Breathing from your heels (Chuang-tzu)

With all the breathing discussion going on, it reminds me of a phrase from the Chuang-tzu (Zhuangzi) that Bruce often cites:

“Wise men* breathe from their heels.”

I just received a new edition of Chuang-tzu at the library where I work:

Chuang-tzu : the Tao of perfect happiness : selections annotated & explained / translated & annotated by Livia Kohn. Woodstock, Vt. : SkyLight Paths Pub., 2011. 9781594732966.

It is a new reading with modern concepts and terms, passages are grouped by topics and themes, and unlike many editions, it includes many excerpts from the later chapters.

Here’s the “heel breathing” excerpt and commentary:

The perfected of old slept without dreaming and woke without concerns. Their food was plain and their breath deep. In fact, the perfected breathes all the way to the heels while the multitude breathe just to the throat – bent over and submissive, they croak out their words as if they were retching;  full of intense passions and desires, they have only the thinnest connection to heaven.

[Commentary:] Here is a brief reference to concrete practice: the perfected breathe to the heels as opposed to the chest. Healthy and spiritually strong people stand tall and breathe with their bellies, guiding breath and thus vital energy all the way through the body. Ordinary people, on the other hand, have abdominal muscles tightened by fear, rounded shoulders bent forward for protection, and sunken chests – all physical signs of stress. They cannot breathe properly, which in turn intensifies their tension and increases the flow of adrenaline.

– Chapter 6

*…and women!