---
title: "How to do a qigong exercise - Spiritual Sanctuary"
description: "Qigong is an ancient Chinese health system focused on increasing longevity through breathing techniques, meditation and gentle movement. In this simple qigong exercise called the Bird Pose, we will focus on the shoulder and upper back region. If you have shoulder, neck and upper back pain, then this is an excellent meditation to relieve it. Practice this on a regular basis and you will start to feel a relaxation of your shoulders and neck."
url: "https://www.seekwithinyou.com/learn-to-meditate/how-to-do-a-qigong-exercise"
date: "2026-05-26T12:52:04+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---

#  How to do a qigong exercise

For this qigong exercise, we will place our attention on the shoulder, neck and upper back area. So many individuals hold tension in this area. With this qigong exercise, you will be relaxing into the area and thereby opening up your energetic channels. When you open your channels, you increase the flow of healing energy to that area. In qigong, the intention is to focus on the coordinated movement with your breath in a relaxed manner.

### Instructions

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms at your side.
2. Bend your neck to a 45-degree angle.
3. Inhale through your abdomen while raising your arms (try to take about 5 seconds to do this).
4. Exhale and lower your arms (try to take about 5-7 seconds to do this).
5. Turn your neck to the other side and repeat.

### Tips

- If you notice that your mind has wandered, gently bring your attention back to your coordinated breathing and movement.
- Practice this and the warmup (see below) exercise for 30-days and notice the difference in your shoulders, neck and upper back.
- You may desire to place a heating pad on your neck during the exercise. This will also allow you to relax more freely into the movement.
- Do the warmup exercise before doing this. Moving Meditation - Warmup | Qigong
- Try doing the meditation with music or outside with the sounds of nature. - If you meditate with music, choose music that is uplifting to you (makes you happy and smile) or music that is relaxing to you.

The above meditation is called the Bird Pose. The Bird Pose is part of the 5 Animal Qigong meditation taught in the [Meditation for Health Program](https://www.seekwithinyou.com/about/meditation-for-health "Meditation for Health Program").

### Related Article

- [What is qigong?](https://www.seekwithinyou.com/learn-to-meditate/254-what-is-qigong "What is qigong?")
- [ qigong ](https://www.seekwithinyou.com/component/tags/tag/qigong)

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