Guidelines for Three Intentful Corrections
By Dr. Roger Jahnke, OMD

1) Adjust and Regulate Your Body Posture or Movement

Sit, stand upright or lie outstretched. Visualize a connection lifting the top of your head into the heavens lengthening your spine. Next visualize a connection from your sacrum to the center of the earth. The upward lift and downward pull open the center of the body and creates spaciousness around the organs and optimizes circulation of nutrients, blood, lymph and neurological impulses.

• Allow the shoulders to relax and sink.
• Elbows almost never raise above shoulders throughout, in relaxed standing and in motion the shoulders drop downward, elbows float outward creating the sense of an openness under the arms – in the arm pit, like small cushion of air, or energy egg.
• Fingers are relaxed and extended - like a “beautiful lady’s hand”.
• Bowl of the pelvis is like a fruit bowl or a cup of elixir, the coccyx is weighted downward as if it were the tail of the dragon, the fruit (organs) are supported in the bowl and do not spill.
• The spine is suspended from the head, which is suspended from heaven, like a dangling string of pearls.
• Big toe, little toe, heel and ball of the foot root to the floor and project energetic roots into the ground, or through the floor into the ground. Knees are slightly bent, over the middle of the foot, and not past the toes.
• No joint is straight or locked, knees, elbows, wrists fingers.
• Allow the tongue to gently touch the roof of your mouth.
• Connect the hips, legs, feet, shoulders, arms, and hands all associate through the torso to make movement fluid, coherent, connected.
• All movements are circular and connected fluidly, and smoothly, like pulling a silk thread. Do not break it by moving too abruptly.

2) Adjust and Deepen Your Breath

The breath is the most powerful tool for gathering Qi and is the easiest to practice.

• Belly breathe like a baby - abdominal breathing.
• Deepen the breath but don’t force it.
• Breathe in and out through the nose unless it is uncomfortable to do so, or you are doing a more vigorous practice.
• Allow the body to relax, with each inhalation and exhalation.

3) Clear Your Mind

Focus your mind on something simple likes clouds drifting across the sky, a prairie of grass in the breeze, water moving in a river or as waves against the shore. Hold the focus on something that does not produce stress or resistance in your body with an attitude of mindfulness, or awareness of the present moment.

• Use the practice to move toward a state of cheerful indifference, agreeable tranquility, disassociation from complexity, or with an attitude of gratitude, inspiration, acceptance, trust, or surrender.
• Use the practice and deepen the practice by disassociating from the past and future and attending to the present moment.
• Witness your state of awareness of simply noticing what is occurring – now my arms are sinking, now my breath is coming in, now my weight is shifting to the right foot, now I am aware of the leaves on the tree in front of me, now I am noticing the clouds.

Begin Right Away

You can begin right away to tap your inner power to create healing and peace of mind. One of my favorite teachers, Master Zhu Hui from Tian Tai Mountain in eastern China told me, “A person who makes wise use of the Three Intentful Corrections a few times a day will resolve their pains, cure their diseases, and achieve longevity.”

This simple Qi cultivation practice takes only moments and can be applied throughout your day - everyday.

Copyright © 2020 Roger Jahnke. Adapted from The Healing Promise of Qi and the Integral Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher Training Manual.

Roger Jahnke, OMD, author of The Healer Within, has dedicated his professional life to sharing the powerful ancient healing traditions of China. He is the director and chief instructor of the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi, in Santa Barbara, CA, a co-founder and recent chairperson of the board of the National Qigong Association and co-founder of Healer Within Foundation.