🌱 Welcome to the Foundation Phase
Reconnect to your body. Build your base. Begin again — with intention.
Why This Phase Matters
If you're new to Qi Movements, welcome. You’re not just starting a workout program — you’re entering a full-spectrum process of reconnection, realignment, and renewal.
The Foundation Phase is about learning to move well, breathe deeply, and rewire the way your body responds to effort. It’s where we lay the groundwork for strength, muscle, and metabolic training — but more importantly, where you rediscover what it means to feel grounded and safe in your own body.
This phase isn’t flashy — it’s fundamental. And that’s exactly why it works.
🤸♂️ What to Expect: Movement, Breath & Awareness
This phase is all about learning how to move — and how to feel safe in your own body while doing it. Expect slower sessions, thoughtful coaching, and a big focus on connection to breath and posture.
You’ll learn:
🧍♂️ How to stabilize your joints and spine
🫁 How to breathe with rhythm and control
🤸♀️ How to activate deep muscles instead of overusing your surface ones
Instead of rushing through reps, you’ll learn to master them. This phase gives your body the deep reset it needs before you layer on intensity.
🔑 Fundamental Movements: What You’ll Practice
Over the next 6 weeks, your goal is to master the foundational patterns of human movement:
🌬️ Breathing
🐾 Crawling
🦵 Lunging
🧎♀️ Squatting
🪵 Hinging
🧗♂️ Hanging
🤜 Pushing
🤛 Pulling
🎒 Loaded Carries
You’ll also explore how to:
🧠 Sequence movements neurodevelopmentally (like rolling and transitioning)
⚖️ Improve joint centration and postural integrity
🔩 Share load through your core and limbs efficiently
🌀 Regulate tempo and breath to train your nervous system
👣 Use your hands and feet as tripod anchors
🧘♂️ Apply tension breathing to stabilize and support
These are your building blocks. We’ll restore them with precision, awareness, and intention — one breath, one rep at a time.
You’ll likely feel:
💥 Muscles you’ve forgotten about
💤 Surprising fatigue from simple movements
🧘♀️ A calmer mind and more centered awareness
This is your reintroduction to intelligent movement.
🧘♂️ Breathwork: 5:10 Breathing & Nervous System Recovery
One of the key tools in this phase is 5:10 breathing — inhale for 5 seconds, exhale for 10.
Why? Because longer exhales activate the parasympathetic nervous system, signaling to the body that it’s safe to relax, reset, and recover.
Recovery breathing isn't just a calming tool — it's a hormonal strategy. If you skip recovery breathing after a training session, your body can continue leaking cortisol into the bloodstream. This prolongs your stress response and can lead to afternoon crashes, irritability, poor sleep, and disrupted recovery. This hormonal residue can linger for hours and impact both your physical and mental performance.
By using 5:10 breathwork:
You shut off the cortisol valve post-training
You support hormonal recalibration and nervous system downregulation
You generate stable energy for the rest of the day
🕒 When to Use 5:10 Breathing
Before your session: Use 3–5 rounds before your warm-up to calm anxiety, transition out of your day, and shift out of fight-or-flight.
After your session: Use 5–10 rounds to signal the end of stress, recover faster, reduce cortisol, and bring the nervous system back into balance.
At least once more daily: We recommend a 5-minute breathing session either in the morning to start the day with clarity, or in the evening to wind down and support sleep — or both.
Any time you feel dysregulated: Use this breath throughout the day to return to center — before a meeting, after a stressful moment, or to prepare for sleep.
🔬 Science Says:
Longer exhales improve vagal tone and heart rate variability (HRV)
Recovery breathing accelerates muscle repair and mental clarity
Regulating breath reduces inflammation and boosts resilience
Your nervous system is the boss of your body. Breathe like it matters — because it does.
Over the next 6 weeks, your goal is to master the fundamentals of functional movement:
🌬️ Breathing
🐾 Crawling
🦵 Lunging
🧎♀️ Squatting
🪵 Hinging
🧗♂️ Hanging
🤜 Pushing
🤛 Pulling
🎒 Loaded Carries
In this phase, you’ll focus on:
🧠 Neurodevelopmental sequencing (crawling, rolling, transitioning)
🧍♂️ Stability, posture, and joint centration
⚙️ Core engagement and motor control
🫁 Breathing mechanics linked to each rep
⏱️ Controlled tempo and nervous system regulation
💨 Gut pressure and intra-abdominal strength
✋🦶 Load sharing through the tripods of the hands and feet
🧘♂️ Postural alignment and tension breathing
These are the building blocks of your body. We’ll rebuild them with precision, awareness, and intention — one breath, one rep at a time.
You’ll likely feel:
💥 Muscles you’ve forgotten about
💤 Surprising fatigue from simple movements
🧘♀️ A calmer mind and more centered awareness
This is your reintroduction to intelligent movement.
🧍♀️ Why We Don’t Waste Time Stretching
At Qi Movements, we don’t spend long chunks of time on static stretching — and here’s why:
🚫 Static stretching temporarily relaxes the nervous system but doesn't create lasting improvements in mobility, stability, or performance.
🔁 Many people dealing with back pain, hip tightness, or neck tension fall into a cycle of excessive stretching as an attempt to feel better. But if the root issue is poor stability or breathing mechanics, constant stretching can actually make things worse — perpetuating instability and preventing true resolution.
This creates a vicious, ineffective cycle of chasing short-term relief instead of long-term correction.
✅ Instead, we focus on breath-driven mobility, joint centration, and active range of motion — all of which actually change the way your body moves and feels over time.
🎯 Our goal isn’t to touch your toes — it’s to help you move with strength, integrity, and control through full ranges of motion, under tension, and with breath awareness.
Stretching isn’t bad — it’s just not the priority. Learning how to move well is.
🔎 Nutrition: Awareness Over Rules
Instead of giving you strict nutrition protocols, this phase invites you into awareness.
Where are you currently thriving?
What habits have you let slide?
Are you eating with intention or convenience?
Do you hydrate well? Sleep deeply?
The Foundation Phase is your chance to tune in to what your body needs. This isn’t about restriction — it’s about curiosity.
You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge. This phase is where the acknowledgment begins.
🌿 Introducing the 7 Qi Elements
True health is multidimensional. During the Foundation Phase, you’ll begin exploring the 7 Qi Elements — a framework we use at Qi Movements to guide holistic well-being:
🏋️♀️ Exercise – Movement is medicine, but only if done well
😴 Sleep – Your recovery engine
💧 Hydration – The foundation of cellular function
🥗 Food – Fuel, not fear
🌳 Nature – Restore your rhythm by reconnecting to the Earth
🤝 Connection – Community, self-trust, support
⚖️ Homeostasis – Balance your inner ecosystem
Which ones do you already honor? Which ones have been neglected?
This phase invites you to take inventory — not from guilt, but from love.
🙌 What Not to Worry About
Starting something new can bring up a lot of noise — comparison, insecurity, pressure to be “good” right away. Here’s what you can officially let go of in the Foundation Phase:
🚫 You don’t need to be fit to start. This is where fitness begins.
🚫 You won’t be judged. Your pace is your own. We honor where you are.
🚫 You’re not behind. You’re arriving.
🚫 You don’t need to master it all at once. We’ll teach you — and we’ve got your back.
Let go of perfection. Pick up presence.
🎯 Meaningful Goals: Build with Purpose
Before you chase results, clarify your reason. In the Foundation Phase, we shift from vague aspirations to meaningful intentions. Goals that are connected to something deeper last longer and feel better.
Ask yourself:
What would achieving this goal allow me to do?
How would it feel to be the version of me who shows up consistently?
Who else benefits when I take care of myself?
🔮 Try this visualization: Close your eyes. Imagine it’s three months from now. You’ve followed through with your intention. Your body feels strong and stable. Your breath is deep and calm. Your energy is vibrant.
💡 Where are you? 💡 What are you doing? 💡 How do your clothes fit? 💡 How does your body move? 💡 Who’s with you, and how do they feel around you?
Anchor that vision into your nervous system. Let it become a felt sense — not just a mental picture. Emotion drives commitment.
📊 Science Says:
People who set specific and emotionally meaningful goals are up to 42% more likely to achieve them when they write them down and revisit them regularly
Emotionally driven goals activate the limbic brain, enhancing neuroplasticity and habit formation
Motivation that is intrinsically meaningful sustains behavior far better than goals based on guilt, shame, or external rewards
We encourage you to:
Set goals that align with your values, not just aesthetics
Focus on consistency over perfection
Allow space for growth, adjustment, and learning
This isn’t about doing more — it’s about doing what matters.
🧘♀️ Curious About Meditation?
Have you been curious about meditation but unsure where to start? You're not alone — and you’re in the right place.
🧠 The Benefits:
Lowers stress and anxiety
Improves focus and clarity
Enhances emotional regulation
Boosts creativity and optimism
Supports deeper sleep and recovery
🎧 How We Help: At Qi Movements, we don’t just talk about mindfulness — we practice it. We’ve created dozens of recorded visualization meditations to guide your journey.
📲 Where to Find Them:
Spotify: Qi Movements Podcast
YouTube: Qi Movements Channel
✨ Whether you want to relax, reset, heal, or rewire your mindset — we’ve got a meditation for that.
💭 Wanna get started? Just press play. Even five minutes can make a difference.
❓ FAQ: Common Questions About the Foundation Phase
Q: I’m out of shape — is this still for me? Yes! The Foundation Phase is designed for people of all levels. You don’t need to be “fit” to begin — this is where you become fit.
Q: Will I be sore? Probably — but not in a bad way. You’ll feel muscles you haven’t used in a while because we’re asking your body to move differently and more efficiently.
Q: How long is this phase? Typically 6 weeks, but it can be longer if your body needs more time to integrate the fundamentals. You’ll progress based on mastery, not a timeline.
Q: Can I do this phase if I have injuries? Yes — in fact, this is the best phase for you. It prioritizes control, breath, and nervous system regulation, making it ideal for healing and re-patterning.
🩺 We also highly recommend booking a consultation with our physiotherapy partners at iMove. We work hand-in-hand with their team to offer co-care — meaning we collaborate behind the scenes to accelerate your healing and tailor your training sessions even more precisely.
⏱️ The sooner you get assessed by iMove, the better your sessions with us will feel. Pain decreases, movement improves, and progress happens faster when care is integrated. Don't hesitate to see iMove — the earlier we can coordinate care, the more effective your training will be. This is the secret to sustainable, intelligent results. This is the secret to sustainable, intelligent results.
Q: Is two sessions per week enough? Two sessions per week is a fantastic start — it’s a great way to build consistency without overwhelm. That said, if you're truly committed to making significant changes in your strength, stability, and mobility, three sessions per week is the sweet spot.
📈 Why? More training days = better results. We’ve consistently seen clients experience noticeably faster progress, better coordination, and more confidence when they train three days per week instead of two.
If your goals matter to you, and you're ready to feel the difference — this is your phase to commit. We'll support you every step of the way.
Q: What if I have questions or feel lost? Just ask! Our team is here to support you. We want you to feel safe, seen, and empowered every step of the way.
🌟 Set Your Intention
Before you begin, pause and reflect:
What brought you here? Where have you been moving from force, not feeling? What would it feel like to be grounded, connected, and capable again?
Let this phase be the invitation back to your center. You’re not behind — you’re exactly where you need to be.
Welcome to your foundation. Let’s build it well. 🧱
🧡 Final Word
This journey isn’t just about reps, breathwork, or technique. It’s about coming home to yourself — one conscious movement at a time. Every step you take toward stability and awareness ripples outward into your life. You’re doing more than training. You’re transforming. And we’re honored to walk alongside you.
Yours in wellness,
Brien & Dre
Qi Movements – Move well. Live well.™