Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.
How to Do This Practice:
- Take a moment to stand upright with your feet together and take a few deep breaths.
- Have your eyes looking forward.
- Soften your knee.
- Gently shift your weight onto your left leg and step your right foot aside.
- Face your palms inward, with your fingers relaxed and pointing down.
- With your chin slightly in, relax both shoulders, and tuck in your tailbone.
- Ground your feet and relax your knees, armpits, and fingers.
- Take a deep breath and exhale.
- Spend a few moments focused on your natural breathing and relaxed body.
- Now, bring your right foot back, so both feet are together.
- Lengthen your spine.
- Take a moment to observe how your body feels, until your breathing slows.
- Next, bring your hands together and rub them together vigorously, creating heat in between your palms.
- Now "wash" your face with your hands.
- "Wash" the side of your ears, to the back of your ears, the back of your neck.
- Now relax both hands at the front of your chest.
- Repeat this practice for one to five minutes.
Today’s Happiness Break host:
Sherry Zhang is the founder of Tai Chi Solutions and a Master Teacher of Qigong. She is faculty at Pacific College of Health and Sciences in New York City.
If you enjoyed this Happiness Break, you may also like these Happiness Breaks:
Walk Your Way to Calm (Guided Meditation), with Dacher: https://tinyurl.com/4w37zwpy
A Walking Meditation With Dan Harris of 10% Happier: https://tinyurl.com/4dv4ckzc
Check out these episodes of The Science of Happiness about movement based practices:
How Qigong Can Calm Your Mind and Body: https://tinyurl.com/2ywsck4e
Walk Outside with Inside Out’s Pete Docter: https://tinyurl.com/2nfc94zb
We love hearing from you! Tell us what movement based practice you’ve tried!
Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.
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Episode Transcript:
Dacher Keltner Welcome to Happiness Break, by The Science Happiness, I'm Dacher Keltner. And today we're going to try a practice that dates back over 4,000 years: qigong. We dedicated an entire Science of Happiness episode to qigong last week. I spoke with Harvard scientist Peter Wayne about the many proven health benefits of this ancient Chinese practice.
PETER WAYNE Qigong seems to be like a multi non drug intervention that affects the systems as a whole. Mind, body, cardiovascular, breathing, muscles, nerves, etc.
Dacher Keltner We have a link to that episode in the show notes … Now we're going to be guided in a standing meditation by qigong master Sherry Zhang. Sherry is the founder of Tai Chi Solutions and faculty at Pacific College of Health and Science in New York City. Here's Sherry.
Sherry Zhang So, qi is a energy. It's a life force. You cannot see it, but you can feel it, just like a flower blooming. When you lack of energy, you need to raise up the qi. You have to cultivate your qi on a daily basis. If you don't have qi, life force, energy, you don't have strength, period.
Today, we just do a really fundamental exercise call wuji standing meditation. So what is wuji? Wuji is infinity. So, this standing meditation you could repeat, and you can do a one minute at the beginning, and five minutes, and even longer. So the purpose for this standing meditation is relax the body, increase the self-awareness.
Okay, now let's do this exercise. Now standing upright with feet together, take a few deep breaths. Inhale deeply, Exhale, let it go. Eyes look forward. Keep your tongue touching upper palate. Soften the knee. Shift the weight on the left leg. Step your right foot aside.
Palm facing in. Finger, relaxed, point down. Your chin slightly in. Both shoulders relax down. Chest relaxing. Hips relaxed. Tailbone tuck under. Relax your knee. Relax your elbows. Relax your fingers. Inhale deeply. Exhale. Let it go.
Now bring your right foot back. Close. So, your feet grounded, rooted. So you lengthen the spine. Just observe. Feel your body. Is there tension over your shoulder, your hips, your knee?
Just naturally breathing without any attention. Until your breathing becomes smooth. Deep, slow, rhythmic.
Now keep your hands together, rub your hands. Now use your warm hands, just like wash your face. Clean the face. Comb the hair. Hands from side of ear, back of ear, side of your neck. Front of your chest. And relax.
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