Simple Qigong for Health: The Eight Pieces of Brocade (YMAA Qigong Book 1)

when you breathe you should move your abdomen as if you were breathing from your navel.

In other words, although you start by consciously regulating your breath, you must get to the point where the regulating happens naturally, and you no longer have to think about

The earth qi is the negative (yin) energy from your kidneys, and the heaven qi is the positive (yang) energy, which comes from the food you eat and the air you breathe.

three treasures of life: essence (jing, 精), internal energy (qi, 氣), and spirit (shen, 神)—as well as their interrelationship. If you lack this understanding, you are missing the root of qigong training, as well as the basic idea of qigong theory. The main goals of qigong training are to learn how to retain your jing, strengthen and smooth your qi f

Therefore, when you practice you should try to understand the poetry or the “secret words.”

Without enough oxygen, your mind becomes scattered, and the rest of your body tenses up. In correct breathing, you inhale and exhale to about 70 percent or 80 percent of capacity, so that your lungs stay relaxed.

“Use your yi (mind) to lead your qi” (Yi yi yin qi, 以意引氣). Notice the word “lead.” Qi behaves like water—it cannot be pushed, but it can be led. When qi is led, it will flow smoothly and without stagnation. When it is pushed, it will flood and enter the wrong paths.

Qi comes either from the conversion of the jing that you have received from your parents, or from the food you eat and the air you breathe.

When you practice qigong, you must first train to make your qi flow naturally and smoothly.