A Step by Step Guide to Basic Meridian Exercises

Source: Meridian Exercise For Self-Healing: Classified By Common Symptoms by Ilchi Lee 

When your chest feels heavy and clogged, you would naturally want to relieve it by patting it gently with your hands. Similarly, when your hands feel cold, you may want to rub them together to stimulate blood circulation, thus creating warmth. When something in your body feels tight and blocked, you feel the need to pat it to ease the feeling. 

The good news is that there are five simple meridian exercises that you can perform on yourself whenever you feel your energy is blocked. These are whole body tapping, circulation exercise, abdominal clapping, intestine exercise, and anal contracting exercise. 

In this blog, you will find everything you need to know to perform said activities anytime and anywhere. Note that doing these basic meridian exercises even for 20 minutes a day can immensely boost your overall health. 

Warm-Up

Stand on your legs shoulder-width apart. Then, pat your chest using both hands. Move them back and forth across, stimulating all the acupressure points on the upper chest. Gradually increase the strength of your patting until you’re almost slapping it. Next, put your left arm in front of you with the palm facing upward. Then, pat it with your right hand, starting at the left shoulder, moving down the inside of your left arm, along the wrist, palm, and fingertips. Lastly, clap your hands ten times. 

1. Whole Body Tapping 

The whole body tapping meridian exercise helps with better blood circulation and opens energy blockages, releasing stagnant energy throughout the body. This method strengthens the cells by stimulating them and opening acupressure points. And the best thing about it is that anyone, adults and children alike, can perform it to boost general health. 

As you do the whole body tapping, allow your eyes to follow your hands, and ensure to lightly tap and not press certain areas of your body if you’re feeling discomfort. 

1. Turn your left arm over so your palm is facing down. Then, pat the back of your left hand, moving up to the back of the wrist and outside the arm, along the elbow, and back up to your left shoulder. Repeat this for the opposite arm
2. Use both hands to pat the middle of your chest 
3. Gently pat your solar plexus 
4. Move your hands to your stomach and liver area, patting gently
5. Pat your left abdomen, concentrating on the stomach 
6. Bend your hips slightly, and move your hands to your lower back over the kidneys 
7. Continue bending and patting as you move your hands to the hips
8. Pat your buttocks, legs, back of the heels, ankles, and feet toward the hip joints 
9. After tapping your body, cross your arms with your hands on your shoulders. Sweep them down across your body as you uncross your arms 
10. Sweep the rest of your body.

2. Circulation Exercise 

Circulation exercise helps distribute Ki throughout the body from the lower abdomen. It rids the body of tension and stagnant energy while strengthening cells and bones. When the blood in the lower extremities circulates more efficiently, it helps slow aging. Plus the vibration helps brain functioning, specifically concentration and memory. 

This method is beneficial if you have blood pressure, heart disease, rheumatism, or bronchial asthma. It may also help ease the symptoms of thyroid disorders and skin diseases. If you have said illnesses, you can increase the time spent practicing circulation exercise by up to 10 minutes per session. 

1. Lie on your back on the floor. Then, extend your arms above your shoulders and legs above the hips. Make sure to bend your knees slightly 
2. Relax and shake your arms and legs in a fast manner so that vibration reaches your whole body  
3. Repeat five times daily for 1-2 minutes each session. 

3. Abdominal Clapping 

Abdominal clapping stimulates, strengthens, and softens the intestines while simultaneously awakening the abdomen. And it’s best combined with intestine exercise. As Ki accumulates in your abdomen, you will experience an enhanced sense of confidence. 

Toxins also accumulate in the stomach, which is the common culprit of headaches and skin problems. Abdominal clapping may help decrease this condition and restore normal peristaltic movement.

1. Stand with your feet in shoulder-width distance and your knees slightly bent 
2. Lengthen and relax your spine 
3. Relax your shoulders, neck, and arms 
4. Place your hands on your abdomen and tap the area in a rhythmic motion 
5. Increase the pressure of your tapping until it becomes a striking motion
6. Repeat this 100 times and increase it up to 300 times as you practice daily.

4. Intestine Exercise 

Proper abdominal breathing expels used Ki energy upon exhalation and acquires new Ki through inhalation. But it’s only effective if the intestines are soft and flexible. Most people who begin meridian exercises have stiff intestines, and intestine exercises may help this condition by increasing blood circulation in the gut. It can help ease constipation and other digestive issues. It may even dissolve cysts in the uterus. 

It’s crucial to practice intestine exercises every day, which is easier because it can be performed while sitting, lying, or standing. As you become more proficient, you can constantly increase the number of repetitions, up to 300. However, if you experience pain in the intestines during the exercise, stop and gently rub the abdomen using your palms. 

1. Stand or lie down on your back 
2. Place your hands on your lower abdomen 
3. Point your thumbs toward your navel and two index fingers touching together, forming a triangle 
4. Push the abdomen out until you feel pressure 
5. Slowly and deeply pull the abdomen back to touch the spine 
6. Repeat this movement 100 times.

5. Anal Contracting Exercise 

When you spend a lot of time sitting, constantly feeling weak, and having a bloated stomach, your perineal/rectal area’s elasticity weakens, which can result in hemorrhoids, constipation, or various sexual disorders. Anal contracting exercise can help stimulate the perineal area. It may also help prevent and heal hemorrhoids, vaginal itchiness, as well as bladder, urethra, uterine, prostate, reproductive, and urinary tract disorders. 

Anal contracting exercise can also be effective in preventing kidney disease, colon cancer, and incontinence. It may also help remedy impotence and erectile dysfunction in men. In women, this exercise might improve elasticity in the vaginal area.

To perform this exercise, first, inhale and hold your breath while contracting your anus all the way to the navel. Squeeze and tighten the buttocks. When you breathe out, relax the muscles you have contracted. If you prefer, you can perform this without controlled abdominal breathing.

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Resources and Next Steps:

Interested in more mindfulness and meridian exercises? Check out the rest of the playlist here.

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Would you like to learn how to share these practices with others? Check out our Tao Healing and Meditation Course.