Qigong Breathing Methods

There are two sites that I recommend which describe the first two stages in learning qigong breathing methods. The first is Following the Breath. This is where you learn to relax, allow distractions to disperse and then focus your intent. Some teachers would call this stage "training the monkey mind." The second step is to gradually work on the Stages in Abdominal Breathing. This blog entry describes the process of learning normal abdominal breathing.

Reverse abdominal breathing is an advanced method of Taoist respiration practiced by martial artists who practice tai chi chuan, ba gua and martial forms of qigong.  It is also used as a meditative technique for gathering qi in the dantien and increasing your total life force, making it of great utility in healing and disease prevention.

It is good to intellectually know these different methods and the sequence for learning them.  However, it is important to not leap forward before you have significant experience with the lower levels.  Thus, learning of reverse breathing should only occur after having some experience in the first two methods.  Be comfortable with each stage for at least a month before proceeding to the next stage.  Patience in learning these breathing methods will serve your progress well.

Qigong Meditation

"Qigong meditation" is a redundant phrase, because if you are doing qigong, your are engaging in a form of meditation. Static meditation postures are probably more familiar to most, sitting cross-legged or in a chair. In the qigong tradition, there are also static standing postures, or zhan zhuang.

The principles used in static meditations are carried into the movement forms, where practitioners observe tranquility and maintain internal awareness to become familiar with the emptiness within movement and the interplay between yin and yang energies as they practice the forms.

A meditative mindset is aided in the movement forms by focusing on centering the movements from the lower dantien and by doing them in a mindfully - mindful of the physical movements and how they are being performed, the state of mind, the internal aspects including the energy flow and the breathing.

Meditation can be done on a single physical aspect of a movement over fixed periods of time so that one makes stepwise improvement in awareness and ability, much in the way that sitting meditations often focus on a single aspect, such as following the breath.  Once this is mastered, one can progress to a more advanced practice like abdominal breathing. In moving practices, repeating a movement oven and over is helpful, but it is also helpful to focus on one aspect of a movement, such as movement from a single part of the body like the wrists or elbows.

Another aspect of Qigong Meditation in the Water Tradition is that there is no force.  Force has no role within this tradition, rather, it can hinder your progress.  Use your intention in a gentle fashion to bring you back to your practice when distractions occur. Return back to your central point of meditation.  

So, if you are doing qigong and you aren't meditating (or focusing in a relaxed manner), you are just dancing or doing free-form movement. Not that this wouldn't improve your health or result in healing (it would help with flexibility and mobility at least) but it does not include the internal aspects of meditation and energy development that are the principle benefits of Chinese qigong practice.