What goals or aspirations do you have for the year ahead?
New Year's is time to reflect on the past and establish your intentions for the year ahead! It’s a poignant moment to digest your experiences, cherish life’s lessons, and refine your vision for your path ahead.
Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong offer some important principles and practices that can provide strength and clarity as you establish your intentions for the coming year. In this blog, you’ll discover those principles, and also learn a ten-minute Qi Gong routine to help you embody the practices and wisdom in your own life.
Intentions are important for one very simple reason: It’s hard to move in the right direction unless you know where you’re going.
Intentions give you clarity in strength so you can bring forth whatever you want to experience in your own life. This can be applied to all aspects of your life, whether that’s work, relationships, your finances, or even your own mental and emotional wellbeing.
In Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong, there are two important parts of every intention. The first part is your vision. What exactly do you want to experience or achieve? Having a clear vision is essential for creating meaningful intentions. Without clarify, it’s impossible to direct your energy in the right way.
The second part of your intentions is your energy. In order for your vision to have power, you need to align your energy with the vision that you’ve created for yourself.
It’s kind of like the steering wheel and engine in your car. If you only have a steering wheel but no engine, it doesn’t matter if you steer your car in the right direction because it won’t move forward. Similarly, an engine without a steering wheel is useless also. If you want to drive to your destination, you must have both an engine as well as a steering wheel.
Together, your vision and energy allow your intentions to have power. When these two are aligned, you can accomplish great things in your life!
When it comes to establishing powerful intentions, Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong focus on integrating your vision with your energy. This enables your full being to take action and manifest whatever it is you’re seeking to accomplish.
Part of establishing a clear vision comes from reflecting on your past and digesting your experiences. One wonderful way to do this is through journaling. Spend some time writing down your reflections from the year and then write about whatever it is you want to manifest. Try to do this in a quiet place where you can really let go of any distractions and get in touch with your inner truth.
Once you’re clear on your vision, it’s time to align your focus and energy with that vision.
In Qi Gong, you learn how to integrate intentional focus with meditative movements to fully integrate your vision. This helps transform your intellectual vision into a fully embodied experience of what you’re truly seeking. When your vision becomes part of your entire energy system, your intentions come to life and start to manifest in the world around you.
Below, we’ve included a ten-minute Qi Gong routine that’s designed to bring this theory into practice. As you’ll see this routine focuses on integrating the power of your mind with movements of your body to help you experience clear and powerful intentions this New Years.
To begin, stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and take a few deep breaths. Try to relax your mind and let go of any thoughts that may be running through your mind.
When you’re ready, turn your left foot outward so it’s pointing to the side and bend your left knee. With your feet planted on the floor, rotate your upper body from your hips so you’re facing to the left and extend your left hand out to the side.
Then, move your right hand in a circle in front of your body until it gets to your right hand, and then pull your right hand back towards your body. Imagine that your left hand is holding a bow and your right hand is pulling back the bowstring.
This exercise is called The Archer, because it mirrors the movements of an archer shooting a bow.
As you point your bow during this exercise, visualize that you’re taking aim at accomplishing your goals and ambitions. See your New Year's aspirations clearly ahead of you.
As you pull back your bow, visualize that you’re giving energy to your vision. When an archer shoots their bow, the power comes pulling back on the string to generate energy.
This exercise helps you integrate the process taking aim towards your vision and also giving that vision energy.
After a couple of minutes, do this exercise in the other direction. Point your right foot to the right, bend your right knee slightly, extend your right hand, and use your left hand to pull back and release the bowstring.
With each pull of the bowstring, visualize yourself simultaneously focusing your vision and giving energy to that vision. After a couple more minutes, face your body forward and bring your hands to your side.
This next exercise is called Flying because it mirrors the movements of a bird and helps you see “the big picture” in your life.
Start with your hands by your side, and bring them up slowly as you inhale and then down with your exhale. Your arms should make a gentle motion as if you’re a bird flapping its wings.
As you move your arms slowly, try to find a sense of flow. With each movement, envision yourself rising higher and higher like a bird in the sky. Imagine yourself moving forward like a bird soaring high over a forest.
As you soar, visualize that you’re broadening your perspective of your life. See your intentions out in front of you and imagine that you’re moving toward them like an eagle soaring toward its nest. Continue doing this exercise for a few minutes.
When you’re ready, bring your feet back together and bring your hands to your belly. Take a few deep breaths and feel your energy gather and integrate in your lower abdomen. This exercise helps distill your vision and energy into powerful intentions within your being.
When you’re ready, smile to yourself and take that feeling with you into the rest of your day.
If you enjoyed this brief routine and want to learn more Qi Gong practices to cultivate your intentions this New Year, be sure to check out our on-demand Qi Gong for Visualization & Manifestation Workshop.
The Qi Gong for Visualization & Manifestation Workshop offers a variety of wonderful practices that are designed to help you harness the power of your intentions this New Year. This helps you start your year with clarity, energy, and purpose.
Because this is an on-demand workshop, you can enjoy the lessons from the comfort of your own home whenever you want. Click on the banner below to learn more about how Qi Gong can help you accomplish your goals and aspirations in the year ahead.
