Richard Agnew - Acupuncturist

21/04/2017

The next term of qigong classes starts on Tuesday. Suitable for beginners or continuing students, we'll be working through the Ji Ben Qi Gong (fundamental qigong exercises), with an emphasis on structure and soft tissue stretches. We'll also spend some time looking at feet and how strength and alignment in the feet affects further up into the knees and back. And for those who've been with us for a few terms we'll be doing final preparations before next term's more energetic work. Looking forward to that :)

24/02/2017

The details for the next couple of terms of qigong classes are now online: www.richardagnew.co.uk/events

Qigong and other workshops and classes run by Richard Agnew, Acupuncturist and Qigong Teacher in Cradley and Malvern. Regular classes at the Clover Mill.

21/02/2017

An interesting read

Last week’s popular news story has important implications for guidelines on back pain and puts NICE’s decision on acupuncture into an even worse light...

15/02/2017

In contrast to the recent NICE guideline update, the American College of Physicians have released their guidelines on back pain and recommend acupuncture before prescribing any medication.

BACK pain should be treated with hot or cold compression packs, acupuncture, yoga, tai chi and spinal manipulation and with drugs only as a last resort, new guidelines said.

09/02/2017

A GP practice in Dorset has started offering private appointments alongside NHS ones because they say their finances are too strained. They’re running the private practice from the same building and with the same doctors. According to the local paper, the Southern Daily Echo, “a ten-minute phone consultation is £40, a 20 minute face-to-face appointment, 13 minutes longer than the standard NHS one, is £80 and patients must pay £145 for a 40 minute consultation."

By comparison acupuncture seems a bit of a bargain.

06/02/2017

For those in the Five Element Qigong group who missed the class last week, we were looking in depth at the fire element.

The movement of fire is expansion. This originates in the area of the heart. The associated emotion is joy. When Fire is excessive, the expansion is too great and we might experience mania and hyperactivity. When deficient, the expansion is insufficient and we feel flat, cold and unmotivated.

The Fire qigong exercise is a pulsing between a contracted and expansive posture, with the intention on the area of shanzhong (a point in the middle of the chest). We also did some exercises to encourage the opening of the chest/heart and the shanzhong point.

With practice you should feel an expansive movement in the chest, possibly get hot, and you may get some spontaneous laughter.

Looking forward to seeing you again on Wednesday.

04/02/2017

Our latest home modification - dining table legs removed. This kind of Japanese-style floor sitting encourages hip (and general lower body) flexibility, helps strengthen the back and core and reduces the amount of time we're sitting in chairs. Maybe a bit weird for some, but an easy way to get more movement in your day..

19/01/2017

For those who were at the workshop this morning,this video (first two exercises) is a reference for what we were working on : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T_V7oMVsRhk

Many people who bought my recent book: 'Daoist Nei Gong - Philosophical Art of Change' have contacted me asking for a video of the exercises from the book. T...

12/01/2017

Here are the Five Element Qigong exercises we're learning this term. Any questions between now and next class, just add them as a comment here. :)

The Wu Xing Qi Gong are five basic health internal exercises from the Daoist tradition. They follow the principles of Tu Na, Liang I and Yang Sheng Fa. They ...

12/01/2017

Like this

09/01/2017

Here are 5 of the most common mistakes I see people make when they start learning qigong. 1. Learning only from Books, DVDs or Youtube As a child, I was really interested in the martial arts. I would occasionally buy or borrow a martial arts book and try to practice in my bedroom, but I never got to go to any classes until I was at university. [ 650 more words ]

http://www.richardagnew.co.uk/5-common-qigong-mistakes-beginners/

5 Common Beginners Qigong Mistakes 1: learning from books/videos, 2: performing exercises as physical movements only, 3: too much emphasis on the details...