This page contains resources for participants of the “Stages of Life” workshop in 2024.
More example videos of Inner Qigong and the ability to join our online classes can be accessed with this button:
Activating Postural Muscles
The theme of these practices is how to activate the small postural muscles that stabilise the skeleton and hold joints together. If these are not active then the big muscles (which should be used for movement) have to compensate leading to chronic stiffness, tension and wear and tear on the joints.
The main muscles we will be working with are the rotator muscles of the shoulder and hip. Since the main need for holding the joint together is when the limb is being extended, the really key idea is to activate those ‘postural’ muscles WHILE they are lengthening.
There are several well-known physio and pilates exercises for strengthening these short muscles but they tend to focus on strengthening them through contraction and they don’t teach the muscle to maintain tone while it is lengthening. I don’t know of any other resource that teaches exercises to ‘tone while lengthening’ so it’s good to make this information available.
Here are some pictures of these postural muscles in the shoulder and hip.
Activating the Psoas Muscle
Activating the Hip Stabilisers
Activating Shoulder Stabilisers
Activating Scapula Stabilisers
INNER QIGONG VIDEOS
- Trust and Autonomy
The process of human development starts in the Organs, then to learning to move with muscles and then using the Qi-archetypes developed through movement to learn psychological and social skills. Erik Eriksson defined stages of development from birth to old age and we will be following his journey and linking his stages with the Qi-functions of Chinese Medicine. In his system, the first year or two of life are focused on developing two capacities: Trust and Autonomy. Trust is related to the ability to relax into being yourself, trusting that you will be supported if you let go of muscular control, relating to the Earth and being grounded. Autonomy is the complement of Trust. How you can relate to the outer world, standing your ground, creating clear boundaries, becoming an individual, choosing what you will assimilate from the messages and pressure that come towards you from society and other people.
2. The Voices of the Inner Community
In the process of growing up we push many parts of ourself underground because they don’t fit with the image that we want to present. Because the voice is so personal, we construct a personal voice which is the representative of our persona. So many members of our inner community have no voice and are not heard. The second series in the Qigong is focused on reaching those buried parts of our self and bringing them back up into consciousness.
More example videos of Inner Qigong and the ability to join our online classes can be accessed with this button: