Over the weekend I started a year long Qigong Alchemy course.
For those of you who are not familiar with qigong, pronounced “chi gong,” it was developed in China thousands of years ago as part of traditional Chinese medicine. It involves using exercises to optimise energy in the body, mind, and spirit, with the goal of improving and maintaining health and well-being. Qigong has both psychological and physical components and involves the regulation of the mind, breath, and body’s movement and posture to manage our life force or chi.
In most forms of qigong:
💖Breath is slow, long, and deep. Breath patterns switch from abdominal breathing to breathing combined with sound.
💖Movements are typically gentle, smooth and relaxing.
💖Mind regulation includes focusing your attention and visualisation.
💖Dynamic (active) qigong primarily focus on body movements, especially of the whole body or arms and legs. Meditative (passive) qigong can be practiced in any posture that can be maintained over time and involves breath and mind exercises, with almost no body movement.
People practice qigong worldwide for recreation, exercise, relaxation, preventive medicine, self-healing, alternative medicine, meditation, self-cultivation, and training for martial arts (which is how Tai Chi originated as a form of qigong).
So over the next year I will share with you some of what I am learning. And in the meantime if any of you feel like trying it out, there are plenty of qigong exercises on Youtube. A few of my fav channels are Qigong Meditation, Yoqi Yoga and Qigong, and Spring Forest Qigong.
If anyone is interested in the Qigong Alchemy course I am doing, it is through the Soul Centre in Auckland. My first module was on Fire given it is summer in New Zealand. I will share further info on this shortly. In the meantime here is a photo taken in the amazing SOMM (School of Modern Meditation) of our altar 💖💫🔥❤️
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