Qigong Breathing
Facts About Qigong Breathing
Qigong breathing is an Eastern yogic type of exercise that is supposed to slow your breathing and redirect your chi energy to make you healthier. One of the things that qigong breathing does is supply more oxygen to the body and when this oxygen reaches the brain, you are able to be calmer and think more clearly.
Qigong breathing is breathing that originates in the diaphragm. You have to breathe deeply and use the entire chest. Most people, especially Westerners, tend to breathe from the top half of their chest, which is constricting and a total waste of lung capacity. No one can just start out doing well with qigong breathing. It is a learned or trained type of inhaling and exhaling.
One of the ways to start this new breathing technique is to start to focus fully on your breathing and see where you are in terms of breaths per minute, and if you are just breathing shallowly from your lungs or breathing from your diaphragm. Some people participate in activities where they are taught to breath from the diaphragm. For example, people who take voice lessons or learn to play a musical instrument are taught the importance of breathing from the diaphragm in the very beginning of their lessons.
Practicing qigong breathing is best done in a class or workshop where you have someone teaching you who already knows how to do it. For instance, most people normally breathe at around twenty breaths per minute. The goal at the beginning of qigong is to practice exercises to try and get down go around eight breaths per minute. After you have practiced qigong for some years, you should be down to four or even two breaths per minute.
This slow breathing has tremendous benefits to your health. These include improved focus, a heightened immune system, lower heart beat, lower blood pressure, and lower body temperature. This is all based on the theory that the slower you breathe, the longer you live. Techniques of imagery and visualization often accompany the practice of qigong breathing. Qi is actually the energy that fills up your body when you breathe properly. It is this energy which can be distributed to all parts of your body to heal whatever conditions or diseases are present.
This type of breathing is meant to bring positive energy into your body when you inhale and get rid of negative energy when you exhale. People who have illnesses try to channel the positive energy into whichever part of the body is diseased or injured. Qigong will eventually make you calmer, both your mind and your body. As your energy increases, it will flow to every cell in your body, and the effect will be a total body healing.
It is not easy for the Western mind or Western thinking to comprehend this sort of energy transference. It all begins with the belief that there is a spiritual body of life energy surrounding our physical bodies. The qi is the energy, and qigong is learning to use that energy and direct it through breathing. Most people who practice qigong breathing believe that qi is the energy of God or the energy of life itself.
Qi breathing can be used to promote everyday health and healing. Some people practice this breathing because it is simply part of a healthy lifestyle. Other people seek a specific healing through the presence of the energy, such as for a lymphoma or other type of cancer. For whatever reasons you want to give qi breathing a try, if you stick with the exercises, the chances are that you will fill your life with positive energy.