Gentle Exercises for Optimal Health

Free Workshops!

Saturday, April 25, is World Tai Chi and Qigong Day. I will offer two free Qigong workshops on that day. These classes are part of a worldwide celebration of Tai chi and Qigong. All around the world, students of these two aligned arts will be practicing in community groups.

Everyone is Welcome

No experience is necessary to come. Beginners are welcome. Experienced students are welcome too. We want to build a big field of Qi we can all share in. This workshop will happen whatever the weather: sunshine, rain, or clouds. Read the rest of this entry »

Locking the Knees Creates Pain

Locking the knees is a harmful habit that many people slip into without being aware of it, a habit that can result in various chronic pains. You might experience, for instance, knee pain, pelvic problems, low back pain, neck stiffness, or tense shoulders. When the legs are completely straight as you stand, with the knees pressed back, it may seem like you are saving energy. Actually, you are putting strain onto your body. Locking the knees put pressure on the knees and pinches off some of the flow of blood, lymph, and Qi through your legs. Locking the knees adds more tension to your body because you have taken away the shock absorber effect that bent knees provide.

A Small Experiment

Do this experiment: Stand up and lock your knees. Inhale a deep breath, then exhale. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember to Shake

A client of mine–Peg–told me this story recently. Upon hearing that it was 5 degrees below zero in the town they were planning on vacationing in, Peggy began getting worried. She and her husband were traveling there in just a couple of days.

But then she caught herself. “Wait a minute. I don’t have to go into fear and tension. I don’t have to repeat my worry pattern.” She remembered hearing on the Fun With Qigong DVD, that “If you can’t remember anything else about Qigong, remember to shake.”

Think Clearly

So she went in to the other room and started bouncing up and down. The Shaking the Body exercise soon released the tension and broke the fearful train of thought. Soon she felt calmer and more at ease in her body. She begin to think about the upcoming trip more clearly, and with her solution skills enabled. She was able to think up several ways to deal with cold weather she had not thought of and realized that the cold weather was probably about to break anyway.

Improve Your Day

Qigong can be used in these simple ways, everyday to improve your day. Sometimes taking one exercise and using it in a key moment can shift your whole day for the better. Sometimes, it may make an entire week of your life more fun, livable, and memorable. I’m going to shake right now; I could use it.

Qigong is one of the safest ways of exercising there is. Because of the soft approach I recommend, this practice gives healing results with few worries. Essentially, to practice Qigong in a safe and effective way; just take it easy.

Be Gentle

Most Qigong is meant to be gently expressed. Regulation of the body happens with a moderate approach to the exercises. This gentleness and ease is also one of the secrets of how Qigong works. When you relax, you let down defensive tension states inside your body. Instead of unconsciously resisting health, you open to the gentle whispers, the subtle messages that inform and change your physiology in the moment, and heal concretizations of old injuries and bad habits.

Do Less to Gain More

If something you are doing hurts in some way or doesn’t feel right, back away from it. Do that movement with less force, or in a smaller way. Or perhaps don’t do that move at all. For instance, if your knees hurt when you bend them, consider bending them less. If breathing deeply makes you dizzy, it might be because you are breathing in excess of what your body is ready to do.

“8-Pulling Waist”

Taught be Robert B. Bates, DC, MMQ

Date:                      Sunday, April 5, 2009
Time:                     10:00 to 2:00
Cost:                      $60
Location:               Robert Bates’ Healing Space
Street:                   1095 E. Axton Road
Near:                      Bellingham, WA 98226
To Sign Up:           Contact Robert

wild-goose-8-pullling-waist-PDF

Have (Moderately Intricate) Fun

8-Pulling Waist (strange name, I know) is, for Wild Goose Qigong, a simple form. It is a set with a number of fun movements to play with. 8-Pulling Waist consists of 16 moves that take less than two minutes to perform. Some people like to do the form three times in a row for greater effect. Read the rest of this entry »

Three Days of Refinement

I just spent three days with Paul Li, a Doctor of Chinese Medicine and a Qigong master from San Francisco. Paul has been studying and practicing Wild Goose Qigong since 1978, shortly after it became public in China. Before this time, the system was completely, utterly, unknown. It wasn’t even known to exist by anybody except the legacy holder, it was so secret. Wild Goose Qigong is a vigorous, involved, complex Qigong that has an immense number of different types of moves. For those of us that like intricacy and variety, it is a fun system to practice.

Bellingham Wild Goose Qigong Club Read the rest of this entry »

Wild Goose and the Biker

When I was performing the Wild Goose Qigong practice last Sunday, I did it on a former logging road that is now used as a hiking, horseback riding and biking trail. Sure enough, a bicyclist on his mountain bike came riding by when I was in the middle of “The First 64″. Many internal arts exercise can look strange to the average American. I try to avoid doing these type of forms in public places. I don’t do them to show off to strangers, I do them because they are such effective ways to health and happiness. I guess I’m a little shy. (But showing off to friends or students is okay.) In the cities of China, you find the parks full of people doing odd-looking movement practices outside. Not yet in America. Read the rest of this entry »

Wild Goose Qigong

One of the methods I use to keep my Qigong practice going well is to take particular sets or exercises and drill them everyday for a while. I am currently practicing two forms from the Wild Goose Qigong system, every day. I am readying myself for the arrival of Wild Goose Master Paul Li. He is flying up to Bellingham from San Francisco to teach a review workshop this weekend on two forms. I’ve been practicing these two long movement forms–named”The First 64″ and “Spiral”–so I can be super-prepared to absorb the refinements from his instruction. And for the many health betterments that accrue and get imbued into my bodyfrom these great and complex forms. Plus, its fun.

Practice Early or Practice Late, But Practice Read the rest of this entry »