Years ago I had the privilege of attending a seminar by Master Yang Jwing-Ming, an excellent martial arts teacher and an expert of Qi Gong (Qi or Chi or Ki means “energy” and Gong or Kung “practice”, so Qi Gong is the practice of internal energy).
I would like to share with you this video in which he shows four important things to reactivate our body after having been sitting in meditation for a long time (but we can also apply them at the end of a long day sitting in front of the computer):
- the stretching of the torso
- the wave of the back
- the stretching of the shoulders and neck
- the tapping of the head
At the beginning of the video, Master Yang Jwing-Ming talks about how to store energy in the Dan-Tien, the area under our navel. If you have no experience of Qi Gong or similar practices, I recommend that you experiment and learn these practices live with a good and competent teacher.
But the stretching, the wave and the tapping of the head, (always done with our usual self-listening and the care that we must have with our body when moving and applying pressures), are excellent and very beneficial self-massage and can be easily done whenever we need. To awaken, relax, distract ourselves from disturbing thoughts and reactivate circulation.
If you want to know more I recommend the following book:
Yang Jwing-Ming. 1989. The root of Chinese Chi Kung, Massachusetts, USA, YMAA Publication Center.
Search online for more books and video by Dr. Yang.
Wave photo courtesy of George Keating on Pexels