Breathing exercises from "Relaxing Into Your Being"

[onebir]

I think there are 12 of them, I did them with a Water Method teacher years ago but I've forgotten the sequence. Recently I've been doing quite a lot of Vipassana, but I my breathing sometimes feels like it 'needs some work'. And (Goenka/U Ba Khin) style Vipassana really only has one 'fallback option' it'd be nice to have more for those sessions where Vipassana just ain't working.

 

Shipping makes buying the book uneconomical where I am, so it'd be great if someone could these exercises list them (or even describe them if you've got time/inclination).

[寒月 Hanyue]

I think there are 12 of them, I did them with a Water Method teacher years ago but I've forgotten the sequence. Recently I've been doing quite a lot of Vipassana, but I my breathing sometimes feels like it 'needs some work'. And (Goenka/U Ba Khin) style Vipassana really only has one 'fallback option' it'd be nice to have more for those sessions where Vipassana just ain't working.

 

Shipping makes buying the book uneconomical where I am, so it'd be great if someone could these exercises list them (or even describe them if you've got time/inclination).

 

Bruce has a LOT of free stuff on his site these days, much of it is taken directly from his older books. I'd check the info on his site then sign up and get the free guide

 

http://www.energyarts.com/taoist-longevity-breathing

 

http://www.energyarts.com/advanced-breathing-techniques

 

http://www.energyarts.com/free-breathing-guide

 

Best

[onebir]

Bruce has a LOT of free stuff on his site these days, much of it is taken directly from his older books. I'd check the info on his site then sign up and get the free guide

Thanks - I hadn't thought to check there! The guide indeed covers the first six stages. Dan tian breathing was the 12th & I have a rought idea what went in between. Enough to be going on with

[Green Tiger]

There are 12 of them. Pretty simple stuff, ostensibly. Just sit in a quiet place, relax, and listen to your breath. Watch the breath and FEEL the breath. Feel it in your nose, then in your nasal cavity, then in the back of your throat, going down your throat, ect., all the way to the lower dantien. Feel the expansion and contraction of your belly, starting with the lower belly and working outward from there. Eventually you want to be able to feel an even expansion and contraction of the entire midsection: belly, solar plexus, floating ribs, kidneys, and finally (if you get this one to move, you're doing better than me) the middle and upper back.

 

Bruce's stuff is really great. When I first watched the longevity breathing DVD my reaction was something like, "Really? That's it!?!?" But after practicing it for a little while, you start to see how profound this very simple method can be. Seems to be pretty safe, too. I don't have enough experience with other breathing methods to compare, but this one has worked wonders for me. I would say in the past year my breath capacity has probably tripled, although I have no hard data to back this up (kicking myself for that too, as I had a diagnostic tool and didn't use it).

 

Anywho, PM me your mailing address and you might get a surprise.

[joeblast]

its great when you get the pattern established - I just cant do much breath coordination with J though, on avg she breathes twice for every one of mine Important that after you feeeel all these aspects of the breath that you completely let them go, only facilitate with the diaphragm & psoas - like a car piston/cylinder, its simply more efficient if you dont change the shape of the cylinder walls while the piston moves

[Green Tiger]

Important that after you feeeel all these aspects of the breath that you completely let them go, only facilitate with the diaphragm & psoas - like a car piston/cylinder, its simply more efficient if you dont change the shape of the cylinder walls while the piston moves

 

Is that what he teaches in The Great Stillness? I own it but haven't read it yet. Still working on the practices from Relaxing. You're saying that after you get all the parts moving, then let them go and be still, or should this 'letting go' be part of the process from the start?

[寒月 Hanyue]

Is that what he teaches in The Great Stillness?

 

No its not.

 

The movement of the diaphragm is important, and as it frees up the upward and downward movement throughout the abdomen will increase. It is a mistake to excessively move the belly to move the diaphragm. I have, and continue to meet people who were taught to overly distend the abdomen. Some end up doing this with no greater movement of the diaphragm.

 

It is the undulation of the diaphragm that should initiate the movement of the abdomen in all dimensions. The more space inside the less movement outside.

 

The 'natural' breathing of the whole-body is preferred for it being a 24/7 method. It is the baseline for everything else.

 

Some teach the 'bellows' breath which still wants the abdomen to expand and contract like above, but generally with more vigor, like a bellows. This is usally associated with 'fire' and 'heat' and certain qigong/neigong practices or kundalini. It certainly gets the blood and qi pumping and moving through the body!

 

The non-movement of the dantian, with only the up and down pressure from the diaphragms was taught to me for healing work. The dantian is full and remains so, rather than filling and emptying as with the "bellows" breathing. This has a sense of calm and stillness that enables listening to both your qi and that of the client/patient more easily. That said I am not saying it is ONLY done within healing work, but that it is (within certain medical lines) seen as more efficient and preferable in that context.

 

It is horses for courses. They have different effects and are done for different reasons. Knowing the what, why as well as the how is important IMO.

 

Best,

[寒月 Hanyue]

"Longevity Breathing" has many aspects, Bruce teaches these at different times for different reasons.

 

There are two aspects to consider, one is the physiological breathing process, the other is the movement (breathing) of qi in and out of the body. Bruce, as with all his neigong, generally uses the body as the entry point into the practice. This is the 'whole-body' breathing that is most often written about and is the subject of the Dvd.

 

The Cd set has more aspects of the 'subtle-breath' as well as stages of the physical breath. And actually starts with establishing the zhong mai before working on the physcial movement of the body from that central location. Here are the stages;

 

Disc 1:

Introduction

1: Feeling Your Breath

2: Learning to Avoid Holding Your Breath

3: Becoming Aware of Distraction

4: Breathing Along the Central Channel of Your Body

5: Breathing Down the Central Channel to Your Lower Tantieni

6: Stabilizing the Breath and Energy of Your Lower Tantien

7: Letting Your Breathing Drop From Your Chest to Your Belly

8: Breathing From the Sides of Your Body

9: Simultaneously Breathing From the Front and Sides

10: Lower Back and Kidney Breathing

11: Upper Back Breathing

12: Breathing Energy Into Your Lower Tantien

Epilogue

 

Disc 2:

 

Introduction

1: Relaxing Your Breath

2: Feeling Your Breath

3: Counting Your Breaths

4: Feeling All Sensations When You Inhale and Exhale

5: Developing Continuous Awareness of Your Breath

6: Becoming Aware of the Fog of the Mind

7: The Importance of Releasing the Chest

8: Breathing Underneath the Ribs and Awareness of Emotions

9: Becoming Further Aware of Your Emotions

10: Fear and the Kidneys

11: The Upper Body and the Spine

12: Activating all Energies in the Physical and Etheric Body

Epilogue

 

http://www.energyarts.com/store/products/breathing/taoist-breathing-qigong-meditation-cd

 

As I said before, there is a lot of free information available on Bruces Breathing system. You just have to look. It is an intricate and complete system, but certainly not the ONLY system out there. So if you like it I recommend diving into it, if you like something else dive into that.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Best,

[joeblast]

Is that what he teaches in The Great Stillness? I own it but haven't read it yet. Still working on the practices from Relaxing. You're saying that after you get all the parts moving, then let them go and be still, or should this 'letting go' be part of the process from the start?

I'm not certain of what he teaches in the great stillness, dont have it

 

Yes, that's what I'm saying - from a platform of activation, there is firmer foundation for cessation. That's what drove me to devise that little "air passageway identification process." As I slowed and calmed breath (and earplugs helped identify these things) I got to a point where I said ok, I need to figure out everywhere I can exert muscular input with regard to the facilitating of air moving through the passageways so I can more fully let them go.

 

It probably looks funny doing it. Started at the tip of the nose, nostril-flaps, just before it hits bone, the crown of the nose bone, each of the sinuses

and on to the back of the throat, into the larynx, trachea, down to bronchi, into the lungs top middle bottom, then end with the diaphragm. See how subtly or how forcefully you can impart affect onto breath from each point, then once done just focus on deep abdominal and let go of all notion of moving air, just move diaphragm (and since I'd focused so much on the anatomical aspects of breath in the torso, this plugged right in flowed one to the other...)

 

Maybe some people can "just let go" but I find it easier when I know exactly what it is that I am letting go of

 

I have his CD that snowmonki just mentioned but I had a tough time keeping pace with the first cd, it was hyperventilating trying to go that quickly, it seems as though it was devised for a beginner. Not that it was a problem, I just wound up listening instead of trying to participate. His process was a little different than how my learning progressed, I had started from Dr Yang's YMAA material and got a lot from the translations in the Root, Embryonic Breathing, Small Circulation, Secret of Youth material. Although the ymaa stuff didnt necessarily get to a whole body breathing stage that I can recall, my practice went there anyway when my breaths got sufficiently long. The whole body thing emerged straight from dantien breathing that was in the ymaa material, the small glowing ball of energy at the dantien growing and shrinking with the breath, eventually it made the whole lower torso glow - then whole torso, whole outline of body, and went beyond perception and everything faded into one big ball of awareness-energy at some point. (and at that point it makes my metabolism go wild.)

 

In that vein, dont hesitate to spend plenty of time using contrived breathing that focuses on the constituent parts and the interactions thereof. I reestablish that protocol regularly, it helps when you add angular momentum to the gyroscope before watching it spin

[idquest]

Bruce's stuff is really great. When I first watched the longevity breathing DVD my reaction was something like, "Really? That's it!?!?" But after practicing it for a little while, you start to see how profound this very simple method can be. Seems to be pretty safe, too. I don't have enough experience with other breathing methods to compare, but this one has worked wonders for me. I would say in the past year my breath capacity has probably tripled, although I have no hard data to back this up (kicking myself for that too, as I had a diagnostic tool and didn't use it).

Exactly my sentiments.

 

If you liked his 'Relaxing...' CD you might want to check his Meditation Circle he launched some time ago. THere is more interesting stuff there.

[Friend]

I have his CD that snowmonki just mentioned but I had a tough time keeping pace with the first cd, it was hyperventilating trying to go that quickly, it seems as though it was devised for a beginner.

 

This is a fundamental practise to learn breath sinking.

I do not know how the cd gives instruction, so

is Bruce change from numbers or is he repeat a process fast for each number?

 

A beginner -as I post somewhere else- is short in breath and a fast pace is indeed adviced. For some people breath comes in but most part is kept out and the breath starts in front of the nose, even if one has good Abdominal breathing.

First one has to take the breath down to LDT then the Qi which follow the air and travel with the breathing motion. One funny thing is one can reach deep breathing

in the Water Path but not extend the breath as I expirienced.

There are tricks I try to figure out lately in length extension.

 

Best,

Q

[joeblast]

Nah, he just starts rather quickly for my preference, that's all. It is similar to the way I wind up writing a bass line to some of the stuff the guys I've been jamming with play, a little fast for my natural inclination so when a new piece is introduced a lot of times I'll just sit and absorb. Ah, that's another thing that got to me on the cd - there was a chime, which was not bad, but there is also in the background this other crappy cadence wave, a lot like the default hihat on some of the drum loop programs I've used. It would have been better if he used a different method for the cadence and piped it through headphones or something so it didnt come out in the recording, but I got the impression the sound was in the room.

 

The way I've come to feel most conducive to reach a deep breath is initiating the breath from the overlap of the psoas and diaphragm - it helps one deemphasize the chest-breathey way of descending the diaphragm more towards the middle where the foramina are. Especially if one has a longer history of chest breathing, imho this changes the whole process right from the getgo. Then things like letting go of the air passageways becomes automatically easier since the rooting of the diaphragm at the inferior posterior (bottom back) also eliminates the muscolotendonal differences in tension that cause things to get uneven if you're not descending well from the deeper part. All of the lung and heart ligaments are also engaged more when the point of descent of the diaphragm is too high up (=more towards the foramina, pericardium, which lies adjacent to some of the heart & lung tendons.)

 

Ah, I realized the topic Honestly Bruce's approach here is great, I'm just of the opinion that the way I do things is perhaps more fundamental in terms of the very anatomical physical approach - I probably would have gotten a ton out of going to his longevity breathing course, I wish I had the steam to have made it - I absolutely would have gone! I think it would perhaps benefit me a little more to have the book and read through it instead of trying to stick to a cadence that I really wasnt resonating with.

 

If I recall correctly, I passed these CDs on to Trunk, so if he's done with them and somebody would like to jam along with Bruce, give him a shout and he can send them on when he is ready. We may consider that CD to be property of TaoBums, pass it along ad infinitum

[astralc]

Just thought I would add some western science to our eastern equation. There is a simple device used in hospitals that measures pulse beat, clips onto the end of the finger, it also measures dissolved oxygen in the blood. It also measures the variability between the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic NS (PNS). The difference between the two nervous systems is called Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

 

This HRV, if it is small, means that the SNS, which is the aroused system that runs the awakened body, and the PNS which is the calm healing nervous system when deeply relaxed, are too close together. When the person tries to relax (PNS) they bounce back into SNS and become aroused and agitated again - they can't relax. This constant arousal of the CNS and bodily systems creates great internal distress eventually leading to death. The medico's state that they can tell if a person will soon die when their HRV is small (low variability).

 

The reason I brought this up is because we do slow deep abdominal breathing to achieve good HRV, to develop high variability, so that when we are relaxed we stay relaxed and it is therefore harder for our system to jump into the aroused and stressed SNS. We do this by teaching patients to breath at a rate of 6 breaths per minute, thats one breath every 10 seconds.

 

Funnily enough, guiding someone to do this does make considerable difference to their lives, their saturated blood O2 rises, their mood improves, their depression drops, their sleep improves, concentration too and they only have to do it once a day for 10 or more minutes.

 

Daoists do the same thing, albeit using specific techniques, and get the same results. Of course, we aim to go further than mere improved sleep, we aim for immortality

[astralc]

I would like to add to this discussion and promise to stay away from the technical stuff. The slow deep breathing of turtle breath is certainly not easy, but once started in practice it grows on you. When I meditate I switch through various breath types, bellows to get the chi started, some turtle breathing as I relax downwards and eventually the simple water type dissolving breathing of nei gung as I disappear into the void.

 

I practice chen style tai chi, it is a water style and is all about chi flow, "soft, slow and continuous" are the words my master would say. It is based on deep state relaxation and turtle breathing. I have always struggled with the turtle breath, but, it seems to be so much easier to do when I am nearly unconscious. Moving the breath from the upper dan tien into the lower happens automatically, but it took years of practice to get there.

 

The dan tien can be activated by breath work, but as has been stated in this thread, nei gung, mind work, is another way of activation. And, it took me more years and years to do this, but it happens when I am at my deepest, but sometimes just by thinking of it.

 

The dan tien is the foundation I can rely on, but the feet, earthing, is another powerful technique I like to activate when I do my inner chi work.

 

all the best, astralc

[寒月 Hanyue]

Yes, that's what I'm saying - from a platform of activation, there is firmer foundation for cessation. That's what drove me to devise that little "air passageway identification process." As I slowed and calmed breath (and earplugs helped identify these things) I got to a point where I said ok, I need to figure out everywhere I can exert muscular input with regard to the facilitating of air moving through the passageways so I can more fully let them go....See how subtly or how forcefully you can impart affect onto breath from each point, then once done just focus on deep abdominal and let go of all notion of moving air, just move diaphragm (and since I'd focused so much on the anatomical aspects of breath in the torso, this plugged right in flowed one to the other...)

 

Interesting stuff This is basically what Bruce's method is trying to get people to do. FEEL inside their bodies and release restrictions to the breathing process. He lays out a process that he developed with his teacher for doing so, but everyone is different and the stages he gives should not be put before the actual physiological process you are trying to engage with IMO.

 

Maybe some people can "just let go" but I find it easier when I know exactly what it is that I am letting go of

 

No, I am the same. As I said this is basically the premise Bruce stuff comes from. If you can move it you can feel it, if you can feel it you can move it. Go inside and find out what you can feel or move and what you can't, then go from there.

 

I have his CD that snowmonki just mentioned but I had a tough time keeping pace with the first cd, it was hyperventilating trying to go that quickly, it seems as though it was devised for a beginner.

 

Of course it was! You have to cater to the beginner when putting out such things. For those that do not have the cd, the tracks have a count to help beginners with timing their inhales and exhales, as you move through the cd the lengths of the breaths get longer and longer.

 

I have never paid these any attention personally and have always simply breathed at my own pace. I don't these things as a straight through follow along, I never find I go at the same pace as the person! The same in a group with a teacher. With the cd I go through it pausing when I have to or repeating until I have the information down, or I use them as a reminder guide for what I've learned in person. Once you have the stages and the info, you don't need to the cd, why use a crutch if you can walk anyway haha.

 

Ah, that's another thing that got to me on the cd - there was a chime, which was not bad, but there is also in the background this other crappy cadence wave, a lot like the default hihat on some of the drum loop programs I've used. It would have been better if he used a different method for the cadence and piped it through headphones or something so it didnt come out in the recording, but I got the impression the sound was in the room.

 

I find them annoying too, I wish there was an option for removing the chimes/count. I appreciate why they are on there, but I ignore them as I said above. Tuning them out and into the information alone can be its own training

 

I don't however think they are annoying enough to be problematic if they are not helpful for you. It is the stages and information that is most helpful.

 

Ah, I realized the topic Honestly Bruce's approach here is great, I'm just of the opinion that the way I do things is perhaps more fundamental in terms of the very anatomical physical approach

 

Yes, I re-ordered some of the quotes here

 

It sounds like your approach is VERY similar in nature to Bruce's even if the stages are in a different order so to speak. I wouldn't consider it off-topic, but that is upto the OP.

 

The way I've come to feel most conducive to reach a deep breath is initiating the breath from the overlap of the psoas and diaphragm - it helps one deemphasize the chest-breathey way of descending the diaphragm more towards the middle where the foramina are. Especially if one has a longer history of chest breathing, imho this changes the whole process right from the getgo.

 

I've seen you write of this before, can you explain further I am intersted in what you mean by "initiating the breath from the overlap of the psoas and diaphragm" in particular. Are you referring to the crura? This area in the the front of the spine is not easy for people to feel, though I certainly agree with what you are saying (if I understand correctly). In Bruce's system this is engaged with in the 'kidney' breathing, so that would be after feeling and getting the front and sides of the belly. I think this is to help people learn how to feel into the deeper and harder area that you are talking about. I'm not saying you can't teach people to go straight there, just pointing out why I think Bruce has other stages first, not that it is better.

 

I hadn't fully engaged with exactly where the process initiates from, only what was working/involved and what was not. So thank you for pointing that out, I can feel the downward movement initiating down the front of the lumbar spine like a drawstring with the movement of the diaphragm. Do you 'open' the lumbar spine to 'fill the mingmen' when you breathe?

 

PM me if you think it is too much thread drift.

 

Then things like letting go of the air passageways becomes automatically easier since the rooting of the diaphragm at the inferior posterior (bottom back) also eliminates the muscolotendonal differences in tension that cause things to get uneven if you're not descending well from the deeper part. All of the lung and heart ligaments are also engaged more when the point of descent of the diaphragm is too high up (=more towards the foramina, pericardium, which lies adjacent to some of the heart & lung tendons.)

 

Interesting, thanks for sharing this. I will has to revist my awareness/conscious breathing and play with this in mind.

 

Best,

Edited April 24, 2012 by snowmonki

[joeblast]

Letting go of the air passageways and not using them to facilitate breath is one of the surest steps one can take to pacify the cranial nerves. I've got to make some dinner, more later

[onebir]

Seeing a couple of people apologising for taking the thread 'off-topic', as 'OP' I've got no objection to this. Compared to some threads in some forums it's stayed remarkably 'on topic', and been interesting reading.

 

It'd be nice to get a bit more detail on steps 7-12...

 

But it'd likely take me months of assiduous practice to get to step 6 anyway

[joeblast]

I've written all of this so many times...I am going to start working on compiling all of this into an article just so I have all of it in one place I'll likely pop the work in progress into my personal practice section and then when complete I'll have the mods move it or something. For now I'll just keep writing chunks

[johndoe2012]

Cool joeblast, looking forward to it.

 

EDIT: found one of your posts with good pointers in it.

 

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/15334-question-on-breath/page__view__findpost__p__206477

Edited April 26, 2012 by chris d

[laughingblade]

+1 this is the kind of thing I'd pay real money for.

 

Thanks joeblast & snowmonki for these insights.

 

Rich

[joeblast]

/\ graciously humbled