Two movements, one ocean, about four minutes of footage. Daisy Lee's short qigong session opens on a stretch of coast in Playa Ella, Puerto Rico, where she says the ocean meets the land and the earth meets the sky, and then walks the viewer through Vertical Alignment and Showering Qi, two movements from her Radiant Lotus Qigong path. Vertical Alignment grounds the body between earth and sky. Showering Qi uses a sweeping arm pattern and a steady breath to clear what Lee calls blocked or stagnant energy. The video is brief, but it is a complete, usable practice, and the way the two movements are sequenced says a good deal about how this style of qigong thinks about the body.
Before any movement begins, Lee sets the frame. She says she practices in nature whenever possible, or builds a beautiful environment to support the qi. She is equally direct about the body: "be attentive to your body whether you're practicing seated, standing or lying down," and "simply do what you can and experience the qi sensations as they arise" (0:13 to 0:39).
That permission matters. Many people arrive at qigong thinking there is a correct posture they must reach before they are allowed to begin. Lee's instruction runs the other way. The practice starts where the body is, whether that means a standing stance on sand or a chair by a window. Nothing in the video suggests that a seated practitioner is doing a lesser version of the form.
Lee also places these two movements inside a larger map. She says the session introduces and reviews five essential movements from the Radiant Lotus Qigong practice, and that the sequence always begins with vertical alignment (0:45 to 0:57). The clip gives you two of those five. It is a sampler, not a complete course, and it is useful to know that going in.
Vertical Alignment is the foundation. Lee frames it as a reconnection, with the body linking the yin energy of Mother Earth to the yang energy of the limitless sky. Her cue is physical and visual at once. Close your eyes if you wish, she says, and imagine your feet as the strong, stable roots of the towering palms around you. Let the nurturing energy of the earth flow in through the bubbling spring points between the balls of your feet. Then let that energy rise up through the body to the crown, which she calls the sole star, high in the sky, representing your highest self (1:03 to 1:30).
The sequence is simple to describe and demanding to do well:
- Root first. Bring attention down into the feet. The earth is the anchor, and the practice begins there.
- Draw energy up. Let the body lengthen toward the sole star, the top of the head, as if the spine were a column rising out of the roots.
- Return to the feet. Bring awareness back down to the earth before moving on. This return is a small but deliberate step that keeps the root alive.
- Gather. The palms come together to form a ball of light at the center of the body, where the weight shifts and the stance settles.
- Stabilize. Shift the weight, open to the side, and find the center again before the next movement begins (1:30 to 1:42).
In a practice like this, Vertical Alignment is less a pose than a repeated check-in. You return to it at the start and whenever you need to find your footing. The rest of the session is built on that footing, which is why Lee calls the alignment the place where every movement begins.
Showering Qi is the second movement, and it is the one the video's description links most closely to calm. The description says it "brings peace and calm to the body which allows for healing to take place." Lee's own closing line, from the same description, puts the idea in one sentence: "when the body is at peace, healing is possible."
The movement has a clear rhythm, and Lee demonstrates it first at normal speed and then in slow motion so the details are visible. Here is the sequence as she teaches it:
- Open. Arms extend to the sides at shoulder height, palms facing the earth.
- Turn and exhale. Turn the body and let the breath go out. Sink the body slightly.
- Rise. Inhale as the body rises and the arms lift overhead, palms turning to face the sky. In the slow version she describes this as attracting energy from above and surrounding the body with light.
- Shower downward. Exhale as the hands come down through the midline of the body, as if sending qi through the body and into the earth. This is the washing motion, and it runs from head to toe.
- Reset. Inhale and open again, sinking the weight, then turn and exhale. Palms face the body on the way down and the sky on the way up, so the pattern repeats in a continuous flow.
The breath is the spine of the movement. Each rise is paired with an inhale and each descent with an exhale, so the arms do not move without a breath carrying them. Lee's slow-motion pass slows this pairing down until it is hard to rush. In the middle of the demonstration she gives the purpose of the downward wash in plain terms: "rinsing the body, we're releasing any blocked or stagnant qi to be recycled at the earth's core" (3:13 to 3:23, slow-motion section).
"Be attentive to your body whether you're practicing seated, standing or lying down, simply do what you can and experience the qi sensations as they arise."
(Daisy Lee, opening instruction in the video, 0:26 to 0:41)
Lee could have shown the movements once, at speed, and moved on. She chose to repeat Showering Qi slowly, and the choice reveals how she teaches. A fast demonstration shows the shape of the form. A slow one shows where the weight moves, where the palms turn, and where the exhale starts. For a beginner, that second pass is the more useful of the two.
The slow pass also makes the practice easier to adapt. If you are practicing seated, the same sequence works with the arms and torso, and the sinking and rising become gentler. If you are lying down, the breath and the imagery of the shower can still carry the form. Lee's point, from the start of the session, is that the qi sensations will show up in whatever position you are in.
Four minutes is not much time, and the clip is not a substitute for a full course. What it does offer is a clear, honest demonstration of two movements, a set of breath cues you can use right away, and a simple idea that runs through both: first find your roots, then let the energy move through you and out.
If you want to try the practice, here is a plain way to start. Stand or sit with your feet grounded. Do Vertical Alignment for a few breaths, returning your attention to the feet each time. Then move into Showering Qi at a slow pace, pairing each rise with an inhale and each descent with an exhale. Do not force the arms or hold the breath. Notice what you feel. Lee's own framing, from her video description, is that the aim is calm: a quieter body in which healing can happen.
Lee's sign-off in the description is warm and specific. She writes that she hopes the practice helps people find their calm center "during these turbulent times," and she wishes viewers well in their qigong or in whatever practice brings them peace and joy. That is the spirit of the clip, and it is a good spirit to bring to any practice.
Watch the clip once all the way through to see the full sequence, then watch the slow-motion section again while you practice. If you want to go deeper into the Radiant Lotus Qigong path, the description notes that these exercises come from a series Lee taught on the Shift Network in 2019, the series the video draws from. The video does not list further course details, so check the source for what is currently available. Practice the two movements for a week before adding anything new. The body learns the root first, and the rest follows from it.
