In my first Thought on Tai Chi I wrote briefly On Breathing, where I referenced Cheng Man-ch’ing’s description regarding how we should breathe:

“The requisite principle of sinking the ch’i is that the breathing must be fine, long, quiet, and slow.”¹

This quality of breathing is crucial to our practice, but it is just one of the interrelated pieces we strive for. To elaborate further and help us in connecting breathing to some other related things, Cheng goes on to explain:

Gradually inhale into the tan t’ien^†. The ch’i^† stays with the mind, and, day after day and month after month, it accumulates. This must happen naturally and not be forced. In the beginning, it is not easy to lower the ch’i^†.^2,3

To do this requires organizing ourselves physically.

You must sink the shoulders and elbows slightly, thus drawing the ch’i^† into the stomach. Relax the chest downward and slightly raise the back; then you can lead the ch’i^† to the tan t’ien^†.⁴

He is also describing how we organize ourselves to suspend the headtop, another key part of our practice. Later in his treatises, he explains just how important this is:

[The] most important process in T’ai Chi Ch’uan besides the tan t’ien^† is that “when the sacrum is straight, the shen (spirit)^† goes through the top of the head” and then you “suspend the strength to the top of the head.” These two phrases are the key points. The first phrase describes the sacrum and the top of the head, and the second phrase refers to the flow through the yu chen ku^† or occipital region.⁵

He goes on to relate suspending the headtop to the “three gates,” and those to diaphragmatic breathing:

The Taoists refer to these areas as the three gates […]. Physiology calls these parasympathetic nerves which of course are located in the same place as the three gates. […] The function of the parasympathetic nervous system is recovery. How can you recover through the parasympathetic nervous system? You accomplish this through the diaphragm which naturally contracts, expanding the chest, and pressing down on the internal organs of the abdomen, which in turn stimulate the parasympathetic nerves. This cycle causes the breath and pulse to slow down and increases the flow of saliva. It decreases the blood sugar and lowers the blood pressure. It also facilitates the flow of urine and reduces fever. This is all a result of the ch’i^† sinking to the tan t’ien^† and the coccyx staying straight so that the shen^† goes through to the headtop.⁶

In addition to the effects Cheng describes, we also know that diaphragmatic breathing is an important part of how Tai Chi helps our lymphatic system.

And finally, Cheng connects all of this to self-cultivation, “the development of one’s mind or capacities through one’s own efforts”⁷, an overarching term for the benefits we seek through Tai Chi:

If you know these two principles then you can talk of self-cultivation.⁸

Relaxing and organizing the body to suspend the headtop, and employing fine, long, quiet, and slow diaphragmatic breathing are necessary to achieve self-cultivation through Tai Chi practice.

1 Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan; page 77; The Chinese for these are
   • 'fine': 細 (traditional),细 (modern), xì (Pinyin)
   • 'long': 長 (traditional), 长 (modern), cháng (Pinyin)
   • 'quiet': 靜 (traditonal), 静 (modern), jìng (Pinyin)
   • 'slow': 慢 (traditional/modern), màn (Pinyin)
    – Courtesy of Andrew McCarl
2 The character ch'i (qì) is rife with meanings which center around the idea of 'intrinsic energy'. In this case, it is also referring to the breath which in Chinese philosophy, along with the blood, is inextricably intertwined with the idea of ch'i.
3, 4 Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan; page 77
5 Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan; page 96
6 Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan; pages 96 & 97
7 Merriam-Webster online dictionary; retrieved 2025-05-03
8 Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan; page 97
† If you have questions about Chinese terms used, you may find About Chinese Terms helpful.