Thursday, March 2, 2023

Connecting the Breath

Today, we worked on connecting the breath — the physical breath — with the movements.

Practice today was limited to four sets:

1. Begin at Extreme Emptiness
2. Pushing the Mountain
3. Yin and Yang Both Appear
4. Turning Palm

Each of these has the idea of pushing out and pulling in, the same thing we want to do with the breath.

So, for today’s practice, there was extra attention on the lungs, diaphragm, and surrounding muscles along with timing and extending the breath through the entire movement.

Each time we push out, we also push up and down. The yong quan (bubbling well just behind the metatarsal arch) and the heel push down, the palms push out, and the head suspends upward drawing the body and the internal breath (qi) upward.

By using repetition and paying attention to the simple aspects of movement, we gain the ability to focus on the smaller, more refined movements and can work on connecting the breath.