Greetings Dear Readers,

Here is a simple Qi Gong exercise that you can do to wake up your cells, invigorate your body, and strengthen your immunity.  It’s called “patting” or “slapping”.  You’ll really enjoy this exercise and feel the effects quite quickly.  Use it any time you feel a bit tired and sluggish and need an energetic “wake-up”.  It’s like a mini acupressure treatment you can do on yourself anywhere.   You simply use your hands to slap the outside and inside channels of the arms and legs, hands and feet, the buttocks, ribs, face and top of the head.  If you have a cold, and especially if you feel like you are just starting to get a cold, apply this technique vigorously to push the cold out completely.  I personally know of one guy who had been biking in the cold weather for an hour and started to come down with a bad cold.  He did this technique forcefully for one hour and the cold symptoms disappeared that day.

In TCM terms this exercise strengthens the “Wei Qi”, also known as the “Defensive Qi Layer” which is the energetic layer that resides between the skin and the muscles, what’s known as the “Cou Li” in TCM.  The Wei Qi is formed by the Lung system, so people who have a Lung weakness will tend to get colds and flus more easily.  The Lung system is strengthened by the Spleen system because in the Five Element acupuncture, the Spleen is the “Mother” of the Lungs, meaning the Spleen sends it’s energy to the next phase, or “child” in the 5-phase system, which is the Lungs.  The tips in my post Strengthening the Spleen Qi will further build up your Defensive Qi.

Wishing you a happy, healthy winter season.

Yours in health,

Cynthia