Dig Your Toes in the Earth
Try throwing off your shoes and socks today at the park. Stand in the grass, and face North (remember moss grows in the north on trees). Try some Qigong…
- Position your feet directly under your hips.
- Bend your knees only to where it’s comfortable. Make sure your knees are pointing over your second toe.
- Engage your feet—draw up your arch while engaging your toes…toes (slightly) grip the earth. Dig in.
- Stack your spine so that your back is straight. Chin tucks towards your spine.
- Arms reach out in front of you—looks like you’re embracing a tree, index fingers about eye height, palms toward you, pinkie to thumb extended and engaged.
- Eyes soft gaze outward.
- Breath from your belly…exhaling all your breath from the naval to the spine.
- Smile deep and internal: know that very powerful, happy people have challenged themselves in this way before.
Try it for a couple minutes. Focus your attention on something simple around you and regard it lightly, like the drone of a bee, or the sound of a child laughing. Or notice the wind while you take in the colors around you.
Breathe deeply and stand in stillness.
Qigong Supports Dreams
Since I can remember, I have followed my dreams and my heart. My passion for life and for inspiring others fuels me to do wonderful things.
I’ve gone on adventures in the wilderness, taken leaps with my music, and I have challenged myself physically. Amidst the study and practice of Qigong, I have attained a stillness that is quite new for me. I used to never be able to stand still. My adventures have turned inward.
I can stand still for 25 minutes in a pose, very still, with my belly rising and drawing towards my spine, breathing. Before I started practicing this work, I would get overwhelmed, but I would remind myself…
All you have to do is breathe.
It is my birthright that I had forgotten.
Health and the Internal Arts Part 1
One important thing I have learned in studying the Internal Martial Arts is the importance of being proactive in developing vitality, martial skills, and hence promoting serenity and longevity. The philosophy of Taoism promotes eating pure natural foods in the proper mix and season.
As I have been more proactive in learning and applying these principles, I have experienced greater vitality. I have seen how these approaches to health focus more on the whole, and can attest to the power of taking care of one’s health from a holistic perspective.
Aligning with Health
Despite an increasingly high incidence of maladies that seem to be overly attributed to “genetic predispositions”, a growing group of individuals see the power of whole natural food diets and practices that align with these Taoist philosophies of healthy living. I plan on expounding on a future blog entry, the specific benefits I have experienced with these practices.
Health freedom promotes and allows to thrive among many this ability to be proactive and hence experience the benefits associated with these natural health practices.
Unfortunately, it seems there are elements within society that would just assume that everyone would have no choice except those proposed for their own profit. This is obviously not to say profit is a bad thing. I believe it is a great thing when both parties truly benefit. Unfortunately, I believe we have reached a juncture in our own nation in which profit is less and less tempered with moral responsibility.
Read Health and the Internal Arts Part 1 »
Qigong and Rising-Sun People
According to Chogyam Trunpa, there are Rising-Sun and Setting-Sun individuals. Rising-Sun people bring light to the people and their ideas; Setting-Sun individuals bring darkness to the people and their ideas. When we don’t do and live what we love, we may have a tendency to bring more darkness than light.
Picture your interactions with others. Do you bring light or darkness to the table?
There is the Yin and Yang side to us; we need both.
In Qigong, we become energy enriched, because we spend time playing with it. We actualize ourselves every time we stand our ground. This is an inspiring practice because it gives us energy from ourselves. Qigong enhances physical and mental strength, so we can meet the day with an inner Qi smile and change the world, one kind interaction at a time.
We become Rising-Sun people.
