BLACK DRAGON FLYING INTO A CAVE
This Qi Gong posture comes from a form called the Shaolin Neigong, which was developed by monks in China at around 65 A.D. It was originally developed as part of a fighting technique, but it was subsequently realised that such postures brought internal health to particular organs and systems in the body. Many of these postures activate specific acupuncture points.
STARTING POSTURE
One leg is bent forward and the other is stretched out behind. You are facing the bent knee.
The palms of the hands face downwards and are parallel with the floor, behind the body with the elbows slightly bent. The hands should form an equilateral triangle with a point on the lower abdomen three finger-widths below the umbilicus. This point is the deepest centre of essence in our body.
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Inhale as the palms of the hand turn to face the sides of the body and move up to a position in front of the armpit.
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Palms turn to face the floor. Exhale and push forward from the palms so that the torso ideally touches the bent knee (work within your limits, and if you cannot comfortably get this low, just go as far as possible)
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Inhale as you straighten up the waist and draw palms back to their position in front of the armpits. Make sure you push up from the leg in order to activate a Kidney acupuncture point on the foot.
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Exhale as palms turn to face the floor and are pushed downwards to the starting posture. Feel the energy in the palms disperse into the Kidneys in the lumbar area of the back.
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Turn to the right and repeat the process a total of nine time facing each direction.
It is important that you simply breath normal – i.e. don’t take big exaggerated breaths. Match the speed of the movements to the speed of your breaths, not the other way.
