Stress is a word that’s so bandied about the place. It’s such a common word because it’s such a common problem. Watch this short video to learn some shocking statistics from a study on stress and how to relieve stress with Qigong.
Something I came across when I was looking into stress was a very interesting study by the British Acupuncture Council. This study was carried out in 2015. They interviewed five thousand people and found that:
• half admitted that they had stress and that they resorted to junk food and alcohol in order to make themselves feel better
• a third admitted to comfort eating
• a quarter of them admitted to drinking alcohol
• one in five said that they had put on weight as a result of stress
• 70% said that they were aware that prolonged stress affected their lives. Half of these said that they just put up with it and two-thirds of stated that stress was an unavoidable part of their life
So stress is obviously a real problem. The problem with living in our modern society is that people find that they get very stressed. They then resort to unhealthy actions (drinking or eating unhealthily) in order to deal with that stress, or to avoid it. Consequently, we can become very unhealthy as a result.
A much better way to deal with stress would be to do something more preventive. I teach you how to relieve stress with Qigong methods to “head it off at the pass”. These simple methods can be easily integrated on a daily basis into your life. Qigong helps to reduce stress levels, relaxing both the physical body, the mind and the emotions.
If you’d like to learn more about how to relieve stress with Qigong and how to approach it in a much healthier way (other than eating junk food or drinking alcohol and putting on weight) then please head over to the Space to Relax homepage where you can download a free meditation and also a free three-part Qigong video course. These methods are very straightforward to follow and they take around five minutes to practice. I deliberately made them very easy to integrate into your day because often when we’re stressed it is because we’re really busy and feeling overwhelmed. I don’t want to give you more things to do!
If you’ve got any ideas or anything that you do to relieve your stress then please share them by leaving a comment below this video or leave a comment in the Space To Relax Free Group which you can join on Facebook. I’d love to hear what you all do to relieve stress because when we share with each other than we all learn something.
Do you know what relaxation really is? I’m going to turn your idea of relaxation on its head and explain to you exactly what it is in Qigong terms. You will find out how you can use Qigong relaxation techniques to very quickly and easily improve your ability to relax. This means that instead of feeling stressed and overwhelmed, you feel calm, focused and in control.
My name is Janice Tucker and I’m a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and practitioner of Medical Qigong. I’ve observed in face to face clinics and in Qigong workshops that most people don’t have a clear idea of relaxation.
Many people think relaxation is sitting down watching TV, having a lie down, going to the gym to work out or doing some form of vigorous exercise. However, from a Qigong perspective, when we think of relaxation we are thinking of anything that allows the smooth flow of Qi (energy) around your body.
Therefore, sitting down and watching TV is not relaxation. This is something people often do when they are exhausted at the end of the day. The visual stimulation from TV and other screen activities is not relaxing. It does not promote the smooth flow of Qi. Being in the gym or exercising vigorously is not relaxing either as it often puts pressure on the body. It is obviously beneficial for us all to exercise but bear in mind that vigorous exercise is not true relaxation.
In Qigong we know that the state of our Qi determines the state of our whole being (physical, mental, spiritual and emotional). The ability of our Qi to flow smoothly around our bodies and exist in abundance has a massive impact on our health.
When our Qi comes under pressure it is affected in one of two ways:
1. The Qi becomes obstructed or blocked;
2. The Qi becomes deficient or exhausted.
When this happens various health problems can then develop such as aches and pains in the body, an inability to sleep peacefully, mental exhaustion, physical exhaustion, anxiety and overwhelm.
So we now get the idea that it’s very important to not put our Qi under too much pressure. We need to stay as relaxed as possible for the majority of the time. This is not always an easy thing to do in our modern day, sometimes chaotic, time-pressured lives, but that is the aim!
When we practice Qigong relaxation techniques like breathing and meditation or physical Qigong exercises we enter a state of relaxation. Our conscious mind lets go of thoughts and events from the day. Our muscles begin to relax. The channels of Qi flow around our bodies begin to open up so that the Qi flows more smoothly. The knots start to loosen.
The practice of Qigong relaxation techniques also increases our awareness of where we’re at health-wise. The smooth flow of Qi enhances our ability to heal ourselves. It also increases our energy, leads to peaceful sleep and promotes harmonious balance in our bodies (physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally).
If you want to learn some Qigong relaxation techniques which will significantly help you to reduce stress and improve your health then go to the Space To Relax homepage. Scroll to the bottom of the page to download a free Qigong audio meditation called “Calm Your Busy Mind in 8 Minutes“. This will quickly and easily improve your ability to relax and calm your mind.
Also at the top of the homepage there is a free Qigong video series that you can download. This shows you three effective Qigong exercises which will significantly help you with relaxation. Each one is less than 5 minutes so they are very convenient and easy to practice.
If you are on YouTube please click the red button below the video to subscribe to my channel. If not then click here to subscribe and receive my weekly videos by e-mail. Also hit the “like” button if you learned more about relaxation from this article.
Now it’s your turn! Leave a comment below and let me know what you are currently doing to relax. Do you think what you are doing is truly a relaxing technique and promoting the free flow of Qi? If not, what will you do differently in the future? 🙂
In this blog I’m going to explain how, in Qigong, you can use your breath and your mind together to inhale really good stuff and exhale really bad stuff that we don’t need in our bodies or in our minds. The essence of Qigong is to use your breath and your mind together. You can therefore “get rid of the negative” with Qigong breathing exercises.
My name is Janice Tucker. I’m a Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong practitioner. I’m also the founder of the online programme, Space To Relax, where you can learn Qigong lessons in order to better manage your health.
Think about this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh, the famous Vietnamese Buddhist monk:
Breathing in, I calm my body and mind Breathing out, I smile Dwelling in the present moment The only moment.
What this means, from a Qigong perspective, is that, as you breathe in be calm and clear. As you breathe out, relax and smile. The only thing you are doing during this breathing is concentrating on your breath and observing where you are in the present moment. This is something that no many of us do on a regular basis.
Another, more humorous, quote to consider is:
Breathe in the good shit Breathe out the bullshit!
This is not quite such a serene way of thinking about things as the first quote but it certainly gets to the point.
To summarise, when you are breathing in, think of breathing in good, clean, fresh energising air (Qi). As you breathe out, think of getting rid of anything you don’t want. This could be an ache, pain or other physical feeling. It could also be something more emotional or mental in origin, for example, anger, frustration, sadness, grief, fear, anxiety.
You can use your breathing to help dispel anything negative from your body or mind. Very importantly, visualise the negative thing actually leaving your body, leaving your nostrils as you breathe out. You can imagine the negative thing floating away from you and up into the sky so that it moves well away from you.
Simple Qigong breathing exercises like this can make a massive difference to your day to day life. All you have to do is stop for less than a minute, practice these exercises and be mindful of your breath. Breathe in the good stuff and breathing out the bad stuff while staying in the present moment. During the course of the day this can make very fine, positive adjustments to how you feel as your day goes by.
If you would like to learn more Qigong breathing exercises and meditation techniques then head over to the Space To Relax homepage. There you can download a free Qigong meditation which will calm your mind in 8 minutes. You can also sign up for a free 3-part Qigong video series where you will learn more about the Qigong breathing exercises and a couple of other great methods to help get rid the negative stuff from your mind and body.
For more videos like this you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here (and please also give this video a “like”).
I’d love to hear from you so why not head over to Facebook and join my Space To Relax Free Group. Leave a comment there to let me know how you got on and tell me what you do to get rid of negative feelings in your mind or body during the course of the day.
Have you ever wondered why everything is going on in your head and you can’t seem to calm down to feel a bit more grounded? Today I’m going to explain exactly how to calm down with Qigong and bring down the “Excited Point” in your brain!
My name is Janice Tucker and I’m a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong and the founder of the Space To Relax online Qigong programme of Qigong lessons where you can learn how to supercharge your health.
The problem is that when we have everything going on up in our heads we feel very easily overwhelmed and we often feel anxious. There are too many things going on and it’s very difficult to think clearly with focus and clarity.
In Qigong we can bring all of these feelings and thoughts down from what we call the “Excited Point” in the brain. We bring them down to what is called the “Dan Tian” area which is in the lower abdomen. Dan Tian is the seat and reserve of your energy. When you can bring your Qi down into Dan Tian you will feel much calmer, less anxious and less overwhelmed.
The following simple exercise will show you how to calm down with Qigong. Close your eyes and place one hand flat on your lower abdomen, below your belly button. As you breathe in feel your abdomen expand so it pushes your hand outwards. As you breathe out feel the abdomen shrink and become smaller. (This exercise is in a previous blog here).
As you are breathing observe where your excitement and all your thoughts are. Where is all the energy in your body? Does it feel like it’s in Dan Tian and the lower abdomen or does it feel like you are “up in your head” with lots of thoughts whirring around?
As you breathe out think of breathing out from your head down to Dan Tian and into your feet. As you breathe in, inhale good Qi and energy from the outside environment and then again, breathe out, bringing busy thoughts down from the Excited Point in the brain to Dan Tian in the lower abdomen and into the feet. Repeat this for as many breaths as it takes you to begin to feel more calm and grounded.
You will notice that very quickly, in just a few breaths, that you can calm your mind so that you have a little bit of breathing space to then easily go about the rest of your day. If you can do this very quick exercise on a regular basis, whenever you remember, this can be a very helpful way to quickly get you back on track to help you be clear and calm again.
Now you know how to calm down with Qigong and also very quickly refocus and relax.
If you want to experience more relaxing effects of Qigong exercises then head to my Space To Relax homepage where you can download a free “Calm Your Busy Mind in 8 Minutes” audio meditation. Also, you can sign up for a free “Space To Relax Qigong Video Series” (you can get this by popping your details in the green box at the top right of this page), practice Qigong for 5 minutes and find out how quickly you can transform yourself from feeling stressed to chilled out!
Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want to be sure not to miss out on any future videos.
I’d love to hear what you thought of this simple exercise so please leave me a comment below. 🙂
Today I want to let you know about the huge misconception that’s out there about Qigong breathing, relaxation and meditation exercises. There is the idea that if you are going to do relaxation exercises then you need to put a certain amount of time aside every day to do this. Because of this, many people find breathing and relaxation exercises very difficult to implement. They have the idea that they would like to do some form of relaxation exercise but never seem to get around to doing it. They just don’t have time.
From my point of view, this is a huge misconception. As I teach Medical Qigong online through my Space To Relax programme and in face to face workshops, the main focus of that teaching is to show my students how to integrate Qigong breathing and relaxation exercises into their day. I know myself that if I have to put aside and allotted time every single day for practice then it is very hard to keep to that….but….I also know that if I’m able to integrate Qigong exercises into my day then I can do it so easily – it just happens!
Qigong exercises can be done when you are walking, standing in a queue at the post office or in the supermarket, in bed at night just before going to sleep (using some of the Qigong breathing and meditation exercises). It’s very easy to integrate Qigong breathing and meditation exercises into your day.
So, if you have found in the past that you have been discouraged from practising any kind of relaxation exercise because of the time factor and having to make a slot available in your day then be discouraged no longer!
The benefits of Qigong breathing and relaxation are huge and numerous. They will help you to relax, relieve your stress and overwhelm. Many will help you to sleep peacefully at night or give you much more energy so that you can achieve much more in your day than you thought possible, taking it all in your stride.
I would encourage you to try some Qigong exercises so if you are thinking, “Yes, I can do this, this will be workable for me” then head over to www.spacetorelax.com and on the homepage you will see you can download a free Qigong meditation called “Calm Your Busy Mind in 8 Minutes”. Once downloaded you can listen to it on your laptop or phone whenever you have a tiny bit of relaxation time while sitting enjoying a cup of tea or just before going to sleep at night. This method is so easy to integrate into your day as it takes so little time.
I’d love to know what you think of the meditation so please leave a comment below or head over to my free group on Facebook: Space To Relax Free Group and ask to join so you can then leave a comment there.
Receive your FREE Video Series by entering your details below
You have Successfully Subscribed!
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
