Qigong for a Happy Heart with Master Mingtong Gu

What is your true potential for happiness? In this first module, we’ll explore how to connect with our feelings and how to release the energy blockages that are disrupting our chances for joy and wellness. We’ll introduce the “inner smile” practice to begin our journey into awakening a happy heart and to intentionally release old patterns in how we respond to stress, illness, pain, irritation and disappointment. We’ll explore the steps in Wisdom Healing Qigong to heal the whole self: mind, body, heart and spirit.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• The definition of energy, a.k.a. qi or chi
• How you can cultivate more joy in life through Wisdom Healing Qigong
• Why Qigong happiness is defined by the wellbeing of mind, body, heart and spirit
• How to start a meaningful Qigong practice to elevate mood and set a positive tone for the day
• How a happy heart can change how we heal chronic illness or injury

Guided Practice:

• Inner Smile meditation to open the capacity of your heart to healing and joy

We’ll explore the Qigong perspective on the role of energy in our physical body with regard to awakening a happy heart. We’ll see what happens within our body and brain when we feel negative emotions, and how this contraction opens us to illness, injury and premature aging. We’ll establish how Qigong helps us reconnect our mind-body, release tension, and bring joy into our movements as we progressively build flexibility, strength, posture and grace.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• How you can experience the flow of chi in your physical body to deepen your Qigong practice
• The role of postural wellbeing in daily life
• What happens in the body and brain from stress and worry
• Why open, flowing energy within the spine, muscles and organs is so important
• How to start a personal practice of Qigong movement, sound and meditation
• The movement, sound and meditation components you need to begin a home Happy Heart practice

Guided Practice:

• Qigong to release tension and activate energy flow to your organs and body

We’ll explore the role of the mind and consciousness as we engage in our Qigong practice. As we cultivate mindfulness and let go of old habits, we can change how we react to stress and challenges. We’ll examine the role of visualization in awakening an attentive mind, revealing new possibilities of joyful thoughts, self-reflection and commitment.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• The role of energy in mental focus and consciousness
• The role of the mind’s intention in deepening your Qigong practice
• How to discover your hidden potential for creativity and mental focus
• The role of visualization in unlocking hidden resources within
• How to focus a distracted mind

Guided Practices:

• Qigong movement to open your shoulders and chest to release tension
• Visualization exercise to expand creativity

Healing the emotional self is deeply essential to opening the heart, so we’re devoting two modules to the topic. How many emotions that bring us stress or pain do we continually get seduced by and re-invite into our heart? When we are feeling challenged by worries, the heart energetically contracts. We’ll delve into experiencing Qigong movement and sound on an emotional level to allow the opening, accepting and healing of our emotions on the conscious and unconscious levels.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• The three A’s: Acceptance, Activation and Appreciation
• The power of your emotional self in finding joy and commitment in your Qigong practice
• How to respond to stress in a healthy and positive way
• The benefit of transforming anger into joy
• Ancient healing sounds for releasing energy blockages

Guided Practice:

• Healing sounds for your heart to activate love and joy

We’ll delve further into the teachings that open our heart’s capacity to respond to stress, grief and disappointment in new, healthier ways. Through our Qigong practice we can learn how to heal from the stories of our life, so that our heart is open and resilient again. Because everything in life is connected, we can’t simply throw a feeling of stress and anxiety away. Instead we’ll transform it through healing Qigong sounds so it doesn’t negatively affect our body or mind, or dampen our ability to feel joy.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• The role of stories in your past challenges and illnesses, and how to let them go
• How to transform the emotional energy of stress and worry into compassion
• How your reaction to stress can limit your ability to feel joy
• How to expand your potential for happiness
• How to recognize negative emotions and how to create healthier patterns
• How to release attachments to disappointment and grief

Guided Practice:

• Healing sounds for your lung system to transform grief into compassion, sympathy and deep knowing

We’ll explore the deep value of fostering a happy heart on a spiritual level. Within each of us is a deep wisdom and connection with all of life that we can learn to cultivate, allowing us to contribute healing joy to ourselves and to all beings. Through these teachings we awaken our awareness of chi, especially in times of stress and challenge. We’ll also engage in visualization teachings that help us illuminate our smiling heart and share it with the world.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• How to invite spiritual awareness to deepen and sustain your Qigong practice
• How to access the abundant energy of the chi field through depression and illness
• The “Yes, and…” teaching
• How to access the wisdom of the universe
• How to amplify your inner smile to heal our world
• How to deepen your relationship to your community and our world
• How to include the chi field meditation in your daily practice

Guided Practices:

• Chi field meditation to open and connect with the energy of life
• Qigong to release blockages in arms and shoulders, and connect with universal energy

We’ll explore how to focus the daily Qigong practice on wholeness — gathering together into each movement and sound the benefits of body, mind, heart and spirit. These teachings will help us integrate our lessons of body, mind, heart and spirit for deeper benefits. We’ll explore how energy resides in any given moment, so that we can tap into it when we feel depleted.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• The essential teachings of how to integrate a Qigong practice in body, mind, heart and spirit
• How to transform your stories to cultivate true happiness for daily living
• Next steps for deepening your practice and for nourishing a happy heart
• The role of community and caring for others

Guided Practice:

• Guidance in fully integrating the Happy Heart practice of body, heart, mind, spirit for deeper and continuing practice

Salepage : Qigong for a Happy Heart with Master Mingtong Gu