Two More Qigong exercises for my students

Opening and closing wings like a dove:

Posture Checklist

1. Hold a 'balloon' in front just above the navel.

2. Shoulders always sinking down to the hip joint, elbows slightly lower than hands.

3. Feet under hips pointing straight ahead

4. Slight bend in the knees

5. "Sitting on an invisible high chair"

6 Lift from the crown ( back of the head) and slight tilt to the pelvis to drop the tailbone.

Active Movement:

1. Breathe in and expand the balloon, until the arms and shoulders fall back and down,

2. Feel the scapulae roll inward to meet each other. Breathe out slowly while relaxing this move.

3. Start to breathe in again slowly as you let the (still softly curved) arms come back to hold the balloon in beginning posture.

4. Breathe out as you press the balloon into your body and relax the shoulders and chest again and allow the chest to slightly sink inwards.

Repeat slowly 4 or 5 times taking rests frequently and shake out gently if you feel tension.

Press down behind neck and lift palms to touch the sky

Posture same as first exercise, Breathe as necessary do not hold your breath.

Active Movement:

1. Hold balloon under the navel fingertips almost touching palms facing up.

2. Raise the arms up overhead in this postition, palms facing the head arms curved ( like a ballet pose)

3. Press the palms down behind the head to the shoulders near the neck.

4. Uplift the palms and hold up the sky, elbows stay bent, try to drop the shoulders and breathe out here.

5. Pull the fingers straight up lifting the hands and bring them back to back , elbows still bent.

6. Open the curtains to shoulder width with the fingers, and then drop the shoulders, elbows and the fingers will slide down the curtains on either side of your body, right down to the floor.

7. Relax the arms, shoulders completely and then softly curve the arms to hold the balloon again as in beginning movement.

Repeat slowly 4 or 5 times taking rests frequently and shake out gently if you feel tension.

ARC Tai Chi Osteoarthritis Study

New study revealed last week at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, preliminary results that Tai Chi practice reduces pain in osteoarthritis patients. More research is needed, but this is an optomistic start to understanding some of the positive benefits of Tai Chi.



"Dr. Wang's group studied 40 patients who met ACR criteria for knee osteoarthritis and had a body mass index of at least 40 kg/m2.
They were randomized to a 12-week intervention of one hour twice a week with either group Tai Chi sessions or stretching exercises plus education on osteoarthritis, diet and nutrition, and physical and mental health.
The groups were statistically similar at baseline, although the control group tended to have worse osteoarthritis and health status.
By the end of the exercise intervention, the stretching group remained fairly similar to baseline with a decrease of just 38.5 points on the 500-point WOMAC pain scale (95% confidence interval -87.2 to 10.3) whereas the Tai Chi group had a 157.3-point drop in pain (95% CI -198.5 to -116.0).
Among the secondary outcomes, the findings for Tai Chi compared with the stretching control group at 12 weeks included:
Improved physical function scores (change -506.8 versus 182.2 on a 1,700-point scale, P=0.001)
Better self-reported global functioning (change -3.0 versus -0.8 on a 10-point scale, P=0.003)
Better physician-reported global functioning (change -3.2 versus -1.4 on a 10-point scale, P=0.0009)
Improved chair stand test time (-12.0 versus -0.9 sec, P=0.0005)
Increase self-efficacy (0.6 versus -0.1 on a scale of one to five, P=0.04)
Greater reduction in depressive symptoms (-7.4 versus -0.7, P=0.009)"



To read more of the article click on the title link above.

What is QiGong?

What's Qigong?
Qigong(Chi Kung) is thousands of years old, and is sometimes referred to as "Chinese Yoga". It is the predecessor of Tai Chi. Both systems are exercises, but they are also internal arts as they move or exercise the "CHI" or internal energy. If our energy systems are in good working order, we have the capability to keep our body in a healthy state, which includes appropriate weight. So why do we have to work at, or cultivate our chi? Why doesn't our body balance itself automatically? We have a common enemy against this natural process, and that is stress.

From the moment of conception; our mother's and father's chi or life force combine to form "life". At that moment, if there are no genetic problems our energy is balanced. We are, even in the womb subject to stress, mostly of a physical nature. Is our mother eating properly, is she resting, is she in a safe warm environment, is she using drugs which may affect us, drinking alcohol, smoking, or is emotionally stressed? All of these environmental factors play a role in our prenatal development. So even before we are born, stress can negatively influence our health.

What kinds of stresses are there? Mental: Loss of loved ones, illness in family, abuse, financial worries, children's welfare, relationships difficulties, work pressure, time pressure. Physical environment (hot/cold), shelter, air and water quality (pollution), food starvation or abundance or poor food choices, food additives, pesticides, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, injuries, exposure to contagious disease.
All of these stresses challenge our body's ability to keep the balance of health. Are you wondering how Qigong can affect this? The flow of chi or internal energy is natural, but these stresses can cause it to become blocked, so how we can help it flow through our systems to keep us in balance is to practice these slow moving, breathing, loosening exercises to help restore the flow.
The energy pathways are not physical like blood vessels or nerves but are the areas where the energy flows, similar to the magnetic forces around the earth: they are unseen, but present. If we internally and externally relax, we can help the flow improve. By aligning the body, breathing slower and deeper, and focusing and emptying the mind (meditation) we can positively influence the flow of this energy and therefore improve our health. We can further stimulate the flow by moving our weight from one foot to the other in a slow relaxed manner; this stimulates the lower endpoints of the energy pathways and helps to improve the circular flow. (It is also where we train the body for the balance). The mind focusing on the finger tips helps the energy flowing to the upper endpoints also, and thus completing the circuit. It's just like using Draino on a clogged drain; as we loosen the physical body and breath and the mind relaxes the "chi" is able to flow properly and efficiently through the pathways.

Our bodies are not just mechanical devices. The mind is highly connected to all our body's functions. When we sense danger, we produce hormones (cortisols) that affect our heart rate, blood pressure, respiration etc. These hormones are useful in the short term, they give a boost to our breathing, allow faster circulation to our muscles to provide more oxygen and then we can escape from danger! They even tell our bodies to store fat for the emergency! But if stress triggers these emergency hormones to be released full time, it causes negative side effects. So de-stressing is very important to maintain our systems' balance.

Studies have shown that even the immune cells related to varicella zoster (first experienced as chicken pox and sometimes later on as shingles) can be influenced by energy work, and to the extent that in one study a rise of 50% in those cells was seen in the tai chi group compared with the control group. More research may soon show that these practices will be seen to provide support to the immune system in general, helping us to stay healthier.
So source a Qigong or Tai Chi class in your area today, you'll get a lot more than just a workout