Kwa squat & breathing

[Anonymous]

Hi Paul, this is a great course, I’m really enjoying it. Great to be receiving so much precise instruction in a short time.

The Kwa squat is the part I find most difficult currently because I’m not sure what to do with my breathing. From my days in weight lifting I would squat with the breath in my stomach to stabilize the core and therefore to breath in on the way down feels a somewhat natural movement to me. I guess that makes sense from an internal compression perspective.
From the Kwa squat and circling hands training I understand the instruction would be to breath in on the way up and breath out on the way down, again makes sense. What is correct here? Also, is the breath to be a full breath into the sides, back and lungs, as that feels rather difficult if breathing in on the way down.

Regarding muscles – when I do the full Kwa squat (as per week 6) should I be feeling this in the muscles at the very top of the thighs?

Thanks David

[Anonymous]

You will likely feel the kwa squat working areas of the
feet, ankles, legs, buttocks, lower back and hips at various points in your training,
depending on which tissues are the tightest and being accessed through this
deep, internal exercise.

As for your first question, initially you don’t make the
breath do anything in movement. You allow the body to breathe in and out as it
chooses. Forcing the breath puts undue internal pressure on the organs, and
traps stagnant qi and negative emotions in the body. So you want to direct the
breath into the belly (at a minimum) while keeping your chest from rising.
Then, allow the body to choose when to breathe in and out. If you do this, you
will find your breathing changes quite dramatically during each practice
session, as well as over periods of time. This is what I call the
“releasing breath”, which is soft, relaxed breathing that does what
it wants, allowing the body to release stagnant energy and emotions that get
dredged up from the physical exercise. Sometimes this may even include the body
reverting to taking several rapid breaths high in the chest. If this happens,
you know you have been forcing your breath and your body is rebelling. As your
breathing improves, you can add the sides and lower and upper back — in
stages. But, let me be clear: It is easy to do the full breath pattern in the
body while lying down, sitting or standing still in space. Once you start
moving, the physical exercise pulls on the diaphragm and internal organs in
many ways, and therefore the body responds naturally by trying to breathe in and
out at various points during the exercise. It is better to get the deep breath
in the body and allow the in and out breaths to happen naturally than to
synchronise the breath to the movement and lose depth of breath.

 

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