Taoist Breathing for Tai Chi and Meditation - 02/14: Feeling Your Breath

Taoist Lineage holder Bruce Frantzis leads you through the 2nd lesson in a series of 14, all of which help you to extend the length of your breath and to fully bring oxygen to the back and side of the lungs, areas rarely engaged by shallow breathers.

You will also learn to feel your breath, to avoid holding your breath, as well as how to breath into different parts of the body to strengthen and massage the internal organs and spine. Understanding these techniques enables you to become aware of your emotions and deepen your meditative focus.

*Please note that this track is one of several. We encourage you to treat the program as a whole and recommend listening through them, in order, before practicing. In part, this is because Bruce presents a large volume of information at a fairly rapid rate, but we assure you that as the lessons progress, the guidance becomes less instructional, the pacing slows, and the meditatations become the main focus of the program.

May you practice well!

Transcript

Lesson 1 Feeling your breath.

The bells in lessons 1 through 4 will mark a six second breath,

Three seconds on the inhale,

Three seconds on the exhale.

Stand or sit comfortably with eyes and mouth closed.

Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth and let it gently rest there.

Relax all the muscles of your face.

Let your mind become aware of your breath entering your nostrils as you inhale and exhale.

Feel all the sensations,

Both physical and non- physical,

To the end of the inside of your nostrils,

Including the movement of your nose hairs.

After you feel the movement of breath inside your nose,

Continue following the sensation of your breath in stages.

As you become aware of the breath itself,

Let your breath penetrate progressively down the center line of your body and feel everything along the way.

First the bottom of your throat.

Make sure that you maintain the 70% rule as you completely relax,

Avoiding strain to either your body or breath.

70% means breathe in 70% as much as you can on the inhale and breathe out 70% as much as you can the exhale,

Not forcing your breath to go to 100% of your ability.

This is a breathing process.

In the lessons that follow,

The breathing process will be described in greater detail.

As you breathe into your nose,

Feel the breath enter your nose,

Moving up,

Feel its moisture.

All the way to the top of your nostrils as you breathe out,

Feel the warmth of your breath coming out.

How does it feel different when you breathe in and when you breathe out?

Focus on not holding your breath,

Either on the inhale or on the exhale.

Let your breath now go down a little bit further in from your nostrils,

Down all the way down the throat until you reach the bottom of your throat.

Bit by bit,

Move one inch at a time.

When you go down one inch on your exhale,

Breathe up the same pathway out your nose.

You want your breath to become very quiet and very long,

Very relaxed.

Notice if any tension comes into your mind or into your body at any point in the breathing process.

When you exhale,

Release that tension.

When you inhale,

Become aware of any subtle tensions you feel,

Especially those of emotions you may not have paid attention to sufficiently during the day.

Breathe down to the bottom of your throat on the inhale.

Exhale from the bottom of your throat up and out your nostrils on the exhale.

Reviews

Slowly getting into it.🙏🏻
Thank you.

I had every intention of not practicing, and simply listening to the instructions as directed in the introductory track. That's what I thought I was doing, too. Only I happened to notice that at some point as I was listening to the instructions, my breathing changed on its own and had synced up with the bell, full belly breathing. The track ended and that's when I realized this.

I've been meditating for a decent amount of time, moving towards two years with a twice-daily practice, but medical issues have made good breathing techniques a continuous challenge for me. I'm accustomed to training my breath to a tone or beat, though generally spaced further apart. This felt far more "doable" for me, and I guess my body agreed on some level. 😊 I will, however, repeat this to more closely listen to the instructions, as there is more to proper technique than just having the rhythm down. 😊

I look forward to continuing with this series. Thank you for making it available to us here on Insight Timer. I see the light in you. 🤲❤️🤲

Good instructions

I was overwhelmed as I listened and practiced on the second time through. It helped to keep on the pattern for a few seconds in silence after the talking ended. I’m setting my own timer so I can keep going until I’ve mastered this one. Thank you, BK. Looking forward to #3!

It was tempting to try to listen to the instructions AND do the breathing on my first run through, but remembering the advice in the introductory recording, I let go of that and just listened to the words, then listened a second time to incorporate the breathing. Now I have to resist the temptation to listen to the next session before I've 'mastered' this one!

Enjoyed following this multiple times in a row and experiencing how my breath changed and expanded in my body with each subsequent session.

Ok that was good. Hard to hear the bell at times over the voice.
👍🏽🙏🏼🦋🐾

Thank you, need to learn this for my own practice

Great instruction. I feel like I do need to repeat it quite a few times to grasp all the information and knowledge of proper breathing. I like the part they I do not need to hold my breath at any time. I always straggle with it in the beginning.
Thank you for clearly explaining and guiding through the breathing lesson.

I need more quiet time with bell to monitor breath practice with less talking and instruction! Thank you!

Very interesting. I like the pace. Time went fast.

Interesting and deep when done according to the instructions given in the first audio of this series. I'm looking forward to the further steps.

Thank you for this, I wish the timing bells would continue for another few minutes without the instructions, so one could really put them in practice for longer.

You should listen to part one of 14 in this program. This is part two. Listen repeatedly, focusing on the instructions, and then focusing on the bells to time the six- minute breath, until the breath feels relaxed and strain free.
It will be a most generous gift if the whole 14-part program is to be presented here on insight! 🙏

Thank you 🎈🎈🎈it’s so wonderful to feel the breathe🙏

Very interesting!

This is really good. Thank you.

Suuuuper helpful. My chest has been tight for months due to my poor posture and injuries. This was super helpful and calming. Especially the 30/70 rule. I am hard on myself for not "getting it" or "breathing right" awesome!