Body Shake and Breathing Exercise (can be done sitting or standing)

This exercise helps to get the blood and energy circulating through the body.  It is good to warm up the muscles and connect with the breath.  Practicing deep breathing into the belly increases oxygenation to the cells as well as relaxing the body.

• Close your eyes – start taking some deep breaths into your belly.
• This time visualise a big golden ball of energy in your belly so as you breathe in you imagine that golden ball filling up, getting bigger like a big golden balloon and as you breathe out you can feel that ball contracting and solidifying, becoming very solid in the lower part of your hara.
• Breathing in – big golden ball expanding – big balloon.  Breathing out – feeling it becoming very solid – really bring in your breath into your belly as you breathe in.
• Breathing out feeling that golden ball becoming very solid in the bottom of your hara.  This is building up your Qi.
• Start shaking your hands gently.
•  Shaking hands and bring that shake up into your elbows, up into your shoulders.
• Really move that shake into your shoulders and bringing it down the top of your torso – getting right into your shoulder blades.  Right down into your waist.
•  Moving that shake down into your hips, down through your bottom and into upper thighs.
• Down into your knees, your lower legs, your ankles – really shaking.
• Arms still shaking as well.  Now bring the shake back up through your legs, your ankles, knees, thighs, into your bottom, hips are shaking.
• Bring it up through your spine – see if you can shake each vertebrae, up through your spine.  Shake right up to your neck and your head.  Allow the shake to move right through your body.  Wherever it needs to go.  Whatever area you feel tight and stiff – take the shake into that area and really get that Chi moving in there.
• Now relaxing and closing your eyes again, focus on breathing into your belly.  Big deep breaths, breathing in feeling the golden ball expanding as you breathe in and as you breathe out feeling that golden ball contracting and feeling very solid in the bottom of your belly.
• Now start shaking your hands again.  Shaking your hands up to your elbows, into your shoulders, right into your shoulders and shoulder blades.
• Shake the shoulder blades, moving the shake to the upper part of your torso and into your waist.  Shaking around your waist, into your hips.
• Shake your hips, right into your buttocks.  Down through the upper parts of your legs, knees, calves, ankles and feet – everything shaking.
• Bring the shake back up your legs, knees, thighs, bottom, hips and up through each vertebra.  Shaking each vertebrae up your back into the neck and head.
• Allow the shake to move and go where it needs to go, really freeing up the energy and allowing it to flow.  Moving it about and waking it up.
• Closing your eyes when you are ready – taking the awareness into the breath – breathing in deeply into your belly, the big golden ball expanding as you breathe in.
• Contracting as you breathe out – the golden ball becoming very solid as you breathe out in the bottom of your belly.
• A few more breaths then relax to finish.