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Date Posted: 05:21:39 10/01/02 Tue
Author: Goktimus Prime
Subject: Qigong
In reply to: Akart 's message, "Chi Kung" on 03:31:44 10/01/02 Tue

Yes, you are supposed to control your breathing while executing fast techniques/moves. That's the entire purpose of internal qigong training.

The importance of doing so is because you want to regulate the exchange of gases in your blood. When your body moves faster, your metabolic rate increases -- your heart beats faster, you breath shorter etc., especially when that adrenalin rush kicks in and you get that "sick in the gut" feeling (this happens because part of your body's fight or flight response is to divert some energy from your organs to your limbs -- hence why your gut feels weird, but your limbs tense up). This doesn't only happen with fighting, but with any intense aerobic activity -- running, swimming etc.

When you move faster you need to make yourself more aerobically efficient, otherwise you'll burn out very quickly -- you'll be exchanging gases very inefficiently. Consequently, even Olympic level athletes will control the way they breathe when engaged in extreme aerobic activity.

Let's take swimming as an example -- when someone like Ian Thorpe is plowing through the water at record breaking speeds, his body is making a greater demand for oxygen in order to fuel the body's high level performance. Naturally his heart and breathing rates will increase, however, the swimmer must be able to control these rates or else s/he will become utterly exhausted after the first lap or two. The swimmer does this by taking controlled and deliberate breaths. Gradually exhaling as the face is under the water and gradually inhaling while s/he emerges his/her face above the surface. Note that I say gradually, not sharply. As I've mentioned before, I'm still a bit of a skeptic when it comes to the metabolic value of sharp exhales such as the "ki-ai" in Japanese martial arts. If a swimmer were to apply the same principle, s/he'd be sticking his/her head in the water and blowing all the air out of his/her lungs as quickly as possible and surfacing in order to quickly suck in a lot of air only to repeat the process. This would NOT work as it is a very inefficient way to exchange gas, as I've explained before, so I won't repeat myself here.

Fighting, like swimming, is an aerobic activity. Your body is exerting itself and making an increased demand for oxygen. Simply sucking in a lot of oxygen is not enough -- nor would blowing out a lot of carbon dioxide (which is what happens with the "ki-ai"). You need to maintain a balanced exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. Otherwise you will simply find yourself out of breath very quickly.

Your metabolic rate will increase in a fight -- your breathing and heartrate will climb, no doubt's there, since your body is making an increased exertion on itself. However, the function of Qigong is to train you to maintain your metabolism with a certain increased range so that you are still maintaining and effective exchange of gases.

Other texts on qi based on the more romantic/mystical aspects -- the ones that talk about 'energy' etc etc are essentially advocating the same thing that I've just mentioned, only that I'm using plain English rather than supernatural terms. ;p

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Replies:

  • Re: Chi Kung -- ryan, 08:58:27 10/01/02 Tue
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