Qigong Breathing: How to Breathe in Qigong (and the Four Mistakes Beginners Make)
Short answer: Qigong breathing means breathing slowly and quietly through the nose, into the lower abdomen, with the exhale a little longer than the inhale. Most practices use roughly 4 to 6 breaths per minute. The three common methods are natural breathing, abdominal (Buddhist) breathing, and reverse (Taoist) breathing. Beginners should stay with the first two for several months. If you feel dizzy, you are breathing too hard — that is the most common mistake, and it is easily fixed.
What qigong breathing actually is
In most exercises, breathing is something your body sorts out on its own. In qigong it is part of the practice itself. The movement, the attention, and the breath are meant to arrive at the same place at the same time, and when they do, the quality of the practice changes.
That sounds abstract, so here is the concrete version. Ordinary resting breathing runs at roughly 12 to 18 breaths per minute, driven mainly from the chest. Qigong breathing slows that to around 4 to 6 breaths per minute and moves the work down into the diaphragm. You are not taking bigger breaths. You are taking slower, smoother, quieter ones, and letting the belly do what the shoulders were doing.
The slowing is the active ingredient. Slow nasal breathing at around six breaths per minute is close to what researchers call the resonant frequency of the cardiovascular system, where heart rate and breathing fall into step. You do not need to believe anything about qi to get that effect, and you do not need to count — but it is worth knowing why “slow down and breathe low” is not just poetic advice.
The three methods, and which one to use
Nearly every breathing instruction you will encounter in qigong is a version of one of these three.
1. Natural breathing
You do nothing to the breath at all. You simply stop interfering with it and let it find its own depth while you give your attention to the movement or the posture. Over weeks it deepens and slows on its own.
This is where everyone should start, and a surprising number of long-term practitioners come back to it. It is the method used in most standing practice, because standing already asks a lot of the body and adding a breathing technique on top tends to create tension rather than relieve it.
2. Abdominal breathing (sometimes called Buddhist breathing)
On the inhale the lower abdomen expands outward. On the exhale it draws gently back in. The chest stays quiet and the shoulders do not rise.
This is the workhorse method. It is what most people mean by “qigong breathing”, it suits almost every exercise, and it is safe to practise daily for as long as you like. If you only ever learn one technique, learn this one properly.
3. Reverse breathing (sometimes called Taoist breathing)
The pattern inverts. On the inhale the lower abdomen draws inward and slightly up. On the exhale it releases outward.
Reverse breathing is used in power-issuing work and in some of the more advanced internal practices. It is not better than abdominal breathing — it is for a different job. Attempted too early, or held too long, it reliably produces chest tightness and a feeling of pressure behind the sternum.
My honest advice after twenty-four years of practice: stay with natural and abdominal breathing for at least six months before you touch reverse breathing, and then only inside a specific exercise that calls for it. There is no prize for arriving early.
| Method | Inhale | Exhale | Best for | Start here? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural | Unmanaged | Unmanaged | Standing practice, first weeks, any time tension creeps in | Yes |
| Abdominal | Belly expands | Belly draws in | Almost all moving qigong, seated meditation, daily practice | Yes |
| Reverse | Belly draws in | Belly releases out | Power work, specific advanced sets | Not for months |
How to practise abdominal breathing (ten minutes)
- Sit or stand with a straight, unforced spine. If sitting, both feet flat, hands resting on the thighs. If standing, feet about shoulder width, knees unlocked.
- Put one hand on your lower abdomen, below the navel. Leave the other on your chest. This is temporary feedback, not part of the practice — you will drop it in a week or two.
- Breathe in through the nose, slowly and quietly, and let the lower hand move outward. The upper hand should stay almost still.
- Breathe out through the nose, a little more slowly than you breathed in. Let the lower abdomen draw gently back.
- Do not force the length. If you are counting and straining to reach a number, the count is too long. Shorten it until the breath is comfortable and silent.
- Ten minutes. If your attention wanders, bring it back to the hand on your belly. That is the whole practice.
Quiet is the thing to aim for. If someone sitting next to you could hear you breathing, you are working too hard. A good qigong breath is almost inaudible.
Breathing in standing practice
Standing work — zhan zhuang — is where breathing instructions cause the most trouble, because the posture is already demanding and people try to fix discomfort by controlling the breath.
Do the opposite. In standing practice, use natural breathing and leave it alone. Your attention belongs in the structure: the weight dropping through the feet, the space under the arms, the softness in the chest. The breath will deepen by itself as the posture settles, usually within the first two or three weeks, and it will do so more thoroughly than if you had managed it.
If you find yourself holding your breath while standing, that is a reliable sign the posture is too low or the arms are too high. Raise the stance, lower the arms, and the breath returns on its own.
Dantian breathing and embryonic breathing
Two terms that come up constantly in searches, and both get oversold.
Dantian breathing is abdominal breathing with the attention resting in the lower dantian, roughly three finger-widths below the navel and a third of the way into the body. The mechanics are identical to abdominal breathing. What changes is where your mind sits. It is not a separate technique you need to buy a course to learn.
Embryonic breathing describes a state in which the breath becomes so slow and fine that it feels almost absent. It is a result, not a method. You cannot practise your way into it directly, and trying to imitate it by suppressing the breath is both unpleasant and pointless. It appears, when it appears, after a long period of ordinary unglamorous practice.
The four mistakes beginners make
1. Breathing too deeply
By far the most common. People hear “deep breathing” and take in as much air as possible. This over-ventilates, drops carbon dioxide levels, and produces exactly the dizziness and light-headedness people then worry about. Qigong breathing is slow and low, not big. If you are taking in large volumes of air, you are doing a different exercise.
2. Forcing the count
Ratios like 4-7-8 come from elsewhere and get imported into qigong. A breath you are straining to sustain creates tension in the diaphragm and the throat, which is the opposite of the point. Let the length emerge.
3. Starting with reverse breathing
Usually because it sounds more advanced. It produces chest tightness, a sense of pressure, and occasionally a headache behind the eyes. If this is you, stop, return to natural breathing for a fortnight, and the symptoms clear.
4. Lifting the shoulders
If your shoulders rise on the inhale, the breath is still in the chest. The hand-on-belly check sorts this out in a few sessions.
Is qigong breathing safe?
For most healthy adults, slow nasal breathing is about as low-risk as exercise gets. The sensible cautions are these.
- Dizziness means stop. Sit down, breathe normally, and wait. Then resume with a smaller, slower breath. Dizziness is a signal about volume, not a sign of progress.
- Do not hold the breath if you have high blood pressure, glaucoma, a heart condition, or you are pregnant. Retention appears in some traditional methods; skip it.
- Chest tightness or pressure usually means reverse breathing attempted too early. Return to natural breathing.
- If you have a respiratory condition such as COPD or asthma, talk to your doctor first. Slow breathing is often helpful, but the starting point should be set by someone who knows your case.
- Anxiety and panic history: some people find close attention to the breath uncomfortable at first. If that is you, keep the eyes open, keep the sessions short, and work with movement rather than stillness until it settles.
How often, and for how long
Ten to twenty minutes a day is enough to establish the habit and feel the change. Research into qigong and tai chi for anxiety and mood clusters around sessions of 40 to 60 minutes, three to seven times a week, over 12 to 24 weeks — but that is for full practice, not breathing alone. For breathing specifically, consistency matters far more than duration. Ten minutes every day beats an hour on Sunday.
Most people notice their resting breathing has changed somewhere between the third and sixth week. It is a quiet change: you catch yourself breathing low while queuing somewhere, and realise you did not decide to.
More on dose: how much qigong do you actually need.
Where to go next
- New to practice: beginner qigong exercises
- A structured set that pairs well with breath work: the Eight Brocades
- If you came here for stress: qigong for anxiety
- If you want the evidence: what the science actually shows
- Advanced, once breathing is settled: the microcosmic orbit
Frequently asked questions
Should I breathe through my nose or mouth in qigong?
Nose for both inhale and exhale, in almost all cases. Nasal breathing slows and warms the air and makes it much harder to over-breathe. A few specific sound-based practices use the mouth on the exhale, but those are exceptions within a named exercise.
How many breaths per minute should I aim for?
Around 4 to 6 once the practice has settled. Do not chase the number. It arrives on its own as the breath lengthens, and forcing it creates the tension you are trying to remove.
What is the difference between abdominal and reverse breathing?
In abdominal breathing the belly expands on the inhale. In reverse breathing it draws inward on the inhale and releases on the exhale. Abdominal is the everyday method; reverse is reserved for specific power and advanced internal work.
Why do I feel dizzy when I do qigong breathing?
Almost always because the breath is too big rather than too slow. Over-breathing lowers carbon dioxide and causes light-headedness. Reduce the volume, keep the breath quiet, and the dizziness goes. If it persists with gentle breathing, stop and speak to your doctor.
Can I do qigong breathing lying down or in a chair?
Yes. Seated is fine and is often better for anyone with balance problems or fatigue. Lying down works too, though people fall asleep — which is useful before bed and unhelpful otherwise.
Do I need to coordinate breath with movement?
Eventually, not immediately. Learn the movement first until it is comfortable, then let the breath attach to it. As a general rule, opening and rising movements go with the inhale, closing and sinking movements with the exhale.
Is qigong breathing the same as pranayama?
No, though they overlap. Pranayama includes many forced and retained patterns; qigong breathing is overwhelmingly slow, quiet and unforced, and is usually tied to movement or posture rather than practised as a discipline on its own.
How long before I notice anything?
Most people feel calmer within a single session. The durable change—resting breathing that is naturally lower and slower—tends to show up between weeks three and six of daily practice.
This article summarizes published research and traditional practice and is not medical advice. Qigong is not a treatment for any disease. Talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise practice, particularly if you have a respiratory or cardiovascular condition, glaucoma, or you are pregnant.
Written by Sifu Dan Ferrera, who has practiced since 2002 and taught since 2004. He trained under Katsumi Niikura, after 2 years of practice, attended a three-day workshop and one-day personal seminar with Lam Kam Chuen in London, and received a One Finger Zen transmission from Grandmaster Zhang Jing Fa in Toronto in 2005.
