Qigong Training: Vietnamese American Heritage Community of Oklahoma

Outline

• Shaking with Exhale Extension (Humming)
• Wu Chi
• Foot Sensing and Balance Shifting
• Pushing Palms
• Separating Heaven & Earth
• Uprooting Mountains
• Dragon Twists Waists (Twisting Planchette)
• Toe/Low Kicking
• Twisting and Pushing or Sweeping Leg
• Hooking Leg
• Golden Leopard Reveals its Claws
• Pushing Mountains
• Tiger Straightens its Waist
• Wild Goose Flaps its Wings
• Draw a Bow and Brace the Tiger
• Reach Forward and Grab
• Dragon Thrashes its Tail
• Dragon Strikes Out (Trapezius & Neck Isometrics)
• Pivot and Push Forward (Lotus Lift & Energy Shift)

Detailed Routine

Shaking with Exhale Extension (Humming)

• What: Gentle bouncing in place initiated purely from the feet and knees.
• Why:
  • Pumps the lymphatic system.
  • Restores autonomic homeostasis by turning down sympathetic dominance and shifting into parasympathetic dominance (marked by increased salivation).
  • Loosens and rehydrates gelled collagen/fascia through thixotropic shear forces and direction-change interference patterns.
  • Extended humming during exhalation increases nasal nitric oxide production, promoting vasodilation, vagal tone, and CO2 tolerance.
• Alignment:
  • Feet hip-width and parallel.
  • Knees soft / slightly bent.
  • Torso upright, arms hanging loosely with light elbow bend.
• How:
  • Bounce gently by bending the knees, letting the internal organs and tissue mass move up and down.
  • Focus on the micro-whiplash forces generated as the body changes direction.
  • Hum on an extended exhalation; inhale through the nose.

Wu Chi

• What: The neutral, balanced foundation posture of the Tai Chi / Qigong stack.
• Why:
  • Maps baseline structural tension.
  • Trains anatomical stacking from the ground up.
• Alignment:
  • Feet hip-width apart and parallel.
  • Knees soft, sacrum sink/relaxing down toward heels.
  • Fontanelle (back third of the crown) pressing up.
  • Sternum relaxing down into hips; arms in slight medial (internal) rotation.

Foot Sensing and Balance Shifting

• What: Explicit sensory calibration of the feet and lateral weight transfer.
• Why:
  • Counteracts age-related sensory degradation in peripheral mechanoreceptors.
  • Rewires motor cortex priority toward plantar signaling rather than relying purely on visual cues for balance.
• How:
  • Stand in Wu Chi; sense plantar contact pressure.
  • Map the 9 Yang points of the foot: The 5 toe pads, big ball, small ball, outer edge, and heel. Additionally, this anchors the superficial back line, deep front line, and spiral lines at the ground.
  • Engage toes to activate the arch suction cup (the Yin center).
  • Shift weight side to side while keeping hips level; push off the loaded foot to initiate movement.

Pushing Palms

• What: Symmetrical or directional palm extensions driven by the lower body.
• Why:
  • Entrains the bottom-up kinetic chain (Feet -> Knees -> Sacrum/Waist -> Hands).
• Alignment:
  • Rooted feet, knees bent, sacrum down, fontanelle up.
• How:
  • Bring hands to the xiphoid process (solar plexus / mid-Dantian).
  • Inhale: grip with feet, sink sacrum, draw palms inward.
  • Exhale: drive force through feet, extend legs/waist, and express palms outward last.

Separating Heaven & Earth

• What: Counter-directional palm press (one hand up, one down) paired with lateral waist engagement.
• Why:
  • Decompresses the spinal column and loads lateral myofascial lines under single-leg weight distribution.
• How:
  • Press right palm toward the sky (Heaven) and left palm toward the ground (Earth).
  • Shift weight onto the left leg and lean laterally over the weighted side.
  • Return to center and reverse sides.

Uprooting Mountains

• What: Rotational waist push utilizing the edge of the palm (pisiform bone).
• Why:
  • Teaches rotational power generation through ground-reaction force without swaying the center of mass.
• How:
  • Assume a slightly wider stance with soft knees.
  • Fix gaze on a point directly forward.
  • Push with the left foot to turn the waist right, driving the right hand out pisiform-first.
  • Push with the right foot to reverse direction.

Dragon Twists Waists (Twisting Planchette)

• What: Overhead planchette (diamond hand position) paired with axial torso rotation.
• Why:
  • Stretches and loads the Deep Front Line (from the plantar arches, up through the inner thigh, pelvic floor, diaphragm, and throat).
  • Releases diaphragmatic restriction to deepen respiratory depth and oxygenation.
• How:
  • Form a diamond/planchette with fingertips overhead.
  • Look up through the planchette, load the big toes and outer foot edges.
  • Rotate the torso left and right around a fixed overhead axis.

Toe/Low Kicking

• What: Low-amplitude leg swings and toe/heel taps in cat stance.
• Why:
  • Isolates single-leg balance and mobilizes ankle/hip joints without joint shearing.
• How:
  • Root supporting leg at 45°.
  • Step lead leg forward into cat stance (light contact on ball of foot).
  • Alternate tapping toe ball and heel, or gently lift foot low off the floor.

Twisting and Pushing or Sweeping Leg

• What: A 3-count kinetic movement pattern (step-behind, sweep, step) paired with cross-body palm extensions.
• Why:
  • Cross-lateral neuromuscular integration and rotational balance transfer.
• How:
  • Count 1: Step foot behind supporting leg.
  • Count 2: Sweep non-weighted leg outward in a circular arc.
  • Count 3: Step forward to reset.
  • Pair leg sweep with a cross-body palm push.

Hooking Leg

• What: Circular rear leg sweep from cat stance.
• Why:
  • Mobilizes hamstrings and hip rotators under strict 100% single-leg load.
• How:
  • Root supporting leg at 45°.
  • In cat stance, sweep the lead leg around in a backward curve toward the glutes (“kicking sand on your back”).

Golden Leopard Reveals its Claws

• What: Step-out sink with chest-to-leg energy compression, claw extension (“Tiger Paws”), and an inner-leg pull.
• Why:
  • Opens interphalangeal joints, conditions forearms, and engages the lower Dantian rooting stack.
• How:
  • Lift knee, step out wide onto ball/heel.
  • Press tension down the chest, core, and legs while extending hands with tightly curled claw fingers (“Tiger Paws”).
  • Curl fingers under, sink hips, and pull energy back up the inside of the leg to reset.

Pushing Mountains

• What: Hips-forward extension paired with drawing energy into the Dantian and sliding palms down the sacrum.
• Why:
  • Releases anterior hip flexors (psoas) while manually guiding pelvic tuck to protect the lumbar spine.
• How:
  • Stand wide with big toes firmly grounded.
  • Open hip flexors forward while pulling hands to waist.
  • Slide palms down the lower back and sacrum to tuck pelvis under.

Tiger Straightens its Waist

• What: Full-body isometric contraction (“grabbing the bar”) from neck down while keeping the jaw and face relaxed.
• Why:
  • Leverages Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) / isometric rebound to immediately release chronic motor tone.
• How:
  • Inhale, grip floor with toes, engage core, back, and limbs at moderate isometric intensity for 5–10 seconds.
  • Completely release on exhale.

Wild Goose Flaps its Wings

• What: Vertical body wave driven by knee and waist drops, with arms lagging behind.
• Why:
  • Trains fascial recoil and ensures limbs move as kinetic followers rather than primary drivers.
• How:
  • Stand wide. Initiate movement by dropping feet, knees, and waist; arms follow downward.
  • Push floor to rise; arms float upward in response.

Draw a Bow and Brace the Tiger

• What: Archer posture pulling an elastic string while squeezing scapulae across multi-plane vectors.
• Why:
  • Retracts shoulder girdle, stretches pectorals, and engages upper-body cross-lines.
• How:
  • Raise arms. Lead hand forms bow target; trailing hand pulls bowstring back.
  • Squeeze trapezius/scapulae deeply at end-range. Release and repeat along overhead, horizontal, and downward angles.

Reach Forward and Grab

• What: Diagonally rooted “lawnmower pull” / figure-8 infinity sweep across the body.
• Why:
  • Integrates the full kinetic chain (Foot -> Knee -> Hip -> Torso -> Arm) across the sagittal and transverse planes.
• How:
  • Reach diagonally down toward opposite foot.
  • Drive off floor with foot, passing energy through leg, hip turn, torso rotation, and finally extending hand. Trace an infinity symbol pattern.

Dragon Thrashes its Tail

• What: Deep spinal rotation looking over shoulder (“checking for a tail”) while loading outer foot edge.
• Why:
  • Wrings out the Spiral Line and decompresses thoracic/cervical facets.
• How:
  • Root rear foot at 45°, front foot forward loading outer edge.
  • Place trailing hand on spine/lower back.
  • Twist torso and turn neck to look back over shoulder, leaning slightly away from direction of spin.

Dragon Strikes Out (Trapezius & Neck Isometrics)

• What: Multi-directional neck pushes (lateral, anterior, posterior) paired with full-body root.
• Why:
  • Trapezius muscles are controlled directly by Cranial Nerve XI (accessory nerve) rather than spinal nerves.
  • Strengthens cranial-somatic integration, providing a structural pathway for processing high emotional/nervous system stress without focal cervical overload.
• How:
  • Stand in Wu Chi. Press hand against side, front, or back of head.
  • Resist with neck at light intensity (do NOT press hard or force cervical spine).
  • Feel engagement down the trapezius line into upper back/torso. Hold 15–20 seconds per angle.

Pivot and Push Forward (Lotus Lift & Energy Shift)

• What: Lotus Lift (drawing energy up to third eye / upper Dantian) transitioning into Yin/Yang Ward Off weight shifting.
• Why:
  • Integrates upper/lower Dantian focus while training energy absorption (Yin) and redirection (Yang).
• How:
  • Step forward, draw hands together to lift “lotus” up center line to third eye, then expand palms open.
  • Shift weight back (Yin: absorbing incoming force), step up to hold ball, then push forward into Ward Off (Yang: returning force).