Pushing, pulling & pinching

Our hands seem to have special capacities for concentrating and emitting body energy. When I first began my qigong practice, subtle energy sensations in my palms were among my first direct experiences of qi. I gather this is largely true among practitioners, and I may be even more attuned to my hands because of the pain/RSI complications.

When I begin a session, my hands (especially my right) are cold, distant, painful. After 20 minutes I'm usually able to totally turn this around, and finish with a warm, integrated, healthy feeling in my fingers, palms and arms. My main blockages/stagnant areas very somewhat day-to-day, yet almost always include my right shoulder, elbow and wrist. To clear these and reestablish a healthy flow of qi I use both "pushing" and "pulling" techniques.

Pushing qi is how I describe shifting my awareness outwards from my core; from dan tien to spine to shoulders and so on. Stagnant areas are probed and integrated in sequence. Pulling is when I skip some stagnant zones by including more remote areas in my sphere of active awareness, for example my hands, and work on concentrating qi there with the intention of stimulating a flow from the core. Pinching is simply the combination of these two techniques... closing in on a stagnant area from both sides. Simple (and common) example would be active awareness of shoulders and hands, teasing energy through a block/stagnant elbow region.