A while back, I wrote a post about what it really means to be healthy and strong. It isn't about muscles folks, it's about your internal organs. This vlog is going to show you how to gently massage and stimulate your internal organs with Buddhist and Taoist breath. EVERYONE should do this exercise: men, women, children, the elderly, cancer patients, people with digestive problems, the list goes on and on. Use 80% effort, and you'll be making your organs very happy.
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.
The 5 Pillars of the Mind Body Approach
My mind-body prescriptions and holistic approach to healing is based on five pillars:
Body: The environment in which all other systems must function. This is the foundation of all my prescriptions. Reconnecting with the body is essential to all mind-body programs.
Mind: In eastern tradition, there are two kinds of mind: the emotional mind ("monkey" mind) and the wise mind ("horse" mind). The ancient texts say, "Seize the ape; Obtain the horse."
Breath: This is the primary tool with which to calm the mind. The "banana" used to capture the monkey.
Spirit: This is what is evoked when Tai Chi and Qi Gong teach you to connect to the earth and the heavens. It can be "raised" and "cooled".
Energy: Lastly, the product of the other building blocks being regulated, balanced, and coordinated. This is exactly what you think. A well that you can pull from, keeping you feeling young and alive.
One Easy Exercise to Help Digestive Issues
A lot of people don't know that I got into martial arts and mind-body practice because I had digestive issues growing up that no doctor was able to help me with. I still have to deal with it from time to time, but using this exercise helped me reduce my symptoms tremendously.
My Two New Udemy Courses
It's too beautiful outside to read a bunch of Tai Chi and Qi Gong theory today, so in this blog post I am going to quickly introduce my two new online Tai Chi courses, and then you can be on your way.
First is my brand new course "Tai Chi for a Focused Mind - Pure and Simple," which is an abridged version of my long course "Improve Your Mental and Physical Success with Tai Chi and Qi Gong." This course doesn't get into the Qi Gong philosophy at all, and only does the minimal breathing and stretching exercises. It's about half as long as my original Tai Chi and Qi Gong course, and because of that it's great for people with very little time during the day.
Both courses teach you the same Tai Chi form, but this shorter course is aimed at helping you focus, and reducing stress. The longer course is more about transitioning into a healthier lifestyle. You can think of them like an introductory course and a graduate level course in the same subject.
My other new course is the companion to my "Relieve and End your Lower Back Pain" course. It's called "Alleviate Upper Back Pain with Tai Chi and Qi Gong." This course is structured exactly like the Lower Back pain course, except it focuses on upper back, shoulder girdle, neck, and head problems. This course was so highly requested that we released it before we finished the supplementary print material for it. All of that is on it's way though, and will be provided to everyone who purchases the course.
NOTE: All of my courses are available here at Udemy, and the short Tai Chi course is on sale for $9.99 through July 31st.
The Importance of Stretching your Groin
A groin injury can keep you off the field, and even off your feet, for several months. The groin is so important and interconnected to the muscles of the abdomen and legs that there is almost no way to recuperate quickly if you hurt it.
Every sport and every kind of physical activity uses the groin. No wonder your lower energy center sits right on top of it!
You should do this stretch before any kind of extended physical activity. Even though you usually hear about male athletes getting groin injuries, it is just as likely in women, so no matter who you are, you need to stretch your groin!
The Three Forces
As the capstone to our series on breathing and the energy centers, we're going to talk about the three forces: Heaven, Human, and Earth.
These three forces are what we seek to unify when we do all of our training. It is easy to put our mind in connection with the human force, the mix of yin and yang energies, since it is the closest to us and our physical being.
Once you have a grasp of the human force (energetic system), expand it upward and downward into the heavens and the earth. Try to reinforce the connection between each of the three forces with every breath.
The heaven (yang) and earth (yin) forces take practice to connect to, and even more practice to stay in touch with. I suggest practicing on connecting to one at a time during your daily practice and meditations. Over time, you will notice the different sensations that are associated with the different forces, and how your own energy combines them all.
