Master Tse’s Qigong Dao 187

Nose – Part 2

Anyone will find it difficult to breathe through the nose if the nose is blocked. As a result of this, a lot of people will just use their mouth to breathe, particularly when they are doing physical exercises, like our warm up Level II, Level III and Level IV in the Chun Yuen Quan.

However, our nose is for breathing. The mouth is for talking and eating. We should not use the mouth for breathing except in certain special circumstances, for example, special breathing exercises like in Hard Qigong. In these special cases we must have a very good teacher to guide us.

Normally, though, we should breathe through the nose even when we are doing strong physical exercises.  If we become out of breath when breathing through the nose, then we should slow our exercise or movement down in order to let our breath through the nose catch up. This is the proper way.  I see many people who breathe through the mouth when they run but actually this means they are losing Qi.

Think about how much dust you will breathe into your body if you are running for an hour whilst breathing through your mouth.  Our nose is there to help us filter dust and pollen. Also, when we breathe through the mouth, our throat and mouth will become very dry and your breathing will be fast, but your lungs will not expand as much as when you breathe through your nose. You also can try it for yourself. For ten minutes, just breathe the mouth. Healthy people will feel uncomfortable and even tired. Every time we breathe through the nose, the lungs will expand more making the muscles stronger and the Qi will sink to the Dantian 丹田 letting us save more energy.