Belly Breathing for Lower Blood Pressure by Dr. Wu Tao-Wei My friend in the produce business has bone cancer. I hadn't seen him for at least fifteen years since I left San Francisco's Chinatown for the more relaxing environment of the Santa Clara Valley. He is one of those many Chinese who have followed the America lifestyle of fast foods and a busy schedule. And like so many Chinese who have left behind the Old China for the New World, my friend learned a little bit of Tai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong Breathing methods when he was younger and then stopped practicing because he didn't feel anything different after a lesson or two. I bumped into him as he was delivering produce to a Chinese market in Cupertino. "Hey, long time! No see!" And then he told me his sad tale of operations and chemotherapy and he showed me his radiation scars. It breaks my heart to see the depredations that the Western Medical Monopoly is visiting upon the people of the world. Simple diseases are being treated with complex and expensive methods which fail utterly to either cure or to save - but the People must pay the medical bills anyway while they suffer and die! And once the Western doctors operate on you, it is very difficult for Chinese medicine to be of any use since the acupuncture meridians are usually damaged and the internal organs become depleted. Additionally, Western medicines are both poisonous and extremely YIN, so Chinese herbs are not usually effective in undoing the damage while such medicines are being taken. And to stop taking such poisons goes against the Western physicians advice, which allows them to "void the warranty", so to speak, and to threaten to stop helping you -- if, indeed, their ministrations can be called actual "help". I have to be careful about giving medical advice because as inept as the Western physicians are, they are both greedy for wealth and politically powerful and they do not allow anyone to interfere with their money-making frauds and swindles. So, the advice that I give must be classified as both "alternative medicine" and "traditional medicine" and as "common sense". The first, most necessary thing that a person needs for the healing of ANY disease, is to be able to breathe properly. Yes, regulating your breath is too simple for a Western physician to understand but an ordinary person can understand it. After all, air is our most essential element for Life. Without air, we die in a few minutes. Without water, we die in a few days. Even without food, we can last perhaps a month or more. So, the first thing necessary for understanding disease and good health, is to see if the person is breathing properly or not. Without proper breathing, oxygen is not distributed efficiently to the entire body and waste products are not expelled. I used a pulse diagnosis and immediately knew that my friend's lungs were impaired. I asked him to take a deep breath and I could immediately see that he was breathing in reverse. I explained that I cannot do anything that interferes with his present medical treatment because of legal requirements. But, I showed him what I am going to explain to you here. He went away happy that he had learned something vital to his health and something that EMPOWERED him to take more control over his life. But whether these words help you, depends upon no one but you. Unlike the Western physicians' advice, the Chinese doctors know that normal breathing is not done with the lungs. It is accomplished with the diaphragm. If you do not know where your diaphragm is, don't worry about it. All you need to know is how to put your palms one on top of the other over your belly just below your belly button. As you press inward with your hands and push your abdomen toward your spine, the air in your lungs exhales. Relax your hands, relax your abdomen and as the abdomen expands, the air rushes into your lungs without effort. Repeat this as often as you like, at first using your hands to press the abdomen and later practice breathing with the abdomen muscles alone as you become proficient with this method. As the belly goes in, the air goes out. As the belly goes out, the air goes in. This is natural breathing that every baby is born with but which is a skill that most people lose as they grow into adulthood. There are reasons why some people lose this ability, which I will not go into here. The first thing that happens when people practice breathing in this way, is that their blood pressure goes down. And they begin enjoying a calmer state of mind. This belly-breathing technique is the same that is used in meditation, in martial arts, in yoga and by people who live long and healthy lives. After all, the Japanese live longer than anybody on earth and "breathing from the hara" is taught to even the smallest of their children. Practice breathing with this method while standing, sitting, laying down and wherever your are every day. Practice for a few minutes before retiring at night and a few minutes when you get up in the morning or while driving to work or riding the bus, and you will find that your mind becomes alert and your general health improves. Western physicians have nothing to compare with the power of this method for both good health and recovery from illness. They don't teach it because they don't know it. And if they knew how beneficial to health that it is, they wouldn't teach it because they want the People to depend on them for a fee rather than to depend upon Nature for free. Perhaps I have saved my friend's life by reminding him this technique. After all, cancer is a Yin disease and cancer cells die if given enough oxygen. And this is something that he should have known before but, of course, not all Chinese understand kung-fu or qi gong. In fact, very few actually understand these things at all! Why? Because this is stuff from Old China and we are living in the New World. Of what use is all of that old stuff, anyway? But if you try it, you might like it. --------------------------------------------------------- Second Publication Rights Granted as long as the following is credited: First Published in the Chinese Swaztika Newsletter, for free subscription send blank eMail to: