Small Circulation(Micro Cosmic) Book Review

[abersold]

I just wanted to let anyone know what I thought of Dr. Yang's new book
Qigong Meditation "Small Circulation":

This new book on small circulation (Micro Cosmic) is without doubt a Qigong book that anyone who practices Qigong should own. It is the only book in English that covers in depth this practice without a bias view with fantasy and poetic writing; the writing style is the best yet from Ymaa to date in my view.

Dr. Yang has invested great deal of research and practice into this obviously without just trying to write another book. I think the editing on the book and sentence structure flows very well in the book also.

If you do Qigong buy this book it is the best written book on the subject and I like the fact he covers practical safety tips and usefullness in a Modern age. We all have seen the other books, this one for sure sets the standard.

Purchasing books from Ymaa help support the mission, I can remember when we had nothing; for a few dollars we are creating change to learn these practices at a faster rate with a great road map to success!

Small circulation I give it a A++

[SunTzu]

Hi

I wouldn't forget to mention to buy "Embryonic Breathing" first. It's a prequel to the "Small Circulation" book which covers the breathing theory. Also a must have for anyone half serious !!

[pizwatc]

How would you compare the new book with Dr. Yang's "Root of Qi Qong"? Does it have new or more detailed instructions? Thanks.

[pizwatc]

How would you compare the new book with Dr. Yang's "Root of Qi Qong"? Does it have new or more detailed instructions? Thanks.

[abersold]

How would you compare the new book with Dr. Yang's "Root of Qi Qong"? Does it have new or more detailed instructions? Thanks.

Sorry for long delay...have not been on in a loooong time..The Root of Chinese Qigong would be a must have for anyone; lay's many foundations that many breeze over. All the books follow a progressive approach and also mirror several of the workshops, I would add buy the new dvd, and scientific foundation video if still around.

[satori]

Hi all,

I am new to qigong but have been reading and referencing to the book on small circulation for practice, and really enjoying every bit of it. Previously, I was trained in pranayama(yoga breathing techniques) and over a period of time have sensation of prana/qi flowing into my body. Sometimes, I visualise to draw qi from my crown area to various part of my body but not very much aware of using my will to circulate qi effectively.
However,the Embryonic breathing helps me to be more aware of qi in my lower dantien and am now practicing the small circulation and I really finds it a much effective method of circulating qi than the yogic technique.

In my opinion, for those who have gained a good foundation in proper breathing technique such as deep abdominal breathing or retention breathing will find qigong very beneficial.

[Sascha]

Mr Satori

I've been curious about yoga breathing, particularly the complete yoga breath (I'm assuming this was a main technique you used). I hope people don't mind if I diverge a little bit from Qi Gong.

If the reader has not read "The Science of Breath" by Yogi Ramacharaka, you may wish to do so, as it is quite interesting to read about the foundation of another discipline - namely the complete Yogi breath (apparently) being the foundation of Yoga practices. No doubt some/many people who know more about Yoga may/will disagree. So if I'm wrong, please educate me !

This text is widely available on the net - google the title and author +".pdf" to find a pdf version of the document - I found it more readable than html.
Also, this text is written in excellent English and avoids most Yoga terminology.

Background for those who do not know the complete yoga breath. It is as follows (my understanding):
breathe into lower lungs, then middle lungs and then UPPER lungs. Expel air by drawing in abdominals and "collapsing chest". This is also often combined with a pattern (or variation thereof) of hold for 3 heart beats, inhale for 6 beats, hold for 3 heart beats, exhale for 6 heart beats - though I'm not certain if this strictly part of the complete yoga breath or an advanced practice thereof.

My questions:
1. How do you find the complete yoga breath compared to embryonic breathing (Abdominal and Reverse Abdominal - if you practice(d) these). Please compare/contrast the two.
2. Did you noticeably reduce "sex drive" with yoga breath - which it is said to do (by raising energies above lower tan tien - my interpretation). How does this compare to Embryonic breathing which puts a lot of Qi close to the sex center. (maybe we can go without thinking about sex for a couple of weeks after all - alas I've not practiced the yoga breath long enough to comment - see previous post by Dvivid)
3. Do you think that reverse abdominal breathing is an extension/abbreviation/ or perhaps even a misinterpretation of the complete yoga breath. (My understanding being that much of Yoga was exported to China and that QiGong breathing does not appear to put any emphasis on breathing into the upper lungs - except maybe reverse abdominal breathing which may do it by default - though again, there seems to be no emphasis on it in the reading I've done).
4. Did you also develop a feeling of Qi/warmth at your MIDDLE tan tien when you practiced your yoga breathing ? Did you feel this was beneficial.

If anyone else can shed light on these questions please do.
Also, please comment on lack of breathing into upper lungs during abdominal breathing (eg. do you also feel you are not using them during this type of breathing).
After reading the "Science of Breath" I feel the lack of breathing into upper lungs may be a distinct short coming of Qi Gong breathing techniques. Of course, my interpretation of them may be wrong, or I just forgot the salient parts written by Dr Yang. Again, if this is so, educate me !

Thanks for your help / comments

Regards

Sascha

[satori]

Mr Satori

I've been curious about yoga breathing, particularly the complete yoga breath (I'm assuming this was a main technique you used). I hope people don't mind if I diverge a little bit from Qi Gong.

If the reader has not read "The Science of Breath" by Yogi Ramacharaka, you may wish to do so, as it is quite interesting to read about the foundation of another discipline - namely the complete Yogi breath (apparently) being the foundation of Yoga practices. No doubt some/many people who know more about Yoga may/will disagree. So if I'm wrong, please educate me !

This text is widely available on the net - google the title and author +".pdf" to find a pdf version of the document - I found it more readable than html.
Also, this text is written in excellent English and avoids most Yoga terminology.

Background for those who do not know the complete yoga breath. It is as follows (my understanding):
breathe into lower lungs, then middle lungs and then UPPER lungs. Expel air by drawing in abdominals and "collapsing chest". This is also often combined with a pattern (or variation thereof) of hold for 3 heart beats, inhale for 6 beats, hold for 3 heart beats, exhale for 6 heart beats - though I'm not certain if this strictly part of the complete yoga breath or an advanced practice thereof.

My questions:
1. How do you find the complete yoga breath compared to embryonic breathing (Abdominal and Reverse Abdominal - if you practice(d) these). Please compare/contrast the two.
2. Did you noticeably reduce "sex drive" with yoga breath - which it is said to do (by raising energies above lower tan tien - my interpretation). How does this compare to Embryonic breathing which puts a lot of Qi close to the sex center. (maybe we can go without thinking about sex for a couple of weeks after all - alas I've not practiced the yoga breath long enough to comment - see previous post by Dvivid)
3. Do you think that reverse abdominal breathing is an extension/abbreviation/ or perhaps even a misinterpretation of the complete yoga breath. (My understanding being that much of Yoga was exported to China and that QiGong breathing does not appear to put any emphasis on breathing into the upper lungs - except maybe reverse abdominal breathing which may do it by default - though again, there seems to be no emphasis on it in the reading I've done).
4. Did you also develop a feeling of Qi/warmth at your MIDDLE tan tien when you practiced your yoga breathing ? Did you feel this was beneficial.

If anyone else can shed light on these questions please do.
Also, please comment on lack of breathing into upper lungs during abdominal breathing (eg. do you also feel you are not using them during this type of breathing).
After reading the "Science of Breath" I feel the lack of breathing into upper lungs may be a distinct short coming of Qi Gong breathing techniques. Of course, my interpretation of them may be wrong, or I just forgot the salient parts written by Dr Yang. Again, if this is so, educate me !

Thanks for your help / comments

Regards

Sascha

Hi Sasha,

I am not an expert in Pranayama but will share with you my experience with deep abdominal breathing and the various methods which are actually very beneficial for yogis out there who wish to learn qigong.
answer to question 1 :
Basic yoga breathing consists of both deep abdominal breathing and alternate nostril breathing. The advanced stage is retention breathing(inhale, hold the breath and exhale).
In my opinion, one has to learn deep abdominal breathing correctly before doing qigong. Embryonic breathing is actually similar to Moola Bandha(yoga advanced technique) and I would personally feel that this is definitely not for qigong beginners who never learn abdominal breathing before. To my understanding, reverse breathing is never taught in yoga but my experience on the reverse breathing with qigong is that it is more effective than abdominal breathing when leading qi to yongquan.
Answer to question 2 :
The small circulation qigong meditation is similar to Ajapa Dharana for yoga and the difference is that the latter can only be practised by those who have awakened chakras which the sexual energy(kundalini) is activated and rise through the spinal cord. Without this activation, it will take years for an aspirant to do ajapa dharana successfully. Yoga breathing helps to relax the mind and it is usually performed before meditation. There is a book called "Prana Pranayama Prana Vidya" by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati which you can refer for more in-depth knowledge on yoga breathing. In my opinion, yoga meditation with pranayama helps to purify not only the body, but the mind as well. This means you have a better control of your sexual urge, etc.

Answer to question 3:
I came to know about reverse breathing from qigong and find this very useful which I mentioned in my answer to question 1.

Answer to question 4:
It is very interesting that you asked if I develop a feeling of warmth during yogic breathing and I have to honestly say "NO" I only do yoga breathing prior to meditation. From Embryonic breathing point of view, I truly believe that one has to hold up the huiyin during exhalation to accumlate qi in the lower dan tien which is the energy store house. I only have sensation of warmth in my lower dantien when I practice embryonic breathing and after which it is very easy to distribute the qi to various part of my body.


I am very pleased to know about qigong and how wonderful it is to blend with my yoga practice.

you can pm me if you have any questions.

[Douglas Scott DuLac]

Sascha and Satori,

I have experienced warming of the body from a couple of pranayamas. It is beneficial if your cold!

Is the breathing set you talked about called ujjayi? The complete yoga breath. I never heard one called that before. Ujjayi is sort of an all purpose yoga breath and can be done any time. there are different stages to it. Some of the stages incorporate abdominal grips, and holding of breath. So, I thought the one you are talking about could be ujjayi.

Personally, I like to incorporate pranayamas at different times of the day than embryonic breathing or small circulation/ chi gung. This is mostly due to lack of time though. Although, occasionally, I do start with an alternate digital breath, incorporating a mula bandha and breath retention between inhale and exhale. This calms my nerves and I can meditate more effectively.

I do think that pranyama and chi gung is a good combination, especially since the general chi gung styles out there are fire styles and can increase emotions.

I have found many pranayamas to decrease sexual urges. Another reason for counter weighting the building of chi in the lower dan tien. But it is possible that when building the embryo that pranyamas should be set aside as it could hinder progress as the chi is moved up into the lungs. After the emryo is built then maybe pran. can be reintroduced.

I don't think abdominal breathing is a misinterpretation, it could be Taoist in origin. Only speculation though. But if you incorporate the lungs as an emphasis then your evenly dispersing the chi through the torso cavity, and that isn't the goal.

Taoist water systems do emphasize lung breathing and even take it a step further. They separate the lungs into front/full lung breathing and rear lung breathing. You could do that to any part of the lung if you get right down to it.

I have not read the 'Science of Breath', but I have read, 'Light on Pranayama.' It's a must read for anyone interested in body mechanics, chi gung, etc.

I have to go. Thanks for interesting topic.

[Dvivid]

Light on Pranayama is such an excellent book. I also highly recommend it for those serious about understanding the effects of various breathing techniques on the body...

[Sascha]

Sorry I went off topic a bit, but the responses have been VERY good.

I can only hope others benefit also.

David, is it possible for an admin person to take the above messages and put them into a new topic post? This way this conversation can continue along side the Small Circulation Book Review, rather than interfering with it.
Topic might be something like: QiGong and Yoga breathing techniques

Here is a link to Science of Breath for anyone who might want to read it.
http://www.healingresources.org/serendi ... breath.pdf

Yogi Ramacharaka calls it the Yogi Complete Breath.
The best way for anyone to compare this breath to what they know (eg. ujjayi) is to read pp27-31 of the linked document. Page 27 made it abundantly clear to ME why it is an important technique. NOTE: The text avoids Yoga language to make the text more accessible to an ignorant western audience - like ME ! . This makes it difficult for those who DO know the Yoga terms.

I have to admit I'm barely a novice to Yoga (ie. it's clear I know nothing - OK, I know what it says in the Science of Breath) and that the Science of Breath is probably a fairly basic text for people who have studied Yoga even just a little. It does describe how people of the general community breathe (ie. badly), it's implications and how to remedy the situation.

Having practiced abdominal breathing for quite a while, thinking it is the best form of breathing, I found the complete breath (into upper lungs part) quite painful for a while. This suggests to me, that I had not exercised the upper lungs as much as I probably should have. A reason why I took this text to heart.

I agree that the purpose of (reverse) abdominal breathing is to fill the lower dan tien, and much emphasis is put on this - sometimes to the extent that it is suggested we should use these techniques ALL the time. Of course there is a benefit, but also a detriment to the upper lungs/respiratory system. Hence, I think that QiGong teachers could also make sure that we don't forget the upper lungs and exercise them occasionally - and perhaps suggest a technique like the complete breath to do this.

The Science of Breath also puts emphasis on the Solar Plexus - and its the first explanation of this part of the body that I've come across. Part of the goal of yogi
complete breath is to energize the solar plexus, which then distributes the qi to where it is required - according to Science of Breath.

I guess that any ideas about the origin of reverse abdominal breathing are going to be speculation. I just found it interesting that some elements of the yogi complete breath appear closely related to the reverse abdominal breath. But then, I suppose lots of techniques have similarities.

Douglas, have you got time to expand on the following, or perhaps you have links/books that people can look up - readers of other topics on stress/mind chatter may find it interesting. I imagine some of this would be in "Light on Pranayamas". A book I'll no doubt get at some stage.
[size=9]"Although, occasionally, I do start with an alternate digital breath, incorporating a mula bandha and breath retention between inhale and exhale. This calms my nerves and I can meditate more effectively."[/size]

If memory serves me correctly, Small Circulation (Dr Yang) _briefly_ touches on front / back lung breathing.
Can you provide some more details on Taoist water systems. Do you mean relatively Yin techniques such as abdominal breathing, Nei Dan etc. If not, a few names of these Taoist water systems might help us to start researching them.

Science of Breath says that the Yogi complete breath normalizes sexual urges. ie. if you're "high", it reduces, if low, it increases. There is also a small section on using the sexual energy for revitalizing rather than reproduction.

Sorry for being verbose. I'm trying to be complete. Perhaps I'm being too complete. I imagine some people will find some value.

Regards

Sascha