Internal Breathing for Tai Chi, Qigong, Bagua and Xingyi

There are three ways to breathe when doing the internal arts and qigong:
 
  1. Normal breathing -- Expand when you inhale and contract when you exhale.
  2. Reverse breathing -- Abdomen draws inward when you inhale and expands and drops outward when you exhale.
  3. 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...
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