Steve Smith, a Tai Chi and Qi Gong instructor, retired combat medic, and retired counselor from Crofton Yoga Wellness, leads the audience through a brief Qi Gong breathing and movement demonstration. He explains the physiological and emotional benefits of the practice — including nervous system regulation, fight-or-flight response management, and the connection between physical relaxation and mental well-being — closing with an encouraging message about self-compassion and the value of lifelong learning.
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Transcript
[02:04:12] Like, so many questions.
[02:04:14] So many thought-provoking questions.
[02:04:18] I just, thank you for that, because it really had me thinking.
[02:04:22] But then the ADHD kicked in, and then it reminded me of a song.
[02:04:26] I’m sorry to do this, but like, why is Jada Kiss as hard as it gets?
[02:04:30] Why is the industry designed to keep the artists in debt?
[02:04:34] Why them dudes ain’t writing? So sorry. I’m so sorry.
[02:04:38] That nice poem made you think of Jada Kiss.
[02:04:42] Well, like, you know, I was like, wow.
[02:04:46] Sustainable food, sustainable energy. You know, what if government wasn’t
[02:04:50] I was like, I’m for that. I’m for that. Government.
[02:04:54] Jada Kiss. Industry.
[02:04:58] Yes. The locks. Sorry. I can’t apologize for how my brain works.
[02:05:02] It just does what it does. And I love it.
[02:05:06] And I hate it sometimes, but I love it.
[02:05:10] Alright, so we are going to get into a calming space.
[02:05:14] We’re going to go and go ahead and introduce
[02:05:18] I don’t see him. I feel like seeing him
[02:05:22] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was like a Where’s Waldo moment.
[02:05:26] Gotcha! Alright, so if you guys can just
[02:05:30] you know, I guess finger snap?
[02:05:34] Like more calm? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like more calming.
[02:05:38] Coming to the stage next.
[02:05:42] You’re going to learn a technique that probably may help you to soothe and kind of
[02:05:46] help you learn how to regulate your body.
[02:05:50] And so, here behind us is our Crofting Yoga Wellness Instructor
[02:05:54] Steve Smith. Hey, give it up for Steve Smith, y’all.
[02:06:02] Nice to see everybody tonight. And so yes, my name is Steve Smith
[02:06:06] and I am the Tai Chi instructor at Crofting Yoga Wellness.
[02:06:10] I’m also the acupuncturist at Crofting Yoga Wellness. I’m a retired combat medic
[02:06:14] and I’m also a retired counselor. So, you know, you take all those skills
[02:06:18] together and you blend it and then you do what you can to help people.
[02:06:22] So, I use a lot of Qi Gong because what does Qi Gong mean?
[02:06:26] It means breath, work. It’s the same as what you do in Yoga where we talk about
[02:06:30] Pranayama. If you think about China and India, you have two civilizations
[02:06:34] very similar in their thought process, separated by the middle leg.
[02:06:38] How do they do anything? Through the Silk Road, through training.
[02:06:42] So, you took the stuff that worked here and then you went back home and you told your folks
[02:06:46] and you practiced what you did. Okay? So, in a minute we’re going to get up and we’re going to practice
[02:06:50] Qi Gong. And what Qi Gong really does is it works to help open the body,
[02:06:54] open what’s called the meridians. Okay? So, what we really want to do
[02:06:58] is diffuse blood. The more that you can get blood to the fingertips, top of your head,
[02:07:02] and top of your toes, the healthier you’re going to be.
[02:07:04] Because blood can go in between. Okay? Think about it.
[02:07:08] When we get sick and upset, we are in dis-ease.
[02:07:12] We’re in disease. Right? So, we want to calm the body down.
[02:07:16] We want to relax the body down. And unfortunately, I meet a lot of people
[02:07:20] and they’ll say, what’s your worst expression of stress? And they’ll go,
[02:07:24] And I’ll say, okay, so where are you at? Right here.
[02:07:28] Okay, so you’re really like two steps away from it.
[02:07:32] Okay? Now, do you really think you’re going to do your best thinking?
[02:07:36] Are you going to have your best relationships? Are you going to have your best life?
[02:07:40] No. Why? Because you cannot do that. Physically, your body will not let you
[02:07:44] do that. Why? Because you’re in what’s called a fight or flight reaction.
[02:07:48] Sympathetic. What happens when that blood goes away from the gut? That’s important.
[02:07:52] We’ll come back to that. Goes up to the big muscles. Makes me tense and tight
[02:07:56] so I can run or fight. But it also does one more thing up in my brain.
[02:08:00] I can’t get to the higher reasoning sections of my brain.
[02:08:04] I go down to the emotional brain. Okay? Because I’m ready to fight or flight.
[02:08:08] That’s why when you talk to people that are really upset, what do you do? You stand up
[02:08:12] and you really logic with them, right? That works really good, right?
[02:08:16] Okay? Now, anybody ever
[02:08:20] seen a Judge Judy or been in an ER or anything like that where they’re like,
[02:08:24] yes, your honor, I completely stand by that emotional outburst
[02:08:28] I had? Nobody does.
[02:08:30] Right? Everybody’s like, I’m so sorry. I said that. I didn’t mean to do that.
[02:08:34] Why? Because you were upset. So the more that you can control your body,
[02:08:38] the more that you can control what your body is doing. Okay?
[02:08:42] So what is energy? Energy is mass moving
[02:08:46] at a constant rate. Einstein said it. Think about emotion.
[02:08:50] Energy in motion. Emotion. Okay? So if your
[02:08:54] emotions are stuck, they’re probably a part of your body that’s stuck. Alright? So
[02:08:58] everybody go ahead and stand up with me. Alright?
[02:09:02] Now if you have a bad shoulder or a bad neck day, this is absolutely fine.
[02:09:06] But if it’s okay, I want you to reach up over your head and grab your left wrist.
[02:09:10] Okay? Now let me demonstrate what we’re going to do. We’re going to
[02:09:14] inhale. Open to the left. Exhale.
[02:09:18] We come back to center. We’re going to inhale. Come to the right.
[02:09:22] Exhale. Come back to center.
[02:09:26] Repeat. Rest and repeat. Inhale.
[02:09:30] Exhale. Release. Inhale.
[02:09:34] Exhale. Release. And let’s keep going.
[02:09:38] Inhale. Exhale.
[02:09:42] You end up doing like ten of these. You say, why? It’s not that hard
[02:09:46] of a task. But you do it because you need the repetition.
[02:09:50] The nervous system needs a chance to catch on.
[02:09:54] You need a chance to get good.
[02:09:56] Okay? Because there is no such thing as natural in this life.
[02:10:00] You know? Let’s do one more to the right. Inhale.
[02:10:04] Exhale. Let’s put the arms down and come down. Thank you.
[02:10:08] You can sit down. Okay? But think about it. There’s no such thing as naturally
[02:10:12] good in this life. And you say, Steve, what do you mean? Baby duck is born.
[02:10:16] A couple hours later, baby duck is swimming on the lake with mom. It has an instinct.
[02:10:20] It has an intelligence that drills into its DNA about
[02:10:24] what you’re doing. Baby horse is born. A couple hours later, baby horse is
[02:10:28] running through the field with mom. It’s not. Human baby.
[02:10:32] A couple hours later, laying in the field. What’s it going to do? Lay right there in the field.
[02:10:36] Because what are the three reflexes a baby has?
[02:10:40] One, supple. Two, grasp. Three, Babinski reflex.
[02:10:44] And then, well, that was two and a half. And then three.
[02:10:48] If you put baby on mama, it roots for the breast. That’s it. That means
[02:10:52] everything else in this life has to be learned.
[02:10:56] And to the degree you learn it is the level of proficiency you’re accepting in your life.
[02:11:00] You can be better at your life. You can be better at your body.
[02:11:04] You can be better at what you want to be. You just have to cut yourself some slack
[02:11:08] and say, it’s okay to learn. It’s okay to give up
[02:11:12] what I know today for a better understanding tomorrow. That’s it.
[02:11:16] Because you’re not wrong where you are. You’re just here now. Okay?
[02:11:20] Everybody gets here where they get here from. So it’s not about, oh, I should have
[02:11:24] did it this way. No, you do what you do. It’s about recognizing
[02:11:28] I’m here now. It’s what I’m serving. It’s what I’m doing serving my life.
[02:11:32] If it is, great. Keep doing it. If it’s not, maybe it’s time to retool.
[02:11:36] Maybe it’s time to do something different. Say, well, but I’ve been doing this for 26 years.
[02:11:40] And? Okay? Let’s be honest.
[02:11:44] Does the butterfly really bitch at the caterpillar?
[02:11:48] Okay?
[02:11:50] Really? I mean, think about it. If you don’t have a caterpillar
[02:11:54] on stage, you ain’t gonna get a butterfly on stage. Fair enough?
[02:11:58] So take where you are now. Keep it moving. But be honest and
[02:12:02] love yourself enough to say, we all learn. Because we do this
[02:12:06] false analysis thing when we compare. Now, I know y’all don’t do this. I appreciate
[02:12:10] y’all using your imagination to pretend that people can be like this. Okay?
[02:12:14] So I appreciate y’all working. That’s why I work with professionals. But
[02:12:18] you have to understand, we all get to where we get from. So it’s okay
[02:12:22] to learn. But then you say, okay, I’ve got it. I’ve learned it up here. No, that’s your
[02:12:26] entry. Okay? Just like, just like truly.
[02:12:30] You learn how to do, you learn how to do the basics in elementary school.
[02:12:34] Then you get better at it in middle school. You get better at high school.
[02:12:38] And in college, you learn to get real good at specific things.
[02:12:42] But that’s only pieces and parts. That’s not you. Okay?
[02:12:46] What happens with you is what you practice the most. What you think about
[02:12:50] the most you become. Does it really make sense that you can have a life where you’re upset,
[02:12:54] worried, tense, tight, and then you’re going to walk through the day,
[02:12:58] hey y’all, what’s up? No.
[02:13:02] Does it make sense that if you practice relaxing the body,
[02:13:06] getting the blood to the fingertips, getting the blood to the toes, getting the blood
[02:13:10] to the top of the head, relaxing the breath, does it make more sense
[02:13:14] that you might have a body that shows up that’s more amendable?
[02:13:18] A body that makes you not want to club your neighbor like a baby seal. Okay?
[02:13:22] Isn’t that, again, I know nobody upsets y’all. I think I’ll always
[02:13:26] work with everybody who’s nice. But what if, what if
[02:13:30] you had somebody that you had a tense, tight body,
[02:13:34] teach them to breathe, relax deeper, teach them to open their body, then they have a better
[02:13:38] life, they open their life, and now their neighbor works better, their community
[02:13:42] works better, our country works better. Wouldn’t that be a nice thing?
[02:13:46] Okay.
[02:13:50] I’ve been looking forward to that time. I have talked till I am
[02:13:54] out of time. But again, my name is Steve. I’m from Crofton Yoga and Wellness.
[02:13:58] You can check us out at croftonyoga.com. And please, come on down
[02:14:02] and try a yoga class, try a tight-sheet class, and we will help you
[02:14:06] make a great day on purpose.
[02:14:10] Hey, give it up for Steve.