M.D. said "You did not talk about breath in Tai Chi"!

 

Grandmaster Young, Grandmaster Wu

"Why didn't you talk about how to breathe while doing Tai Chi" said the M.D. in my class. Can you imagine (of all things) the question "How do I breathe while doing Tai Chi" has to be frequently addressed by teachers? For something that really is natural, I have found that people have some pretty unnatural ideas about it. Master Hwa addressed this in explicit detail in his book "Uncovering the Treasure", but I found some information about how his "teacher's teacher" dealt with it. In so many words, old Tai Chi masters never had a doubt about the four words:
'The breathing is natural."

Wu Chien Chuan allegedly said: "While eating or drinking nobody thinks about the breathing. I also never heard, that somebody got harmed by eating or drinking. Let us suggest, that while eating and drinking you also have to think when you have to breathe in and out and how to use the qi. Then it would unavoidably become harmed. That is the easiest way to explain it." "Master Hwa has frequently addressed the perennial “How do I breathe”? What is more puzzling is that question from students of mine who have knowledge of anatomy and even kinesthesiology. Do those studies not demonstrate the incredible interdependence of the systems of the human body? How can anything happen to any part of it without echoing through the entire body?

When I teach CTC walking my students touch a wall with just one finger. It sends correct messages of good structure to the brain. In essence, one might say it balances the bones. If the bones are not balanced, muscles are used to compensate.

But isn’t breathing also a muscular activity? Then it stands to reason it suffers when the necessary muscles cannot be used fully because they are straining to make up for the structural imbalance. So how will you watch and control your breathing as you do a complicated or rapid move you have no skill with? In light of that, how will you breathe fully or deeply? Remember “interdependence”? In turn, when you cannot breathe deeply the muscles cannot relax because they do not receive sufficient oxygen. What happens to the relaxation CTC is noted for? And the tension in the muscles constricts the blood vessels so the capacity of the circulatory system is seriously diminished. What happens to health benefits? And on it goes.