20 to 30 mins › Mimi Kuo-Deemer
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23:29
Qigong for Nourishing the Heart
In addition to pumping and circulating our blood tirelessly all day long, our hearts also work to metabolise all life experience. As such, it deserves to be nurtured and appreciated. This is exactly what we will do in this qigong class! Qigong Fire element meridian forms are followed by practices that cultivate playful intentions and healing energy. All forms will be done standing, but they can also be done seated. No mat necessary! All levels of mobility welcome, these practices are accessible to all bodies.
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24:18
Qigong for a Compassionate Heart
Compassion is a natural quality that begins to arise when we begin to free ourselves from the fetters that bind the heart. Qigong forms that help us embody the freedom and spaciousness of the heart will then lead into a practice that awakens our compassion. All forms will be done standing, but they can also be done seated. No mat necessary!
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24:45
Qigong for Anxiety
A Qigong class with gentle movements to help to calm, ground and ease anxiety. In Qigong and Chinese medicine, anxiety arises when the flow of qi, or life energy, through our organs and meridians becomes stuck, stagnant or caught in chaotic whirlpools. In this class we’ll do practices to support our qi to flow in more natural, balanced ways. When this happens, the tendencies towards restlessness, worry and fear - all things that can trigger anxiety - can gradually start to fall away. All you’ll need is some comfortable clothes and some space to stand.
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23:36
Qigong Balance Series 1: Structural Balance
The first class in this series explores your body’s structural capacity to balance. Movements are gentle, slow and mindful, and this qigong class is an ideal daily practice as we move through the years, to keep our balance and strength. Through yoga and qigong postures that target the feet, legs, and a concept called cross-lateral connectivity, you will discover ways to more easily and gracefully stand on one leg! This is a good series for those who don’t wish to weight bear on their arms, hands and wrists. No props are needed, not even a mat!
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22:08
Meditation: Intimacy with Being Here
In this mindfulness-based meditation, we will cultivate the intimacy of being here – continually present and awake. Sounds good, right? The problem is, we’re usually anywhere BUT here. Usually we are caught up in various stories, or contracted around our own set of problems. This is what the Buddha described as the I, ME, MINE condition. When we train our minds to recognise this happening, we can shift this state. When this happens, experience can open up again. We hear sounds around us, breath moving, body sensing and feeling. We can suddenly be here again, in the intimacy of things; awake to the miracle of being alive.
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24:13
Qigong and Restorative Yoga: Finding Ease
Third in the series, Qigong and Restorative Yoga focuses on finding ease. This class opens the chest and shoulders. Often, ease eludes us because we feel tension, we feel stuck in our bodies. The qigong class starts with a qigong practice which fosters ease through tension release and heart-opening. We will then do some gentle restorative yoga practices to finish. You'll need a yoga bolster or sofa cushion, and a blanket for the restorative yoga.
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26:56
Qigong and Restorative Yoga: Finding Balance
This is the second class in the three-part series, Qigong and Restorative Yoga. The first part of this class is a qigong elemental practice that will help balance the Chinese Five Elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water in your constitution. We will then do some quieting restorative practices to finish. You’ll want to have a yoga bolster or sofa cushion and a blanket.
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26:26
Qigong and Restorative Yoga: Finding Harmony
Finding Harmony is the first of three classes in the series of Qigong and Restorative Yoga. It focuses on harmonising breath, body movement and the balance of yin and yang. It can be hard to find harmony in our lives of conflicting needs and priorities. Class starts with active qigong and then go on to a relaxing restorative yoga class. Ideally, have a yoga bolster and two blankets. Alternatively, you can also use a sofa cushion and two bed pillows.
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20:44
Swimming Dragon Qigong
This Qigong class a version of Swimming dragon which moves through the Chinese five elements and builds strength, balance and focus. It is based on the work of Gerald Sharp and is one of Mimi's favourite qigong sequences!
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28:37
Gentle Yoga to Nourish and Support Series: (5) Effortless Ease
In this final class of this series of yoga/qi-gong moves to nourish, support and revitalise the body and mind, we orientate our practice toward effortless ease. In Chinese this is a concept known as wuwei, or effortless effort. It is something we cannot strive toward but rather a quality that arises spontaneously through steady cultivation and practice. As such, we will take the ideas of rooting, rising, aligning and balancing and see what is possible in working with the fluid flow of effortless ease.
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21:10
Gentle Yoga to Nourish and Support Series: (3) Between Heaven & Earth
Building on the last class’s focus on rooting to rise, this yoga qi-gong class builds a combination of strength and softness in the arms and hands and upper and lower body. Bring energy upward from stable roots to the spine. We will work to lengthen it and feel how our bodies can become a healthy and nourished axis between heaven and earth.
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22:16
Gentle Yoga to Nourish and Support Series: (2) Rooting to Rise
In Chinese, there is a saying ‘gen shen di gu’, which means when the roots and deep the foundations are strong. From Moving with the Breath, we shift the focus to rooting firmly down in the earth and allowing our bodies to rise from this firm root up toward the sky. We will practice some more dynamic standing poses after an initial warm-up we practiced in class #1 to feel this connection more fully in our body.
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22:19
Gentle Yoga to Nourish and Support Series: (1) Breathe and Move
Start to move with your breath in this beginners yoga class. Feel supported, nourished and revitalised. This first class in this series begins with finding the breath, so the body and breath move together in simple sequences that help condition our respiratory and circulatory systems. This will allow you to feel more invigorated yet also relaxed, clear and calm. As well as being an accessible starting place for many students, this yoga class is also a nourishing standalone class for when you need to calm jangled nerves and return strong and grounded to your breath.
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29:27
Harmonising Effort and Ease – Yoga, Qigong and Mindfulness Meditation
The Buddha emphsised using right effort in our actions and intentions in meditation and life. This practice looks at how we can approach strength building practices, especially in the legs, using right effort so that we create more space for awareness and less reactivity. We’ll also explore the idea in qigong of using intention, not force – or yong yi, buyong l – and apply it through a blend of yoga and qigong forms to explore how we can harmonise effort and ease.
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21:59
Take a Break: Yoga & Qigong Part1: Exhale + Sooth
Take a short break from studies or your work. Much of our body’s tension is muscular, but actually, what the muscles and our body crave when we feel tight is deep, satisfying breaths.This short practice releases tension by focusing on exhaling fully and uses Burmese qigong, chest and shoulder openings and forward folds to calm and sooth the mind. Perfect for taking a break to release tension during the day, but also great after a hard day's work. Clothing by Rumi X.
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23:32
Qigong Flow
This qigong flow practice starts with some warmups for the joints, cultivation of qi between the hands, and then moves into what we think of as “water salutations” – fluid movements that feel like the equivalent of yoga’s sun salutations. It’s a practice that warms the body, actively stimulates, guides and moves the qi, and helps to quiet the mind. Enjoy!
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24:56
Winter Warmers: Yoga and Qigong for the Inner Fire part I: kindling the fire
Yoga and QiGong for kindling the inner fire. Movement and circulation for warming the body in the cooler months. With Sun Salutations and twists for firing the spirit up. This class will do the trick for any time you feel like you need a little extra fire in your life and is perfect for morning time.
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23:11
Winter Warmers Yoga and Qigong: Spirit Warming 3 Settling the Spirit
This yoga and Qigong class is perfect for when you've had a frantic day and you need to settle your spirit. It's gentle mainly floor-based, so is great for the evenings to settle into the evening and to de-tangle your nerves and settle your spirit so that you can get stoked about the next thing... bed?!