Five Element Qigong - Water
Audio File
Instructions
Begin this practice by standing with your feet hips-width apart.
Step the feet together.
As you inhale, step the left foot out to a little more than shoulder-width and sweep the arms back and behind you with palms facing up while doing a slight backbend.
Once the hands come overhead, the upper body follows the arms as you bend at the hips down into a forward bend, bending the knees as needed. Taking the fingers to the back of the legs and as you come up, tracing the fingers along the backs of the legs until you come to the hips. You are tracing the urinary bladder meridian. At the hips, make fists of your hands and lightly tap the kidneys with your fist (kidneys are located right above your belt line in the lower back). Exhale as you trace back down along the backs of your legs as you come back into your forward bend and bring the fingers to the inner legs, inhaling as you trace up toward the pelvis. Exhale the feet together.
In this practice, you’re working with the kidneys.
Do this 5-10 more times, keeping the breath and movement slow and steady. As you do the movements, think about breathing in perseverance, fluidity, steadiness, stamina, and energy (sign of balance in the water element) and exhaling out fear and trepidation (sign of imbalance in the water element).
As we close the practice, 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. Finding a greater state of balance and harmony as we finish this practice, which brings balance to all the major organs of the body and their associated elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water.
Modifications
N/A
Contraindications
Type of pose
Standing
Parts of Body Benefited
Other poses that cultivate:
Other strategies from: