Out through the nose, or out through the mouth?

[onefocus]

I think you should ask your sifu. In kungfu, some forms are not to be practiced together, because they have different functions and lessons to teach. Cultivation of chi is a basic work in kungfu., now you may be learning more about directing your chi, ect,ect....

In some forms, you are requested to breath out through the mouth, because this dissapates the poisionous carbon dioxides that are in your body. breathing in through the nostrils, allows the hairs in the nasal passage to trap small dust, and skin particles that could cause congestions in the body.

If you don't trust your teacher/s to teach you the proper methods, find a teacher you do trust. and if you trust them, do as you are instructed. after all, you came to them to learn. to do it your way, could be considered a blatent disrespect.

peace.

onefoucus

[LeiYunFat]

That last comment is very interesting, Onefocus. It reminds me of the time I had learned my taming tiger fist form from my uncle but couldn't end in the same direction.

At that time, I had heard of a new teacher, and went for some advice. He knew hung gar, and he recognized my form, but he couldn't help me as to me finishing my form correctly. He's a compotent teacher, but ever since then, I have been sort of the punk of the class, because I had prior experience and I think they thought I was trying to challenge the teacher...

Shoot, these crazy egoes will be the death of the student!

[blooming tianshi lotus]

To bring it back to physiology, I think the main point here is that by exhaling through your nose ( a breathing tech also recognised in Japanese schools like ninjutsu etc), you gain the most effective access to your lower diaphragm., while enabling you to engage your entire core in that relaxed state.

When you're talking about iron skills etc, I'm sure you can appreciate why that would be recommended. As far as burning off toxins though ( like excess carbon dioxide) , this is again something that effective breathing can do for us. During deep breathing, where the oxygen is greatly shifted from your lungs to your lower diaphram, there is an extremely rapid rate of increase in everything from metabolism to the detox burn mentioned above. Unfortunately I don't have a link to support that statement, but I do remember once seeing it in some ninjutsu documents. If you really wanted more information , maybe a kazzar search'd be a way to go.



Blooming Lotus

[onefocus]

leiyunfat, it has been my experience, that when you take on a new teacher, you only study (openly) what they are trying to teach you.

once upon a time, you could not go to a teacher and say; "teach me this, or teach me that." an instructor would look at you and decide what it is that you are to learn.
then with mastery of that, he might teach you your chosen course. might.
different styles/training drills teach different things. for instance, if you are tall, you need skills to fight a smaller fighter. everyone wont learn this, because everyone isn't tall. your skill sets are a culmination of what you know how to do, what you've been taught, and what comes to you through divine inspiration.

with that said, let me put this thought on your mind:

People today study the martial arts, for self defense, sport, and general health maintainance. the people of yesteryear, studied martial arts for survival.

peace

onefocus

[LeiYunFat]

leiyunfat, it has been my experience, that when you take on a new teacher, you only study (openly) what they are trying to teach you.

once upon a time, you could not go to a teacher and say; "teach me this, or teach me that." an instructor would look at you and decide what it is that you are to learn.

Man you sure sound full of wisdom, Onefocus. But anyway, I know that NOW, hahahha. Back then I was a little n00b and thought that he could help me on a different form. That's before I really dove into martial arts history, philosophy, etc, etc.

People today study the martial arts, for self defense, sport, and general health maintainance. the people of yesteryear, studied martial arts for survival.

But some people would tell you they learn MA for survival, like krav maga or military/police trained soldiers.

[DeltronZer0]

Depending on what qigong exercise one is doing, usually depends on how they will be breathing. Different qigong exercise's, whether they are hard or soft, will usually have a particular breathing method. When we practice the DaMo YiJinJing, we put our tongue to the roof of the mouth and breath through the nose (Like how Daodejing explained, to connect the body's circuit) and same with the Brain/Marrow wash qigong exercise.
Where as when we practice the static (non-moving) yijinjing or Ba Duan Jin (Paul702 explained this also), there is alot of muscle tensioning. As we breath in deeply through the nose, and then tense the muscles from the dan-tien as we breath out through the mouth.
The exercises involving tensing we practice usually once a fortnight, as they can be dangerous when practiced too much, and the others can be done once or twice a week, as they can be alot more meditative.
Anyway this is just from what Ive learnt and have been told by my shifu, I hope that helps in some manner.

Amitabha

[LeiYunFat]

So with greater physical exertion, one would exhale with the mouth, and something like sitting and meditating, one would use the nose?

I am not sure what Ba Duan Jin or yijinjing are, but for exercises like holding a horsestance while "hugging a tree" would use exhalation of the mouth, while something like sitting on your feet would use the nose?

[blooming tianshi lotus]

Not true. To do it ( exhale through the nose ) while you are exerting force and it's easier to breath out of your mouth, it is a sincere skill and requires a measure of control to exhale nasally. Try it with your ab endurance regime or take up some pilates and feel the difference. If you've not found callesthenics yet, you really should check that out and come back with questions afterward


BL

[LeiYunFat]

When punching...exhale through the nose? This is the first time I have heard this! Because after a while, would'nt it be like blowing your nose, only, with no tissue?

[Adam K.]

I think that Pai Mei was known to inhale and exhale using both his mouth and nose at the same time. This is a special type of breathing. Cosmic something or other.

[LeiYunFat]

I've seen him run his fingers through his beard and "HMPTH!" through his mouth, and I've seen it through his nose, as well.

Truly the renaissance man.

[DeltronZer0]

Ba Duan Jin and the YiJinJing (or Muscle Tendon Change Classic, one of the first shaolin exercises created) are Qigong sets, which contain a number of different movements and postures that you hold for a certain number of breaths. As for knowing which breathing method to use for which exercises, I follow my shifu's directions for each one. As for the best method of breathing Im not absolutely sure, I know exhaling through the mouth can be easily as it dispels air alot faster, so perhaps learning to control on exhale through the nose can improve your breath control.

[zachsan]

everyone can exhale through both the nose and the mouth at the same time, and we can all inhale through both the nose and the mouth at the same time. i think you mean inhaling through the nose while exhaling through the mouth, which isn't really possible. the lungs can only perform one of those functions at a time. what some people can do is inhale through the nose, and then use their cheek muscles to force air out of their mouths, to create a "circular breathing" kind of effect. that's what you're supposed to do while you're playing the dijeridoo... but i don't see it having much of a martial application.

[zachsan]

in general, it's best to inhale through the nose. it filters out some pollutants that the mouth doesn't. it doesn't matter much which you use to exhale, but it looks better to keep your mouth closed generally... and doesn't it just seem easier, anyway? it seems to me that the ability to breathe through the mouth is just a redundant feature of the respiratory system. your nose gets blocked, you've got your mouth. also your mouth comes in handy when you need to sneeze, cough, what have you, or if you just need air fast, or need to get rid of CO2 fast. oh yeah, and there's eating. but there's really no reason to breathe through your mouth regularly.

and ddj... i'm not much more comfortable with the idea that i need my tongue to complete an electrical circuit in my head than i am with the idea that qi energy can make me healthy or sick. i mean, cuz electricity is pretty important in the head, and i wouldn't want the position of my tongue to affect my brain function. that would make eating quite a harrowing experience, i think. also it's scary to turn it around. since my tongue is a muscle, then if the electrical current gets strong enough, should i expect tongue spasms?

[blooming tianshi lotus]

I don't understand what you're saying Zach.

I did actually mean you exhale through your nose, and I guess now that you've said it , you likely could exhale through both simultaneously. Bearing in mind that by exhaling through the nose, you engage more of your core via incorperating your lower diaphragm through this type of breathing , deeper and for longer ( also making the most of your MU s ) then yah, it makes sense that a punch thrown with correct form where you travel through your jings and where your core plays a big role in transferring power from the rest of your body into your punch, exhaling through the nose is going to help you out

Cheers

BL