‘Breathing in a Circle’

In Qi Gong, one of the basic breathing techniques is called ‘breathing in a circle’, or circular breathing. This means that we are trying to make our breathing a gentle continuous flow, with each breath following the one preceding it without a break in momentum. In general, if the flow of qi in our body is gentle, continuous and regular, then this will promote the long term health of the physical body and encourage our mind to become relaxed, comfortable and spacious. In general, in today’s modern society our body and mind tend to be quite over-stimulated, resulting in jagged fluctuations in our physical and mental qi, and in our breathing patterns. Learning to ‘breathe in a circle’ helps us to smooth out the jagged patterns in our energy and allow it to become smooth and steady, promoting both internal and external well being.
Breathing in a circle makes an excellent meditation exercise in itself for calming our body and mind. Here are some of the basic characteristics to pay attention to when practicing circular breathing:
1) The pace and length of the inhalation and exhalation should mirror each other. They should be of approximately the same time duration, and the intensity of the air flow should be gentle and continuous as you breathe in and breathe out.
2) There should be no gap between the inhalation and exhalation, and between the exhalation and the inhalation. As you reach the top of the in-breath, change gently and immediately to the out-breath so that the momentum of the breathing is maintained. Likewise, as you reach the bottom of the out-breath change gently and smoothly to the in-breath.

If you focus on breathing in these two ways, then it should feel as if your breathing is becoming ‘circular’ with the inhalation and exhalation forming two halves of a circle that intersect smoothly and seamlessly at the top and the bottom.
You may find that, as you ‘breathe in a circle', after a while, the rate of your breathing will start to slow down naturally. This is fine, just try to ensure that the pace and length of the inhalation and exhalation continue to mirror each other as your breathing slows.
Try doing a few minutes of circular breathing each day, you may be surprised at how quickly you can induce a feeling of comfort, clarity and wellbeing within your mind and body through consciously ‘breathing in a circle’!