Five Element Qigong - Metal

Instructions

  • Begin this practice by standing with your feet hips-width apart.

  • Step the feet together.

  • As you inhale, step the feet apart to a little more than shoulder-width distance as you bring the inner edges of your hands parallel at the centerline of the body as you sweep them from below the abdomen to up above the head. Then exhale, bringing your hands to either side of your chest with palms facing away from the body (as if you’re on the floor about to do a push-up), and as you push your hands out and away from the body, come into a deep squat. As you inhale, slowly come up from your deep squat while you keep your arms at shoulder height and flip the palms of the hands to face down, and exhale as you float the hands down to your sides.

  • In this practice, you’re working with the lungs.

  • Do this 5-10 more times, keeping the breath and movement slow and steady. As you do the movements, think about breathing in refinement, slowing down, and letting go (sign of balance in the metal element) and exhaling out greed, sadness, and grief (sign of imbalance in the metal element).

  • Before moving onto the water element, perform a clearing movement by stepping the feet hips-width distance apart or wider, bending the arms to 90 degrees sweeping them out from the centerline of the body and up to a little higher than shoulder height and then bringing the hands toward the centerline of the body, palms facing down as you slowly lower them, releasing anything you need to on the way down. Finishing this clearing movement by allowing the hands, one over the other, to rest on the Dan Tian, located in the lower abdomen.

Modifications

  • N/A

Contraindications

Type of pose

  • Standing

Parts of Body Benefited