Thousands of years ago, the ancients made a profound discovery.

Humans could experience a longer life with more radiant health simply by mirroring the movements of nature.

Over the centuries they developed practices known as Qi Gong.

During my last 25 years of teaching these practices I've seen remarkable transformations as my students tap into their own life force energy.

This is the real fountain of youth Not hidden in some far away land but inside each one of us.

Each episode is a complete Qi Gong routine focused on one aspect of preventative health and wellness.

So try them all to discover which leaves you feeling the most nourished radiant and uplifted.

These routines are simple, gentle movements that don't require any special clothing or equipment.

All you need to do now is stand up, get ready to move and I'll be your guide to your very own Fountain of Youth The way you breathe directly influences the quality of your life.

In fact, the way you breathe might be the most important element to your health vitality, and how you feel.

Breath unleashes the vital energies of life.

Inhale fully to be inspired and take in more of life.

Exhale completely to get rid of the old and unuseful out of the body.

This process refreshes the system in every moment clearing out stagnant emotions and thoughts and taking in new possibilities with each breath.

If we can't inhale completely-- psychologically, we cut ourselves off from new experiences, adventures and creativity.

If we can't exhale completely, we hold onto the past and are weighed down by old emotional hurts and wounds.

To breathe is to be alive.

To breathe deeper is to delve into life more fully.

The benefits of deep breathing are many Deep breathing energizes the entire system.

It also calms and relaxes your mind-- Acts as a bridge between the mind, the body and spirit For balance, harmony, and spiritual growth The breath helps to harmonize our nervous system and reduce stress So from this mountain stream and redwood forest-- I encourage you to take a nice deep breath and get ready to enter the flow with Qi Gong.

Welcome to Qi Gong for Better Breathing Breath is Qi It's the life force energy with these exercises we're going to improve the efficiency of the breath and cultivate more energy in the body take both hands over the lower abdomen and as you inhale allow the abdomen to expand exhale -- abdomen moves back towards the spine take some nice deep breaths all the way down into the belly when you breathe into the belly the diaphragm stretches downward when we take deeper breaths fuller breaths more Qi into the system with this breath inhale and allow the abdomen to expand exhale belly goes towards the spine Qi Gong practitioners often have-- twice the range of motion in the diaphragm they take in twice the amount of oxygen per breath real deep breath inhale let the belly expand exhale all the way out and then bring one hand to the chest this is called wave breathing now inhale from the belly up through the ribs all the way to the chest and the chest back down to the belly and all the way out this is a full deep breath exhale from the chest down to the belly all the way out inhale belly ribs to the chest where the breath goes the Qi follows deeper breathing improves the quality of Qi as well as the quantity so we have better energy circulating in the body and more of it the breath is a reflection of how you feel long deep breathing like this helps to balance your nervous system transforms negative emotions to positive now bring your arms around and in front of you and inhale float the hands up over the head and exhale float the hands down inhale belly ribs all the way up to the chest then exhale -- chest -- ribs -- back to the belly slow deep breathing this movement holding up the sky can help with more energy more efficient breathing movement helps to take in more air more oxygen as well as calm and relax the mind When you slow the breath down balance mental and emotional energy it's a great exercise to clear stress and transform it into vitality inhale float the arms up and exhale float the arms down slow the breath down inhale-- now have there be a little pause at the top of the inhale then exhale and a little pause at the bottom of the exhale let the breath flow through the torso let it energize all the internal organs often in Qi Gong practice we start with deep breathing to bring more Qi into the body this is beneficial on so many different levels for the body for the mind for the emotions little pause at the top of the inhale then exhale have a little pause at the bottom of the exhale and when the breath is still notice that your mind is still as well Qi Gong is considered a moving meditation and it mirrors the movements of nature fluid like water strong like a tree grounded into the earth now bring the arms up and leave the left arm up and bring your right arm down I'm going to do your mirror image left arm up right arm down lean a little bit to your right and stretch now bring the right arm up press the left arm down and lean a little bit to your left side and stretch this will open the sides of the lungs the sides of the ribs and the chest when we get a nice stretch in this area we can bring in more breath more oxygen exhale as you come down and inhale and stretch up exhale as you come down and inhale stretch this movement connects us to the earth connects us to the sky and we feel stretched in between feel the ribs long open through the chest nice elongation through the ribs deeper breathing use the inhale to stretch and make space in the intercostal muscles the muscles between the ribs inhale as we stretch exhale spiraling in a little bit and inhale as you stretch spiral the hands in and lengthen now go into a spiral twist turn look over the shoulder your left hand comes across the face and turn over the right shoulder then the right hand comes across the face and turn look over the left shoulder spiral the energy through the body inhale as you come in and exhale and rotate inhale as you come in exhale as you rotate this is an excellent exercise to relax and open the spine makes more space through the upper back inhale rotate as you come in turn and look over the shoulder press the palms away from each other come back to the center and feel a nice sense of openness and expansion through t he ribs the torso and the lungs take some deep breaths arms are round and in front of you feel the freedom of the breath through the chest now interlock your fingers and inhale towards the chest and exhale away inhale towards the chest and exhale press away we pulse and pump the energy through the chest the sternum and the upper back when we press away round between your shoulder blades exhale and round between the shoulder blades make space in the back and inhale pull the energy into the chest exhale press away feel like you're pulling more energy into the lungs now hands up over the head exhale as you come down inhale and float the hands up exhale squeeze old energy out of the lungs when the hands come down we exhale push the elbows down feel like you're clearing any stale air out of the lungs then you can take a full breath in inhale float the arms up full deep breath exhale old energy out of the lungs out of the body fresh air fresh energy in arms come out to the sides now and press your palms down and out to the sides turn your fingertips forward and we're going to stretch through the lung meridian the lung meridian ends at the thumb so the pathway that goes from the chest from the lungs goes right down through the inside of the arm to the thumb now lean the ear towards the shoulder and feel a stretch and an opening through the neck and arm do the other side lean ear towards the shoulder and stretch fingertips forward thumb stretched down towards the ground take a nice deep breath feel the energy going down the arms to the hands wonderful flow of Qi open through the body now knocking on the chest let's stimulate all those lung points clear any congestion through the lungs in the chest and awaken the energy knock up and down the sternum take some nice deep breaths as you stimulate the points through the chest these points are also good for clearing emotional stress it's said that the lungs hold sadness and depression so when you knock up and down in this area anything weighing heavy anything keeping us down we cleanse and clear it out so that when we breathe deep we're inspired now knock on the right side of the chest right under the collarbone this is where the lung meridian starts and then do the same thing on the left side of the chest knock just under the collarbone back and forth now hold the hands over the chest and breathe the energy into the lungs so the palms don't touch the chest they're just in front of the chest and feel the buzzing tingling electricity through the lungs through the lung meridians and through the body now inhale and open the arms out to the sides and exhale bring the energy in and inhale expand and open the chest exhale draw the energy in open inhale and exhale draw the energy into the lungs when you exhale and open the hands we cleanse and clear and then we bring positive healing energy into the chest inhale and exhale feel here like you're connecting to the energy all around you connecting to the energy of nature you send your energy out and receive energy back in Qi Gong we say that the lungs are the commanders of Qi the deeper we breathe the stronger our energy now hold the hands over the chest feel the energy flowing through the chest the arms and the palms now take the fingertips together and bring them over the chest and circle the shoulders and elbows this is called rooster spreads its feathers elbows go up towards the sky circle back and around inhale the arms come up exhale down inhale coming up exhale sink the sternum in the chest when the elbows come up expand take a deep breath open the chest feel the movement through all the ribs the upper back and the chest this is a great exercise to release the shoulders and the upper back and neck and make space and clears tension and tightness so that we can breathe in deeper inhale as you come up exhale down feel the increased range of motion through the chest now switch directions elbows come up forward and down inhale elbows come up exhale down and around feel the rib cage the chest and the upper back more supple more open and this allows more energy to flow through the lungs in Chinese medicine the lungs are related to the immune system when we breathe deeper the respiratory function improves so does the immune system now bring your arms down and just float the arms up about shoulder height and inhale then exhale palms come together inhale hands go away from each other exhale closer together this movement is called soaring crane palms face up as you exhale palms face down as you inhale and feel the freedom of movement through the chest in the upper back expand the energy expand the capacity to take in more energy through each breath inhale arms come apart chest opens exhale sink the chest breathing just a little bit deeper now longer deep breath in longer exhale out and if you need to you can drop the arms a little bit lower pull the breath into the lower parts of the lungs inhale exhale inhale expand through the chest and the ribs exhale cleanse and clear hands coming down even lower now bringing the energy through the lower parts of the lungs and then all the way down palms face up feel the energy flowing through you Qi is the body's electricity internal power now we're gonna go into a movement called bear swimming exhale arms go out spiral the arms behind you as you inhale exhale extend and reach out inhale spiral and come back behind you now we're using a spiraling movement to bring more energy in through the lungs the chest and the lung meridian exhale out inhale as you open exhale sink the chest inhale and expand nature moves in spirals these Qi Gong movements activate the natural flow of energy in the body by spiraling the arms exhale arms spiral out in front of you inhale arms spiral behind you slow graceful movements strengthen the body's energy feel your body moving with a flow with the relaxation and with breath now contain this energy by bringing the arms round down by the lower abdomen and breathing deep full deep abdominal breathing arms round and connected elbows a little bit away from the rib cage knees are slightly bent and your spine is long full breathing into the belly feel your body strong like a tree rooted through the feet long and strong through the spine head lifted up towards the sky the breath absorbing the light and the energy from all around you continue to deepen the breath and fill up and we'll take the hands up over the head and float the hands down inhale arms come up exhale arms come down nice deep breath float the arms up exhale as you bring the arms down pulling down the sky feel healing energy washing through you from the head through the torso down through the legs inhale and exhale feel like you can grasp the energy from the tops of the trees and pull it through the body absorbing the light from the sky into every cell float the hands up float the hands down feel waves of relaxing energy moving through you inhale exhale feel your mind calm your body refreshed and recharged the breath deep and full and then come back to the center bring your arms round take a nice deep breath feel centered feel grounded in and through the legs feel the breath deep and full feel your body strong like a tree and flowing like a river now we're gonna do an exercise and a flow called flying you inhale and float the arms up and exhale float the arms down inhale float the arms up exhale as you come down feel the flow of energy all around you inhale float the arms up exhale as you come down feel a wave-like flow moving through the spine as the arms float up on the current of your breath shoulders relaxed arms relaxed feel the power of your breath lifting the arms up and down inhale float the arms up exhale as the arms come down feel your body light and full of energy when the lung energy is strong we feel inspired by life we feel excited about the future we feel grounded in the present moment and open to receive And now inhale pulling down the sky one more time exhale down inhale gather the energy from all around you waves of relaxing energy moving through you now bring both hands over the lower abdomen take some nice deep breaths down into the belly feel the energy of your lungs strong and full Feel the body grounded and the mind calm and relaxed in the present moment end the routine the same way we started with deep abdominal breathing feeling that journey of our practice coming full circle body energized mind relaxed take another deep breath and take that feeling of energy and vitality with you into the rest of the day