Introduction to Qigong:
(3 hour workshop or ongoing instruction)
This
is a powerful series of five qigong exercises that will facilitate your
ability to feel qi, move qi, and transmit qi. Practiced regularly,
these exercises can help enhance your energy, remove stress, and improve
your health. They also support presence with The Miraculous Qi. The
following five exercises will be learned in this workshop:
1. "Empty Force' increases your sensitivity to qi, increases your
endurance, and facilitates gathering qi to the three dan tiens (energy
centers); in your belly, chest, and head.
2. "Cloud Hands" is designed to strengthen the lungs and upper body
while releasing and aligning the tissues of the shoulders and shoulder
girdle, and improving the flow of qi between the hands and the core.
3. 'Earth Hands" is designed to strengthen the breath, lower body, hips, legs and pelvic organs.
4. "Around the World" enhances respiration, digestion, elimination, and deeply massages all of the internal organs.
5. "Push Hands" trains the mind to externalize qi, moving it from one hand to the other.
Embryological Foundations for Qigong:
(3 hour workshops or ongoing instruction)
1. Tangible Space
During the second week of embryonic development, the yolk sac forms in the front and the amniotic sac in the back to provide nourishment and support for our growth. The presence of these temporary structures can be accessed, felt, and cultivated in our adult life to help give us a tangible sense of space. Space, experienced as an element, supports our being.
2. Organizing Our Central Axis
During the third week of development a longitudinal structure, the notochord, arises. It is a soft and flexible “stem” of tissue that organizes our long axis. Though the notochord is temporary and no longer exists in us, we can access its imprint to organize our central axis in space and offers supple support for “rooted-blooming” between heaven and earth.
3. Innate Harmony
In the third week of development, a temporary canal forms (the neuroenteric canal) which allows a flow of fluid through the embryo between front and back. This movement patterns the cells of the entire body, imprinting a unity of mind and ease through the autonomic nervous system.
Five Animal Frolics
(Ongoing instruction)
The Five Animal Frolics is a set of simple, fun movements designed to develop our body and mind. These standing and walking movements combine principles of qigong and tai chi. The 40 short phrases of crane, bear, monkey, deer, and tiger may be practiced individually or in series with no long sequence to memorize.
The benefits of practicing the Frolics include physical strengthening, energetic clearing, aligning the spine, developing balance, and enhancing internal organ function. No experience is needed.