Lorraine Hughes, owner of Empowered By Nature, will facilitate a qigong workshop from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on September 18, at Dutchess Yoga Studio in Wappingers Falls. Hughes is a certified instructor of HoldenQiGong. 

“Qigong is an essential therapeutic modality utilized by Chinese Medicine to assist bringing a person to a balance of mind-body-soul, into a unity of one. It is the precursor to tai chi,” she says. “The practice of qigong empowers us by utilizing our own inherent energy, or life force, in order to shift imbalance, which in turn centers, calms and enhances vitality. This is achieved through the combination of mindful breathing and intentionally expressed movements which affect us on a physical, medicinal and meditative level. These movements are simple yet powerful and can be done by young and old alike.”

The workshop will provide an overview of this proactive self-care modality, followed by a minimum of three sets of qigong / tao yin exercises, including floor psoas exercises, Five Element, and Meditation in Motion (flow).

In addition to being a qigong instructor, Hughes is a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and a board-certified reflexologist based in Wappingers Falls. Her herbal practice and therapeutic techniques are rooted in Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and western herbalism.