TECHNIQUE. EASY SELF TEST.
Inhale
In a sitting/standing position, try this:
Invert the process, same order:
QI GONG BASICS
There’s a whole world beyond a single breath, but we’ll just visit a little room in a small block this time.
Try these breathing practices whenever you feel anxious or deprived of energy. Also use them before workout, and see the effect!
BREATHING APPLIED
Whether you run, cycle or lift weights, your breathing pattern should fit the activity you’re practicing. Everyone has his own way of breathing during sports, but I feel I can give you a road sign to follow if you’re a total beginner or if you feel your actual habit may have space for improvement.
Aerobics:
Aerobic activities require consistent breathing rate and gapless breathing flow, I mean you have to constantly pump in and out a huge amount of air to sprinkle the working tissues with fresh oxygen and provide a good “waste recycling” process. To do that, try this: breathe in for a 2 tempo and breathe out for a 4 tempo; the tempo is a step if you’re running, a thrust on the pedal if you’re cycling and so on. You can change this ratio as in car tuning, your fuel/air ratio may vary if you need more energy in a specific period, to do this, simply add 1 to the breathing in tempo, if this is not enough, subtract 1 to the breathing out tempo.
Rest
When you STOP running, cycling, lifting, punching etc. you MUST keep on breathing AND moving! If you don’t do it, your body can’t get rid of its energy production byproducts like lactic acid, and you’re tired after every training session.
Try this: when you stop, instead of laying on the floor like you have been shot by a sniper, hold on and continue with the breathing pattern while you get into a light run in place or walk around for 3/5 minutes or until you get back your natural breath.
Do this EVERY time, and you’ll feel ready for the next run in no time!
LIFTING
When you lift weights your breath does much more than giving your muscles the energy to contract, it “locks” your soft tissues and gives you stability.
Whenever you’re lifting follow this simple rule:
Breathe in when you go to the sticking point (the hard part of the movement), breathe out from that point to the end of contraction.
An example is on a barbell curl, you start taking the barbell off the rack (you already breathed in) and push it to your chin (while you breathe out), then during the movement which brings you back to the rack you breathe in, “pumping” yourself you prepare to support the concentric movement with a consistent breathing out. When you breathe in, you charge a spring by slowly pumping air into your lower abdomen and chest. If you’re ¾ of the total capacity you’re ok, you won’t go over that while lifting. Then you release the spring and push that iron as strong as you can and SLOWLY breathe out, in a controlled action, you PSSSSSSST air out of your nose or mouth while you keep your abdomen contracted. This is your safety belt, if you keep your abdomen contracted during the concentric portion of a movement, you won’t get injured that easily, it also gives you extra stability during the movement, and this is very important when you’re trying to isolate a muscle. If you don’t isolate muscles mentally and physically, you’re like a bricklayer- you use your whole body to lift a weight, for sure this is functional, but have you ever seen a bricklayer on a magazine cover?
So try this pattern, you breathe in during the eccentric portion and breathe out in a controlled way during the concentric portion of a movement. You can even use a short “lock” on your breathing to pass over the sticking point, but I don’t suggest this to beginners as it is easier to get into a hernia or similar if you can’t “feel” your limit.
Now the final task is to bring this kind of breathing through the WHOLE DAY, whatever you do, working, training, talking, whatever.
To recap what “Breathing Awareness and Breathing Practices” can do for us we can say that proper breathing is a way to:
Inhale
In a sitting/standing position, try this:
- As you inhale feel expansion at the belly button that goes away from the spine.
- When you feel you can’t expand anymore, start expanding your rib cage.
- When your rib cage is expanded to its full, raise your clavicles and keep on inhaling.
Invert the process, same order:
- Push your belly button as close to your spine as you can while you exhale all the air.
- Now empty your ribcage and clavicles.
QI GONG BASICS
There’s a whole world beyond a single breath, but we’ll just visit a little room in a small block this time.
- Stand relaxed in front of a mirror with your legs bent at the knees, feel relaxed and ready.
- Put the palms of your hands at the navel facing the sky, fingers pointing the fingers of the other hand, a little space between fingers, don’t focus on how much!
- Breathe in and feel the breath is the very beginning of the movement, not your mind, your breath.
- Imagine you pull air from your stomach up towards your spine while keep on inhaling, slowly raise your hands towards the spine up to your chest.
- When you reach the nipples level slowly turn your hands, palms facing the ground and begin exhaling pretending that is your breath to move your hands downwards, in a single, fully controlled movement, while you do this imagine air going back from the chest down into the stomach.
Try these breathing practices whenever you feel anxious or deprived of energy. Also use them before workout, and see the effect!
BREATHING APPLIED
Whether you run, cycle or lift weights, your breathing pattern should fit the activity you’re practicing. Everyone has his own way of breathing during sports, but I feel I can give you a road sign to follow if you’re a total beginner or if you feel your actual habit may have space for improvement.
Aerobics:
Aerobic activities require consistent breathing rate and gapless breathing flow, I mean you have to constantly pump in and out a huge amount of air to sprinkle the working tissues with fresh oxygen and provide a good “waste recycling” process. To do that, try this: breathe in for a 2 tempo and breathe out for a 4 tempo; the tempo is a step if you’re running, a thrust on the pedal if you’re cycling and so on. You can change this ratio as in car tuning, your fuel/air ratio may vary if you need more energy in a specific period, to do this, simply add 1 to the breathing in tempo, if this is not enough, subtract 1 to the breathing out tempo.
Rest
When you STOP running, cycling, lifting, punching etc. you MUST keep on breathing AND moving! If you don’t do it, your body can’t get rid of its energy production byproducts like lactic acid, and you’re tired after every training session.
Try this: when you stop, instead of laying on the floor like you have been shot by a sniper, hold on and continue with the breathing pattern while you get into a light run in place or walk around for 3/5 minutes or until you get back your natural breath.
Do this EVERY time, and you’ll feel ready for the next run in no time!
LIFTING
When you lift weights your breath does much more than giving your muscles the energy to contract, it “locks” your soft tissues and gives you stability.
Whenever you’re lifting follow this simple rule:
Breathe in when you go to the sticking point (the hard part of the movement), breathe out from that point to the end of contraction.
An example is on a barbell curl, you start taking the barbell off the rack (you already breathed in) and push it to your chin (while you breathe out), then during the movement which brings you back to the rack you breathe in, “pumping” yourself you prepare to support the concentric movement with a consistent breathing out. When you breathe in, you charge a spring by slowly pumping air into your lower abdomen and chest. If you’re ¾ of the total capacity you’re ok, you won’t go over that while lifting. Then you release the spring and push that iron as strong as you can and SLOWLY breathe out, in a controlled action, you PSSSSSSST air out of your nose or mouth while you keep your abdomen contracted. This is your safety belt, if you keep your abdomen contracted during the concentric portion of a movement, you won’t get injured that easily, it also gives you extra stability during the movement, and this is very important when you’re trying to isolate a muscle. If you don’t isolate muscles mentally and physically, you’re like a bricklayer- you use your whole body to lift a weight, for sure this is functional, but have you ever seen a bricklayer on a magazine cover?
So try this pattern, you breathe in during the eccentric portion and breathe out in a controlled way during the concentric portion of a movement. You can even use a short “lock” on your breathing to pass over the sticking point, but I don’t suggest this to beginners as it is easier to get into a hernia or similar if you can’t “feel” your limit.
Now the final task is to bring this kind of breathing through the WHOLE DAY, whatever you do, working, training, talking, whatever.
To recap what “Breathing Awareness and Breathing Practices” can do for us we can say that proper breathing is a way to:
- Give your muscles plenty of oxygen to burn
- Secure position and avoid injury
- Isolate the muscle and maximize results
- Keep your mind clean and focused
- Boost metabolism
- Improve the functioning of the internal organs- liver, kidneys, heart, spleen and lungs
- Obtain more energy to meet the increasing demands of everyday life
- Link us to Dharma
- Calm our entire being
- Fill us up with Ki to be used later or throughout the day
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