Qi Centering Exercise 4
Press from the Center
An excellent way of getting acquainted with one’s center is to use it. That is what you do in this exercise, even if you have not sensed it that clearly yet. It is a variation of the exercises in pushing, earlier in the book. This time you do not focus on the qi flow, but its origin – your center.
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Still, you should use qi and the deep belly breathing, just like in the previous center exercises. It helps you to a more palpable experience, and an ability that reaches beyond what you expected to begin with.
How to do it
- Sit down at a little less than arm’s length from a wall, or another solid vertical surface that you cannot move. A tree is even better, if you can practice outdoors. It gives a very lively experience. The best is to sit with your legs underneath you, like in the previous exercise, but if you can keep a straight back it is also fine to sit with your legs crossed in front of you. Avoid clothing that is tight around your belly.
- Commence a deep and extended breathing, which includes a strong qi flow. Look at the wall in front of you, as if you wanted to see through it.
- Put the palms of your hands on the wall, at about chest height. Make sure that you are close enough to the wall to reach it without having to extend your arms completely.
- Begin a long exhalation, and press slowly on the wall with much force. It should feel as if your power comes from inside your belly, more precisely from your center and straight toward the wall – not via the shoulders, although that is where your arms are connected to your body. Both your exhalation and the hands pressing on the wall should feel like emanating directly from your belly onto the wall, without any roundabouts through your body.
- If the pressure pushes your body backward, then you are doing it through your shoulders. If you are pressing from your belly, your center, it makes you sit more steadily, as if you were nailed to the floor. You may have to try it a few times before you get it right, but then you will notice that you just sit more steadily, no matter how hard you press your hands on the wall. Then you are doing it right – you are working from your center.
- Stop pressing on the wall before the exhalation ends, and remove your hands. It is important that you do not work contrary to your qi flow, so stop before you switch to inhaling.
- Take a few calm breaths and collect yourself, before trying it anew. You can repeat the exercise as long as you feel that you get better at it, or at least that you do it well, without tipping backward. Stop when you get tired or lose concentration.
This exercise is quite effective for learning to work with your center, to fetch your power from it and thereby use your body resources in an optimal way. The exercise gives a clear impression of how your center functions, and exactly where it is situated, inside of you. In addition, it gives good balance and stability, physically as well as mentally.
This stability in body and mind is the primary mark of somebody being in touch with his or her center.
Qi Centering Exercises
Here is a set of simple exercises to find the center of your qi flow. That makes you grounded and your qi flow powerful. You don't really have to follow the order given below, but you may want to do so the first time around. Then you can focus on the ones you find particularly rewarding.
© Stefan Stenudd
This is a chapter of my book Qi: Increase your Life energy.
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