Qi Gong exercises

explained

Connecting heaven and earth

With the Exercise "Connecting Heaven and Earth the meridians of Spleen and Stomach strengthened. One arm is stretched upwards and the other arm downwards.

Quite intuitively, we often make this movement after getting up in the morning. Exactly the time of day between 7 and 11 o'clock is also the "organ time" of the spleen-pancreas and stomach meridians.

Thus, this exercise helps you to strengthen your digestion. As a side effect, it also improves the mobility of the diaphragm and thus your Breathing.

Exercise description

Starting position is the shoulder to hip width qigong stance. Bring your arms forward, make fists and bring them to the side of your waist as you exhale.

Inhaling raise your right hand sideways up to the level of the rib cage. Now slide the right hand back down over the midline of the body. Meanwhile, slowly place the back of the left hand on the lower back.

Inhaling now stretch your right hand palm up toward the sky and at the same time push your left hand palm down toward the earth.

Exhaling let the hands approach the body vertically. From there, push the hands away from each other again on the next inhale. On the next exhalation, the hands again approach the center of the body. Now repeat this movement 5 to 8 times on this side.

Then, with the exhalation, let the right arm sink down sideways to the starting position. Then repeat the whole process with the left side.

Frequently asked questions

What can I do if I can't extend my arm upwards very well?

Then let the arm go up in front of the body and try to stretch it more forward upwards. You can stretch the lower arm normally towards the floor.

Can this exercise also have an impact on my weight?

I say provocatively that you can lose weight with this exercise. Because it strengthens the energy of the stomach and spleen and these are responsible for an optimal body weight from the point of view of TCM. However, in addition, the diet should be adjusted. Also an aerobic endurance training and an appropriate muscle building training should not be missing.

Portrait of Wolfgang Stemer for my TCM Qi Gong Academy, Simply Live Better

Pro tip from Wolfgang

With this exercise you can light your digestive fire. That is, you can give extra energy to the digestive system and boost your metabolism. This exercise can also be done individually, preferably just before a meal.

Qi Gong Exercise Connecting Heaven and Earth - Element Earth

Most common errors

The arms are not stretched in a vertical line. Most often, the upper arm is too far forward.

The palms point in the wrong direction, i.e. not upwards (upper hand) and downwards (lower hand).

Training tips

If possible, exercise again and again in front of a mirror or with the Record smartphone and then study this video for errors.

Do the exercise also sometimes in between. Best before a meal to stimulate digestion.

Also, keep closing your eyes while you do the movement. This will help you to inner processes even more intensively.

Assistance

What can you do if the exercise is too difficult?

This exercise is very simple if you do not have a shoulder problem and does not cause any problems. If you have shoulder problems, you simply do not extend the arm as far upwards and rather forward. In this case, it is also not necessary to aim for complete extension at the elbow.