence.²  The fat and connective tissue that form a fibroid, for example, do so only when the energy flows around and through the uterus is already blocked in some way.
To read more click here

Short Stuff?

When I stopped growing at the young age of 12, I was measured at 5'2". Now in my family, that was tall.. and trained in ballet I had 'good' posture. Later I became involved in swimming and finally Tai Chi and Qigong.
When I was 32 we had a health fair at one fitness club I was teaching at, and for the first time in 20 years my height was measured for a fitness assessment. I surprised to find I was now 5'3" tall!
How did that happen?
The training I did in Tai Chi helped to adjust the curvature in the spine, align my hips properly - after years of dance training which had made my hip flexors off balance.
I wondered if this was a common happening? No one I knew had this experience. Until last week I hardly thought about it, then one of my long time students told me he had gone to his doctor for a check up and he reported that he had gained 1/2" from his previous measuring a few years ago.
In addition to doing Tai Chi regularly, he had been doing some back physio exercises to strengthen his back after suffering from a pinched nerve and sciatica.
One exercise we follow in Tai Chi class is to lift from the crown of the head and drop from the tailbone during Qigong standing meditation. This gentle 2 way stretch slightly temporarily removes the natural S curve of the spine and allows the vertebrae to open up a small amount more than normal posture. Think of an accordion; when you open it up from both ends the spaces between the folds gets bigger fills with air and then when you press it back it compresses.
Perhaps this is why people with disc problems and pinched nerves get some relief from these exercises.
I would like to know if anyone else has had this pleasant side effect from doing Tai Chi and if it has been studied at all?
Email me or reply in the comments,
thanks
Linda