Please don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking the red “Subscribe” button. That way you won’t miss my regular videos which are full of useful health enhancing tips. These videos will help you to benefit your health and prevent illness from arising in the first place. Also please give this video a “Like” if you found it informative.
A couple of months ago I received and e-mail from Sally Perkins who is a content manager for a senior advice site called Senior Advisor. She had watched a previous video on my Space To Relax website called “Qigong for Stress Relief” and was interested in how Qigong could help the elderly. She very helpfully suggested that I cover the use of Qigong for seniors and how it can help them with stress relief.
Sally kindly provided me with an introduction to this post, highlighting the importance of regulating our stress levels as we age. The introduction from Sally is below followed by my top 3 tips using Qigong for seniors in order to minimise stress levels.
Sally’s Introduction – Don’t Let Stress Get You Down!
Let’s face it: we are all busy bees. As we get older, it is important to our overall mental and physical health to keep our stress levels in check, or else there are many negative health issues that will arise. There are both short and long term effects of leading a high-stress lifestyle, including:
1. Weakening the immune system
2. Insomnia and sleep issues
3. High blood pressure and high blood sugar levels
4. Skin rashes and acne breakouts
5. Digestive issues
6. Headaches and trouble focusing
By trying to avoid things that bring you stress, whether it be managing your time better at work or trying to steer clear of situations or people who might add to your frustrations, you can better maintain a healthy lifestyle. This guide will show you how to focus on ways to relax and make a true difference in your energy levels which will help you to avoid the negative impact of stress that is increasingly damaging to your health as you age.
Qigong For Seniors – My Top 3 Tips
As Sally rightly points out, if you can avoid stressful situations in the first place that will go a long way towards maintaining a healthy, balanced life. However that is not always possible due to lifestyle, family and work situations. If you do find yourself becoming stressed here are my top three Qigong for seniors tips which you can use to help yourself. This advice applies to senior members of our population and also carers of the elderly as they can also suffer from stress.
1. Breathe Into Your Belly. This Qigong exercise will instantly ground and calm your mind. You can learn how to do this by signing up for my free 3 part video series which I mention at the end of this post. Belly or abdominal breathing is Lesson 1.
2. Relax as soon as possible after experiencing stress to allow your body and mind to recover. After doing this, if you still feel stressed, refer to Lesson 3 in the free video series showing you how to get rid of “waste Qi” or energy/feelings from your body. Also take a look at one of my previous videos on the Space To Relax website called “Qigong for Cleansing“.
3. Develop a Daily Qigong Routine. A daily routine of Qigong or meditation will allow you to better cope with future stressful situations. Bit by bit you will notice that you become better at taking stressful events in your stride.
To learn the Qigong methods I mention above go to the Space To Relax homepage. There you can sign up to receive three free video lessons. They will be delivered to you by e-mail over the course of a few days so check your spam/promotions folder. Also, for a free audio meditation “Calm Your Busy Mind In 8 Minutes” scroll to the bottom of the Space To Relax homepage.
Please don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking the red “Subscribe” button. Then you won’t miss my regular videos which are full of useful health enhancing tips. Also please give this video a “Like” if you learned much more about how stress affects us as we get older and what to do about it.
If you are on Facebook head over to my free group, “Space To Relax Free Group” . You can leave any comments or questions for me there. I’ll be happy to answer them. Also, by joining this group, you will receive regular posts of Qigong articles and videos with really useful Qigong tips.
If you’d like some tips on how to make changes to your home in order to continue to move around with confidence then read this guide on “Aging in Place“.
This video from Dr Janice Tucker at Space To Relax explains where you can find relaxing music to listen to when you are practising Qigong (Chi Gong) exercises.
Janice Tucker is a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong, and the founder of the Space To Relax online programme of Qigong video lessons.
Please don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking the red “Subscribe” button next to the video when you click the YouTube link. Then, you won’t miss my regular videos which are full of useful health enhancing tips. Also please give this video a “Like” if you found it informative.
Recently one of my Space To Relax members asked me about where to find relaxation music to listen to during Qigong practice so I filmed the video above and wrote this article to answer this question and hope that we can all share our ideas.
Sources of Relaxation Music
Your choice of music is very personal to you. I know this from my 16 years practising in Chinese medicine clinics. Some of my clients love relaxation music, some hate it, some want no music at all and prefer total silence! It’s all a matter of searching and finding something that you love to listen to and can work with.
The following are the sources of calming and relaxing music I found which would be suitable for Qigong (Chi Gong) meditation and exercises:
There is so much music out there. I simply typed “Qigong Relaxation Music” into the search box in YouTube and there was a huge choice of calming, relaxing music to select from.
Check out this one which I use in my clinic called “Nature Sound”. It’s a free app from iTunes and also on Android. You have a choice of both relaxing music and sounds from nature (ocean, forest, whale calls etc.). The advantage of having music on your phone is that you can take it out into your favourite place in nature to practice Qigong (Chi Gong).
I don’t use Spotify but I’m sure that many of you do. There is a good choice of relaxation music to download, again just by searching for “Qigong Relaxation Music”.
4. Buy Your Music!
You can choose to buy your music in the form of CDs, paid apps and downloads. Often a good source of physical CDs is your local health store and of course, Amazon.
The most important thing to remember is to find music that you like to listen to and that you can relax to while practising Qigong (Chi Gong). The essence of Qigong is relaxation and anything which will help you to do this has to be a good thing!
I’d love you to share with below in the comments box if you have any tips for other good sources of music. We can all help each other by sharing our ideas!
If you would like some free Qigong video lessons to help you extinguish exhaustion, annihilate anxiety and calm your mind then take a look at the Space To Relax homepage. Here you can sign up to receive three free video lessons and then choose some relaxing music to go with them!
Also, if you head over to my free group on Facebook, “Space To Relax Free Group” you can leave any questions for me there and I’ll be happy to answer them.
Please don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking the red “Subscribe” button over on YouTube so you don’t miss my regular videos which are full of useful health enhancing tips.
Also please give this video a “Like” if you learned about a few more sources of calming and relaxing Qigong music.
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? 🙂
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