Qi Gong Flow For The Lungs & Immunity

Today we're going to take a little extra time on the grounding for our feet.

We're going to be detoxifying a lot whenever we work on the lungs,

The major detoxification organ in the body.

It releases about 70% of the toxins that we take in.

We want to make sure that we're connected to the earth.

Two reasons,

One,

We want to draw up energy as we draw in healing chi and we want that stagnant energy,

Kind of that grayish,

Mucky energy,

Whatever color for use,

Kind of that mucky used color.

It has served us well but we need to send it back in the earth to be recycled.

That is where our feet come in.

So just rock,

You know,

Kind of side to side,

Forward and back and then settle down with a little bit more weight in the heels.

Imagine a channel of energy going deep into the earth,

About six feet into the earth.

This is from one of my master teachers,

John Platt and he just has you have that deep rooting so you can imagine drawing energy up into the body and then also that conduit to release.

Doesn't matter how high you are in your building,

Your imagination is what drives that energy deep into the earth.

The knees are slightly bent and the pelvis gently tucks forward so your perineum can root down.

We want this taiji pole,

This center pole of energy to be open and what further opens that is elongating the spine,

Lengthening up and then we relax the shoulders down.

We have two important channels for the lungs,

Two points right at the collarbone and if the shoulders are all tense,

You can lift your shoulders,

Feel the tension at the collarbone so we always want that relaxed and down,

Hands down,

The chin tucks slightly,

The head,

The top of the head can reach the heavens to draw in energy from the heavens as well.

Good.

Let's begin our practice.

Inhale,

The hands come out,

Palms are up,

Inhaling up.

Exhale,

Float the hands,

Palms down through center.

We'll do that again.

Inhale up and this time bring the palms together,

Lower them to heart center and gaze at your fingertips.

Use the hands,

One hand is open,

The other in a loose fist to greet it and set the intention to focus on your lungs today.

Become mindful and aware of your breath.

We're going to begin by really opening our awareness of how our lungs move.

Bring your fingertips to the back,

The thumbs come down on the sides and you'll breathe normally but you'll notice this dimension of how the lungs move in 360 degrees,

Just powerful expansion.

We're going to breathe here for a few moments.

Inhaling through the nose for at least four counts and exhaling through the nose for at least six if you are able.

If your lung capacity is greater,

Inhale and exhale longer.

Just remember to do it through your nose.

If it's stressful for you,

Just breathe gently as deeply as you can and notice the movement of the lungs.

Let's begin.

I'll give you the cue for the four count inhale and six count exhale.

Inhale,

Exhale,

Inhale,

Exhale.

Now continue at your own pace,

Lengthening your breath,

Really lengthening your exhales.

If your shoulders get tired,

Go ahead and bring your hands in front on your navel.

One hand can overlap the other.

Notice the movement,

The expansion as you inhale and the contraction as you exhale.

We'll take one more deep breath.

Inhale and exhale nice and long.

As you release your hands,

We're going to open up a little bit of our energy channels now that we've done some breathing.

We're going to knock on the door of life.

Keep that chin centered along the center of the torso.

This is just giving a little massage to the lungs and the other organs,

But really waking up your chi.

If it's nighttime for you,

This can also calm your chi.

What matters is your intention.

If it's daytime,

Feel the chi rising and moving outward.

If it's evening,

Picture the chi sinking and moving inward.

Now we're going to have the hand in front hit just under the collarbone in that little triangle by the shoulder heads.

You can hear that as we're doing this,

Things are opening and clearing for me.

Pretty powerful.

By the end,

I'll be breathing really well.

It's quite early here for me,

So my body is just waking up.

Now come back down,

Knocking lower.

Slow it down and just stand with your eyes closed a moment.

Go within,

See what you notice.

Open your eyes.

We're going to do a couple of stretching postures that open the channel.

Our lung meridian will run down the inside here by the thumb.

The large intestine,

This partner organ,

Will run up the outside.

We want a clear stagnation.

There's a lot of other channels of energy,

But we're going to focus on that.

Bring the hands forward,

Coming back to you on your inhale.

Then exhale,

Reach down,

Fingers spread as wide as you're able.

Inhale,

Reaching forward,

Drawing in.

Exhale,

Press down.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Reach.

Inhale,

Drawing down.

One more,

And then we'll hold the hands down.

Drop one ear towards one shoulder.

You don't want to feel pain.

You might feel a little discomfort as you're releasing stress and tension where the neck and shoulder meet.

Breathe into that long,

Slow,

Deep breathing.

Bring the head up and gently move,

Dropping the other ear to the other shoulder.

Keep those fingers spread wide,

Reaching down.

Long slow deep breaths or gentle breaths in and out your nose.

Make sure your pelvis hasn't popped back.

You want to keep that line moving down,

Knees still bent,

A gentle bend.

Bring the head back up.

That was spreading the feathers,

But now we're going to do bear swimming.

You're going to reach behind you on the inhale,

Twist the arms through,

And then exhale.

Palms are forward,

Fingers spread wide,

Reach down.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Again,

Feel the difference,

Notice.

The lungs are even different as you move back and reach the palms forward.

Inhale,

Reaching behind,

Drawing forward.

Exhale,

Pressing down.

One more and then we'll hold.

Drop the opposite ear first,

So the second side,

We'll do that first.

It's good to switch up our body's expectations.

It's great for our brain,

Great for the flexibility of mindset and our body's habits.

Breathe long and deep if you're able,

Gently if that's less stressful.

Keep reaching down.

Gently bring the head to center and then lower the opposite ear to the opposite side.

Breathe.

Your gaze is soft in the distance,

The eyes can be partially closed.

We just are releasing toxins today in the eyes,

Clear liver toxins,

So we want to let that happen.

And release.

Now let's begin opening our chi,

Inhaling,

Palms up to the chest.

Exhale,

Lower them down,

Bending the knees,

Stopping by the lower dantian,

This area by the navel.

That means lower energy center.

Exhale to your chest,

Exhale,

Press and lower.

This is called opening the chi,

We're opening the chi in this organ called the triple burner.

It helps all of our organs work in harmony with love and kindness,

No aggravation.

The organs can sometimes aggravate each other,

So we want to calm that.

We'll do one more here,

Just one more.

Inhale,

And then exhale.

And now we're going to move this into buddha,

Holding up the earth.

Inhale,

Lift the hands to the heart again,

But now rotate them up and gaze up.

Exhale,

Face the palms towards the body and then up again.

We'll lift the chin two more times as we do this.

Check your alignment,

Make sure the weight is nice and gently a little bit more in the heel,

The pelvis tucked.

Last one,

Gazing up.

This time,

Keep the chin forward and notice how you can elongate your breath even more.

There's no constriction this time.

Two more.

This is a beautiful metal element exercise.

The metal element relates to our lungs.

Last one here.

So it's so nice to balance that element within our body.

Now we're going to do some gentle spinal cord breathing.

So start with your palms facing the body,

And as we inhale,

You draw the hands like in a circle so the palms then face forward,

Pressing the chest forward.

Then you bring the hands back to start curving the spine.

For the first time,

We're going to do a few where we inhale as we draw back,

Exhale as we curve and bring the arms forward.

Again,

Inhaling and exhaling through the nose.

Inhale.

If your shoulders are getting fatigued,

You can take a break.

Pause for a moment.

Just stand and go within.

Now inhale.

Exhale,

Draw the arms back.

Inhale,

Reach forward.

Exhale as you draw back,

Expanding the chest,

Squeezing the shoulder blades together.

Inhale as you separate the shoulder blades and move the arms forward.

Exhale,

Last one.

Inhale.

And now we'll do that in more of a micro movement.

This is something that you can do throughout the day,

But this one is less obtrusive.

You can even do this at your desk.

So for this,

We're just going to move the arms.

We'll start with that inhale back,

Exhale forward.

This turning and rotating where we inhale,

Turn the palms to face forward,

Exhale,

Turn the palms so they're facing back once again.

Just feel the subtle movement.

What you're doing here is clearing stagnation along the energy channels of the lungs,

The large intestine,

And really picture any stagnant chi from the lungs flowing out into the earth.

It can flow off your fingertips,

Out the soles of your feet.

Let it go.

We'll do one more.

We're only going to do the one breath pattern here because it's a smaller movement.

Let the arms hang by the sides without touching the sides.

Close your eyes and go within a moment.

How do you feel now compared to when you began the practice?

This awareness of your body is really important to prevent burnout,

To stay healthy.

It's essential for this incredible wellbeing of mind and body.

Open your eyes and we're going to do another metal element posture called water waves.

Bring the hands to one side,

The palms facing forward.

Inhale as you rotate at the waist all the way over to the other side.

Turn the palms so they're facing forward again and exhale gently floating back to the other side imagining the hands moving through water.

We're doing a little bit longer on the exhale.

Inhale.

Again,

Remember if these controlled breaths are hard,

Just breathe gently.

Being relaxed is important so we exhale here.

In fact,

Being relaxed is one of the most important parts of your Qigong practice.

Always remember,

Modify your mind and breath and relaxation are the ultimate goal of your practice.

We move to help make that possible.

Last one,

Both sides.

Inhaling across.

Exhale.

Exhale back.

Now we're going to do some standing.

We're going to do holding our hands right here at this lower Dantian but facing up and towards the body,

So towards the lower Dantian and up towards our lungs.

We're going to do some healing sounds.

We're going to do the physical sounds six times first and then the whispered sound.

The healing vocalized sound for the body is the like a bee buzzing.

So let's begin.

Inhale.

Inhale through the nose.

Inhale.

Inhale.

Two more.

Inhale.

And last one.

Inhale.

And you might notice your sinuses clearing.

Our congestion in our sinuses is tied to our lungs.

So if we have any phlegm or stagnation in our lungs,

Our sinuses will be congested.

So this is incredible for that.

Let's do our whispered sound.

This lets go of grief and sadness.

Very important to balance our emotions for lung health.

So the sound for this is S,

Like a kettle letting steam escape.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Two more.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Release.

When you do that on your own,

You can do longer inhales and exhales.

That was the four count,

Six count.

Let's do one natural respiration breath before we do some twisting.

Deeply massaging the lungs,

Bringing in and moving our breath.

For this,

Bring both hands palms down by your heart.

We'll begin by drawing back on one side.

I mean reaching forward and drawing back on one side.

As you inhale,

Inhale,

Reach one hand forward,

Turning the palm up at the end.

Reach,

Reach,

Reach.

And then exhale,

Twist back and turn all the way to the side.

Inhale,

Reach,

Really reach,

Stretch,

Keeping that shoulder relaxed.

Exhale,

Drawing back.

Let the body do whatever it does naturally.

We're not focusing there.

We just want to make sure we're turning the torso all the way back,

That nice turn at the waist.

So whatever happens in the lower body naturally is great.

Exhale,

Draw back.

Inhale here.

We're going to reverse our breath.

Exhale,

Reach forward,

Really reach,

Stretch,

Open.

Inhale,

Twist and return.

You'll notice that both hands stay by the heart as we twist back.

It's incredible.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale to center and now we'll do the other side.

So inhale,

Reach forward,

Turning that hand,

Really reach,

Reach,

Reach.

And then exhale,

Twisting,

Coming back.

Inhale,

Reach open.

You'll notice the twist as you reach forward.

And as you exhale and draw back,

The twist back.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Now we'll inhale here.

Exhale,

Reach forward,

Keep that pelvis tucked,

The knees gently bent.

As we twist,

It's easy to come out of alignment.

Exhale,

Inhaling back.

Exhale,

Reach forward,

Really reach.

Inhale,

Draw back in and twist back.

Last one.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Lower the hands.

We'll do some natural respiration breaths to close and we'll do some color healing.

The color for the lungs is white.

So as you inhale,

Excuse me,

As you inhale,

You're going to imagine filling the arms with beautiful white healing light as they come up.

And as you exhale,

This white light pushes stagnant chi down as it fills through the lungs,

Spreading all the way out to the skin.

Our skin is tied to our lungs.

So we inhale,

Lifting up.

That white healing light and we exhale,

Moving the stagnant energy out as this healing energy takes its place.

Notice it move deep into the earth,

The stagnant energy deep into the earth as you let go.

And this will be our last one of the healing light.

This time we're going to inhale the hands.

Exhale,

Lower them down.

And the lower dantian where you place one hand on top of the other.

Bring your feet side by side and close your eyes.

Let the body rock and sway.

If it's daytime,

Really feel that vibrant energy moving up and out all the way through your body.

And if it's nighttime,

Notice this way chi,

This defensive energy coming within to heal your organs as you sleep.

Coming down and in.

Release your hands,

Open your eyes.

Thank you for joining me for this incredible practice.