Ask Dr. Jimberly -- Yin Style Bagua questions and answers -- About turning and breathing

Since I get questions in my email from time to time about training in Yin Style, and since people tend to be happy enough with my answers, I've decided a nice thing to do would be to put some of these questions and answers up on the blog, maintaining anonymity, so that others can hear them as well, just in case they happen to have the same questions. Now, to be fair, I have to point out that I'm not always going to be 100% correct with my answers and am responding to the best of my knowledge, and so you can try these things out for yourself, see if they work or not, and always feel encouraged to pass your questions along to higher authorities in the art.

Today's question is about turning and breathing, particularly what kind of breathing is appropriate for turning practice in Yin Style Baguazhang. The exact wording of the question is

I have a question about breathing. Do we use lower abdominal breathing or reverse breathing. Hope that you can help... Thank you

Here was my response to this worthy inquiry:

Let me start by saying that I'm not a huge authority on this matter.With that aside, I'll tell you what I can about this. The short, simple answer, I think, is "it depends on the animal system," and I could leave it at that until you learn the details of each particular system. Since that's wholly unsatisfying, I'll try to elaborate. Keep in mind that everything I'm saying is stuff I've picked up from context clues or stuff that I'm guessing based upon what I know to be proper requirements in various circumstances, postures, and systems. In other words, I'll try to make clear what I know is a requirement and then elaborate on my guesses from there.

First, everything in Yin Style, to my understanding, is practiced "naturally," which includes the breathing. Of course "naturally" means within the context of the requirements of whatever activity you're drilling. Further, my understanding is that practicing naturally, unaware of a particular requirement, is better than not practicing at all (though incomplete in a way), so if you're interested in trying out the turning methods on [the new Yin Style Bagua Circle Turning DVD] and aren't sure about the breathing, just breathe naturally, assuming a degree of lower abdominal breathing since chest breathing is generally unhealthy across the board. Certainly you don't want to add anything that isn't supposed to be there, and you don't want to make it artificial. Thus, don't think of reverse abdominal breathing as "more advanced" and assume it should be there, and don't force yourself to take breaths that overfill your lungs. You'll recognize the first symptom of forcing it rather quickly: you'll be out of breath!

Now, let's talk specifically first about the Lion System because it is the primary system for most of us that train and should be central for essentially all beginners. In the Lion System, the requirement is that the dantien is kept full with the qi sunken in it at all times. That means that your abdomen should stay full regardless of inhaling or exhaling, and you should be sinking your qi. The sinking of qi is achieved by keeping the chest empty and the weight sinking down, which includes sitting down fully at the waist. The filling of the dantien in the Lion System should feel like your lower abdomen is expanded and your lower back is full so that it feels a bit similar to wearing an inner-tube around the waist. I believe that there is a slight degree of compression into the dantien region during all of this, enhancing the fullness and sunkenness of the qi, but that should be contained and not a huge effort. In any case, I do not believe that either of the breathing methods you mention specifically capture what's going on in the Lion System.

For the other animal systems, I can only speculate with a few nuggets thrown in there. For instance, the Turning video clearly mentions that in the Unicorn System, you're pulling in lightly at the waist and filling the mingmen point in the back, and it also stresses that the qi should feel like it is rising and spiraling up. This is in direct contrast to the Lion System in technique, but it is my guess that this slight pull is maintained regardless of inhale or exhale. Thus, here, I do not believe that either breathing method you're discussing fits quite right either.

Though I turn in the Phoenix System regularly now, I do not know the requirement clearly for that. As you've probably experienced, it's critical to get a hang of the big, gross requirements (like bodily posture, position, etc.) before looking at the finer details. I simply know a couple of things -- it's not Lion being perhaps the most important of those. The deeply centered qi of the Lion System is replaced by a qi that swings back and forth from one side of the spine to the other and that expands to the four limbs. Therefore, I can assume that the breathing method doesn't focus on filling and compressing the dantien the whole time. Since I don't know anything better, I therefore breathe naturally while turning in the Phoenix System, keeping my chest concave and empty per the usual, foundational requirements, and I don't let that lack of knowledge hinder my practice of the requirements I am aware of. I simply don't assume a requirement and act naturally where I don't know something.

The Dragon System is the only other that I feel like I've heard something that might be of use, though I know nothing of the details. In the Dragon System, it is supposed to be that the exterior is still but the interior is moving. When He Jinbao gave a discussion about this point at one seminar I attended, he made a point of indicating the movement in his stomach while he turned in the otherwise statuesque Dragon System representational posture. I do not know if it was "natural" abdominal breathing or reverse abdominal breathing that he was exhibiting, and to my recollection, he didn't elaborate. That simply wasn't the point he was trying to make, particularly as it wasn't a Dragon System training day.

I don't think I can honestly be of much more use than this. Just try to be natural where you don't know requirements and don't add things to the practice that aren't supposed to be there. Thanks for the question! Keep training hard!

Proviso: If you know something more here than I did, feel encouraged to add it. In addition, if you have questions that you think I might be able to answer, don't be shy to ask them in comment or via email. I'll respond as well as I can!