Stretch the Tendons

When we are asleep, the tendons are at a resting stage, not stretched out. When we get up, our body feels stiff and hard to move or bend. There are thousands of stretches possible; we can spend a lot of time stretching. If you do just a few right, you can stretch all the tendons, save time and prevent yourself from being afraid to do them because you do not have enough time.

The feet, toes, hands and fingers are the ends of the extremi­ties Where all the tendons and ligaments join together. When we feel stiff, hardening starts from the extremities. Another area is the spinal cord which may tighten with its connections of many ten­dons and ligaments.

The extremity, and thus the main connection, of all the tendons is the tongue.

Practice.

1.Lying on your back, bend your back like a bow and stretch your hands and fingers to bend the feet and toes. Spread and stretch out the fingers and toes as far as you can, and begin to do bellows- breathing: exhale and move the stomach until it is flat and touches the spine; inhale until the stomach is inflated. (Fig. 8.8) Gradually increase the speed for about ten to fifteen times. At the final ex­hale, exhale deeply and stretch out your tongue as long as you can toward the chin. (Fig. 8.9) Direct your eyes to look at the tip of your nose. You can repeat this two to three times. The resting period is very important. Relax your body muscles totally and enjoy the flow of Chi energy throughout the whole body.

2.Bend down; use your thumbs and index fingers to hold the big toes of both feet. This will energize the liver and spleen merid­ians. Hold the toes and feel the energy from the thumbs go to the lungs meridian and from the index fingers to the large intestine, which is connected to the liver and spleen meridians. (Fig. 8.10 and 8.11) Start to use bellows-breathing; start slowly and gradually increase it until you feel the tendons and the spinal cord get tense, and then release. After you finish you can shake the feet and slap them a few times to loosen them. If you can’t touch the feet, you can hold the back of the knees, calves and ankles. This will in­crease and activate the bladder, lungs and large intestine merid­ians.