Balancing hormones and reducing Anxiety

Okay, welcome. Let’s do this session for the hormones together. You don’t see my lower legs right now, and that’s intentional because I want us to work more in this area. Just put your hands on your knees and warm up gently so we’re not hurting the knees in any way. Make circles in one direction, and be aware that the feet are also moving. The feet move in circles as well. There are many points around the ankles and the knees. There are many acupoints there that connect to the body in different ways, on the inside and the outside of the knees. Now bring the hands up and place them on your hips. Gently move the hips. Be careful with your lower back. Move the other way as well. This connects the lower back, the hips, and the lower abdomen. Already here, it’s good to lower the shoulders, letting them drop. Try not to hold them up too much. Let them go downward so the chest can relax more. That’s nice. To start, we’ll do a circle. Breathing in, reach out with the arms and up, palms downward. Breathing out, follow the midline of the body all the way down as far as the hands go. One more circle. The palms are forward and then they turn upward, and above the head they turn downward. Be aware of where the hands are passing, like a cooling and calming sensation moving downward. One more. Breathing in, up. Breathing out, down. Like trickling water, soothing the front, bringing that all the way down as far as the hands reach. The hands are facing toward the ground, as well as the soles of the feet, because you are standing on them. From here, we move into liver Qi releasing. If there is any blockage, stagnation, or emotion, bring the hands to the sides of the head, following the gallbladder meridian. Go around the ears until you are under the ears, and with gentle pressure trace the sides of the neck until you feel a firm, gentle connection at the tops of the shoulders. Then move around the shoulders until you come to the sides. Brush a few times along the ribs, as if helping the ribs lower slightly. From there, follow the sides over the hips and all the way down to the feet. Travel over the sides of the feet and then to the inside. On the inside, travel up the inner legs, over the groin, and up to the lower abdomen. Place the hands on the hips, come up on your toes, and then release the hands and the heels together. One more time. Release tension around the sides of the head, bring it down, soothe the sides of the neck and shoulders, brush along the sides, and bring everything down over the legs and the feet. Come to the inside of the knees, the groin, and the lower abdomen. Come up on your toes and release. One more time. Around the shoulders, brushing down, bringing everything downward over the feet. Now from the level of the hips, we bring the hips backward and outward. Think that the hands are connected to the hips. When the hands move outward, the hips widen. Let the sides of the legs widen, the belly widen, and the chest widen without lifting the shoulders. Imagine a rubber band connected to the sides of the hips, widening the body. Palms face downward. When you widen, drop the shoulders as much as possible, then come back. Widen and drop the shoulders. Two more times. Widen. And widen again, dropping the shoulders. Stay here with attention on the chest. Bring the hands up to the lower rib cage, as if a rubber band connects the hands and the ribs. Let the hands make a very small bounce, helping the chest and ribs drop down. Drop the front of the ribs, the whole rib cage. Move the hands slightly sideways and allow the ribs to drop down. Let the fingers be slightly spread. Drop the chest and allow the whole back to drop. The shoulders and the back soften, almost like you feel tilted slightly backward. Just drop the whole chest and rib cage. You may feel the chest resting onto the hips. That feeling of really dropping the chest. Now bring the hands down and shake them gently. Keep the shoulders down. Keep the chest wide and relaxed downward. Let go of thought patterns you don’t need right now, and emotions that feel looping. Anything from work or family, just let it go. You can bounce the hips a bit. This is a good place to release tension you don’t need to hold. Next, we twist for the liver. Twist to one side so there is a twist in the liver area. In Chinese medicine, the meridians run on both sides, so it makes sense to work both directions. Keep the feet parallel and the toes pointing forward. Imagine expanding a ball in front of you, then release it. Bend the knees slightly so the spine can move more easily. As you twist, the front hand throws the ball sideways, and the back hand rests at the sacrum or lower back. You feel the back hand there, and the front hand releases something you don’t need. Keep the hands receptive, shoulders dropping. Imagine you don’t even have shoulders. The attention is in the arms and the lower abdomen, creating space and widening. Expand the ball wide, then twist and release it. Expanding space here and now, letting go of what you don’t need. Breathe in, opening. Breathe out, releasing. Keep the shoulders relaxed. Lift through the sides and the back, and let go. Do this five more times, and then the last one. Now bring the focus to the stomach and chest area. Keep the chest lower and breathe into the chest, opening sideways. The index fingers guide the direction, and the hips move slightly forward so the whole front of the body is stimulated. You stretch forward, open, look up, and then come down. Even if you are indoors, there is still the sky above. Take that energy into the lungs and give them space to expand. The hands move like butterfly wings, tracing with the fingers. A few more, and one more. Let the hands come down. Shake the fingers gently. Bounce the heels to come back into the legs. Bring attention to the feet, standing on the whole foot. Feel the point in the middle of the sole of the foot, receptive to the surface. This is the Yongquan point, the first point of the kidney meridian. Bring the hands down with palms facing downward, fingers pointing forward. Knees slightly bent. Drop tension from the lower back and lower abdomen. Allow the hips to drop slightly, relaxing downward. Imagine a rubber band between the hands and hips, closer now. Widen the hips and drop the shoulders and chest. Let the shoulder blades feel heavy and drop. Bring attention to the hips and let them widen. Do this three times. After widening, let the hands move in a circular motion toward the front, stretching forward and then down. As the hands move forward, the lower back stretches backward, opening the sacrum. Feel the stretch and openness. Open and stretch again, like bird wings down. Bent knees, feet stable, opening sideways and stretching the lower back backward. One more time. From here, bring the hands up in front of the lower abdomen, palms facing each other. Make small pulsations, giving space to the lower abdomen. Follow the midline of the body upward. This is the conception vessel, a yin meridian. It’s soothing, calming, and stabilizing, especially for the front of the body and the feminine aspect. Come up to the lower chest, then bring it back down. One more time. Widen, bring forward, and down. Pulsate and come back. Bring the hands up. Keep the shoulders very relaxed. Hands move upward without stretching up. Connect at the heart area, relaxing there, then turn the palms slightly downward and bring anything you don’t need down as far as the hands go. Bring the hands back to the sides. The breath comes naturally. When you find the rhythm, it flows. Like bird wings down, hands to the lower abdomen with a pulsation. Bring hands up to the heart area and connect there. Bring back down. Two more times. Open the lower back and pelvis. Bird wings down. Straighten up slightly before the pulsation so you’re giving yourself space. Pulsate at the lower abdomen, then up to the heart, and bring it back down. This is an energy reservoir in Qigong. It’s good to stay here with the hands. One more. Bring the hands to the heart and back down. To finish, make one big circle, bringing the hands down in front of you along the midline. Keep awareness inside the body, soothing and calming all the way down. Make a smaller circle and bring the hands to the heart center. Drop the fingers. Turn the palms inward and place them on the lower abdomen. Feel the warmth of the hands and any movement underneath, maybe the breath reaching all the way down. Then let the hands come down. Thank you so much. Good luck with this, and have a good day.