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December 12, 2005
Using Qigong To Handle Anger and Anxiety
I have just had a tough few days at the office, dealing with some business flare ups, including a phone conversation with one of the most obnoxious gentlemen I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I do my best to remove these people as quickly from my life as they show up, but I still have to deal with the emotional fallout from the initial exposure(s).
The emotion that is potentially very destructive for me is anger. It shows up extremely fast, is hard to remain conscious with and easily puts me out of balance. While I believe in the value of anger to fire up my resources to respond to a threat, all too often a small blaze can ignite into a forest fire.
Qigong has been a tremendous help for me personally, in helping calm down from anger attacks but I consider it an ongoing challenge.
One of our forum contributors recently posted a question for me about another strong emotion, anxiety:
“I have been doing qi gong for a little less than a month now and I have been having anxiety problems from outside events and god knows what else. When I'm doing qi gong I focus on breathing as one should however I sometimes get that butterfly like feeling in my stomach and it seems to interfere. Sometimes I can control it with breathing and sometimes I cannot. I want to know how detrimental this can be to my workout, and if there are ways around this obstacle. I know that qi gong can be beneficial to stress and such but can it help anxiety?”
Here was my answer:
Qigong is not a panacea for problems like an excess of anxiety, however consistent, extended practice will likely reduce it.
From a qigong perspective, there is nothing wrong per se with anxiety -- it serves a necessary messenger function in the body. However if compulsive thinking feeds an addiction to a particular emotion, then you will fall out of balance.
I recommend three processes to do regularly to help reduce anxiety, in this order, before and beyond whatever other qigong you are doing:
Five or more minutes of vigorous shaking of the whole body.
100 Wall Squats performed slowly and with good form.
At least five minutes of a spiraling qigong method.
I would be very surprised if this doesn't quickly start taking the edge off your anxiety.
If you follow lively qigong with more internal processes that require careful attention you will find yourself getting "out of your head", more into your senses and general awareness -- and will find yourself less controlled by compulsive thinking.
If you haven't already, read through some of my qigong blogs for more advice that would apply to your situation.
Finally, relax every time you get the butterfly feeling and don't try too hard to control it with your breath -- that could make it worse. Better not to fight it: better to relax into then out of it with a sense of acceptance.
So, the greatest remedy for emotional imbalance is the practice of awareness. My experience is that qigong methods make it easier for you to achieve and maintain that state of awareness.
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at December 12, 2005 11:53 AM