Pi Chuan and the Lungs

[Anonymous]

I’ve been using Hsing-i as my warm up set for months. Every day I learn something new. The other day I noticed how I could use the diaphragm in Pi Chuan to create a strong downward flow in any movement, but especially Pi Chuan. Although Pi Chuan is usually discussed as centering around the lungs, I’d argue that the lungs are essentially passive. They don’t actively do anything. They rely on the tissue around them and in particular the diaphragm to perform their function. So the ribs and the ligaments and tendons that surround them need to move to allow the lung sacks to expand. The sacks don’t even expand. They are pulled open by the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the active side or element. All of the breathing exercises of neigung element #1 can be seen as restoring the tissue’s innate stretch and making the diaphragm muscle stretch longer and stronger. Hsing-i uses this function to add power to any of its forms. PI Chuan specializes in it.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if this is one of the places where people conflate breathing and chi.

[Author]

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