Qigong Session 2: Cultivating Calm During Thanksgiving Week
Moving With Intention:
Where Attention Goes, Qi Follows
Welcome to Session 2 of our Qigong series, a nourishing 30-minute practice designed to ground your body, steady your mind, and awaken the smooth, steady flow of Qi.
If you’re new to Qigong, you may want to begin with Session 1, where we explore the foundations: posture, breath, intention, and a gentle joint warm-up known as Ji Ben Gong. These essentials prepare you to move with more clarity, ease, and internal alignment as we build forward. Click here to access the class.
A Little Theory: Why These Movements Matter
Qigong rests on a simple but profound truth:
Where attention goes… Qi follows.
In Chinese philosophy and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Qi is your life-force — the animating current that moves through every cell. Qigong practice teaches us to direct that current with intention, breath, and mindful movement.
Three pillars shape today’s session:
1. Wu Ji Stance: The Shape of Pure Potentiality
Wu Ji represents the space before movement — spacious, neutral, and full of possibility.
Standing here, we practice:
softening the joints
lengthening the spine
releasing unnecessary effort (know as the Sung Principle)
aligning from the top down, as if a gentle waterfall were washing over you
This “shape of pure potentiality” becomes the home base for all Qigong.
2. Swings 1–3: Freeing the Flow
These rhythmic, gentle swings invite:
release through the shoulders
softness through the spine
openness in the chest and back
a sense of buoyancy through the whole body
They help clear stagnant energy and make space for fresh vitality.
3. The Six Qi-Cultivation Exercises
These foundational forms build strength, ease, and inner awareness:
Rising & Falling
Pressing the Hands Forward
Horizontal Circles
Vertical Circles
Lion Plays with Ball
Cutting
Filing
Each movement harmonizes breath and attention, guiding Qi throughout the body’s pathways (or meridians) while helping you feel grounded and steady from within.
The Dan Tian: Your Inner Reservoir
We also touch on the Lower Dan Tian, located just below the navel — considered the body’s central storehouse of Qi.
When you move from this place, your practice becomes:
calmer
more stable
less effortful
more connected
It’s the quiet “engine room” of Qigong, and learning to sense it is a big part of cultivating internal awareness.
A Practice to Carry You Through Your Day
We close with three gentle breaths — a simple ritual that helps your body and mind settle, integrate, and absorb the benefits of the practice. It’s a way of returning to your day with greater clarity, steadiness, and ease.
If this session brings you a sense of nourishing calm, you’re welcome to share it with someone who might appreciate a moment of grounding.
And in this season of gratitude, I want to say how thankful I am for your presence here — for taking the time to read, explore, and practice alongside me in your own way. It means more than you know.
