Qi Gong Where Have You Been All My Life?

Hi Everyone! Since my last post, I have continued to commit to restoring my energy, and it has been working. I even had a busy week! Busy for me is increasing my practice at work, seeing friends, and even going out on an anniversary date night. I am not able to sit through a movie at a regular theater, but on special occasions my husband and I splurge on one of those luxury theaters with reclining seats. I can usually enjoy a movie that way with a rare need to stand up. My thing is that in order to minimize my back pain, I have to change positions frequently, so I move the reclining chair quite a bit, and my husband puts up with it cheerfully. I am so lucky to have him!

I said I would follow up with my report of the second Tai Chi DVD, Scott Cole’s Discover Tai Chi for back care, so here it is: This one was better for me than Tai Chi for Beginners with Chris Pei, mainly because it kept me moving. I was confused by the dvd at first because I clicked on “Introduction” in the menu, and it started the movements and just kept on going until 20 minutes in, I decided to stop, just to be on the safe side. The menu provides the option to select “chapters” but what it really seems to offer is where you come in to the routine, so if it says Introduction, you start with the intro, if it says one of the movements names, you come in then, but it really is a full 30 minute routine. So, I have done the first one, the one in which he is in the studio. It moves on to a practice on the beach, but I haven’t done that one yet.

On the plus side it kept me moving. On the riskier side there were movements that were hard on my knees and stretches that were held for too long. I was very careful and adjusted my movements accordingly. I didn’t hold a stretch for example, I just bent as I could and then gently came up. So what I’ve been doing, is alternating this with the Tai Chi for beginners warm up.

Qi Gong came into my life as a result of my last blog post, and the kind support of fellow pain warrior from the blog My Life With Chronic Pain. She left a comment recommending Qi Gong, and so I finally tried it this morning via YouTube. I found something called Morning QiGong with Lee Holden. It was a 10 minute segment with gentle movements and breathing developed to wake up your Qi or life force energy. It felt really, really good; and gave me enough energy to write this post today.

I have struggled with low energy my whole life. It is responsible for my great love of coffee. Now, I have found a new ally. Qi Gong. It Gongs my Qi. It wakes up my life energy. I am a believer.