Hey, sorry it’s sooo Yellow! When I filmed this qigong exercises I hadn’t yet learned how to use my video recorder =)
Lifting the Sky is the first of the qigong exercises that make up the famous Shaolin 18 Lohan Hands. Also known as Both Hands Lift Sky – 雙 手 托 天 and SHUANG SHOU TUO TIAN.
As with all qigong exercises it is known to give several benefits, but only if practiced as qigong and not qigong form. It is important to remember that the form is not the art of qigong.
Lifting the Sky is excellent for generating energy flow. It overcomes posture problems and is good for those with a bad back. It benefits people who find it hard to relax, who think too much and find it hard to focus. Those who have post birth incontinence can find relief with this pattern.
This is also one of the qigong exercises I have used with great success on students who have suffered from Haemorrhoids (hey, stop giggling there at the back!). The key additional instruction if you wish to use Both Hands Lift Sky to overcome this problem is to gently imagine everything below being pushed back into its correct position as you “lift the sky”.
As always let me go on record as saying that if you want to get the best from the practice of any qigong exercises you need to learn and practice it under the guidance of a Qigong master, or at lease a competent instructor.
Yes, you can learn qigong exercises from a book or video, but you must put in more effort and you get less benefits.
As one student put it when saying why this was their favourite pattern from the 18 qigong exercises of the Lohan Hands:
“This is my favourite pattern because it’s the Swiss army knife of all qigong exercises. By practicing this one pattern I can enjoy all the benefits from radiant health to spiritual joy. I couldn’t ask for more.”
And you know what, he is absolutely right. This pattern can be used by a beginner to overcome health and vitality issues, or the very same pattern can be practiced by a master to literally ‘merge with the Cosmos’. There is a very good reason why out of all of the qigong exercises out there this is one of the most well known and one of the most practiced.
The next of the qigong exercises that make up the 18 Lohan Hands is Shoot Arrows Left Right. See you next post.
Marcus James Santer