The now popular phrase “digestive fire” came to us from the Eastern tradition, while many of us do not have a clear understanding of what it is at all. “Don’t drink with your meals, so as not to put out the fire of digestion,” sounds logical? It seems to be yes, but it has nothing to do with health. Let’s look at what the fire of digestion is, as well as how and why to kindle it.
Food gives us energy, which in Eastern medicine is called Qi – in fact, these are the life forces that we spend as fuel for movement, heating the body and other biological functions. How well the food is transformed into energy depends on the very fire of digestion, which either completely “burns” the food, or only slightly “lets in” it – in this case, all undigested is deposited in fat.
You have probably seen people who can eat three courses for lunch, eat it all with a wonderful dessert, buy ice cream on the way home and keep their figure. And there are those who eat extra carrots and already see changes in the body.
What extinguishes the fire of digestion?
The quality of digestion reduces the lack of Qi – if there is not enough of it, then there is no strength for digestion and the fire “burns” at half strength. So how to be? After all, we get most of our energy from food. So it’s a vicious circle?
Fortunately, we have other sources of strength as well. First of all, it is a dream. Therefore, all nutritionists unanimously repeat: in order to lose weight, you need to establish a sleep pattern. If we get enough sleep, Qi becomes larger, the fire of digestion “burns” brighter, and the body requires less food – there is enough strength already. But talking about sleep is easy, but starting to get enough sleep in our urban rhythm is another task.
Where else can you get energy? Out of breath! It would seem that this is a natural process: how can you breathe even better? I will talk about both general and my personal observations about the quality of breathing.
Evolutionarily, over the past few years, we have changed a lot even externally. In particular, our skull shape has been transformed: due to the fact that we began to process food in new ways, the need to actively chew has disappeared. Our food products are now often soft, refined, thermally processed. And if you do not need to chew, the volume of the jaw is reduced, and this entails a change in the shape of the nasal passages. Bottom line: we stopped chewing raw food and, as a side effect, the respiratory channels narrowed.
From personal observations: the quality of breathing changes, in particular, against the background of stress. When we are worried, we begin to breathe more shallowly: a short inhale, a short exhale. Due to this oxygen (and hence Qi), less is supplied. I began to observe a particularly radical change after my School opened after the pandemic: people came to us who, it would seem, endured this period with minimal stress – they practice qigong and meditation, they live consciously and are not prone to panic. But even their breathing has changed radically – we have all endured such a global, all-encompassing stress over the past year.
How to adjust breathing so that it becomes full and brings more energy? To do this, there are various sets of exercises, in particular, female Taoist practices that restore authentic breathing – a breathing pattern that is characteristic of a person from birth.
Exercise to restore the quality of breathing
Many Eastern breathing practices advertise themselves as “weight loss practices.” In fact, they trigger such breathing, in which a person receives additional energy, and the body stops demanding: “Give me more strength! How?! Yes, whatever … The easiest option is to eat! And more!”
To restore breathing, I suggest doing a simple exercise – it will come in handy in stressful situations.
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and your lower back on the floor.
- Find two active points under the chest. We have 12 pairs of ribs. We need to find the space between the seventh and the eighth – it is easier to count from below, from the 12th. Find the bottom edge on the right and climb up to the gap between the seventh and eighth – these will be the horizontal coordinates.
Now draw an imaginary vertical line through the right nipple – where this line will intersect with the gap between the 7th and 8th ribs, the desired point is located. If you press on it, it will become obvious that there is even a small notch there – that’s what we need. Place your index and middle fingers on it. The second exactly such point is in the same place on the other side.
- Now the left hand: the shoulder lies on the floor perpendicular to the body, the forearm looks up, the hand is clenched into a fist. Turn your head in the direction opposite to the active point you are clicking on.
- Now that you’ve completed this puzzle, close your eyes and count, say, nines from a hundred backwards. If it comes easily, then from a million.
Breathe like this for a while, then repeat the exercise on the other side, activating the second point. This position, if you do not interfere with it with your “head” – that is, do not think about how best to breathe – starts a deep, measured, free authentic breathing. Try to breathe like this and compare how the state as a whole has changed. It will surely be an exciting experience!