New Whole Body Breathing Qigong

   On September 24th I decided to renew my commitment to qigong exploration and practice. For a number of years I let this blog go and have only posted periodically. I did that because I felt I posted everything I knew or could find relative to qigong practice and healing. I was very comfortable with my choice.

    Times change. Because of a car crash in July that totaled my car and sent me to the emergency ward and into PTS  I have decided for my recovery to practice what some in Qigong call the 100 Days. That means you commit to practice a form of qigong twice a day everyday for 100 days. I have decided to start posting again because I am approaching Qigong like a new student and at the same time an old student. Martial arts sometimes call that practicing with a White Belt Attitude. A White Belt is a new student who full of passion and commitment to learning martial arts. A White Belt Attitude is when a veteran student decides to approach the arts with a fresh and new attitude of commitment to learn and practice. So that is what I am doing.

   I have refined my Qigong practice based on my practices over the last 22 days. So here is the update.

   I am doing who body breathing qigong.

                                  Whole Body Breathing

I recommend Whole Body Qigong to everyone because it is very simple and uncomplicated yet incredibly powerful in its results.

   First state your intention for this or any other qigong practice. You do this because in Qigong you learn that energy can be led by intention. The Chinese word for intention is yi. "Yi leads Qi" as Qigong practioners say. so your yi is paramount in Qigong.

  You do not need to match your breathing with your moving awareness from your extremities to your dan tien and back from the dan tien to your extremities to benefit from qigon. You just need to move your awareness into and out of the dan tien the whole time you do a practice. This is not about your lungs it is about your dan tien. The dan tien will nourish your lungs as it grows stronger. You can as an alternative approach just match how you breath no matter how shallow or deep to your moving in and out of the dn tien.

Awareness and qi moves much faster than the breath. Qi is continually flowing in and out of our body. One of the most important areas qi flows in and out of is sphere shaped area about the size of your fist about an inch and a half below our bellybutton. This area is called i the lower dan tien. The lower dan tien  is a natural energy storage area that supplies energy to the rest of your body as needed. Our intention is to strives to strengthen and enhance the dan tien so our body can receive more energy where it needs it .

   This exercise is excellent for nourishing the lower dan tien and thus benefits our whole body.

   So sit up straight and comfortably on a padded chair. Sit towards the front edge of the chair. Make sure your back is straight your head is aligned with your spine. Let your lips and jaws relax and become slightly open. The tip of your tong is touching your upper palate behind your two front teeth. Your anus is slightly contracted. The fingers of both hands are spreed slightly apart. Your thumbs are laced together but not touching. Your right hand is slightly above your left hand. Your hands are a few inches above your lower abdomen. Women do it with left hand over their right hand.

    Use creative visualization and your kinetics sense to help yourself see and feel a radiating bright golden sun in your lower dan tien. If it is difficult to see a golden sun don't bother trying to see one. Seeing a sun makes the practice stronger but it is much more important for you to feel or sense the area about an inch and a half below your bellybutton and about two inches inside your body. Once you feel this area strongly you can add the sun if you like.

   Your intention, as you inhale, is systematically and repeatedly with every inhalation, to guide the energy or qi from your extremities to your dan tien. You do this by moving your sense awareness at the beginning of the inhalation from your extremities through your body to your dan tien in your lower abdomen.

   In other words you move your sense awareness from the tips of your fingers and thumbs up through your arms and into your torso and down into your dan tien. Simultaneously with that, your awareness moves from the tip of your toes up through your legs and down from the top of my head through my neck and torso to my lower abdomen into your dan tien.

   An analogy would be to say it's like consciously trying to be aware of the feeling of air flowing into your nose and down your throat into your lungs.

   Its like your dan tien is one strong lung and the top of your head is a large nose and the tips of your fingers and thumbs and the tips of your toes are also noses. You breathe through all of the noses at once and they all lead to your lung in your lower dan tien. See now that's not to complicated is it? Its actually a lot of fun to play around with once you get into it.

   So on to the exhalation. At the very first moment you start to exhale you try, but not to hard, to consciously notice that the energy collected in your lower dan tien radiates or explodes strongly, naturally and effortlessly out through your whole body to the top of your head and the tips of your fingers and thumbs, and the tips of your toes. Try but not to hard to be aware and follow the path of the energy flowing out of your dan tien to your extremities.

   You know how normal and natural it use to be to breathe in and out of course. It will be just as natural to lead your awareness into the dan tien and watch it flow naturally out from it. As we inhale air through our nose or mouth it flows into our lungs. As we breathe out that air in our lungs moves out of our lungs and joins with the blood and circulates effortlessly through our body nourishing and strengthening us. It's sort of like that with qi or energy moving in and out of our dan tien.

I do this for 32 minutes twice a day. You can do it for just a few minutes or as long as you feel comfortable.

   I end the practice by placing my awareness into my dan tien. Then I take three complete breaths as I intentionally lead any excess energy or qi generated by the practice into my dan tien where it can be used as needed.

  At the end of the practice I thank Quan Yin or the Mystery and get up and stretch and move my body in dance like movements for a couple of minutes.

   In the morning after the first practice I do a 32 minute Quan Yin meditation. It's optional for me after the evening practice.