A high percentage of individuals today live with moderate to high stress in their daily lives. With our on-the-go lifestyles, addicted to our phones and work, we seem to be unable to slow down and relax.
Stress can present itself in a variety of ways such as hypertension, depression, insomnia, and fatigue. In the US, stress contributes to two thirds of doctor’s visits and 50% of all illnesses. Over the past few months, self-care trends have taken off as people have tried to adjust to working from home, teaching their kids from home and not being able to
socialize in quite the same ways. People are looking to new exercise habits, skin care routines, limiting screen time, getting a new family pet and many more ways to try and bring some sanity back into their life.
Qi Gong is an option for those who are looking for variety, a new way to move their body, and a way to gain control over their stress levels. It’s been found that this exercise has helped improve physical health and reduce perceived stress and anxiety. It’s found to be beneficial for medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic heart disease, movement disorders and even cancer.
This practice combines physical movements with specific breathing techniques to help decrease stress and improve overall health and well-being. The movements stimulate key acupuncture points and meridians, which help to promote the flow of energy. Other reasons for this effect is because Qi Gong focuses on concentration and slow, deep breathing patterns during the movement, which proves to be effective in reducing blood pressure and decreasing stress levels. It works to reduce the sympathetic nervous system (the fight or flight reaction) and helps to control norepineprhine and cortisol levels.
If you want to learn more and practice yourself, you can learn more at the Qi Gong Institute website where they have more information, videos, teachers and educational content https://www.qigonginstitute.org/
You can also check out my personal Qi Gong teacher, Sifu Rupert Harvey: http://goldenharmonykungfu.com/what-we-offer/
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3152799/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3893407/