SUMMER QIGONG!

I grew up in Colorado hearing “this weather is unusual.”  It has indeed been true this year with seemingly endless cold, rainy days. I also heard “just wait ten minutes and the weather will change.” Well, not so much. The ten minutes lasted about two months. 

But, I’m feeling confident in saying that SUMMER IS HERE!

Yesterday we practiced Summer “Qigong in a Park.” So what does that mean?

Every season is associated with an element, with a color, with an animal, with the organs and meridians of the body, with tastes, smells and emotions. 

Element: FIRE. Fire element is expansive and colorful. Think of a sunflower opening up and facing the sun. 

Organs and Meridians: HEART. And what does the heart represent? Joy, compassion and of course love. The supporting meridians during the summer include the the heart and its partner meridian the small intestine, the pericardium also known as the heart protector, and the triple heater meridian. These meridians are located in the arms. So, it’s only appropriate that we activate these meridians by spreading our wings, bringing us to: 

Animal: CRANE. There is a black crane that lives in the pond in the park where I like to practice. Watching it spread its wings is inspirational. The crane is displaying expansiveness and an open heart. Maybe it’s trying to impress a mate, which is actually one of the Crane forms: “Red headed crane delights in seeing its mate.” 

There are many wonderful YouTube videos with teachers that I admire. Yesterday we practiced forms featured in this video by Mimi Kuo Deemer. 

What do people like to do in the summer? Seek water: a pool, a lake, a stream, a pond, a sprinkler to run through. I began our practice with Swimming Dragon forms. I used to teach swimming. I’d teach techniques but then let the “kids” just play. We did that with the Dragon forms. We practiced forms and then went free-form! 

I’ve written a post about the Dragon, with videos. But here’s yet another done by my teacher Nick Loffree. Enjoy. 

Now, go run through a sprinkler.