Qi Gong is a wonderful practice that allows you to channel all the gifts the season has to offer. Winter gives you the opportunity to find harmony within yourself and connect to your deepest truths within.
In our previous blog, we talked about some of winter’s nourishing qualities, and a few activities to help you harness the season’s lessons. Today, we will build on that framework by sharing a nine-minute Qi Gong winter routine designed to harness your inner truths and circulate your life-force energy.
Below, we’ve included both the video version of the routine along with written instructions for the practice.
To get start this routine, find a quiet place without any distractions. Your living room, backyard, or somewhere in nature are all great places to practice Qi Gong. Once you’re ready, try to relax your body and take a few deep breaths. Then, begin doing the first exercise, Knocking on the Door of Life.
Stand with your knees slightly bent and your arms resting at your sides. Start to rotate your body from your waist, and let your hands swing, and tap gently on your lower abdomen and lower back. When you rotate to the left, your left hand taps on your back, and your right hand on your abdomen. When you rotate to the right, your right hand taps on your back, and your left hand on your lower abdomen.
This is a wonderful exercise for activating your Qi. As your hands tap on your lower back and lower abdomen, feel your life-force energy awaken within you. As you knock on these two acupressure points, your energy moves throughout your body.
Continue taking deep breaths as you do this exercise and try to be aware of how your body feels. If any thoughts pop up in your mind, notice their presence, let them go, and move your attention back to the exercise. In addition to activating your Qi, Knocking on the Door of Life helps you connect to your body on a deeper level.
Once your energy is activated, you’re ready to move on to the next exercise.
Continue standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Then, bring your hands up in front of you and let them drop so your arms swing downward. As your hands fall, bend your knees a bit more as if you’re absorbing the force of your falling arms. When your hands are at their lowest point, push your feet into the floor and straighten your legs as your hands swing back so they’re slightly behind you.
Try to coordinate your movements so your arms fall as your knees bend and your arms rise as your legs strengthen. The bending and straightening of your legs should give your arms momentum as they move, so you barely need to exert any energy in your arms.
This exercise focuses on strengthening your Kidney Qi and increasing circulation throughout your body. As you do The Pump, you’ll feel your energy activate and become ‘charged up’ and more fully activated.
Additionally, this exercise is also great for stretching and strengthening your lower back, as well as for warming your entire body. Continue this practice for a few minutes until you feel ready to move on to the last exercise.
The previous two exercises were activating and invigorating. This next exercise works with slow, flowing movements to relax and tonify the energy in your body.
Stand with your knees slightly bent and your hands in front of you near your waist. Then, tuck your chin forward so you’re looking down, and slowly bring your hands up in front of you with the backs of your hands facing each other. Your hands rise, your chin should also rise at the same time. Bring your hands up so they’re slightly above your head, then move each hand away from the other so they’re making a circular motion in front of you. Then, your hands should then return to your waist, and you can repeat the movement.
This exercise is called The Fountain because your hands should move like the water coming forth from a fountain. Try to move slowly and gracefully in one continuous, flowing motion just as water moves.
As you do this exercise, feel that you’re bringing forth your inner truths from within. you. The Fountain is a powerful exercise that helps you tap into your own truth and authentic self. It also helps cultivate the Water Element and circulates Qi throughout your Kidney meridian, which brings health and vitality to your entire body.
Continue doing this exercise for a few minutes. When you’re ready, bring your feet together and place your hands over your lower abdomen. Take a few deep breaths and take that feeling of relaxation with you into the rest of your day.
If you enjoyed this brief Qi Gong winter routine and want to learn more practices for cultivating health and vitality this season, be sure to check out our on-demand Qi Gong for Winter Workshop.
When you sign up for our on-demand Qi Gong for Winter Workshop, you’ll get immediate access to powerful Qi Gong routines designed to boost your Water Element and strengthen your connection to your inner truths. And because this is an online workshop, you can practice from the comfort of your own home.
Click on the banner below to learn more and start practicing today.
