One of the things that I have discovered after practicing Tai Chi, Qigong or Yin Yoga often enough is that you start to gain ‘muscle memory’. Your body begins to recall the repeated actions, and they get easier and more automatic.
Remember, I’m very much a beginner in all three of these activities, so there’s no guru-status here (‘real’ practitioners would be appalled at my home-made video-version of routines I’ve concocted).
What I’m talking about is doing the absolute basics, but absolute basics repeated often.
What I noticed is that when I’m trying to go to sleep, or if I have a migraine and am lying in bed, I can visualize some of the moves without moving. Tai Chi in particular, because it uses a lot of hand gestures. I can ‘draw my bow’, ‘brush the clouds’ and ‘part the horse’s mane’ all without lifting a finger. My mind’s eye traces the movements in thin air, in front of my face. Sometimes I experiment with doing ‘imaginary Tai Chi’ when I’m walking my two dogs. My hands remain at my side, holding the dog-leads, but I can ‘feel’ them floating up and over my face as they figuratively, rather than literally, ‘go through the motions’.
What’s more, my body responds. In the same way that doing the moves ‘for real’ makes me adjust my posture, alters my breathing, and makes me happy – so do the ‘imaginary’ moves. My brain can’t seem to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s remembered.
I benefit without doing anything more than playing make believe.
I’d be curious if anyone else has experienced anything similar, perhaps with dancing, swimming or golf – any activity that involves repeated movements.
I highly recommend you give it a try. If there is an activity you enjoy and do often enough that you can ‘feel it’ without ‘doing it’ – try visualizing it during your next migraine or bought of insomnia. Why feel trapped by your condition, when you can visualize your way out of it… or at least through it?
Take care of yourself, for real (and in your empowering visualizations),
Linda x
The Mindful Migraine 
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