By having body awareness with meditation you will enable yourself to focus deeply and apply your energies towards growth rather than simply maintenance. Having a healthy body is a critical foundation for having a healthy mind, healthy emotions and a healthy spiritual life. The first stage of training the body is to develop correct posture and alignment. Without correct posture and alignment you will be in a constant state of instability. Instability can lead to distractions and injuries.

Kan and Lii Kan and Lii have been an important part of qigong training for many generations. Kan represents water and Lii represents fire. Therefore kan is yin, lii is yang. It is believed by qigong practitioners that everyone has excess yang energy and this is why there are so many yin oriented qigong exercises. The exception is if someone is sick then they may have excess yin. Excess yang is thought to play a large role in the aging process. If you can prevent excess yang you can slow down the aging process living stronger and healthier life.

This is a great active meditation practice to learn and add to your meditation toolbox. Exercising the lungs is important for maintaining good health. If you do not actively exercise the lungs they become stiff this lack of activity can lead to disease. Then average adult uses about 10% of their lung capacity in a single breath. This is called tidal volume, which is about .5 liters of air. But the lungs have the capacity to hold about 4-6 liters of air, which is close to 10 times the tidal volume or average breath. This will vary from person to person depending on their health, level of physical activity, gender, size, age, smoking habits and even will vary according to the elevation they live in. If you work at a desk for example and spend 8 hours a day hunched over a computer with poor posture and no regard to your breath you are suffering whether you see it or not. If this is you this exercise will be life changing for you. By having poor posture in a stationary position such as this you will only be using the front side of your lungs and a small percentage at that. This can lead to respiratory disease, allergies, asthma and even lung cancer. To begin this practice start by establishing a deep relaxed breath expanding the lungs and stretching the lung tissue.  Inhale and bring in as much […]