"breathing into the body" . . . (?)

[Lataif]

Please:

 

(1) Both Yoga (with prana) and QiGong (with chi) have a practice of "breathing into the body".

 

(2) I discovered how to to do this without anyone instructing me how to do it.

 

(3) But I have difficulty describing how exactly I do it . . . or how someone else might do it.

 

(4) It's not (in my experience) only "intention" or "attention".  

 

(5) There seems to be some preliminary orientation of the mouth and throat involved.

 

(6) If you try, for example, to make a "hissing sound" with an open mouth (like a cat) . . . that seems to be close.

 

(7) You tighten the muscles in your mouth in some way (that I can't explain well) . . . and exhale . . . and it's at that point that the intention to direct the breath in a certain direction in the body becomes possible.

 

(8) Any ideas on this (?)

 

Thanks . . .

Edited Sunday at 05:39 PM by Lataif

[Vajra Fist]

I'd probably suggest following a tradition. From what I've heard, Rob Burbea's jhana course is a good place to learn whole body breathing from a Buddhist perspective. 

 

Similarly Thanissaro Bhikku's guided meditations also lead you there gradually. 

[BigSkyDiamond]

if you are talking about directing the flow of chi within the body, i have been cautioned (by several teachers) not to do this as it can result in chi deviation, imbalance, and subsequent problems.  Rather, trust the innate intelligence of the chi to go where it is needed, and by whatever route is needed. in other words, the chi is smarter than my limited understanding.  This resonates for me.

 

if you are talking about using the whole body to breathe in and breathe out, yes that can be done, but i was given the caution (by more than one teacher) to not do this for very long as it can overload the system with unpleasant results.  

Edited Sunday at 06:18 PM by BigSkyDiamond

[Mark Foote]

5 hours ago, Lataif said:

Please:

 

(1) Both Yoga (with prana) and QiGong (with chi) have a practice of "breathing into the body".

 

(2) I discovered how to to do this without anyone instructing me how to do it.

 

(3) But I have difficulty describing how exactly I do it . . . or how someone else might do it.

 

(4) It's not (in my experience) only "intention" or "attention".  

 

(5) There seems to be some preliminary orientation of the mouth and throat involved.

 

(6) If you try, for example, to make a "hissing sound" with an open mouth (like a cat) . . . that seems to be close.

 

(7) You tighten the muscles in your mouth in some way (that I can't explain well) . . . and exhale . . . and it's at that point that the intention to direct the breath in a certain direction in the body becomes possible.

 

(8) Any ideas on this (?)

 

Thanks . . .
 

 

 

That's interesting. To what end, do you direct the breath?

 

[Krenx]

The breath is definitely used in certain practices for sure. But it is more a tool create cyclical qualities of yin and yang, expansion and absorption in the body/ or specific parts of the body. Fan certain concentration of energies like embers to generate more fire element etc. And when the body opens up, tubes to these cyclical flavours, chi can start to build and accumulate. Once chi becomes substantial, you would use the mind to guide it and demand certain qualities, leaving the breath to be mostly neutral and natural. So depending on the phase of your training. 

 

The most effective Qi gong/ taiji systems I have learned, actually emphasize natural breathing. No specific breath work. And instead uses primarily gravity as the assist and root of development for chi. An important consideration and something to contemplate why. 

 

In Buddhist meditation, the breath is the object of meditation, not so much to develop chi, but to observe its Anicca and anatta qualities, and its dependency on the body to also develop peripheral source awareness.

 

Hope this helps. Dangers of freestyling these kinds of things, is you might turn the breath into a crutch in your practice and develop bad habits in how you move/ transform chi. There are laws in energy and safety mechanisms to develop. So definitely find a good system out there to follow, breath work or not. 

[Lataif]

On 6/29/2025 at 6:16 PM, Mark Foote said:

 

That's interesting. To what end, do you direct the breath?
 

It's actually chi in the breath that is being directed.  It's directed anywhere that the presence of chi can be useful -- typically, to resolve imbalances . . .     

[Annnon]

On 29/06/2025 at 8:20 PM, Krenx said:

The most effective Qi gong/ taiji systems I have learned, actually emphasize natural breathing. No specific breath work. And instead uses primarily gravity as the assist and root of development for chi. An important consideration and something to contemplate why. 

do you mind sharing these systems?

[Krenx]

4 hours ago, Annnon said:

do you mind sharing these systems?

 

Yang taiji Quan, the older lineages through Wang Yong Quan. 

 

Yi Quan also emphasizes in natural breathing in their system. 

 

So using yin of gravity, by tuning to it, you refine yin energy, and by refinement of yin, you in turn refine pure yang as a result as well due to the duality relationship of yin and yang.

 

The initial stages, this is done with the body. Flesh sinks to tune to yin, and bones rise/ joints expand in "relation" to the sinking flesh. Fascia stretches maintains a dynamic tensegrity that allows qi to flow continuously. 

 

And as these energies become more purified, they become discerned from each other. When they are discerned, that separation reveals that "space" between their relationship. That specific empty space that is created this way, is where qi flows. 

 

Using the breath is fine, but it has to be from the basis of this principle. The breath can be trained to have either yin or yang in the in our our breath. You can do some research on things like reverse breathing, and the golden turtle Qi gong exercise. These are some of the rare cases we include breath to assist in opening up certain parts, and condensing Qi.