Empty Moon and Full Moon Breathing

Last Friday I introduced you all to the Energetic System, and a method for focusing the mind on the Lower Energy Center. This week, we dive deeper into the breathing form we touched on and give you an exercise to do: Empty and Full Moon Breathing.

For this exercise, we will focus on the muscles surrounding the lower energy center area. This skill, coordinating the movement of the abdominal and back muscles with the movement of the lungs and diaphragm, should be practiced and emphasized on its own. This exercise is one of the pillars of every mind-body prescription I give my patients and students. It should ultimately be used with every breath you take.

Physically, this practice will allow you to regain control over the abdominal and back (or "core") muscles. If you don't use it, you lose it, as they say.

First: start to move these muscles with the help of your hands, one pressing on your stomach, the other on your lower back.

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You will soon find that you can move the muscles in or out when you breath in and out. When you pull your abdominal and back muscles in, it is called "Empty Moon," and when you push those muscles out, it is called "Full Moon."

Practice this moving in and out as much as possible. At first, you won't be able to move the muscles very much, but with time your level of control will grow, and you will be able to expand and contract your core slowly and smoothly.

And remember my Rule of 80%!

The Energetic System

Over the next few weeks, the Friday blogs will be delving into some Taoist and Buddhist theories of the body's energy system and breathing techniques. If you find yourself really enjoying these posts please take a look at my Sunset Tai Chi books/dvds as all of this material can be found in there.

(On the other hand, if this stuff really bores you but you still want to learn Tai Chi forms, keep an eye out for my next Udemy course release, "Tai Chi for a Focused Mind - Pure and Simple." It's an abridged version of my current Tai Chi for Beginner's course that distills everything down to just the movements.)

The Lower Energy Center

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One of the main energetic centers of the body is located two inches below the belly button, about three inches inward (toward the spine). In Western study, this spot in the abdomen is called the center of gravity.

In qigong, this area is known as the lower dan tian, which translates as "field of elixir," and is believed to be the body's main qi energy storage area. It is from this point that qi energy is also circulated throughout the body, much like the heart circulates blood.

The first skill required for both martial arts and health is the ability to mentally reside in one's physical center of gravity, the lower energy center. Use your breathing to reinforce your mental focus by expanding and contracting your abdominal and back muscles in a controlled manner as you breath in and out, respectively.

So, to summarize:

• Focus your mind on the lower energy center.
• Breath in and contract your belly and back. (Contracting your back is pretty challenging, and it only moves in about a half-inch, so don't force it).
• Breath out and expand your belly and back.
• Repeat, using only 80% effort on the breaths, contractions, and expansions.

Residing in the lower energy center is the secret to storing qi energy and "recharging the battery" in our body. This should not be seen as an exercise, but as a habit, or way of doing things. Ideally, after lots of practice, you should be doing this lower energy center visualization throughout your daily activities: driving, walking, gardening, typing, you name it.

Do this, and keep reading the Friday blogs to continue on your journey of increased internal awareness.

ACROSS Lexington with Rick Abrams

My good friend, business colleague, and student, Rick Abrams is quite literally walking proof of the effectiveness of mind-body techniques in the fight against cancer and countless other health issues. Rick's positive attitude and commitment to a healthy lifestyle is something that everyone, especially adults, should have in this day and age.

But even better than being an example of healthy living, Rick has also organized ACROSS Lexington to improve the wellness of his whole community. Check out the article here about Rick's story and his walking activities in Lexington.

And after you are done reading that article, think about ways that you can be more active, or engage more of your community to be active. The future of our health lies in a culture of health. The first steps to improving health and health care in America are the ones right outside your own front door.

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P.S. The new online course Alleviate Upper Back Pain with Tai Chi & QiGong is now available on udemy.com! Keep an eye out for a special offer going up on the homepage very soon to get the course at a discount.

"Obamacare" and Preventative Care

The Affordable Care Act (which I have written about before) is one of the main forces driving health care in new directions today. Every law in the Act is going to have an effect on how we define health services in the future.

For example, now that insurance providers must cover "recommended preventative care services," the government has had to define what these services include. So far, the list is made up of vaccines, screenings for cancers, screenings for depression, various health issues related to pregnancy, and more.

These are all great services, which certainly save peoples' lives on a daily basis. But they prevent illness about as much as a canary in a coal mine prevents carbon monoxide leaks.

These services will let you know if you are already sick, even if you are asymptomatic. That is very helpful for tackling the disease early, but it never prevents the disease entirely.

Cancer screenings don't prevent cancer, they prevent cancers you already have from going undetected. See the difference?

In my opinion, that isn't preventative care. And it isn't just the Affordable Care Act that defines preventative care this way. Most people still see check-ups and health screenings as preventative care, while viewing exercise and mindfulness as "auxiliary." This simply isn't true.

By the time a screening reveals that you have cancer, it is too late for prevention. Doing exercise and mind-body practices like Tai Chi? Now THAT is preventative care.

Starting Good Health Habits when You are Young

In lots of previous blogs, I have talked about health as an investment. As it turns out, learning to manage your health is a lot like learning to manage your finances. If you start young, you can afford to make mistakes. 

You bought concert tickets without having enough money in your checking account? Well, mom and dad will cover you, just this once! You ate a whole pizza for dinner, and haven't exercised for a week? Well, your high metabolism will cover you, for now!

But eventually, these backup resources run out, and mistakes, or just plain bad luck, can become a serious problem. So whether it is personal finance, or personal health, the younger you start investing in yourself and your future, the better off you'll be.

Just like a savings account, it is better to add a little bit, very regularly, than big lump sums only once in a while. It's about creating a habit that you will stick to, and eventually not even need to think about.

So how do you develop good health habits now, when you're young? (P.S. If you're not young, sorry for getting to you so late! But tell your kids or grandkids!)

It's all about discipline. Health culture in America is going through a "fad" phase, where the newest foods, exercises, or training plans are used today and forgotten tomorrow, because we're all looking for the smallest time commitment.

Well, savings accounts don't fill themselves.

Practices like Tai Chi, meditation, stretching, and medium physical activity, when done on a daily basis, are the best things a young person can do to ensure their health in the future. Find something you enjoy, and stick to it. Don't set health goals for yourself when you are young, because that means you are already looking to reach a point where you are done! Instead, just commit yourself to enjoying the activities themselves. It may take some searching, but there is something out there for everyone.

You never appreciate having money in the bank more than when you don't have any, and you'll never appreciate good health more than when your health starts to fail. So start developing those good habits now!

You are Most Productive When You Sleep

In today's busy world, sleep is one of the first things we take for granted and cut out of our schedules. If it were possible to simply switch back and forth between getting no sleep when you are busy, and getting lots of sleep when you aren't, sleep deprivation wouldn't be a serious problem.

But it is a serious problem, because the hormones, body states, and brain cycles that regulate our sleep are easy to break, and hard to fix. On top of that fact, medical scientists keep finding ways in which sleep is vital to the functions of all our bodily systems, including mood, anxiety levels, muscle recovery, injury healing, digestion, and more. A healthy body and mind are largely dependent on a healthy sleep schedule. And by healthy, I mean sleeping until you are not sleepy anymore. (For those scientifically minded among you, here is a review of a lot of the literature on the matter.)

Luckily, Eastern style Mind-Body healthcare is here to help. Meditative practice has been shown not only to reduce anxiety, symptoms of depression, stress levels, and more, but also to act as a kind of "reset" switch for your sleep cycles.

It may not seem like it, but every time you get a full-night's sleep, you are investing in your health, and in your future productivity. It doesn't matter is you are a college student cramming for an exam, or an elderly person just looking for the energy to go on your morning walk. If you start to shorten your sleep schedule to accomplish other tasks, you are actually making it harder to accomplish those same tasks in the future.

So start sleeping! You shouldn't need an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. Your body knows when it has gotten enough sleep. And if you can't sleep, or can't stop sleeping due to a chronic condition like depression, start meditating! It can be difficult at first, but the more you do it, the better you will sleep, and the better you sleep, the better you will be at meditating.

Now that is what I call a higher quality of life!