Rami's Blog

Like the Yin-Yang, Eastern Martial Arts and Western medicine are two halves of a whole. My mission is to preserve the ancient mind-body tools and pass them on to you.

 

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!


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.

Introduction to my Online Courses: Tai Chi & Chi Kung - Sitting, Standing, & Moving Meditation

Happy to have you back again, mind-body students!

When you think about mind-body health, you probably think about holistic health. Wellness and prevention for all the parts of your being. But just barely touching on each part of your being is not enough. Let’s take meditation as an example.

Meditation is not just one thing, and there are many different ways to practice the many different kinds of meditation that you should be doing. You could take a whole course just about sitting meditation. But then you would be missing out on the unique meditation experience that standing meditations provide. And that isn’t even touching on all the different kinds of moving meditation that there are.

That’s why I made this course! Tai Chi & Chi Kung - Sitting, Standing, & Moving Meditation is a course that gives you experience in the three major forms of meditation. By introducing you to meditations of each type, as well as supporting stretches and tai chi techniques, this course gives you a very well-rounded mind-body toolkit that you can always come back to.

If you are looking for a meditation-focused course, with some supplementary stretches and techniques (such as lying down relaxations!), then this the course for you!

In this course, you will:

  • Focus on inner and outer visualizations, honing your ability to clear your mind

  • Engage in easy strength exercises to increase your body awareness and fitness

  • Practice distilled movements from the ancient arts of Tai Chi and Chi Kung

  • Strengthen the connection between your body and your mind

  • Experience more effective relaxation techniques to heal and rejuvenate faster

  • Train more with each meditation using guided and timed bonus videos

  • Improve your physical and mental quality of life

  • Establish a meditation routine that you can use forever

  • And much more!


What are the requirements?

  • A desire to learn

  • A quiet area


What am I going to get from this course?

  • Increase your focus

  • Reduce any physical, emotional & mental stress you may have

  • Strengthen your decision making

  • Strengthen your abilities to make well reasoned judgements

  • Increase oxygen & energy to your brain

  • Increase your productivity

  • Boost your immune system

  • Dissolve traumas that are stored at a physical level

  • Learn to control the fluctuation of your brain waves


What is the target audience?

  • Adults, teens or anyone who would like to achieve their goals

  • Anyone who can invest a short time each day and would like to reduce stress

  • Anyone who can invest a short time each day to become happier and more content

  • Anyone who can invest a short time each day to become calmer and more fulfilled

Don’t forget that I have seven other courses hosted on Udemy, which all help to address different conditions or mind-body goals. If this isn’t the course for you, check out my others! I am sure there is one that will fit your mind-body needs!

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

Introduction to my Online Courses: Alleviate Upper Back and Neck Pain with Tai Chi & QiGong

Welcome back mind-body students! I hope you all made a smooth transition during daylight savings, and are staying active even though it is getting darker earlier in the day! Speaking of which, a great way to stay active in the winter is with one of my online Udemy courses.

This week, we present an introduction to my course for Alleviating Upper Back Pain with Tai Chi and QiGong. This is one of my most popular, most well reviewed, and most commonly requested courses! As we all know, upper back and neck problems are becoming more and more common as people spend more and more time at their desk jobs, and on computers and phones.

Just like my last course intro, for my lower back pain course, this course is very focused on fixing upper back and neck issues. However, it does contain helpful techniques and Tai Chi principles that you can apply to your whole body health, not just your upper back and neck.

Unlike lower back issues, which usually just cause pain and stiffness, upper back and neck issues can cause stress, tension, headaches, migraines, and more, in addition to the pain and stiffness that any health issues can cause. This course is not just a physical therapy program for the upper back and neck: it is a total system of wellness (mind, body, and spirit), that you can apply across your entire health and prevention journey.

This course consists of 67 lecture videos, which total over 3 hours of video time that includes both learning and practicing each technique.

What are the requirements?

  • Willingness to invest 20 minutes a day to relieve and end your lower back pain

What am I going to get from this course?

  • Relieve and end your upper back pain

  • Provide the tools that will allow you to live a more enjoyable and pain free life

  • Prevent future injuries to your upper back

  • Learn basic Tai Chi & Qi Gong techniques

  • Learn to relax and reduce stress

  • Learn some meditation and deep breathing techniques

Who is the target audience?

  • Anyone who suffers from acute or chronic upper back pain

  • People who sit at a desk much of the time and have upper back pain and stiffness

  • People who would like to be more active again

  • Stay at home moms

  • Athletes who have recurring upper back pain


I hope you, or someone you know who has neck and upper back issues, will invest in this course, and invest in not only getting relief from their symptoms, but also preventing future symptoms and working toward a system of total health!

See you next week! Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!

Introduction to my Online Courses: Relieve and End Your Lower Back Pain with Tai Chi & QiGong

Hello mind-body students! We’re going to jump right into our second installment of the introductions to my online courses this week, by looking at my Relieve and End your Lower Back Pain with Tai Chi & QiGong course.

As a quick reminder, all of my online courses are hosted on Udemy. Udemy is a free-to-join online learning platform that allows you to buy all kinds of courses ranging from computer programming to mind-body exercises. Once you buy one of my courses, you own it forever! You will be able to watch and review it as much as you want.

In this course, I guide you through a series of stretches, movements and elements of Tai Chi and Qi Gong that help the body recover from both acute back pain, as well as long term chronic pain. In addition, you will learn the power of deep breathing and meditation and will become more relaxed, lowering any stress you may have.

This course has many diverse and useful movements and stretches with all kinds of health applications. However, it is much more focused than my long-form Tai Chi course (see my last blog), so the majority of the content is aimed at relieving the pain, soft-tissue tension, and stress that people carry in their lower back.

The course spans 72 short and digestible lectures, which combined total over 5.5 hours of video for learning, practicing, and reviewing the various techniques and postures. By investing 20 minutes a day you will greatly improve your quality of life and enjoy activities that you have not been able to enjoy, perhaps for many years.

What are the requirements?

  • Willingness to invest 20 minutes a day to relieve and end your lower back pain

What am I going to get from this course?

  • Relieve and end your lower back pain

  • Provide the tools that will allow you to live a more enjoyable and pain free life

  • Prevent future injuries to your lower back

  • Learn basic Tai Chi & Qi Gong techniques

  • Learn to relax and reduce stress

  • Learn some meditation and deep breathing techniques

Who is the target audience?

  • Anyone who suffers from acute or chronic lower back pain

  • People who sit at a desk much of the time and have lower back pain and stiffness

  • People who travel a lot

  • People who would like to be more active again

  • Stay at home moms

  • Athletes who have recurring lower back pain


If you, or someone you know, is suffering from serious lower back issues, this course is for them! This time of year, Udemy is constantly doing great sales on all their courses. If you are quick, and time your purchase right, you might be able grab the course for a great discount!

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

Introduction to my Online Courses: Improve your Physical and Mental Success with Tai Chi

Hello again blog readers and students! This week, I want to begin an introduction to the various Tai Chi and Qi Gong courses that I have available for purchase online.

These courses vary in length and intensity. Some are long-form courses that you will need to practice for a month or more before you are comfortable with each technique. Others are short-form courses that are highly focused on creating a particular health impact. I made these different courses so that as many people as possible could find a course that worked for them!

The platform that I use for my courses is called Udemy. It is a platform that allows students to make an account for free, and only pay for the courses they want to take. Once you buy one of my courses, you own it forever! You will be able to watch and review it as much or as little as you want.

Today, I want to do an introduction to my most popular course (which is also my longest online course): Improve Your Physical and Mental Success with Tai Chi.

This course is a 10 week Tai Chi course which will not only introduce you to Tai Chi as a beginner, but also train you through the various movements and techniques of a longer Tai Chi form. Each movement is complemented by helpful stretches and practices that will improve both your flexibility and your strength, as well as build your skills with deep breathing and meditation.

None of my courses (so far) expect you to have any Tai Chi experience. This course is precisely designed to be most helpful for people who are new to Tai Chi. All that is required to succeed in this course is the following:

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

  • Willingness to invest 10-20 minutes a day in one’s wellbeing to enjoy life more

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

This course contains seven hours of Tai Chi content and teachings! There is a lot to learn and practice. Just a few of the things that you will experience in this course are:

  • Learn a simple, yet powerful Tai Chi form

  • Become much more flexible

  • Learn to meditate for stress reduction

  • Learn the benefits of deep breathing

  • Become stronger and more fit

  • Develop better balance

  • Reduce and prevent injuries

Even though this courses requires no Tai Chi experience, you might be wondering, “is this course, or Tai Chi in general, right for me?” Great question! My belief is that Tai Chi is great for everyone! In fact, this course is my most popular, and currently has over 2,100 students enrolled from all over the world! But if you still have doubts, the list below should give you an idea of the kinds of students that I had in mind while making the course:

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

  • Stay at home moms (and dads)

  • Weekend warriors

  • Competitive (and not so competitive) athletes

  • People who travel frequently

  • Anyone who has wondered about the power of eastern health philosophy, but hasn’t known how to start exploring it

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

If any of those sound like you (or someone you know), I highly recommend setting up a free Udemy account and getting this course to Improve Your Physical and Mental Success with Tai Chi.

That’s all for this week! Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!

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:


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!