Five Flows Set Overview

Following is an brief look at the exercises and basic principles and aims of the Five Flows Qigong Set. On other pages on this website are more in-depth descriptions of the exercises. For more guidance, see my DVD. In addition, I am currently working on a book describing the Five Flows Qigong in detail. This will be available both as an e-book, and a traditional volume. I aim to have the book ready for sale sometime in 2009.

Three Basic Principles of Practice

1) Practice Everyday. Practice is the Father of skill and the Mother of healing.2) Modify When Necessary. Practice within your limits. Never force a move. Find a smaller, easier way if a movement hurts.3) Refine Over Time. Grow your understanding and build your skill to attain even greater benefits.

All 12 exercises are done with the following posture:

Feet are shoulder-width. Toes point forward. Knees are slightly bent. Shoulders are over the hips. Always be breathing as deeply and fully as comfortable. Be as relaxed as possible in all the exercises.

First Flow: Warming Up

Warm ups get your body and mind ready for practice.

1) Shaking the Body. 1-2 minutes.

Movement: Bounce up and down.

Purpose: Releases tension.

Main Qigong Principle: Think less and feel more.

2) Turning the Waist. 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Movement: Turn the torso left and right.

Purpose: Opens the waist.

Main Qigong Principle: Turn the torso with the waist.

3) Waking the Breath. 6-12 reps.

Movement: Inhale raising straight arms high; exhale lowering straight arms to the sides.

Purpose: Deepens breathing.

Main Qigong Principle: Coordinate breath with movement.

Second Flow: Cleansing

Cleansing purges tensions, toxicities and energy blockages.

4. Outer Qi Shower. 1-2 times through the cycle.

Movement: Tap hands all over the body.

Purpose: Vibrates the dust loose.

Main Qigong Principle: Purge stagnations to improve Qi flow and health.

5. Inner Qi Shower. 6-12 reps.

Movement: Cleanse cells with descending hands and a vocally descending Shee tone.

Purpose: Clears the cells of sludge.

Main Qigong Principle: Use sound vibrations to clear the body of toxicity.

Third Flow: Charging

Charging helps you absorb, build and tonify with new, clean energy.

6. Charging the Center. 12-24 reps.

Movement: Hands on lower abdomen. Slightly tilt the pelvis with an inhale.

Exhale to neutral pelvis.

Purpose: Builds power in the lower energy center.

Main Qigong Principle A: Belly Breathing.

Main Qigong Principle B: Pelvic Tilt.

Main Qigong Principle C: Draw Qi to the Dantian

7. Charging the Kidneys. 12-24 reps.

Movement: Hands on the lower back. Slightly tilt the pelvis with an inhale. Exhale to neutral pelvis.

Purpose: Builds energy in the Kidneys.

Main Qigong Principle: Open and charge the Gate of Life.

8. Charging the Qi Ball. 12-24 reps.

Movement: Hands at the level of the lower energy center, expand out and compress.

Purpose: Builds healing energy in the body.

Main Qigong Principle: Use the whole body to move the hands.

Fourth Flow: Balancing

Balancing regulates and equalizes the energy in your body.

9. Streaming the Fountains. 6-12 reps each way.

Movement: Bring Earth energy up the inside column of the body and down the outside orb in a fountain. Reverse the directions for Heaven energy.

Purpose: Energizes and balances your body between Earth and Heaven.

Main Qigong Principle: Keep hips, knees and ankles centered and lined up.

10. Riding the Waves. 12-24 reps.

Movement: Raise arms up and down, pelvic tilting on the down.

Purpose: Balances the energy flow vertically in the body.

Main Qigong Principle: Move with the lymph rhythm.

Fifth Flow: Centering

Centering helps you internalize the energy and meditate.

11. Centering the Qi. 6-12 reps.

Movement: Reach up and out, then lower the hands, gathering energy to the lower energy center.

Purpose: Guides energy to the bodys center to store for later use.

Main Qigong Principle: Guide the Qi back to the center.

12. Nurturing the Qi. 6-12 Breaths.

Movement: Hands and mind on the lower energy center with eyes closed.

Purpose: Lets the healing changes from practice sink into your being.

Main Qigong Principle: Balance activity with quiescence.

First Flow Exercises

Warm-upsWarm-up your body.Warm-ups are a way to transition from your regular day into a practice mode. Warm-ups in Qigong prepare the body by loosening the joints, relaxing muscles, softening connective tissue tension, getting blood flowing and getting you into the mindset of a practice session. Warming up is like the coming of warmth in the spring breaking the ice on a mountain lake.The First flow of the Five Flows we play with in the Five Flows Qigong setfirst setis the flow of warming up. In other words, we get the body, mind, emotions and spirit moving. We shift into practice and let the rest of our dialy concerns go by. we put them down for a little while. later, when we pick them up again, we almost always find these concerns easier to deal with. As we transition into practice, we increae the blood flow in our veins and arteries and their little brothers and sisters of small size. we wake up the muscles some, and the joints. the enhance flow of lymph fluid is initiated.

1) Shaking the Body. 1-2 minutes.

Movement: Bounce up and down.

Purpose: Releases tension.

Main Qigong Principle: Think less and feel more.

2) Turning the Waist. 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Movement: Turn the torso left and right.

Purpose: Opens the waist.

Main Qigong Principle: Turn the torso with the waist.

3) Waking the Breath. 6-12 reps.

Movement: Inhale raising straight arms high; exhale lowering straight arms to the sides.

Purpose: Deepens breathing.

Main Qigong Principle: Coordinate breath with movement.

#1: Shaking the Body

Five Flows Exercise #1

General DescriptionRecommended Time: 1-2 minutes, or many more

Release tension by relaxing the muscles and other tissues of the body. Open the joints, gently bounce the organs, detoxify every cell.Movement: Bounce up and down.Main Purpose: Releases tension in every part of the body.Main Qigong Principle: Less thinking and more being in your body leads to health.

Description of Physical MovementsTo begin, stand in a shoulder-width stance. Start the movement from the bottom of your feetnot your ankles (you want to stand on the ground, not on your own two feet.) Shake in an up-and down-motion. Be gentle. Breathe freely and fully. The arms can be either hung loose or actively shaken in concert with the rest of the body. Shake for a minute to several minutes. Finish the exercise by making the motions smaller and smaller until they are physically imperceptible. Then be still and feel the continuing internal vibrations. You will feel warm, tingly, and open with increased blood and Qi flow.

Shake up and down

Let the Earth shake you

Shaking is Relaxing

Modifying the Exercise

Find just the right speed and intensity of shaking for you. If you shake to hard or too fast, it might tense you up. If you dont shake with enough movement, it wont relax your body and warm you up as well. If anything at all hurts with the shaking, find a way to shake easier, smaller.Mental FocusImagine the cells of your body opening and releasing old, used up energy to be washed into the ground. Visualize this cellular cleansing while intending a downward energy flow. As you shake, old, stagnant, or toxic Qi will sink into the ground, like rainwater washing dust off a tree. Let the space between your cells expand.Energetic FocusSense your energy field begin to brighten and strengthen in intensity.Discussion of Shaking the BodyLet go of the stresses of the day by shaking them out. Release tensions and revive yourself. Shaking seems simple (and is) but is actually a powerful, effective Qigong technique. It relaxes and warms all of the muscles, organs, joints and fascia of the body and even the multitudes of cells of your body. Whole-body shaking is an excellent way to exercise and detoxify every cell of the body. Besides being an effective warm-up, Shaking the Body can make bone marrow strong, strengthen the spine, and support the kidneys and adrenal glands. In fact, every organ and tube in the body is enhanced by Shaking the Body. Lymph flow is enhanced so that more gunk is cleared out and your immune function improved. Blood flow increases and hormonal secretions will benefit your skin. Bouncing up and down like this also adjusts the magnetic field, organizing and balancing it. Shaking can strengthen cells through the quick, extra force each shake places on the cells. It adds a sudden dollop of extra-gravitational force, creating a need for all of the cells to buck up. It can help sagging tissues regain or hold their tonicity.

#2: Turning the Waist

General Description

Recommended Time: 1-2 minutes

Movement: Turn the torso from above the pelvis, left and right, letting the arms flap loosely to each side.Main Purpose: Opens the waist.Main Qigong Principle: Turn the torso with the waist.

Description of the Movements

While standing with feet shoulder-width, twist from the waist, loosely letting the arms swing from side to side. Let the hands flap on the buttocks. Try to twist mainly from the waist, which isin the secret language of Qigongthe lower back muscles. It is best to move the pelvis as little as possible and to let the arms and shoulders be moved freely from the turnings of the back. The pelvis is the base upon which the turnings of the rest of the torso above it rotate. As you twist push the lower back in a slight reverse arch to the rear, but dont hunch over. Keep the spine gently stretched tall.

Be gentle with yourself (always be gentle with yourself) and get into a rhythm. Swing for several pleasant minutes if you like. Rest for a few moments and feel the internal vibration.

Let arms hang

Turn waist to the right

Turn back to the center

Turning to the left

Flapping arms on the hip

Modifying the Exercise

Dont over-twist. Small movements are as good as large movements for Qigong. It just depends upon your bodys capacities. If the lower back hurts, slow down the turns considerably and just get a slight, warming movement.

Mental Focus

Focus on horizontally rotating the waist and abdomen, keeping the legs rooted in ground.

Energetic Focus

Turn the Belt Vessel. The Belt Vessel is an energetic channel that can be thought of and felt as a belt that wraps around your midsection at the level of the belly button.

Loosen and Massage

The Turning the Waist exercise loosens the spine and shoulders, increases blood and Qi flow in the body, and focuses you for a great practice. Even better, it teaches you to move rotationally from the waist, which is highly beneficial to your lumber spine, Kidney health, and overall energy. By turning with the waist you are giving your abdominal organs and bowels a good massage. Be sure to keep your knees and hips forward when turning, thus learning how to save your hips and knees from dangerous sideways force.

#3: Waking the Breath

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 6 to 12, or more.

Imagine you are breathing with your entire body with this exercise, as if you are pumping fresh air into every cell.Movement: Inhale raising straight arms high; exhale lowering straight arms to the sides.Main Purpose: Deepens breathing.Main Qigong Principle: Coordinate breath with movement.

Description of the Physical Movements

Inhale as you raise the almost straight arms in front of the body until the hands are over the head. The arms are levered up, not pushed up. Exhale, arcing the straight arms down their respective sides (left and right.)

Begin to Inhale

Raise the arms

Arms continue to rise

Until arms are over head

Begin the Exhale

arcing arms down the sides

Finish exhale as arms come to hipsModifying the Exercise: Double Breathing

If you are unable to breathe comfortably through the entire slowness of the inhale or exhale, you could take more than one cycle of breath through each cycle of hand movements.

Modifying the Exercise: Smaller Circles

Another way to modify is if one or both shoulders creak or complain when you raise the arms above the head. If you are unable to do the full raising and lowering of the shoulders, trying to make yourself do it just creates constriction, muscular resistance, and a shutting down of energy flow. By moving smaller, you can gain relaxation and qi and fluid flow.

Mental Focus

Imagine your whole body is breathing.

Energetic Movements

Inhale healing Qi to all parts of your body from every direction, spherically.Exhale, releasing tension and stress to all directions.

Second Flow Exercises

ClearingClear out tensions, toxicities and energy blockages.The idea behind clearing is that the body is usually full of old, collected, toxic or stuck stuff that is getting in the way of a free flow of energy. It is important to purge the body of energetic and physical blocks before adding more Qi to the body. By opening blocks to flows, releasing energetic excess and purging energetic detritus (so-called bad Qi) you will be ready to take in more empowering energy, and attain healing in a balanced way. Clearing is like a mountain lake flushing out dirt, dead particles, and old sluggish water. More water is leaving than coming in.Second Flow Exercises

4. Outer Qi Shower. 1-2 times through the cycle.

Movement: Tap hands all over the body.

Purpose: Vibrates the dust loose.

Main Qigong Principle: Purge stagnations to improve Qi flow and health.

5. Inner Qi Shower. 6-12 reps.

Movement: Cleanse cells with descending hands and a vocally descending Shee tone.

Purpose: Clears the cells of sludge.

Main Qigong Principle: Use sound vibrations to clear the body of toxicity.

Third Flow Exercises

ChargingCharge up and tonify with new, clean Qi.In charging you are adding energy and building inner resources. By filling various organs and energetic structures with fresh Qi you regain presence, vitality, and sparkle. You refill your gas tanks and expand your capacities. Charging is like a mountain lake refilling with fresh glacial water, vital and scintillating in the sunshine. More water is coming in than leaving. Third Flow Exercises

6. Charging the Center. 12-24 reps.

Movement: Hands on lower abdomen. Slightly tilt the pelvis with an inhale.

Exhale to neutral pelvis.

Purpose: Builds power in the lower energy center.

Main Qigong Principle A: Belly Breathing.

Main Qigong Principle B: Pelvic Tilt.

Main Qigong Principle C: Draw Qi to the Dantian

7. Charging the Kidneys. 12-24 reps.

Movement: Hands on the lower back. Slightly tilt the pelvis with an inhale. Exhale to neutral pelvis.

Purpose: Builds energy in the Kidneys.

Main Qigong Principle: Open and charge the Gate of Life.

8. Charging the Qi Ball. 12-24 reps.

Movement: Hands at the level of the lower energy center, expand out and compress.

Purpose: Builds healing energy in the body.

Main Qigong Principle: Use the whole body to move the hands.

#6: Charging the Center

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 12 to 24, or moreFill and warm up your lower abdominal power center.Movement: Hands on lower abdomen. Slightly tilt the pelvis with an inhale. Exhale to neutral pelvis.Main Purpose: Builds power in the lower energy center.Main Qigong Principle A: Belly Breathing.Main Qigong Principle B: Pelvic Tilt.Main Qigong Principle C: Fill the Dantian, the lower energy center.

Description of the Physical Movements of Charging the Center

Place hands on the lower abdomen between the belly button and the pubic bone. One hand is over the back of the other hand. It doesnt particularly matter which hand is on the body. Inhale through the nose, bending the knees slightly and engaging a pelvic tilt. You want to breathe into the lower Abdomen; the shoulders should not rise. On the exhale through the nose straighten your legs, reversing the pelvic tilt.

Inhale to belly, bending knees and tilt pelvis

Exhale, straighten knees and pelvis neutral

Modifying the Exercise

Avoiding PainThe movements of Charging the Center are small to begin with, so most people can do them easily enough. But if there is some kind of pain when you perform it, say in the hips or knees, then move in a smaller way. Most of the power of Qigong is in how you focus your mind and breath. Moving with a smaller amplitude still allows you to feel the whole body, sink the weight into the center, and fill the center fresh Qi and body consciousness.

Sitting If you have difficulty practicing this exercise standing, or you are in a wheel chair, you can practice it sitting down.

MenstruationDuring menstruation you may want to skip this exercise and do more of Exercise #7: Charging the Kidneys. Some teachers say that women should not practice at all during menstruation.

PregnancyIf you dont yet practice Qigong, you will probably want to wait until after the birth of your child. If you already practice Qigong and you become pregnant, you will probably want to continue your practice. I suggest you skip Charging the Center and do more Charging the Kidney.

Mental Focus: Dantian

Relax your mind while lightly focusing on the center of your lower abdomen. Putting your mind into your lower abdomen draws excess energy out of your head and other areas above the abdomen. In the internal arts from China, this geo-energetic center is known as the Dantian (DAWN tee en) or the Lower Dantian.

Energetic Focus: Dantian

Dantian is pronounced DAWN tee en. This is a word meaning literally meaning field of elixir. Qi comes into your body through the inhale, then descends to the belly to enter the Dantian. Qi from your head, neck, shoulders, chest and back also sinks and enters the Dantian. You might feel your dantian heat up as a fire would. Allow the Dantian become magnetic to healing energy. On the exhale, the Qi is encouraged to stay in the Dantian and build up there.

A Real Healing Field

As a field of elixir, the Lower Dantian is a place of natural healing medicine. It is the center of the body and is associated with coordinated movement, physical power, deep breath, and life force energy. The Lower Dantian is also a repository and refining center for Qi.

Coordinating Breath with Movement

I talked about this important Qigong health principle on Exercise #3: Waking the Breath. Here it becomes even more explicit in your practice. Your movement begins and end with the beginning and ending of each half of your breath. Breathing in, you begin to pelvic tilt. Your inhale then continues smoothly as you bend the knees and lower the body at a regular pace. Your body lowering ends exactly as you reach the end of the inhale. Exhale in the same way, by starting the body rise and exhale together and ending them together after a smooth, linked middle.

Balanced Inhale and Exhale

You want to tend toward a breathing rhythm that is the same frequency and ease on both breathing in and breathing out. Practicing Charging the Center is an excellent method to regain a more healthful breathing cadence and capacity.

#7: Charging the Kidneys

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 12 to 24, or moreMovement: This is Kidney breathing with the hands on the lower back and a pelvic tilt.Man Purpose: Builds energy in the Kidneys, bringing more vitality to the body.Main Qigong Principle: Open and charge the Gate of Life.

Description of the Physical Movements

Hand PlacementPlace your palms on your back, over the Kidneys. The location for the Kidneys is higher than most people realize. In general, each Kidney is half-beneath the lower ribs and half-covered by the soft tissue of the big spinal muscles. Consult a good anatomy book for accuracy. (I recommend Atlas of Anatomy by Netter.)The fingertips will point inward and down slightly to the circular place on the back of the body known as the Gate of Life. This is a dime-sized area located on the spine exactly opposite the belly button.

Movement DetailsInhale: Pelvic tilt forward with a bit of a squat back and slight knee bend. The lower back will push backward. Lean the upper body just a bit forward to compensate for the squatting back. It is important that the tailbone moves forward, not backward. This ensures a flattening of the lower spinal vertebrae, which helps open the flow of blood, lymph, and Qi to the Kidneys.Exhale: Release into a neutral position, standing normally, hands still on the back.

The actual location of the Kidney

Inhale to Kidneys, tilt pelvis

Exhale into Kidneys, pelvic neutral

Modifying the Posture

Some people have a little difficulty with amount of the stretch on the joints for the basic posture of Charging the Kidneys. If you cannot reach all the way back comfortably, it is okay to modify the contact. You could practice with just one kidney at a time. Lets say it is the left kidney first. Place the left hand over the kidney on the back, and the right hand in front of the kidney on the abdomen. Turn the torso a little to the left to bring the right hand over the right abdomen and relieve any strain on the left arm and shoulder.Another method of modifying the posture is to place both palms on the abdomen, in front of the kidneys.

Mental Focus

Your focus is on the lower back, especially where the Kidneys are located. By putting your awareness there, you will draw energy and consciousness to the Kidneys, helping these oft-depleted organs to recharge.

Energetic Movements

Feel the Kidneys fill with life force energy. On the inhale draw the Qi to the Kidneys.On the exhale, send the Qi into the kidneys. Youll know you are getting it right when the kidneys warm up and feel more lively and full.

Back Pain Can Disappear

Chronic Low back pain can disappear with proper breathing practices. Ive seen it happen for people, when they do a practice called low back breathing. This exercise of Charging the Kidneys is similar to the previous exercise, Charging the Center, except the breath is focused more to the lower back area, rather than the lower abdomen on the front of the body.

Push the Lower Back Backward

On the inhale, tilt the pelvis forward while bending the knees a short few inches more. The bending knees give room for the pelvic movement. The pelvic tilting pushes the lumber spine backward, bringing stretching and all-important movement to that over-tensed area of the body.

Strong or Weak Kidneys

Weak Kidneys make you cold, tired, susceptible to illness, pale, fearful. Strong Kidneys lead to vitality, bodily warmth, warm hands, haleness and heartiness, courage, and wisdom. The Kidneys are also thought to feed and strengthen all the other internal organs. With weakened Kidneys, or Kidneys emptied of Qi through illness, lifestyle factors, or overexertion all other organs suffer, as does your health.Strengthening the Kidneys is always good to do, and the whole body/mind benefits.

#8: Charging the Qi Ball

General Description

Recommended Repetitions: 12 to 24 or moreMovement: Hands at the level of the lower energy center, expand hands outward, then compress them back to the center.Main Purpose: Builds healing energy in the hands and entire body.Main Qigong Principle: Use the whole body to move the hands.

Description of the Physical Movements

Bring the palms to face each other at the same level on either side of the Dantian (left and right sides.) The palms are about 6 inches apart to start. Inhale with a pelvic tilt while expanding your arms wide to the sides. Exhale, drawing the hands back together while bring the pelvis to neutral. This is exactly the same pelvic motion as is done on exercises 6, 7, and 10. Remember to move slowly and use belly breathing. A rhythm of 3 seconds out and 3 seconds back is a good rate to reach for.Keep your palms at the height of the Dantian for the entire exercise, being sure not to let them rise as you expand out.

Feel the Qi between hands

Expand the Qi-connected hands

Compress the Qi

Modifying the Exercise

I suggest a 3 second inhale, 3 second exhale rhythm for this exercise, but it could be 2/2. for shorter cycles of breath, dont expand the hands out as far. For longer cycles, say 4 or 5 seconds out and the same back, you have several choices. You can either move more slowly, expand the hands wider, or do both.

Mental Focus

Initially, pay attention to how your hands feel. As you get comfortable with the exercise widen your attention to include your arms. As you become skilled at Charging the Qi Ball, have a whole body awareness as you widen out, then come back inwardly.

Energetic Movements

Many people like to imagine a light, energetic connection between the palms. As you perform the repetitions you will actually feel a kind of a magnetic Qi taffy being stretch, compressed and blended between your hands. Eventually the whole body will feel like it is expanding out and sinking back

Discussion of Charging the Qi Ball

You dont want to be blocky with this movement. Relax the arms as much as possible and get into a flowing, seaweed in the-waves-like motion. Allow the elbows and wrists to move in slow-motion flexing and extendingall the while keep the palms facing each other.

Scientific measures of people before and after practicing Qigong show that Qigong practicing both increases and balances the energies of the hands, left to right. In Charging the Qi ball you can use a direct method to elicit this principle. Moving the arms out and builds Qi in the palmswhich you can feel as warmth and tingling and see as a red and white mottling. This simple movement also sends feedback up the sensory nerves of the arm and into the brain in such a way that the brain corrects imbalances.Charging the hands this way is also a method of self-healing for the internal organs. As blood and qi flow increases, and the arm tissues and joints relax and open, Qi follows the meridians into the depth of the body to nourish and regulate the organs. You may begin feeling a whole-body, magnetic pulse.

Charging the Qi Ball is a strongly charging exercise that becomes a balancing flowa perfect intersection to the next exercises in the set.