Breathing

[abc]

Hi,

Breathing is a important for martial art like Qi Gong and Taijiquan am I right? I would like to know which is the best breathing method as normal people inhale through nose and exhale through mouth right, those who learn internal art will inhale and exhale through nose right.

I have research on that normal healthy breathing method is inhale through nose for 5 secs and exhale through mouth for 5 secs, maybe thats western way, but I search on Yoga type, there is a lot of breathing method, eg. inhale and exhale through nose, inhale through mouth exhale through nose and other mixture.

So please share which is the correct breathing method for eg. normal human, ppl who is martial artist, yoga etc. that you guys use. Sorry for my poor english. Thanks in advanced :)

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Nature has equiped us nicely to both inhale and exhale through the nose.. inhaling, the mucous and hairs filter the air.. exhaling, the moisture rehydrates the mucous to maintain its stickiness.. this is in accord with Tao (nature's way)..

Other, more studied methods, such as Normal Abdominal Breathing or Reverse Abdominal Breathing, should be considered..

Be well..

[abc]

oh, Thanks for the reply :)

[DarinHamel]

I was taught that breathing out through the mouth lets chi escape. :eek: Total nose breathing circulates the energy within. :) In through the nose out through the mouth for stress release or getting rid of bad chi.:mad: But total nose breathing is supposed to be the norm. ;)

[qiphlow]

just breathe:D

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

just breatheIs that like "just fight"? There are specific techniques for fighting just like there are for breathing.. optimizing one's overall abilities includes breathing in harmony with the situation.. breathing disciplines practiced at every level of training will increase the odds that you will breathe correctly and in harmony with a real situation..

Be well...

[DarinHamel]

just breathe:D
I thought this was a reference to Faith Hill. Ahhhh Faith...I can hear her singing Juuuuust Breath.....wearing just a sheet.:D

[qiphlow]

i said "just breathe" because too often folks will get caught up in the "proper"way to breathe and start obsessing about how many breaths thru each nostril on a tuesday when the moon is a a 30 degree tilt......you get the picture.
just remebering to breathe at all dut=ring taiji/qigong is a big deal, as alot of beginners (me included!) find themselves unconsciously holding the breath in an effort to concentrate on the mechanics of the movement theyhappen to be doing.
so--
when one can say that you are actually breathing naturally during your forms/qigong/whatever practice, then one can start practicing specific breathing techniques.

[JohnnyMnemonic]

Hi,

Breathing is a important for martial art like Qi Gong and Taijiquan am I right? I would like to know which is the best breathing method as normal people inhale through nose and exhale through mouth right, those who learn internal art will inhale and exhale through nose right.

I have research on that normal healthy breathing method is inhale through nose for 5 secs and exhale through mouth for 5 secs, maybe thats western way, but I search on Yoga type, there is a lot of breathing method, eg. inhale and exhale through nose, inhale through mouth exhale through nose and other mixture.

So please share which is the correct breathing method for eg. normal human, ppl who is martial artist, yoga etc. that you guys use. Sorry for my poor english. Thanks in advanced :)

You need to be careful. Breathing exercises like you are reading about can be detrimental to your health if you do not know what you are doing. Anxiety and mental problems are some of the more common effects.

These breathing exercises have different goals or effects in my experience. Some of them are meant to make your belly very strong. A good example would be your belly is made of something relatively weak like plastic sandwich wrap. The breathing exercises are designed to make your belly turn into something more like the rubber on a car tire. They increase the ability of your body to withstand pressure.


Other breathing exercises are for power generation. These are rare and.....wonderful? They are also very dangerous. These breathing exercises can turn you into a "megalomaniac" I think is the word. A person who feel very powerful like they can take on anyone.

Part of the problem is that the exercise really does make them powerful enough to take on most anyone. They have a reason to be a megalomaniac.

The energy produced by these kinds of breathing is so intense it will feel like your brain is on fire. You will have a hard time sleeping. You will be full of energy and running all the time. You could literally start sleeping maybe 4 or 6 hours a day and work hard all day without even noticing it if you do these kinds of breathing exercises.

These exercises are so intriguing because you are not breathing with your lungs. You are of course. Oxygen is entering your lungs and being transferred to the blood normally. There is more to it than your lungs. The sensations do not feel like they should be physically possible. But they are there and impossible to ignore.


Kung Fu really is a wondrous thing.

[MAC]

Please offer more in depth....

[JohnnyMnemonic]

About what?

Honestly. Kung fu is like anything else. There are levels of attainment. You can go get a book and read about the highest level of attainment. But if you are only a beginner, you should not be trying the highest level of attainment. You should be doing beginner stuff.

In my opinion, it is better to be in the martial arts for some time, years, before becoming concerned with breathing. A person needs a certain level of familiarity with their body before they can understand the sensations that the breathing exercises produce.

If a beginner is doing breathing exercises wrong, they will not see any of the warning signs because they do not understand their body enough to know what is good or bad, healthy or unhealthy.

[jacksawild]

Look into basic Chi Kung exercises.. especially "Lifting The Sky" which will set you on the beginning of your journey.

There is also a technique which invloves pressing two points, above and below your navel when you breathe out to train your abdomen to fake the breathing and the real breathing will naturally follow these trained muscles.

It is possible to mistrain your abdomen though and if it is not caught and repaired (with the "lifting the sky" exercise is ideal) it can lead to horrible consequences. Imagine your arm, you have a tricep that pushes and a bicep that pulls. If one is out of synch with the other everything you try to do will be laboured and energy will be wasted. Apply that to your abdomen and waist and imagine the pressure being put on your back over time; your back links everything so you are potentially causing problems in every part of your body simultaenously. The principle of water eroding a mountain applies here, you wont notice the effects at first but over time they will become more pronounced until eventually there will be little you can do to repair the damage.

My point: It may seem an insignificant thing; but time itself makes the smallest force incredibly powerful.