Waking Energy 7 Timeless Practices Designed to Reboot Your Body and Unleash Your Potential

that of a river flowing from beginning to end. For the most part, it never stops. The transitions
between exercises matter; flow through these gracefully without interruption. You will want to move
with quiet and at times playful control, allowing your bones to lead the movements, rather than your
muscles, which is actually harder than you might think, but oh so worth it.
For each of the exercises, I’ll specify what the preferred quality of movement is and what rhythm
and speed to employ, so that you’ll be able to execute the movement with the greatest confidence and
ease. Just as important, give yourself permission to be free, joyful, sloppy. Go crazy!
In the warm-up sequence, Opening the Gates, and in the Love Thyself exercises such as Hip
Circles, Tiger-Claws Thymus Tap, and Celestial Shampoo, your movements can be more playful,
more spontaneous, more individual than elsewhere. These are the sequences that should carry your
energetic signature, so be sure to make them your own. Allow them to serve as true outlets for selfexpression
and the free exploration of your body. The goal is to release old, stagnant chi and usher in
new chi in the way only you can. Love Thyself in particular is meant to be a conduit through which
you learn how to let go and act like a child again, unself-conscious, joyful, and free.
When you start circulating energy into certain areas of the body, such as your stomach, you may
find them particularly and unexpectedly sensitive. You may even feel nauseous or dizzy when you
perform certain movements. If this is true for you, rely on your breath to help you regain your
equilibrium, and slow things down. Take a break to have a sip of water or even end your session.
Resume only if you’re ready. Do whatever you need to feel better, calmer, and more in control and
settled before beginning again, but do start again.
Note: When you are first learning the practice, there may be times when you don’t feel perfectly balanced as you attempt certain
movements. This is completely natural and okay. Everyone starts somewhere. Maintain a sense of play and good humor—laugh about
your difficulties! The laughter will generate beneficial chi. Resist getting attached to perfection. What we all need today is less stress and
greater ease in every aspect of our lives. Know that with practice you’ll get stronger and hold your balance better. You may start out as
a clumsy sapling, but before you know it you’ll be a solidly rooted oak tree. Give yourself permission to feel free when you’re moving,
like the wind dancing over hill and dale and through the trees. Sometimes, just as in life, the wind is a gentle breeze; other times, flower
pots get knocked over!
Breathing
Breathing is the most powerful agent of alchemy we possess, a conduit for true transformation. You’ll
need to learn a few different breathing patterns for the Awaken and Play series, which is composed of
two sequences, Opening the Gates and Love Thyself. In the first sequence, a series of warm-up
exercises, your breathing should be performed mostly through the nose. In Love Thyself, most of the
exercises invite you to be freer, more playful, and more expressive in using the breath as a vehicle for
energetic and emotional catharsis. For these exercises you’ll inhale through your nose and exhale
through your mouth to expel stagnant chi.
As a rule, in all your breathing throughout the practice, whether you breathe in through the nose or
mouth, when you inhale, you’ll first feel the breath traveling all the way down, circulating, and
stimulating everything in its path (when you breathe correctly into your perineum and sexual organs, it