Exercise Guide

Breathe Your Way To Healthier Life

“I don’t have the time to exercise!”

“At that specific time, I’m not available!”

Do all the above sound familiar to most people who want to stay healthier but could not do so due to a number of reasons? The list can go on endless

“How nice if I can get to do something easily - at anytime and anywhere, and stay healthy!”

Yes - now you can!

Huh? How?

By just changing the way you breathe, that’s all!

“Kidding me???”

No, I’m serious!

Most of us, in fact 98% of North Americans do not breathe correctly. Friends, co-workers, students, clients and vendors I came to know around me do not breathe correctly. Some of my friends I keep contact with through the Internet know how to breathe correctly but do not do so.

There are two reasons why they do not do so. First, they do not know the correct breathing methods. Secondly, they know but do not know how to learn and practice so that it becomes a habit. I would like to share in this article on how to solve these two reasons so that you too can breathe your way to healthier life and well-being, easily at anytime and anywhere.

First of all, let me explain what are not the correct breathing methods then only move on to the correct method. Most people breathe using the chest or the upper diaphragm. Worst still if they breathe through the mouth. Breathing in this way will result in shorter, shallower and coarser breath.

Shorter, shallower and coarser breath does not allow the air to go in deep enough to oxidize the cells in the lungs. This of course results in lesser oxygen intake into the blood systems. Breathing through the mouth will let unwanted elements in the air to go into our blood systems. Mouth breathing is one of the reasons that cause you to snore in your sleep.

Even if you are tired or gasping for air after strenuous sports or activities, try to breathe through the nose, except when you are swimming.

The correct breathing pattern is long, deep and in smaller flows. Long breath allows more time for the lung cells to be oxidize and send more oxygen into the blood system. This increase the metabolism rate, and increase blood circulation throughout your mind and body.

I believe most of you know what deep breathing is about, and I’m sure some of you have done this. Felt better each time you did deep breathing? Of course, you did. I will explain this from the Chinese point of view why deep breathing is good.

In meditation practice, martial arts or qigong practice, one of the requirements to make these practices effective is to “Sink the Qi into the Dantian“. Qi here means vital energy, and in the same time - air. Dantian is the acupuncture point (acu-point) at 1-2 inches below the navel which gathers the vital energy Qi for our body.

Sinking the Qi into the Dantian - can be achieved through long and deep breathing. With more vital energy coming into your body, your energy level will increase, and you will have a healthier and clearer energy body.

Breathing should be done in smaller flows. This will result in a calm and relaxed disposition and composure.

How to achieve all this?

The secret to long and deep breathing, with smaller flows is to breath with your abdomen or lower diaphragm. This is called Abdominal Breathing.

Abdominal Breathing is the key areas taught by most instructors, whether they are Tai Chi Chuan instructors, martial arts shifu, Qigong master, Yoga guru or meditation masters. From my experience in energy healing - my master emphasizes on abdominal breathing during healing session and energy meditation!

Unfortunately, some people took abdominal breathing lightly. Sad to say, some don’t even bother to learn and practice. Understandably, they have been breathing using the chest over the past what, 10 years, 20 years 30 years? It has become their habit. So, if you want to change your breathing pattern overnight and make it a habit, you need to put in the effort to do so.

This comes to the second reason as to why people do not breathe correctly despite of knowing the technique.

First of all, I came to know that most instructor tell their students about abdominal breathing. Some showed them how to do it. But the students have to consciously doing it, and in the same time focus on the movements, motions, postures, steps etc and etc and soon before that, their forgot about their abdominal breathing!

Most of them focus on the form, not on the essence! I have a Tai Chi friend from New Zealand who shared with me that his friends do Tai Chi, but do not feel Tai Chi. Breathing forms the essential parts of the practice and for you to understand and ‘feel’ the flow of Tai Chi.

Secondly, I came to know friends who tried to practice abdominal breathing, and they got confused and breathless - don’t know which is which: the chest or the abdomen! They gave up instantly.

Thirdly, I myself took almost 2 years of conscious and constant practice to make it a habit! Now, I’m doing it unconsciously - as a habit! Thus, to consciously doing it is easy. To make it a habit takes time and effort. That’s why most give up after that!

So, how to make it a habit?

Based on Tai Chi Chuan’s healing and breathing system, plus my 23 years of experience in various meditation forms, martial arts and Tai Chi Chuan, I derived a 5-Step Systems which I call as Tai Chi Breathing to help my friends to ‘habitualize’ abdominal breathing. The 5-Steps are:

• Step 1: Connect the channels with the tongue touching the upper palate.
• Step 2: Abdominal breathing by using the lower abdomen.
• Step 3: Use the nose to breathe, with the mouth tightly closed
• Step 4: Breathe deeply, with long, slow and with tiny flows of inhaling and exhaling.
• Step 5: Maintain the slow and constant breathing rhythm.

These 5 steps each consists its background and reasons, and I designed many exercises and practices for each of the steps specifically for you to master each of the steps, towards making it your breathing habit.

These steps look easy, but they require exercises and constant practice in order to make it a habit. I have friends e-mailing to me saying that how these steps helped them to keep focus and conscious effort to make abdominal breathing a habit in their life. One of them told me that he stopped smoking because of this!

Where can you get these exercises and practices. Go to my website under my name or author profile to find out more.

Till then, I wish you with great health, great joy and happiness. And may you breathe your way to a better life!

May the Energy of Tai Chi be with you!

***** Copyright (C), 2005 C. Guan Soo *****

You are free to distribute or publish this article provided you do not change any of the content, and/or delete my name and URL from the article. Thank you!

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Is it the great physical body that you are seeking or how your beautiful body will help you connect to your mind and spirit? What if I told you that you might just find so much more than your beautiful body when you start exercising and getting your body in great physical shape? What if you looked at exercise in a little different way that would help you find that beautiful person and spirit that has been hiding inside your physical body? As we Americans and people throughout the world see more and more beautiful bodies on both televisions and in magazines we tend to want to have these bodies. If I told you that by just focusing on getting this beautiful body you may become discouraged and this may lead to not attaining the goal you set out to attain, what would you think?

What I am trying to illustrate here is through focusing your intentions on something more that just the process of working out, to shifting your attitude to freeing your body and soul to a higher consciousness level. By allowing the physical process of exercise to open the doors to a more purposeful life one may find that the joy of living is a much higher reward than the beautiful body.

In using the body and the physical exercise to open yourself to a more fulfilled life you can transform your life and really become alive again. Stating the intention of your workout to connect the mind, body and spiritual aspects of your life would allow you to use your time exercising at the gym or in a yoga class not only to get healthy but also to connect with your soul and higher self.

Many of us may be aware of how physical activity can release the negative energy, such as stress, from our bodies. Exercise can free the body and mind to feel more vibrant, more joy for life and help to open yourself up to receiving the higher vibrations of creativity and purpose in your life. Physical fitness can be the starting place to open a pathway to harmonious living.

One of the ways you can really open yourself to more fulfillment is to focus your intention on what you want to get out of your exercise and physical activity. Keep in mind that you are using this activity to also open pathways to your mind, body and spirit. Other thoughts or intentions you can hold in your minds eyes is how you want to feel inside, such as a feeling of well being and being whole and complete just as you are in this moment.

You should not be too hard on yourself by setting unrealistic goals and definitely do not criticize yourself. You want to connect to yourself and pay attention to how you are feeling, both emotionally and physically. Criticizing yourself will only defeat the purpose of your exercise. The purpose of your exercise program should be to feel better about yourself and the connection to your mind, body and spirit.

Also pay attention to how certain parts of your body may be communicating to you. Pay attention to how your legs are feeling, your abs, your arms and other parts of your body both internally and externally. See if there is any negative or emotional energy that is being released as you are working out. Make sure you are breathing deeply, relaxing and releasing stress, so that you are more open to releasing any blocks to your connection to your mind, body and spirit.

Mostly have fun, for that’s a big part of our experience here on this planet. Pay attention to how you and your body are feeling and look to see if you are connecting to something more than just your physical body but a connecting to this amazing universe you are a part of.

This is Douglas Alp exploring how we can live better and more complete lives of happiness and abundance. Please check out my Free 17 page report on Optimal Health and Anti Aging. Click away!
http://mycompletelife.com/index.html

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Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, the concept of Qi is extremely important. Qi can be translated as energy. It’s a form of life energy. Every living thing has Qi, even plants.

For us - human being, Qi plays a very important role. It’s your LIFE!

It regulates the proper functions of your body. The five vitals and six organs of your body must function properly in order for you to maintain good health.

The five vitals are the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys; and the six organs are the stomach, gall-bladder, big intestines, small intestines, bladder and the three systems which include respiratory, digestive and eliminative.

The concepts of five vitals and six organs are based on I-Chings’ yin and yang, plus “Internal Text of the Yellow Emperor“. This means, if its yin and yang elements are balanced - all the internal organs and systems should function properly.

And good Qi circulations in your body maintain the functionality of the five vitals and six organs. It strikes a balance of elements in your internal organs and systems.

In Chinese medicine, it is stated that our body has various meridians and network that carry our vital energy or life energy throughout our body. There are many meridians and networks in our body. All these together are known as the 12 Meridians and Networks.

Each of our body has all these 12 Meridians and Networks, which is divided as follows:

1. Meridians which includes 3 Yin Hand Meridians, 3 Yang Hand Meridians, 3 Yin Leg Meridians, 3 Yang Leg Meridians, 12 Alternate Meridians, 12 Sinews Meridians, and the Weird Meridians of 8 Channels.
2. Networks which includes 15 Networks, Floating Network, Sun
   Network and 12 Skin Networks.

Out of these meridians and networks, there are 2 which belong to the Weird Meridians of 8 Channels, are the most important one - which is known as Ren Channel and Du Channel.

I have seen authors translated Ren literally to Employment Meridian and Du literally to Supervisory Meridian.

Yes, it is the correct meaning of the characters. I prefer to use Ren and Du as it is in Pinying as, frankly, I’m not too sure of its actual meaning to render it correctly in English. The reason I use ‘Channel’ is to differentiate these from the meridians which is more accurate to describe its nature.

Qi travels around this two major Channel to ensure your organs and internal systems function properly. The complete travel of the Qi through Du and Ren Channels forms a complete circulation cycle which is known as One Heavenly Circulation.

If the Qi did not complete the Heavenly Circulation, and gathers at Dantian, then whatever Qi we absorb or collected will be lost or faded away. Therefore it is important for you to make sure that the Qi is able to travel through both Du and Ren Channels.

Thus it is important to make sure that these Channels are connected while breathing - to guarantee that Qi flow smoothly through your body and serve you as your diehard loyal servant.

And this is specifically why it is important to Connect the Channels - to increase the Qi circulation and guarantee you the maximum effects of whatever practices that you are doing now. This also increases the effectiveness of Abdominal Breathing manifolds.

The best thing about this technique, you don’t have to lift a finger to do it. Straightly out-of-the-mind simple! It’s sad to see that many do not know this technique and reap it powerful benefits for better health.

C. Guan Soo is a Tai Chi Chuan practitioner who has 23 years experience in various meditation forms, various martial arts, healing, chakra healing as well. He is a keen learner of eastern philosophies including I-Ching, Daoism, Buddhism, Veda’s and Jainism. His website http://www.TaichiBreathing.com aims to share with the masses on using proper Tai Chi Breathing for better health and sharper and more alert mind.

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