Pulling down the heavens is a Qigong exercise that is considered to be an energetic sleeping pill for those that have insomnia or that may have trouble sleeping. It takes heat out of the head and pushes it down to the earth.
It works because energetically, one of the things that keeps us from deep sleep is monkey mind issues. This is when the brain is especially active at bedtime. By taking the heat from the brain and pushing it down, you relax the brain and relax the thinking process, which allows the brain to sleep in peace.
Instructions to Perform Pulling Down the Heavens
- Start with feet shoulder width apart, palms facing forward in a very relaxed pose (spine erect & knees soft)
- Inhale and bring hands up while looking up and connecting with the universe. With the hands, you exhale and pull down the heavens. Pulling down the heavens- let out a slow deep exhale all the way down to the start position.
- Then you inhale up, connect to the universe, exhale, push down.
When doing this exercise, you can also add a healing sound, which will increase the intensity of the flow of energy down. We call the sound venting and it works like this, you say heeeee…so that it is almost a whisper of the word he. So you inhale the hands up and whisper heeee…Venting helps to accentuate the movement of heat out of the brain and down towards the earth.
Do this exercise with the venting sound around six times. This will help if you have insomnia. Do this for about one to two minutes before you head to bed and you should have no trouble sleeping!