There is a particular kind of tiredness that has nothing to do with how much sleep you get.
It often shows up in the early afternoon. The coffee has worn off. Your eyes feel heavy, your focus scatters, and the thought of getting through the next few hours feels harder than it should.
After hours of sitting, shallow breathing, screen time, and mental strain, the body can become stagnant. Circulation slows. The spine becomes stiff. The shoulders and neck hold tension. Energy that should be moving through the body begins to feel sluggish.
Many people respond to this mid-afternoon slump by reaching for more caffeine, more sugar, or simply pushing through with willpower. But low energy is not always a fuel problem. Sometimes, it is a movement problem.
Qigong offers a different way to refresh yourself. It uses gentle movement, breathing, posture, and awareness to help activate energy from within. These five simple qigong movements can help you feel more awake, clear, and connected without relying on food or caffeine.
1. Arm Swinging
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and gently bend your knees.
Swing your arms loosely forward and backward, like pendulums. Keep your shoulders relaxed and feel the natural rhythm of movement. As your arms swing back, open your chest and let your palms turn to the sky. As they swing forward, let your hands rise comfortably to shoulder height with palms facing down.
Keep moving with an easy rhythm for about one minute.
This movement helps relax the shoulders and upper back, two areas that often hold tension during a long workday. The rhythmic motion can help clear mental fatigue and bring awareness back into the body.
2. Heaven and Earth Stretch
From standing, interlace your fingers and turn your palms upward.
As you inhale, press your palms toward the ceiling and stretch your whole body. Feel the stretch travel from your wrists through your shoulders and down the sides of your torso.
As you exhale, release your hands and let them float comfortably down to your sides.
Repeat five or six times, utilizing your breath to amplify the stretch and relaxation.
This movement stimulates the chest and ribcage, which may become stiff after long periods of sitting. Naturally, this stimulation can help the breath can become smoother and deeper. Deeper breathing helps get oxygen flowing and supports a calmer, more balanced condition.
3. Healing Hands Tapping
Healing Hands Tapping helps stimulate the hands and activate energy circulation throughout the body. In traditional energy practices, the hands contain numerous acupressure points where energy can be stimulated. Because of this, hand exercises are often used to support relaxation, circulation, and overall body awareness.
To begin, sit or stand comfortably. Rub your palms together until they feel warm. Then gently tap one hand with the fingers of the opposite hand. Tap across the palm, fingers, back of the hand, and wrist. Switch sides and repeat on the other hand. You can also use gentle acupressure by massaging the center of the palm, the base of the thumb, and along each finger. By tapping and squeezing the hands, you stimulate energy points, increase circulation, and bring awareness back to the body. You may notice warmth, tingling, relaxation, or a clearer feeling in the head and upper body.
Follow along with Bama Kim’s Healing Hands Tapping routine here:
4. Body Tapping for Whole Body Circulation
Body Tapping helps wake up energy all over the body.
Stand comfortably with your feet shoulder-width apart and keep your knees soft. Using your palms or fingertips, begin lightly tapping your chest and collarbone area. From the chest, gradually move to the shoulders, arms, abdomen, lower back, hips, legs, and feet. Tap with enough pressure to feel stimulation, but not so hard that it feels painful. Breathe naturally and keep your attention on the area you are tapping. Notice where the body feels tight, heavy, warm, sensitive, or tingly.
Practice for two to five minutes.
Body Tapping is commonly used in Body & Brain classes to help stimulate circulation, release tension, and bring awareness to the body. This practice is especially useful during the afternoon slump because it is relatively easy to do and stimulates the whole body.
Follow along with Body & Brain’s Body Tapping practice here:
5. Brain Wave Vibration / Dahnjon Tapping
Brain Wave Vibration, also known as Dahnjon Tapping, is a great exercise to restore your energy.
Stand or sit comfortably with your spine upright. Make your hands into relaxed fists and gently tap your lower abdomen, about two inches below the belly button (use the pinkie side of your hands to tap). In Korean energy practice, the lower abdomen is known as the dahnjon, an important place for gathering vital energy.
As you tap, keep your shoulders relaxed and breathe naturally. You can also bounce your knees or rock left and right rhythmically. The goal is to create awareness and warmth in the lower abdomen while the rest of the body relaxes.
More advanced Brain Wave Vibration practices include closing the eyes and gently shaking the head from side to side. For beginners, however, it will be easier to focus only on tapping the abdomen and relaxing the shoulders and spine through rhythmic movement
Practice for one to three minutes.
Dahnjon Tapping helps bring awareness (and energy) down from the head and shoulders into the center of the body. This can be especially helpful during the afternoon slump, when energy may feel sluggish or tense.
Follow along with Body & Brain’s Brain Wave Vibration practice here:
Why These Movements Work
When the body has been sitting for too long, certain areas become inactive while others become tense. These five movements help reverse that pattern.
Not only do they support circulation, joint mobility, lower-body activation, posture, breathing, and energy flow, but they also help bring blood flow, oxygen, and awareness to the whole body. Qigong helps activate ki that has been stagnant so the body can feel warmer, clearer, and more balanced. This is not just about pushing through fatigue. It’s about taking a break and re-establishing the mind-body connection
Make It a Habit, Not a Rescue
The real benefit of these movements is not only that they are helpful when you hit the 3 pm slump.
Practiced consistently, they can help prevent the slump from happening in the first place.
Try doing all five movements once in the late morning or early afternoon. The whole sequence takes less than ten minutes and requires no equipment, no special clothing, and no trip outside the office.
The body is constantly generating, using, and circulating energy. Sometimes, a few minutes of the right movement is enough to get energy flowing so we can quickly and sustainably get back on track.
At Body & Brain, Qigong classes are designed to help students develop energy awareness, body connection, and practical tools for daily life. Whether you are looking for more energy, better focus, or a calmer way to move through the day, Qigong offers a simple place to begin.