Lifting the Sky is the first exercise in two of the most famous Qigong sets in the world: The 18 Lohan Hands, taught by the great Bodhidharma, and The 8 Pieces of Brocade taught by General Yue Fe. It’s safe to say that it is the most widely practiced Qigong exercise in the world. And for good reason. It’s awesome.
Ideally, you need to learn this exercise face-to-face from a teacher as the real secret is not in the movement, or even the breathing. The energy flow really needs to be learned face-to-face. But in the meantime, it’s safe to try this on your own by following the instructions below.
Practicing Lifting the Sky for about 2 minutes a day is a great habit, and I highly recommend that you implement it. You’ll feel great, and you’ll unwind a lot of stress, which is the start of self-healing.
Lifting The Sky – Posture 1
Your feet are close together.
Your mouth is gently open.
Your toes are pointing forward.
Your hands are relaxed by your sides.
Your posture is upright but relaxed.
Your chest is soft and open.
Your nose is pointing forward.
Lifting The Sky – Posture 2
Your palms face down toward the ground.
Your fingers point toward each other.
Your fingers have some space between them.
Your arms are as straight as comfortably possible.
Your neck tilts down, as if looking at the hands.
Your body remains upright.
Your shoulders remain relaxed.
Your jaw is still relaxed.
Lifting The Sky – Posture 3
Your arms arc up smoothly to the top.
Your nose follows the movement of the hands.
Your head ends tilting back comfortably.
At the top, you lift up gently from your heels to your hands.
Your arms remain comfortably straight.
Breathe in gently through the nose as you arc upward.
Lifting The Sky – Posture 4
Your arms drop smoothly down, like a bird slowly flapping its wings.
Your wrists are no longer bent.
Breathe out gently through the mouth as your arms are dropping.
The neck gradually returns to normal with the nose pointing forward.
Finish in Posture 1.
Repeat.
The four postures are not static, of course. There are some slight pauses, but they should flow from one to another. They big secret is to make the exercise as comfortable as possible.
