7 tips for your Qi Gong practice

I would like to give you 7 tips to bring your Qi Gong practice to a new level. These can be helpful for beginners, but also for advanced practitioners who feel they are stuck.

7 Qi Gong Tips for Beginners and Intermediates

Accept where you stand
If you can accept everything in qigong training, no matter how it happened to you, you have the best chance to learn it. Qigong may seem difficult at first. The movements are new and the exercises are not as easy as they look in the video. If you judge yourself because you haven't mastered one or another movement perfectly yet, it will cause stress in your body. It can demotivate you and you may no longer enjoy qigong. Therefore, praise yourself!
Balance of Yin and Yang
The entire TCM is always about balancing the polar forces of Yin and Yang. This is the basic principle of this holistic system of medicine. Yin and Yang are those opposites that we find everywhere in nature. Light and dark, warm and cold, male and female, left and right, up and down, near and far to name a few. What does this mean for our Qi Gong practice? Again, we want to balance these two forces that are in a constant dynamic exchange. Yang is the activity, Yin the relaxation. In our, mostly hectic everyday life, we should create a balance by giving more space to Yin. Qi Gong offers a great opportunity here. When your arms raise, it is a Yang movement. When they lower, it is a complementary Yin movement. Do your left and right sides of your body feel the same? On the left is the yin side and on the right is the yang side. Inhaling is yang and exhaling corresponds to yin. In qigong, when we breathe evenly, we want to create harmony between yin and yang.
Find a community
with whom you can practice. People who are also striving for a healthier and more conscious life and with whom you can practice qigong together. Train with your partner or another family member, or meet with friends and practice Qi Gong together. Because others can motivate you and help you to overcome your inner obstacle. And the next day the situation may be reversed and you motivate others to practice Qi Gong .Together it is easier! according to the saying: "What one cannot do, many can".
Set realistic goals for Qi Gong as well
By realistic, it is meant that your goals must spur you on, but not overwhelm you. Think of the yin and yang principle that you already know. A goal can look like this: practice a certain qigong form for 6 days, then take a break for one day. It doesn't sound like much and you can do it easily. When you reach day 6, you have a sense of accomplishment and can praise yourself for it. Now you decide to practice for another 6 days and so you can practice from week to week and take away the stress of having to do it for life. Qigong is a process that you have to choose over and over again. It is a way of living in which you work with your life energy.
Keep thinking about the inner qualities
Meant are those qualities that are not apparent to the observer at first glance. Qi Gong is always a whole body workout. Even if only your arms, in the rhythm of breathing, raise and lower, you are still focused on the whole body. The movements of your legs are also important in this context. Always remember to let your body sink. Allow your shoulders and chest to sink down, your jaw joint to relax, and your knees to bend slightly so that your whole body can gently sink down. This sinking leads to the next inner quality - rootedness. Rootedness is an extremely important aspect of qigong. Through the idea of deep and solid roots, we get a sense of stability and security. This can also be related to the emotional level. Get into the basic position and root yourself consciously. You will feel how safe and stable you feel in this position. Ready to get involved in life!
Develop a sense of space
This is called "field sense" in English. Over time, you should feel not only your body, but also the field around your body, called the energy field. This causes a change in your state of consciousness. This expands and becomes more comprehensive, leading to what is called a wide and open concentration. Qi Gong is like, "swimming in the air". During Qi Gong training, feel like a fish in water. For the fish, water is something natural in which it glides effortlessly and about which it does not think. It moves with or against the currents. Practice qigong in the same way. Float in the air, so to speak, and perceive your surroundings as a tangible energy field. There is a difference between being surrounded by "nothing" and being embedded in a subtle energy field.
The energy break
A simple yet rewarding way to incorporate qigong into your daily routine is what I call a qi break. You can do this several times a day by practicing Qi Gong for 1-3 minutes. In this small qi break you breathe consciously, concentrate on your posture and pay attention to your senses. Try to consciously listen, look, smell, taste or feel. Others consciously take a cigarette break. Why don't you allow yourself the luxury of a little time out - but one that strengthens you and recharges you with fresh energy.