Try This Body Stress Release Using Tai Chi and Qigong

In actual fact, the certified corporate wellness specialist often known as “The Stressbender” primarily helps her clients relieve stress by specializing in their physical tension. “After we speak about relieving stress, numerous people concentrate on addressing the mental side,” Chock says. “It’s really essential to recollect, though, that it’s not stress until there’s a buildup of tension in your physical body.”

Whether you’re stressing over an upcoming deadline or an argument together with your partner, that mental tension results in physical reactions that we predict of as stress: increased heart rate, hypertension, chronic muscular contractions, brain fog, amongst other responses.

“Whenever you’re stressed, your brain just doesn’t work as well,” says Chock, who’s a master teacher of each Tai Chi and Qigong. She uses each of those techniques to assist clients manage their stress. “Internal martial arts like Tai Chi and Qigong are wonderful techniques for relieving stress because you actually have to come back into the body to seek out out where the strain is.”

So how are you going to relieve stress inside your body yourself? This four-step sequence (curated for Well+Good by Chock, using elements from each Tai Chi and Qigong) will help set you up for less-stressed success.

As Chock says, “In case you can put your body in an optimal state where you’re in good alignment with good posture and good respiratory, you’ll be higher capable of handle those stresses which might be a part of everyone’s lives.”

Step 1: Come into your body

Take stock of how your body is feeling physically. “Quiet that analytical a part of your brain that desires to overthink the whole lot,” Chock advises. “We are able to’t chill out what we don’t feel is tense.” Hearken to your body so you may notice and chill out any points of tension.

Unsure where to start? For a lot of us, the shoulders hold numerous physical stress. “Imagine you’re a garments hanger, hanging in a closet from the crown of your head,” Chock suggests. “Picture gravity as a fluid weight that flows down through your head, neck, shoulders, arms, and fingers. Allow your arms to feel heavy as they hang down by your sides.”

Step 2: Chill out your face, then your body

In accordance with Chock, practitioners of Chinese medicine and internal-arts practices often say, “In case you can chill out your tongue, you may chill out your whole face. In case you can chill out your face, you may chill out your whole body.”

Start by gently touching the tongue to the roof of your mouth, right behind your top teeth. Keeping your lips closed, let the tongue spread gently across the roof of your mouth and form a tiny “Buddha smile” together with your lips. As you’re taking a moment to get comfortable with this softening of the jaw, it’s possible you’ll also notice a corresponding release of tension around your eyes. (Sustain this practice, and you might eventually feel some relief from chronic tension headaches.)

Check in together with your overall posture, and repeat Step 1 as needed.

@aipingtaichi Replying to @rudeman81 Stressbending Hack, when your mind is flooded with stress, here’s a leisure hack that releases face and body tension so your mind may release the strain #stress #stressrelief #stressreliever #tip #hack #chill out #leisure #relaxationtips #relaxface #taichi #qigong #stressbending #stressbender ♬ Quiet meditation music – Jun Naotsuka

Step 3: Decelerate your respiratory

“A whole lot of the strain that we feel will be alleviated by improving, i.e. lengthening, our respiratory,” Chock explains. “Nonetheless, trying effortfully to deepen our breath will add unnatural tension.” To avoid this pitfall, begin by simply noticing where your inhale stops or feels trapped.

Oftentimes, Chock sees clients’ breath stop like this within the upper chest area. If that’s you, try to visualise what the strain seems like. Tight coils? A tough, stuck feeling? Per Chock, creating a transparent mental picture of your physical tension will assist you to release it with equally vivid visual metaphors. Try pondering of washing the strain away with cool water, untangling a ball of string, or the rest that resonates with you.

Step 4: Tune in to your body’s symmetry

“Our bodies are designed to be symmetrical, they usually function best when symmetrical,” Chock says. But, she adds, most of us spend our days shifting between uncomfortable, asymmetrical positions.

Chock’s fix? “Learn to note the stillness, calm, and symmetry in your body.” Maintaining healthy posture and a neutral stance will cut down on the each day bodily micro-stresses brought on by poor posture and its close companion: asymmetrical body positions. Put each feet on the ground when sitting, uncross your arms, spread weight evenly between each hips—you’ll feel your body begin to feel higher.

@aipingtaichi Why Tai Chi is S-L-O-W #taichi #overcomeyourfear ♬ original sound – AipingTaiChi