Art of Breathing & Cultivating Qi

[noises]

Hi I'm new to this forum and joined because I saw this post and had a question even though this post is old. When I started doing these excersises about a week ago, I started rubbing the laogong point and shortly after I got a perrty bad headache and felt a bit sick to my stomach. Also since starting this practice, I've alway had poor circulation in my fingers and they always seem to be cold but now they aren't and it's even been noticed by my girlfriend. Does any one have any insight into all this?

Grossly simplified, the headaches and nausea you describe sound like blockages in your chi flow. You stimulate the energetic flow with the pathways blocked and there is pressure until the blockage clears. For example, sometimes a fever is actually the body making itself inhospitably warm to kill off a bacterial infection. It's an effective response, but the fever always feels unpleasant, even though it's doing your body so much good.

Improved blood circulation is just one of the many beneficial effects of breathing well, the fact your fingers no longer seem cold would indicate your circulation is improving.

Also, an important point, breathing by using the abdominal cavity and diaphragm to inflate and deflate the lungs is much more effective than just breathing in and out through the mouth and nose. Have you ever been told to "suck in your breath" to fasten a tight belt or pair of pants? That's actually anatomically wrong. To inhale and fill the lungs, you want to make more room for the lungs by blowing out and down with the abdomen.

Try this. place your fingertips over the dan tien. Inhale and move your fingers slowly outward, and slowly push the belly out to try to keep contact with your fingertips as you inhale. Then, slowly begin to exhale and press inward toward your spine with your fingertips, and pull the belly inwards and upwards to help deflate the lung cavity. After you do this once of twice, you'll start to notice a set of muscles just under the ribcage are the ones that inflate and deflate the lung, the diaphragm.
YouTube - 3D view of diaphragm

Learning to control the diaphragm and consciously break the western "suck in your gut to inhale," idea is an important part of breathing properly. You get more oxygen into your lungs that what, and exhaust more carbon dioxide with each exhalation. Breathing more air is good. Singers know it, yogis know it, and it's one of the first things a qi gong sifu will show you to do too.

[meenakshijsr]

Art of Breathing & Cultivating Q

Greetings
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[wantfreeenergy]

Aaron, could you explain the large universe please. I found a pic on the net called microcosmic orbit, showing the pathway traveling down the legs to the feet and back up. Is this the large universe pathway you are referring to? Could you explain it a little bit so that all three degrees of progress are in the same thread, thank you.

[Aaron]

microcosmic and macrocosmic orbit

Aaron, could you explain the large universe please. I found a pic on the net called microcosmic orbit, showing the pathway traveling down the legs to the feet and back up. Is this the large universe pathway you are referring to? Could you explain it a little bit so that all three degrees of progress are in the same thread, thank you.

Hi, if it showed pathways down the legs, etc., then they simply don't know what the microcosmic orbit is.

Microcosmic orbit is strictly the du and ren meridians that are down from the tongue chest to perineum and up the back over the head and back down to the tongue. It is only the governing and conception vessels.

Macrocosmic orbit is the "large universe" that includes pathways down and up the legs and then after up the back, it goes down and up the arms back to spine over head and back to tongue and down.

Do you have a link to the image claiming the microcosmic orbit that includes the legs?