This is Part IV in my four-part series bringing a practical framework for navigating a liminal space into view through the analogical term, soul proprioception. In Part I, I introduced the concept as a way to describe why it feels like time collapses when we are in a liminal space. Then in Part II, I shared the importance of balance work and covered some daily practices to help stabilize in a transition time. Part III added in heavy work, or deep soul work we can do once we have balance and greater awareness. In today’s post, I’m offering some embodied practices through qigong flows designed to support us on our liminal journey.

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100 Liminal Days is an experimental project of embracing my current transitional season after exiting my business by sharing an honest, real-time account of my self-initiation experience in daily posts. I’m using The Artist’s Way as a guiding tool, and sending shorter weekly recaps only via my newsletter. Visit Day 1/100 to learn more and sign up to get the weekly recaps delivered to your inbox.

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Mapping The Soul Proprioception Framework

If you’ve been following along, you know that I practice qigong, an Ancient Chinese practice combining gentle movements, breath, and meditations to regulate my nervous system, ground myself in the present moment, and cultivate a healthy flow of life energy throughout my mind, body, and soul. I am currently in a teacher training course to become a certified qigong teacher, and the more I learn about qigong, the more I am able to understand how this powerful practice can be used to improve our soul proprioception – that is, its ability to know who you are, what you want, and where you are going.

The analogy I’m using to name the soul’s challenge within the liminal space as soul proprioception came out of my qigong training which started with a quick lesson on how to improve the body’s physical proprioception (a real scientific term, unlike my term for soul proprioception.)

When I learned about the sensory system of our body that senses where in space our limbs are, how much force is needed to lift something, or how much distance there is for a reaching movement, I suddenly could see how the methods used to restore the body’s proprioception could be used as a model for our soul when navigating a liminal space. The challenges we feel emotionally and on a soul level when we are in an in-between season mirror those of the body when an injury, illness, or overexercise have impaired proprioception. And just like we can do physical balance exercises and gradual heavy work to restore proprioception in the body, we can implement the soul-equivalent of those exercises to help us orient ourselves when we find ourselves in the midst of one of life’s major transitions.

You can think of this framework as the fundamental coordinate system, or inner GPS. We’ll explore four key parts to first understand the map and then I’ll share some qigong flows you can try to support integration of your balance work and heavy work.

Axis

Qigong operates within Traditional Chinese Medicine’s (TCM) theory of meridians, or energy pathways throughout the body. The spine is considered the central energetic pathway which flows from the crown of your head to your perineum. Qigong exercises may focus on clearing out stagnation or cultivating a lively flow of energy along these energetic pathways.

In soul work, the Axis represents your authentic self – that unwavering center that remains constant even when circumstances shift.

Rooting

Rooting is a fundamental qigong principle about connecting downward through the feet into the earth. When we do rooting exercises in qigong, we are establishing a physical grounding that creates stability.

In soul work, Rooting is your connection to values, spiritual practices, and daily rhythms – the things that keep you anchored when everything else feels unmoored.

Horizon

Qigong involves a practice of maintaining peripheral awareness and keeping a soft gaze out to the horizon. Your peripheral awareness is the sense of spaciousness around you. When practicing, its not only about the physical soft gaze of our attention, but also about intention. This is a big reason why qigong resonates as such an impactful tool for me – it’s helping me use my body to cultivate my mental and spiritual intention as much as it is physically soothing to me.

In soul work, the Horizon represents our perspective – our ability to see beyond immediate circumstances. It’s Horizon that allows us to hold both our current reality and our future possibility simultaneously.

Breath

Breath is a central part of qigong. This is how we move Qi (life energy) through our bodies, along those energetic pathways including the Axis, or spine. Our breath moving energy connects heaven and earth through our body – essentially making us a conduit between heaven and earth. (I love this mental picture!)

In soul work, Breath is the tool we use to create a rhythm between releasing what no longer serves and receiving what’s emerging.

To summarize, when time collapses and you lose soul proprioception, these four elements create your reference system. Just like the body needs consistent reference points to know where it is in space, the soul needs these coordinates to navigate transition. Further, our daily practices (balance work) help us maintain these coordinates daily. The intensive practices (heavy work) use these coordinates to go deeper safely because you always have your Axis, Rooting, Horizon, and Breath to return to.

Using this framework, I’ve sequenced four qigong forms that work together to activate all four coordinates. Unlike single practices, this creates a complete cycle: release, stabilize, cultivate, integrate. Each form naturally engages multiple elements simultaneously, which is exactly why qigong works so well for soul-level healing.

I already practice these forms individually, but I’m excited to try this intentional sequence designed specifically for liminal navigation!

The Liminal Days Qigong Micro-Sequence Integration

Rather than try to describe these movements in detail – which never does qigong justice – I’ll share what each form offers experientially and how it connects to our soul work. Tomorrow I’ll post a video demonstration so you can practice along.

Shaking and Tiger Crouches in the Grass: The Release

These two forms help us release and clear stagnant energy from the body through bouncing, shaking, and claw-like movements that “rake” through your internal space. Just like our heavy work practices of grief inventories and identity eulogies, we focus on letting go of the old and making room for whatever is emerging. This practice activates Breath (releasing what no longer serves) and Axis (clearing your energetic center).

Wuji/Embracing the Tree: The Stabilizer

I’ve shared before about this standing meditation pose that is a foundation practice within qigong. Wuji means “ultimate nothingness.” (If that doesn’t perfectly describe the liminal space, I don’t know what does!) Just as it’s said that out of this ultimate nothingness comes Yin and Yang, out of our liminal void comes whatever we’re becoming next.

This pose embodies being a conduit between heaven and earth – you’re literally holding the shape of connection while cultivating stillness in the not-knowing. You stand as if embracing a tree, sensing your center and grounding through your feet while reaching toward sky. Three of our four stabilizers from Part II work together in one posture: Axis (finding your authentic center in the void), Rooting (stability when everything else is uncertain), and Horizon (spacious awareness that can hold both the emptiness and the possibility).

There’s something profound about practicing “ultimate nothingness” when you’re actually living in it. Instead of rushing to fill the void, Wuji teaches you to stand in it with grace.

The Three Treasures: The Cultivator

This sequence addresses temporal stabilization in a profound way – instead of just creating personal time boundaries, you’re synchronizing with the larger external rhythms of heaven, earth, and nature. Just like how the body synchronizes with breath and walking pace to restore proprioception, Three Treasures helps your soul sync up with rhythms that are eternal and unchanging.

When your liminal space has scrambled your “soul-forecasting signals” – when you can’t sense where your choices will lead – this practice connects you to sources of wisdom and timing that existed long before your transition and will continue long after. You’re essentially rebuilding your spiritual “memory bank of patterns” by regularly connecting to these deeper rhythms.

This practice activates Rooting (anchoring to eternal rather than temporal references) and Breath (drawing in and circulating life energy from these greater sources). It’s essentially a spiritual recalibration. When your personal timeline feels broken, you attune to heaven and earth’s timeline instead.

What I love about this for liminal navigation is that it restores your ability to sense timing and direction, but from a much deeper source than your scrambled personal forecasting system. It’s cultivating spiritual proprioception by syncing with the rhythms that never change, even when everything else does.

Embrace the Tiger, Return to the Mountain: The Integration

This flowing form embodies the entire goal of qigong – and it turns out, the entire goal of liminal navigation too. “Embrace the Tiger” means cultivating vitality and life force, while “Return to Mountain” represents returning to inner stillness and stability. The practice teaches you to hold both simultaneously: tiger energy in your body, mountain stillness in your mind.

This is exactly what we need when soul proprioception returns – the vitality to move forward into what’s emerging, combined with the inner stability to not be reactive or rushed. All four coordinates work in harmony: your Axis holds steady like a mountain, your Rooting draws from deep stability, your Horizon stays spacious and calm, while your Breath circulates tiger-like life force through it all.

This is integration in action because we are not choosing between stillness or movement, but embodying both. There comes a moment when you can sense your direction clearly but aren’t driven by urgency. You have the energy to act and the wisdom to wait. Tiger and mountain, vitality and stillness, are all held together in one flowing form that prepares you to carry this work into whatever comes next.

That Moment It Clicked for Me

Around Day 30/100 of this experiment, I felt that subtle click. I’d been questioning whether my 100 Liminal Days was purposeful discipline or self-flagellation, pushing too hard into the deep work. Then, something shifted. I recognized I needed to slow my dive and allow things to integrate. And that same morning, my first qigong teacher training class gave me the embodied lesson I needed. Even though I thought I was doing qigong slowly, I realized that I had even been rushing that practice. The lesson was clear: linger more skillfully.

This is what it looks like when proprioception heals. Not dramatic revelation, but subtle recalibration. I could sense that pushing harder wasn’t the direction, slowing down was. My creativity ignited from that recognition. The how appeared not as a plan, but as permission to take breaks, make art, and give myself breathing room.

Tomorrow I’ll share the video demonstration of this qigong sequence. Try it as an experiment in lingering more skillfully in whatever liminal space you’re navigating.

Balance to sense. Load to strengthen. Then choose.

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