“Yi…is the spirit that supports the manifestation of new things to come into being. It unifies the thought and action into a form of doing that, with applied purpose, produces desired ends.”
--From The Way Five Elements, John Kirkwood
As soon as I got ahold of music producer Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, I searched the index to see if he had anything to say on intention. I was pleased to find he gave it an entire, pithy chapter of its own. “Our thoughts, feelings, processes, and unconscious beliefs have an energy that is hidden in the work. This unseen, immeasurable force gives each piece its magnetism,” he wrote. “Remove intention and all that’s left is the ornamental shell.” This cuts to the essence of Qigong. Whether doing a movement for the first time or the five-thousandth, it’s essential to align our thoughts with our actions if we hope to plug into the deep, healing flow of energy.
Here’s a simple example: Last year a P.T. coached me to do 40 squats 3X a day, to build strength in my lower legs. I did this for quite a while. It worked, but after a few months I became so bored that I began to dread, and then completely skip those tedious squats! One day I decided to practice what I preach and apply the spirit of “Yi,” or intention: I stood in Horse Stance, with my arms rounded in front of me at chest height. I focused, as we do in Zhang Zhuang/standing meditation, on steadying and deepening my breathing and letting go of tension wherever and whenever it crept in.
Standing in Horse Stance lit up all the same muscles as bobbing up and down in a knee- taxing squat. The big difference —and what made it much more motivating— is that my intention had shifted from “When will this be over?” to “Wow, I can feel the qi coursing through me!” After one minute of holding the stance, my lower body muscles really kicked in and began to feel very challenged. I calmed the pounding of my heart by focusing more deeply on relaxation and breathing. It was an intriguing challenge: just how long could I sustain this relaxed, calm sensation before the increasingly loud messages from my quads and glutes told me to wrap things up? When I was done, I did “Drawing Down the Heavens.” Rather than thinking “Wow, I’m glad THAT’S over!” I felt an enjoyable sensation of accomplishment and vitality. Of course we can apply intention to anything we do, including squats. The stances, however, prevent momentum or distraction from drawing us away from our intention.
That’s the beauty of Qigong: We’re allowed the freedom to find our own path into each exercise, a place where movement, intention, breath, and relaxation mix into that magic and transformative alchemy that turns stress into vitality.
Schedule for December:
Final December Millbrook Library Free In-person/Zoom Qigong: Friday Dec.19th, 10 - 11am. Please register for this class by contacting Millbrooklibrary.org.
Pre-holiday Acupressure for Stress Reduction: Saturday, December 13th, 10:30-12, Hotchkiss Library, Sharon CT. Please call (860) 364-5041 to register for this free workshop.
Holiday Schedule: Our final online Qigong class this month will be Sunday, December 21. Classes will resume Sunday, January 4.
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Zoom Qigong Classes Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 9:30 am EST
