How to breathe in the six-character regimen?

Six-character formula for health preservation, six common breathing methods in Taoism?

Taoist health care attaches great importance to breathing exercise. There are many ways to exercise breathing in Taoist classics. If these methods are classified, they can be roughly divided into the following six categories:

First, emphasize exhalation. It is characterized by paying attention to exhalation during breathing exercise, and the expiration time is longer than inhalation. Its main function is to drive away turbidity and pathogenic factors, and at the same time, it can stimulate viscera and qi. For example, Master Tanluan's "Breathe slowly, breathe twice, and smell people coming in and out" ("Cloud Seven Signs") is the method to emphasize exhalation. This method often needs to use nasal inhalation and oral respiration to enhance the momentum of exhalation. The representative method is the "six-word formula", in which the six words are hush, ha, shout, hush, blow and hee. For example, after inhaling, you should say the word hiss lightly and exhale at the same time. Hush formula can vent the evil spirits of liver meridian.

Second, emphasize inhalation. It is characterized by paying attention to inhalation in breathing exercise, that is, deep inhalation is needed to make the chest and abdomen full of breath. Inhalation time limit is longer than exhalation. Its main function is to inhale as much fresh air as possible, thus activating the blood vessels of the whole body and promoting the metabolism of the body. For example, as stated in "A Thousand Daughters' Prescription", "Bleeding enters the abdomen from the nose, stops when it is sufficient, takes (sucks) when it is strong, and spits out from the mouth for a long time. "Another example is" Shou Ren Jing Daoji ":"Choose a very clean place, take the air of purity and harmony, and those who breathe in will rush to dantian; From the mouth, rushed to the intestines and abdomen. Or three, five, seven. "

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Thirdly, the category of enclosed gas is emphasized. It is characterized by focusing on the cessation of breathing between inhalation and exhalation. It requires extending the time limit of interest settlement step by step and as far as possible. Its main function is to force the qi in the body to fill smoothly. For example, The Analects of Confucius said: "When you close your eyes, you must first learn to hold your breath and inhale through your nose, and your stomach will slowly fill up ... If you close it for a long time, you will be reluctant to part with it, but spit it out from your mouth carefully and you will not be able to breathe it out at once. ..... At first, it was ten breaths or twenty breaths ... But if you can hold your breath for more than seventy or eighty times, your internal organs and chest and diaphragm will be protected by the cloth of clearing qi. " Breathholding can also be combined with endoscopy and pharyngeal fluid.

When Su Dongpo introduced his health-preserving experience, he especially pointed out that it is necessary to "examine the five internal organs" and "wash body fluid", to "close your breath and examine body fluid to satisfy your heart", and to wait for "body fluid to be full, that is, to lower your head and swallow it, and send it to your abdomen with gas" (Zhang An Daofa Health Preservation). Although the ancients highly praised the method of closing qi, thinking that it can be "smart in eyes and ears, solid in spirit, light and healthy in body, and eliminate all diseases" for a long time, they also warned that the method of closing qi should strive for peace and nature, step by step, and should not force itself, otherwise "light will kill people" (classic).

Fourth, emphasize pharynx. It is characterized by focusing on swallowing after inhalation. The so-called swallowing means that after inhaling from the mouth to the throat, the fresh air is swallowed into the chest and abdomen like food. It can also be swallowed with body fluid, which is called "swallowing body fluid to inhale". Its main function is to further strengthen the role of inhalation. For example, "Seven Signs of Yun Qi": "Blow up the qi with the sky closed (that is, the throat), adjust it evenly, close your mouth and swallow it, that is, fill your stomach and slowly get lost in the air ... One drum, one swallow and one effort are corresponding." He recorded the method of "taking the breath of the sun" in "the strategy of keeping clear liquid in the middle": "make the glow purple ... swallow it at the entrance and die at forty-five." "Sun Gongjing" recorded in "Seven Signs of Clouds": "Swallow five colors of chardonnay at the entrance and die at forty-five", which are all achievements that emphasize death.

Taoist health books and records admire the persuasion method to the utmost. This method was quite popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The Essence of Faithfulness, written by Sima Chengzhen, a Taoist in the Tang Dynasty, is a monograph on "Faithfulness". The so-called "convincing" is actually a deep breathing exercise that emphasizes inhalation, holding your breath and dying. It can be a simple deep inhalation, or it can be closed after deep inhalation to enhance the distribution of clear air in the body, or it can be swallowed into the stomach after deep inhalation.

Because the "hold your breath" method attaches great importance to holding your breath, it is believed that the longer the time limit for holding your breath, the better. But it is difficult to hold your breath, and it is easy to hold your breath and suffocate. Therefore, the method of "receiving air", which is mainly based on holding your breath and clinging to death, is not popular, and only simple deep inhalation is still widely circulated.

Fifth, emphasize soft and long breathing. Its characteristic is that both inhalation and exhalation require softness. In addition to the time limit, the "long" here also requires that the breath line can reach the belly button and even the two ends of the foot. Its main function is to form a situation of interdependence and mutual embrace, thus inspiring the spirit of dantian. For example, "Extremism of Single Crystal" said: "In a quiet field, there is no hometown, and frustration (no desire) is intangible, like a chicken holding an egg (special significance), like a fish in water (natural). Call to the root, suck to the pedicle, and if it continues, leave a child. " Let exhale and inhale to the abdomen and navel, and make it "continuous". This is a long and gentle deep breath. The "heel breathing" advocated by Taoism actually refers to this gentle deep breathing.

Zhuangzi said: "The real people in ancient times ... had a strong interest. The breath of real people is in the heel, and everyone's breath is in the throat. " "Life Gui Zhi" explained that "the breath of ordinary people goes down the throat and goes back to the middle of the cup ... When people breathe, they go straight into the hall and flow into the Ming Gate, which will be connected by ancestral spirits", so "the heel really means something". Fetal breath, which is often mentioned in single crystal, is also a kind of soft long breath, but it is only a kind of very fine, so fine that if there is nothing, it is soft long breath. The description of this kind of breathing is "only spit carefully, only keep collecting" in the inscription of fetal interest. To practice fetal breathing, we should not only master the essentials of softly breathing, but also "insist on nothingness to nourish the spirit." Only by hugging each other can we hold our breath and produce wonderful fetal interest.

Sixth, emphasize the combination of breathing and thinking. Characterized by deep inhalation or deep exhalation or breath-holding, combined with obvious thoughts and ideas. Its main function is to unify the thinking and the kinesthetic wave, dynamic wave and vibration wave generated by the activities of the inspiratory muscle, diaphragm and abdominal muscle during breathing exercise, to excite and vibrate the important air sacs and meridians of the body, thus triggering the internal qi and promoting the internal qi to run along the meridian.

This kind of breathing actually crosses the above-mentioned types. If you combine deep inhalation with thinking, it belongs to the category of emphasizing inhalation, and the rest are the same. However, this way of breathing is obviously different from simple deep inhalation and deep exhalation in terms of working mode and efficacy, and belongs to another category.

There are several situations in which breathing is combined with thinking: deep inhalation is combined with thinking, such as "Health Care Tactics of Taishang Laojun": "When taking air, thinking and vitality enter the hair, flow into the five internal organs, and all limbs are nourished by it." Inhalation and exhalation are combined with thoughts. For example, Mr. Jing Hei's method of sleeping and activating qi described in "Synopsis of the Golden Chamber: Immortals Eating Qi" requires natural and gentle breathing. With inhalation and exhalation, "the feeling of qi circulates in the body, regulates the whole body, moistens the body, moisturizes the skin, fills the five internal organs and six internal organs, and dispels old diseases".

Holding one's breath combined with thinking, such as "Jifeng Puji Fang": "When people are uneasy, if they hold their breath a little, they will have an attack with the intention of sucking air into the disease." For example, "Cloud Seven Signs" said: "Every time you swallow, you always keep thinking about the gas entering the five internal organs, that is, coming out from the three joints of the hands, feet, heart and neck."

The above-mentioned breathing training method can not only enhance the function of respiratory organs, accelerate the metabolism of the body, but also connect meridians, activate the qi of the whole body, and stimulate the physiological potential of people, thus improving the disease resistance and self-repair ability of the body. Therefore, it is of great significance to study and study the breathing method of Taoism for self-cultivation.