We don't often think about breathing do we? But, as ‘they’ say, the secret to a long life is to keep breathing! The deep, rhythmic breathing that accompanies the short, easy to learn, Qi Gong routines that we try to follow most days seems to be particularly beneficial. Afterwards, you always feel as if you’ve had a good stretch, and gained some much-needed oxygen.
Most people probably know that ‘Qi’ or ‘chi’ has to do with energy flow. Yoga (prana), tai chi, and qi gong, all promote ‘good breathing’ but the ‘7 Minutes of Magic’* routine that we follow has been the easiest to stick to. That’s the thing – we sometimes don’t have time for an hour-long yoga routine, and learning all 100+ movements of tai chi would be a challenge at this point, but following along for 7 minutes – we can’t come up with a good enough excuse for not doing that!
The history of qi gong dates back more than 4,000 years, to ancient China (some sources say 7,000 years). Imagine that! we're taking part in something that people have been practicing for at least 4,000 years. To have survived that long, the practice must have some benefits. As far as we can see there are absolutely no disadvantages, or negative side-effects, from it. So, ‘bear swimming in the ocean’, ‘tiger returning to mountain’, ‘parting the clouds’ and ‘bamboo in the wind’ – will continue to make us focus on the precious ability to breathe, and be more conscious of it.
*Lee Holden’s ‘7 Minutes of Magic’ – a sample of this routine can be found on YouTube
Most people probably know that ‘Qi’ or ‘chi’ has to do with energy flow. Yoga (prana), tai chi, and qi gong, all promote ‘good breathing’ but the ‘7 Minutes of Magic’* routine that we follow has been the easiest to stick to. That’s the thing – we sometimes don’t have time for an hour-long yoga routine, and learning all 100+ movements of tai chi would be a challenge at this point, but following along for 7 minutes – we can’t come up with a good enough excuse for not doing that!
The history of qi gong dates back more than 4,000 years, to ancient China (some sources say 7,000 years). Imagine that! we're taking part in something that people have been practicing for at least 4,000 years. To have survived that long, the practice must have some benefits. As far as we can see there are absolutely no disadvantages, or negative side-effects, from it. So, ‘bear swimming in the ocean’, ‘tiger returning to mountain’, ‘parting the clouds’ and ‘bamboo in the wind’ – will continue to make us focus on the precious ability to breathe, and be more conscious of it.
*Lee Holden’s ‘7 Minutes of Magic’ – a sample of this routine can be found on YouTube