Benefits: Cleansing the lungs and strengthening the muscles of the diaphragm.
Begin this tai chi exercise by sitting with your back against the back of the chair. Legs should be shoulder width apart, feet flat on the floor. Tuck your hips under slightly and curve your shoulders inward without hunching. The idea here is to keep the chi’s from flowing outward away from the body. Hold your head lightly on your neck as though it were suspended by a string from the ceiling.
Visualization: Imagine a disc that is ch’i. It is stationary and still. As you breathe in, set the disc in motion with your mind. As it begins to spin faster and faster, exhale and allow the sparks of energy to shoot through your body. Direct that energy upward through and around your trunk.
- Close your eyes. Hold both hands over your diaphragm so that you can feel the muscles expanding and contracting as you breathe in and out.
- Inhale deeply through your nose, expanding your diaphragm. The disc (ch’i) is located in the lower abdomen (lower dan tien) about three finger widths below your navel. By breathing in deeply, you have set that disc in motion. It begins to pick up speed and as it does, energy is released. It is your mind that determines where the energy will be sent so imagine the energy sparks traveling upward through your abdomen, into your chest where the sparks will circle in and out and around the lungs.
- Exhale through your mouth and as you do so, envision the toxins that have collected in your lungs exiting through your mouth and out of your system.
Repetitions: Nine
