Volume 2.  Issue No. 6

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See Class Schedule   Healthy Qi Newsletter Learn How To Relax

Daily Qigong Tip
 
Are You Coughing?
An Exercise That Helps

Coughing is a primary symptom of lung related illness. Both irregular lung Qi (energy) and problems originating with the unhealthy Qi of other organs can cause coughing. According to Chinese Medicine, lung Qi generally flows down.  When this dynamic is disturbed and Qi blockages accumulate around or in our lungs, we will experience discomfort or sickness. One symptom can be coughing.

Whether the coughing is diagnosed by medicine as due to a cold, chronic or acute bronchitis, lung infection or pulmonary tuberculosis, the following exercise can help ease or even terminate
coughing, if practiced on a persistent daily basis.
This exercise takes about 15 minutes.

Part One:
1. Sit on a flat, comfortable surface, either a stool, chair or the couch. Try sit on the front edge.

2. Keep your body straight and relaxed.

3. Cross your hands in front of your body.

3. Relaxed your mind, try to feel your body, especially inside your body for a couple of minutes.

4. Breathe normally. After breathing in through your nose with your mouth closed, intentionally cough until you need to breathe in again. 

5. Repeat Step 4 above for 5 minutes.

Part Two.
1. Lay on your back in bed or on the floor and relax with no pillow.

2. Stretch your arms and legs. Relax more.

3. Close your eyes.  Feel peace.

4. Hold your breath, expanding your lower stomach  upward as much as possible.  Tighten your leg muscles.

5. When you need to breathe, slowly release the pressure on your lower stomach.

6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 each 5 times.

7. Make your hands into fists touching the bed or floor, then tighten your stomach so it lowers. Raise your legs as much as you can.

8. Rest before repeating #7 each time. Repeat 5 times.

10. Relax and End.
 

         FREE Tai Chi (Taiji) Seminar

When:  Sunday, July 15, 2007
           12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Where: Kaimuki YMCA, Honolulu
What:  Learn Basics of Tai Chi.
           How Tai Chi Is Related To Our Health
           & How You Can Get Started.
Cost:    FREE
Register by email admin@yesbewell.com

Intuitive Language

MORE FUNNY VIDEOS ON LARGE SCREEN

Be Happy!
Continuation of an unpublished manuscript by Robert Cowling (BC),currently being edited
 
Chapter Sixteen
NURTURE YOURSELF
A Most Unselfish Thing To Do

If you do not nurture yourself, who will?  Parents nurture their children.  The quality of this nurturing varies widely. No matter how well or how poorly we are nurtured as children though, at some point in our lives we become responsible for our own nurturing.

Most of us struggle with self-nurturing. We either resist the concept or are unsure how best to give ourselves what we need.  My father did not teach me responsibility. When I wrecked the family car he yelled at me, then got our car fixed.  When my best friend, Tim, had an accident, his father made sure no one was hurt, then sat down with Tim and helped him plan how he would fix the car. Tim learned how much work his mistake caused him. 

I learned for the thousandth time how horrible my father's anger felt. My Dad was not a bad man, he just had not learned to nurture himself. He was a sea of unmet needs and he looked at those around him to meet his needs. When I goofed he got angry, but as soon as his anger dissipated he immediately wanted our closeness, leaving him unable to discipline me in a structured way. I learned about the downside of neglecting self-nurturing by watching my father.

The quality of what we can give to others is determined by the quality of what we give to ourselves. By nurturing ourselves we fill our cup and can easily then share with another.  If our cup is leaky or unfilled, we have little to share.

If your son's passion is cross-country skiing and you have nurtured yourself by exercise regularly and eaten healthy foods, you probably will have a great time skiing with him.  If you work to understand and manage your emotions you will be able to offer quality support to family and friends.

Some of us do not care well for ourselves because we prefer to take care of someone else.  We avoid working on our problems by saying we do not have the time, energy or money. We then serve as poor role models for the people we so wish to help grow.  Some of us shy away from doing something for ourselves because it will "hurt" someone.  Usually the "someone" is hurt because they are too self-involved to see beyond their own world.

I watched my father work hard at his passions. Whether writing music, building model trains, manufacturing racing karts or buying and selling collectible stamps, his work focus was tremendous. I had to develop my personal discipline before I could approach my father's commitment level, but I knew what I was working toward because my father was a great role model for me in this area.  He nurtured his work life.

Find out the ways in which you need nurturing, then make the effort to give to yourself. The people around you will soon recognize how you have changed for the better and you will Be Happy!