Do you ever wake up with a scratchy throat or feel run down? This time of year, our bodies are processing all of Nature’s changes. The weather jumps up for a day and dips back down for two. Some days it’s windy or sunny, and others it’s damp and chilly. In Spring, the weather is hardly ever consistent.

Everything Requires Qi

When you feel run down or a bit off, what do you do? It’s when we’re not quite ourselves that we become more keenly aware of our bodies’ resources and the way we use them. Everything we ask our bodies to do uses Qi (energy). For example, drinking cold drinks like ice water or smoothies is difficult on our bodies. We must pull from our reserves in order to warm our bodies up. This takes Qi, and a lot of it! It’s the same thing with junk food and sugar.

Eating close to Nature and warming our foods and drinks helps our bodies to more easily and readily process foods so we can conserve our Qi and use it instead for healing and maintaining balance. And don’t discount the impact the invisible has on you! Your thoughts and emotions have the power to flip the switch—taxing the body and quickly using up its bank of Qi.

Feel-Good Changes

As you go through your day, become aware of what you feed your body—foods, drinks, and thoughts. Are you giving your body what it needs to function at its utmost potential? If not, make a few slight changes, such as the following:

• Blanch your vegetables before adding them to a smoothie.
• Drink warm tea instead of ice water.
• Enjoy a fresh mango instead of a candy bar.
• Wear long sleeves and pants on chilly days.
• Become more mindful of the impact your emotions have on your body.

These simple changes will allow your body to direct more of its energy resources toward healing.

From Mindful to Mindless

While being “mindless” is the way of the Tao, becoming aware of your emotions helps you to learn how to release them so they don’t negatively impact your body. Keep a journal to track how your body responds to a given emotion. For example, do you get stomach cramps when you worry excessively? Does anxiety throw you into a tailspin, leaving you physically drained by the end of the day? Begin to see how frustration, worry, fear, anger, and anxiety affect your overall well-being, throwing your emotional and physical body off track.

As you develop this awareness, lean on your Qigong practice to give you an energy boost and help smooth out your emotions. The more you practice, the more your intuition will kick in! Eventually, you will be able to use Qigong to help ease you through any hurdle you may face.

Practice Qigong!

The Dragon Stands Between Heaven and Earth is an important component to our healing programs. Allow your Qi to flow freely and build yourself up, one step at a time. Practice this standing meditation with Grand Master Lu. Hold the posture for three minutes at first, and continue to add one to two minutes daily until you’ve reached 30 minutes. You can do it! Once you can hold 30 minutes, join our virtual group session for a powerful boost. Learn more about Qi Thursdays.