On breathing in Taijiquan
I begin my form with a complete, deep and gentle exhalation, which cleanses my mind of unwanted thoughts, drives spent energy out of my lungs, and makes room for the oxygen-rich air streaming in. I incline slightly forward by softly sinking or bending at the hips, as if I were about to sink into sleep; this is also called Song Kua. After exhaling completely, I inhale gently, and this heightens my awareness and energizes my thumb, index and middle fingers [William Chen often calls them the "Three Fingers" — translator's note]. As I continue to inhale, these fingers drive my hands further outward and upward, and my arm follows. My upper body slowly straightens at the hips until it is vertically upright and the first Taiji posture is formed. At this point my lungs are filled with oxygen and my mind is gently awake.
To complete the full breathing cycle and move into the next posture, I exhale again gently and completely, whereby my awareness decreases and my fingers are de-energized until they are no longer active. My hands and arms gradually fall downward and inward. My upper body inclines slightly forward, I sink at the hips, my mind clears and begins to "fall asleep," and the posture dissolves. Then I inhale fully and gently again, my mind "wakes up," and forms the next posture.
This natural alternation of inhaling/exhaling, awareness/unawareness, and conscious/unconscious shows the contrast of yin and yang presented in Chinese philosophy in the Book of Changes (Yijing). When inhaling, the mind is "yang" — active, positive, and expanding. When exhaling, the mind is "yin" — passive, negative, and receptive. Whenever my mind "falls asleep" during the 60 movements of my Taijiquan form, the body is de-energized; as I sink at the hips, my upper body inclines slightly forward and the posture is dissolved. All of this is "yin" again.
Then my mind "wakes up," energizes the body, my upper body straightens from the hips, and forms a new posture. This is "yang."
In these slow movements of Taijiquan, mental awareness follows the breathing. During inhalation, awareness increases and the body is charged with qi energy. In this way the Three Fingers are slowly stimulated and guide the hands into a Taiji posture. During exhalation, awareness decreases. As a result, the Taiji posture dissolves. In Chinese, qi means energy. There are many categories of qi, some of which I name here:
Older Chinese citizens know that Taijiquan helps them preserve their sexual energy; that is why they can still father children at eighty or even ninety years of age.
The most significant energy is Yuanqi — without it, our life ends. In Taijiquan, the term qi refers to inner, essential energy. It is a mixture of highly concentrated chemical energies that exist in the body. The Chinese also call this Yuanqi the original life force, which has dwelled within us since birth. Without it we are capable of nothing. It is required for all mental and physical abilities; without it we cannot talk, walk, or think. Life would be like a living death (coma or vegetative state).
When the body is moved, chemical processes take place, and this energy conversion increases the pressure in the body. Releasing it lets the compression subside again.
Breath is not breathing. Yuanqi is identical with our breath, or the so-called "inner gas" [gas in the sense of fuel — translator's note]. The breath gives us energy to talk, to think, or to perform physical actions. Someone who runs a distance to catch a train may not be able to speak into his phone because he is out of breath — but of course he is still breathing. When a fighter in the ring is out of breath, he cannot strike back; the referee will pull him out as "winded." It follows that the breath is an inner gas [an inner fuel].
This inner energy, Yuanqi, can — through changes of pressure — raise our body into sitting or standing, as well as produce high speed for powerful punches and kicks. With this compression one trains the body to also absorb punches and kicks; Chinese martial artists call this "Iron Shirt."
Yuanqi, the breath, or the inner gas is useless without an adequate supply of oxygen and the power of the mind. For example, during sleep the body has no compression; the pressure is low and the body has no power of resistance — it is like a flat tire. When we have enough energy but the mind is too weak, too tired, or unconscious, the body likewise cannot function. Mental awareness and physical fitness are both needed to apply pressure energy.
It is like a ball with no air in it, or a car tire without air pressure — they are useless and flat. Yuanqi, the breath, or the inner gas without sufficient oxygen is like good dry wood that will not burn without oxygen. Taking in oxygen is very important for our health, for mental activities, and for all life processes. The air we inhale contains only 21 percent oxygen. With shallow breathing we therefore take in less oxygen; when we take a deep, complete breath, we take in correspondingly more oxygen. The gentle, deep, and complete breathing of Taijiquan allows more oxygen to be absorbed by the lungs. In proportion to the amount of oxygen we have in our system, we can produce more energy. This can help to prevent illness, repair tissue, and push back cancer.
When we inhale and oxygen streams into the lungs, the mind is energized and "wakes up." When we exhale, spent gas is expelled, the mind is de-energized, and "sinks into sleep."
When we say "Yes," the upper body straightens vertically; as soon as we say "No," we exhale, the hips sink, and the upper body inclines slightly. Correspondingly, we inhale as soon as we are resolved to do something, and exhale when we resolve to do nothing.
[I have not translated "Yes" and "No," because "Yes" is a plosive that builds compression in the body, while "No" presupposes a wide opening of the larynx through which the air streams out, reducing compression. In my opinion, the German "Ja" and "Nein" do not correspond to this. — Translator's note]
While we drink — sipping a coffee, a tea, or a good glass of wine — we neither inhale nor exhale, but directly after the swallow we exhale.
In our daily activities we use natural diaphragmatic breathing. When the mind generates a thought that awakens the desire for activity, we inhale. Whether we serve someone a coffee, raise a hand to greet a friend, or demonstrate the image of a Taiji posture, we inhale. The inhalation at the beginning of an action and the gentle movement of the hands are interwoven with breathing and attention. The inflowing oxygen increases the inner energy and brings forth mental and physical activity.
We finish the task with an exhalation. When the thought fades, attention and energy decrease, and the metabolic waste is exhaled.
When we lie in bed, we breathe naturally. We sense how the breathing changes the shape of our abdomen — how it expands outward as we inhale and relaxes inward as we exhale. First thing in the morning, upon waking, we take a nice deep inhalation. At night, shortly before falling asleep, we release all our tensions with a soothing exhalation. A good night's sleep with few or no disturbances can balance our natural breathing system.
Breathing also stands in close relation to our emotions, which in turn are connected with our attention and our desires. When we are happy, we inhale; the body straightens up and we appear cheerful. When we are unhappy, we exhale; the body slumps in on itself and we wear a gloomy expression. We inhale when raising a hand in agreement, and exhale when we do not agree or have no interest. When inhaling, our blood pressure falls and the heart rate rises. When exhaling, blood pressure increases and the heart rate decreases. The connection between breathing and emotion can, under certain circumstances, change our blood pressure and our heart rate.
Inhaling oxygen heightens cellular activity in the brain and in the body, which in turn raises mental consciousness and stimulates the flow of energy in the body. The fuel for the brain is sugar (glucose); it burns like a wildfire as soon as oxygen is added. When the body takes up the released energy, the brain "wakes up."
With every exhalation, spent energy is breathed out of the lungs; mental tensions and unwanted thoughts decrease. It helps to loosen all the joints of the body and let the energy sink down into the ground.
Inhaling lets thought activity increase; exhaling lets it decrease. Too much thought creates stress; too little thought may lead to a boring or less productive life and can keep one from meeting one's obligations to society. As ordinary people we need a balance between inhaling and exhaling. Inhaling brings oxygen into the lungs and thereby into the bloodstream for the body's needs. Exhaling, in turn, frees the lungs of the waste of metabolism. A balance of both is needed for a balance in life.
Without a complete exhalation to free the lungs of accumulated waste products, the lungs' capacity to take up oxygen is limited. Mixing oxygen with waste products reduces the efficiency with which oxygen is made available to the body, and this is damaging to the cells. This process can cause a weakening of mind and body, as well as premature aging, and it can also contribute to the loss of memory performance and of balance when walking, and overall cause general problems of the inner organs.
A good flow of oxygen is crucial for the needs of the cells of the brain and the body. The gentle, complete exhalation when practicing Taijiquan opens up ample room for oxygen in the lungs, which streams in through a gentle, complete inhalation. This supply of oxygen helps prevent the problems that elderly fellow citizens experience as loss of memory performance and physical capability.
Exhaling the carbon dioxide from the lungs is important, just as a good room in a building needs a good ventilation system. This ensures that all the "smell" is removed from the building's room and exchanged for fresh air for the body's needs. In the same measure, a complete exhalation preceding a healthy inhalation prevents the good oxygen from being devalued by carbon dioxide remaining in the lungs. This will improve the activity of all cells.
A greater supply of oxygen is enormously important for our cells. The survival of the billions of cells of our body depends on oxygen. This applies in a special way to the brain. An insufficient supply of oxygen can cause brain damage or lead to death within a few minutes.
The oxygen that enters via the lungs races into the bloodstream and reaches the brain in less than half a second. In any case, the main obstacle to oxygen enrichment is the limited space in the lungs due to the accumulation of carbon dioxide. A large oxygen intake is important for the body. It strengthens the immune system and promotes the function of the brain, the heart, the liver, and the nervous system; it increases resistance to disease and balance when walking.
In all our daily mental and physical activities, the interactions of mind, body, and breathing are interwoven in complex ways. In our everyday breathing we inhale more than we exhale. Over the course of the day we continually want to do something; thoughts arise, so more oxygen is needed. We inhale; oxygen is drawn into the lungs, where it is needed in the brain and body for the heightened activities. Exhalation always falls short in comparison with inhalation.
Because we live in this disorderly, chaotic, unpredictable, and very stressful world, we are constantly thinking of something, worrying, always busy. It is almost inevitable that the mind becomes restless. When mental activity surges, the growing fullness of the mind interrupts the exhalation. We inhale as soon as we answer the phone, reach for a pen, or want to do anything at all — whether at home or in the office, even in sleep when we awaken from a nightmare. Even when we should continue with an exhalation to free the lungs for more fresh air, we nevertheless inhale more than we exhale, day after day, hour after hour, and in every moment.
Since our everyday balance of inhaling to exhaling has fallen out of equilibrium, we need awareness of how we breathe. Breathing, consciousness, and movement are interlinked, and when we grasp how these three work together and what significance that has, we can achieve profound mental and physical improvements.
In this light, the true merits of Taijiquan withstand examination. When serving a coffee or tea in harmony with an inhalation, the speed of movement is about ten centimeters per second. The calm movements of Taijiquan are even slower. There is no need for an exaggerated compression of energy in these kinds of movements.
This is a great difference from hard martial arts styles or Western boxing, whose goal is the maximization of speed and highest power. Their goal lies beyond normal physical abilities and thus requires additional compression of energies. The pitch of a shout or a loud cry, as produced by our vocal cords, is an indicator of the explosive power in our body. The greater the compression, the more powerful the explosion, and the louder the cry. The cry is not the result of an exhalation: it is a compression of energy from inside the body. This is part of a synergetic process that heightens explosive forces such as those needed for physical actions — for example, punches, kicks, weightlifting, and jumps.
It corresponds to a physical law that every energy pressed downward produces an equal energy directed upward. "The higher the fireball of a bomb explosion rises into the air, the deeper the crater." As the outward flow of energy is compressed through the vocal cords, a cry is produced. The more explosive force is compressed in the body, the louder the cry generated through the vocal cords; the more the explosive energy is compressed into the dantian in the lower abdomen, the more extra force and impact is made available for physical actions. Immediately after the cry, or the fast punch, or the lifting of the weight, the exhalation follows.
In Taiji boxing, as in pushing, a higher compression is created in the body by closing the larynx.
In my Taijiquan form I have made some changes to make practicing easier — that is, more pleasant, more relaxed, and therefore more effective — for beginners and also for advanced students. In contrast to styles with low stances and large steps, my Taijiquan form is practiced with higher stances and small steps. The practice of the Taijiquan form demands a slow shifting of weight from one leg to the other. When practitioners relax correctly, the weight has a tendency to sink downward. It follows that practitioners experience a certain fatigue and exhaustion in the legs, and this leads to an unconscious tension in the upper body and ultimately impairs body coordination and the gentle flow of energy. My higher stances and smaller steps are designed to prevent such possibilities. The most efficient angle in the knee for an action of the quadriceps is between ten and twenty degrees. A runner or a fighter in the ring never bends the knees too much.
An important principle for breathing in Taijiquan: before every inhalation, exhale completely. In the transitions we should let the breathing happen freely and naturally. Even if it is difficult to breathe out all the metabolic waste, we want to release as much of it as possible. What could help us release more of it? When we perform the Taijiquan form and sink while inclining the upper body slightly forward, this causes a higher release of carbon dioxide from the body and thereby enables a greater intake of oxygen for the body's needs. Relaxation during the movements helps to clear all the passages and thus allows a more effective and more even distribution of oxygen. Taijiquan reduces high blood pressure and causes no violent breathing from physical exertion, nor hyperventilation. It also causes no short breaths from the upper chest, which would be a sign of stress or overload. Instead, Taijiquan teaches the full exchange of metabolic waste and oxygen for the needs of all body cells, and the slow and gentle breathing helps us regulate the nervous system. By balancing gentle and deep exhalation and inhalation, it promotes physical relaxation and mental serenity.
The movements are effortless and continuous, slow and gentle; they flow and dance like quiet clouds in the sky. The mind is therefore peaceful, free of worries, and free of the tensions of the world. The peace and calm of Taiji practice unite mind, body, and thoughts; this enables the practitioner to feel indescribably calm, serene, and cool. A peaceful mind is free of worries — and free of stress.
The concept of my natural breathing in the 60 movements of my form comes from the early 1950s, when I was the assistant of Professor Zheng Manqing (Cheng Man-ching). He said again and again that the breathing system in practicing Taijiquan is based on natural breathing. "When the inside is open, the outside is closed" — that is, when spent gas is expelled from the lungs, hands and arms sink inward. "When the outside is open, the inside is closed" — meaning that arms and hands expand outward while the lungs fill with air energy. Zheng Manqing admonished us: "Don't worry too much — natural breathing will automatically harmonize with the natural movements of Taijiquan."
There are many Taiji players whose breathing differs from mine when practicing Taijiquan. I do not feel that they are wrong and I am right; they will have their reasons. A proverb says: "All roads lead to Rome" — that holds as long as you reach your goal.
I would like to thank all my students who have been learning with me and supporting me for years. This gives me the wonderful opportunity to learn from my teaching and to find confirmation of appropriate breath coordination.
The coordination of breathing is only one way of approaching the merits of Taijiquan; there are numerous others that should also be considered. This article explains how and why I follow natural diaphragmatic breathing. I am very pleased that this breathing is as beneficial for health as it is for all actions of the martial art.