Sky Nourishes Earth Chi Kung
Preparation for any chi kung practice The first thing to do before starting any chi kung practice is to move into a comfortable position. This can be sitting, standing, or reclining. Start to relax all your muscles from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. Regulate your breathing so your belly goes out on the inhale and in on the exhale. Above all else smile.
During any chi kung practice can you imagine and feel that your heart is smiling. Can you imagine feeling the smile in your heart flow to your lips? Turn the sides of your lips up.
All chi kung exercises require you to focus your attention and maintain that focus throughout the exercise. Most of us find it very difficult to maintain focus for very long before our minds start to wander away. Instead of being focused on our intent we find ourselves thinking about something else. That is very normal. When this happens gently let go of the thought and its accompanying emotion and return your focus to the exercise.
Remember to be very kind and patient with yourself while doing any chi kung exercise. We are not perfect beings and your practice will never be perfect. So relax and do not try to hard. My teacher said. “Practice with effortless effort. Try like you are not trying but still try. Do like you are not doing but still do. Once you imagine yourself doing a practice try to stay out of your way while you do it.”
So during a chi kung exercise stay focused on the intent and pattern of the practice. When you forget and lose focus, just let go of any thoughts and emotions as they arise and gently return to the practice. Noticing and releasing thoughts and emotions as they arise and returning focus to the intent of the practice is an integral part of any chi kung exercise. Simply stop taking your thoughts and emotions seriously during practice. They are just thoughts and emotions. The content of a thought or emotion may be valid outside of the practice. But they are just mirages within a practice and can be safely dismissed. If you wish you can entertain them after the practice.
Learning to notice and release thoughts and emotions as they arise in chi kung practice has many benefits. You will eventually find it easier to let go of destructive or painful thoughts and emotions outside of chi kung practices. You will begin to realize that just because you become aware of a thought or emotion does not mean you have to respond to it or take it seriously. You can choose which thoughts and emotions to engage and which to let go. That is a wonderful power to have. You will begin to notice that you are not thoughts and emotions. You are consciousness that notices thoughts and emotions as the come and go. If you do not engage a thought or emotion they will soon lose there power over you and dissolve.
So let any thought or emotion drift in and out without trying to stop them. They are like the tides. They will naturally come to the shores of your consciousness and if you do not engage them they will just as naturally leave.
Sky Nourishes Earth.
I urge you to practice this exercise until you can do it effortlessly almost anywhere and anytime.
I do Sky Nourishes Earth before I do any other chi kung exercise. It prepares your mind/body/energy field for all other exercises.
Sky Nourishes Earth is good for relieving or preventing the harmful effects of stress. It is good for eliminating or preventing headaches and many other kinds of pains and discomforts. Sky Nourishes Earth is also a good way to monitor and release unnecessary muscle tension and unhealthy breathing patterns.
Sit, stand or recline in a comfortable position.
Open and relax your jaw. Let there be a little space between your teeth.
Notice and release any unnecessary muscle tension in your body.
Notice your breathing pattern. If you’re lower abdomen is not expanding on the inhale and contracting as you exhale your breathing pattern is not good for your health. Always notice and adjust your breathing to make sure you are belly breathing or breathing diaphragmatically. As you inhale, your belly expands, as you exhale, your belly contracts.
Let us start Sky Nourishes Earth.
Smile from your heart to your lips.
Can you imagine feeling the top of your head and the space surrounding the top of your head? Can you Imagine and feel your scalp and especially the top of your scalp?
Can you imagine and sense your moving awareness feeling like a warm flow of healing water as you move through your body?
Now, imagine and feel your consciousness moving over and through the top of your head. Imagine and feel yourself flowing down through the surface and depth of your head. Let yourself flow effortlessly and easily through your hair and scalp and into your brain cavity. Let your warm relaxing awareness flow over the surface and depth of your forehead. Notice and feel the natural and effortless relaxing and releasing of tension and discomfort as you flow through your body.
Let your imagination and senses flow down from your forehead and brain cavity into the surface and depth of the rest of your head. Imagine and feel the warm healing water of your awareness move through the surface and depth of the inside and the back of your head, through the surface and depth of the sides of your head and down through surface and depth of your face. Warmly flow through your temples down into and through the surface and depth of your ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and jaws. Relaxing and releasing tension and discomfort as you flow.
Gently and effortlessly drift down into and through surface and depth of the back of your neck, and throat. Relaxing and releasing.
Feel your awareness moving naturally down through the surface and depth of your shoulders and down through the surface and depths your upper arms, flowing through the surface and depth of your elbows and lower arms, and out through the surface and depth of your wrists, hands and fingers. Relaxing and releasing.
At the same time your consciousness is moving through your arms and hands and fingers your healing relaxing awareness is moving through the surface and depth of the trunk of your body. Let your consciousness drift down through the surface and depths of your chest sides and upper back. Move softly through the surface and depths of the area of your solar plexus just under your rib cage. Flow through the surface and depths of the sides and middle of you back. Imagine and feel your warm attention flowing effortlessly down through the surface and depth of you lower abdomen and the surface and depth of your sides and lower back and buttocks. Relaxing and releasing.
From your hips and buttocks let your senses move down through the surface and depth of your upper legs, knees, lower legs, and ankles. Let your warm healing consciousness flow out from your ankles into the surface and depth of your feet and toes and out through the bottom of your feet into the earth. Relaxing and releasing.
This completes one cycle of Sky Nourishes Earth. Repeat at least nine times for good results. You can do more or less depending on need or desire. If you can master Sky Nourishes Earth you will find untold benefits in the years to come.
