Taoists who practice Tai Chi have always focused on breathing. Laozi once said: “Focus on the breath and make it soft. Can you be like a baby?” This concept points out the direction and realm of breathing practice for practitioners.
The breathing of newborn babies is the purest and most natural. When they first come into the world, they cry “Ah” and the breath goes in and out. Within a hundred days, when they are quiet, it seems that their breathing stops. In fact, the breath moves naturally in the Dantian, not relying on the nose. This natural breathing state is exactly the realm we pursue in practice.
When we first start practicing, we can often only feel the breathing of the nose and think it is simple and ordinary. However, as the practice deepens, the skills gradually increase, and when a certain realm is reached, the breathing is no longer just dependent on the nose, but can be calm. The nose is no longer obviously breathing, but its roots are still working subtly. In the end, it can even reach the advanced realm of breathing with the brain. When the practice reaches this point, it is not far from success.
In this practice process, “inner reflection of the body” is the key point summarized by Taoism and Tantra. Just like the method of meditation and contemplation in Buddhism, we must first stop, calm our hearts, and then be calm, so that we can observe the changes in our body with inner wisdom. This kind of introspection is a deep exploration and cognition of ourselves.
The ancient Chinese immortality alchemy classic “Santongqi” also mentioned “inner illumination of the body”, which shows that before the introduction of Buddhist scriptures, our ancient philosophers had already explored and summarized these exquisite practice methods.
The breathing practice of Taoist Tai Chi is not achieved overnight, but requires long-term persistence and training. On this long road of practice, we need to maintain awareness of ourselves, feel the changes of each breath with our heart, and gradually approach the pure and natural breathing state like a baby, so as to achieve harmony and unity of body and mind.