johnwang wrote:twocircles13 wrote:This seems to be a hot topic.
While the breath is important including crevices in the breath, we were taught breath training. Then, we were told to never again think about the breath, except when doing breath training. Let the body be natural and let the breath take care of itself. If you think about breathing while doing Taijiquan, especially applications, the timing of the breath will be a little off, and it will not be as effective, if at all.
I don't believe we can breathe any way that we prefer. Will you end single whip with inhale? I believe everybody will end single whip with exhale.
That is actually the opposite of what I said. "Being natural and let the breath take care of itself” is not random. The brain and the body’s nervous system knows what it needs to do to maximize effect.
So, we practice different breathing methods in breath practice to teach the body what is available to it and to strengthen the neurological connections and patterns. However, in the form and more importantly in application, we let the body choose which breath pattern works best.
If you try to impose a breathing pattern your conscious mind thinks “should” be used, it could be wrong, and virtually always the timing will be off.
We see this a lot in all kinds of athletes. Baseball and softball pitchers are a great example. Many of them grunt or bark with an exhalation of breath as they pitch. If you ask them about it, they won’t know what you're talking about. If you show them videos, they’ll be surprised. If you try catch them how to best use their breath, you will mess up their timing.
But, that is just me seeing a confirmation of what I was taught coming down from Chen Fake. Train the breath, but let the body take care of breathing as you do the form and application. It will know what to do.