5-Minute Qigong Medicine | Metal Element I Breath & Release

And welcome,

We're going to do a short Qi Gong practice today.

We'll be working with the movement called Push Hands to Heaven.

This practice nourishes the lungs,

The large intestine,

The organs that help us breathe fully,

Help us to let go and release what no longer serves us.

Qi Gong is wonderful for calming the nervous system,

Bringing harmony to the mind,

Body and spirit and helping energy or Qi to flow and freely through every cell in our body.

I invite you now to take any socks and shoes off and we're going to do this in our bare feet.

So come to stand and you can choose to do this outside or inside.

Take your legs wider than hip distance apart,

Soften your knees,

Sink the hips down and just allow this gentle tuck of the tailbone.

Arms nice and relaxed,

Roll the shoulders back and just feel a sense of softness,

Close your eyes.

And the softer we are here the better so that we can allow the Qi to flow.

If we lock our body out in the elbows or in the knees,

Then we're kind of stopping or limiting the flow of Qi.

So let's allow this softness,

Invite it in.

So now with the arms lengthened down by the front of you,

I would like you to interlace your fingers gently and the palms are now facing up towards your chin.

And as if you're sort of holding a hammock and here we begin.

So inhale,

Start to lift the little hammock all the way up towards your shoulders.

And then as you exhale,

Turn your hands the opposite way.

So rotate them so the palms are facing away from your body and push out in front of you.

There's the exhale.

Tuck the chin and feel the back of the heart.

So you're rounding the back and opening up the back gently.

Then with the fingers still interlaced,

Inhale,

Lift the arms all the way up to the sky.

Straight arms pushing,

Push down through the heels.

And then as you exhale,

Unlock the hands,

Release them and push with a flexed wrist.

So pushing the heel and palm of the hand away to the sides as if you're pushing against two walls all the way back down to by your side.

We'll do that again,

Interlace the hands.

Inhale,

Lift up towards the shoulders,

Palms facing the sky.

Then turn the palms out the way,

Push right out in front of you on the exhale.

Inhale,

Lift the arms up,

Palms facing the sky,

Framing the head.

And then as you exhale,

Push out,

Release the hands and just feel the sense of strength in the arms as they come back down by your side.

We'll do that again.

Interlace the fingers.

Inhale slowly.

Imagine moving through thick liquid up to the shoulders.

And then exhale,

Gently push out with the breath.

Movement in breath.

Inhale,

Lift the hands all the way up over the head.

And then release with the exhale as you push out either side.

Back down to the start.

Lovely.

And then just let your arms relax down by your side.

Take a moment to notice how you feel.

And I invite you to turn your right hand into a fist in front of you.

Wrap your left hand around the right fist.

Hold them at the heart centre and then take a little bow.

And with that,

We have finished our Qi Gong practice today.

Namaste,

Everyone.