Day 7

Well... I tried the "Breathing the Mile" thing.

So first, I did my preparatory routine (sitting meditation, tree pose) and did my 400 deep breaths. For the first 25 deep breaths, I was like "hoh, crap, this is gonna suck." I was only breathing through one nostril and I got really thirsty. But I worked through it and did what I had to do. I wanted to stop several times during the experiment but there's a point to where you just have to go for it. But after the 200th deep breath, I stopped, closed out the technique, took a few sips of water, and got back into it. Eventually, I did finish the 400th slow, deep breath. If I recall, the total time was roughly 35 minutes.

Afterwards, I did my usual microcosmic orbit to tai chi to quiet sitting. Total meditation/Qigong time was 1 hour, 17 minutes.

More on the "Breathing the Mile" thing... immediately after the first set of 200 breaths, I felt energized. I walked around and I really felt like I've been running, only my legs and body were not sore. But I felt really good.

During the 2nd set of 200, that's when things started getting a little hairy. I'm not sure that I rooted myself correctly before I resumed, because in the middle of the 2nd set, I started having visions. The vision was of me walking through space or a dark corridor and spirits and demons were staring at me as I passed. One demon, seemed like he was trying to pounce at me or trying to scare me. This has happened to me before, and being an entry-level monk that I am, I freaked out and stopped on the spot. My friend advised me to work on my rooting, so I did. So this time, when I saw those visions again, instead of freaking out, I rooted myself even deeper and continued on my merry way. It worked.

When I got done, I felt energized, however the lateral aspect of my left leg (from my hip to my knee) were really fatigued, and kinda numb. But that's basically from standing in my Qigong stance for 35 minutes (besides the 2 minute break for water).

One thing I noticed was that I had goosebumps and chills, but it may have been from the visions I received during the routine. I may have been creeped out a little bit, but not as badly as I was the first time I saw it. I did my best to re-root myself and to "Kill the Buddha" (to basically not dwell upon any of the visions you see, especially the bad ones).

So in conclusion... yes, my body felt like it received the same amount of oxygen as if I ran a mile, yet without the feeling of fatigue, lactic acid buildup, shin splints and sore joints (I have flat feet). I felt energized and ready to take on the world.

Day 6 - with an overview of my Qigong regimen

Well, it's day six, and lemme tell ya... I just happened to start this whole thing near Easter and I've fallen off the wagon already (as far as diet).

But you know what? It's okay. Consistency makes the habit, the habit makes the lifestyle. So you get back on that horse and keep going. You should never beat yourself up over your mistakes. They happen. Grow up, live and learn.

So here's my morning Qigong regimen:

1) Sitting meditation - relaxing the mind and body in order to prepare for the intake and free flow of Qi

2) Standing meditation - Wuji state, tree pose. Maintaining the relaxed state, concentrating on deeply rooting myself (my feet) towards the center of the earth.

3) Qigong cultivation - breathing exercises. Maintaining the relaxed state, deep breathing exercises, breathing into my navel, or two-three finger-widths below, and storing the energy (Qi) from the oxygen there even as I exhale.

4) Sitting Qigong - Microcosmic Orbit/Small Circulation. Taking the Qi from my lower abdominal storage and circulating it around the center of my body.

5) Taijiquan - 24 posture Yang Form. I consider this "Macrocosmic Orbit" because now we're circulating Qi throughout all the energetic channels of the body.

And lemme tellya... after the Qigong session, I feel friggin' amazing.

And strangely enough, I feel less need for food for the rest of the day. Just plenty of water.

So, I've been wondering... what are the average breaths one take when running a mile? I looked it up because my lazy ass won't run the mile to find out. I discovered somewhere on Google that it's about 400 breaths per mile. Whether or not that's feasible, I'll find out later, but I'll take that number.

Interesting. So what if I decide to do my Qigong cultivation exercises based on that number? 400 reps of deep, controlled breathing. My proposed theory is that perhaps my body will be just as oxygenated as if I actually ran the mile... however, my body wouldn't have to recover from sore muscles, as well as the build up of lactic acid, thus my body wouldn't have to expend that extra energy to heal itself. So would that mean that I would feel better and have more energy from BREATHING the mile than if I actually RAN the mile? Maybe.

But just so you know, this is just for my Qigong session... in the workout session, I do a series of sprints.

Wow... interesting. "Breathing the Mile." I think I'll try it and I'll let you know how it goes.