How to Prevent and Reduce Chronic Pain With a Simple Qigong Exercise

This qigong exercise is called “Hold the sky with both hands to manage the Sanjiao“.

What is Sanjiao?

‘Sanjiao’ or also called ‘triple burner’ is located in the cavity between the body and viscera, including the chest and abdomen ( based on classic Chinese Medicine). It includes three parts called the upper burner, middle burner, and lower burner as is shown in Figure on the left. The internal organs above the upper horizontal line in the diaphragm are the upper burner, including the heart and lungs; the internal organs below the upper horizontal line to the umbilical cord are the Zhongjiao (middle burner), including the spleen, stomach, liver, and gallbladder; the internal organs below the umbilical cord are the lower burner, including the kidney, large intestine, small intestine, and bladder.

How does it prevent and reduce chronic pain?

One possible cause of chronic pain is due to blocked meridians. When there is a blockage in your meridians, the communication in your body system becomes stagnant. This will wreak havoc on the meridian flow and therefore dysregulate the whole system resulting in illness and chronic pain. Have you heard that someone who lost a foot can still feel the pain of the non-existing foot? This is because the brain tries to communicate with the foot but couldn’t get the feedback, therefore, sending the pain signal as a warning. The same reason for some chronic pain.

The Qigong exercise you can learn here will help you to stretch the limbs and torso, and cooperates with breath adjustment, which is conducive to the distribution of vitality and water in the whole body, and the rise and fall of Qi. It can regulate the triple burner, unblock the Ren and Du channels, the three yin and three yang meridians of the hands and feet, and the corresponding segments of the spine; at the same time, it can expand the thorax, stretch and massage the abdominal and pelvic organs, promote the circulation of qi and blood, and improve the functions of viscera. It has a good effect on preventing shoulder diseases and preventing cervical spondylosis.

How to do it?

You can follow the movement in this video. Here is the description of the movements:

1. start with a horst stand: step your left foot to your left with your shoulder wide, slightly bend your knees, so your upper body is straight, and relax your shoulders and hips, Your hands are in front of your hip bone and elbows point to each side,
2.  Turn your palms up, move to the front of your belly button, and interlock your fingers,
3.  move your palms up and your eyes follow your hands’ movement. When moving to your chest level, slowly turn your palms, and continue to lift your hands up meanwhile slowly straighten your knees;
4.  when your hands are above your head, gently push your palms upwards, then lower your jaw and look ahead, feel the stretch of your wrist, arms, legs, and entire body, pause, and have one or more deep breaths;
5.  Then separate your hands and move your hands slowly down to each front corner, your wrist slightly bent upward. When moving your hands down slowly bent your knees.
6. When your hands are down to your waist level, repeat 1-6.

Key technical points to remember:

1. Hold the palms on the chest to stretch the body, pull up and down to lengthen, stretch out the joints, and grasp the ground with the toes.
2. When moving your hands down, loosen the waist and sink the hips, sink the shoulders and drop the elbows, loosen the wrists and stretch the fingers, and keep the upper body upright.
3. Breathe deeply only when your pause the movement and your hands are pushed up, breathe naturally when you are moving your hands.

Repeat this exercise multiple times daily, you will feel the difference. More specifically, after 8-10 times in a row, your hands will be very warm. You will feel very relaxed and comfortable and the quality of your sleep is improved.