As any exercise enthusiast knows, breathing well can enhance performance. Breath plays an especially significant role in tai chi and other fighting arts. In addition to ensuring proper oxygenation, martial arts breathing techniques allow practitioners to concentrate and direct the flow of qi or vital life energy. By adhering to core breathing principles, any tai chi or other martial artist can heighten mental focus, increase the power of strikes blocks, and move with precision and control.
Breathing Basics
Ideal breathwork in tai chi is long, slow, deep and even. One of your first tai chi training goals is to learn to breathe into your abdomen rather than restricting breath to the chest --- something most people do habitually. Belly breathing allows you to achieve the physical softness required for tai chi. In other martial arts, breath control is one key to making your body immune to attack and coordinating your movements so that your entire body works as a single unit, according to Sang H. Kim, Taekwondo teacher and champion, and developer of the "Power Breathing" martial arts program. In his book "Teaching Martial Arts: The Way of the Master," Kim notes that shouting "kiai" or other vocalizations is one method of controlling exhalation and putting power into strikes and kicks.
Internal Martial Arts
Internal martial arts use slow, deep breathing to engage and stimulate the lower tan t'ien, an area just below the navel where you store qi, according to Margaret Emerson, a tai chi teacher in Humboldt County, California, and author of "Breathing Underwater: The Inner Life of Tai Chi Chuan." Emerson says that coordinating breath with tai chi movements allows qi to circulate up from the tan t'ien, along the spine and back down the front of the body. Tai chi theory states that this circulation of qi drives the circulation of the blood, in turn giving rise to optimal health.
External Martial Arts
External martial arts such as karate employ specific and deliberate breathing techniques in order to build muscular strength, according to Hirokazu Kanazawa, founder and chief instructor of the Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation and author of "Black Belt Karate: The Intensive Course." Kanazawa recommends training yourself to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth while fully relaxing. Karate practitioners use different breathing patterns to power different movements. A long exhalation with short inhalation is appropriate for a straight punch or a front snap kick, while a three-punch combo requires a long inhalation to gear up for the strikes and short divided exhalations for each individual punch.
Benefits
Whether you're training in tai chi or one of the harder martial arts styles, learning relevant breathing techniques has specific benefits that will help you become a better fighter, and might enhance your health, according to Dick Morgan, a black belt in Hapkido, Tae Kwon Do, Jujitsu, Aikido and Kenpo and founder of Warrior Mind Dojang in Portland, Oregon. In his book "Warrior Mind: Strategy and Philosophy From the Martial Arts," Morgan argues that deep belly breathing increases aerobic capacity and offers a deep internal massage to the organs. Traditional martial arts teachings link slow abdominal breathing to a quieter, more centered mind and balanced emotions.
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