Qigong Chinese gymnastics: on the video of the exercise, in the article recommendations for implementation for recovery for beginners
And this is not surprising, because almost all metabolic processes depend on how well the body is saturated with oxygen through breathing. No wonder during bronchitis, pneumonia and other bronchopulmonary diseases, when breathing is disturbed, general weakness sets in, there is no appetite and other unpleasant consequences occur. One of the most famous wellness techniques, where the emphasis is on proper breathing, is the Chinese qigong gymnastics.
Depending on the goal to be achieved in the end, there are several main areas in it, including medical qigong, combat qigong, and philosophical qigong. The peculiarity of this gymnastics in comparison with more modern analogues is that in order to properly perform the exercises in it, one must not only master their technical side, but also pay serious attention to the philosophical and spiritual component. According to Chinese philosophers, the whole world around us is filled with Qi energy, which is present not only in people and other creatures, but even in inanimate objects such as trees and buildings. In each of these objects or beings, the Qi energy moves inside and interacts with the energy of other objects. Inside the human body, this energy circulates along special meridians, healing and harmonizing the human body.
There are three main centers (dantan):
- upper (located in the head)
- medium (located in the chest)
- lower (focused on the lower abdomen and pelvis)
In qigong gymnastics, through regular external influence on these centers, there is an improvement in the movement of Qi through the body and, accordingly, an improvement in the functioning of internal organs.
Steps of health-improving qigong gymnastics
I must say that almost all exercises of qigong gymnastics are presented in the form of three stages of mastering the technique, where the first stage is the simplest. A person who wants to practice qigong must first learn the basic skills of doing the exercises. These skills involve alternately tensing or relaxing different muscles. At the first stage, work begins on the general improvement of the body, the emancipation of the dantans and energy purification. Further, qigong training is conducted from simple to more complex, and the second stage already implies the unity of movements and breathing. When a person approaches the third stage, here, in addition to physical exercises and proper breathing, active work of consciousness is also added. After passing the third stage of qigong, a person gains harmony and emotional stability.
It is advisable to pay attention to health-improving qigong gymnastics every day, no matter what time of the day – morning, afternoon or evening. You do not need to immediately start long and tiring exercises, you can start with ten minutes of classes, consisting of just a few exercises. At the same time, the room should be ventilated, and it is even better to conduct classes in the fresh air. Clothing should be loose and not restrictive. If you can't do daily exercises, you can do it several days a week, the most important thing is that classes should be regular, and not from time to time, because then the effect of gymnastics will be seriously reduced. You need to start practicing qigong only in a good mood, because each exercise in this gymnastics has a philosophical meaning.
Chinese qigong for beginners
At its core, qigong is breathing exercises, so when performing even the simplest exercises, it is necessary to pay attention to breathing technique. During the exercises, you need to breathe deeply and evenly, since proper breathing gives a proportional load on the heart and saturates the blood with oxygen.
At the initial stage of qigong gymnastics, it is important to master the technique of relaxation and calming in a standing position. For this, the tree pose is intended, which embodies the life and power of a large tree, is natural for a person and is suitable for the smooth flow of his energy. You need to put your feet shoulder-width apart and bend your knees slightly. At the same time, the back remains straight, and the chin is slightly lowered down, the hands are at the level of the abdomen and seem to be hugging something large and round. There are several variations of this pose, but the main thing is the uniform relaxation of all muscle groups. Breathing should be even and deep, eyes can be closed. During the exercise, you need to imagine that the legs, like the roots of a tree, draw energy from the earth, and the head, with the top of its head, reaches for the sunlight and radiance, absorbing the energy of the cosmos.
Of the other qigong gymnastics exercises for beginners, the “Dragon Takes Off" exercise is suitable. You need to stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. While inhaling, you need to bring your shoulders forward and stretch them, and while exhaling, take your shoulders back and down, observing even breathing. In total, you need to do 10 repetitions, alternately moving your shoulders forward and backward. Such a slow rotation of the shoulders allows you to liberate the middle dan tan, fill it with pure Qi energy.
Even having mastered the initial qigong techniques, you can successfully withstand constant stress at work. For example, in China, many civil servants and businessmen do various qigong breathing exercises to relieve fatigue and irritability. After performing such exercises, it becomes not only easier and calmer to breathe, but also to think, because at this moment all energy centers are cleansed and filled with pure energy.
Therapeutic breathing exercises qigong
Since the basis of qigong gymnastics is to improve the circulation of Qi energy flows and fill all the centers with it, which, in turn, distribute the renewed energy to the internal organs, this results in the fight against various diseases and overall strengthening of the body. The task of qigong therapeutic gymnastics is to improve human health and knowledge of one's body. It must be understood that even older people can perform qigong exercises, with each lesson increasing the overall tone of the body, rejuvenating it, charging with vigor and stress resistance. By focusing on the upper and middle centers, various diseases of the spine can be favorably influenced. Increasingly, those who need to restore the body after injuries of the musculoskeletal system, with the aim of preventing and treating scoliosis, are turning to qigong exercises.
Qigong gymnastics exercises on a video with a description
One of the simplest, but very important exercises for health is smooth walking. You need to go forward, gently touching the ground with your heel, while relaxing your head and lower back area and imagining that the walk takes place on a summer or spring day among flowering bushes. Breathing is carried out through the nose, as if a light breeze passes through the respiratory tract, filling the middle dan tan in the chest with energy, where it is redistributed to the heart, kidneys and other internal organs. The spine is relaxed, and the crown of the head stretches towards the cosmos, blood and Qi flow freely through the vessels and energy meridians.
The Dancing Dragon exercise is suitable for liberating the lower center. Legs during this exercise are closed together. While inhaling, you need to slightly bend your knees and put your palms on them, and while exhaling, you need to straighten your knees, pushing them back a little with your palms. During the exercise, you should try to squat deeper and deeper, but not until painful sensations appear. Repeat the movement 10 times, maintaining even and calm breathing. The Dancing Snake exercise is also good for the lower dan tan. You need to stand up straight, put your feet shoulder-width apart, and put your hands behind your head, clasping your palms, and pulling your elbows back. Next, you need to slowly rotate the hips in one direction, trying to make half the circle on the inhale, and half on the exhale. In total, you need to do 5 times in each direction.
When mastering therapeutic exercises, it is best, of course, to use a video of qigong gymnastics. Then the chance to make a mistake in a pose or in performing movements will be much less than when reading a textual description.
Qigong gymnastics for weight loss
Particular attention in qigong gymnastics is given to the pelvic area, which is, without exaggeration, the most stagnant part of the body. Sedentary work, low mobility lead to blood and energy clamps in it, their poor circulation. Then various problems can arise with blood vessels and internal organs, including the gastrointestinal tract, on the correct operation of which the digestive process and metabolism in general depend.
You can successfully use qigong gymnastics for weight loss, because the exercises included in it are aimed not only at studying proper breathing and a general strengthening effect on the body, but also imply mastering the basics of meditative techniques to cleanse the energy component of human life. In combination with proper breathing, this has the effect of normalizing the functioning of internal organs, saturating tissues with oxygen, improving metabolism, and with it burning excess body fat. Unlike aerobics, the peculiarity of qigong gymnastics is the calm pace of the exercises, without undue stress.
It is enough to practice daily for about half an hour to achieve a significant effect. Moreover, practice has shown that increasing the time of classes for more than an hour will not bring the desired result, instead of feeling cheerfulness and vitality, a person will get tired, losing it. Thanks to its gentle technique, qigong is well suited for elderly or physically weak people who want to normalize their metabolism and lose weight. When starting qigong weight loss exercises, one must be prepared for the fact that the feeling of hunger may be slightly dulled. Thus, intense practice of this technique for several hours a day can have too much effect, reflected in stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, or excessive weight loss. Some people, having started to lose weight a lot according to this method, may even get scared and begin to heavily lean on products,
In an effort to lose weight, it is best to use a video of Chinese qigong gymnastics, where a competent instructor will tell you how to perform this or that exercise correctly and how to eat during a weight loss course. In addition, we must remember that qigong will have its healing effect, if not just technically repeat the movements in the exercise, but seriously work on your body, inner world and lifestyle.
Qigong gymnastics for women
In youth, a woman has a strong and healthy Qi, which manifests itself in the desire to do many things at the same time. Over time, an excessive load in the form of a career, family and home life loses such energy, becoming lethargic, apathetic. Moreover, along with energy, health often goes away, to which too little attention is paid. For women, qigong exercises can be very useful in terms of how to restore vitality, health and activity.
The Chinese technique teaches women of different age categories to respect themselves and love their own bodies. Proper breathing and enrichment of the inner world, along with qigong gymnastics, helps to lose weight, eliminate anxiety, insomnia, overcome chronic fatigue and some diseases of the internal organs. During the performance of the necessary exercises, the Qi energy fills the body and moves along the energy meridians, starting the work of diseased internal organs, including the mechanism of general strengthening of immunity and healing, and the muscles receive a good physical load, due to which there is a surge of vigor, the oxygen supply of the body improves and metabolic processes are activated..
It is convenient that for this gymnastics you do not need to have special skills and devices. You can do it anywhere, best of all, of course, in the fresh air near a good source of energy (sea, river, forest, park). One of the tasks of this technique is also the normalization of the mental state of a woman. Filling the energy centers with pure Qi energy will help you become calmer, more cheerful and learn to control your emotions.
With all this, it is necessary to understand that qigong gymnastics developed by Chinese philosophers is not just a combination of breathing and physical exercises, and its essence is not in the number of exercises, but in the depth of inner self-knowledge, in deep immersion in one's "I" during class. Each movement of the exercise should bring a feeling of Qi moving through your own body, only then the movements in the exercise will be remembered by themselves, filled with meaning, and will not look like a random combination of actions. In this gymnastics, it is necessary not only to perform the exercises correctly, but also to think correctly, i.e. focus on your feelings, leaving all everyday affairs and problems. For this, you can ask the household not to disturb during the lesson, turn on soothing oriental music, remembering that that inner peace and stress resistance is the basis of physical health. Ideally, you should try to achieve complete relaxation of the body and mind. Getting rid of negative thoughts and unpleasant problems will already give a significant amount of energy, which will add strength and desire to live, enjoying each new day of your life.