the 4 disciplines
Breathing
Breathing is easy, it’s the sort of thing we all do all day and night, every day and night. What’s the alternative, we don’t breathe? We could try that, but that generally leads to death, which may not be so great.
We tend not to think too much about how we breathe, apart from when we must do things which challenge our lungs, be that sports activities, harming our lungs through smoking, or having a respiratory illness.
This is one of the many millions of brilliant things which make us humans incredible. We breathe approximately 20,000 times per 24-hour period. This means by the time we have reached the age of 50, we would have breathed on average 400M times. That is an extraordinary thought. It underlines just how much we take ourselves for granted.
What are the benefits of learning how to breathe differently?
Greater control over our body, ie lung capacity
Ability to calm ourselves
Helps to decrease the heart rate
Reduces blood pressure
Eases the vascular system around the body, by bringing in Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide and moving Oxygen rich blood cells around the body.
Managing anxiety and stress
Our lungs provide us with almost everything we need, so it seems absurd not to explore the beauty of breathing more deeply.
MEDITATION
As with breathing, meditation takes on many forms and many understandings and sometimes we must experience several different meditations before we find one which suits our own sensibilities.
A view on meditation is your need to make your mind empty of thought when you meditate. This is a common misconception. Being alone with your thoughts can be tiring and even sometimes a little scary, however, meditating also leads to catharsis, contentment and clarity of thought.
It is not a question of emptying our thoughts, but embracing these thoughts and exploring where they take us. We can use either breathing, a mantra or a guided meditation to help our minds from becoming overwhelmed.
Over time our mind will engage less with the irrational thoughts, which in turn will help us in our everyday lives.
What are the benefits of meditation?
Lower heart rate
Reduces blood pressure
Reduces negative emotions
Builds patience, tolerance& resilience
Builds skills to manage anxiety and stress
Helps with depression
Better balance between body and mind
Increased creativity
Better focus
QI GONG
The definition of qi gong is: a system of coordinated body postures, movement, breathing and meditation used for the purposes of health, spirituality and martial arts training.
The roots of the exercises are over 5000 years old.
Qi gong and tai chi are intertwined in terms of movement and philosophy.
Qi gong also exists as part of Chinese medicine and utilising the postures and movements in our everyday lives enables us to keep better focus and balance.
What are the benefits of qi gong?
To harmonise, strengthen and have a healing effect on the functioning of our internal organs
Increasing the flow of energy throughout the body
Induces a calm mental and emotional state
Lowers anxiety and stress
Improves balance and flexibility
TAI CHI
Loosely translated as Great Energy, tai chi is ultimately a disguised martial art. The philosophy is Taoist and was taken from the Tao te Ching (The Book of the Way) written by the possible mythical figure Lao Tzu 2500 years ago. The martial art element was developed around 1670 and has taken many influences from qi gong. It symbolises the ideal evolution of body and mind into an effective unified existence.
Most people have seen tai chi performed by groups of elder Chinese people in parks. When you next observe, watch the strength, the softness, the balance and the tranquility
Tai Chi will teach you humility, patience, balance, flexibility and focus.
What are the benefits of tai chi?
Improves posture and balance
Increase muscle strength in the legs
Reduces anxiety and stress
Increases energy
Increases self-awareness