Happy Christmas & Season's Greetings from Lisa Spillane

Try this simple qigong walking meditation to help calm the little ones in your life.

Release Your Fears With Qigong Meditation

Check out this article that I wrote for MindBodyGreen. It explains how the Six Healing Sounds can help you to overcome feelings of fear. You can try the meditation at the end of it to see for yourself how it works.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7839/release-your-fears-with-qigong-meditation.html

Why the Healing Sounds Exercise for the Stomach Releases Worry

Check out this article and follow the meditation instructions at the end to release your worries.

Why you Need to Practice the Art of Qigong Meditation

What's the difference between an emotion and a feeling? My article on the art of qigong meditation gets to the heart of that question. 

http://www.MindBodyGreen.com/0-7013/why-you-need-to-practice-the-art-of-qigong-meditation.html

So what is qigong?

Put simply, “qi” (sounds like "chee") basically means energy and “gong” refers to the exercises you do to cultivate it. It is an ancient practice, with its roots in Chinese medicine, martial arts and philosophy, taking many forms that vary widely. It is not a religious practice but you can bring your personal spiritual beliefs to it if you like. Some of the postures involve a lot of movement, while others (like the exercises in my book) are done seated with gentle movements or by being still, in either a standing, sitting or lying-down position.  

With the Six Healing Sounds, you use your breath combined with smiling, visualization, gentle movements and sound vibrations to get rid of stale energy (excess of negative emotions) and bring new energy (positivity) into the body. It is a gentle process that is done with “relaxed intention” because when you are calm the body’s healing mechanisms are supported.  Being calm also helps you to think more clearly and creatively, opening you up to gaining new insights about yourself. The Six Healing Sounds helps you to foster loving and compassionate attitudes towards yourself by putting some distance between you and your negative feelings. You do not attempt to aggressively force negative feelings out of your body because in doing so you will only make them grow stronger. Instead you see them as having a function. Feelings arise to communicate something and once you recognize that, you can be grateful for them and then send them on their way.

The Six Healing Sounds finishes off with the lying-down position which brings you to the Wuji state, the deepest level of energy cultivation. This is a time when you become still, and like mindfulness meditation, you let your thoughts float past without making any judgements. There is no intention to do anything in this state, you simply relax and allow your awareness to deepen.  

Qigong is something that can be done throughout the day. Every moment you are deciding whether to be positive or negative. Walking, cycling, cooking and cleaning are all examples of things that can be done using the principles of qigong to help you to stay positive, energetic and lovingly connected to yourself and to the world around you.

Breathe Your Worries Away

The exercise that generates the most feedback from my book is the one that helps children to stop worrying. Recently a grandmother told me:

"My grandson and I love this book.... Wednesday night is 'Grandma Night' and when he got up this morning he told me he 'needed' to read the one to help his stomach calm down because he was worried about his spelling test tomorrow!!! How wonderful to be able to help a seven year-old calm HIMSELF down with this method..."

Wonderful indeed! I know only too well how it feels to be a child who is prone to worrying so I'm particularly touched when I hear that my book is helping little ones to let go of their anxieties. Reading this comment from a mother really moved me:

"Lisa, my daughter is five years old and she has, unfortunately, through 'nature and nurture', picked up a tendency toward anxiety. As her mother, I wanted to find a way to teach her ways to protect herself from the damage of letting worry, anxiety and negativity into her little 'being'. Your book was RIGHT on time and the perfect choice for bedtime reading. Isn't it amazing how sometimes if we need something badly enough, and we open our minds to it.... we can find exactly what we are looking for in life. Thank you so much for this wonderful book, it means more than words can say."

It's also great to hear from adults who tell me that the techniques are working for them too. Doe Zantamata (who reviewed my book for her Facebook page Happiness in Your Life) said:

"Oh how I would have loved this book when I was little... and my mum would probably have loved for me to have it too. I highly recommend it, not only for children but for adults too. For me, I wanted to learn the basics, without studying a lot. This was perfect. The exercises and sounds felt a little silly at first but they really work."

Anxiety is what keeps most of us awake at night. A little bit of time spent doing the Six Healing Sounds helps to send children (and adults) off to sleep because it helps them to release their worries and feel calm.  These exercises are also great to use throughout the day whenever you need to help yourself to calm down and feel more positive.