Do you ever feel anxiety holding you back or making it hard to truly enjoy life? Like your body is tense and your mind is focused on the negative?
Stress and anxiety can shift your whole perspective on the world, sapping the joy from things you normally love to do. Fortunately, Qi Gong offers some simple yet powerful practices to help you naturally let go of anxiety and cultivate a feeling of peace, relaxation, and joy. And unlike anxiety medications, there are zero negative side effects of Qi Gong.
In this blog, you’ll learn a seven-minute seated Qi Gong routine to relieve anxiety. You’ll also discover some of the underlying Qi Gong principles to help you understand why the practice is so effective for anxiety relief.
Qi Gong is an ancient practice that teaches you how to transform and cultivate your life-force energy. In fact, that’s exactly what Qi Gong means. “Qi” refers to your life-force energy, and “Gong” means “to work with.”
You can use Qi Gong to bring about many different kinds of transformations within your mind and body, including transforming anxiety to peace and relaxation.
One reason that Qi Gong is so effective in overcoming anxiety is that it establishes a strong connection between your mind and body. Although most people think of anxiety as a mental or emotional experience, it also has a significant physical component.
If you pay attention to your body when you’re anxious, you’ll notice that your neck and shoulders become tight and your chest feels constricted. These physical effects are closely connected to the mental and emotional experience of anxiety.
Because your mind and body are integrally connected, Qi Gong focuses on integrating the power of your mind with slow, flowing movements. These meditative movements are specifically designed to help you let go of anxiety and cultivate an abundance of relaxing, peaceful energy.
Many Qi Gong exercises are done in a standing position, but there are also some wonderful seated practices for anxiety relief. These practices allow you to get the nourishing benefits of Qi Gong even if you face physical limitations that make it hard to stand up, or if you just feel like letting go of anxiety without leaving your chair.
Below, we’ve provided a seven-minute seated Qi Gong routine to relieve anxiety naturally. This routine is offered both in a video format and in written instructions.
To begin this routine, sit upright in a chair with your feet planted firmly on the floor. Take a few deep breaths.
When you’re ready, start to tap gently on your chest with light, loose fists. As you tap, move your hands up and down on your sternum so you’re tapping different places across your chest. This tapping exercise is a wonderful way to activate your life-force energy.
Now, focus on your breath. On your inhale, breathe deeply in through your nose. On your exhale, release the air out through your mouth in a long exhale.
Continue tapping on your chest as you breathe deeply. Inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth. On your exhale, visualize stress, anxiety, and old energy leaving your body.
When you’re anxious, it’s normal for the anxiety to create a constriction in your chest. By tapping on your chest while breathing deeply, it helps you relax your chest and let go of pent-up stress and tension that you’re holding in your body.
After a minute or two, bring your hands down and rest them on your legs. Notice any buzzing or tingling sensations in your body.
Next, you’re going to do an exercise called Cloudy Hands.
To begin this exercise, bring your left hand up in front of your chest with the palm of your hand facing your body. Your left hand should be a few inches away from your body. Then, bring your right hand out to the right side of your body at about waist level and face your right palm towards the ground.
Once you’re in this position, move both hands slowly to the left in a slow, flowing movement. Once your hands are on the left side of your body, slowly switch your hand positioning and move your hands to the right. When you move to the right, your right hand should be in front of you facing your chest while your left hand is at waist level facing the ground.
Move your hands back and forth and focus on making the movements as flowing and smooth as possible.
Like in the previous exercise, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. On your exhale, visualize that you’re letting go of any stress or anxiety in your body. On your inhale, imagine that you’re taking in positive, joyful energy.
Continue doing this exercise for a few minutes and feel your body and mind transforming into a state of relaxation and peace.
After a few minutes, bring your hands to your heart center in a prayer position. With your eyes closed, continue breathing deeply and visualize positivity and joy gathering in your heart.
Think about something you’re grateful for from your day, and let that feeling of gratitude flourish within you. As you cultivate joy and gratitude, you’ll notice stress and anxiety continue to leave your body.
Whenever you’re ready, smile to yourself and bring that feeling of relaxation and joy with you into the rest of your day.
If you’re interested in learning more seated Qi Gong practices to help you release anxiety and experience more joyful energy in everyday life, be sure to check out our upcoming workshop.
In our upcoming Seated Qi Gong Workshop, you’ll learn how to release old energy and cultivate an abundance of vitality without even leaving your chair. This makes it the perfect workshop if you have physical limitations, or if you want to learn an adaptable sequence to use in daily life, recovery, travel, or when standing practice isn’t accessible.
Although this workshop doesn’t focus specifically on anxiety relief, it is one of the key benefits that all Qi Gong practices offer. In the workshop, you’ll learn how to cultivate:
Click on the banner below to learn more about how seated Qi Gong practices can empower you to experience peace and relaxation throughout your entire being.
