[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: Balance and living in harmony is the primary principle for all qigong practices.
This qigong flow will help you become more grounded and embodied and cultivate a strong foundation of stability.
[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.'].
It connects our body, mind back to balance and wholeness, back to our centre and sustains an inner peace from where all life can flow more humorously.
We become the calm in the storm and less reactive to stress.
So, let's get ourselves back into more balance.
Find yourself a nice quiet place, either indoors or outdoors in nature.
But be aware, you can do this practice anywhere, anytime that you need.
So, let's begin.
Standing, feet shoulder width apart, toes pointing forward and just placing your hand over your belly.
Just connect with yourself.
Bring yourself back home for a moment by breathing nice and deeply down into the belly, just taking a few nice deep breaths.
You can let go with a little sigh if you need to, [Dani breathes out] just to get started.
And then breathing in and out through the nose, nice and softly and relaxed.
Feeling your connection with the earth.
Softening those knees, ground, tilting the pelvis forward and drawing the tailbone down towards the earth, really feeling like you're earthed.
Earthing yourself, grounding yourself, bringing your energy down to your centre.
[Dani breathes].
And then lengthening your spine, tucking your chin in a little bit towards the neck and lifting up the crown.
And then just relaxing your arms, creating a little space underneath the armpits.
[She holds her arms slightly away from her body with a gentle bend in her elbows, creating an oval shape].
And we're going to hold our belly.
This is the 'Bear' posture or the 'Wu Chi' posture, and we're going to sink down like we're taking on the energy of a bear, grounded and rooted and strong.
[She sinks down gently into her knees, holding them at a slight bend. Her feet are planted wider than her hips. Her arms have moved forward so that her palms are in line with her hips, facing toward her chin].
Feel. Take yourself, feet a little wider if you need to just to feel that strong stance.
Then we're going to take a nice big deep breath in.
We're going to slowly, keeping the hips forward, just twisting at the waist, opening up the lower back, the middle back, the upper back and the neck, looking behind if your neck allows.
[Dani rotates her body at her waist, keeping her hips facing forward as she looks to the right and then towards the wall behind her].
And then breathing in, coming back to centre, breathing out, we're turning the opposite direction.
[Dani repeats the same movement in the opposite direction, rotating to look toward the wall with her hands still held in front of her body].
Breathing in… and out.
[She continues to twist gently at her waist, moving from left to right and back again].
Then coming back to centre, just lifting so the legs are a little bit more relaxed, bringing the feet back shoulder width apart.
[She shuffles her feet in so they're under her hips again].
And bringing down the heavens, taking the arms out to the side, breathing in and breathing out, just letting the hands float back down the midline of the body.
[Dani slowly raises her arms out to the side, brings them toward the ceiling, and then gently presses down. She repeats the movement].
And again, breathing in, breathing out, centring our energy, opening up our 2 gates.
Then as the hands come down, just connect the hands with the earth for a moment, opening up the palms of the hands to receiving the earth energy, opening up the soles of the feet, allowing that energy to flow up through the hands and the feet to the body.
[She holds her hands at her waist, parallel to the ground].
And then turning the palms up, connecting them to the heavens, drawing that heavenly qi down through the crown of the head, connecting with the palms.
[She holds her hands at her waist again, this time with her palms facing up].
And then take the hands into, just against the side body.
Turn the palms down and we're going to push forward, bending at the knees, looking ahead, and then we're going to push out with the arms all the way around and then drawing into the belly.
[Dani demonstrates the move as she describes it, pushing her hands forward, bending her knees and leaning forward. She circles her arms around to her back and then draws them forward until they're resting in front of her body again, palms facing the sky and standing tall. She bends her knees again and repeats the movement].
Again, pushing down, out and around, drawing into the belly. Breathing out… and then breathing in as you draw fresh new energy into the belly.
[She continues to repeat the movement].
Breathing out and in.
Big bear swims in the ocean.
Take on the energy of the bear, grounded in the legs, rooted yet strong, light and free in the body.
Imagine arms soft and relaxed like they're swimming through water.
Get our legs grounded down to the earth and then drawing those hands into the belly, keeping the hands nice and soft and open to the universe.
[She stops the movement, instead standing tall and holding her palms to the sky at waist height].
Take a breath.
Turn the hands over, connecting again to the earth.
[She faces her palms to the floor].
And then drop the hands down, we're gonna bend at the knees, looking forward and imagine circling the hands and gathering earthly qi and rolling the back up, drawing that energy up into the belly.
[Dani gently bends her knees and brings her hands down to brush just above the floor. She circles her hands above the floor and then draws herself back up to standing, rolling her back and scooping her hands until they reach her stomach].
And then expanding it out, palms up, and then lifting up, gathering heavenly qi, circling the hands and drawing it back down to the belly.
[She brings her hands from her stomach out to the sides of her body, her palms up facing up. Then she lifts her arms to the sky in a rounded motion, circles her hands parallel to the ceiling. She flips her palms back down and brings them back to her stomach].
Take a breath.
Dropping back down, breathing out.
[She repeats the movement, first going down to the floor, then up to the ceiling].
Gathering energy, breathing in.
Expanding that energy out, breathing out.
Lifting up… gathering.
Breathing out.
Breathing in and out.
[She continues the movements].
It's called 'Heaven and Earth Find Harmony'.
Bringing the earthly energies into our centre.
Expanding out. Lifting up, gathering the heavenly qi, letting it flow down through the body.
Connecting at the belly, taking a breath.
Expanding out, lifting up.
See if you can smile as you do the movements.
Smiling brings a lightness to the body.
The next time just bringing the hands down to qigong stance.
[Dani stops moving and rests her arms at her sides, holding them slightly away from her hips].
Feeling the body… noticing any changes and shifts.
And then just let the arms float up.
[She lifts her arms out to the side, bringing them in line with her shoulders in a T pose, letting them flow from the shoulders to her fingertips like a wave and a bird's wing].
Let the arms flow down.
[She brings her arms back to her sides, letting them flow gently].
Floating up… and down.
[She repeats the movement, slowly and gently].
As the arms float up, we're going to sink the body down.
[Still moving her arms, she sinks down into her knees].
And as we push the arms down, we're just going to lift back up.
[She gently straightens her knees while her arms move].
'Crane Flies'.
[She repeats the movement, slowly going down and standing up as her arms move].
We're going to just add on a little bit.
Sink the body down, lift the arms up, let the arms cross over above.
[While her knees are bent, she floats her arms up and crosses one wrist in front of the other above her head].
The wrists cross, and then we bring and draw the arms down the midline of the body.
[With her arms still crossed, she brings them back down in front of her face. Then she stands tall, uncrosses her wrists, and floats her arms back up to repeat the wave motion, sinking back down into her knees].
'Crane Flies'… and crane flies home.
[She continues to rise and sink back down into her knees while floating her arms to the side and crossing them overhead before bringing them back down].
Sinking down, lifting up at the same time… balancing the energies of heaven and earth within our being.
Smiling.
Crane flies home.
Imagine it bringing itself home.
Self home to wholeness, balance and oneness within and with all things.
Bring yourself home.
[She stops the movement and brings her hands to her stomach].
Placing your hands over your belly, stepping into 'Bamboo in the Wind'.
[She brings her feet together and rests one hand on top of the other at her belly].
Taking a breath, bringing down the heavens just to close the qi gates.
[Using a circular motion, she gently raises her hands to the sky and then brings them back to her stomach].
Storing that qi in the belly, in our centre.
Feeling strong and grounded.
Get light and in flow.
[A bird calls in the background].
Feeling centred.
[The bird calls again].
We can make good decisions.
Think clearly.
You can stay here for as long as you need to or take this opportunity to drop into a beautiful meditation.
Thank you for joining me today.
I'll see you again next time.
[Text appears on screen: 'Great work! See you soon.']
