Anus control and breathing

[New2Qigong]

Hello all,

 

While I'm still searching for a suitable distance qigong course, I'd like to give it a go to the The Tien Tao Qi Gong Correspondence Course which someone mentioned in this forum; it looks very interesting indeed.

 

For the first month's practice there is an exercise called Anus Control and Breathing (exercise three of this course). Here you can read:

 

1. Push the anus forward and upward to the navel, relax and push the anus backwards and upwards toward ming men (without regulating the breath).
2. Inhale slowly, expanding the abdomen and simultaneously pushing the anus toward the navel. Without relaxing, exhale slowly pushing the anus toward ming men...

 

I don't know if I understand this correctly: how am I supposed to do this? I mean, the only movement with the anus I can think of is contracting it. How can I push it forward and upward to the navel or to the ming men?

 

I hope there are some experts here who can shed some light here for us the beginners...

[Chang]

Words can make the simplest of actions appear confusing.

 

Were I describing this action I would replace the word "push" with the word "draw." Your use of the word "contracting" is describing the same action.

 

You will find that you are able to vary the direction of the contraction either towards the ming meng point or the navel without difficulty after a little practice.

 

This is a very good course you have started and I wish you much success.

[soaring crane]

I learned to focus on the point Weilü (the space between the tip of the sacrum and the tailbone) for the movement, and Huiyin (the perineum) for lifting. I think some schools default to the anus because it's, well, easy to locate and also easy to control. I believe the hidden wish in the instruction is that you activate Huiyin and Mingmen. What does your lumbar spine do when you practice this, or try to practice it?

[Stosh]

Nah

Edited April 27, 2015 by Stosh

[soaring crane]

 

 

Nah

??

[Stosh]

I was going to make comment and changed my mind, but  since you asked  , I liked the part about ' it 'being easy to find is all. 

[soaring crane]

I was going to make comment and changed my mind, but  since you asked  , I liked the part about ' it 'being easy to find is all. 

 

Oh! haha, yeah, it's just around the elbow :-)

[New2Qigong]

Hello Chang & Soaring Crane,

 

First of all, thank you guys for commenting my post. I wanted to wait for a couple of more days of practice before answering your comments.

 

I'm doing the 4 exercises recommended for level 1 (first month of practice) and I still don't know whether I'm doing it right.

 

About the slight anus contractions, I think I can contract 2 different sides of it: the front side and the back side. I hope this is what this manual means because the part when they say "...forward and upward to the navel / backward and upward to the ming men" is something I still don't understand.

 

 

Soaring crane: What does your lumbar spine do when you practice this, or try to practice it?

 

It gets tense, but I try to relax it and do the contraction a bit softer because the instructions doesn't say anything about this... is that right?

[Rocky Lionmouth]

Generally speaking:

Wouldnt it be advisable to generally accustom oneself to do relaxing and contracting as evenly as possible in the beginning and when one is fairly proficient in truly relaxing the tension start to experiment with directions?

I noticed after a while that trying to achieve a "directional tension" i kept tensing other stuff that was difficult to relax in between.

Nowadays i do basic basic basic and just try to expand the awarness of the area from tailbone to front and the pelvic floor, see what stuff i can move and how these tensions propagate, ming men area tends to become stiff.

Anyone else notice a shift in the center of balance when contracting and expanding? Still trying to figure out exactly how it fits together.

Might be im just fat enough that my potbelly moving sways the whole body

Edited April 30, 2015 by Rocky Lionmouth