Hello, everyone. Tutu Mora here with The Y bringing you tools to feel well in your
body, mind and spirit. So, today we're going to be doing some
qigong movements and for those of you that are new to qigong,
qigong literally translates into, "the study of energy through time and effort."
And so, what we're going to be doing—it's going to look kind of like tai chi—
but we're going to be balancing our energy in our body
and in our environment. And what that looks like is we're going to be
balancing energy from the earth and from the universe, or you might know it as
yin and yang. But these two forces— we're just going to bring them into
better harmony in our body so that we can feel more peaceful,
more balanced and more present. And bringing these energies into balance in
our body is also going to help all the systems
within us run more smoothly and efficiently.
So, think systems like our immune system, which is definitely
something we want to boost and feel extra strong,
especially right now. So, what we're going to do is we're going
to start by just placing one hand over our low belly, so right
hand here, left hand over right. And low belly is
the very center of our body. So, we're going to
start by just taking some deep breaths into that space.
So, closing your eyes here letting your
breath come in full and deep. So feeling your hands rise
with your inhale and fall with your exhale.
And letting the outside world just start to soften.
Letting your awareness begin to sink down
into your center.
And so, before we do a couple of qigong movements here, we're going to warm up
in a way that will help us find our center even more,
and feel it a little bit more tangibly in our body. And we're going to be doing
that with movement and with breath.
So, the first movement that we're going to do i'm going to have you bring your
right hand over to the side of your head here.
Palm flat into the side of your head, elbow out to the side.
And you're going to press with 30 of your strength hand into your head,
and head into your hand. So, 30 percent is not a lot.
But just feeling a gentle resistance, a gentle tension in both of those
directions. And just sitting with that gentle
tension, letting the rest of your body be loose.
And just feeling how that shifts your center of balance.
feeling how that shifts your feeling of being centered.
You're going to with your breath,
breathe into that whole right side of your body, so as if you're going to
puff that right side of your body out.
And maybe that feels a little bit tricky,
because it's hard to intentionally direct our breath this way,
but see if you can just do your best.
So, let's take two more deep inhales into that right side of our body,
continuing with that 30 percent pressure, hand into the head,
head into the hand.
And then, you can rest that hand and we're going to take that to the other side.
So, left hand palm of the hand
into the side of the head. Again, we're going to find that 30 percent
pressure, hand into the head, 30 percent head into the hand. So, in both directions,
just that gentle pressure.
Again, noticing how that just gently shifts
your center of balance. And, again, letting your body be super loose to accommodate
those subtle shifts.
And now, with our breath let's breathe into the left side of our body.
So, as if with your inhale you could puff out that whole
left side.
Let's take two more deep inhales into that left side of the body.
And you can rest your hand down and we'll take this around to the back.
So, lacing your hands together against the back of your head here and
just pressing 30 percent of your strength, hands into the back of
your head, back of your head into your hands.
Letting your eyes close and noticing again how this just
subtly shifts your center of balance here.
Keeping your awareness on your center.
And now, with our inhale, let's breathe into the back of the body.
So, with your inhale, as if you could puff out that whole
back plane of your body.
Let's take two more deep inhales into the back of the body, continuing with
that 30 percent, hands into the back of your head,
back of your head into your hands.
You can let your arms rest. And we're going to take it around to the front of
the body now. So, lacing the hands together in front of
the forehead, finding that 30 percent of your strength,
hands into your head, head into your hands. Just finding that gentle resistance in
both directions— that gentle 30 percent of your strength.
Awareness on the center of your body and letting everything be loose.
And now, let's breathe into the front of the body.
As if with your inhale you could puff out your shins, your
knees, your quads, your belly, your chest, your forehead.
Two more deep inhales into that front of the body
while maintaining that 30 percent.
Hands into your head, head into your hands.
You can let your arms go. And so, now, you can bring your hands in
front of your solar plexus like so. And so, you're going to be pulling them
apart, 30 percent in this direction, 30 percent in this direction.
So, again, not a whole lot. Just 30 percent.
So, find that gentle tension letting your shoulders stay
relaxed, letting everything stay as loose as possible.
And, again, just keeping that awareness on your center.
And let's breathe into the lower half of our body. So, letting that low belly be
kind of the divider point. As if when you're inhaling, you could
breathe deep into your feet, into your ankles,
into your legs, your knees, your hips.
As if with your inhale, you could almost
sink into the ground.
Let's take one more maintaining that gentle 30 percent pull in each direction,
breathing into the lower half of your body.
And now, let's push those hands together thirty percent in each direction.
Find that gentle tension ...
about thirty percent, while keeping your awareness on your center.
And now, let's breathe into the upper half of our body.
So, the only direction that we've got left here.
Breathing into the rib cage, into the heart space, the shoulders, neck,
jaw, forehead.
Almost like with your inhale, you could grow
up towards the sky, through the crown of your head,
lengthening upwards.
Let's take two more inhales into that upper half of our body here.
You can let your hands go. So, now, here with that awareness
on your center, let's just start swirling. So I'm going to step back so you
can see my body here. You're going to reach into the earth,
reach out into the universe, swirling these two energies here together
at your center. And so, when we think
about reaching into the earth, thinking about
that in an energetic sense. And what does the earth feel like to you?
So, when I think about reaching into the earth, I think about
digging into rich fertile soil. I think about forest floor
and maybe mushrooms and plants. So, really make that tangible. Make it a
sensory experience as you reach into the earth.
And as you reach out into the universe, again, making that
kind of more sensory, as well. So, thinking about the expansiveness of
the stars and the moon and the planets
and that sort of mysterious aspect of space. And so, just swirling these two here
together, keeping that awareness on your center.
And so, I would invite you just to stay with this as long as
feels good. So, for the sake of time we have to say goodbye now, but
letting yourself, while you're in this sort of calm and centered space,
see if you can just stick with that swirling
however long feels good for you and your body and until you feel like you are in
a space where you're ready to, again, interact with the
world around you. So, I hope you enjoyed this today and
I'll see you here next time on The Y's YouTube channel with more tools to feel
well in your body, mind and spirit.