Inner Vitality Qigong^TM

The Cleansing Breath is a breathing exercise to cleanse and energize the body. It will also help you to calm your mind. Have you ever felt tired and stressed in the middle of the afternoon? The cleansing breath will help you to relax and feel energized. It's easy to learn and only takes five to ten minutes daily or whenever you could use a pick-me-up.

Find a quiet place to sit, a place that you can totally relax. It's best to sit in a chair with good posture, back and neck straight, with your feet flat on the floor (don't cross your legs or feet). Place your hands in your lap and fold them together with the right hand over the left, or you can place them on your knees. Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth just behind the upper teeth and keep it there throughout the exercise. Relax and take a few deep breaths before you begin.

It's important to breathe with your abdomen (belly); the abdomen goes out as you inhale and it goes in as you exhale. Abdominal breathing, sometimes called "belly breathing", is important to allow the diaphragm to drop when inhaling so that your lungs fill to capacity, and to rise when exhaling so that you expel as much possible.

Begin by slowly exhaling through your mouth. As you exhale, imagine dark, black toxins and carbon dioxide leaving every part of your body. Now inhale slowly through your nose. As you inhale, imagine oxygen and healing white energy going to all parts of your body; cleansing and nourishing your body. Now hold your breath for a short time and continue to imagine the oxygen and the white energy cleansing and nourishing your body. Repeat this entire process over and over for five to ten minutes.

Each step of the exercise, exhalation, inhalation and hold, should be done in the following count ratios. The exhalation step should be done in multiple counts of 2, the inhalation step in multiple counts of 1, and the hold step in multiple counts of 4. What does this mean? Every person is different and so every one can hold their breath for a different amount of time. So when you first start out, you may want to start with a low count for each, say, exhaling slowly until you count to 4, inhaling slowly until you count to 2, and holding while you count to 8, then repeat. You may only be able to repeat this for a couple of minutes or less to start. It may take several days or weeks of practice to build up to 5 minutes and higher counts, like 4-2-8 or 8-4-16 or even higher, but always keep the counts multiples of 2-1-4.

This breathing exercise will increase your blood circulation and oxygen to the brain and other parts of your body. It will also help you to relax. It will also enhance the flow of Qi, energy, in the meridians and organs. It will also help to acquire more Qi in your body from the universe. Daily practice of this breathing exercise will help to reduce the effects of stress in the body and calm the mind. Now you can get started and put the cleansing breath into action in your life for natural healing.

Click here to read more about Qigong meditation.