Mark Forstater's Blog

The 2500 Year Old Breath Exercise

August 19, 2015 at 2:58 pm Leave a comment

This advice on breathing is from Chinese characters inscribed on a piece of jade:

Hold the breath and it collects,

When collected it expands,

When expanded it sinks down,

When it sinks down it gets quiet,

When it becomes quiet it solidifies,

Solidified, it begins to sprout forth,

After it has sprouted it will grow,

As it grows it will be pulled back above,

Pulled back above it will reach the crown of the head,

Above it presses against,

Below it presses down

Whoever follows this will live,

Whoever acts against this will die.

Entry filed under: Ancient wisdom, breathing. Tags: breath, exercise, Taoist.