While it can certainly be said that movement in general aids blood circulation, I wanted to add a particular movement to the mix. There is very significant opportunity to improve circulation via the vessel dilating ability of nitric oxide – and this we can achieve with breath work. Particular movement patterns that have a massaging effect of multiple internal organs can be quite effective as well.

Turning and Gazing, a movement from the set known as The Twelve Rivers, is such a movement. This was the closing movement in our featured set in class this week where we took an extract from The Twelve Rivers to create a 5 Elements practice bookended by forms for the Fire element. This one is a bit cloudy to narrate, so I’ve reached into the pandemic era archives and found that I featured this movement in a series I call the “Sunday Lookup”. Enjoy a quick peek at Turning and Gazing. A note on the breathing – the entire movement going to one side, through middle to the other side and then finishing back in the middle is done over a long exhale.