In Chinese medicine, there is the concept of “digestive fire”: the brighter it burns, the higher the metabolic rate, the more useful substances are absorbed – and the less you want to eat! How to kindle this fire? Use a set of breathing exercises.
What does slimness depend on? Chinese doctors say that with good digestion and proper nutrition, everyone can be slim. Moreover, it is the quality of digestion that is primary, nutrition is in second place. Why? Remember how, as a child, you could eat scrambled eggs in the morning, then run all day and only at night remember that you seem to want to eat? Then the metabolism was at the level: the body took the maximum of useful substances from each grain of food. Therefore, saturation came quickly, and we received energy from food in excess.
As the “fire of digestion”, that is, the intensity of metabolic processes, decreases, you want to eat more and more, and there is less and less sense from this nutrition (that is, vital energy for action).
How to kindle the fire of digestion? Let’s figure it out!
Voltage = braking
According to Chinese medicine, one of the most important factors influencing weight gain is tension in the thoracic diaphragm. It, as the name implies, separates the chest and abdominal cavity.
If the diaphragm moves freely (down on inhalation, up on exhalation), it provides a gentle massage of the abdominal organs, stimulating their work. In addition, it, like a pump, helps the outflow of blood from the abdomen, which means it stimulates the flow of new, oxygen-rich blood. Helps move bile from the liver to the intestines for better digestion.
This constant work takes place with every inhalation/exhalation and is necessary for the proper functioning of the entire digestive system. If the diaphragm is tense, then these necessary oscillatory movements do not occur, and the measured, well-coordinated work of the system goes astray.
How to relax the diaphragm?
To feel how the diaphragm is doing there is not an easy task. We are not very good at feeling and controlling the movements that take place inside the body. But we can learn to feel what is happening outside. The diaphragm is attached in front to the lower ribs, and behind – to the upper part of the lower back. Accordingly, the tension of these zones will signal that the diaphragm is also tense. The good news is that you can relax the diaphragm by working with these areas: the solar plexus, lower ribs, and lower back.
What exercises will help to influence the diaphragm and improve the blood supply (“fire”) of the digestive organs?
Jiang Fairy Complex
“Jian Fei” means “lose fat” in Chinese. Each of the exercises of the complex helps to free the diaphragm and thereby “revive”, tone up the work of the digestive system.
Volna
This exercise allows you to extinguish the so-called false hunger. We all know what true hunger is: haven’t eaten for a long time, lack energy, it’s time to eat. False hunger can occur due to stress or, for example, when looking at mouth-watering dishes. To easily distinguish false hunger from true, do the exercise:
- Lie on the floor on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor. The loin is pressed to the floor.
- Inhale as you expand your chest.
- As you exhale, inflate, expand your stomach.
From the side it will seem that a wave passes through the body. Breathe like this, measuredly and smoothly, for 3-5 minutes. If, as a result of the exercise, the desire to eat receded, then it was a false hunger. If it is really time to eat, then the hunger will intensify and become more precise so that you can consciously choose what you want to eat right now.
Frog
Another exercise that opens and relaxes the diaphragm in a different way, which must be performed while sitting on pillows, with legs crossed. Its purpose is to increase the range of motion of the diaphragm.
- Sit cross-legged. Elbows rest on the knees, hands in the castle (one hand is clenched into a fist, the second covers it from above).
- Rest your head on clasped hands.
- Take a deep breath, expanding your belly. Soft free exhalation. Breathe slowly and steadily, expanding your belly as you inhale.
- After 3-5 breaths, hold your breath for a short time, then breathe out, expanding your stomach even more.
Repeat the cycle of breaths several times, noticing how the range of motion of the diaphragm changes, and asking yourself how I can make the next breath even freer and more relaxed.
Authentic breath
This exercise is mastered in the course of women’s Taoist practices: its goal is to remember the natural breathing of a three-month-old, as free, relaxed and replenishing as possible.
- Sit cross-legged on cushions with hands resting on knees. The abdomen and lower back are relaxed, the crown tends upward.
- Take a soft free breath, expanding the stomach. Follow this breath with attention from the nostrils down the spine to the abdomen.
- Exhale – just as softly and freely, as if a balloon is deflating.
- Close your eyes and breathe like this for 3 minutes, relaxing your stomach with each new breath cycle. A feeling of warmth in the abdomen will be a signal that you are doing the exercise correctly.
This complex is aimed at systematic work with the body. It will not help to lose the required number of kilograms in a week, however, with regular practice, it will set up the body so that there will be no reason for gaining excess weight in it. Combine these exercises with an adequate, varied diet and confidently move towards harmony!