Breathing Technique

For beginning Tai Chi practitioners, integration of the breath is introduced with a fairly general set of guidelines:

• Inhale while being receptive (or rising); exhale while being expressive (or sinking). 
• Breathe slowly and fully, into the abdomen.

In short, one should try to match the pace of the breath to the slow, rhythmic movements that comprise Tai Chi Chuan.

The health benefits of synchronizing the breath with our movement cannot be overstated. Breathing slowly allows the parasympathetic system to get into full swing; the heart rate slows down and the digestive system becomes activated. Filling the lungs simultaneously maximizes oxygen exchange and allows the diaphragm to help the abdominal organs massage each other. This is good stuff.

Curiously enough, while most of us learned to breath abdominally as infants, we can find it difficult as adults to slow the breath down and maintain a regulated pace. Here are a few tips and techniques that can help you get back to those good ol' days: 

Breathing slowly (regulation).  
• Inhale and exhale through the nose.
• Gently contract the muscles of the glottis and nasopharynx (upper throat), just enough so that a slight seashell "ocean sound" is created in the windpipe.
• Slightly pressing the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth may help maintain this control. 

Breathing fully (depth). Filling the lungs with air requires that you use the diaphragm to breathe.  
• As an exercise, place your left hand on your abdomen, just below the navel; place your right hand on your chest. Now, try to breathe into the space beneath your left hand. The goal is to fill the abdomen before the hand on your chest begins to rise. 
• If you are having trouble pulling the breath down, try this exercise that isolates the diaphragm. Lay on your back and place a book or two on your abdomen. Breathing slowly, try to lift it with the inhale and lower it with the exhale.

If this appears similar to ujjayi breathing, it is. By bringing this level of attention to your practice of Tai Chi Chuan, you will gradually begin to see how the movement and breath are linked and feel support each other. 

Practice often; you'll probably never get too tired to breathe anytime soon.

Alignment 105: The Hands

So you've rooted the feet, used the legs to spring, directed that power with the waist and channeled that energy up the spine and down the shoulders... now it's time to express.

We want the forearms and hands to be awake yet soft enough to listen.

When a hand form requires activation with a wrist bend (sitting hand, cut, united fingertips, knuckle punch), balance the activation with the alignment. The activation of the wrist allows the energy to flow down one side of the forearm to reach the hand. However, twisting the wrist or making the joint too angular will block the flow. As a general rule, do not bend the joint so far as to create major flexion folds in the wrist.

If the hand form does not require activation in the wrist (jab, punch, back fist), keep that channel open down the forearm to the middle knuckle – straight as an arrow!

Finally, keep the fingers together. This simple action calls for a little bit of effort in the hand that keeps it alert. When writing a letter or painting, notice that your hand is not gripping the pen or brush too tightly; nor is the connection too loose. It's in a state somewhere in-between – a place that is strong to the point of being supportive, yet relaxed enough to receive direct feedback from its action. This is what the hands will do by connecting the fingers: they become the interface.

The next time you settle into the horse riding stance at the beginning of the form, listen to the hands activate. Next, continue to carry that sensation throughout the entire form.

Go play; express yourself.