Qigong
Seven Syllables Lung Exercise
Seven Syllables Lung Exercise. This Seven Syllables Lung Exercises is a chanting exercise to strengthen your lungs.
The seven syllables are as follows:
Ci, Sui, Jiu. You, ke, ba, ye.
(Suh, swee, jeeoh, yoh, kuh, bah, yay)
“The thorn, even if it’s been there a very long time, can still be removed.”
Passage from the Nei Jing. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic on Chinese Medicine.
The Lungs in Chinese medicine have great importance. Not as important as the heart, the monarch. Imperial court. They are seen as the prime minister. They set the tone, rhythm, movement for all the other organs to follow. This ties into that concept.
While doing the exercise, volume isn’t important. Quiet is okay. You’ll get less resonance, but it’s okay. Find the space that opens from the larynx and the throat, using the diaphragm.
Illness could also be like a piece of cloth that has gotten dirty, or a piece of rope that has a knot in it, or a passageway that’s been blocked. In all these cases, something can be done. The subtleties of the situation matter. The problem can still be remedied. TCM doctors pay attention to all the variables for each particular person. They are successful when they look at the unique variables.
We are interested in maintaining or gaining health for ourselves.
Independent of what you’re saying, what you’re doing during the chant, you are exercising diaphragm control, muscles around the rib cage. As you breathe in, the muscles around the rib cage open. As you breathe out, you’re not breathing out all at once. You’re gradually relaxing. You want to relax the throat and jaw to allow the vibration to move through.
Use of the controlled diaphragm muscles and relaxed throat is what matters. Not whether you get the syllables right.