Qigong For Combating Stress…
People who know about qigong most commonly understand it as a way to balance energy in the body to improve health and vitality.
Certainly it’s good for that, but there is another worthwhile effect of doing these movements that not everyone talks about, namely its powerful ability to reduce the effects of stress.
There are a number of ways that these exercises help reduce stress. Here is a short list of them:
- The act of gentle, easy movement helps relax your body. Not only do muscles get exercise, but they get stretched as well.
- Every form of qigong involves deep, abdominal breathing. This sort of breathing triggers what is referred to as the ‘relaxation response,’ helping your whole body release tension.
- Most often stress results from spending too much time worrying over a problem or issue. By doing an activity that requires you to place your mind in the immediate moment and focus on other things (movement, breathing, posture, etc.), you get your mind off of your problems. Getting your mind off the things stressing you helps allow your more creative, problem-solving mental processes work on resolving the issue, and they’ll do so much more effectively than you could consciously.
Because stress is such a big factor in modern life, having the ability to manage it easily every day is a huge advantage. There are many qigong exercises that give you this ability in just a few minutes a day.
In future posts I’ll talk about some of the forms of qigong that are particularly good for stress reduction and also share some lesser-known facts about it’s history and evolution.
Stay tuned!
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
