Spring — romance, beauty, sun … And also beriberi, fatigue and a desire to sleep for 15 hours in a row. The off-season is a time of decline. Hence the mood swings, and the real danger to health (owners of chronic diseases know: now is the time for exacerbations). Where can you get extra power? Chinese medicine specialist Anna Vladimirova shares her recipes.
Many come to my classes with a request: qigong is the practice of energy management, teach me how to get extra strength!
In qigong, this is real: at a certain stage of practice, we really learn to receive and accumulate additional energy. But I will tell you a secret: in order to make up for the spring energy deficit, months of systematic breathing techniques are not needed. There is an easier way!
The resource of our body is huge, it’s just that we don’t always rationally manage the energy that we have. It’s like with money: you can try to earn more and more, or you can reduce unnecessary, unreasonable spending — and a free amount will suddenly appear in your wallet.
What will help optimize the body’s energy expenditure in order to feel better?
FOOD
We spend a lot of energy digesting food. That is why nutritionists unanimously say: do not eat before bedtime, free the body from the need to process the food eaten all night, let it rest and recover.
After a long winter without sunlight and vitamins, you need to include foods that are easy to digest in your diet. Ideally, they should be subjected to heat treatment: boiled, steamed. Eat cereals, lean soups, steamed vegetable stews, a small amount of raw vegetables, even less fruits.
If for health reasons you can refuse animal products, do it
If for health reasons you can refuse animal products, do it. Such a step will positively affect your energy status: you will save your body from the costly work of digesting heavy food, which will give you a feeling of lightness and strength.
And if you add here the rejection of sugar and pastries, then spring will pass with a bang!
ACTIVITY
In the spring, it is worth introducing into the habit of small daily activities — for example, walking. They will help to more easily endure restrictions in the diet.
It is important that the loads cause exceptionally pleasant sensations — a surge of vivacity and good mood, and not fatigue. Fatigue after class will signal that you are too actively wasting an already depleted resource of strength.
NORMALIZATION OF MUSCLE TONE
Many of us live with increased muscle tone and do not even notice it. One of my students told me that all his life he considered pain in the back to be the norm: you get up in the morning — it will pull here, it will crunch there, it will hurt in the evening …
What was his surprise when, after several weeks of qigong practice, these pain sensations disappeared, and his strength increased significantly!
Back pain is a signal that the body is generating and maintaining muscle spasms. Over time, these tensions become habitual, and we almost stop noticing them, classifying them as normal, habitual.
By mastering such exercises, we normalize muscle tone, releasing energy for what is important to us.
Maintaining spasm consumes adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — a source of energy that we could spend, for example, on movement. By maintaining a spasm, we literally take away our strength. Therefore, as soon as we master the skill of active relaxation, there is a feeling that there are many times more forces in the body.
Active we call independent (without the help of a massage therapist, osteopath and other specialists) muscle relaxation in an upright position. These can be exercises from the Qigong arsenal, such as the Xinseng spine exercises, or similar practices that consist of slow movements and focusing on finding a new level of relaxation.
By mastering such exercises, we normalize muscle tone, releasing energy for what is important to us: walking, meeting friends, playing with children — and much more that we have planned for the spring!