Breathing is a big problem in Tai Ji Chuan's sports, which involves Tai Ji Chuan's internal strength and its relationship with Qigong, Boxing, Pushing Hands and Wushu. In fact, Tai Ji Chuan's internal strength is mainly Qigong (including nourishing kung fu, of course).
A summary of Tai Ji Chuan's breathing method
So some people say, "Tai Ji Chuan is the best dynamic form of Qigong, and Qigong is Tai Ji Chuan's internal strength." Others say that "Tai Ji Chuan is an advanced qigong". It is precisely because Tai Ji Chuan is a kind of advanced kung fu that combines movement and static, combines internal and external training, combines emotional strength, condenses vigor and spirit, and integrates fitness, body protection, brain strengthening and refreshing, and prolongs life and nourishes, so the Tai Ji Chuan movement has been enduring for hundreds of years. Unlike some achievement methods, it is not without reason that they are prosperous for a while and slowly fade away. Unfortunately, people have not paid enough attention to Tai Ji Chuan's internal strength, especially his breathing problems. When it comes to breathing, it is often the word "natural breathing". Some people even put forward some arguments about the relationship between breathing and exercise, calling it "mystifying", which is not a scientific attitude. Looking through some Tai Ji Chuan's works, articles and materials, there is still a lack of systematic and clear explanation on Tai Ji Chuan's breathing mechanism and mode, such as the relationship between internal breathing and external breathing, and the coordination between internal breathing and external breathing and boxing movements. Some people emphasize that breathing should be "thin, slow, deep and even" when playing Tai Ji Chuan. However, in the Chen-style Tai Ji Chuan, which combines rigidity and softness with alternating speed, many movements need to be strong and powerful, including jumping and jumping, and even Yang-style and Wu-style fast frames have fast movements. How can I make my breathing "thin, slow, deep and spoonful"? Some boxing theories talk about breathing together, while others advocate breathing together. According to Chen Taiji's boxing theory of "opening and closing everywhere" and "opening in the middle and closing in the middle", some boxing methods are "opening at the top and closing at the bottom" at the same time (such as the crane shining its wings), and some are "opening at the bottom and closing at the top" (lazy to tie clothes, etc.). ), as well as "open chest on the back" and "close chest on the back". Some people mechanically draw a list of breathing and sucking, going forward and backward, fighting and transforming, developing and storing, stretching and bending, falling and rising, leaning and leaning backward, which cannot be fully explained. You don't have to shout if you push, but you can also suck if you lift your knee and bump into the block. For example, when the elbow rolls back, the interception force is generated, and the suction force is also a hair, not a storage. That is to say, the statement of "abdomen, inspiration and anus lifting" in boxing theory is powerful, so the statement of "breathing in" is also inaccurate.
In addition, there are some people who talk about "Tai Chi imparting internal skills" and "Tai Chi imparting qigong", but only talk about the exercise of static skills and Gong Zhuang's vitality, or the operation of internal qi such as Qi, Zhong Qi and Zong Qi. However, the relationship between the operation of internal qi and lung breathing and the movement of boxing frame has not been mentioned or fully explained. The so-called taiji chuan nei gong and taiji chuan quan rack are still two skins, which are the basic functions at most. People who talk about internal strength often have different opinions, and some say "inspiration returns to Tian Dan"; Some people say that "exhaled air sinks into the abdomen", which is also inconclusive.
Chen Xingong's explanation of Chen Tai Ji Chuan emphasized the relationship between internal qi movement and some boxing methods, but failed to clarify the relationship between internal respiration and external respiration. Some famous contemporary Tai Ji Chuan scholars oppose the combination of Tai Ji Chuan and Zhou Tiangong. In fact, Zhou Tiangong is an important part of Qigong, and it is also an integral part of the meridian theory of traditional Chinese medicine. Without talking about Zhou Tiangong (internal breathing), it is difficult to understand the breathing method of Taiji Chuan. Therefore, in all previous Tai Ji Chuan classes, almost every time, students raised Tai Ji Chuan's breathing problems and asked the coach to answer them. The answer is often "natural breathing", which is difficult to meet the requirements of the students. According to Chen Zhaokui, some people practice Chen-style Tai Ji Chuan, but they don't know the breathing rules, so they hold their breath and have an accident of vomiting blood. Thus, Tai Ji Chuan's respiratory problems should be paid attention to and studied by Tai Ji Chuan enthusiasts and Tai Ji Chuan experts. The author has been practicing boxing for 30 years and has not fully understood this important topic. However, since I studied Chen-style Tai Ji Chuan under Mr. Chen Zhaokui, I have been groping and understanding in practice, and I have also made some achievements. Now, as a person who throws a brick to attract jade, I will elaborate the following humble opinions for the reference of my peers and hope to give criticism and correction.
First, the human body breathes with the universe.
The human body is a complex and open giant system. Its characteristics are: first, this huge system itself has many levels; The second is the interaction with its surrounding environment, that is, what the ancients called "harmony between man and nature" and "correspondence between man and nature". Tai Ji Chuan is a magic weapon for body-building and self-defense based on the Book of Changes, Taoist Taiji theory of Yin and Yang, the technique of guiding breathing and keeping in good health, and ancient art of war. There is no doubt that the holistic view of "harmony between man and nature" and "correspondence between man and nature" should also be embodied in boxing.
Some people call the idea of "the unity of man and nature" the theory of holographic unity of the universe, and think that the human body and the universe are a unity, and the human body is a small universe in the universe, so all its dynamics should be in harmony with nature. Of course, human breath is no exception. It should breathe with nature. People's respiratory system should be an important channel for the communication between human qi and the cosmic atmosphere, and boxing should be "people are in qi, gas is in people" (Bao Puzi). That is, as "Nature of Life" said, "Breathe in and breathe out, breathe into the sky, and heaven and man are one, and they are linked to each other to swallow and spit", thus integrating with the universe. An American put it well: "When we feel integrated with the universe, it is a pure and positive moment of happiness." Americans talk about the art of living.
People who practice Tai Ji Chuan should know more about the unified relationship between the human body and the universe, and consciously let their own breathing and the universe breathe when practicing boxing.
The basic function of the human respiratory system is to breathe in the subtle atmosphere (including oxygen, some special nutrients and information energy), and to spit out carbon dioxide and all polluting gases through the process of breathing in and out, thus realizing gas exchange. At the same time, this gas exchange process between human body and nature is a multi-level complex process. The respiratory system of human body includes at least three levels, or three functions and three channels, namely, lung respiration, body respiration and abdominal respiration, and the gas exchange of human body is always realized through these three respiratory subsystems. However, most people are familiar with the function of nose-nose breathing (lung breathing), but little is known about the other two important breathing channels, namely "Mao Qiao breathing" (body breathing) and "Dantian breathing" (also known as internal breathing and fetal breathing).
In fact, human bodies promote, communicate and coordinate with each other to form a complete respiratory system, thus promoting the circulation of qi and blood and promoting the exertion of various functions.
People who know Chinese medicine and practice Qigong know that "everything has qi", and all parts of the human body have gasification movement all the time, which can communicate with the outside atmosphere. A well-trained person can relatively stop breathing in the lungs for a certain period of time and rely on abdominal breathing and postural breathing (that is, Maoqiao breathing) to maintain his life. People who practice Bigu also rely on the breath of Dantian and Maoqiao to absorb nutrients from nature to maintain their lives.
I don't advocate people to practice breathing from the valley or abandon their lungs, but to explore how to give full play to the respiratory function of the human body in the process of playing Tai Ji Chuan, and how to pay attention to Maoqiao breathing and Dantian breathing while breathing the lungs, so as to facilitate the adjustment and exertion of various potential functions of the human body. Health-preserving experts in past dynasties emphasized the methods of Qigong, such as "taking the essence of the sun", "taking the essence of the moon" and "taking the light of the sun and the moon", all of which emphasized body breathing. They talked about letting "five colors flow in the mouth and five colors flow in the moon" to meet them. (See "Eight Stories of Respect for Life").
Therefore, in the process of practicing boxing, we should take into account the overall functions of these three breathing channels. How to Realize Maoqiao Breathing (Somatosensory Breathing) In the process of practicing boxing, my experience is: Before boxing, you should first put yourself in a "qigong state", and after turning over a new leaf and concentrating on silence, you should integrate yourself with the universe in your mind, that is, feel that you are bathed in the atmosphere. In the process of boxing, you can open hundreds of millions of pores in your body with your mind and breathe with nature. That is, there is a feeling that "people are in the air and gas is in people". Further imagine all your open pores, suck in all the beautiful nutrients and information energy in the atmosphere, and at the same time expel your own polluted air. In the whole process of boxing, with the surge of internal breathing, I feel that hundreds of millions of pores in my body, like hundreds of millions of bubbles in my lungs, are constantly exchanging beneficial gases. I feel that "the natural space is gone, and a little bit of it, such as dew, such as the electric sun, enters the Xuan door with a bang ... and turns into a shower, but falls into the body, so I instigate the wind to respond to it, so that it can expel the evil of three customs and nine tricks and sweep away the dirt of the internal organs" (the essence of life).
Chen Xin's "Chen Shi Tai Ji Chuan Tu Shuo" also said that "relaxing muscles and bones, attacking fur" (lung governs fur). To this end, when boxing, you should use your mind to guide your whole body to relax, your inner spirit is bulging, your appearance is full, and your whole body fur and the breath of nature are swaying each other. Choose a boxing venue as far as possible, preferably in mountainous areas, forests, watersides and other places with many negative ions and fresh air. Chen Tai Ji Chuan needs to face south to practice boxing along the magnetic field direction, which can promote the gas exchange between the body and nature, and promote the growth of gas entering the body with the help of the external force of the magnetic field.
When boxing, you should breathe with the universe and give full play to the three respiratory functions of the human body. This is the first point I want to clarify. Below I will focus on the relationship between internal breathing and external breathing.
Second, the harmonious relationship between internal breathing and external breathing.
Internal breathing, I mean abdominal breathing, some people call it abdominal breathing, I think the word "abdominal breathing" can not accurately express the characteristics of abdominal breathing. Because the abdomen is in the lower abdomen, not the whole abdomen. External respiration refers to lung respiration and hair bridge respiration. What are the leading roles and hubs of the three? Most people naturally regard lung breathing as the most important thing. Once the lungs stop breathing, life will soon end. But for those who practice internal skills and Tai Ji Chuan, the combination of abdomen breathing and lung breathing is the most important.
Tai Ji Chuan famous artists attach great importance to internal breathing, although there is no such name as "Qi in the belly". Chen's "Going out of the kidney and entering the kidney is the real trick" ("Illustration of Taiji Biography"); Yang Cheng-fu said that "Qi can enter the abdomen, and the abdomen is the general vessel of qi, which is divided into four bodies and hundreds of nuclei, and flows around the whole body" (Tai Chi Chuan Usage), all of which emphasized the important role of qi in the abdomen (or "Qi between kidneys"). In particular, Mr. Sun Lutang spoke more specifically. He said: "When I practice boxing, my breathing point is still in my abdomen." "It's always a breath inside and outside." I was really angry and went down to my abdomen. At the same time, the chest and lungs expand and the diaphragm sinks, pushing the true qi in the abdomen downward and backward, and rising along the arc of the Du meridian, which is called "qi sticking to the back" and "gathering people into the spine" in boxing theory, that is, "energy" when attacking. At the same time, the true qi "returns to the abdomen" along the hand, the three yang and the three yin, and then rises to the governor through the perineum, gathering qi in the life gate (the second half of Sunday).
Exhale: the chest and lungs contract, exhale polluted air, and the lower abdomen (abdomen) expands, and all of them, including the Ming Gate, have a feeling of swelling (at this time, the rising diaphragm forces the lungs to exhale polluted air). At this time, the true qi of Ren meridian continues to sink into the abdomen, while the true qi of Du meridian is partially "strong after" and "full of middle qi". The other part goes up Baihui (or starts from Dazhui point), and then sinks in Dantian arc (that is, the first half of Xiaozhoutian). At the same time, the true qi "permeates the four ends" along the three Yin San Yang. Breathing through the four tips is conducive to the smooth microcirculation in health care and is "vitality" in martial arts. Just as the boxing theory says: from "strength to the back" to "strength to the four tips", the feet step on the hands, the up and down follow each other, the front and back are connected, and the inner strength is supported on all sides. In other words, Laozi said that "the heavens are fundamentally connected" and the ancients said that "the chest is connected with the universe".
In this way, two and a half circles together make a whole circle, that is, a small Sunday (or a big Sunday or a small Sunday), like a yin-yang fish in Tai Chi. Female fish expand, male fish contract, and vice versa. Breathing in the abdomen and breathing in the lungs (including breathing in the hair orifices, because "the lung governs the fur") are both yin and yang, and their movements are coordinated and mutually promoted, that is, "Yin and Yang swing", thus promoting the movement of human life and the growth of human strength.
In order to explain the relationship between lung breathing and abdominal breathing more vividly, I thought of bellows used in folk cooking. This kind of bellows pushes and pulls, just like human breathing. When pushing forward, inhale deeply from the air inlet, and at the same time blow the internal air to the stove fire through the mountain tuyere; When the bellows lever is pulled out, half of the wind will be spit out from the air inlet, and the other half will still blow air into the furnace cavity through the air outlet. From this metaphor, whether exhaling or inhaling, the true qi should be sent to the Dan furnace (Dantian) for refining gas, that is, the accumulation, dissipation and operation of the true qi in Dantian can be promoted through the surge of lung breathing.
Abdominal breathing is like another bellows. Through the surge of acquired breathing, the true qi gathers, dissipates and moves along the meridians. Whether inhaling or exhaling, you should press down, so when boxing, you should emphasize that the small abdomen should be full no matter inhaling or exhaling, so as to realize the solid lower plate and the virtual upper plate. Even when a part of Du meridian permeates people, the other part will return to Quandantian along Ren meridian. At the same time, the encouraging effect of dantian opening and closing can give full play to the respiratory function of the lungs. The constant mutual encouragement of the two styles will inevitably make the human qi and blood flow vigorously all over the body. Of course, the function of bellows on human breathing is different, it is straight and straight, and the circulation of human qi is to transport gas to all meridians and even four ends of human body through spiral surge, thus enhancing the function of microcirculation.
In fact, Taoism is an alchemist by putting a furnace in the furnace, that is, through the method of cultivating the breath of dantian, to get through the Sunday, so as to achieve the purpose of harmony between fire and water, intersection of heart and kidney, dense yin and yang, health and longevity. Chen Xin's "Ren-mai Du-mai Theory" is extremely vivid. It reads: "After working for a long time, water will burst into flames in generate and flowers will bloom in the thunder. Kidney will be as hot as soup, bladder meridian will be fire, and qi will be self-sufficient. Ren Du is like a wheel, breathing and inhaling, and the difference between true qi is here. " Explain clearly, vividly and vividly the role of internal qi movement in boxing.
It is generally believed that lung breathing is the only channel for human gas exchange. In fact, for those who practice, this is a kind of "forgetful" breathing method. As we all know, before birth and landing, people rely entirely on fetal interest (that is, abdominal breathing). After landing, although they began to breathe from the heart, the abdominal part did not stop breathing. It expands with the heart and pushes each other (the obvious abdominal breathing state of the baby can be observed). With the growth, people gradually ignore abdominal breathing, and only Taoist health preserving family, some enlightened family, Tai Ji Chuan family and Qigong family still attach importance to this kind of internal breathing.
Now, some medical scientists have begun to pay attention to and study the function of breathing in the human body. For example, Mr. Huang Liang, a famous medical scientist in Taiwan Province, China, explained through his long-term verification: "If the human body only pays attention to deep breathing in the lungs and only pursues the increase of vital capacity, but does not pay attention to downward bleeding, it will often cause chest tightness, head swelling, dry mouth, palpitations and other symptoms. People who practice internal skills pay attention to the lower qi (qi sinks in the abdomen) and use abdominal breathing, then the above-mentioned bad phenomena will disappear. " (See "Yi Yu") Therefore, for those who practice Tai Ji Chuan, the respiratory function of Dantian can never be ignored. Dantian is not only the focus of human movement, but also the core part of refining essence. Breathing in Dantian is the leading and pivotal part of the three respiratory functions of human body.
The above focuses on the relationship between internal breathing and external breathing. Let me talk about my personal exploration in solving the relationship between boxing action and breathing.
Third, the opening and closing of Sunday is a coordinated way between breathing and exercise.
The coordination of Tai Ji Chuan's breathing and boxing movements is the key to the coordination, combination and unification of Tai Ji Chuan's internal and external skills.
After years of careful observation, the author realized that "opening and closing breathing on Sunday" was the best way for Tai Ji Chuan to coordinate internal and external breathing and boxing movements. What day is Sunday? I refer to the so-called "Little Sunday" in which the true qi runs when practicing internal skills, the second pulse of Ren Du passes through the front and back three passes for a week, and the twelve pulse of Qi Jing and the eight pulse of Qi Jing get through. In addition, it also includes the so-called "Xiao Zhou Tian", that is, the internal qi flows from navel to perineum, then to Mingmen, and from Mingmen to navel, forming a circle of "turning abdomen" between two points.
What are the opening and closing on Sunday?
When the true qi rotates along the meridian for one week (big week, small week or small week), the action of boxing is basically an opening and closing, or a person is called to inhale and inhale into the abdomen, and the true qi circulates for one week, and the figure is outside, so it is an opening and closing. For the average person, even if the big and small Sundays are not yet open, you can turn a small Sunday in Dantian to drive the boxing movements to open and close. In this way, the internal breathing and movements are coordinated, and the inside and outside are separated, so that the whole body is one and the inside and outside are one.
This paper expounds the basic characteristics of the opening and closing of Sunday and the Sky from the following aspects:
(1) Based on the boxing principle of "no movement inside, no hair outside", under the guidance of thought, Dantian's breathing (one breath and one suction cycle) drives the opening and closing of boxing movements. Breathing is fully open (expansion) and sucking is fully closed (contraction). No matter whether the external action circle is large or small, the length and speed of its running arc are consistent with the rhythm of Dantian's breathing. At the same time, internal breathing, external breathing and action coordination. Of course, there are flat, vertical and oblique circles in the abdomen, which is the most basic form!
(2) The coordination of breath and movement opening and closing in Dantian is based on strength and energy. It is inappropriate to try to link the movements of up and down, storage, transformation and attack with the opening and closing of breathing, because suction is not necessarily storage, and transformation is not necessarily breathing. A boxing theory in "Five-character Tactics" just illustrates this problem: "If you smoke, you can naturally afford it, and you can also afford it; If you shout, you will naturally sink. Let people out. "Inhalation can also be sent in, and breathing can also be sent out. So how to make the opening and closing of breathing closely related to boxing and martial arts? I think it should be based on "strength" and "human strength" in general, and strength means opening; Energetic means sucking, which means combining. Only in this way can we embody the relationship of unity of opposites, that is, we can breathe (open) and hit (close), because Tai Ji Chuan is martial arts after all, and the basis (starting point) for the combination of breathing and movement should be people's self-defense instinct and the laws of martial arts mechanics.
Abdominal breathing is generally consistent with the opening and closing of movements, but it is not appropriate to stick to a fixed pattern. The movements are easily completely consistent with Dan Lao's breathing, but some movements are "opening up and closing down" or "opening up and closing down". At this point, the breath in the abdomen is "breathing" or "sucking".
How to achieve internal and external coordination, I think in this case, we should take "output" and "input" as the basis of coordination, such as "lazy to tie clothes", and the third action is to pull up (close) and enter (open), is it to suck or shout? It depends on whether it was mainly the introduction (combination) or the attack (opening) of the next set. The former is to be energetic, and the latter is to be energetic. If it is the former, it is sucking; The latter is a call. According to the boxing principle of "introduction failure, come out", the general rule is that "introduction failure" can be called or sucked. Because induction has contraction and expansion, but "out" must be breathing, "in" must be sucking (breathing must be accompanied by a breath, breathing must be accompanied by a breath).
(3) Take boxing as an example and describe it in detail. Take the "left rush" and "right rush" of Chen's Tai Ji Chuan Second Road (cannon hammer) as an example. The left and right movements are relatively simple, but rolling, releasing and sucking are very vivid. Action 1: When you make a fist with both hands and walk along the arc to the front of the abdomen, it is to get gas, pull gas, and suck it. The gas moves from the abdomen through the perineum to the Mingmen, then goes up through the Du meridian and sticks to the back; At the same time, the qi of foot three yin rises through perineum and reaches back. Action 2: When the fists move upward and arc forward (the fists shake up and down), exhale, and part of the true qi goes down along Ren meridian and returns to Dantian; At the same time, part of the true qi of the back du meridian is sent out through Sanyin; At the same time, the foot, the sun and the ground are connected at the same time, which shows that the gas penetrates the four ends and the force reaches the four ends, and the trinity of meaning, gas and force makes the flow directions of "gas returning to Dantian" and "gas penetrating the four ends" coordinated. At the same time, the whole body is booing, transparent and smooth, and the muscles are consistent, so that the internal breathing and external breathing are also coordinated with the body breathing.
(4) In the process of practicing boxing, it doesn't mean that you have to go through customs (big and small Sundays) after practicing the opening and closing breathing method on Sunday. Customs clearance, through practicing boxing, pay attention to Sunday's opening method, consolidate and improve the customs clearance effect and internal energy; Those who fail to pass the exam will definitely be helpful to pass the exam through this kind of breathing exercise. If you pay more attention to the combination of static and dynamic, the effect will be better. "Dynamic and static complement each other, and Yin and Yang are balanced" (preface to Chen Shi's Taiji Biography)
(5) The breathing frequency is not absolutely consistent with the rhythm of movement opening and closing. Boxing speed depends on people's needs, and fighting skills depend on "enemy change", so boxing speed can be divided into fast and slow, sometimes it is fast after ancestors, sometimes fast and slow, and sometimes several quick moves in succession. Among them, how to coordinate action and breathing, I think the breathing frequency and action frequency are roughly the same, but they are not absolutely the same, but the breathing speed of Dantian is generally the same as that of nose and mouth. In a slow action, you may need to breathe twice, or add a short call between a long call, which is a strength in technical attack (such as "diamond tamping cone" action 3). On the contrary, sometimes two or even more violent actions are completed continuously in one call, such as the fifty-eighth "rapid fire" of Chen Tai Ji Chuan Second Road (gun hammer), that is, three rapid actions are completed in one call.
(6) Pay attention to exhaling when boxing. Tai Ji Chuan's breathing mentioned above should give full play to the functions of various respiratory systems of the human body, and all respiratory subsystems should take Tian Chan's breathing (internal breathing) as the general hub. The coordination of breathing and movement opening and closing should also be driven by Tian Chan's internal rotation (small Sunday), and the significance of opening and closing should be based on strength (expansion). However, readers should pay attention to my above arguments for those who are well-trained in boxing. For beginners of Tai Ji Chuan, we should give priority to natural breathing, pay attention to exhalation, gradually explore our own breathing rules, give full play to the function of human breathing, and gradually make our boxing achieve excellent kung fu. In a word, "every movement in boxing is obedient and hard", and so is breathing.
At present, everyone is calling for pushing Tai Ji Chuan to the world. I think it is necessary to push it abroad for the benefit of mankind. However, I think it is more important to strengthen our own scientific research work from the microscopic point of view, especially to study the internal laws of Tai Ji Chuan (such as internal work and other projects), so that the cause of Tai Ji Chuan in the motherland can continue to innovate and develop on the basis of hard work, and then make greater contributions to mankind.
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