Qigong can be done anywhere and at anytime. Even though most of the exercises are centered around active exercises that require you to be standing or incorporating arm movements, there are a number of exercises that can be performed while sitting in a chair within an office setting that are both simple to do and will not necessarily give others the impression that you are doing Qigong. We talk extensively on this site about tapping exercises and we aim to give useful examples that have positive effects. For the office worker in particular who uses their arms to type all day a few of these exercises will be of use.
Starting with exercise #32 in the Head to Toe Healing Book from Spring Forest Qigong, massage the elbow area where the crack in the skin is located when bending your arm. At the top of that crack is a pressure point that connects to the large intestine and nervous system. Use your thumb to press deeply into this point. If you feel some slight pain as a result this is not something to be afraid of but if it hurts too much you should refrain from pushing harder. Massaging this area helps with pain in the arm in particular and can benefit those developing carpel tunnel.
Another simple exercise, which happens to be a favorite among female practitioners, is rubbing the back of the hands. By taking one hand and placing it on top of the other and rubbing in a circular motion, your body is able to break up aging spots in your skin. This is because the back of the hand is where the Qi of Yin and Yang meet. While doing this rubbing, say to yourself “All my channels are open; the aging spots in my hand are completely healed.” Perform this on each hand for about 1-3 minutes as many times a day as you can.
Another hand exercise you can perform is lacing your fingers together and tapping them back and forth. Interlocking the fingers and then tapping the webbed parts stimulates energy across the spine. Spinal energy is very important in many yoga, meditation and Qigong traditions, and overall health and longevity are closely associated with good spinal health. Performing this exercise is easy and should be done 1-3 minutes a day.
In Head to Toe Healing is another important exercise called finger tapping. By tapping the fingers to the surface of something you can enhance your memory and event prevent strokes as the energy points in the fingers connect to the brain and heart. Chinese doctors believe that musicians, particularly piano players, are easier to have enhanced memory and cognitive skills as they are constantly stimulating their brains from tapping. If a surface is not comfortable, you can do this exercise by tapping your fingers from both hands together. The same result will come about and you will even improve your eye-hand coordination.
For those who use their throats a lot, simply rub your throat up and down starting from the top and repeating. This exercise in fact is recommended to people with sore throats from ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctors. ENTs also recommend you hum a sound while doing this to reset the vibration frequency in the throat and Qigong is no different but recommends you hum a specific noise that sounds like “shee.” It is best to perform this exercise several times a day for 1-2 minutes, especially if you talk a lot.
For the eyes, make sure to set different color objects around your computer such as plants. First of all, plants can help soak up radiation, which is good for the body’s overall health, and when your eyes get too tired from a computer screen you can look at the plant in order to relax the eyes. The color green is also good for the liver, which can get affected from excessive mental energy such as concentrating too long while sitting at a desk without being physical so something green like a plant even if it is fake, will help a lot. Also, make sure to stand up and bounce the feet once in a while to keep the energy flowing and rub your eyes with heat as much as possible by clapping your hands together and rubbing until warm, and then placing them on your eyes.
For digestion, you can swish your tongue in the right, left and center portions of your mouth each 36 times until you get enough saliva and then swish it in your mouth. Proceed to swallow down to the dantian area in 3 gulps. You can do this anytime of the day and it helps keep the body dehydrated as well as the digestion running smoothly.