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Guide

Qigong Movement

Qigong is a practice of engaging the mind and body wholeheartedly, using gentle movements and standing meditations to allow ourselves to empty and observe. Before the method asks you to repeat a belief and feel it move, it asks you to stand a particular way — rooted, relaxed, empty — and then to trace a particular shape with your hands: the infinity harmonising movement. This guide teaches both, in order: the standing posture first, then the movement itself.

Coming into Wu Chi

Wu Chi is the standing posture that we do the majority of movement from in Qigong. It is a standing posture in which the body is relaxed yet active, in balance and rooted. Just standing in Wu Chi is highly beneficial both to release body tension and to raise awareness of your whole self — a practice of mindfulness as we become observers of our whole being.

If you are unable to stand, practise this posture seated in a chair that is of the height that you can place your feet on the ground and sit without leaning on the back of the chair. Wear flat shoes to help your posture, or bare feet, as we are going to connect into the earth energies.

Stick figure standing in Wu Chi facing forward: feet planted apart, knees soft and unlocked, arms relaxed and slightly bent at the sides.
Wu Chi from the front: feet rooted, knees soft, arms relaxed.
  1. Place your feet parallel, slightly more than hip's width apart, and imagine them rooting down, sending pressure through the centre of the balls of the feet (the bubbling spring) into the earth.
  2. Soften your knees so they are slightly bent and unlocked, to help this sense of rooting down and let the energy flow.
  3. Relax the muscles in the legs, almost as if you are balancing on the bones — joints soft, muscles active enough to hold you up but still relaxed.
  4. Relax your hip joints and the kua (where the top of the legs meet the trunk), and unwind the pelvis — see it as a hanging basket, hanging neutrally. This opens the kua and releases the hips.
  5. Maintain the downward connection through the feet into the earth; the yin energy of the earth will rise up through the bubbling spring points. From the coccyx up, bring awareness along the back of your spine, creating space through each vertebra as the energy rises to the crown, honouring the spine's natural curve.
  6. Let your head be suspended by an imaginary golden thread above the crown; align it so the back of the neck is lengthened — this may bring the chin slightly closer to the chest. Take your time until the head feels free, suspended and balanced on top of the spine.
  7. Place the tip of the tongue on the roof of the mouth, connecting the micro-cosmic orbit — the pathway that runs up the spine, along the top of the head, down the front of the body, and connects under the perineum in a circuit.
  8. Relax your shoulders, creating a little space underneath the armpit. Let this relaxation spread down through the arms and slightly extended fingers, actively relaxed.
  9. Relax your stomach muscles so the diaphragm can fall and breathing become easier. Bring in the intention for your breath to slow — without changing it directly, just tell it to slow down.
  10. Calm your mind with the same kind of intention. As you connect to the vital forces of heaven through the crown and earth through the feet, your mind will quieten. If the internal critic shows up, welcome it in to witness the qi flow; it will soon surrender.
Stick figure shown side-on in Wu Chi: head balanced level, the back of the neck lengthened, shoulders relaxed, arms hanging loosely at the sides.
Wu Chi from the side: head suspended, neck long, shoulders soft.

The bubbling spring

Stick figure facing forward with a gold dotted line running down the centre of the body and out below the feet, marking the channel through the bubbling spring points.
The channel through the bubbling spring points as you come into Wu Chi.

The bubbling spring is the point to be aware of as you come into Wu Chi — the centre of the balls of the feet, the acupuncture "kidney 1" point through which the water element of the body connects with the rising energy of Gaia, our living, breathing, beautiful, resourceful Earth. As you enter Wu Chi, setting up this energy pathway with intention, it is like plugging your phone in to charge its battery. Everything below you is made of molecules and peptides, energy connected all the way to the earth — simply standing on the earth's surface gives you a beautiful connection, but activating the bubbling spring point with intention is enough for the pathway to open and flow.

The sole of a foot viewed from below, with a yellow dot marking the bubbling spring point at the centre of the ball of the foot.
The bubbling spring point, at the centre of the ball of the foot.

The lower Dan Tien

The lower Dan Tien is a large energy centre situated around the hara, just below your navel, a few inches inside the body. When strong, its energy field will resonate all the way out in front of your body like a ball. Bringing your hands out in front of the lower Dan Tien, palms facing it, begins to gather and increase energy flow there.

When standing in Wu Chi and relaxing the belly by allowing it to hang or drop, you can begin "belly breathing," which brings energy into the lower Dan Tien — resourcing and replenishing the body with qi, the life force. The Dan Tien is often described as an ocean of energy, your deepest resource. For the purpose of the Healing InSight method, we work with and observe the lower Dan Tien.

The grounding posture

Stick figure standing with knees soft, dashed lines running from the hands down to two marks on the ground beside the feet, showing energy flowing down into the earth.
The grounding posture: palms to the earth, energy running down and out.

From Wu Chi, bring your palms to face the earth to the sides of your legs, roughly level with the crease of the leg or under the hip. This connects with the downward flow of the gallbladder meridian and can be used to ground and earth you. It brings your focus downwards and can settle any disruptive or uncomfortable energy sensations as you are working through the method. This standing posture is also used to ground and plant a new vibration beneath your feet — as you practise it, your legs may feel heavier, more "planted," your awareness and energy sinking, as if providing a strong foundation from which to step forward.

This posture is taught in full — with the steps for planting a new belief beneath your feet — in the Grounding and Planting guide. Come back here any time you just need to recognise the shape of it.

The infinity harmonising movement

The infinity harmonising movement follows the shape of the infinity symbol — the lemniscate — over the lower Dan Tien. This movement enables us to connect with all aspects of the self, bringing balance and harmony to these different parts of our whole. It is the movement you will perform throughout the entire re-alignment process, so it's worth taking the time to learn it now — the more you practise, the more it becomes muscle memory, letting you focus on the belief you're aligning with rather than the movement itself.

  1. Stick figure standing with hands together in front of the lower Dan Tien, a mirrored infinity-symbol loop beside each hand, the arrows at the centre pointing outward — each hand about to trace its own loop.
    Standing in Wu Chi, bring your hands in front of the lower Dan Tien with your palms facing each other.
  2. Stick figure with arms extended out to the sides at waist height, diagonal arrows pointing outward and downward from each hand.
    Following the shape of the infinity symbol, or sideways figure of eight, turn both palms up to face the heavens, connecting with the yang qi.
  3. Stick figure with hands out to the sides, an infinity-symbol loop traced beside each hand, arrows curving outward and upward.
    Drop the palms down and out along the diagonal line, palms still facing up.
  4. Stick figure with hands raised further out to the sides, an infinity-symbol loop traced beside each hand, arrows curving up and inward.
    Lift the hands slightly and, moving outward, turn the palms of the hands to face each other again, this time on the outward periphery of the infinity symbol.
  5. Stick figure with arms extended out to the sides at waist height, an infinity-symbol loop traced beside each hand, arrows pointing inward and downward.
    Raise the hands further, moving them inwards and turning the palms to face the earth, connecting with the yin qi.
  6. Stick figure with hands drawn in closer to the body, an infinity-symbol loop traced beside each hand, arrows curving upward.
    Drop the palms down and inward along the diagonal line, palms still facing down.
  7. Move inward further and slightly upward as you turn the palms to face each other, as you began.
  8. Continue this movement, following the shape and flow of the infinity symbol — palms facing the heavens as you move outwards, palms facing the earth as you move inwards.

This may seem complicated at first, but it is a movement that your body knows innately. Take your time to feel into it.