The Abdoment Breathing in Tai Chi

The Abdoment Breathing - Stage 1 The abdomen breathing is one of the best qi gong techniques to cleanse the meridians and balance the yinyang. Most of us are used to chest breathing. Therefore, it may be difficult to change to abdominal breathing immediately. But the following method can make the technique easier.

Stand upright and relaxed with your feet fairly close together. Place one hand on your middle energy field, about two inches below your navel. Place your other hand over it. Open your mouth slightly. Then dispel all irrelevant thoughts. It is important to have an 'empty heart' throughout this exercise.

With both palms, press your abdomen in one smooth continuous movement for four counts (about four seconds). Make sure that you do not breathe in as you press your abdomen. Hold that position for two counts. Then release the pressure of your palms in one smooth continuous movement for four counts, thus allowing your abdomen to return to its original position. Hold for two counts. This process of pressing, holding, releasing, holding, constitutes one breathing unit, or one breath; and it takes ten counts (about ten seconds). Start with ten breaths for each practice session, and gradually increase by one or two breaths. Do not worry about your breathing yet. At this stage, it will be natural or spontaneous, but remember not to breathe in as you press your abdomen.

After pressing and releasing your abdomen about 10-20 times, drop your hands to your sides and stand still with your eyes closed for about five minutes. Practise this twice daily for at least two weeks before proceeding to the next stage.

The Advanced Stages Of Abdomen Breathing There are 3 stages in advanced stages of abdomen breathing. The Second Stage Repeat the same movements as in stage 1, but as you press your abdomen, gently visualize bad qi (or negative energy) flowing from your abdomen up your body and out of your mouth. Practise this stage for at least two weeks before going on to the next one, gradually increasing the counts when pressing and releasing your abdomen, but keeping the holding time to two counts. The Third Stage The movements are the same at this stage, but as you release your abdomen, gently visualize good cosmic energy flowing through your nose, down your body and filling your abdomen. In other words, as you press your abdomen, bad chi flows out; as you release it, good chi flows in. Do not worry about your breathing; let it be natural. As before, stand still for about five minutes with an 'empty heart' when you have finished. The Fourth Stage Proceed to stage four only after you have practised the preliminary stages for at least six weeks. Empty your mind of all irrelevant thoughts. Breathe out gently through your mouth as you gently press your abdomen to let out bad qi, and breathe in gently through your nose as you release your abdomen to let good cosmic qi flow in. Perform this abdominal breathing for thirty-six breaths. Then continue with standing meditation for about five to fifteen minutes. During the standing meditation, you may use Positive Visualization to solve any health problem you may have. Abdominal Breathing, with standing meditation and Positive Visualization, is a very powerful technique for curing illness. But it takes time. If you are prepared to practise daily for six months, your doctor will probably be surprised to see you so full of health and vitality.

Visualization in Qi Gong The visualization technique is a simple exercise. Very often, we hear people questioning whether it really works? (1) Practise the exercise in a quiet, pleasant environment without distractions. (2) Sit crosslegged in a standard meditation pose, or upright on a seat, or lean back on a comfortable chair, or lie on a bed or a couch. (3) Close your eyes and relax deeply. Then visualize your diseased part. Literally will it to recover - but do so gently. (4) Hold the image of that part in the process of recovering (and later, recovered) as long as you can in your mind's eyes. Again, do this gently. When you lose your image, rest your mind for a short while, still with your eyes closed. (5) Then repeat the process. Practise the whole exercise for about five minutes at least twice a day for between three and eight months.

Does it really works? In the latest discoveries of modern science, scientists have accepted the fact that at the subatomic level the mind directly affects matter. At the subatomic and unconscious level, our bodies constantly cure and regenerate themselves. All the wear and tear inside our bodies, of which we are not aware, is constantly repaired in this natural way. All the cells in our bodies are constantly being renewed at different rates. Every seven months, there is a total turnover of our cells. In other words, the body you have now is totally different from the one you had seven months ago! When the rate of self-curing and selfregeneration cannot match the rate of damage and injury, then illness surfaces. In the Positive Visualization exercise, we enhance our self-curing and self-regenerating ability. We also use our minds, as we hold the image of the recovery process, to direct our cells to be designed the way we want.