Question About Breathing

[frank462]

When practicing Taijichuan there are certain times to Inhale and certain times to Exhale. My question is which of the following methods is correct:
1) Inhale through the nose, Exhale through the mouth.
2) Inhale through the mouth, Exhale through the nose.
3) Inhale and Exhale through the mouth.
4) Inhale and Exhale through the nose.


Thanks,
Frank

[Dvivid]

Hi, we typically breathe in and out through the nose all the time, when relaxed. We sometimes exhale through the mouth if manifesting power, such as yelling 'Ha!'.

People practicing internal arts, qigong, meditation should use this breathing if possible/comfortable, because there is a risk when exhaling heavily through the mouth, of stimulating the vagus nerve, which stimulates your sympathetic nervous system resulting in elevated stress hormones in the bloodstream! not the effect we're looking for.

Hope this helps.

[frank462]

Thanks for the quick reply. It was very helpful.


frank