Breathing Exercise

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An Amazing Senior In Taiwan

March 11, 2010 by Danny | No comments

A few days ago I read an amazing article in a Taiwanese newspaper. It is about a 101 year old man and his health regime.
Mr. Tray, a man who says he is one hundred and one years old, still has a mouthful of his original teeth. He shows them off proudly in the article. He is not nearsighted either, a common affliction for the elderly.
He goes on to describe his health regime. He goes to bed at nine o’clock every night and get up at four-thirty every morning. He begins his day by doing exercises while still in bed. He learned them seventy-seven years ago from a monk in China. After retiring at sixty-six, he began doing those exercises daily and has continued for thirty-five years. His bed exercise include: Breathing (one thousand times into his Dan-Tien), stretching and rubbing his face and head. He also walks at least half an hour every day. He says; “ My body is even better than before I retired.”Besides the body exercise, he also discusses the consequence of having a sanguine disposition/ taking a brighter view of life. He thinks that if you want to have real happiness in life, then you need have less of desire and cultivate a leisurely attitude.
His secrets for the health and long life were simple; “Just have enough nutrition, enough sleep, enough exercise and try to keep a pleasant mood.”
The News article link: “http://mag.udn.com/mag/life/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=238317” “http://mag.udn.com/mag/life/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=238316

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Meditation

February 19, 2010 by Danny | No comments

In Buddhism there are many kinds of meditations. I think every religion also has their own way of doing meditation. I find that Meditation is also getting popular in North America because of the efforts of the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist monks.
Within Buddhism there are many different kinds of meditation. Some are easy and can be practiced at home by yourself. Some are of a high spiritual level where you need a good teacher to guide you and correct your errors. Regardless of the kind of meditation you are doing, whether Buddhist, Taoist or Yoga, when we talk about how to meditate, it always starts with how to breathe right. We all know breathing is essential and a necessity of life. But breathing also affects your psychological and subtler physiological processes.

When you are angry, nervous or afraid, your breath is fast and short. Your pulse speeds up too. If you are able to calm your breathing, taking deep and slow breaths, you can also slow your heart rate. People usually breath 14~18 breathes per minute. Research involving meditating monks, found when they breath 4~6 times a minute their pulse is also very slow. They also have greatly altered brain waves.

We believe that the history of meditation is several thousands years old. In India, before Sakyamuni Buddha, meditation already existed in Brahmanism. Brahmans believe that through meditation practice you can get mystical powers. Buddhism also believes meditation practice can cultivate mystical powers but the ultimate goal is to reach Satori (enlightenment). In China Taoist meditation practice started with Chi Kung meditation. Practitioners focus on their Chi (energy) encouraging it to flow through all the body’s meridians. They then focus on their spirit part hoping they can become immortal.

Now, when modern people do meditation I don’t think they want get mystical powers, achieve enlightenment or become immortal. Mostly just want to find a way to release the stress of living. But I find some people feel frustrated after they trying meditation because they can’t calm down their mind; they have too many thoughts. When some people see “Meditation” they automatically think “calm”, “peace” or “empty mind”. These preconceived notions interfere when they are doing meditation because they tell themselves they must have these feelings and when they don’t they feel frustrated.

In Buddhism, meditation means “Focus Observe”. This means that when you are doing meditation you try to focus on one thing (you can focus on your breath, one thought, a sound…etc.) then observe it. At the beginning you might have a lot of feelings from your body (itching, pain, heat…etc.) and a lot of thoughts in your mind but you still just observe them and don’t follow them. You don’t let your mind be distracted from your single focus. If you think your mind has too many thoughts you can try this: Your mind is just like the blue sky, your thought are like clouds. When a thought comes it’s just like a cloud. No matter if it’s a white cloud or a dark cloud, behind all clouds there is always the blue sky.

There are many places that teach meditation for free, like Vipassana Meditation centres, local meditation groups, Buddhist temples or even some Buddhist monasteries. You can go take a course there then go home and practice by your self. There are also some places that teach expensive meditation courses. You have to pay a lot of money to learn how to meditate! Usually I don’t like that. Meditation is not like buying a car, house…etc. When you buy things, paying more money usually means getting better quality. Meditation is different from buying an object. When you want to do meditation it means you want to find a way to release your mind and spirit. If you pay a lot of money to take a course you already expect to get something from the course so how can you release your mind and spirit?

Here is one easy way to do meditation: Do some warm-up or stretching first to relax your body. In Yoga meditation the stretching is very important because when your body is soft enough then the energy can go through your body.
Next rest your tongue tip on the ridge behind your upper teeth then breathe through your nose down your Dan-Tien with every breath. The Dan-Tien is here:
The “Sea of Chi”, or “Chi Hai”, is usually 1.5 inches below your umbilicus/belly button for an average sized person.

You can find your Dantien this way. Place your hand flat against your belly. With fingers together, thumb up and fingers below, put your thumb directly over your umbilicus. The “Sea of Chi”, an acupuncture point, is directly beneath your ring finger. Place your other hand beneath the first hand. Your second hand is now over your Dantien. The Dantien is part of a larger area that includes the “Hinge at the Source” or “Guan Yuan”.

When you breath-in try taking a deep, fast breath. When you breath-out, exhale as slow as you can, focusing on your breath. You can sit on a seat cushion or on a chair. You can even stand but most importantly you want to keep your spine straight from neck to hip.

In the beginning you can try to meditate for 15~ 20 minutes at a time then gradually lengthen it. Sometimes you will feel good, sometimes you will have bad feelings but you just want to observe it and fixate on it. You need to persevere with your practice. When your breathing can slow to 4~6 times a minute you will find your mind and body feel different than before.

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Breathing In Buddhist Meditation

December 3, 2009 by Danny | 1 comment

Recently, Yoga and meditation have become very popular in the West. Many people take meditation courses or practice it at home. Most people know that breathing is very important in meditation. Many are taught to breathe down into their lower abdomen, or Dan-Tian. This kind of practice helps to massage the internal organs, but it is not the ideal breathing for meditation. “Xi” is. “Xi” (pronounced ’she’) in the Chinese language means “still” or “rest”.

According to China’s Tian-Tai School of Zen, in the book “Shiao Jr Guan”, there are four kinds of breathing or Xi, in meditation:
Normal in-and-out breathing is the first kind. It is called Wind. What represents Wind? It is when you are meditation, breathing through your nose, and you can hear your breath sounds. This is Wind.
The second is Gasping; short and rapid in-and-out breathing. What is the common representation of Gasping? It is when your breathing is quiet but you only move stagnant air with each in and out.
The third is Chi(Qi); long and deep in-and-out breathing. What represents third state of breathing? While sitting in meditation the breathing is quiet and not stagnant but each breath is not slender. This is Chi(Qi) breathing.
The fourth kind of breathing is Xi. What represents Xi? Quiet, not stagnant and also not thick or shallow breathing. Breathing is continuous with each ‘in’ smoothly connecting to each ‘out’ which then flows into the next ‘in’, as if in contact. But you are not connected to the breathing, so it is like absorbing air rather than moving it. This is Xi.
From first to third, breathing is not harmonized. Xi is harmonized. Doing sitting meditation while using the first state of breathing causes your mind to easily become disordered. In the second state, you are stagnant, unable to progress. Staying in third state of breathing labours your body and mind. It is the fourth kind of breathing that will settle your mind, bringing you into Samadhi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam%C4%81dhi_%28Buddhism%29).
How can we keep our breathing in the fourth state while we are in meditation? There are three ways to make the adjustment:
The first is to focus your in-breath into your lower abdomen or Dan-Tian while doing meditation.
The second is to relax your whole body but keep your spine straight.
The third way is to use visualization. While breathing through your nose, visualize your breath as also moving through your skin pores. Then your breaths will be tiny and calm.
It should then be possible to maintain Xi breathing. Buddha taught us this awareness. To be aware of Xi is to be aware of the interval between two breaths during which one neither inhales nor exhales. In the beginning, the interval, or the Xi, is brief. With correct practice, the duration will gradually extend and the mind will settle down as well. When the mind moves in tandem with Xi, you will feel Xi breathing all over your body.

Below is a research article link about meditation:
“More than just relaxing, meditation helps improve self-image of anxiety sufferers http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/june3/meditate-060309.html”
brain-meditating the postures of meditation

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BDantien (Abdomen)Breathing Exercise
Every time I go downtown to teach my lunchtime Tai Chi and Chi Kung class, I see many people in a hurry to do something or go somewhere. Being busy and hurried has become a part of life modern life. Sometimes I heard my students complain about how their schedules are too full to do exercise. Here I would like to introduce a simple exercise everyone has time to do because we all breathe.

In Chinese we call it Dantien (abdomen) breathing exercise. We know breathing is very normal but important to our life. Many people think they know how to breathe since they have been doing it since birth but their breath is usually short and hurried. Doing Dantien breathing can help our body get more oxygen as well as relax our body and mind. Once you know how to breathe into your Dantien then you can do this exercise any time and everywhere.
You can find your Dantien this way;
With your hand flat against your belly, fingers together, thumb above and fingers below, put your thumb directly over your umbilicus. The “Sea of Chi”, an acupuncture point, is directly beneath your ring finger. Place your other hand beneath the first hand. Your second hand is now over your Dantien. The Dantien is a larger area that includes the “Hinge at the Source” or “Guan Yuan”. The word Dantien translated literally as “cinnabar or red field” and is loosely translated as “elixir field”. It is the main source of Chi/power in your body.
Dantien breathing has two variations.
Convex Breathing: The Dantien moves outward with each indrawn breath. Your hand moves out from your spine as the skin over your Dantien becomes convex, like the outside of a large balloon.
Concave Breathing: The Dantien moves inward with each indrawn breath. Your hand moves in towards your spine as the skin over your Dantien becomes more concave. You will feel more expansion in your chest and upper abdomen with this variation.
We usually do convex breathing.
There is one note of caution: You should wait two hours after any meal before beginning.

The benefits of Dantien breathing exercise:
When we are doing Dantien breathing it will produce one kind of prostaglandin in our body that can help our body eliminate free radicals and stretch our blood vessels. This exercise can also promote blood circulation and massage our internal organs.
When you face stress or feel nervous you can easily do Dantien breathing exercise. It could effectively reduce your distress and gradually slow your physical agitation.

Danny

October 7, 2007 by Danny | 1 comment