Gentle Exercises for Optimal Health

Take Fasting Slowly

According to an article on Vietnam net on Dec 12, 2010, a man died after two months of fasting, reportedly for a Qigong regimen. This 34-year old martial artist in Ho Chi Minh City was on a water fast in order to clear his blood and organs of toxins so he could build up his Qi . Instead he killed himself from starvation.

Going to the Extreme Does Not Heal

This fellow was practicing a method to the extreme. Extremes do not heal, strengthen, or make healthy. Extremes push boundaries, but healing happens with balance and relaxation. The great, crazed Nietzsche famously wrote that “What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.” In the context of a personal health approach, this is nuts. Anything that almost kills you makes you need to rehab and re-strengthen afterward.

Gentleness Heals

Gentle Qigong practice helps us recover from the stresses, messes, strains, and pains of life. Don’t reinjure yourself when you are trying to heal. Don’t break yourself trying to remake yourself into something greater.

My Fasting Story

I once experimented with fasting after reading various enthusiastic books about it and it’s magic. These books weren’t written from a Qigong perspective; more from the American Naturopathic tradition. After I graduated from Chiropractic college when I was 25, I checked myself into a fasting institute in order to capture some of this magic energy and health that the fasting books promised. I wanted a jump start for my upcoming professional career. My water fast was only 11 days, not two months like the guy in the news story.

Fasting Institute

The fasting institute was pleasant. It was in a former residence in the suburban hills north of San Francisco. A lovely setting amidst the rolling hills, fields, and oaks of Northern California. The doctor and staff there were personable, knowledgeable and committed to their work. There were 8 or 10 of us there for the fasting.

I Got Tired 

My experience was not as promised from my studies and inquiries. Friends had told me that after 3 days I would be full of energy. Not having to eat food I would be on a kind of a high. Instead, I got more and more tired. I got around the place in slow, heavy ambles. Once a day I would take a slow, labored walk up the hill on the paved road, feeling a thousand years old in my steps. Maybe I was just so full of toxins that I never did get them cleared all out.

I Got Hungry

I was also told that I wouldn’t feel hungry after 3 or 4 days. Yet hunger never left me. I will tell you, just from this little civilized test, starvation is no fun. I hope I never have to face it for real. I got hungrier and hungrier. I never stopped craving food; never stopped thinking about it, longing for it, daydreaming of it. On day 9 of the fast I was the sickest, clearing toxins through my amber urine.

By day 11 I was no longer sick, but was so hungry, so physically and mentally frail. I was too tired to read much even. To have the time and leisure and books, but no energy for reading is a kind of a hell for a bibliophile like me.

Coming off the Fast 

On day 12 I came off the fast, starting my caloric intake with a glass of watermelon juice each at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yummy. I savored that fruity succor. Another day or two of juices and then on to giant, dry salads that took an hour to eat, chewing at maximum speed. After the last day—number 17—I left the institute and drove home. Still weak and hungry, I craved fat and bought packs of macadamia nuts at a gas station/store. How delicious those were.

I Felt Weak for Weeks

I felt fragile and feeble in my body for several weeks after the water fast. I lost weight, but I also lost energy and oomph. It set me back, rather than vaulting me forward. It may be that I fasted wrong, or not long enough, or it just wasn’t right for my constitution. For me anyway, fasting wasn’t the answer. It would be 5 more years before I discovered the non-weakening power of Qigong.

Fast Moderately

Fasting should be taken in small amounts, a day or 3 for most people is plenty. Short, periodic fasts are a time-tested way to more health. Longer fasts may be appropriate for some people, occasionally, but I wouldn’t put much trust in going too long. Be careful of extremes of anything. Any extreme is an imbalanced state that doesn’t take into account the other extreme. It is a one-sided, lopsided, untenable position, for the other side must come along to balance out the lever.

In a short video that I have included below is a simple Qigong-like exercise to help a heart with any excess condition. Excess conditions are those of too much Yang in the heart, (or too little Yin elsewhere). High blood pressure, angina, tachycardia, and other physical heart issues can be the result. This exercise can also be helpful for such issues as anxiety, insomnia, over-excitement, night sweats, mental and emotional problems and dizziness.

In a two minute video clip, Stephen Sinatra, a cardiologist, talks about how the arms are extensions of the heart. Early in embryogenesis the arms came from the heart area.

Thus,

“If you want to work with someone’s heart, work with the energy of the arms.”

He makes the point that conductors, who are raising their arms in motion, live healthily into their 90’s.

The key to the video is the little exercise Stephen Sinatra shows. He recommends swinging your arms back and forth a couple hundred times a day to keep the thoracic duct open.

The thoracic duct is the major pathway in the center of the chest where lymph flows from the abdomen and legs back to the heart

The video style is intense (itself a stress on the heart), but short.

The Heart/Arm Connection

I’ve often noticed this heart and arm connection with my healing clients and Qigong students. Symptoms in the chest can often be relieved by opening the shoulders and guiding attention, sensation and Qi down the arms, and off the fingers. In Medical Qigong training we are taught to take a patient’s excess heart Qi out of the heart, down three of the meridians of the arm (Small Intestine, Pericardium and Heart). Dredging down the entire arm, not just the meridians, works quite well also.

The arms and hands can be thought of the external manifestations of the heart. It is with the arms that we create, or hug ,or hold tight, or push away, or fight for our space. A post and video I made for lowering high blood pressure prominently uses the arms to release heart tension.

I almost included arm swinging in my Five Flows Qigong Set, and even made a preliminary video of it. (I put it into Five Flows Qigong Set 2). Here it is:

The swinging exercise has other benefits to the heart. It opens the thoracic outlet, relaxes the shoulders, sends blood to to the hands to relieve excess, and improves lymph flow from the arms via the axillary nodes and clavicular pathways.

This exercise—like just about everything else in life—works even better with lower abdominal breathing.

Note: Just about any Kidney strengthening exercises can help with excess heart issues. The fiery heart needs to be supported, nourished and controlled some by the water energy of the Kidneys. This is according to the useful (and quite functional) pattern of the Five Elemental Energies.

Natural, Empowering Health Options

Here’s a positive and proactive way to look at breast health. There are so many healthful, non-traumatic ways to work with breast health. Below are exercises, videos, a book, some links and some simple philosophy. The first information I share is from the Qigong tradition.  

One of the main points is to keep the tissues, fluids, and energies flowing. Stagnation is the breeding ground of disease. Movement is the keeper of health and progenitor of healing.

Keep in Mind and Practice

• Keep the Qi moving.
• Keep the blood flowing.
• Keep the lymph flowing.

Here are three Qigong exercises that help with breast health.

Note: The Five Flows DVD includes Exercises # 1 and # 2 listed below as well as additional immune-boosting, easy-to-learn, Qigong exercises.

Exercise #1. Shaking the Body

Shaking the Body is basically just gently shaking up and own. Shaking will stimulate circulation, increase lymph flow, and release stagnation at the cellular and tissue levels. Shaking with intent offers many benefits. One of them can be to release a stuck, stagnant or hot Liver. In Chinese Medicine thought, such Liver conditions are usually a part of the toxic stagnancies like cancers.

Exercise #2: Streaming the Fountains

One of the great benefit of Streaming the Fountains is that the arms are repetitively, rhythmically, slowly raised above the head and then lowered. Raising the arms in this way opens the lymphatic pathways through the armpit. The greatest part of breast lymph is drained through the lymph nodes in the armpit (the axillary nodes.) By slowly and smoothly practicing Streaming the Fountains, the axillary lymph nodes are gently stretched and opened; then lightly compressed. A lymph pulsation then ensues, releasing tenderness, decreasing tension, and increasing flow through your breasts.

Axillary Lymph Nodes

Exercise #3: Press Heaven and Earth

Press Heaven and Earth is a similar exercise to Streaming the Fountains in that you are raising the arms and drawing energy up and down the body vertically. It comes from the ancient 8 Silken Brocades Set. Once learned well, it is even more effective in moving stuck Qi in the chest and opening the armpit nodes than Streaming the Fountains.

Press Heaven and Earth Instructions

Slowly, over 3 to 5 seconds, press and stretch one hand high and one low. The high hand is over the head and the lower hand at the outer thigh. The upper palm is bent on the stretches, with fingers facing inward. The lower palm stretches down at the side of the thigh. Exhale as hands go away from each other. Inhale as they come toward each other, crossing at the chest. This also is done slowly over 3 to 5 seconds. The slowness allows a smoothness of movement and empowered lymph flow to take place. The hands also twist as they rise or sink, especially the rising hand.

Raise and Lower Simultaneously

Open the Armpit/Push Down

Relax Arms Down and Up

Twist the Palm as it Rises

Now the Opposite Armpits are Open or Closed

Medical Qigong for Breast Health

The International Institute of Medical Qigong has a DVD on using Qigong exercises for breast health and breast cancer prescriptions. These exercises use circular movements of the hands to increase breast Qi flow and special healing sounds. The teacher on the video is Jerry Alan Johnson, my own Medical Qigong instructor.

Lymphatic Self-Massage

Here is a short video of a lymphatic pumping breast massage, basic but powerful and important. Some 70 percent of the lymph of the breasts flows to and through the axillary nodes. It is very, very important to keep these pathways open and always flowing. Flowing lymph clears stagnations that might otherwise lead to disease.

Dressed to Kill

The book Dressed to Kill makes the argument that tight bras lead to an increase in breast cancer. Some authorities pooh pah this assertion. It makes clear sense to me, however. A tight bra will compress the skin and lymph flow of the breast, especially in the most important channel along the upper, outside ribs toward the armpit. Many women, after learning about this, rethink their bra choices and bra-wearing patterns. Basically, wearing bras less often; wearing bras more loosely; and keeping the flows a going. 

Those that might dismiss this book as pseudoscience are missing the point: That marketing undergarments is a science, one based on profit, not truth. And from my extensive studies in Qigong, Lymph Drainage Therapy, Visceral Manipulation, and Cranio-Sacral Therapy—I think the authors of the book have a strong message that needs to be listened to and explored further. 

Chinese Medicine for Breast Health

Here is a site devoted to the natural, Chinese Medicine thinking about breast health and approaching breast cancer through Qigong, acupressure and other proven natural methods.

Lymph Drainage Therapy

The superb system of Lymph Drainage Therapy has even more sophisticated approaches to working on the breasts. Anyone who has taken the second course in LDT from the Chikly Health Institute (formerly with the Upledger Institute) has learned the Breast Drainage approach. You might want to find a qualified therapist to help with this. Note: Different states, regions or countries have different laws for which licensed therapists can work on breasts.

Daily Breast Massage

Here is a video that is more of a teaser; it doesn’t show the breast massage techniques, just some women talking about the process. The video looks like it might be worth exploring, worth getting the DVD if it speaks to you.

For those that don’t have health insurance (a large number of us, it appears), cheap healthcare is a must. Taking classes, such as Qigong or Yoga, is one inexpensive way to invest in your health with but a small financial outlay. Another way is through such programs as affordable acupuncture.

Hamsterpuncture

My healing colleauge in Bellingham, Washington, Ed Layton, is an acupuncturist and herbalist who offers sliding scale acupuncture treatments. He has a room with four tables in it, so he can work on four people at a time. The fees for these treatments are $15 to $40 on a sliding scale.

Ed Layton

He also offers private sessions for those that that need more in-depth attention. If you could use some extra health help, but can’t afford private sessions, check out the superb option at Hamsterpuncture. “Hamster”, buy the way, is a play on what some folks around here call the locals: Bellinghamsters.

This is a growing trend, the offering of lower fee services for a group of people.

Both Public and Private Sessions

Myself, I offer private sessions and lessons for the reasonable price of $75 an hour. I also ofter Qigong courses that come to just $10 an hour, or less. A lot of great healing can be had for just a little money. And sometimes, more intensive, personalized work is needed to really get at issues.

I believe that our current medical system in the modern world is so bloated and overloaded that it is likely to soon collapse. We, as a culture, will soon need practical, inexpensive, accessible methods of dealing health and illness. We will need them badly. Many of us need them now. Ed and I and many others are doing what we can to prepare for the day when health care will be a neighborhood boon and an easily accessible neccessity.

One of the prime reasons to pursue Qigong is to get more energy. One of the Qigong ways to get more energy is working with breathing. Qigong breathing practices could be looked at as the foundation, or the essential aspect, of Qigong.

Sudden Inhalation Syndrome

There are many aspects to becoming a better breather, and many benefits. One of the aspects is becoming aware in your daily life of how you are breathing. Lately I have been noticing how some people have a pattern of speaking that can’t be good for them. I call this pattern Sudden Inhalation Syndrome.

What people with this habit do is take a rapid, high-chest, short, intense inhale before quickly speaking. It is a quick, strong sniff followed even more quickly with talking. Most people with such patterns are not aware of them.

This is Shock Breathing

Grasping such fast, small breaths emulates the kind of inhale a person takes when they are suddenly shocked by something unexpected or fearful. It is the breath of surprise and fear. Try a few of those breaths yourself, right now. Do you feel how intense the experience is? Such a breath can immediately lead to feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, unsteadiness, and dizziness. This breath method uses only secondary or tertiary breathing muscles to pull in air, creating muscular tension in the upper chest and neck and throat. It compresses the heart, constricts the throat, and compromises the lungs.

This collection of mental, emotional and physical states is not the ideal platform for speaking.

So Many Symptoms from Shock Breathing

Other possible symptoms include headaches, jaw pain, back pain and shoulder issues. Because the heart is being compressed along with very little abdominal expansion on the inhales, high blood pressure will come. Stress, fatigue, low grade frequent illness, digestive issues and elimination issues are likely as well. Sudden inhalations into the chest before speaking is a type of stress breathing. It overstimulates the fight, flight, fright, freeze mechanisms of the Sympathetic Nervous system. (By the way, the Sympathetic Nervous system doesn’t have much sympathy; It is all about survival in the midst of danger.)

Causes of Sudden Inhalation Syndrome

There are many reasons someone might be a a quick breath speaker with Sudden Inhalation Syndrome. Most of the reasons have to do with upbringing and emotional trauma earlier in life. For most people there is a something about having to get in a word as soon as possible after someone else was speaking. Whatever the causes, becoming aware of the pattern and retraining it, will lead to much healing.

I doubt recreating the experience of shock over and over again all day long is what most people want to do.

Breathe...Then Speak

What to Do

Watch how you talk. Learn to notice when you breathe-speak this way. Give yourself reminders to check in frequently on yourself. Little stickers posted around are good for this. I like to give little green dots to my clients and students. This is a simple, cheap, and effective retraining technology.

“Ding”

Another method is to find a kind (a sympathetic) friend or coworker to help you notice. In Toastmasters, budding speakers are taught to eliminate verbal fillers like “ah,” “uhm”, and “you know” with a bell. Every time a speaker says a filler, the bellmaster rings the bell. In real time the speaker gets feedback. It takes only a few weeks to drop fillers to 5 to 10% of what they were. Have your watchful friend say “ding” or something else you choose when they catch you suddenly inhaling before speaking.

Also, when someone else is speaking, keep breathing. Don’t hold you breath.

Teach people who interrupt you to give you a chance to collect your thoughts and your oxygen when it is your turn to speak. As an adult, you don’t have to rush in to be heard, at least not in most of your life.

In August of 2010 an article was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine citing a study of Tai Chi for the painful, baffling syndrome of Fibromyalgia. It turns out that there were significant mental and physical improvements for the Tai Chi group after only 12 weeks of supervised practice. The practices were one hour long, two times a week. Even more telling, the improvements remained 6 months later.

 http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa0912611

 http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Fibromyalgia/21749

Science Continues to Support Qigong

Many scientific studies have been done to investigate the healing benefits of practicing Qigong and Tai Chi. “Tai Chi,” in most of these studies, is essentially another type of Qigong: A short movement form done slowly with attention to posture, movement, the body, mind, and breath. Though these short forms are taught to people unfamiliar with Qigong or Tai Chi, they still have quick, predictable, good results.

The Science of Centuries

Qigong, in all of it’s facets has been used as a health practice for thousands of years, undergoing advancement and refinement through all of those centuries. It has been proven over and over again to be a super source of health. Modern scientific studies are coming to the same conclusion.

Low-Priced Health Treasure for the Taking

Qigong and Tai Chi are not just relatively inexpensive way’s to feeling better, they are natural ways to healing that are super-duper cheap compared to modern medicine.

Qigong Methods for Fibromyalgia

Just about any slow moving, body-focused, energy-feeling type of Qigong would help ease the symptoms of fibromyalgia. These self-healing exercises can be the basis for creating a healing lifestyle.

Doing the Five Flows set twice a day would make someone feel better and begin a river of healing. The Five Flows is an introductory set of special movements, similar to a basic Tai chi form. There a several primary healing mechanisms in the set. Shaking and tapping release physical stagnations. Breathing practices revitalize the blood and relax the nervous system. Qi charging exercises build up the internal organ strength and lymph flow. My thesis is that such results–even at the introductory level–will help the healing process for fibromyalgia and a host of other syndromes.

Medical Qigong Prescriptions

Medical Qigong is the subset of Qigong where very specific movements, meditations, sounds and breath-practices are given for medical conditions. Medical Qigong has prescription exercises that can help with fibromyalgia. My Medical Qigong teacher recommends purging blocked energy from the Liver; and charging the Kidneys and Spleen. Please note the terms “Liver,” “Spleen,” and Kidneys” have different meanings than the strictly anatomical and physiological meanings used in Western medicine. They have a more functional, systems-approach according to the tenets of Chinese Medicine. And Medical Qigong.

Liver, Kidneys, and Spleen

The Liver blockage impairs Qi flow throughout the body and creates too much toxic heat.

The low Kidney energy means fatigue, poor memory, and an inability to control a too-hot Liver.

The low Spleen energy (meaning the digestion is sluggish) also is overwhelmed by the Liver excess. Doing specific exercises daily is what it takes.

Some tutoring might be necessary. Doing these kinds of processes is much like tuning an instrument. The closer you get it to just right, the better it works.

Clear Liver Stagnation

For Liver stagnation, the “guo” sound is a good Qigong prescription. This is a deep, droning, “Gwwwoooo.” Guo is pronounced like cartoon character Elmer Fudd would saw “grow.” Healing Sound Qigong is used to put focus and vibration into target organs, thus leading to the release of stagnation. Always feel healing sounds vibrate in the target organ or area.

Charge the Kidneys

For the Kidneys, the Charging the Kidneys exercise from the Five Flows set is a good choice. You can do it while imagining blue energy filling the Kidneys, like warm ocean water.

Charge the Spleen

For the Spleen, put both hands on the Spleen and stomach area (on the left side of the upper belly ) and breathe yellow into it. Feel it fill up, warm up, and get cozy and happy.

Each of these exercises would need many repetitions, 50 to 100 or so.

Of course, this is just a beginning idea. Everyone has different needs. Fibromyalgia is a kind of a messy attic space diagnoses, and it is not just one thing.

Qigong Can and Will and Does Help

Whatever is going on with someone with fibromyalgia—depression, uncertainty in life, internal Qi stagnation, too much head-thinking, too many years of push, push, push, or whatever—Qigong can help move the Qi along and out and bring back natural, fresh internal flows.

In the fourth of four videos, to slip into a deep and pleasant and wonderful repose, draw your Qi down to your feet.

Here I present the third (of four) videos on using Qigong methods to reduce, repel, repulse and remove insomnia.

This is the second of four videos, detailing a Qigong method for alleviating insomnia, that aggravating sucker of energy.