The Center for Integrative Health and Healing

By: Chris Reilly, L.AC

Qi gong is roughly translated as “skill and understanding of qi through practice and work.”  Qi itself is difficult to define, but can be thought of as the movement of life: from the movement of breath, to kissing a child goodnight.  It is both esoteric and obvious. In the narrow understanding of the term, qi gong refers specifically to movements, breath and intent that move and cultivate our vitality.  In traditional qi gong, human beings are to follow the greater movements of nature, to keep in tune with the natural order of things and gain insight into the best way to live.  We are now moving into a time of expansion and upward growth, the Spring.  Our physical and emotional movement should reach up and out to meet the world around us to explore and make new connections.

Getting into the Spirit of Spring

Try the following simple exercise, and see if it helps get you get into the spirit of Spring.  Dressed appropriately for the weather, stand with feet shoulder width apart and knees bent in front of a tree that is beginning to blossom new leaves.  Hold your palms open and relaxed towards a few inches from the tree with your elbows bent at about 130 degrees (180 degrees would be a straight line).  Breathe by expanding and flattening your abdomen, and feel the breath moving between your feet and the earth, becoming aware of the openness between you and the deep earth.  Once you are grounded in this way, extend your awareness to the tree.  Become aware of the presence of life in and around the tree, and allow yourself to explore it from root to branch.  Let your mind’s eye travel through it.  Meditating with a tree is a very cleansing practice, and can go to great lengths to cleanse the smudges and tangles in our own vitality, but is also a way to learn from our environment how to be rooted, and how a natural life moves.  When you close the meditation, withdraw yourself slowly and respectfully, returning your focus to your own breath and abdomen until it is firmly fixed there. 

You may become a little more serious about conservation and recycling after this sort of experience.  As your awareness develops, take a walk through the ancient mountains of New York, and get ready for a whole new experience of nature!  Next, pat yourself on the back: you are now an official tree hugger!

Many of my clients have already been taught qi gong exercises to help in their own effort to be well.  If it’s an area you would like to explore, I’m happy to share what I know and work to develop exercises that would be of benefit to you.