u/Great_Energy_Qigong

This is one architecture of our Qigong classes

1. Root - your feet connected to the earth. Gravity becomes your friend, not your enemy. Know the support...

2. Center - that lower dantian, two inches below your navel. All power comes from here.

3. Relax - which doesn't mean collapse. It means your muscles stop doing jobs your skeleton should do.

4. Flow - energy moving where it's supposed to, not stuck in your jaw or your shoulders or your stomach.

5. Balance - The dynamic balance between yin and yang, effort and ease.

6. Breath - the bridge between conscious and unconscious. Your breath does the work so your mind doesn't have to.

7. Integration - the practices don't stay on the mat. They come off the mat with you. This is 🔑

Qigong works if you practice it. And it works better when you're awake to what's happening.

Root, Center, Relax, Flow, Balance, Breath, Integration: which one feels like home, and which one feels foreign?

If you've been doing ANY practice this past couple of weeks - even sporadically - I want to hear about it. What did you try? What did you notice?

And if you haven't started yet, that's fine too. There's something special to a beginning. You haven't missed anything. Today is a perfect day to start.

'Even if you think you've done it before, you haven't - because you're a new you.'

What's happening in your practice?

Christopher @ Great Energy

What does it actually feel like in your body when your nervous system is regulated, settled, steady, present? And what does it feel like when it's not?

Follow-up: Take 30 seconds before answering. Drop your attention into your chest, your belly, your jaw. Notice what's already there before you reach for a word.

Then tell us - survey research 😄

Try this right now - it takes 30 seconds:

Place one hand on your belly. The other hand on your chest.

Breathe in slowly through your nose. See if you can direct the breath down so that the belly hand moves first - before the chest hand.

Do this 5 times.

That's it.

You just shifted your nervous system from sympathetic (stress mode) toward parasympathetic (rest and repair mode). It's not a theory - it's physiology.

When the breath drops into the belly, the diaphragm moves downward and signals the vagus nerve that you're safe. The whole system begins to settle.

Most people breathe shallowly all day long - up in the chest - never giving their body the signal that it's okay to relax.

Five belly breaths. Anywhere. Anytime.

P.S. - If you want more practices like this, we put together a free guide called Jumpstart Your Energy - simple practices you can start today. DM me and I'll send it your way.

I teach Qigong, and one of the first things we do in every class is shake the body for about a minute.

It looks simple - almost silly. But the science behind it is solid.

When you shake, you release tension from the muscles. That tension has been keeping the nervous system in a braced, activated state. Once the muscles let go, the nervous system can begin to settle.

Animals do this instinctively. After a stressful encounter, they shake it off and move on. Humans have lost this instinct, so we accumulate stress in the body - sometimes for years.

After shaking for even 60 seconds, most people report tingling, warmth, buzzing, or a feeling of internal stillness. Those are signs that energy is circulating again.

The nervous system accumulates energy from the emotional body. Shaking is one of the fastest ways to release it.

If you haven't tried it: stand up, bend the knees slightly, and just bounce and shake for one minute. Let the arms be completely loose. Then stop and notice what's happening inside your body.

Would be curious to hear what others experience with shaking practices.

I teach Qigong, and one of the first things we do in every class is shake the body for about a minute.

It looks simple - almost silly. But the science behind it is solid.

When you shake, you release tension from the muscles. That tension has been keeping the nervous system in a braced, activated state. Once the muscles let go, the nervous system can begin to settle.

Animals do this instinctively. After a stressful encounter, they shake it off and move on. Humans have lost this instinct, so we accumulate stress in the body - sometimes for years.

After shaking for even 60 seconds, most people report tingling, warmth, buzzing, or a feeling of internal stillness. Those are signs that energy is circulating again.

The nervous system accumulates energy from the emotional body. Shaking is one of the fastest ways to release it.

If you haven't tried it: stand up, bend the knees slightly, and just bounce and shake for one minute. Let the arms be completely loose. Then stop and notice what's happening inside your body.

Would be curious to hear what you experience with shaking practices?

I teach/share Qigong, and one of the first things we do in every class is shake the body for about a minute.

It looks simple - almost silly. But the science behind it is solid.

When you shake, you release tension from the muscles. That tension has been keeping the nervous system in a braced, activated state. Once the muscles let go, the nervous system can begin to settle.

Animals do this instinctively. After a stressful encounter, they shake it off and move on. Humans have lost this instinct, so we accumulate stress in the body - sometimes for years.

After shaking for even 60 seconds, most people report tingling, warmth, buzzing, or a feeling of internal stillness. Those are signs that energy is circulating again.

The nervous system accumulates energy from the emotional body. Shaking is one of the fastest ways to release it.

If you haven't tried it: stand up, bend the knees slightly, and just bounce and shake for one minute. Let the arms be completely loose. Then stop and notice what's happening inside your body.

Would be curious to hear what others experience with shaking practices - lmk is this too basic for your practice?

I've been practicing and teaching Qigong for a long time, and students always ask me to explain it simply.

Here's what I tell them:

Qi means life force energy. Gong means a practice cultivated over time. Put them together and Qigong simply means learning how to work skillfully with the energy of your own life.

The physical movements open the channels of energy. The breathwork and shaking release unnecessary tension from the nervous system. And emotions that are ready to move get a chance to flow through and out.

What you're left with is feeling more present, more grounded, and more like yourself.

The practices don't need to be complicated to be effective. In fact, the most powerful ones are often the simplest - 10 to 15 minutes of gentle movement and breath can completely shift how you feel for the rest of the day.

There are over 3,000 different schools of Qigong. Some are very traditional, some are contemporary. What matters most is that you find something accessible enough that you'll actually do it consistently.

Curious what drew everyone else here to Qigong - was it a health issue, curiosity, or something else?