Pavel Tsatsouline Kettlebell Strength Training Weight Lifting Workouts Exercise and Flexibility Questions & Answers.

Qigong is not a panacea for problems like an excess of anxiety, however consistent, extended practice will likely reduce it. From a qigong perspective, there is nothing wrong per se with anxiety -- it serves a necessary messenger function in the body. However if compulsive thinking feeds an addiction to a particular emotion, then you will fall out of balance. I recommend three processes to do regularly to help reduce anxiety, in this order, before and beyond whatever other qigong you are doing: Five or more minutes of vigorous shaking of the whole body. 100 Wall Squats performed slowly and with good form. At least five minutes of a spiraling qigong method. I would be very surprised if this doesn't quickly start taking the edge off your anxiety. If you follow lively qigong with more internal processes that require careful attention you will find yourself getting "out of your head", more into your senses and general awareness -- and will find yourself less controlled by compulsive thinking. If you haven't already, read through some of my qigong blogs for more advice that would apply to your situation. Finally, relax every time you get the butterfly feeling and don't try too hard to control it with your breath -- that could make it worse. Better not ot fight it: better to relax into then out of it with a sense of acceptance. 

Natural remedies: Short term, the herb Goldenseal will help your condition, most likely. Powerful digestive enzymes could help. (My hunch is that your body is not handling certain foods very well.) And the firm Boiron puts out two homeopathic remedies that I would personally recommend: Coldcalm and Roxalia, which you should be able to find in any health food store. Disclaimer: my advice above is based only on personal experience. In the area of nutrition, I have simply had a passionate interest for thirty or so years -- no specialized training. Certainly in the long run Qigong will help to balance out allergies, because it impacts every aspect of the body's system in a beneficial manner. My Bliss Qigong DVD has some good fundamental advice on how to breathe correctly from a Qigong perspective. 

Have a look at my recent Qigong blog on avoiding knee pain -- a couple of good tips there for you. Also: very slightly grab the floor with your toes, to create a hollow in the center of your feet. Send your attention deep into the ground. 

a major Daoist sect called Lung Men, which translates as either Dragon Gate or Dragon Door. So I am sure Dragon Door is a popular name in Asia. I founded the company (1990) originally to publish books on Qigong and Tai Chi, hence that kind of a name. Thanks for posting the photo! 

You could quite well do with just the DVD. The book is actually a manual containing a complete transcript of my commentary on the DVD, plus detailed, high-quality photos of every movement. There is no detailed theory or history. It depends on your learning style. When I am myself learning new movement material I find the DVD much more useful initially, but will sometimes refer to the text and photos to check a detail more quickly than I can with a DVD. My hunch is that your mother would be very fine with just the DVD. 

There were some reasons we chose not to change the format so far, which I am not going to share. However, I don't consider it a dead issue and will be reviewing the posibililty of format changes down the road. 

You are correct that qigong can help enliven the lymph system. I don't have medical training so it is hard for me to comment beyond that. My uniformed recommendation would be to get it drained then take up qigong practices on a daily basis and see if it makes a difference. If you do get it drained, you can call me and I will give you some recommendations over the phone (at no charge).  

After doing a qigong practice to energize the hands in particular, cup the hands over your closed eyes and hold them there for from one to five minutes. As performed in the Eigth Brocades, you can include rolling your eyes through 360 degrees in both directions, traditionally done for either 24 or 36 rotations each direction. These kinds of methods are very similar to techniques used in the Bates Method (Google for more details) 

Thanks for the suggestion. We have actually been mulling over that possibility but it is likely to be a while before we make a decision one way or the other. Yes, Brad and Thomas are both terrific RKCs, no question. 

Dr. Ted Cibik has a book called Air Passages: Surviving Asthma Naturally, plus a video called Asthma Qigong. Cibik has black belts in Kung Fu, Jiu Jitsu, Judo and Karate and two doctorates as a Naturopath and Doctor of Chinese Medical Qigong from China. He has also personally had to deal with asthma for forty years. His website is www.inner-strength.com His phone number is 724-845-1041 Our new author Zhongxian Wu has just come out with a Shamanic Tiger Qigong DVD which is supposed to help the Lungs in particular. Of my products the Bliss Qigong would be very accessible and likely to help.