Breathing

Ki Breathing

I don't know if this has any relevance to anything except feeling good. It's a useful framing for me in meditation. My experience is that this is hard, really hard actually. Stay aware of what is happening. Don't stay attached to the outcome or meeting these goals. If you can't hold the breath at either end, or it's not 20 seconds, or whatever, no worries. Don't star attached to even meeting that goal.

Correct Ki Breathing is difficult to master because just being able to sit still for 20 minutes at a time is a task in itself; so do not force it. Breathe as long as you can until you feel the urge to stop; when this happens, it is time to stop. At first, breathing should be done at the same time every day. The next day, breathe at least as long as you did the day before.[3]

Start in seiza (kneeling, sitting on your heels). Sitting up straight with a slightly curved back, stay relaxed.
Exhale through your mouth, making a light "ha" sound. Imagine the breath is coming from your 'one point' below your belly button, going up along your spine, along the top of your head, all the way down your nose to your mouth. This should be spread over and beyond 20 seconds.
When you believe you are out of breath, bend forward from your 'one point' slightly to expel the last bit of breath. This compresses your diaphragm.
Focus on your one point for 5 seconds.
"When out of air, imagine you are still exhaling, that breath and ki are extending out to the ends of the universe and beyond, but curving into a return path."[2]
Inhale through your nose. Imagine the breath is going up your nose, all the way up over your head, down your spine, and into your 'one point' (right below your belly button). This should be spread over about 20 seconds.
When you feel like you are full of breath, lean back slightly from your 'one point'. This relaxes the compressed diaphragm and allows you to inhale just a bit more.
Focus on your one point for 5 seconds.
"Concentrating on 'one point', imagine that you are still drawing in breath and ki, that these are circling around your 'one point', gradually curving into a path from which they will travel out."

Four Basic Principles[3]

Relax completely – The way to approach this is to relax your shoulders.
Keep One Point – Let your weight fall naturally to a point low in your abdomen.
Let weight fall underside – Weight falls, for example, to the underside of your arms. If you are sitting, weight falls under your thighs and feet. It is another way of relaxing completely.
Extend Ki – Rather than narrowly focusing inside your mind, breathe out, extending Ki infinitely.

References

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Last modified: 202607150552