Do you ever have those days when you just don’t have enough time to get everything done, when no matter what you do, time is just Too Short and you feel crammed in body, mind and spirit? You know what I’m talking about — those times you Just Feel STRESSED.

On an energetic level, stress is actually stagnant chi. When things pile up in our lives and in our psyches, we either become exhausted and depressed, or hyper and driven, or some combination. If, during those times — no matter how busy you are — you can create a sense of internal spaciousness, you’ll develop an ability to shift your experience of linear time. In a sense, you can enter a “time out of time” where your chi is able to move more freely and transform how you are experiencing whatever may be happening in your day.

This qigong remedy actually takes very little time to create a sense of spaciousness. When you practice “As Above, So Below,” see if you can imagine space opening, not just in your body, but in your life too. Let time become elastic, not stopped, exactly, but stretched out.

Vicki Dello Joio, founder of The Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness Program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy: An Evolutionary Process to Awaken Inspiration, Focus Intention and Manifest Fulfillment, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.