Simple QiGong Exercise for Improved Balance
Why Breathing in Makes you Ligher | Kevin Dewayne Hughes, QiGong Sifu
It is said to breath in to make one's self light and breath out to make one's self heavy. The act of breathing doesn't actually change your lightness or heaviness. But it does change your density. When the lungs are exhaled, you have more mass per volume. When you breath in, the negligible mass of the air accomplishes more volume increase than mass increase and your body becomes less dense. Mind you, this density shift is also negligible.
QiGong with
Kevin Dewayne Hughes
Tenkidokan School of Energy Arts
International Intercultural Martial Arts Union
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Ponder this: Can a minor change in body density actually accomplish anything meaningful?
One of the fascinating aspects of QiGong that I’ve personally experienced is how mindful breathing can deeply influence your body’s balance and internal awareness. While the article explains how inhaling can make your body less dense and exhaling more dense, from my own practice, I’ve found that incorporating these breathing patterns into daily QiGong exercises promotes a stronger connection between mind and body. When you breathe in and allow your body to feel lighter, it’s not just a physical phenomenon but also a mental cue that encourages relaxation and focus. This relaxed state aids in improving proprioception—the body’s ability to sense its position in space, which is essential for balance. When QiGong breathing is paired with gentle movement or static postures, it can help retrain the nervous system to respond more efficiently to shifts in stability. In addition, the concept of changing body density, even if slight, has profound influence on how your muscles engage. With exhalation, bringing more 'weight' into your stance can enhance stability by grounding you more effectively to the floor. Conversely, inhalation can help release tension, preventing stiffness that might hinder fluid movements. Regular practice of these breathing exercises, like those taught by Kevin Dewayne Hughes, also improves one’s ability to center energy (Qi) throughout the body, which in traditional QiGong philosophy supports overall vitality and balance. From my experience, even a few minutes daily focusing on the breath-to-body density shift greatly improved how steady I felt when standing still or moving slowly. For beginners, I suggest starting with simple seated or standing breathing exercises: breathe in gently, feeling the expansion and associated lightness, then breathe out slowly, engaging your muscles lightly to 'anchor' yourself. Over time, as you become more sensitive to these subtle changes, you may notice improvements in overall coordination and confidence in your balance. The key is mindfulness—connecting breath, body, and intention in every movement.
