Today I awoke feeling especially tired. I've been extremely stressed lately and have not been handling it well. I was talking with my aunt yesterday about my current situation, and she said something like, "Oh, you haven't learned yet to let it roll off your back like water." And she's right - I carry stress like a stack of bricks on my head and it weighs me down. This is not the way I want to live my life!
Usually running is a big stress reliever for me, but when I'm exhausted I think it actually stresses me more to push myself. That's why today I decided to skip my run and do Qi-Gong instead. Qi-Gong is a form of energetic exercise involving the breath, slow movement, focused intention, visualization, and meditation that originated in Chinese medicine and is a large part of Chinese martial arts.
The word Qi (also "chi") is pronounced "chee" and refers to the vital life energy that flows through the body and all living things. Gong means a skill that is developed through practice. In Qi-Gong one is collecting and cultivating Qi in and around the body, increasing health, well-being, and spiritual awareness while reducing stress, fatigue, and negative emotions. Qi is moved around the body as a way of either cleansing the body's energy or to be stored in different areas to increase health and vitality there.
As a Polarity Therapist, it's important for me to keep my energies cleared and functioning at a high level so that I can be at my best for helping others. There are many different forms of energetic exercise, and in Polarity Therapy we have our own repertoire. Qi-Gong is working with the same life-force that is accessed in Polarity Therapy. In India they call is Prana, in ancient Egypt is was called Ka, and in Hawaiian culture it is known as Mana.
So off I go to breathe deeply and collect Yin Qi (Yin refers to the shadow or feminine principle) from the earth and Yang Qi (Yang is the light or masculine principle) from the sky, moving in a coordinated dance of breath, visualized light, and pulsating energy.
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