Tonight was my third Qigong class, and I am happy to report that my homework for the last week was pretty successful. To review, every morning I was to do the following:
- Express gratitude
- Set your intentions for the day
- Take 5 deep breaths, in and out
- Smile for no reason just to flex the muscle
- Forgive yourself for yesterday’s mistakes
I have been able to make this a part of my morning routine, which also includes having a glass of water and to do some light stretching and movement. Prior to the five things above, I tap a small windchime that I purchased last week on Amazon — it omits a pleasant sound that gets my morning off to a grounded, mindful start. It takes me probably less than three minutes to go through each of the five steps, but it does help me to slow down and not go go go in the morning. The hardest part has been #5 — forgiving myself for yesterday’s mistakes. I make mistakes, but it is not often that I dwell on them or let them affect me, so I have had to think of smaller things that I have done.
The big thing for me is to set my intentions for the day, and for most of the week my intention has been to slow down and not rush around too much. I tend to multi-task and try to do too much, and in doing so I get rushed and I don’t really live the moment, so slowing down is a big change for me. I have left earlier for work and I don’t let other stupid drivers get my goat. Just a few small examples that have helped me.
I do not have any official homework for this next week, but I will continue to do the five things above (plus my other two). And I will attempt to perform the first three motions of Qigong — raise the arms up and down, open chest with arms out and in, and finally “paint a rainbow.” Here’s a link for an image to all eighteen movements. We’ll see how it goes, I’ll report back next week!