[Dani Cullen stands on an exercise mat, wearing loose fitting pants and a comfortable top. She's in front of a white wall with a pot plant behind her and two windows on either side of her].
Dani Cullen: Qigong is a beautiful practise to balance and harmonise the energies, not only within ourselves, but also to come into alignment with the energies of nature.
[Text appears on screen: ‘Advice: While qigong is generally considered safe, pregnant individuals should speak to their health care provider before participating in this practice.'].
In traditional Chinese medicine, after a great period of yang energy, of growth and expansion, of summer, autumn marks the time where energies start to soften.
They start to descend, and we can start to come back to ourselves and reflect on things that don't work for us, things that are old or don't serve our greatest good.
It's time to let go.
The element is metal and the energies that we'll be working with are the energies of the lung and the large intestine.
So, we're literally letting go of all that doesn't serve so that we can literally breathe in new life, new ideas, new visions and new energy that inspire us and support us moving forward into the next cycle of life.
You'll need a nice, quiet space, either indoors or outdoors.
Nature's a really beautiful place to practise.
So let's move some qi and get back into the flow.
Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, starting by just taking a few deep breaths, breathing down into your belly… and just softening the breath.
[Dani stands with her eyes closed, feet a little wider than her hips and hands on top of each other, resting against her stomach. She breathes deeply, in and out].
Imagine calling all parts of yourself back to yourself.
Bringing your energy home, back to your body.
We're going to start by lifting the arms up, breathing in.
[She raises her arms above her head and inhales].
Then we're going to bend at the knees, we're going to keep looking forward, supporting our back.
[She bends her knees and leans forward with a straight back and her head up].
But then we're just going to let the arms drop and swing by our sides, lifting back up and dropping.
[Dani quickly releases her arms as she exhales, letting them swing down and back, then back up to the sky. She stands tall when her arms reach up, then bends forward and repeats the exercise].
Breathing in, breathing out. Lifting up and swinging the arms.
Breathing. When you breathe out, nice big cleansing breath through the mouth.
We're letting go.
[She continues the exercise, breathing in time with her movements].
Imagine breathing fresh energy. Letting go of the old. Letting go of all that doesn't serve.
It's like rotten fruit on a tree, it doesn't hold onto it.
It lets it go, drops it down to the earth so it can regenerate.
Anything that doesn't serve you, breathe it out.
Let it go.
Purging any stagnation, any tensions in the body.
And then let the arms just swing softly by the side, just slowing that movement down.
[She slows down her arms and just swings them back and forward].
We're going to just start to shake, keeping those feet anchored into the ground.
[She bounces up and down with her feet on the ground, shaking out her hands and arms].
Letting the hips go loose, and then really letting that bounce come all the way up the body, feeling the spine loosen up and the shoulders fully relax.
So it's sending ripples down the arms and the wrists and the fingers, and it's like we're just flicking anything that doesn't serve us back to the earth.
It's letting go.
Cleansing breaths.
[She inhales and exhales deeply].
Shake it out. Shake out any tensions, stress, stuck emotions or attitudes, just let it go.
[Dani is shaking her whole body, bouncing in place and letting her head and hips go loose].
Breathing a new fresh energy.
Letting go.
Have fun with it. You can use your voice.
[She exhales loudly, making a sound like a growl].
If you're on your own really let it fly!
And then slow it down, slow it down.
[She gradually slows down her movements until she is standing still and loose with her feet a little wider than her hips and her arms held just away from her sides].
This coming back to centre, coming back to your qigong stance.
Slowing down and calming the breath… relaxing the body, finding your centre.
And feeling the body, feeling the body starting to cleanse and lighten up.
You may feel the subtle energies in the body, especially around the hands and the fingers.
You may feel different sensations, heat rising… tingling… a lightness.
This is your qi activating, waking up and purging.
Taking the hands up to the heart.
[She brings her hands to her chest, palms pressed together and eyes closed].
And in prayer position, take this moment just to say a little prayer for your day.
What do you wish to bring into your day?
What do you need to let go of?
What would you like to manifest?
What would you like to bring more into your life?
We'll simply have a moment of presence and gratitude.
And on the next big breath in, we're gonna breathe out and push the arms forward, and opening up the chest, turn the palms up and we're gonna join the finger, index pointer finger and the thumb. And we're gonna bring the hands back together.
[She pushes her palms apart and out to the side in a T pose. She turns her palms to face the sky, then touches her pointer fingers to her thumbs and brings her arms back in to her chest. When her hands are in front of her chest, she presses her palms together again in prayer position].
Back to prayer, opening up. Making the mudra… and coming back to prayer.
[She repeats the exercise while breathing in time with the movements].
Breathing in… and breathing out.
Breathing in… breathing in, opening up that chest, opening up the lungs, closing the fingers, holding the energy in.
Breathing in and then just sealing the energy, letting it strengthen in the lung and large intestine meridians.
And then find this beautiful flow.
[Dani continues to move].
Smile.
Enjoy the movement.
And then coming back to centre, coming back to prayer.
[She brings her palms back together in prayer pose].
Crossing, lifting, sorry, lifting up the hands, connecting in with the heavens.
[She keeps her palms together and lifts her arms up over her head, stretching toward the sky].
Crossing the wrists over, bending the knees and coming all the way down.
[She crosses her wrists and brings her arms down slowly in front of her face, bending her knees and leaning forward as she squats towards the ground].
Brushing past the feet and then radiating the arms out and up, crossing and coming down.
[She skims her fingers over the ground and brings her arms back up above her head in a wide, circular motion. When they join above her head, she crosses her wrists again and repeats the movement].
Breathing in as you come up.
Breathing out as you come down.
Keeping the head forward as you come down.
Really sinking into the legs.
This time as the hands come up, we're going to join the backs of the hands and allow the hands to just move down the midline of the body, sinking down and then lifting the hands up the midline of the body and then radiating the arms out.
[When her arms are above her head and starting to come back down, she gently presses the backs of her hands together. She brings them down in front of her body while sinking into a squat position and stops at her hips. Then she brings her hands back up in front of her so they separate above her head and circle out to the side].
Down to the feet and then drawing up the midline.
[She circles her arms toward the ground, dropping down to brush the floor before coming back up in front of her body while standing tall. She repeats the exercise].
So it's just the same move, but moving the arms in the opposite direction.
Breathing out as you come down.
Breathing in as you come up.
This is called ‘The Phoenix Spreads His Wings'… or her wings.
Nice deep breaths.
And then just letting the hands float back down… resting them at your side… finding your centre again… and feeling the body.
[She slowly brings her arms back down so that they're resting a little bit away her sides in a slightly rounded shape].
Just really finding your centre, feeling those feet, grounded.
Drawing the tailbone down, lengthening the spine, tucking the chin in towards the neck and lifting up the crown, relaxing your shoulders.
[She adjusts her posture].
We're going to move into our autumn flow, just lifting the hands up to the heart and then just dropping them down to the legs.
[She brings her hands up to her chest slowly, with her palms facing down and wrists relaxed. Then she slowly brings them back down and rests her hands on the tops of her thighs. She repeats the exercise].
Lifting up, breathing in…
Breathing out as they come down.
Just moving with as least effort as possible.
Just allowing the hands to be as light and soft as possible.
This is called self-alchemy, balancing the energies of fire up at the heart and water down at the belly or the kidneys.
When fire and water meet, they make steam, and the steam in qigong is our qi.
So we're starting to strengthen and tonify the qi.
After purging, cultivating some energy, this is the time now where we start to slow everything down, slow the movements down.
And as you slow the mind, slow the movements down, the mind starts to slow down.
But as the movements slow, the energy tonifies, it strengthens.
So just sinking into this beautiful soft flowing rhythm, imagine that your hands are just moving through air like clouds.
[She continues the movement, slowing her hands slightly].
And as the hands come up, just holding one hand out at the heart and continue circling the opposite hand all the way around behind you, scooping the palm beside the thigh, lifting it back up to the hand, and then dropping them down together.
[She holds one arm stretched in front of her chest, with her palm facing the floor. She circles her other arm up and over her head, behind her back, and back up to her chest, then gently drops both of her arms down so her palms touch her thighs].
Lifting up, opposite arm, radiating around.
[She lifts both arms, then repeats the circular motion with her other arm].
Scooping down and lifting up.
Palms facing down, let the hands float down.
[She brings both hands back to her legs, then continues to alternate her arms in the circular movement].
Breathing in.
Radiating.
As the hand comes down, breathing in.
Breathing in as the hand lifts up.
Breathing out as the hands float down.
In… out.
In… and out.
‘Kuan Yin rainbow arms'… imagine this beautiful light washing around the body.
Sealing the Wei Chi, the energy field around the body.
Lifting both hands up, lifting both hands down, and then we're going to bring the palms together, the backs of the hands together, lifting up the centre of the body.
[She begins to build the flow. Dani brings both hands down to the tops of her thighs, then gently brings the backs of her hands together, leaving a small space between them. She draws them up to her chest].
We're going to push the hands out.
[Dani pushes her hands out in front of her].
We're going to radiate both arms all the way around behind us. Circle the wrist beside the side body, and then we're going to bend down… lift up.
[She circles them up and over behind her, then brings them to her waist and turns her wrists to face her fingertips forward and palms up. She gently squats down and brings her hands toward the ground before coming back up, scooping her hands like she's lifting something].
Then shine the palms over the lungs.
[She lifts her hands and holds them between her throat and chest].
Pulsing the palms at the lungs.
[She gently pushes her arms out in front of her and brings them back into her chest again, repeating the movement].
And then taking the hands down.
[She brings her hands back to the tops of her legs].
We'll try that again. Lifting up… pushing out. Circling the hands, squatting down to the earth, lifting up that earth energy, shining it into the lungs, breathing in, breathing as you pulse.
[She demonstrates all of the movements together, bringing her hands up, doing the circular motion, squatting and scooping her hands, and pulsing her hands in front of her chest].
Breathing in… breathing out. Breathing in… and relaxing the hands down.
[Dani extends and retracts her arms gently in front of her chest as she breathes, then brings her hands back to her legs].
Energy rises.
Breathing in, it expands out all around.
[She brings all of the movements together again, starting bringing the backs of her hands together and working through the circular motion, squat, and pulses of her arms].
It sinks back down to the earth, and we draw up fresh new qi from the earth and we bring it in towards the lungs.
Breathe it in… smiling, breathing out.
See if you can find your own flow once you've got the movement.
[She repeats the flow].
Pulsing.
Breathing fresh new energy into the lungs… strengthening that energy. Just holding the palms, shining the palms over the lungs for a moment.
[She holds her palms in front of her chest and sways gently].
Imagine that energy is like a white light, white crystalline light. Just pure life force shining into your lungs.
Turning the corners of your mouth up towards the sky, making you smile as you fill up your heart, space, your lungs, your whole body with this white pure energy of life.
And then just let this energy drop down into the belly.
[She folds her hands on her stomach and closes her eyes].
Stepping in, ‘Bamboo in the Wind'.
[She brings her feet together].
And with the breath, imagine this light is radiating in the belly. This pure white light.
With each breath it gets stronger, and it shines brighter.
Cleansing and clearing the whole body system.
The whole energetic system.
Cleansing and clearing the mind.
And imagine it radiating out through the pores of your skin and filling up the Wei Chi, the energy field that surrounds you.
This being between heaven and earth… shining this protective, beautiful white light, pure white light all around you.
And enjoy this moment of peace and tranquilly for as long as you need.
If you can stay in this position for a few minutes at least, that'd be amazing.
If you want to lie down, if you've got time, just for a few minutes, just allow your body to fully rest and integrate and harmonise the energies of the practise.
Thanks for sharing and I'll see you next time.
[Text appears on screen: ‘Great work! See you soon.']
