Breathing issues once again...

[caesar]

Hi,

I know it's a topic often discussed but I feel I should ask this anyway.

Since it is often recommended for beginners not to put too much focus on breathing...but also if a beginner asks about the form, fluidness, or stiffness felt, he might be adviced to be aware of breathing being continuous and natural.

There are often times while practicing, that I notice I'm not breathing properly. It leads to me being aware of: inhale/exhale. So after I'm aware of the breathing, it somehow feels natural for me to move in the form with the rhythm of breathing. It's then easier to relax and I often feel that the practice is more fun and after practice I feel less stiffness and my breathing goes on by itself more easily.

Is this ok to do, or is this a some kind of "beginners trap" ? I'd like to add more to this question or explain it more detailed, but feels too difficult.

I usually tend to think "what feels good to your body, must not be harmful." So I would go on with my discovery if I wouldn't ask the question...still the advises usually given for beginners "not to focus too much on breathing" confuse me.

[Josh Young]

i can relate to you what my teacher related to me and then i can relate to you what i have learned and read via study and practice.

My teacher told me to breathe normally when learning the form and practicing it and that gradually my form and my breath will align naturally. He said that while breath is very important in relation to taijiquan one should not focus on it or the mind will not be right. Paying too much attention to breath will interfere with the development of listening skills because your mind will be at your breath when it needs to be in a state of wuji, a calm and aware state with no specific focus or intent. In this regard his teaching was that breath is important, but mind state is also very important and one should not sacrifice the proper mind state to obtain a proper breath state, he often said never force the breath.

In reading and further study one will encounter the noises and breathing patterns that are linked with expressing jin. One of the main ways this is trained is through qigong and other forms of meditation.

Lets take an example of a posture from the form and examine it, Peng is an energy that is found in all of taijiquan, it is the foundation energy. When we perform a single ward off movement it matches the breath, there is a single breath for the movement and they should match. When you are doing the form slow then the breath is slow, but if you are using the posture/energy quickly then the breath is also very quick. However this should be natural and not be forced or your mind will be disconnected from wuji/taiji.

I suggest, and make sure that this does not contradict the wishes of your instructor, that you take the very first motion from the form and do it over and over, many hundreds of times a day, for a couple of weeks, then move on to the next, do not worry about doing the whole form when you are doing this, just focus on getting the posture into the memory of your body, it will flow and you will likely breathe perfectly through it without even noticing at all.

It is said that having one posture down perfectly is better than knowing 1000 postures well. The same type of reasoning applies to the breath, if you can focus on doing one posture with the breath right, you will gain more benefit than from doing the whole form focused upon the breath, also once you have the breath right in the first posture and do not have to force it or think about it, you will find that breathing properly in the rest of the form comes naturally.

However i am not a master or an expert, just a student of the art, so it is best to consult others and ignore what i say.

[caesar]

Thank you for advice. If I repeatedly do a single move from the form for a long while...I start feeling like my breath creates a rhythm with the move. I'm not trying to control it, I only notice it sometimes. Is this something what you meant?

[Josh Young]

If I repeatedly do a single move from the form for a long while...I start feeling like my breath creates a rhythm with the move. I'm not trying to control it, I only notice it sometimes. Is this something what you meant?

Yes.