Perimenopause regulation of hormones and soothing the mind

Here are some exercises you can do in ten minutes to recover your energy. This practice supports the water element and the kidney system, while also releasing tension and emotions that feel like they’re looping in the mind. Take a few minutes to let that go. Start with your feet about shoulder-width apart, or slightly wider. Bend your knees and place your palms facing down toward the surface. Even if you’re higher up in a building, you’re still directing energy down toward Mother Earth. Gravity is holding you exactly where you are. Let that gravity keep you stable. Keeping your hands there, begin to gently shake your legs by softly bouncing through the knees. Shake off any tension in the legs, the knees, and the hips. Drop your shoulders. We often hold them lifted, so allow them to fall away from the ears. Straighten the arms with the palms facing downward. Let the palms be open and receptive to the earth energy, that rooting energy. Let the feet also be open and receptive. Bring your attention there — the hands and the feet are receptive. Relax your belly and your lower abdomen. Shake your hands gently as well. Let go of anything holding you in a stressed space, bringing the mind back into the body. Return to bent knees with hands facing downward. From this position, make a gentle circular movement until the hands reach forward to about upper-chest height, then let them float down like bird wings. Focus on expanding and opening the back of the hips. This movement is not from the buttocks or upper back, but from the lower abdomen. Let the lower abdomen expand backward, like inflating a balloon. Hands move outward, hips move outward, lower back moves backward, then forward until the index fingers meet. Drop the hands back down. Repeat once more. Move sideways, releasing the lower back backward, creating lots of space, then drop down. Palms face downward as you continue a circular forward movement. The lower back reaches backward, then releases down. In Qigong, this area relates to kidney energy. When it’s tight or stuck, it’s difficult to connect with that energy in the body. Do two more gentle circular movements, shoulders relaxed and down. Allow the lower back to move backward and release downward. That’s nice. Next, open the chest and shoulders with a movement like two half moons. Hands float down, up, and down again, as if opening wings. Exhale naturally as the hands come down. Breathe into the chest and lungs, giving them space. Give the chest plenty of space. Do a few more. The last two. Bring the hands down gently. This movement is both releasing and grounding. It brings the mind to where you are, helping you let go of thoughts that pull energy upward into the head and create mental loops. Now bend the knees again. Imagine expanding a ball in front of you, bringing your awareness into this space — “I’m here, I’m now.” Inhale as you expand, then let the ball go. Breathe in, taking in space. Keep the chest relaxed and bring your focus to the navel and lower abdomen. Expand, then release. Let one hand rest on the lower back or sacrum. Keep your attention on creating space and letting go. Open the hands, stay receptive, and release. There’s no need to think about anything. Everything will be fine. Bring this energy from the mind into the body. Two more. And the last one. The final exercise begins the same way. Rooting to Mother Earth. This is yin energy. Palms face downward, feet receptive to the surface. Bring the hands inward so the palms face each other, following a narrow midline in front of the body. Open outward like butterfly wings, then return. Let the little fingers meet as the hands turn, creating a cooling, water-like sensation flowing downward. Palms face down again, open and receptive. Connect the hands to the lower abdomen, the reproductive system, the pelvis. Follow the midline with both your hands and your awareness. Let the mind soak into where the hands are. Open, bring back, turn the hands, cooling and calming like water trickling down. Hands face downward. For the last round, let the mind rest in the body. Hands are relaxed and inactive. To finish, make a large circle with the hands facing downward, then a very small circle. Bring the hands together in front of the chest, connecting to the heart area. This center relates to emotions and the feminine aspect — a communicator to the whole body. Let the fingers drop. Turn the palms inward with the thumbs at the navel. Drop the shoulders. Let the belly feel the warmth of the hands. Relax the abdomen and allow the hands to feel anything happening beneath them. You can stay here if you like. Thank you so much. Have a good day.