Clay & Air

Pillar one ยท Relaxing

Qi Gong breathing

1-5 minutes · Standing · Nose in, nose out

A standing breath with a picture that travels. Slow, and you can run it anywhere you can stand still.

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Watch

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The pattern

  1. 01Stand with your feet planted and your knees slightly bent, so you are solid rather than stiff.
  2. 02Breathe in through the nose: belly, chest, head.
  3. 03As you fill, picture a warm gold light coming in with the air.
  4. 04Ujjayi exhale, and follow the light all the way down to the tips of your toes.
  5. 05Breathe in again and bring it back up to the top of your head.
  6. 06Keep it circulating. One to five minutes, longer if you want it.

Your hands help. Let them travel with the light, down as you exhale and up as you inhale, and the picture holds more easily.

If the picture will not come, run the breath on its own. The slow Ujjayi exhale is doing most of the work either way.

How it lands

Steady rather than sedating. The stance is half of it, and you finish more awake than you started.

What it does

  • Energizing and settling at the same time
  • The rooted stance does half the work
  • Runs anywhere you can stand still
  • One to five minutes is enough
  • Lowers blood pressure and brings inflammation down

If you want a hand with it

This one works on your own. Some of it lands harder with someone in the room, and that is what the workshops are for.

Workshops

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