Introduction to my Online Courses: Strengthen Your Immune System with Tai Chi and Qi Gong

Another week goes by, Mind-Body students! We are almost done with our introduction to my Udemy tai chi courses.

This week, we have one of my most interesting courses to introduce: Strengthen Your Immune System with Tai Chi and Qi Gong. The immune system is a network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to defend the body against foreign invaders that can cause infection (from The National Institute of Health website). A compromised immune system can lead to the common cold, the flu, or other chronic health conditions and autoimmune diseases.

Some of the most promising studies of mindfulness and meditation from the past several years have suggested that a regular meditation practice can reduce immune-inhibiting inflammation, strengthen immune system cell defenses, and even slow the process of cell aging.

In this short course, composed of 19 lectures that span an hour of video time, we have packed as many immune-system boosting techniques as we could, while also keeping the length of the course something that you can review in a one hour session each day.

What you’ll learn

• Mind-Body techniques to boost the immune system

• Methods for deep relaxation

• Skills for managing stress, anxiety and mood / depression

• Prevention against sickness and the common cold

• Mindfulness practice to be more productive

• Improved concentration

Are there any course requirements or prerequisites?

• 15 to 30 minutes a day - For all knowledge levels. Beginner and up!

Who this course is for?

• Students of all ages

• Anyone starting or looking for a new job

• Professionals with demanding schedules and deadlines

• Athletes

• Medical Professionals and Care Takers

• Anyone seeking gentle exercises combined with deep breathing and meditation

• Cancer patients and families going through or recovering from treatment

That’s all for this week! Be sure to put this course on Strengthening the Immune System on your wish list this year! Udemy is always having great sales, so be on the lookout for a good price, and don’t miss out!

Until next week, happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!

Introduction to my Online Courses: Tai Chi for a Focused Mind - Pure and Simple

Welcome back, mind-body students! I hope you all had a happy, healthy holiday last week. Can you believe there are only a few weeks left before 2018 comes to a close? People are going to be preparing their New Years resolutions soon, and we all know how hard it is to stick to your resolutions.

A good way to stay disciplined and support yourself in your New Years resolution is to use one of my courses to guide you and make your learning and practice process easier.

This week, we’re doing an introduction to Tai Chi for a Focused Mind - Pure and Simple. I made this course as a nice middle ground between the long-form Tai Chi course and the 15 minute course. In this course, you will learn much of the same Tai Chi form as you would in the long-form course, but Focused Mind cuts out a lot of the extra stretches and meditations. That extra content might be something that you would find very valuable. But if you just want the distilled Tai Chi form, then the Focused Mind course is the one for you!

This course includes 72 lectures, each 3-5 minutes long. It totals roughly 3 hours of focused Tai Chi and Qi Gong content. There is also supplementary written material in each section.

What are the Requirements?

• An interest in becoming more fit, more flexible and more relaxed

• A small comfortable space in your house, apartment, office where you can learn and practice

• Willingness to invest 15 minutes a day, three days a week, to enjoy life more

What am I going to get from this course?

Do you want to become more focused, flexible, and relaxed? Don't have time for long workouts?

This course in nourishing Tai Chi forms for focusing the mind will show you how to do a Tai Chi routine in a simple, step-by-step proven method. Not one for all the extra philosophy behind the techniques? No worries. This course is purposefully abridged and focuses entirely on the forms.

The course begins with a short introduction to the goals for the course. Immediately after, you'll dive right into learning and practicing the Tai Chi form. At the end, we've included a bonus section of stretches and breathing exercises that will help you take the benefits of the Tai Chi form to the next level.

What is the target audience?

• Anyone interested in becoming stronger, more flexible and in reducing stress

• People with little time or interest in going to the gym and taking classes

• Weekend warriors

• People who travel frequently

That’s all for this week. Come back next week for another intro to another one of my courses!

And as always, happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!

Introduction to my Online Courses: 15 Minutes Mind-Body Workout for Recharging & Reducing Stress

It’s Black Friday! No doubt, many of you will be running around looking for great deals all day, and won’t have much time to read a blog. That’s okay! I created a mind-body course (and this short blog post!) for exactly this busy lifestyle, whether it is for just the holidays, or someone’s entire schedule!

My 15 Minutes Mind-Body Workout for Recharging & Reducing Stress is not like my other courses, which expect you to master intermediate Tai Chi techniques slowly and over long periods of time. This 15 Minute Mind-Body Workout will synchronize your health, boosting your emotional balance while also keeping you fit and healthy. This course is for anyone and everyone interested in a more holistic workout that includes strength training, stretching, meditations, and relaxations. Once you have it down, you can do the workout in just about 15 minutes a day!

What are the requirements?

• Only a chair!

What am I going to get from this course?

• Relieve Stress

• Sleep Better

• Improve Your Fitness

• Keep Your Schedule Open

• Balance your emotions

• Improve your mental stability

• Engage your inner warrior spirit

What is the target audience?

• Everyone should use this course, especially people short on time!

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That’s all you need to know! I don’t want to take any more of your busy time this holiday, and this Udemy course won’t take too much of your time either. Go get it now while it is on sale! Now is the best time to buy into any of my courses for the cheapest you can get them.

Tinnitus? Migraines? Try These Head, Neck and Shoulder Girdle Techniques

Good to have you back, mind-body students!

Over the summer, I had a few people reach out to me about health issues they were having with their head, neck, and/or shoulders. This area of the body, which are the shoulder girdles and everything that sits above them, have a similar group of techniques that we use to restore and maintain health.

Issues that people frequently ask me about in this area include: headaches, migraines, sore neck and upper back, frozen shoulder, eustachian tube disfunction (“clogged ears”), tinnitus (constant noise or ringing in the ears), and a variety of other forms of chronic issues or pain. Many many people suffer from these issues, especially due to the toll that working at a desk over a computer for an extended time can have.

For people that have issues like these, I will often give them a “mind-body prescription” that looks something like this:

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Mind-Body Prescription for Head, Neck and Shoulder Girdle Health

Before we begin, it is key to know my Rule of 80% Effort. Especially when it comes to the head and neck area, you are in danger of doing more harm than good if you push your body too much. The head and neck require very gentle movements to heal and increase the flow of energy. So do 80% effort with all these exercises!

First Stretch: Iron on the Wall

For most people, the muscles between the neck and the shoulders (the trapezius muscle is the easiest to feel here) are as hard as a rock! This is because modern people are constantly looking down at their desk or their phone, as so this muscle is always under tension while trying to stabilize the head and neck.

Iron on the Wall takes the tension out of this muscle group and allows it to relax. Many people find this exercise does wonders for not only their neck, but their back, shoulders, and head as well. All of those areas are interconnected by muscles! Do Iron on the Wall for 3 minutes, twice a day. You can even do it with your kids!

Second Stretch: Elbows Over Head and Behind the Back

Next, we want to give a good stretch to your shoulder muscles in all direction, so we want to do two complementary exercises: Elbows Over Head, and Elbows Behind the Back.

The over head part of this technique opens up the lungs (the sides of the lungs especially) and relaxes the arms and shoulders. The behind the back part of the technique allows you to relax the neck, deltoids, and lats especially well. Give yourself space to relax and breath deep while you stretch. You’ll want to spend two minutes in each of these postures, twice a day.

Third Stretch: Rotating the Neck Using the Wall and a Block

The next technique is for increasing our range of motion when rotating the neck. You would be surprised how many people have lost a lot of mobility of their neck! Are you someone who can rotate their neck more to one side than the other? That is a very common issue too.

Rotating the Neck with the Wall and a Block is a great way to regain your lost mobility in the neck, as well as increase the flow of oxygen and blood to the brain, and reduce muscle stress.

The neck doesn’t require stretching for a long period of time. Instead, do one version of this stretch five times a day, but for only 1 minute to each side.

Fourth Stretch: Neck and Upper Back “Emergency Posture”

This technique, the upper neck stretch on a table (also called the Emergency Upper Back posture) is great for when you are in your office and your neck and upper back are really bothering you. However, it is also a classic posture for releasing tension from your head, neck, upper back, and shoulders.

Sit in this posture twice a day for 3 minutes each time.

Final Technique: Face Meditation

Finally, you want to conclude our mind-body prescription each day with a nice meditation. In this case, you should probably be doing the Face Meditation, which focuses the mind on relaxing every layer of the face until you have the sensation of being just a skull with no soft tissues pulling on it.

Many people who suffer from chronic tension, pain, or stress in or around the face and head don’t realize how much tension they hold in their face.

You can sit in this meditation for as long as you like, but I suggest doing it for 10-15 minutes at first, and then sit longer in it as you get better at relaxing and focusing the mind on each part of the face.

As always, happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!

Face Dissolving Relaxation

This week, I go in-depth about a relaxation technique that I have talked about before on the blog, here and here. The Face Dissolving Relaxation is a great way to relieve stress and regulate your emotional health (and even fall asleep!). Give it a try!

Happy Stretching!

Office Exercise Series: Elbows Over and Behind

Hello again, mind-body students!

We continue with our second new installment in the Office Exercise Series this week, moving on two a two-part stretch that you can call "Elbows Over and Behind."

This stretch is great for relaxing the whole upper body, as well as beating that regular 2-3pm slump that many people who work in offices get. Rejuvenate your energy stores and focus your mind by doing these two exercises and you'll see results in no time!