Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts Blog

I was in a class yesterday when another student asked the teacher a question about how often you should meditate.

It was an interesting question but my answer might be different than some.

One of the martial arts books that I bought back in the 1970s was "Man of Contrasts," by Hee Il Cho. It was a book about Taekwondo, but at the beginning of the book was a remarkable poem that has stayed with me ever since. Here is the poem:

I can find peace

amidst the cities roar

before the dry, frayed face of confusion,

the exhausted hour.

My peace is cradled within.

This poem came back to me around 1999 when I found myself walking through the crowded sidewalks of Times Square in New York City. People were almost shoulder-to-shoulder, walking in all directions, and instead of being stressed, I found that I was calm, centered, with a feeling of being connected to each person who rushed by -- peace amidst the city's roar.

I began doing qigong in 1987. My goal was to recreate the feeling of inner...

Internal Breathing for Tai Chi, Qigong, Bagua and Xingyi

There are three ways to breathe when doing the internal arts and qigong:

Normal breathing -- Expand when you inhale and contract when you exhale.
Reverse breathing -- Abdomen draws inward when you inhale and expands and drops outward when you exhale.
Internal (sometimes called Deep) breathing -- Diaphragm expands downward when you inhale but your chest and abdomen do not outwardly expand very much, and your diaphragm contracts upward when you exhale.

Normal Breathing

I have heard Chen Xiaowang being asked how you should breathe when doing a Taiji form.

"Natural is best," he always said.

But many Taiji masters say that when you reach higher levels, you may use reverse breathing or internal breathing.

I have always used reverse breathing when doing Qigong, but recently, I have been using Internal breathing.

Reverse Breathing

With reverse breathing, when you inhale, your abdomen and Dantien draw inward toward the Ming Men...

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

How Often Do You Meditate?

Internal Breathing for Tai Chi, Qigong, Bagua and Xingyi

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