Raising Hands to Heaven

☯️ Also Called “Two Hands Holding Up the Heavens” (Shuang Shou Tuo Tian)

Posture: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and spine straight. Relax the shoulders and let your arms hang naturally at your sides.
Movement:
- Begin by lifting your hands in front of your body, palms facing upward, as if scooping up energy.
- When your hands reach chest level, turn the palms outward and push upward toward the sky, as if holding up the heavens.
- As you exhale, gently lower your arms back down to your sides, palms facing downward.
- Repeat several times, synchronizing the movement with your breath.

Connecting Heaven and Earth: This movement symbolizes the unification of the cosmic (heaven) and the earthly (ground) energies within your body.
Triple Burner (San Jiao): In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Triple Burner refers to the three main energy centers of the body (upper, middle, and lower). This movement helps balance and regulate the flow of Qi through these regions.
- Upper Burner: Heart and lungs (emotional balance and breath).
- Middle Burner: Spleen and stomach (digestion and energy transformation).
- Lower Burner: Kidneys and bladder (foundational energy and grounding).

Inhale: As you raise your hands upward, take a slow, deep inhale through the nose. Imagine drawing energy up from the earth into your body.
Exhale: As you lower your hands, exhale gently through the mouth, releasing tension and allowing energy to flow downward.

Stretching the Spine: Lifting the arms and gently elongating the body stretches the spine, improving posture and flexibility.
Activating Qi Flow: The upward and downward motion promotes the smooth flow of Qi through the meridians.
Relaxation and Grounding: The movement calms the nervous system, releasing physical and mental tension.

Clearing Anxiety and Insomnia: This movement has a calming effect on the mind, helping to release anxious thoughts and promote restful sleep.
Balancing Energy: It brings harmony to the body’s energy centers, helping to reduce emotional imbalances like overwhelm or fatigue.
Feeling of Connection: Many practitioners report feeling deeply connected to the universe, as if drawing strength and peace from the heavens.

Visualization: As you lift your hands, imagine holding a glowing orb of light. See this light filling your body with warmth and healing energy as you raise and lower your arms.
Affirmations: Pair the movement with affirmations like “I am balanced” or “I draw strength from the universe.”

When introducing this movement to others, emphasize:

Gentleness: Encourage flowing, relaxed movements without strain.
Breath Awareness: Guide participants to stay mindful of their inhale and exhale.
Personal Intention: Allow them to focus on what they want to release or call in—stress, clarity, strength, or peace.

This movement is simple yet profound, symbolizing humanity’s relationship with the cosmos:

A Gesture of Unity: Raising your hands upward embodies reaching for the heavens, uniting the infinite (heaven) with the grounded (earth). It’s a physical prayer, asking for harmony and offering gratitude.
Drawing Divine Energy: In many traditions, raising hands toward the sky is an act of surrender, inviting higher energies or universal light to flow through you.
Alignment with the Universe: By lifting your arms and aligning your breath, you position your body as a conduit between the cosmic and earthly realms.

Triple Burner (San Jiao): This movement balances the upper, middle, and lower regions of your body:
- The Upper Burner connects to the heart and lungs, clearing emotional stagnation and opening space for joy and compassion.
- The Middle Burner supports digestion and the transformation of energy, symbolizing inner balance and nourishment.
- The Lower Burner roots your energy in the kidneys and bladder, providing a foundation for vitality and grounding.
Heavenly and Earthly Qi: When raising your hands, visualize pulling Qi down from the heavens through your crown and letting it merge with the Earth’s Qi rising through your feet.

Tuning into Universal Rhythms: This movement reflects the natural ebb and flow of energy in the universe. As you lift and lower your hands, you mirror the cycles of expansion (inhale) and release (exhale) that govern all life.
Bridging Dimensions: Raising Hands to Heaven can act as a bridge between the physical and non-physical. It invites a connection not only with divine energy but also with the subtle realms of consciousness.

We can create a vivid mental or symbolic “picture” to deepen the experience of Raising Hands to Heaven. Here’s how we might do that:

The Cosmic Connection:
- Picture yourself standing in a vast field under a starry sky. As your hands rise, imagine pulling down threads of starlight, weaving them into your body. When your hands lower, feel the energy grounding into the earth, connecting you to the heartbeat of the planet.
The Pillar of Light:
- Visualize a beam of golden-white light descending from the heavens through your crown and spreading through your body. As your hands rise, feel the light brighten. As they lower, imagine it stabilizing and radiating outward to those around you.
The Tree of Life:
- Imagine yourself as a great tree. With each inhale, as your hands rise, picture drawing nourishment from sunlight and the cosmos. With each exhale, as your hands lower, feel your roots growing deeper into the earth, stabilizing and grounding your energy.