“My teacher told me that it’s incorrect to breathe through the mouth,” she said. “He said that in qigong and tai chi the breathing should be in and out through the nose.”
This question comes up all the time in my Facebook group.
Sometimes, it’s more of a challenge than a question, as if to say: “Why are you doing it wrong, Anthony?!?”
I’m not doing it wrong.
This video explains why. It’s a replay of a live broadcast that I did on Facebook. You can watch it below, or you can click the little “f” button below and watch it on Facebook. (Note: if you want to read the comments, you’ll have to watch it on Facebook.)
If you have any questions, feel free to post them below this blog post.
No sound? Click the play button, then click the volume
button in the lower right corner.
I’m Anthony Korahais, and I used qigong (pronounced "chee gung") to heal from clinical depression, low back pain, anxiety, and chronic fatigue. Today, I'm the director of Flowing Zen, an international organization with students in 48 counties. I've been teaching qigong since 2005, I've served on the board for the National Qigong Association, and I’ve helped thousands of people to use qigong for their own stubborn health challenges. If you're ready to get started with qigong, there's no better way than my best selling book, which comes with free videos and meditations. The sooner you read my book, the sooner you can start healing! Click here to see my book on Amazon.
I can’t stream in my location. But if you, Sifu Anthony, prescribe breathing in a specific way, that is more than good enough for me. Any debate on this sounds kind of like a religious war. your team-my team, as opposed to the fact that people are deriving great benefit from what you are sharing with us.
5 stars. Excellent blog. Really like your open mindedness and lack of dogmatism. Also the statement that “You can have your own opinion, but you can’t have your own facts!” Keep ranting. Again, superb post! Really glad I stumbled across this one.
First, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire “rant” although I did not consider you to be ranting at all quite the contrary. You provided information on breathing in a clear way with side related stories to explain and clarify. Thank you. One follow up question regarding your remark about order of importance…Zen, breathing, movement. So would you say the order of importance is 60, 30, 10? Or, would breathing be 60%, Zen mindfulness 30%, and Movement 10%?
I remember learning this some time ago but now would appreciate validation / correction. Thank you.
Hi Gina. Thanks for the kind words.
I think you’re referring to this article: https://flowingzen.com/9544/the-number-1-mistake/
Very interesting topic, thank you for sharing! You mention “6 healing sounds is not something I happen to teach because we have other things similar to it”. Could you elaborate a bit on what is it that you teach that offers similar effect to the healing sounds? I joined the FlowingZen pack in the covid course and have been learning about qigong from your blog and other sources – I tried the healing sounds a few times but I haven’t been drawn to it, maybe because it doesn’t come naturally to me and I didn’t feel much (as opposed to when I do qigond and feel the energy). So I’m curious to know what you do as “replacement” 🙂
Hi Anna. Some examples are the “shhh” sound in Shooting Arrows, the “haiitt!” sound in Punching with Wide Eyes, or the sizzling sound in Nourishing Kidneys. There are more too.
Hi Sifu – I am participating in your 101 Programme and really enjoying it. I came across this video a while ago and just listened to it now. I enjoy your ranting, all good. Death threats – wow, from ignorance I would imagine. In Programme 101 I am fine doing the breathing out of the mouth during the 5 phase. About 2 weeks back you said during a meditation (not sure which one now) that in the Stillness part, breathing in and out of the nose is ok. I found I was able to relax straight away into this and it made the Stillness more powerful.
Yes, there are different breathing modes for different techniques, but the default one is to breathe in gently through the nose and out gently through the mouth.
Hi I have just been watching your video sharing your extensive knowledge about different breathing using nose/mouth which prompts me to inquire regarding the growing western understanding of how the nose has a role in the immune system and if you may be aware of any actual study’s about the potential of applying nose breathing to optimize the natural immune response to for example the covid virus.
thanks
Hi Terry. What’s your question exactly?