Thousands of years ago, the ancients made a profound discovery.

Humans could experience a longer life with more radiant health simply by mirroring the movements of nature Over the centuries.

They developed practices known as Qi Gong.

During my last 25 years of teaching these practices I've seen remarkable transformations as my students tap into their own life force energy.

This is the real fountain of youth Not hidden in some far away land but inside each one of us.

Each episode is a complete Qi Gong routine focused on one aspect of preventative health and wellness.

So try them all To discover which leaves you feeling the most nourished radiant and uplifted.

These routines are simple, gentle movements that don't require any special clothing or equipment.

All you need to do now is stand up, get ready to move and I'll be your guide to your very own Fountain of Youth Welcome to Qi Gong for Depression.

I'm out here in the English countryside.

It's a little bit windy, but this wind is the Qi of nature.

Just as nature has energy and movement You also have movement and energy within you.

The lungs, when you breathe in and breathe out, bring this energy of nature into you.

Mood is associated with physical posture, with breath, and with movement.

So in this routine, we're gonna get your body breathing.

We're gonna get your body moving bring that Qi into the lungs That vibrancy into your body and that elevation of mood into your life.

Enjoy.

Welcome to Qi Gong for Depression.

This routine is about emotional balance.

It'll elevate your mood and increase your energy.

Let's begin with both hands over the lower abdomen Inhale and allow your abdomen to expand.

Exhale, belly moves towards the spine, Where the breath goes, the Qi follows.

Feel the energy in your center.

It's said in Qi Gong... Where the breath goes, the energy follows.

Bring your breath into your center.

Feel balanced and harmonized.

Now take one hand up to your chest And allow the breath to rise from your belly all the way to your chest.

Inhale - belly, ribs, all the way up to your chest.

Exhale, chest ribs, back into the belly.

Let the breath move through your torso like a wave.

Deep breathing helps to elevate mood.

Breath is a reflection of how you feel.

Next we're gonna bring the breath into movement.

This is called Spinal Cord Breathing.

Exhale and round your back, tuck your tailbone under chin to the chest.

Inhale, open the chest, exhale round the back, tuck your tailbone under.

Inhale, look up and open the chest.

When you breathe and synchronize the breath with movement it helps to clear stress and tension out of the nervous system and out of your body.

Inhale, look up.

Take the energy in.

Exhale, allow old energy to flush out of your system.

Move your spine Synchronize the breath with the movement.

Inhaling as you look up.

Exhale as you round the back.

Feel all the joints in your spine moving.

Qi Gong is a moving meditation where you can feel the flow of energy.

Synchronized and connected to your body.

Inhale, open the chest.

Exhale round the back.

Notice all the joints in your spine moving.

You can feel the front of the spine and the back of the spine.

Let these movements be meditative where your mind becomes calm as your body becomes more flexible.

Exhale round the back.

Take a nice deep breath.

Let yourself be filled up with Qi.

From here we're gonna circulate the energy with something called Qi Massage.

Massage these pressure points just under your collarbone Make little circles with your fingertips.

These points are for the lungs and the lung meridians.

The lungs in Chinese medicine are said to control depression and bring in inspiration.

Each organ in Chinese medicine has a polarity.

A yin and yang meaning that each organ has positive emotions and negative emotions.

When you stimulate these pressure points and get Qi to circulate You transform the negative to the positive.

For the lungs, you transform depression into courage and inspiration.

Take some deep breaths as you massage just below the collarbone.

This is the first and second pressure point on the lung meridian.

Now come over to the center of your chest.

Massage in the middle.

Can use both hands And then we're gonna switch and go over to the other side.

Massaging points just under the collarbone until you feel the pocket between the collarbone and the shoulder.

Circle the fingertips.

Breathe deep.

These are like light switches that turn on the light bulb.

The light switch helps to connect to the energy.

When the energy starts to circulate and activate, it transforms stress.

Depression back into vitality and inspiration.

Breathe slow and deep as you massage under your collarbone.

Pressure points are a great way to energize your whole system.

Massage those points.

Look for any tender spots.

If you find a tender spot, stop on it, circle and breathe.

Now, come back to the center.

Use both hands and then knock on your sternum.

Go up and down on your sternum.

This is another way to stimulate acupressure points.

Points on the sternum help to transform stress into vitality.

This is where our emotional energy is stored.

With depression, often Qi is stagnant and depleted.

This exercise helps to activate your energy and gets it to circulate.

And then come over to one side and knock just below your collarbone.

Tap with a light fist, right under the collarbone and activate those points that we were massaging.

These points are great for the lungs.

They boost your immune system and help to elevate energy.

Depression is when our energy's depleted.

Come over to the other side.

Knock on those points right below the collarbone.

Get the Qi to circulate.

Stagnant energy leads to emotional stress.

Free up the Qi, and we feel better in our emotional energy body.

Breathe-- knock and stimulate those points.

Use a light loose fist.

Tap on those points.

Get the energy to circulate.

Qi is like water.

When it moves, it's healthy.

When it's stagnant, it's not healthy.

Get the stagnant energy to clear and circulate.

And now tap with both hands on the center of your chest.

Take a deep breath.

Relax and feel the Qi.

Hold both hands in front of your chest and feel the activation of and feel the activation of the energy that you just stimulated.

Qi feels like electricity.

It buzzes and tingles through the chest.

And this is the movement of the life force.

When life force energy moves, we elevate our emotional energy.

Take some deep breaths.

Breathe in that fresh air.

Like opening two windows to a room.

We bring in good circulation and allow the energy to elevate.

The breath is slow and deep in and out through the nose.

Feel the Qi circulating through the chest.

This is the transformation.

You have the power to transform stress into vitality.

Depression into inspiration.

See if you can breathe just a little deeper.

In through the nose and out through the nose.

The breath is energy.

It's your aliveness.

And this aliveness reflects in your emotions and in your body.

When you feel good emotionally, it's healthy for your body.

Your physiology responds to your emotional energy.

Take one more deep breath.

Exhale all the way out and bring your hands down.

Bring the hands up.

Hands, come down, knees bent.

Hands out to the side's legs straighten.

Bend, and straighten bringing the hands up.

This exercise is called Tiger Clears the Way and is designed to release depression and any energy that's keeping you down.

Clear it out.

Inhale as you come up.

Exhale through the mouth as the hands come down and out.

Now go a little bit quicker, pumping into your legs.

Inhale up, exhale out through the mouth and pump the legs.

Breathe into it.

Exhale and clear the way.

Get that double bounce in the legs.

Bend, straighten, bend and straighten the legs.

Inhale up - exhale - inhale up.

Pump the energy.

And as you're doing this exercise, you can think about and have the intention of clearing out anything that's making you feel down, stressed out or depressed.

Clear it out with that exhale.

Push it aside.

This can be other people's energy.

Circumstantial energy.

Heavy thoughts, things that make us feel down -- Release inhale up exhale to the sides.

Breathe into it -- Inhaling up Exhale as you pump Hands spread as you exhale, feeling this invigorating workout moving through the legs and the torso.

Exhale, inhale up.

It's a quicker breathing.

And then we come back to the center.

Relax, hands down.

And just notice that your body has been charged up with energy.

Next, we're gonna do a movement called Shaking.

We're gonna release tension and tightness out of the body by bouncing into the heels and pumping the arms.

Inhale through your nose, exhale out through the mouth with a long sigh.

Feel like any old energy, anything weighing you down.

Making you feel depressed or heavy -- releases out of the body and is replaced with lightness, levity, and circulating energy.

Pump into the legs.

Relax your wrists.

Relax right at your cranial base.

Right into your neck area.

And let this energy wash anything that's depressing out of your system cleanse and clear.

Inhale through the nose, exhale with a long sigh.

Relax your arms down to your sides and feel the Qi.

Feel this buzzing, tingling energy, moving through your body.

When energy moves through you, it elevates who you are and how you move through the world.

Next, bring your arms round and in front of you.

Inhale as the arms float up.

Palms face towards the sky.

Exhale as you float the arms down.

They pass by the chest and float to palms up.

Inhale slowly.

Palms up towards the sky.

Open the chest.

Exhale slowly, float the arms down.

These slow flowing movements, cultivate energy.

They bring positive energy into your mind and body.

Slow deep breathing is meditative.

It helps to bring us into the present moment.

Clear old energy from our past and get us inspired about our future Feel this expanded energy circulating through you where limitless possibilities are available and at your fingertips.

Exhale, arms float down.

Inhale slowly, arms float up.

See if you can have a little pause at the top of your inhale.

Exhale and have a little pause at the bottom of your exhale.

At those moments, when your breath is still, let your mind be still as well.

Sense and feel the smooth flow of Qi nourishing and replenishing your whole mind body system.

When you slow down your body, you slow down the mind.

Now you're gonna take one arm up over the head.

The other pressing down towards the earth.

Feel a connection between the energy above you and below you.

And then we switch one hand above the head, the other pressing down.

Stretch through the ribs.

You're gonna inhale as you press the palms away from each other.

One towards the sky.

One towards the earth.

Exhale, spiraling the arms in and inhale, press the palms away from each other.

Feel the stretch through the rib cage.

Spiral the hands in so your pinky fingers face towards you then press the hands away from each other.

Exhale, spiral in, bend the knees a little bit.

Inhale, straighten the legs and stretch.

There's a little bit of a lean you press up with your right hand.

You're leaning a little to your left.

Spiral in, press up with your right hand, lean a little to your left.

I'll be doing your mirror image here.

Breathe into it.

Feel the energy moving through the sides of the body.

Remember that the lungs fill up through the ribs.

So as you do this side stretch, you're bringing more energy, more space into your lungs so that you can breathe deeper.

When you breathe deeper, you're gonna bring more energy into your body.

And this helps to transform depression into inspiration.

Now, bring your hand down, both arms in front of you by your abdomen.

And bring both hands now up to your chest Circle one arm in front of you.

The other behind you.

You're gonna inhale as you come up with the hands and exhale.

One arm is in front.

The other is behind you.

This movement is called Enlightened Tiger.

One arm's in front.

The other's behind you.

Inhale as you come up, curl your fingers like tiger claws.

Exhale forward.

Now this movement helps to clear old energy.

It helps to clear worries and stress of the mind.

The arm that's in front of you is projected worries into our future.

Feel that clearing out.

And the arm behind you represents the energy coming from our past.

Feel that clearing out.

So that the energy in your present moment... that relationship between past and future is light, free, and elevating.

The energy from our past.

Use it for wisdom.

And when we think about the future, have it be an energy of inspiration.

Let this movement line you up with what you want to create in your life.

These are embodied meditations.

They set intentions for how you want your life and your day to unfold.

Breathe deep, feel powerful.

Feel the circulating energy moving through you.

Exhale, one arm in front, the other behind.

Now hold the stretch, press through your fingers.

One arm's in front of you, the other's behind you.

Turn and look at your back hand.

Push past your limitations as you go into this stretch.

Any energy holding you back releases.

Turn and look at that forward hand.

Take a nice deep breath, drop down.

Inhale as you come up and switch.

Press the forward hand in front of you.

Take a deep breath.

Now turn and look at the back hand.

Push past your limitations, stretch into it.

Feel that opening through your neck, shoulders and upper back.

Turn back to the front hand.

Take a deep breath.

Drop the hands down and inhale.

Now, very softly... Let the hands float in front of you and behind.

Go into a softer, more relaxed version of this movement.

This is the Enlightened Tiger.

That part of ourselves that is no longer constrained by worries, fears or depression.

Feel the free flow of energy moving through you.

Inhale arms float up softly.

Exhale, feel your hands, caressing the air in front of you and behind you.

Breathe deep, relax into the flow and let the Qi circulate.

These movements start to feel effortless where the Qi is moving your body.

Now bring your hands down and round in front of you.

Hold and contain that energy.

Feel grounded in the present moment.

Free of any past worries or future projections.

Slow breathing through your nose.

Knees are slightly bent connected to the earth.

Mind, present and grounded.

Next we're gonna do an exercise called between heaven and earth hinge forward at your waist.

Gather energy.

Let the hands float up over the head.

Connect to the energy above you.

Bring the hands down towards the head.

Circle around, the wrists cross, and then the hands float back down.

Take a breath and when you exhale hinge forward at your waist.

As you come up inhale, then exhale, hands above the head.

Connect to the sky, turn and inhale hands towards the head.

Exhale circle around.

Inhale, wrists cross.

Exhale down Again, take a deep breath.

Exhale hinge forward.

Connect to the energy of the earth.

When you come up, you're inhaling,exhale, float the hands above the head.

Then inhale, palms, turn to face the sky.

Circle around.

Your wrists cross, deep breath, exhale, inhale, exhale.

Start the flow.

Let your awareness connect to the earth below you and the sky above you.

Heaven and earth are source energy.

The energy of the sky is all the planets, suns and moons.

The energy of the universe.

The energy of the earth is nature.

The force of gravity.

Earth is yin, the heaven in the sky is yang.

Feel connected to the energy above you and below you.

These two energies are like plugging in and recharging your batteries so that you're full replenished with positive life force energy.

Keep the arms moving nice and relaxed.

Circulating the energy with your breath.

Inhale then exhale forward.

Deep breath as the arms float up.

Exhale, hands over the head.

Connect to the energy above you.

Inhale as you come in, exhale circle around.

Inhale wrists cross, exhale down.

Deep breath.

Hinge forward at your waist.

Mind expands to the earth.

Arms, float up over your head.

Mind expands to the sky.

Feel plugged in and connected to the energy around you.

This will replenish your energy, transform stress or depression back into vibrancy.

Into vital life force energy.

Arms are round now at your belly and just hold this position.

Breathe deep.

Let that energy settle into your whole mind body system.

Breathing in and out through the nose.

Feel grounded and connected to the energy all around you.

Feel your body like a tree in the wind.

The wind is the invisible life force energy circulating through you.

Blowing away anything, keeping you down and replacing it with replenishing energy.

Bring your feet together, both hands over your lower abdomen.

Stay connected to your breathing.

And now just let your body rock and sway.

Let your body rock and sway like bamboo in the wind.

Feeling grounded, connected to the earth.

Bamboo in the wind helps us stay rooted.

When life gets stressful.

When there's chaos all around you, find your center, stay grounded and rooted.

And feel connected to your own source of energy within you.

Let your body hear just gently rock and sway like a tree in the wind The wind is invisible.

We see it move through the trees.

Let the invisible life force energy move through your body.

Refreshing your energy.

Cleansing your mind.

And replenishing the life force.

Imagine roots going from your feet deep into the earth.

Feeling connected and grounded.

Feel that relaxing energy moving through you.

Take a deep breath.

Bring your hands down and let your body relax -- into the energy you've just cultivated.