Qigong workout

Wow, I can't believe I just finished a 50 minute (give or take a few) qigong workout, and all standing. I recently checked out Chi Kung: Way of Power by Cheun and finally opened it today. The first part is standing Chi Kung. you warm up with 6 exercises that are short but get you moving. That couldn't have taken much more than 5 minutes to do. Then there are 4 postures. First is called holding belly. You stand in a relaxed posture and hold your hands as if you had a very large belly and were resting them there. Since I didn't keep track of time I must have stayed there for more than 10 minutes based on my overall time and how long I was in each relatively. The next position is holding ball, where you hold your hands chest level as if holding a ball. Again this I held for more than 10 minutes. Also, I found myself rocking forwards and backwards slightly, in time with my breathing, which is something I used to find myself doing in my qigong class last year. I'm not sure why I do it, but it seems to help. Someday I'll try to ask someone. The next posture was trickier, open downward. You hold your hands down and to the sides as if held up by balls about hip height. This was hard at first until I actually visualized the balls, and thus they appeared. I could feel the energy pushing my hands back up, allowing my arms and body greater relaxation. That was a neat feeling. This position I held slightly less than the other two I believe, but hard to tell. The fourth position was the hardest, open outward. You hold your hands at face level and imagine pushing a ball forward. I probably only did this one a couple minutes at most before my arms were too tired. Also in this position you sink lower so my legs got tired also.

In all positions I noticed a similar pattern. First I would feel the energy moving, then eventually I would feel cool, then I held it until the warm feeling came back, along with a cascading feeling of water passing over me. Then allowed myself to switch. I don't know why I chose that, but it seemed to work. In the end, I was suprised to see I had to have done this all for 40-50 minutes. And I was worried about going too short! I want this to be part of my daily routine because it allows the energy to balance itself out, and it's good to do that at the beginning of a day. Plus it gets me up and moving a bit which should help me be more productive.