We all know how to breathe as soon as we’re born, and if we don’t, we get an abrupt slap on the behind to wake us up! No one has to teach us. But what happens in our lungs in an instinctive fashion through the autonomic nervous system can be influenced in a positive or negative state by our subsequent emotions and rising levels of stress. Disruption from these two factors can have far-reaching effects on our physical reactions, performance, conscious thought processes and long-term overall health in general. William CC Chen describes the sequence. “Breathing is life. Our first breath begins when we are born, our last breath occurs when we die. It is essential. The more oxygen in our body, the stronger we are. More oxygen in our bloodstream increases our immune system’s efficiency and makes it easier for our body to detoxify. Oxygen helps raise our awareness of brain functioning and elevates the feeling in the body to lift the energy flow. Reinforcing the energy surge throughout the organs improves the circulation of blood and energy.”
In William CC Chen’s Tai Chi classes, proper breathing is a fundamental part of the student curriculum. As he explains, “The gentle, deep and full inhalations in the Tai Chi Chuan movements will allow us to receive a greater volume of the 21% oxygen into the lungs. In a full inhalation our lungs receive 78% nitrogen but only 21% oxygen at full lung capacity. If we inhale a small amount of air, our lungs will receive only a small amount of that oxygen. “Removing carbon dioxide from the lungs is like removing bad air from a house and replacing it with fresh air; it becomes a healthy house in which to live. Similarly, it is healthier for us to remove carbon dioxide from our lungs and replace it with oxygen. An effective inhalation is preceded by a full exhalation; this will enrich the cells in the body.” A house with poor circulation, weak plumbing and faulty electricity is barely livable. The human body is no different.
The Psychophysical Connection of Movement and Breathing
All human beings are hardwired to perform precise breaths in specific ways during certain physical motions or under different emotional states. For example, in a normal or calm emotional state, when you reach up high to grab something, you always inhale and never exhale during that action. In fact, the higher you reach, the deeper and longer you inhale. Reach your arm up right now and watch the breath pattern. Even specific words tied with emotions are keyed into the breath, according to Chen. “When we say 'no,' we exhale. When we say 'yes,' we inhale. At the moment we feel 'good.' we inhale; at the moment we feel 'bad,' we exhale” (e.g., 'Boy, that just took the wind out of me'). Chen notes, “Whether we are at home or in the office, when we answer the phone, or when we reach to pick up a pen or a piece of paper from the table, we automatically inhale. While we should continue with an exhalation to clear the lungs first, the inhalation always overrides the exhalation on a daily, hourly, even moment-by-moment basis. Our daily inhalations and exhalations are out of balance. When we serve a cup of coffee, we inhale. I found that the motion of serving coffee is one-third of a foot per second. The slow motion of Tai Chi Chuan is slower than 1/3 of a foot per second. This is the natural slow-motion breathing: we inhale to form a posture; we exhale to release the posture.”
Chen explains why our breathing is out of sync: “We are constantly thinking or worrying from living in a disorderly, unpredictable and very stressful world with a high level of danger always present. It is almost inevitable that our mind will become restless. Constant mental activities interrupt our exhalations and cause our inhalations to spike up. In our daily breathing, exhalations are always short-changed by inhalations.”
The Tai Chi Chuan Breathing Methodology
Through conscious awareness of breathing patterns, a student can integrate deep, diaphragmatic breath-work (also known as “belly” breathing) into the Tai Chi form. Chen explains, “Practicing the peaceful Tai Chi movements puts us into meditation in motion. This helps us eliminate any obstruction to the full exchange of breathing. This involves slowly moving in and out of a posture in a balanced manner. As we form a posture, we inhale. When we release a posture, we exhale. This leads us to a perfectly balanced breathing exchange. The mind, breathing and slow motion are naturally synchronized together. When we inhale, the awareness increases; it escalates the energy flow for mental and physical action. When oxygen diminishes in the lungs, our awareness is decreased and our physical activity is declined. Inhalation inflates the energy flow for an action. Exhalation is deflating the energy for no action. This is the natural changes of 'yin and yang' in the slow movements.”
Many writers and teachers refer to Tai Chi as “moving meditation” because the body, mind and emotions synchronize to focus as one unit. Generally speaking, the more relaxed, calm and focused we are, the better our body responds to the commands we give it. We are restricted to the amount of speed and strength we can muster in combat without full control of the muscle’s synchronized nerve firing of contractions and relaxations. In addition, this excess tension from an unsynchronized psychophysical unit dulls and limits our spatial awareness of the present surroundings. Our heart rate increases and we start seeing things in “tunnel vision.” Hyper-vigilance such as this can also preclude our sensitivity during a skin-to-skin contact engagement of incoming force and intent from an opponent’s attack. So to be relaxed and mindful from the get go, we need to breathe properly regardless of the excitement. On a physical level, Tai Chi Chuan generates force and disperses momentum from the body’s hydraulic energy of muscles, water and synchronized connective tissue or fascia forming fluid movement. The amount of water in the human body varies with age and gender but on average is 50% to 75% liquid spread throughout the frame. Think of a garden hose with the water flowing out. Crimp the hose at any midpoint and the strong water flow decreases. This is analogous to excess tension anywhere in our body “crimping” our qi flow during an action. Watch a true Tai Chi master demonstrating full-speed combat applications and you’ll see his or her actions are seamless and fluid.
Chen explains why breath-work focusing on the diaphragm creates optimal lung capacity: “The system of breathing with the diaphragm is of great significance in the movements of Tai Chi Chuan. In the gentle relaxed movements we keep the air passages wide open, which maximizes the airflow out and in from the throat. When the diaphragm moves up, we exhale; this pushes the carbon dioxide out from the lungs. When the diaphragm pulls down, we inhale; this helps the lungs draw in oxygen. This natural intuitive diaphragm breathing corresponds to the slow motion of Tai Chi Chuan. That gives us enough time to fully exhale prior to maximum inhalation. This complete cycle exchange between carbon dioxide and oxygen in our lungs keeps us in good health. The effortless flowing of the movements with peaceful breathing tranquilizes our mind and body into the designation of serenity.” Without breath modulation Chen explains, “In a continuous action the exhalation is exceeded by inhalation, which is caused by the lack of time to inhale oxygen. After many actions without a break, the person will run out of oxygen. This is called 'being out of breath,' not to be confused with hyperventilation, where alveolar ventilation of carbon dioxide exceeds the body’s production of carbon dioxide. This condition is usually produced by an agitated state or extreme anxiety. Hyperventilating tricks the body into thinking there is more oxygen in the lungs than is really there. In this state often the diaphragm is not used to inhale properly. The upper lungs take on the burden of fast breathing and cause the imbalance. When you see the chest and shoulders rise in someone during inhalation, the upper lungs are doing most of the work. Chen reiterates, “Deep diaphragmatic breathing coordinates with the unhurried movements of Tai Chi Chuan giving us additional time to exhale all the way and create more room in the lungs to inhale oxygen. When carbon dioxide accumulates in the lungs, it is a major obstacle to the oxygenation process. Fully removing carbon dioxide and replacing it with oxygen is important. This enhances brain, heart, liver and nervous system function, and also improves immunity to disease.”
Breathing in Sports and Combat
The pedagogy of breath-work in high-performance physical activities, in and of itself, can be a complex study. Some expert viewpoints are conflicting from one school of thought to another. Other training, such as controlled breath-holding during deep-sea free-dives or David Blaine holding his breath for a record 17 minutes, can be dangerous! Proponents of oxygen therapy will tell you breathing straight oxygen is therapeutic. Shrewd entrepreneurs have opened “oxygen bars” where you can go and take a few hits of the essential compound. However, most pulmonary specialists agree that otherwise healthy people should not be breathing pure oxygen when they’re out of breath from sports. It does you no good, is not therapeutic (unless you have COPD or some other medical condition) and could actually harm or kill you if inhaled for a long period. Humans have evolved to breathe the air that surrounds us in a perfect combination of oxygen, nitrogen and CO2. Just like when you’re thirsty from a heavy workout or long run, you don’t go looking for an IV to mainline hydration into your body. You simply drink some water.
On a basic level, in combat when performing a strike or other fast movement, there is no time for a pre-inhale or exhale. Ideally we martial artists should be able to punch effectively regardless of whether we’re on the inhale or the exhale cycle. Chen explains, “When a tennis player strikes a ball, or a martial artist delivers a powerful punch, we often hear a loud explosive vocalization. The noise is coming from part of an explosive force of energy pushing through the constricted vocal chords. The more explosive the power executed, the more energy bursts through the vocal chords, and the louder the noise will be. This burst of noise is not considered to be an exhalation. The natural exhalation is to keep the vocal chords wide open to release as much air out from the lungs as possible and is almost noiseless.” So this expelling of air and instinctual sound during a rapid, sharp action is more like a temporary breath “compression” that is expanding outward with the movement. The accompanying primeval vocalization synchronizes the mind, helping to focus or bolster the strength.
Integration
Now that we have established that our breathing pattern is governed by emotions, desires, stress level and overall bad or learned habits, we can take steps to restore the balance while we are under duress. Humans are soft creatures, strong and resilient but equally as fragile. At the same time we are surrounded by a hard and sharp world full of physical and mental “compression” floating and rooted in a sea of negativity where everything has the potential to hurt us, even the soft elements like air and water can kill. Just a cruel word from another can “hurt” your feelings. People constantly breathe in an emotional wind tunnel that supercharges air into our lungs and makes it difficult to exhale that same air completely like a car with a clogged muffler. To counter this we must do something counter-intuitive: exhale more often. Ever see someone upset or frustrated? Then see a person tell them, “Relax, take a breath, and breathe.” It’s the wrong directive. What you should be affirming is, “Stop moving and exhale, slowly,” because they’re already inhaling too much. Actually, most of us unconsciously keep a little air in reserve, “just in case” (our breathing might be unexpectedly restricted). Try this test: first breathe out normally. Now without inhaling breathe out some more. Did you find there was still quite a bit of air left in the bottom of your lungs? And furthermore it took a concerted effort from your diaphragm to expel all that extra air. The average person is a “lazy” breather. So stop. Exhale and breathe!
The bottom line as this applies to Tai Chi is, without full breath control there is no complete qi flow. Chen notes, “Qi is energy force like a bullet. The muscle is like a gun barrel that is able to direct the explosive bullet toward the target. A water hose must be able to accommodate the water pressure to direct it to the desired destination. Coordinating on the muscles with the qi is the most effective way to accomplish physical performance. The movements of Tai Chi Chuan for combat training is done in slow motion, eliminating mistakes and bad habits and perfecting body mechanical proficiency. The gentle decreasing and increasing pressurized qi force results in the slow motion of the movements, avoiding excessive muscle contraction. As a martial artist in action, discharging the blasting explosive qi force into the fingers to deliver the knuckles for a quick punch requires loose arm muscles.” Mindfulness and relaxation begins with control of the breath. The heart first then the mind intention directs the qi to flow, facilitated by correct Tai Chi body mechanics and internal and mental alignments.
