White Crane Soft Qigong

[ThirdShogun]

Greetings,

I just started my White Crane Soft Qigong practice. I had a basic question.

While I was following along with the flying crane section, I found that it was hard to coordinate my breathing with the movements. That's because as the 'wind' blew stronger, Dr. Yang's movements, and consequently mine, became faster, and naturally my breathing became shallower and quicker in order to follow with the movement.

Is this alright? Should I be performing the movements slower? The reason I ask is because I am used to the basic qigong movements, being slow and with deep breathing. I am fairly new to the 'martial' qigong practice. Is the quicker speeds demonstrated by Dr. Yang for demonstration purposes, or should I be breathing faster in order to coordinate my inhale/arch the back and exhale/straighten the back.

Thank you very much in advance for your replies. I consulted the White Crane book but could not find any specifics as far as speed of practice.

[Dvivid]

I thought this question would be best answered by Master Yang, so I asked him directly.

Breathing coordinates with the speed of movements. If he practices Soft White Crane Qigong only for health and relaxation, then he should slow down the breathing. However, if he has an intention to manifest the power for fighting, then the breathing has to be faster. Remember, breathing follows the techniques instead techniques follow the breathing.

Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming

[ThirdShogun]

Wow, an answer from the man himself. Thank you VERY much, that answers my question!