The Tao of Natural Breathing_ For Health, Well-Being, and Inner Growth - Dennis Lewis [29]
Opening the “door of life”
Figure 16
Figure 17
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Sit or stand comfortably again, putting your hands on each side of your spine on your lower back (tips of the fingers actually touching the spine), directly across from your navel. The Taoists call this area, between the second and third lumbar vertebrae, the “mingmen,” or the “door of life,” since it is the point between the two kidneys where our sexual essence is stored. It is very important from the standpoint of our well-being to keep this area warm, relaxed, and comfortable. As you inhale, sense the balloon filling and pushing your lower back outward (Figure 17). As you exhale, your lower back returns to its original position. Breathe in this way for two or three minutes. To get the feeling of the movement of your lower back in the process of breathing, try squatting. Squatting is useful not only for opening up the lower back, but also for your overall health. As you squat, let your arms relax forward, and sense your lower back as you breathe (Figure 18). This posture automatically releases the lower back muscles, as well as the lower part of the diaphragm, which is attached to the lumbar spine. It also helps cleanse and energize the kidneys. If you have trouble squatting, you can stand and bend over with your upper body supported by your hands on your knees. Once you feel the sensation of your lower back expanding and contracting in this way, return to a normal sitting or standing position, and let the “organic memory” of what you just experienced help you sense the same process in this position.
Opening the belly, rib cage and lower back simultaneously
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Next, either sitting or standing, try to experience all three areas at the same time. Sense the entire space bounded by your navel, your pubic bone, and your lower back. As you inhale, sense the balloon expanding forward, backward, and to the sides more or less simultaneously. As you exhale, sense the balloon contracting. There should be no feeling of effort or tension. Simply sense the balloon filling and emptying. Be sure to sense your diaphragm moving downward as you inhale, and upward as you exhale. After a few minutes, forget the balloon and simply feel the warmth in your abdomen, a kind of ball of energy, expanding and contracting. As you breathe naturally in this way, begin to sense that even though air is not going into the abdominal cavity, “something” is going there. From the Taoist perspective, this something is both blood and chi. By breathing in this way you begin to energize your lower tan tien. You can try this practice several times a day.
“ACQUIRED CHI”
Figure 18
The energy that we acquire through food, water, and air is called “acquired chi.” This is the energy that we receive from the outside world that we need to function on a daily basis. The main center for the storage and transformation of this energy is the middle tan tien, located in the area of the solar plexus, the center of our emotional life. For the Taoist, the quality of this energy depends in part on the quality of the food we eat and the air we breathe. The Taoist is therefore not only concerned about right diet, but also about right breathing.
As we have seen, proper breathing has many benefits besides the more efficient consumption of oxygen. The practice of abdominal breathing, for instance, has a powerful influence on the digestion of food by increasing gastrointestinal peristalsis, blood flow, and food absorption. It can also help open the tissues around the solar plexus and promote the flow of energy through the channels