by janicetucker | 25 Mar 2016 | Qigong, Qigong & Emotional Issues, Qigong Meditations & Breathing, Qigong Practice Guidelines & General Information
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.
by janicetucker | 17 Mar 2016 | Qigong, Qigong Routines
Hi, I’m posting this video on March 17th, and March 17th in Ireland is St. Patrick’s Day. Everybody is off today and many people will drink to excess. Today I’m going to talk to you about excess and how to combat that with a Qigong Exercise from the series called the Ba Duan Jin.
My name is Janice Tucker and I’m a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong and I’m also the founder of the Space To Relax online programme of video lessons where you can learn lots of Qigong to help to supercharge your health and fulfil your health potential.
What exactly do I mean when I talk about excess?
Excess in Chinese Medicine and Qigong is anything which is too much for that particular individual. This is a very important concept to understand because excess can be too much for one person and just fine for somebody else. Excess is only excessive for that particular person.
In the video you will see a short clip of a Qigong exercise which can help you to cope with an excess with respect to alcohol in case anybody is out there and intending to push things to excess on this day, St. Patrick’s Day. You will be able to practice this exercise (maybe tomorrow!) as it’s a great exercise to help deal with hangover!
Ba Duan Jin Video
This is one exercise from an 8 part series of Qigong exercises called the Ba Duan Jin or 8 Pieces of Brocade. It’s a very famous series of Qigong exercises and this particular one helps the Liver system which as we all know can suffer from excessive alcohol consumption!
This movement is called “Open Eyes Wide With Clenched Fists”. The position for this Qigong exercise is a horse stance. Step out into a horse stance that is comfortable for you, as wide or as narrow as you want. Check that the knees are not dropping inwards and are pushed out over the toes. Tuck the pelvis in under your body to make the lower back flat. Both hands rest on the hips, with loose fists and the palms facing upwards. The chest is pulled back slightly and you are nice and tall, with length in the back of the neck.
Women begin with the right hand and men with the left hand. Move the first hand out in front of you with a gentle punching action and as you extend it, at the end, twist the arm so the back of the hand ends up facing uppermost. Bring the fist back, turning the palm upwards as you draw it back in. Repeat with the other arm, extending the arm outwards and looking at the fist. Pull the arm back, twisting it back into the starting position on the hip.
The movement for this punching action actually comes from your hips. You need to twist in the whole body as you make the punching action, looking at the fist. The movement of the hip then draws the punch back. The hip turns and pushes the arm out. Look the fist. The hip then turns, drawing the arm back in towards the body.
Breathing
Breathe in before you begin. Breathe out as you punch. Breathe in as you draw the arm back to the hip.
If you’d like to learn more about the Ba Duan Jin exercises then they are available in my Space To Relax Programme. You can have a look at more about this on my website www.spacetorelax.com.
If you enjoyed this Qigong exercise then don’t forget, if you are watching this on YouTube, to subscribe to my channel where I’ll be posting many more helpful tips on a regular basis. Just click the red “Subscribe” button below my video to sign up and also give this video a “Like”.
by janicetucker | 11 Mar 2016 | Qigong, Qigong Meditations & Breathing, Qigong Routines
I’d like to introduce you to a simple Qigong Abdominal Breathing exercise for beginners. It’s very helpful for giving you a bit more energy, calming your mind, relaxing your body, improving your sleep and improving your overall general wellbeing.
When you were born you breathed into your belly. As you breathed in, your belly would expand and then shrink as you breathed out. If you watch a baby or one of your pets at home when they are asleep you will see that as they breathe in the belly expands and as they breathe out the belly shrinks. The breath is very relaxed.
As we become older, usually by the age of about 7 or 8, our breathing becomes much more shallow – chest orientated rather than belly orientated, probably due to day to day stresses and strains, rushing around, even for children!
Qigong Abdominal Breathing is the perfect Qigong exercise for beginners because it is really only teaching you what you already know – you already did this as a baby!
Breathe in and out through the nose. As you breathe in expand the belly. If you place your hands flat on your lower abdomen, as you breathe in then you should feel your hands being pushed outwards as the belly expands. In order to make that happen you need to be relaxed in the abdominal area. The best way to feel this is actually if you are lying down. It is much easier from this position. You can place your hand on the lower abdomen, or something heavier like a book on this area. You will then see your hand or the book rise up as you inhale and sink down as you exhale.
This is a wonderful exercise to get things started if you are interested in learning Qigong. If you love Qigong Abdominal Breathing and want to take things further then please head over to my website homepage which is www.spacetorelax.com. On that page you will see there are a couple of Qigong freebies that you can download. If you have any comments then please leave them below the video. I’d love to hear how you got on with the Qigong Abdominal Breathing exercise.
by janicetucker | 22 Feb 2016 | Qigong, Qigong Practice Guidelines & General Information
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!
by janicetucker | 22 Feb 2016 | Qigong, Qigong Practice Guidelines & General Information, Uncategorized
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!
