Cleanse Your Liver

good morning! and thank you for joiningme for 30 days of qigong to better health my name is chris shelton. today we'regoing to be working with the exercise that helps to cleanse and purify the imbalances of thespleen and the stomach. according to chinese medicine, the spleen and stomach both work together and they represent what is known as the earth element. this earthelement this so vital because it contains the aspect of our being thatrelates back to our post heaven essence. and what does that mean? that means thatat the time of conception, between god, your parents, as well as the environment. at that point in time, your overallconstitution is then developed and then

is reflected back into the kidneys. that'sconsidered your pre-heaven essence, but then what happens is then, after you're born,then your stomach takes over, and then what happens is that, you have to be able tonurture that pre-heaven essence by the type of foods that you eat. that's whyit's so important to watch the foods that you're eating and eat foods accordingto the seasons, and also eat foods according to your constitution. if youhave a certain type of disease, you know i'd recommend going out and seeing a chinesemedicine practitioner or acupuncturist. get a dietary list according to what thedisease is, because what's interesting is is that, foods that may seem healthy for somepeople, according to chinese nutrition,

because of the imbalance inside the body what happens is, is that it may not bebeneficial for you, and actually contribute to more disease. so we needto nurture this post-heaven essence because nurturing the stomach and the spleen, thenwhat happens is it helps to slow down the aging process also. it helps to slowly,or helps to kind of give back to these kidneys to help to slow down thenatural decline of qi as we get older. now you can't replenish it, the kidneys are like your battery. the battery is, once again, was predetermined at the time of conception between godand your parents, etcetera so that battery naturallydeclines but, it is of utmost importance of

what you're eating and how you're eating,and trying to eat according to the seasons, but also something else that wedon't talk about too much is what is your state of beingness while you're eating. some of the recommendationsin chinese medicine is that always sit down what you eat. don't eat on the run, don't stand while you're eating, make sure that your present. so, watching tv all the time if you're one of those types of people that has a tv in every single room of your house, maybe you take some of those tvs out or at least while you're eating dinner or eating breakfast, the tv isoff, because depending on the type of show

that you're watching, the more action thatthere is, this will actually obstruct the energy of the stomach and the spleen, andactually will cause the energy to knot. and when that happens, then the food justsits. so, being present while you're eating, not arguing while you're eating, so maybe you set up new ground rules for your house, that there's no intenseconversations at the dinner table or breakfast table. do it away from, awayfrom dinner time, so that, in that way, the food could assimilate better.the negative emotions that we're working with here that affect the spleen and stomach isthe emotions of worry, pensiveness, anxiety, over intellectualizingor thinking too much. when those negative

emotions are removed or released throughdoing a qigong practice, like what we're doing today, then what happens is that thepositive virtue of centeredness and peace of mind comes forth. one morecomponent that we normally recommend in chinese nutrition too, is do not drink things that are ice cold. have your water room temperature, and around dinner, if you have a tea,like a green tea or a mint tea, with dinner depending on, once again yourconstitution as well too, but some type of tea to help to warm the stomach, buttry to avoid things are ice cold cause that also will shock the system and slowdown the process of being able to assimilate and digest. so when we're doing thispractice today, you can focus on

something that's caused you any type ofworry. it can be something past, it can be something in the present that you're dealing with, or something that's upcoming that's creating some type of anxiety for you that you're upin your head all the time. and as we do this practice, you can imagine the coloryellow or like a yellow mist or cloud actually filling up into the left quadrant of thebody, and cleansing out this negative emotion and bringing forth the positive virtue of centeredness and peace of mind. so, from the standing position, standing wu ji position.i kind of feel like a robot because every time i'm in front of the camera, i'm juststanding still. qigong is a little bit different, or is, being the foundationof tai chi, tai chi there's more movement

that happens, but the qigongcomponent, at least in the style of qigong that we're learning here over these thirty daysis meant to be as simplistic as possible, so you're going to see, there's not as muchmovement like you would see normally with tai chi. so, either from a standingposition, wu ji posture, or from a seated position,sitting at the end of a chair, feet out shoulders' width apart, knees slightly bent, hands resting on the knees tucking the sacrum, and then pressing back the mingmen, and then from there, tucking the chin pressing up bai hui at the top of thehead. okay, from the standing position, feet are out shoulder's width apart, knees also slightly bent, tucking that sacrum

underneath, pressing back the ming men,gently rounding the shoulders, hollowing out the armpits, tucking the chin, pressing up on the bai hui at the top of the head tip of the tongue gently curled to the roof of the mouth, behind the teeth, and the breath is long, steady, even and deep, one inch below thenavel. so from here, we're going to begin by pulling down the heavens three times,inhale. collecting this beautiful energy of the day. feeling the warmth of the qi coming in and if you're lucky enough to live incalifornia, like we do, then we're very blessed with having some amazing weather. and then from here, lifting the arms up,exhale as though you're tossing a stone

so, gazing at the tips of the fingers, and allowfor any thoughts, feelings, or emotions to flow off, going several feet away fromthe body and down deep into the ground any tension in the shoulders, tension in theelbows, the fingers, just allow for that to flow away and then from there, we're just going to slow down, coming back to the center and ending, inhaling connecting with your higher source power,whatever that may be, or if you don't believe in a higher self,then you can just imagine a white light of energyflowing down through the body inhaling. exhaling.

okay, the feet become, bring the feeta little closer together. and now we're going to begin to lightly bounce,relaxing the knees, the hips, the waist and, as we're doing this practice, you just want to focus on the joints of the body, starting with the ankles, so if you want,you can close your eyes imagine any tension from the anklesreleasing out through the bubbling well points at the bottom of feet,and deep into the earth now, we're gently bouncing on the balls of the feet, which stimulates that bubbling well point, also known as the kidney one point,stimulating those kidneys

and then from there, the knees, any tension, tightness, discomfort in the knees allowing for that to release, flowing up to the hips, groin, low back. this is a major area of the body where there's the acupuncture meridian referred to as the belt vessel that encompasses the 3 yin meridians,3 yang meridians of the legs so this area tends to get blocked. imagine any tension, tightness there releasing out, through the knees, out through the feetand deep into the ground next, the center of the back and chest, any tension on the spine, in between the shoulder blades or emotions that are affecting the heart, allow for that to release out through the body, out through the feet and deep into the ground. next, shaking out the fingers, the wrists, the hands

if you have any arthritis, carpal tunnel, just imagine that releasing out, as a dark cloud of energy out through the fingertips,and deep into the earth and from here, elbows, shoulders, head and neck releasing that out as well, guiding it out through the arms, out through the fingers,and down deep into the ground and then from there, i'm going to inhale, pull the energy up from earth, imagine a golden light flowing up beyond the top of the head,and exhale. pulling this golden light up, andreleasing out any dark, turbid energy inhaling up, and release.and you can do it one more time. so, these three qi clearing exercises that we're doing

you know we only spend a couple minuteshere on this video but you could actually spend several minutes, if you want, for each of these practices whatever feels good to you. so once you develop a daily routine on your own. if you're not using these videos to help youset up that daily routine, and you just want to do these practices on your own, you know, you can do each of thesepractices for as long as you want. okay, and then from there, the ankles, once again, releasing down, the knees, hips, groin, low back tension on the spine in between the shoulder blades, imagine that releasing as a dark cloud.

next, the fingers, the wrists, the elbows, the shoulders, the head and neck all flowing out through the arms, out through thefingertips and deep into the earth and then from there, and inhale, pulling thegolden light up, and releasing out any dark,heavy energy in the body, toxicity, emotions, pain. inhaling up. and, release. and then from there, back into our wu ji posture again, feet about shoulders' width apart, from here begin to shake all the way up the bodyinhaling, exhaling.inhaling, like the taylor swift song shake it off, and exhale. this is a great practice forwhenever you get upset, instead of storing that

energy in you, go into another roomand just shake it off.the key is to relax, inhaling exhaling, releasing that vibration. inhaling. ridding it from your body, allowing for you to heal, and not store these negative emotions that then create disease exhaling. inhaling.and exhale. last one, gather. and exhale, calming the mind, settling out your energy and then from there, with your eyes closed,still standing in the wu ji posture, tip of the tongue curled to the roof of the mouthbehind the teeth as if saying the letter "n" breath, long, steady, even and deep into the lower abdomen, also

referred to as the lower dan tian. from here, imagine as thoughwarm oil begins to flow down from the top of the head and it envelopsentire forehead, flowing now into the center and balance meditation, to increase the mindfulnessof your body, of your being from the forehead into the temples, you now visualize and feel the brow bone, the eyebrows and eyes the nose, the cheeks the side of the face and ears, and from the baseof the nose into the lips, the jaw and chin, flowing and pouring now into the front ofthe throat, and the shoulders, upper chest and through the biceps, the elbow creases, the forearms,the wrists, you now visualize and feel

the palms of the hands, leading all the wayout to the fingertips, and then from there, this warm oil now envelopsthe entire chest and the flanks of the body underneath the armpits, through the mid section and abdomen, flowing through the waistand through the groin through the thighs, the knees,the shins, ankles, feet and toes all connecting and allowing for this warm oil toflow down deep into the ground and from there, just imagine you can feelthe entire front of your body from head to toe simultaneously. feel the entire front,as well as to the left and to the right increasing your mindfulnessof your body. good. and then from there, focusing now what's behind you

flowing down from the top of the head atthe crown point, flowing through the scalp and through the back of the neckand ears, flowinginto the shoulders and triceps elbows, forearms, wrists, back of the hands,floating all the way out to the fingertips and then from there, from the upper back,you're going to melt down through the mid backand the low back relaxing the tissues, feel everything that'sbehind you, as it flows through the buttocks and the hamstrings, the back of the knees,the calves, the ankles, heels, all connecting and allowing for this warm oil to flow downdeep into the ground and then from there, feel now the entire back of the body,feel what's behind you

feeling just as much in the back as you do in the front to left and to the right and then connecting to your higher power allow for this white light now to penetratethrough the center of the body we now visualize and feel the brain. and themore you practice this, the more actually you'll be able to have this knowingness of what'sinside. so feel the brain, the skull beneath the brain, feel the left and righthemispheres of the brain and from there, you feel and visualizethe nerve endings from behind the eyes, you feel the muscles of the cheeks, the bones, the sinuses, the inner ear, the jaw structure,

the teeth and gums and tongue, all the smallveins, capillary, blood vessels of the face the face is very vascular, like the hands,so a lot of blood vessels and from there, you start melting down through the base of the skull, through each of the vertabrae,neck and throat through the center, feel the muscles,feel the arteries, feel the shoulders, branching off into the biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms,wrists, hands, all the small bones, tendons,ligaments of the hands and fingers now this white light touches each rib as it wraps around to the spinal vertabra on the back feel the spaces between the ribs as you melt down, you now visualize and feelthe heart, the lungs, the liver and gallbladder

the stomach and spleen, the intestines,the urinary bladder, the kidneys on the low back flowing into the pelvic bone, the femurs,the muscles and bones of the legs, the knees, the shins, the calves, ankles, feet and toes,all connecting, all flowing off deep into the ground and from there, your feet melt into theearth, giving you more the sensation of connectedness to the earth. imagineroots growing out from the bottoms of the feet, all the way down to the center core of the earth.and then as you inhale, imagine golden light coming up in through the abdomen, or up the legs in through the abdomen as you inhale. then as you exhale, imagineany dark, heavy energy pushing out, out through the legs, out through the feet anddown deep into the earth

each inhalation, you feel the golden light come up exhaling, flowing down [breathing] you can even use your hands like i'm doing here,to help to guide the qi up, and releasing out any toxicity out of the body as you push the hands down and then from here, next inhalation, this time we're going to pull the energystraight up the spine, up over the top of the head down the front of the face, the chest, the abdomen. inhaling straight up the spine, up through the central nervoussystem, up over the top of the head,

through the midline of the body, through themidline, the chest, the abdomen, flowing through the perineum, which is theacupuncture point located between the sex glands, anal sphincter muscle,exhaling, flowing down so if you want, you can guide your hands too, guiding the energy up as you inhale, guiding the energy down. also this practice is called small heaven breathing, also referred to as jupiter's orbit meditation now making jupiter's orbit around the sun inhaling up.exhaling. and this meditation is great. you can do this meditation, even with your eyes open, just keep the tip of the tongue to the roof ofthe mouth, behind the teeth, and just

use your creative visualization to guide the energy upthe spine, down the front of the face,the chest, the abdomen they say it takes about a hundred days,approximately, to open up these two reservoirs of energy. but such asimple meditation, but such an essential part of cultivating wellness through thebody, through these two major channels. these two major channels in the body also referred toas the two of the eight extraordinary vessels, feed into the 12 regularacupuncture meridians, which feed into the twelve major organs. so you can see from a medicinal point of view, just the value ofopening up these two vessels and doing one more.

we're just going to pull down and we're going to finish bypulling down the heavens three times, inhaling exhale. inhale. and exhale. inhale.and exhale. and then from there, flowing directly into the spleen move. we're going to show youtwo different ways of doing this. the first one, you're going to imagine that your handscome up, and we're elongating the spleen acupuncture meridian that actually comesup and then ends right down here [pointing to side ribs, underneath arm] on both sides of the body

and we're twisting, almost like we'reringing out the organ here. so i'm going to find a focal point on the ceilingor if you're doing this at night, find a star to move around, and i'm shifting my weightfrom left to right, pumping the energy, relaxing the shoulders imagining yellow light or a yellow cloudfilling up into the left side of the body where the spleen is located so, the negative emotions of worry and pensiveness we're going after to help to calm the mind.

you can tell when the spleen is out ofbalance too because the person will crave sugar or carbs, and what the spleenactually wants is, it doesn't want sugar or the carbs, it wants things are naturallysweet, like sweet potatoes, yams pumpkin, oatmeal, very bland. bland foods also fallunderneath the sweet category in chinese nutrition now, if you find that this is too challenging,then what we can do is then we can just bring our hands around and shiftback and forth, but i'm still pumping my legs, so if you see my legs and as i'mshifting the weight back and forth, i'm also pumping the blood, pumping the qithrough the channels spleen meridian starts at the big toe, flows up the inner aspect of the leg, like i showed about

a minute ago, then ends underneath the armpits. and these channels, for the 12 organs of the body, major organs, are all bilateral, so are onboth sides of the body. so, some of the physical signs of spleen imbalances may be a prolapse, which is when the organactually falls out of place. you may notice, for example, with little kidsall of a sudden that they startdeveloping chronic nosebleeds that, if you were to talk to them, they'reprobably nervous about something upcoming and this is the reason for the nosebleeds.cause the spleen, besides holding the organs in place, also helps to hold the bloodwithin the blood vessels. diabetes is considered an exhaustiondisease of the spleen fibroids. cysts. if you are somebodythat has a lot of phlegm or mucus.

certain types of arthritis can be relatedback to this dysfunction of the spleen. feeling bloated while eating. overweight, underweight conditions, there's a whole number of illnesses that we see in clinical practice that result from thespleen being out of balance. it's supposed to take the food from the stomach, and thentransform it and transport it up to the chest, so the food and the fluid. andif there's an impairment of that, then as it sends it up to the chest, then you know, we may also haveconditions of, blood conditions, anemia, those types of things. so a very, very importantorgan in chinese medicine

and should not be overlooked. bringing forth the positive virtueof peace of mind and centeredness. and if you're in a wheelchair or you're bedridden due to illness or disease or what not, you know you could even, even if you can't do themovement fully, just by using your mind intent will actually create the changeof helping to nurture these organs, in particular, the spleen and stomach. so our mind's a very powerful thing. so, if we are limited in movement, or if we'relimited in energy, that's the other thing too, if, if you are struggling with an autoimmune diseaseand your energy is weak, sit down

and do your qigong. qigong is not meant for you to have to push through it. you're supposed to get as much relaxation from the practice as possiblein order to benefit the internal organs. so if you're tired, sit down. and, let's do one more. coming back to the center, inhaling,and exhale, just cleansing the body, calming the mind and inhale. second pull, pulling down, cleansingthrough the outside tissues. third pull, combining the internal and the externalas we allow for the white light to release out any heat thatmight have been stirred,any vibration,

toxicity last but not least, placing the handsover the lower dan tian, one inch below the navel, imagine a whitemystical pearl forming underneath the hands as you inhale, just imagine this white pearlbecomes thicker and brighter with energy as you exhale, imagine that the warmth from the whitepearl, the light, fills up and restores the vitality of the kidneys on the low back. so, each inhalation, the pearl gets brighter and then as you exhale, releasing and restoring thispre-heaven essence of the kidneys. and exhaling.

and then slowly open up your eyes and shake out the legs a little bit, shake out the arms. so, there you go. day number eight. thank you once again for joining me. my name is chris shelton. 30 days of qigong to better health. today we did the,we wrapped up the spleen cleansing exercise please join me tomorrow for day 9,as we flow into the lung move, lung cleansing exercise. we have a saying here thatqigong is a simple practice with profound results. until next time,have a fantastic day!