Keeping ourselves charged is important on many levels. For myself as a massage therapist it is vital to my well-being and ability to hold a healing space for my clients. For that reason, I do a little Qigong routine every day.
What is Qigong? According to the National Qigong Association, Qigong can be described as a mind-body-spirit practice that improves one's mental and physical health by integrating posture, movement, breathing technique, self-massage, sound, and focused intent. There are likely thousands of qigong styles, schools, traditions, forms, and lineages, each with practical applications and different theories about Qi (“subtle breath” or “vital energy”) and Gong (“skill cultivated through steady practice”)
Energy is everywhere and all around us. Some people are more sensitive to other people’s energy than others but when it is in a great quantity everyone can feel it. Just like when you go to a concert, it’s hard to be in a bad mood when everyone around you is having a great time. What I like to call our ‘internal batteries’ need to be charged just like a cell phone. If we give and give all day long and don’t recharge ourselves, we won’t have enough ‘charge’ left to give ourselves or the attention we need. This is where a lot of people do not take the actions to show our bodies the time and love it needs. Qigong has greatly changed the way I function. The difference is night and day. The way I can show up for my clients and hold that space for them is on a whole new level. I’m alert, full of energy, and best of all my brain is on point. I have had several concussions over the years and still have some lingering symptoms. With my personal routine I have been able to keep my brain functioning at a higher level than I have felt in years.
Moving energy around the body turns out is a crucial part of the body’s healing process. Personally, I was a skeptic at first. I didn’t think waving your hands around someone’s body could have any effect on them. Turns out, I was wrong. It has a lot to do with your intent. If you have good intentions for what you are doing, also going the correct direction with the energy, the body is very grateful. It can help with mood, body function, and even pain relief.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, energy can get stagnant and built up. When you have an active injury like a sprained ankle, you feel pain and the energy is blocked. Having too much inflammation in an area it takes the body a bit longer to heal. By using techniques to help move the stagnant energy away from the inflamed area, the body can concentrate on what it needs, rather than working and cleaning up after itself. I mean who likes to do that anyway? In Korean acupuncture they tend to leave their needles in their patients until they fall out on their own. That can be an hour or it could be 10 hours!
Charge your batteries! Have the energy you need during the day to have enough for yourself. To have the want and motivation to show up for yourself everyday no matter what life throws your way.
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