BONE BREATHING QIGONG

Recently, I visited an ancient forest in Poland called Ojcow. It is a fertile valley surrounded by stone formations that are full of cave complexes. Inside these caves, archeologists discovered the bones and tools of our Neanderthal relatives that date back to 115,000 years old. This included teeth and a Neanderthal child that had been digested by a bird. Only the bones of his hand remain.

Your bones tell your life story. They show your gender, age, height, lifestyle, and structure.  While you are alive your skeleton holds you up, enables mobility and protects your organs. The bones are made up of living cells and minerals that form a porous sponge like connective tissue. The inside of the bones are filled with bloody marrow. This marrow produces the red and white blood cells that are crucial to sustain your blood, tissues and immune system. In Chinese medicine the bone marrow is connected to the kidneys and sexual essence, which determines the quality and length of your life. The stronger your bones, the longer you live. And when you die, even 115,000 years later, your bones will remain.

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Daoists have long understood the power of Qi and cosmic energy that is conducted through the bones. Since humans are considered a conduit of energy between heaven and earth, and the bones hold our structure upright, they play a significant role in how we conduct energy. In Qigong, the bones can absorb energy from nature, the earth, and universe as well as transmute this energy through the body. But as we age, if we don’t take care of our bones, they naturally dry out and degenerate. The masters found that through breathing and meditation they could regenerate the bones and improve their resonance and function. They learned how to draw the external forces of energy in through their fingertips and the toes and how to circulate it throughout the bones to improve health and raise the frequency of the energy body. This practice is called Bone Marrow Internal Alchemy or Bone Breathing. Bone Breathing has many benefits: Bone Breathing Purges the bones of old negative energy, it strengthens the bones, it increases the red blood cells and white blood cells and spiritually Bone Breathing raises your vibrational frequency. Let’s briefly look at each one.

1.       Bone Breathing purges the bones of old energy

The bones are the most Yin aspect of our anatomy, they are the densest and deepest layer of our Qi. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the bones and marrow are ruled by the kidneys. The kidneys store and generate our life essence, called prenatal Qi. The bones are an extension of this precious essence. In our development the kidney essence enables the production of bone marrow which in turn produces the bones, teeth, spinal cord, brain, blood and hair. The life essence is like your energetic DNA – it is the blueprint that forms the basis of all the tissues and carries the genetic imprint of your ancestors. The vibration that we carry in our bones not only reflects our early life experiences, it holds the memories from thousands of generations. Bone Breathing takes us into the deepest and hidden part of our body, where we store old pain. Therefore the first part of bone breathing is to clear the bones of stagnant energy, heaviness, pain or trauma. When the bones are cleared of this heavy energy, they resonate like tuning forks with the natural vibration of the Universe.

 2.       Bone Breathing strengthen the bones, blood and immune system

As babies our bones are filled with red marrow, but as we age the marrow is replaced with fatty yellow marrow. Fatty marrow creates stagnation. Bone Breathing helps to clear this fatty marrow to improve blood and Qi circulation, thus strengthening our life force and slow down the aging process. The breath is the life force. When we breath with the bones, we are channeling Qi in and around the bone structure. This nourishes the bones and helps them regenerate red bone marrow which supports the blood and Qi. The bone marrow produces red and white blood cells. Red blood cells are your principal means of delivering oxygen to the tissues and organs while eliminating carbon dioxide. White blood cells are the cells of the immune system that protect the body against viruses, pathogens and disease. Bone Marrow Qigong is designed to increase the red and white blood cells, thus strengthening your immune system.

3.       Raises your vibration and increase internal power

Bones may seem dense, but they are actually a living energetic matrix that have the ability to generate electric energy called the piezo-electric effect. During the piezo electric effect, electric pulses send a signal to the bone cells to remodel themselves so they can regulate mineral content as well as heal from injury and every day stress. While the bones don’t change much in shape they are constantly remodeling and transforming like crystals. The Daoists understood our bones to be antennas that broadcast information from the universe. The upright alignment of our skeleton between heaven and earth is a perfect conduit of energy. As we clear and charge the bones with Qi, the bones naturally conduct the energy of the universe through the body. This energy flows through the spinal cord and Penetrating Meridian (Chong Mai) to nourish the brain and awaken our Upper Dantian, to refine the Shen, leading ultimately to Enlightenment.

METHOD

So how do we breath with our bones? There are two kinds of breaths, the gross breath that we take through the nose and the subtle breath that enters our body through our skin and hair. The skin contains millions of tiny pores and hairs that transmit qi between you and the environment. During Bone Breathing we will be using this subtle breath, and draw the qi through the skin into the fingertips and toes. From here we will guide the qi up the bones further and further with each breath. The bones need to be purged and cleansed first and then you can raise their vibration. So following the YOQI system of Qi Flow, first we will attune to the bones, then purge them, tonify them and finally circulate. The growth phase of bone breathing is called Bone Packing or compression which is the level 2 practice of Bone Breathing.

Bone Breathing is a powerful practice that can bring transformation on a deep level. Because we are working with the hidden aspect of ourselves, it requires concentration and awareness. In order to guide the Qi, the emotions must be calm and the mind must be focused. I suggest that you do the meditation at least 3 times without giving up. The first time can be challenging because will be just learning the method of Bone Breathing. The second time you will be able to practice the method and the third time you will be able to let go of trying and feel the Qi. A sign of progress is that you can feel your bones! As the Qi circulates you may also feel warmth, heaviness or tingling in your bones. The more you dive into this practice, I suggest you take time to meditate afterwards or take a nap and assimilate the energy. Bone breathing is a wonderful practice to do in the winter. Winter is the most yin time of year and the bones are the most yin aspect of our body. In winter we have sayings like, being chilled to the bone, or drink some warm tea to warm your bones. So bone breathing is great to do in Autumn and Winter, but it can also be added in your personal practice all year round. Now find a warm and peaceful place and let’s get started, let’s move some Qi!

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Bone Breathing is featured in the Immune System Support video here