qi gong pics - breathing - keller...
TRANSCRIPT
Breathing Qi Gong – Exercises explained
Great Bear Swimming
Wave Breathing Accordion with final side bend
Qi Gong increases the awareness of the body and helps with mapping movement and sensation in the sensori-‐motor cortex. It also helps to facilitate deep abdominal breathing in an active, yet calm way. It loosens up the thoracic spine to decrease sympathetic nervous system up-‐regulation. It teaches you to move without tension, and helps to decrease stress. It is an active way to improve the mind-‐body connection. Never push a movement beyond your comfort level. Your eyes can be open or closed depending on what feels better for you. Move slowly and smoothly at your own pace. If your arms or legs get tired, gently shake them out before moving to your next exercise. If exercises seem too difficult for you to do, then just visualize doing those exercises until they feel comfortable enough to try it. Listening to the audio clip through fully at least one time and imagining the positions that you will go into can be really helpful, especially if you have a lot of pain. Take it easy. Be gentle with yourself. This is a gentle practice, and there is no hurry to rush through it. The breathing qi gong routine can also be used to improve mind-‐body connection as an active, mindful meditation routine. Please go to www.guidedtherapeuticexercise.com if there are any questions about how to perform any of these
exercises. There are video demonstrations of each exercise on this website.