Chinese Yoga (Qi Gong) Balances Moods and Purges Negative Emotions
We all have moments in life where we are immersed in shadow feelings of sadness, despair, heartache, disappointment or anger.
Yet, many people stuff these feelings deep inside and ignore them, without realizing that the vibration or energy of these feelings can impact mental, physical and spiritual health.
If you are someone that is always on the go and find it difficult to focus on any one thing for very long be it an exercise program, dietary strategies, or even tasks within your work or daily life, then you might be someone who is using a hectic pace of life to avoid processing shadow emotions.
A clue that you may be using activity to suppress feelings is that shadow feelings and negative thoughts arise when you allow yourself down time–or you find yourself excessively tired when you slow down.
It takes adrenaline to suppress feelings, yet when you slow down, the adrenaline levels drop. The impact of moving through life with an adrenaline rush is that while it may insulate you from challenging emotions by spurring you into action, it may also exhaust your adrenal glands, thyroid and play a role in high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Chinese yoga (qi gong) can be an effective tool to integrate into daily life, to purge shadow emotions which also play a role in conditions of toxicity such as cancer, chronic illness or pain, and depression.
Chinese Yoga Builds Awareness of Emotional States
Chinese yoga creates a deeper awareness of our emotional layers. Awareness is the first step in healing shadow emotions and releasing them. Often times, these shadow layers may be held physically in the body resulting in extra weight especially around the stomach and waist.
Chinese yoga breath work (dao yin) encourages us to slow down our breath and thoughts, so that we may come into awareness of the emotions we are storing, and begin processing and releasing them.
Some people start to feel impatient, anxious, frustrated, restless, or irritable when they are asked to deepen their breath. Those sensations are windows into our emotional reactivity and give us information about how we may be responding to experience on a unconscious level.
Similarly when asked to perform qi gong movements, people may tend to rush through the movements, as opposed to lingering and allowing themselves to notice the emotional sensations that occur when the body is moving. So, qi gong can be very helpful to developing an awareness of feelings and connecting emotions to the physical states.
Chinese Yoga Movements Release Emotions Associated with Specific Organs
In the Chinese medicine system, emotions are associated with specific organs.
Lungs: Perseverance/grief/sadness.
Heart: Joy or overexcitation.
Spleen: Centeredness/calmness or anxiety.
Liver: Compassion or anger/frustration.
Kidneys: Courage and will/discipline or fears.
I teach a set of qi gong movements that gently target each of these organs with soft twists of the body and slow arm and leg movements combined with breathing.
These movements can be performed in as little as two to three minutes and interspersed throughout the day to help you liberate and process layers of feelings. When performed regularly, this type of prescriptive qi gong can be a valuable tool in place of or as a complement to traditional psychotherapy or drug therapies.
For example, a recent study conducted at the University of California school of medicine found that individuals suffering from depression, who were over the age of 60, experienced greater effects from their anti-depressant medications, when they were taught a simple set of tai chi.
Qi Gong (Chinese yoga)as the mother art of tai chi is an even easier art to learn, yet is as equally as powerful in terms of impacting psychological states positively.
To encourage people to use the tool of Chinese yoga to process feelings, Westlake Well Being along with Aiki Healing will offer a free emotional detoxification class of qi gong on Sept. 6, Labor Day from 8 to 9 am and again at 1 pm to 2 pm at 3355 Bee Caves Road, Building 7 First Floor in Austin, Texas. Please RSVP this Free Day of Yoga by using the contact information below.
Kay Hutchinson, CAMQ, CAMT is a certified advanced teacher of medical qi gong and uses it in her clincal practice along with acupressure and herbal medicine to balance emotions. Listen to the free breath work meditation for cleansing emotions at the http://www.aikihealing.com/qigongstudio.php Contact her via the website to RSVP Free Day of Yoga in Austin.