Chigong Benefits Beginners-Guide and Breath Tech
The basic principle of healing through Chigong emphasizes adjusting the body, breath, and mind, highlighting the concept of “unity of intention and energy.”
Chigong involves using the power of thoughts to guide relaxation, induce stillness, and adjust the functions of the brain and various levels of nerve centers beneath the cortex. It can influence both the brain and nervous system and directly impact various tissue systems, organs, and even cells.
Chigong can promote overall well-being, making the body harmonious like the sun and moon, in tune with nature, balancing movement and stillness, and enhancing natural healing and physical strength.
Benefits of practicing Chigong include:
- Effective Fatigue Elimination: Chigong can effectively eliminate fatigue, restore energy, and keep practitioners energized. People experiencing fatigue often feel mentally exhausted and physically relaxed, but Chigong exercises can alleviate and recover the nervous system from excessive stimulation, quickly eliminating fatigue, and providing vitality for energetic activities. Vitality symbolizes youth, and youth is a symbol of beauty. Clear mind, full spirit, and quick reflexes are important aspects of bodily beauty.
- Cultivation of Vital Energy: Chigong helps cultivate vital energy, resisting premature aging. An important role of Chigong practice is nurturing “true qi.” Traditional Chinese medicine believes that facial features and skin reflect the external manifestations of the five organs’ energy. Abundant true qi leads to flourishing vital energy and a healthy appearance. Through Chigong practice, the increasing abundance of true qi enhances the body’s ability to resist diseases, preventing premature aging and maintaining youthfulness.
- Improvement of Microcirculation: Chigong can enhance overall microcirculation, resulting in a rosy complexion and hydrated skin. Experimental observations reveal that Chigong exercises improve the body’s microcirculation, opening more capillaries and increasing blood flow rate, thereby promoting tissue metabolism, enhancing skin nutrition, improving skin tissue, and giving it a fine and moist texture.
- Enhancement of Personal Character: Chigong can beautify one’s temperament and refine one’s disposition. True beauty is a harmonious unity of facial expression, body, and spirit. Aspects like a person’s spiritual outlook, temperament, and demeanor are internal manifestations. The “mind adjustment” technique in Chigong not only teaches maintaining mental stillness but also plays a crucial role in cultivating one’s character.
Traditional Chinese medicine has various Chigong schools and techniques. Individuals can choose different methods based on their specific situations. As long as the practice is gradual and consistent, unexpected positive effects can occur.
Practicing Chigong is a quite common way to exercise in daily life. Chigong not only helps people cultivate good behavior but also maintains physical and mental health to some extent. So, how do you start learning Chigong? Let’s give a simple introduction.
How to Start Practicing Chigong?
Methods for Getting Started:
When starting Chigong, there are different methods for body adjustment, such as the natural stance, ball-holding stance, desk-supporting stance, and stacked palms stance.
Natural Stance:
- Stand with feet parallel on the ground, preferably shoulder-width apart.
- Slightly bend your knees while keeping your head upright and neck straight.
- Avoid hunching or arching your back to prevent adverse effects.
- Keep your tongue flat and lightly close your lips without tightly sealing them.
- Relax your shoulders, let your arms hang naturally at your sides.
- Eyes should be looking straight ahead, focused without distractions.
These body adjustment methods are crucial for beginners to ensure the effectiveness of Chigong practice. Regular practice in this way contributes to both physical and mental well-being.
How to Do Ball-Holding Chigong Stance?
Ball-holding stance involves:
- Standing naturally with arms initially rotated inward, placed on both sides of the body.
- Arms then rotate outward, and palms cross in front, embracing the chest.
- The height of the crossed arms should align with the chest, fingertips about 10 centimeters apart.
- Keep the waist relaxed, and the lower body slightly lowered.
- Maintain an upright upper body, eyes looking straight ahead, and palms can also be held in front at the navel height.
Chigong Breath
Breath adjustment is the key part for beginners, the methods can be broadly categorized into the following types:
- Natural Breathing:
- Involves breathing at a natural rate, following individual habits and methods.
- Chest Breathing:
- Inhale with a slight contraction of the abdomen, expanding the chest, allowing air to fully enter the chest. Exhale while relaxing. Avoid forceful inhalation.
- Abdominal Breathing:
- Regular Abdominal Breathing: Inhale with the abdomen rising, exhale with the abdomen sinking.
- Reverse Abdominal Breathing: Inhale with the abdomen sinking, exhale with the abdomen rising.
- Deep Inhale and Exhale:
- Nose Inhale, Nose Exhale: Extend the duration of each breath, producing a relatively louder sound.
- Nose Inhale, Mouth Exhale: Similar to the above method.
- Extended Breath:
- Involves slightly lengthening the time for nose inhalation and nose exhalation compared to natural breathing.
- Martial Breath:
- Similar to extended breath but with mouth inhalation and mouth exhalation.
- Combined Breath:
- Involves nose inhalation and mouth exhalation.
- Deep Breathing:
- Build on nose inhalation and nose exhalation, maximizing the intake and release of air.
- Explosive Breath:
- Involves short and rapid breaths with abdominal contractions, forcing air out through the nose.
- Pause Breath:
- Inhale, pause, and exhale either through the nose or mouth, with varying durations from 2 to 10 seconds.
- Inhale-Inhale-Exhale:
- Two quick nose inhalations followed by a longer exhalation.
- Sound and Silence Breath:
- Inhale silently, exhale with audible sounds as required.
- Swallowing Breath:
- Inhale through the mouth, swallow the air into the abdomen, exhale slowly through the nose.
- Fetal Breath:
- Mimics the breathing of a baby in the womb, with a breathing rate decreasing to one or two breaths per minute.
- Turtle Breath:
- Also known as hibernation breath, involves not using the nose or mouth for breathing but utilizing the entire body’s pores. Both Fetal Breath and Turtle Breath naturally develop through prolonged Chigong practice and shouldn’t be forced.