Today I’m going to describe a different way of talking and thinking about health from a Chinese medicine point of view in comparison to how we think of it in the Western world. I’ll also tell you about how you can use Qigong for prevention of illness.
My name is Janice Tucker and I’m a Chinese medicine and medical Qigong practitioner. I’m also the founder of the Space To Relax online video programme of Qigong lessons.
Below is a quote from the most important Chinese medicine text, dating back more than 2000 years, called the Huang Di Nei Jing:
“To administer medicine after an illness begins is like digging a well after becoming thirsty or casting weapons after a battle has been engaged”.
The idea around health in Chinese medicine and Qigong is more preventative; it’s all about being prepared. Illness is obviously a possibility in the future but it is also something which can be prevented if we are prepared. This means taking the right steps to manage our lifestyle, diet, exercise and other things that we do on a day to day basis.
The essence of medical Qigong is to learn and practice Qigong exercises which allow us to prevent any illness from taking root in the first place. This is similar to weeds taking root in your garden. If you allow the seeds to germinate and grow into huge weeds then you quickly end up with a garden which has been taken over by the plants you don’t want. Once they are established they are also more difficult to remove. If you pull up the weeds before they become established, while they are still small, then they are very easy to remove and you can keep your garden clear so that you can grow all the flowers and vegetables you want to grow.
Similarly, in your body, if you let things take root and don’t do anything to regularly clear out what you don’t want then the “weeds” (illness) soon take over. Then you are not able to flourish to the best of your potential.
In Chinese medicine, Qigong and acupuncture we work to be continuously “weeding the garden”. These methods offer you a very easy way in which you can use Qigong for prevention of illness. Qigong methods can eliminate the root cause of disease and also prevent illness or disease from taking root in the first place. The practice of Qigong allows the smooth flow of Qi to be maintained. Your Qi is the “vital energy” in your body so if that is flowing smoothly then you maintain the best health possible.
If you’d like to learn a few methods of Qigong for prevention of illness and to “stop the weeds from taking root”, go to my Space To Relax homepage to download a free 3 part Qigong video course showing you some excellent exercises to:
1. Get you started on being able to manage your health
2. Stop the weeds from taking root
3. Maintain the smoothest possible flow of Qi on a regular basis
If you want more health enhancing videos like this on YouTube then subscribe to my channel here.
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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.
Today I want to talk to you about the definition of Qigong health. What is health? Because simply not being ill is just not good enough!
My name is Janice Tucker and I’m a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong and I’m also the founder of Space To Relax which is an online programme of Qigong breathing and relaxation exercises.
In Chinese medicine and Qigong health is much more complicated and well-defined than it tends to be in Western medicine. In conventional Western medicine we often think that if we are not ill then we are healthy. Sometimes we may not be ill but feel a little bit under par, maybe lacking in energy, stressed or anxious (so emotionally feeling not quite right) and there may be other niggling things that we don’t even think about from day to day so don’t class them as signs of being unhealthy. We would usually only go to our doctor when we feel sick.
By contrast, in Chinese Medicine, if you are “Supremely Healthy” that is the very top rung of the ladder. There are 5 rungs to the ladder. From the top down:
Supreme Health
Health
Not sick/not well
Sick
Very unwell – maybe nearing the point of death!
Chinese medicine and Qigong health has these levels and people can be on any level at any time. The aim is to be at the top level of Supreme Health but in fact not many people are at this level. These people never get sick, even when there are lots of illnesses going around. If they become ill or are injured they recover very quickly. They have boundless energy and always seem to be able to take things in their stride. Take a look around your family and friends – many of them may be healthy but not many will have Supreme health. Supremely healthy people are in the minority.
We are aiming to be as healthy as possible and we can do that by managing many factors – our diet, lifestyle, relationships.
The main thing to remember here is that, from a Chinese Medicine point of view, health is simply not a case of being “not ill”. There are many levels of health in Chinese medicine.
In my face to face Chinese medicine and acupuncture clinics, and also in the Space To Relax online programme of Qigong breathing and relaxation exercises, I help people to become as healthy as possible and to fulfil the potential that they have to reach the best possible state of health for them. Not everybody has the same potential, everybody is different, but if you can be the healthiest possible for you then you couldn’t ask for more than that.
If you are interested in doing some healing using Qigong or getting a few more tips then please leave me a comment below the video or head over to Facebook and join my Space to Relax Free Group where I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi and welcome to the first of a series of regular videos in which I hope to be able to show you how you can relax your mind, improve your health and general wellbeing, also to gain some peaceful sleep and a bit more energy. I’ll be giving you some handy tips according to Chinese Medicine principles and Qigong breathing and relaxation exercises.
My name is Janice Tucker and I’m a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong. I work in the south-west of Ireland teaching people Qigong through workshops. I also treat clients one to one through my Chinese Medicine and acupuncture clinics.
More recently I’ve launched an online programme of Qigong breathing and relaxation exercises. Here people can learn to restore their health, relax their minds and really give everything a boost and a supercharge by learning Qigong healing methods from the comfort of their own home and in their own time.
The reason I love to do this, and I’ve been doing this for the last 15 years, is that I get a real kick out of being able to help people. When people clients and Qigong students say to me, “Thank you so much, I feel so much better, that was just amazing”, I feel so good inside myself so I get lots out of this too. I love helping people to get better, to improve their health and to educate them about how they can use tools for themselves. Then they can take them away once they have left me and be able to work themselves with regard to improving their health.
With the Space to Relax online Qigong programme I guide you every step of the way through a series of video teachings. You can learn Qigong methods step by step, with my guidance from the comfort of your own home.
This is the introduction. If this is something you would be interested in – if you want to relieve anxiety, if you want to relieve the stress and overwhelm of our modern day chaotic lives the check out more at www.spacetorelaxcom. Also hit the “Subscribe” button under the video to sign up to my channel on YouTube.
Look out for the next instalment of juicy Qigong information very soon!
