Luohan

Qigong
Treasure for health

by Jose Beneyto
Luohan Qigong. Treasure for health © Jose Rafael Beneyto Galbis All rights reserved. All or part of the
reproduction of this work is prohibited without the express permission of its author.

The author declines all responsibility for any injury or accident that may occur to the reader by reading or
practicing the material contained in this work. It is recommended that before any physical activity, an
expert in the subject and/or a doctor is consulted.

Luohan Qigong / Jose Beneyto. —1st ed.

ISBN 978-1974283743
To Núria and Irene, my authentic treasures.
 My sincere thanks to those people, both Westerners and Orientals, who have
transmitted their knowledge to me.
Especially Jose Fernandez, for teaching me most of the things I know about the
Luohan system, and also Javier Sánchez, my first teacher, for allowing me to
enter this fascinating world.
 Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. What’s Qigong. Why practice it
Chapter 3. What is Luohan Qigong. Why practice it
Chapter 4. How to get it. Work methods
Chapter 5. Yin-Yang theory
Chapter 6. Important Points
Chapter 7. LUOHAN QIGONG. Buddha Science.
Chapter 8. Breathing types in Luohan Qigong
Chapter 9. Conclusion
Thank you!
About the Author
Author's clarification
 Prologue
Chinese Qigong (chi kung) is very well known for the health benefits of its
practice, and Luo Han Qigong is one of the schools of this fascinating tradition.

Among the books and articles that I have read about this art, I consider this as
one of the best. It explains very clear all the basic principles of the system in a
way that everybody can understand, even if you are not a practitioner.

For many years Master Jose Beneyto has made a deep study of the system, and I
have to say that he is one of the most qualify persons to write about it. His
experience in the practice of the system together with his understanding of its
principles converted him in one of the top Masters of the world.

I hope this book will be just the first one of a series of books about the Lo Han
system that will spread this tradition over the world.

José Fernández
 Chapter 1. Introduction
It’s very likely you know the benefits that regular moderate physical exercise
brings to you.

You probably also know good reasons to perform breathing exercises.

And you are probably also aware about advantages of practicing concentration
and meditation exercises.

Well, if you know all these things, imagine for a second an activity that offers
you the benefits of these three; appropriated physical exercise, different kind of
breathing exercises, and concentration/meditation exercises practice…

Well, this is what qigong offers you, and more specifically, Luohan qigong!

We usually remember our health when we have any trouble with it. Then we
look for solutions either in conventional medicine or in the complementary one.

Increasingly, healthy life habits are insisted as preventive methods to take care
of our health. Correct feeding, moderated physical exercise, correctly breathing,
appropriated rest, etc.

And here is where the qigong practice can help us. In fact, as you’ll see later,
this is one of the biggest objectives of qigong; to preserve our health.

And in this, I can assure, Luohan qigong is an authentic treasure.

But to be able to successfully do any activity, it is necessary to exactly know

what we want to get from it, know the objective why we do it.

Once we have it clear, we can analyze how we can achieve:

It’s exactly the same with the qigong. From the first moment, we should
understand what we practice it for. Know clearly the objective we pursue with its
training.

And that is precisely the purpose of this book. To explain in a simple and clear
way what the main object of Luohan qigong is and how we’re going to make it.
There are multiple books about qigong, and among them, some are dedicated to
the Luohan system. Those ones are really good and generally more “complex”
that the one you have in your hands right now.

But precisely, one of my goals about writing this book is to make it simple. I
consider what’s most important about the Luohan qigong learning, it’s the
practice. It may seem obvious, but I can assure something so logical often fails
in several practitioners or even in masters of this art.

Having so many theoretical knowledge doesn’t work at all if they’re not

perfectly understandable, and above all, if you don’t know how to apply them to
the practice, which is in the end what brings us many benefits that can be gained
by qigong work.

It isn’t necessary to be a specialist in Chinese medicine to practice the exercises.

Having clear and determinate concepts and theory is enough. I hope I can help
you get it…
 Chapter 2. What’s Qigong. Why practice it
There are lots of qigong systems. It’s easy to understand that in a country so
extensive such as China, multitude of practices have been developed all over
their history in order to preserve health.

Since ancient times, Chinese civilization tried to avoid disease through different
methods. Some of them consisted in curing different ailments when these had
already appeared, when the symptoms where already shown.

But they soon realized the importance of preventing the disease.

Different masters, focused on seeking a health preventive method, observed that

apart from other aspects such as feeding, rest or weather conditions, a person’s
physical activity had a direct effect on it.

They observed that not only an over physical activity could be harmful (as it
used to happen to society’s low class, forced to work from sun to sun), but the
absence of any physical exercise was terrible to health (as it used to happen to
society’s high class members).

From then, they started to develop several types of exercises with the purpose to
promote health through an appropriated physical activity.

These exercises evolved in different ways, depending on the practitioners they

were directed to and the concrete needs of these.

They couldn’t be the same to the ones who practiced the nobility with a low
physical activity level, to those who practiced in a monks group which goal was
to ease the effect of long hour’s meditation in static postures.

But they all kept having the original idea about promoting an optimum health
state through different practices that favored the correct blood and energy
circulation through all the body, helping in this way, both the correct nutrition of
all organisms’ cells and tissues, and the disposal of toxins and waste products
produced by these.

This whole group of different practices or exercises was known in a generic way
as Nei gong, which means “intern work”.

Another name it used to be called and with which it started to be known in the
western, was QIGONG (Hei kung in Cantonese) (氣 功).

Even though, it’s difficult to find an exact translation from the Chinese
characters, because in some situations a single ideogram represents an idea or a
wide concept, we can translate QIGONG as “energy work”.

The word GONG 功 refers to the practice or work from the exercises developed
through centuries with the aim to preserve health.

The word QI 氣 refers to the vital energy every organism has and runs its
performance. The qi circulates with the blood pushing it through the body to
keep it healthy. It’s a concept used by the Chinese culture to design the activity
of human being. We’ll see later in detail what we mean when we talk about qi.

Therefore, we already have a first definition of qigong, that helps us understand

its meaning and purpose we’re going to practice it with:
-Qigong: Consists in a series of exercises aimed to favor the correct blood
and energy circulation through all the body with the purpose of keeping it
healthy.

Qigong systems classification

As we’ve seen before, the different groups of exercises were evolving in several
ways, according to the purpose they followed. In this way, a big variety of
different qigong systems appeared, with their own features and work methods,
being really different from each other.

There are diverse ways to classify qigong systems; depending on their origin,
features or purpose, highlighting these two variants;

1 When we are aware of the origin

One of the most habitual ways of doing so is the one in which we’re aware of the
origin, this involves both the group of people that started to develop and the
purpose they were created for. We can show three groups;
Doctrinal qigong (religious) ; it’s about systems that were originated and
developed in the bosom of several religious orders or philosophical currents
which main purpose was to contribute and reach their goals as religion. We
can list three subgroups;

Buddhist qigong (Fo Jia 佛家 ); involves different styles originated in

diverse Buddhist temples. Besides being beneficial to health, they had
as principal purpose to help and reach the illumination status, or as
they called it; reach the Buda state.

Taoist qigong (Tao Jia 道家 ); the different Taoist thought currents,

used several qigong exercises as part of their practices. The goals they
had were to follow the Tao, which means follow the law and nature to
preserve health and foment longevity. In some occasions, their work
was focused on discovering the formula to reach immortality.

Confucius qigong (Ru Jia 儒家 ); its main goal was to work the chi to
develop moral values, with the purpose to reach the social and politic
harmony.

Martial qigong (Wu Jia 武家 ) ; in this kind of group is learnt to use or

move the qi with martial purposes, this means to improve the skills in
fights. Generally, such practices were also beneficial to health; even though
is not always like that. Sometimes, there are practices that develop martial
skills at the expense of the practitioner's health.

Medical qigong (Yi Jia 醫家 ) ; this group can be divided in two

subgroups.

1. We’d have by one side those styles created to treat disease. They are
used as one more part of the Chinese Traditional Medicine. Should be
expert doctors in the subject the ones to recommend the precise
exercise for the pathologies.

2. In the other hand, we have those qigong systems aimed to foment an

optimal health status, but from a preventive aspect. These qigong
systems are often very popular and accepted. Some examples of these
systems are these ones:

Wu Qin Xi 五禽 戲 (The five animals game)

 Yí Jin Jing 易筋經 (Muscle and tendon change)
Ba dDuan Jin 八段錦 (The eight pieces of the brocade)
Zhan Zhuang 站 樁 (Being quiet like a tree)
Liu Zi Jue 六字訣 (Healing sounds)

2 Wai Dan (eternal elixir) and Nei Dan (inner elixir) way

Another common way to classify qigong systems is Wai Dan (eternal elixir) and
Nei Dan (inner elixir). Let’s see the meaning of these terms in detail;

Wai Dan : “Wai” means “outside” and Dan means “Elixir”. About the term
outside, it refers to human body’s extremities. The word elixir in this case,
designates a substance which makes your life longer and it’s something
Taoists have been searching for centuries ago. At the beginning, they
thought it was a physical substance they were searching by different ways.
But they discovered it actually was inside the body so they had to conserve
and work it out.
So… we can global in Wai dan those practices that are centered in the
movement and work of extremities to favor the qi circulation.
A typical example we can find in this group is the “Yi Jin Jing (Classic of
the muscle/tendon)

Nei Dan : “Nei” means inside, referring in this case to the inside of the
body; to the trunk and the intern organs in it.
So we can classify as Nei dan all those practices that are centered in
breathing and work of the intern zone of the body to favor qi circulation.
A much known example in this group would be “The Bone Marrow
Cleaning (Xi Shui Jing)”
 Chapter 3. What is Luohan Qigong. Why practice it
Inside the wide fan of styles that are part of what we know as qigong, we find
the Lohan system

As we’ll see later when we go deep its history, the Luohan qigong also evolved
from a primitive series of exercises. These were getting wider and better with the
knowledge and experience that were given from several masters from numerous
generations, until the creation of possibly one of the most wide and complete chi
kung system that exist.

It includes different types of works. Some of them can be classified as Wai Dan,
but some others can be included in the Nei Dan group.

Also, even though it’s a Buddhist origin system, later the Taoist influence gets
important.

Besides, its practical work is based on a solid base of medical theories.

All of that makes a heterogeneous system which main goal is to improve health
through work of the three treasures (san bao三宝).

San Bao (三宝) The three health treasures

The concept of the three treasures of health is widely used in the Chinese
traditional medicine area. It isn’t hard to find detailed information about them.
But what really matters is to know their relationship with the Luohan qigong and
its practice applicability to the exercises we’re going to practice. Let’s see its
meaning.
For Chinese traditional medicine, the human being is made basically from three
things; the physical part, energy and mind.

It means we can classify the human being composition in three levels: physical,
energetic and mental, and one of those will belong each treasure jing 精 , chi 氣 ,
shen 神 ).

1. Physical part; is all that we can see and touch . It includes all our physical
body; from the skin to the intern organs, our bones, muscles, tendons, etc.
This part is corresponded to the JING (精 ), generally translated as essence,
and that constitutes the fundamental substances of the human body, being
the material base of all its tissues. Therefore, it is shown in our physical. A
strong JING will show in a strong and healthy body, otherwise, a weak
JING will lead growing problems, physical weakness, etc.

2. Energetic part; is all that we can’t see, we can’t touch but we can feel : in
some way, it’s what gives life and allows our physical part to work. It’s
what Chinese call QI
(氣 ) (generally translated as “energy”). In this occasion, it refers
exclusively to qi or human energies.
The QI circulates through a series of canals called JIN-LOU that allows you
get every part of the body. To Chinese medicine, there are different kinds of
qi, according to their origin, function or localization. Several functions such
as propulsion, warming, defense, etc are attributed to this.

3. Mental part . It is what takes the qi (energy) to the jing (body) so that it can
work. This means that our mental activity will lead the functioning of our
body through energy, either in a conscious or unconscious way. This is
what Chinese call SHEN (神 ) (often translated as “spirit”, “mind” or
“conscious”).
The SHEN is a wide and generic term that not only refers to our mental
activity but to our diverse extern manifestations from our vital activity, such
as expression, look or general look.


An example will help us understand better the meaning of these three

meanings;

Let’s focus on one of our arms. This would be the JING, or physical part. It
can be seen and touched. Now let’s move it. To do this, we need something
that we can’t see or touch, but we can feel, that’s the energy or QI. And we
also need something that gives the order to execute the movement, that is
our mind or SHEN. So we can already see in this example that these three
parts will always go in a conjunct way; my mind (shen) send energy (qi) to
the arm (jing) to be able to move it.

Actually, jing, qii and shen are terms that we can analyze and explain in a more
extensive and complex way. But in the beginning, it’s important to understand
that in a very generic and basic way, we’re made of these three aspects.

This way, if we get to work and improve each of these ones, our health and thus
our lives, will be better.

It’s important to understand the three treasures don’t work independently. All
our body is a unit and we can’t isolate the function of one part without affecting
the others.

The work on each one will influence the other two, and as basic norm in our
system, the three treasures should go coordinately to get the wanted results from
the practice.
 Chapter 4. How to get it. Work methods
Well, we’ve already established our goals, know the three treasures and
understand that by working on them we’ll get our health better, and that the
practice of Luohan qigong will help us get it.

It’s the moment to start analyzing how we’re going to do it; how are we going to
work each of the three aspects.

Mainly whe have three methods to work and improve the three treasures;
movement, breathing and concentration .

To work the JING, (our physical part), we’ll use the movement.
To work the QI, the energy, we’ll use the breathing.
To perform the SHEN, our mind, we’ll use concentration.

Actually, all Luohan qigong exercises contain these three components; move,
breathing and concentration. There are exercises that emphasize or especially
work each of them, depending on the wanted purpose, but the other two will
always be present too. Remember the body works as a unit and the different
treasures can’t work individually therefore we can’t isolate their work. They
should always be coordinated, although we focus mainly on one of them.
Therefore, we can already assume that the movement, breathing and
concentration in each of the exercises should go coordinate to make our Luohan
qigong work effective.

But, having respect to this norm, we’ll find exercises that will work specifically
one of the treasures. In fact, further, we’ll see how the system offers a “Kuen”
(series of exercises in a certain order, also known as “form” or “tao”) to work
each of them.

Let’s see in detail each of the three methods.

1.-JING Work
To get our physical body better, it’s necessary to move. The movement is always
present in the Luohan qigong exercises. Not only is one of the most effective
ways we have to move the qi, but it’s essential to perform our Jing. It can be
more intense, soft or even subtle, depending on the purpose of the exercise, but
there’s always a movement that favors the energy circulation. As it is said in
some occasions “hinge that moves won’t rust”

With the movement we increase corporal heat and improve our blood
circulation, with which we also improve qi circulation. For Chinese medicine,
energy and blood circulation go together, so when one is moved, the other one is
moved too.

“The qi is the commander of blood” and “blood is the mother of qi” are two
expressions often used in Chinese medicine to explain this interdependence
between these two elements.

The movements used in the system will go from rectilinear to circular, from big
to small and from external to internal according to our advance in the different
levels.

But in this first stage where we look forward to work specifically the JING, (the
base of the other two treasures), we’ll be paying special attention to the
stretching. With them, we’ll stretch our whole skeletal muscle system, from the
vertebral column, to the extremities. We’ll try to work bones, muscles, tendons
and ligaments.

There are different types of stretching, and the ones we’re going to practice in
our system are the dynamics. It’s important to understand that to be able to
stretch a muscle group in an active way we shall contract another so we alternate
stretching moves/contractions that will help us improve the blood circulation and
thus the qi.

2.-QI work
For the QI work, we’ll use breathing. Although as we can see, movement and
concentration also helps move the energy and take it wherever we want, in our
system, it takes special importance the work of different types of breathing to get
this task.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, breathing impulses the movement of

the qi all over the body. Just by breathing, we’re able to accelerate or slow our
cardiac rhythm (by performing short or large breathing). As consequence, we
can understand that by breathing we’re able to influence in blood circulation and
therefore, energy.

Inside Luohan system, several breathing methods are worked, going from the
simplest to the most complex. But right now the important is to understand that
with these, we’re going to develop our QI aspect.

3.-SHEN work
For the SHEN work, we’re going to use mainly the concentration. We shall learn
where to put our attention (often we use the term “mind” to actually refer to our
attention or concentration) in the performance of each exercise.

Going back to Chinese medicine, this indicates that “where mind goes, qi goes”.

We can use our concentration in different ways, from getting focused in several
body’s points or zones, feeling the different stretching or paying attention to
diverse sensations produces by different exercises.

But our mental work will always go coordinated with the movement and the
breathing to make the different exercises we’re practicing, more effective.
 Chapter 5. Yin-Yang theory
Once the general Luohan qigong goal is understood, it’s necessary to clearly
know the meaning of YIN (陰 ) and YANG ( 陽 ) theory. Not only to know what
they represent, but what their application is to the exercises we’re going to
perform.

Ying-Yang is a philosophical concept very used in old China. It designates a

concept of the world in which Nature and its functions are explained.

We can classify all the phenomena that occur in nature through this theory, and
it’s also applicable to human beings. Both anatomy and actions can be classified
by the concept of Yin or Yang.

This theory can also be applicable to Luohan qigong. In fact, to clearly know the
concept of Yin Yang, will be determinate in our work and will help us get an
effect in our practice. In next chapters, we’ll learn to apply this knowledge to the
exercises and how it influences them.

But first, let’s see in a basic but clear way what the meaning of this theory is.

What is YIN-YANG
Imagine for a moment a hill. On one of the sides gives the sun. In the other one,
there’s shadow.

In the sunny side, there’s light, heat and as consequence, more activity. In the
shadow side, there’s cold, darkness and as consequence, there’s stillness.

The sunny side is the Yang. The side with shadow is the Yin.

SUNNY SIDE-YANG ---- DARK SIDE-YIN

As I was explaining before, this binary conception it’s applicable to all the
nature’s aspects.

As general norm, we can classify yang as everything that is:

Mobile
Hot
Ascendant
Centripetal
Luminous
Exterior
Superficial
Activity

And we can classify the Yin as;

Still
Cold
Descendent
Centrifugal
Dark
Interior
Deep
Rest

Human being doesn’t escape this rule. As the Su Wen (an old Chinese medicine
treaty) says: “every tissue structure from the organism can be divided into two
opposites parts that are incarnated by the Yin-Yang”

Let’s see some examples of this classification;

Yang : Man, lateral-anterior part, upper part, surface, entrails, energy, etc.
Yin : Woman, medial-anterior part, low part, interior, organs, blood, etc.

Of course, it’s also applicable to the qigong. Let’s see in general way examples
how to classify some movements;

Yang : to inspire, tense, go up, etc.

Yin : to exhale, relax, go down, etc.

But there’s something we need to be aware of, Yin or Yang nature, from
whichever element or action, isn’t absolute but relative. This means it will be
Yin or Yang in a relation to other element.

Besides, it’s important to understand that Yin and Yang are not two different
types of energies, but they represent the opposite sides, but at the same time
complementary of anything.

In this interdependence relation between the two elements, it’s perfectly

represented by the famous Taiji drawing (supreme essence):

We can see how the main points of this interdependence points are represented
in the symbol:

1. Though they represent opposite phases, Yin and Yang form a same unit and
they complement.

2. Yin has Yang’s seed: Yang has Yin’s seed. We see this represented by the
little black and white circles (leong jin).

3. Nothing is totally Yin or Yang.

4. The Yin transforms to Yang and Yang to Yin.

We can find numerous examples in nature in which this opposition, alternation

and transformation principles are seen.
Dawn supposes a Yang energy ascent that reaches the maximum at noon.
Since that moment, it starts to go down, and at the same time, Yin energy is
ascending until it reaches its maximum at midnight. In this moment, the Yin
starts decreasing and the Yang increases, repeating the same cycle in
which the Yin and Yang are controlling and alternating to keep a dynamic
balance.

It isn’t hard to find more information about Yin and Yang theory. As we’ve
seen, it’s applicable to every life aspects and there are authentic philosophical
currents about it. But I consider this explanation is enough. I think it’s better to
focus on how we apply this theory to our body, and to our Luohan qigong work.

There’s a fundamental idea, which I consider important;

Luohan qigongng exercises can be practiced in a balanced way, Yang way and
Yin way.

Balanced way; exercises are practiced maintaining balance between Yin

and Yang, getting a neutral effect.

Yang way; we’ll make emphasize in the phase or the Yang elements from
the exercises having the intention to tone, raise or increase the energy.

Yin way; we’ll make emphasize in the phase or the Yin elements from the
exercises having the intention to relax, sedate and descend.

This is a general idea to understand how the Yin and Yang theory will help us
reach our goals. There are times when we need to activate ourselves, at other
times we want to relax and sometimes we just want to work the three treasures in
a balanced way.

There are exercises that belong to each of the groups. But there also are some
simple exercises that with a little variation, we can train them with one or
another purpose.

Later we will see how we can get that a balanced exercise becomes a yin or yang
effect exercise according to our needs.
 Chapter 6. Important Points
At this stage, we already have a little bit cleared where our Luohan qigong
practice orientated is. We’ve learnt its great objective, which is the work of the
three treasures, it means, jing, qi and shen (san bao). And we also know that
we’re going to work with the movement, breathing and concentration. Last, we
just saw that the Yin and the Yang theory will help us define how we want our
work (neutral or balanced, yang type to tone or yin type to relax).

With these knowledge, we know the theoretical base our system is grounded.
Now it’s the time to learn certain important knowledge to practice the exercises
in a right way.

It’s about three elements that are going to lead each of the three methods we
know to work on the three treasures. These are:

Three Gates (SAN GUAN) …movement

Three Heater (SAN JIAO) …breathing
Three Energy Fields (SAN DANTIAN) …concentration

1. THREE GATES (SAN GUAN) 三閘

We call “three gates” or “three qi gates” to three points placed in the vertebral
column. The function of these three points or gates is to lead our movement. In
fact, they are three imaginary points that will serve us as a reference in each
movement that we perform in the exercises.

Let’s see where each point is located and what their function is:

High gate: it’s placed between the occipital bone and the first cervical
vertebrae. It corresponds to the Feng Fu point (Du16) “The wind’s palace”.
Its function is to lead the movement of the head.

Middle gate: point located between the second and third dorsal vertebrae. It
corresponds o the Sheng Zhu point (Du15) “The body’s pillar”. Its function
is to lead all the movements from and to the arms.
Low gate: located between the second and third lumbar vertebrae. It corresponds
to the Ming Men point (Du4) “The life’s gate”. It is in charge to direct the moves
to and from the legs.

This means the gates are the point from where the head, arms and legs moves are
started. Previously we saw that movement is one of the ways to move and direct
the qi or energy, as well as our main tool to work the jing (physical
part).Therefore, the gates will help us carry qi to every part of the body.

It’s important to understand in Luohan qigong, just as in most of the martial arts
and qigong styles, the move are generated from the waist or from the body. The
gates will help us get it. Any move of the leg will start with a movement of the
low gate. Any move of the arms will start from the middle gate. And finally, any
move of the head is made by the high gate.

What we get with this is not only to move legs, arms and head, but to involve the
correspondent part of our trunk or central body (low, middle or high), improving
the effectiveness of the movement and amplifying our work zone, and therefore,
the benefits we’re going to get.
What we get with this, for example is that the arms are not being moved in an
independent way to the trunk.

Each move of arms is started by a movement of the middle gate, which will
produce an expansion of our chest, involving in this way every musculature from
each zone, increasing this way the work area as well as the effectiveness of the
arms move. It's the same with legs and low gate, and with the head and high
gate.

We’ll generally talk about “open the gate” when we stretch, tensing the posterior
part where it’s located and expanding the correspondent part of the body or
trunk.

What we get with this is to raise the energy to the correspondent gate and from
there we’ll take it to the extremities. It usually coincides with the yang phase of
the exercise, where we inspire.

We’ll talk about “closing the gate” when we relax, stretch the posterior part
(vertebral column) and contracting or closing the anterior part of the body. What
we’ll get is that the energy we’ve taken to the extremities, come back to the
body. It usually coincides with the yin phase of the exercise, the one where we’ll
exhale.

The move of the gate is always from the bottom to the top, both when “opening”
and “closing”. This means, when we start an exercise from a neutral position, we
will first open the low gate, later the middle gate and finally the high gate. To
relax, we’ll follow the same order; first the low gate, then the middle gate and
we’ll finish with the high.

2. THREE HEATERS (SAN JIAO) (三 焦)

To Chinese traditional medicine, the San jiao, translated as triple heater or three
heaters, has the category of organ/entrail. But there isn’t any correspondence
with any physical organ.

Actually, when we refer to San jiao, we make reference to everything that

involves our trunk, this means every structure or tissue that involves the intern
organs.
It is attributed two principal functions in a general level;

It works as passage to the liquids.

Works as passage of qi; controls all the energies, controlling the qi ji (move
from the energy). This means, as anatomic envelope of all the intern organs,
it will be vitally important to maintain a proper circulation of qi by the san
jiao so that it is able to reach all the organs.

The San jiao traditionally divides into three parts, called high jiao, middle and
low.

HIGH JIAO-SHANG JIAO ( 上焦 ) : it’s extended from the base of the

tongue to the cardias, including chest, heart and lungs. It relates with
propulsion and distribution functions.

MIDDLE JIAO-ZHONG JIAO ( 中焦 ) : goes from the cardias to the

pylorus, embracing the high abdominal zone, including spleen and stomach.
It relates with transformation and assimilation functions.

LOW JIAO-XIA JIAO ( 下焦 ) : goes from the pylorus to the urinate

apparatus, including kidneys, intestines and bladder. It relates to elimination
or excretion functions.


The importance of the san jiao in the Luohan qigong is determinate by its
relationship with the breathing.

We just saw one of the principal functions san jiao is attributed is to distribute
the energy through all the intern organs. We’ve also seen one of the methods we
have in the Luohan qigong to favor the circulation of the chi is breathing.

In the chapter dedicated to breathing, we’ll see how there are several ways to
breathe and that one of the methods we have is the breathing by heights. These
different heights or zones are corresponded to each one of the jiaos and we’ll get
to favor the circulation of the energy in each of them with the different breathing
exercises.

3. THREE ENERGY FIELDS (SAN DANTIAN)

The three dantian are three zones placed in the anterior part of the body, a little
to the interior. They’re not specific points, but wider zones. The Chinese concept
of “dantian” is composed by two parts:

Dan (丹 ); as we were explaining the term “nei dan” refers to a substance or

elixir that is supposed to give health and longevity. Several times it’s
represented by a ball or a pearl.
Tian (田 ); it means something similar to a cultivation field; it’s a zone that
has to be worked and taken care of; cultivate.

When it’s only dantian, we usually refer the inferior dantian, placed under the
belly button.

When we refer to the three dantian, we talk about three principal storage qi
areas. Each of these zones, have some control over the function of the three
treasures.

In fact, each of these dantian is the home or residence of each treasure. From
there, its importance: when we work each dantian, we’ll be developing the
correspondent treasure.

In the practice of Luohan qigong, the dantian have a special importance for shen
work, because they are the zones where we’ll lead our attention or concentration
when we work the different heights.


HIGH DANTIAN (上丹田 ): it’s placed in the head, between Ren26, Du20
and Du16 points. This is the residence of the Shen.

MIDDLE DANTIAN (中丹田 ): Placed in the chest zone, between Ren17

and Du9 points. It’s considered the residence of Qi.

LOW DANTIAN (下丹田 ): Placed in the pelvis zone, between Du6 (Chi
Hai), Ren1 (Hui yin) and du4 (Ming men) points. It’s the place of residence
of Jing.

We just saw three really important elements in the practice of Luohan qigong. Its
correct use will determine the quality of our exercises. The use of the gates,
jiaos and dantian ought to be coordinated .

Put another way, we have to coordinate movement, breathing and concentration

is the same.
It is important to remember it at all times, because this is the key to successfully
practice the Luohan qigong.

As we saw, the three treasures don’t work in a separate way, but are
interdependent between them, so it is easy to understand that coordinating the
use of the three aspects will be necessary to correctly work each of the heights.

The use of the low gate will always coincide with the breathing for the low zone
(inferior jiao work) and with concentration of the inferior dantian.

The same will occur in the middle and high zone.

4. DU (督脈) AND REN (任脈) MERIDIANS

The energy circulates through a network of channels called jin-lou 經絡 that
allows it to reach all parts of the body.

These channels or meridians can be classified in several ways, but one of the
principal is Yang and Yin meridians.

As a general norm, Yang meridians are the ones that circulate in the posterior
and lateral part of the body, while Yin is corresponded with the ones that
circulate by the anterior and medial part of the body.

In this channel group, we can mention two in particular, at least to what qigong
practices refers to.

These meridians are the Du Mai 督脈 (Governing meridian) and the Ren Mai 任
脈 (Conception meridian). Its importance lies on the fact that Du Mai is
considered the reunion of all the Yang meridians, and Ren Mai is the reunion of
all the Yin meridians.

You’ve been able to see the importance of the Yin and Yang in our practices of
Luohan qigong.

These two meridians will play a key role in making the exercises more yin or
yang.

DU MAI (GOVERNANT MERIDIAN) 督脈



Du meridian goes through the posterior part of the body. Its visible part comes
from the perineum and goes through the middle line of the back (vertebral
column), reaching the highest point of the crown of the head and then continue
down the middle line of the face until reaching the upper lip.

REM MAI (CONCEPTION MERIDIAN) 任脈



Ren meridian goes through the anterior part of the body. Its visible part also
comes from the perineum to go up through the middle line of the body to the
lips.

As we have seen, these two meridians goes from the perineum to travel each of
the posterior (yang) and the anterior (yin) of the body and meet again at the
height of the mouth.

Inside the Luohan system, meridians DU and REN work in a complementary

and jointly way.
Applied to the practice of exercises, there will always be a work of the two
meridians. When we contract the Du channel, that is, the posterior or back part
of the body (that coincides with the three doors) we’ll be stretching the Ren
channel, or anterior part of the body (that generally relates to the dantian). This
will help us get an ascendant move of the energy, and corresponds to the Yang
phase in most exercises, as well as with inspiration.

On the other hand, if we contract the Ren meridian, we’ll stretch the Du mai, and
by Du mai we mean all the posterior parts of the body. With this, we’ll get a
descendant move of the energy and it’s usually corresponded with the yin phase
of the exercise and exhalation.

This way, the alternation of different yin and yang phases, or in other words, the
contraction-relaxing of the two meridians, will help the move or circulation of qi
going up and down.
 Chapter 7. LUOHAN QIGONG. Buddha Science.
Now we know the basic theories needed to correctly practice the Luohan qigong.
In fact, almost all what we saw before is applicable to any qigong system.
Though each of them have their goals, their own training system and their
fundamental theories, the three treasures concept, the Yin and Yang, the Sanjiao,
the Dantian, etc, are used in most of them.

From now on, I’m going to focus on the Luohan system. We’ll see its origin,
structure and finally, some basic work methods. What we’re going to learn is
actually the practical application of how we have to use all the theories and
concepts we’ve seen before.

Let’s go.

LUOHAN QIGONG HISTORY

Shaolin

In the VI a.C century, a Hindu monk called Bodhidarma (In Chinese Ta Mo)
traveled from India to China, taking with him his knowledge about Mahayana
Buddhism. His intention was to spread the Buddhism in China, but he didn’t find
the acceptance he was waiting for and ended up being sheltered by the Shaolin
monastery (in Cantonese, Siu Lam), where he started teaching this discipline to a
small group of followers.

The meditation techniques he taught this first monk group, were really tough, so
he decided to develop some exercises to strengthen both the body and the mind
of these, with the intention to help them endure the long quiet periods meditation
needed. These movements were based on his Hindu Yoga knowledge and on
several Chinese exercises from those times, which mimicked the movements of
animals.

He also taught effective wresting ways so they would be able to defend

themselves from the attacks they suffered when they would go out of the
monastery to spread the Buddhism.
After Ta Mo’s death, several abbots were coming in the temple and some monks
were learning his wresting system and the exercises made to strengthen health.
The effectiveness and potential the system gained through time, brought huge
martial artists, who went to the monastery to learn and at the same time, enrich
the Kung Fu they practiced there.

This way, centuries passed by and the Kung Fu that was practiced in Shaolin
started turning in a powerful combat system. Simultaneously, primitive exercises
to improve health taught by Ta mo, were evolving, turning into an excellent
qigong work, that gave a huge strength and health to those that practiced it.

The fame of the Shaolin kept growing, until the point in which the China
emperor himself, asked for collaboration to stifle a rebellion in Tibet that was
enlarging in time. A 36 monks group managed to stifle this rebellion in only
three months.

The emperor was so shocked by the power of Shaolin martial arts he tried have
them under his service. But these declined the offer, claiming they serve a
religious order and not military. Then the emperor considered them dangerous
and burned the monastery. This was in the final of XVIII century and only some
monks survived (it’s normally said only 6 monks were able to survive)

One of these few monks that were able to escape was Choy Fook, who ran to the
south, hiding in Guandung Province, more specifically in the mountains called
Lau Fu San.

Entrance of the Shaolin temple

Chan Heung

Chan Heung (陳享 ) was a young man from King Mui ( 京梅 ) village, in
Guandung. He started practicing martial arts when he was 7 years old with his
uncle, Chan Yuen Wu (陳遠護 ). Chan Heung had a natural skill for kung fu and
a great overcoming spirit.

This made him soon learn all the knowledge that his uncle could transmit. His
rushes to keep improving his kung fu lead him to know teacher Lee Yau San (李
友山 ), who would become his second teacher and with who kept learning until
acquiring all the knowledge he could transmit him.

Years later, they both heard talking from a solitary monk that lived in the Lau Fu
Mountain whose name was Choy Fook (蔡 褔). It was said that this monk had
Chinese medicine knowledge and deduced he also had to know about kung fu, so
they decided to look for him. When they arrived to the temple, they found an
elderly, tall, muscular and hard-looking man. He said he was a Choy Fook
disciple, that he was out and asked them to drink tea, until the return of the
monk. To prepare the tea, he started chopping wood with his own hands,
something that caught Chan Heung and his master Lee Yau San’s attention. This
last one, interpreted the fact as a signal to which they had to answer and decided
to act by kicking a rice grinder that was close letting it fall to the floor.
Surprised, the old man got closer to the grinder, cut a corner and smashed it with
his hands, throwing the resultant dust in front of Lee Yau Shan. At the same
time, he announced he was actually Choy Fook, and that the dust was a reminder
for visitants who misbehave.

In this situation, Lee Yau Shan felt ashamed and respectfully thanked the monk
and left, leaving there Chan Heung. Anxious to keep increasing his knowledge,
this considered it was a perfect occasion to keep improving his Kung fu, so he
got on his knees in front of the monk and begged him to accept him as a disciple.

Choy Fook looked at the young man and considered his petition was genuine.
But to access to this one, he would have to meet the requirements, otherwise he
would have to immediately leave:

1. Chan Heung had to be with him at the monastery at least ten years until the
end of his learning.

2. Chan Heung was prohibited to use his skills to kill or mutilate and should
never boast about what he had accomplished.

3. Chan Heung had to kick the rice grinder to his original site.

To the satisfaction of Chan Heung the rice grinder easily returned to its place. In
this way he became a disciple of Chan Heung, because he also accepted the
other two conditions.

Over the next ten years Choy Fook taught Kung Fu to Chan Heung with
discipline and precision. Each new technique needed days to be learned and
Chan Heung had to master it with speed, strength and precision before he could
learn the next. A combination of hard work, dedication, innate ability and the
guidance of a good teacher enabled Chan Heung to complete his training over a
period of ten years.

After that time, Choy Fook prepared a goodbye banquet for Chan Heung, in
which he briefly explained the truth about the origin of Kung Du he had taught.
He told him he was a monk in the Shaolin Temple from Fukien and one of the
six that managed to escape when it was burned.

He also explained that to be a true Shaolin follower, it was necessary to learn

Buddhism, Chinese medicine and the “six magic spells”. Listening to this, he
decided to stay two more years until his learning was complete.

Once this time passed, Chan Heung said goodbye to his teacher Choy Fook and
came back to his town where he opens a clinic. Later, he was convinced to also
open a Kung fu school. In that time, and with all the knowledge he had acquired,
codified a new style he called Choy Lee Fut (蔡李佛) , in honor of his teachers.
Choy in honor of Choy Fook, Lee in honor of Lee Yau Shan, and Fut in honor of
the origin of the Buddhist style.

Chan Heug was the creator and first generation of Choy Lee Fut system. After
his death, it was his son Chan Koon Pak who was the guard of this style (Jeong
Moon). Later, came Chan Yiu chi, one of the best known and reputed masters of
the time. From Chan Yiu Chi emerged diverse branches that continued
transmitting this knowledge until today.

CHAN HEUNG

LUOHAN QIGONG STRUCTURE

The teaching of some knowledge about what we currently know as Luohan
qigong was reserved over generations to the members of Chan family. Actually,
they were advanced training ways generally included in superior levels of Choy
Lee Fut system.

It is right at the moment when it is decided to teach openly when the need arises
to organize it independently, with a coherent structure, an adequate theoretical
basis and a system of teaching itself that allows for its learning.

With this purpose, a series of basic exercises were created to familiarize the
students with the different ways of movement, breathing and concentration that
exist in the Luohan system and which are the basis on what our training will be
based.

These exercises are learnt before starting the teaching of forms or kuens, which
are a series of exercise united in a sequence of movements to ease their training
and memorization.

There are several ways to classify the forms in the Lohan system. Traditionally,
in the Choy Lee Fut it’s been divided into three levels; first, second and third .

Following this structure, most of the times the forms of Luohan gong have also
been classified in three levels, with this distribution;

Basic breathing exercises

First level

Sup bak luohan sau ji kung kuen (18 hands)

Siu luohan
Dai luohan
Tai kit kuen ( Tai chi chuan )
Mouk kit kuen ( Wu chi chuan )

Second level

Ng Wan Lk Hey Pa kwa

Pa kwa Kung

Third level

Kei Lun Sao (Unicorn hans)

9 Palaces
But there is other way to classify them, and I personally prefer this one and it
also offers more clarity when showing it.

As we saw in chapters from before, there are several ways to classify qigong
systems depending on its origin and purpose, and that traditionally they tend to
be included in some of these four groups (there can be more, though):

1. Buddhist
2. Taoist
3. Medical
4. Martial

Well, the Luohan qigong has knowledge we could include in each of these four
big groups. But beyond whether the forms are Buddhist or Taoist, I consider that
we can classify the forms of our system in two big groups;

Qigong forms (medical); forms created to work in a specific way some

health aspects.
Internal Kung fu forms (martial); forms created to develop or train martial
skills, this means, to fight.

Evidently, all the forms of Luohan qigong have something from two groups: the
qigong forms also work positions, techniques and martial applications and the
internal kung fu forms can also bring benefits to health.

But it’s important to difference between the forms with a work guided especially
to the develop of the three treasures, even though it’s being performed in a
martial movements context, to the forms which goal is to work different fighting
aspects, even though they also help us improve our health.

In this way, we can classify the forms in two big groups;

1. Qigong forms

Sub bak luohan sau ji kung kuen… JING work.

Siu luohan……… QI work.
Dai luohan……… SHEN work.

2. Internal kung fu forms

 Tai kit kuen (Tai chi chuan)
Mou kit kuen (Wu chi chuan)
Ng Wan Luk hey Pakwa
Pakwa kung
Kei Lun Sao

I consider this is the most logic and practical classification. The forms from the
first group develop principally one of the three treasures (although all three will
be present).

The forms from the second group develop different martial aspects, although
sometimes utilizes concepts or theories related to qigong. They use knowledge
learned in the other forms or kuens (different moving, breathing and
concentration ways) to apply in the combat.

As we can see, the two groups are completely related and personally I consider
it’s important to practice these two aspects of the system, the one dedicated to
health and the one dedicated to martial art develop. But I think it’s also
interesting to difference the two possibilities, precisely to ease your learning and
be able to establish more concrete and real objects to each of the forms from the
system.

For any of the two options in which we decide to start, I consider we need to
learn the basic exercises. They will show us to understand all the basic theories
and how we apply them to our movements, breathing and concentration. They
will introduce in the form to work the system, and will prepare us for the
posterior training of the forms.

LUOHAN QIGONG.
The cultivation of the three treasures art
As it’s proved, the Luohan qigong is a really wide system. With influences such
as Buddhist and Taoist, and with goals such as martial and to develop health.

But let’s remember that main goal as qigong system is to develop of the three
treasures .

In all these exercises, in all the forms, we will always use, and therefore work,
the three of them. But there are exercises aimed to work especially each one of
them.

In fact, there is a whole form or kuen to develop each of the treasures. Let’s see
in details which are thee forms and their principal features.

SUB BAK LUOHAN SAU JI KUNG KUEN

十/乂羅漢拳
“Hands of the 18 Budas boxing to work muscles and
ligaments”

This is a developed way principally to work the JING. Therefore, the most
important feature to take care is the movement. As its name indicates, it doesn’t
stop being a boxing system, but its principal finality is the work (often translated
as change or transformation) of the muscles tissues, ligaments and bones.

The form consists in a series of exercises in which we’re going to stretch

different muscular groups. This is why the rectilinear movements predominate.
The movement will guide the breathing and concentration. This means the first
we do is move and this will make the air go in or go out in a natural way. In
general words, in the movements in which we’ll stretch the air will go in and in
the ones we relax, will go out. Our mind will also follow the movement, putting
our attention in the correct performance and feeling the sensations produced by
the stretching and subsequent relaxation. Stretching a muscle in an active or
dynamic way would implicate contracting the antagonist, with which in fact, the
form will go altering the stretching and contraction the different muscle groups
that will produce benefits that I’ll later explain.

It’s also important the work we do over the vertebral column. Each one of the
exercises stretches or rotates her in a different way, acting in all of her or above
some specific part.

The general objective of this form is to strengthen our muscular-skeletal system,

increasing at the same time our flexibility and elasticity, as well as favor the
circulation of the blood and energy through all the body.

But let’s see a little more in detail of the benefits we can gain through the
stretching exercises (or better said, stretching, relaxing, contraction), and
therefore, from this form:

Muscle;

To submit the muscles to series of movements in which they reach its

maximum stretching and its maximum contraction will help maintain its
elasticity and resistance.

Help reduce possible contractures, with which the general muscle function
is better.

One of the most interesting effects we get with the stretching exercises is
the drainage; if we compare the muscle with a sponge that in this case is
full of blood, when stretching; we help to empty it, draining the blood that
was inside and eliminating toxins and waste products. When relaxing and
releasing the stretching, just as a sponge would do, the muscle fills again
with blood, in this oxygenated occasion, so it will get a higher nutrient
contribution. This way, we’ll get to favor the circulation of the blood and
therefore the energy, in the different muscular groups, improving its
nutrition and the elimination of waste products, with all the benefits it
involves.
Bones;

In the stretching phase of most of the exercises, what we actually look for is
to separate the different bones that conform each articulation; this means, to
increase by an instant the interarticular space, as the drawing indicates.

This releases these articulations, so it helps the osseous regeneration. This

has special importance when it’s about the vertebral column because, even
though it’s in a light way, we help to decompress the space between
vertebras.

It’s proved that the moderate physical exercise helps slow osseous loss.

By favoring elastic muscles and without contractures, we get to eliminate

pressures or tensions from the bones so we avoid one of the factors that
favor the waste of these.

Ligaments;

The separation or decompression we were talking about before puts certain

tension on the different ligaments which function is to keep the articulation
united. This controlled pressure to which they are subjected helps to its
 strengthening.

Tendons;

Another part it’s favored by the exercises is the tendons. As I commented

before, stretching a muscular group in an active way implies contracting its
antagonists. Besides, after the phase of the exercise in which we reach the
maximum extension, we let go and contract until we start a new stretching.
With this, we got that the stretching start from the concentration of the
muscle, turning it into his initial phase in an eccentric stretching. This
stretching, as at first the muscle is still contracted, especially affects the
tendon, so it keeps its elasticity and resistance.

In fact, the eccentric stretching supposes an excellent therapeutic weapon in

physiotherapy and massage for tendinous pathology treatment.

The tendons tend to be one of the most forgotten structures when working the
different physical activities. The practice of the Luohan qigong helps us cover
this deficiency.

SIU LUOHAN 羅漢拳

“Young (small) Buda”


Although many times we usually find the word “siu” translated as “small”, its
right meaning in this form is “young”, the opposite of the word “daai” which
means “old”.

Actually, what needs to be understood is that the work performed in Siu Lohan
is more dynamic and active, therefore more appropriated for young people. On
the other hand, the one about Daai Lohan is more static so it’s the right one for
mature and older people. This way, we understand the two forms as related and
complementary parts from a whole System as the Luohan qigong.

This form is dedicated especially to the development of the QI aspect. As we’ve

seen before, to get it we’ll use the breathing. Therefore, Siu Lohan is composed
by a series of exercises in which the most important is breathing, it will lead both
the movements and our mind or concentration.

Unlike the past form, here the first we do is breathing, and as a consequence, we
move. There’s a huge amount of different breathings with their respective
purposes. But in a general way, what we pretend is to favor the circulation of the
energy through the san jiao, it means, through all the body, benefiting especially
intern organs.

Mind will also follow breathing. Our attention will be directed to each one of the
heights or jiaos we’re working at the moment.

Practicing breathing exercises, and therefore Siu Luohan form training,

contributes with numerous benefits for our health. We can show some of them;

In the traditional Chinese medicine theories it’s considered the breathing as

the one that impulses the move of the qi. This way, improving our breathing
will contribute favoring the circulation of the energy and as consequence,
the blood through all the body.

They produce an increase of the elasticity of the lungs and therefore its
capacity to breath. This benefit is maintained all the day and not only
during the exercises practice.

Improves the oxygenation of all the body and its tissues, contributing in this
way to improve the function of its different systems. This causes a better
feeding of the tissues and helps the elimination of waste.

Through the moves of the different muscles we’ll use to breath, especially
the diaphragm, the intern organs receive a massage. This will stimulate the
blood circulation in these organs (kidneys, liver, spleen, heart…).

The breathing exercises will help us get a more relaxing state and mental
calm as well as being able to help contribute reaching a more alert status
and mental clarity.

These are some benefits we can get in a general way with the breathing exercises
practice. But inside Luohan System, and especially the Siu Luohan form, we’ll
find several types of breathing with their respective purposes and concrete
benefits for health. Later, we’ll go deep about some of these types of breathing.

DAAI LUOHAN 大羅瀵

”Old (big) Buda”


As I was explaining before, the word Daai, often translated as huge or big, in this
occasion its right meaning would be “old man”, making reference to that it
contains a more static and paused practice. This way, we understand it would be
a more appropriated work for advanced age.

The Daai Lohan form is focused on the Shen aspect. Each of the exercises that
compose it begins by placing our mind (our attention), in a particular point or
zone. Then, we start the correspondent breathing and finally it produces the
movement. This means, our shen aspect leads the other two. In other words,
we’ll use our mind to lead the chi to specific places in our body.

The form is composed by more than forty exercises that will be performed being
seated or laying. Different types of breathing are added with the purpose of
helping the concentration work.

In occasions, we refer to Daai Lohan exercises as the meditative aspects from the
Lohan System. In a certain way, this is true. But I’d like to stop for a minute,
because it isn’t less true that the word “meditation” refers to a huge amount of
practices, and what we train in the Daai lohan wouldn’t exactly correspond to
what we usually or commonly know as meditation.

It’s really common meditating with the purpose of learning how to control the
mind to calm it and getting in this way several benefits.

But we’ve seen before the purpose of the Daai Lohan isn’t silencing our mind
but use it to lead the qi or energy to different zones of the body. This means, the
mind or more concretely, our concentration gets a main character and is active in
the mobilization of the energy.

Effectively, a calm mind helps reaching the goal, but what it’s pretended with
the exercises of the form is to control the mind so that we’re able to focus in the
points or zones we want to lead the energy.
 Chapter 8. Breathing types in Luohan Qigong
Recall that with the breathing we focused especially on the work of Qi. The
breathing exercises not only will help us carrying the energy through different
points but will also be able to get several effects over it, like speeding or slowing
the circulation.

Therefore, there are lots of breathing types in the Luohan qigong, and we’ll use
them according to the effect we want to get.

1. Two basic breathing ways

One of the main objectives with which we practice these exercises will be to
help us bring energy to different areas.

Basically, there are two types of breathing that will help us move energy in a
concrete way. This means that we will influence the movement of the qi and the
areas where we will carry it.

Let’s see which these two breathing types are;

Natural or lineal breathing

Breathing through heights or zones

A.- Natural or lineal breathing

In this type of breathing, we just inspire through the nose and exhale through the
mouth. No more, that’s why it’s called natural breathing. We also call it lineal
breathing because this is the effect we get energetically talking. When inspiring,
the energy goes up and when exhaling the energy lows in a linear way.

It’s a basic type of breathing in which we’ll start working on.

The first step consists on the practitioner to be conscious about the breathing.
First, without movements and later with the different exercises, we should learn
to feel our breathing rhythm. Slowly, we’ll try to breathe deeper but never
forcing it.
 Here we start to train what I call “the bottle concept”; imagine our trunk
(actually our lungs) is like a bottle we’re going to fill. If we put this bottle
on the faucet, this will fill from the bottom to the top and when we turn it
over to empty it; again it will be the lower part of the bottle what’s first
going to be empty. When we fill our lungs with air (which will be reflected
in the moves of our bodie), these will start to fill from the bottom to the top
and when we exhale, as the bottle example, will be the lower part the first
to be empty.

Once we achieve a breathing paused, controlled and the way we just saw, we’ll
start incorporating different variants that will be later explained. It’s about, for
example, the yang and yin breathing, retention, etch. As I was saying, we’ll later
get deep in those breathing methods.



B. Breathing through heights or zones

The usual is to breathe in an automatic and involuntary way without paying

attention to this process.

But we can also take control and we’ll realize that to breathe, we need the action
of different muscles.

Depending on the musculature we use, the air will be lead different zones of the
lungs, producing this way several effects over our organism. In the Luohan
qigong there are three breathing types attending on the musculature we use and
therefore the zone of the lungs where the air will go.
LOW ZONE : many times known as diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing.
It’s regulated by the diaphragm move. When inspiring, this goes down,
reaching the air in the deepest zone of the lungs. This makes the abdominal
organs go down and out when inspiring, and go back to their place when
exhaling. In this way a pumping or massage movement is producedand with
this, we get a higher blood and energy circulation in the entire lower zone
of our body. Using terms from Chinese medicine, we can say we’re
working the inferior jiao .
All of this will help to improve all the tissues situated in the zone,
especially the corresponded intern organs.

MIDDLE ZONE : also known as thoracic or intercostals breathing.

Depends on the intercostals muscles located between the ribs. During the
inspiring, these muscles will expand, pushing the ribs out and widen the
thoracic box. During the exhaling, they come back to their initial state.
With this we help the blood and the energy circulate through the entire
middle zone of our body, with in Chinese medicine is known as middle jiao
.
As consequence, it will benefit the middle zone tissues, especially the intern
organs included in this part.

HIGH ZONE : sometimes known as clavicular breathing. In this occasion

the clavicles are the ones going up when inhaling, to open the superior part
of the lungs, letting the air go to that zone. When exhaling, they relax and
come back to their initial position. So it will be the entire high zone and
especially the corresponded intern organs the ones that will be favored by
the pumping or massage caused by the breathing. In Chinese medicine
terms we say we’re working the superior jiao .


In short, what we intend is to bring the air to each of the areas we have seen.
With this, we get the muscles in charge of leading the air to each of them to
contract and relax, which causes a pressure and relaxation over the organic
structures placed on each height.

This causes a similar effect to the one we get with a massage; turning on the
blood and energy circulation to each of these heights. With this, we’ll improve
the functioning and therefore the health of the entire zone, especially the
corresponded interior organs. This is because of a higher blood contribution that
will also contribute to a better nutrition of all the tissue and a better elimination
of waste.

In the Luohan qigong, we’ll use a series of elements to get to lead the air to each
of the heights we’ve seen;

The gates ; as we saw before, the usage of the gates help us leading or
controlling the move.
We’ve also seen the fact that to be able to breathe we need the “move” of
determined muscles. Therefore, the correct use of the gates will help us lead
 the air to each of the heights.
In other words, the correct use of the gates will be very important to get the
air go the specific zones we want to work on.

Nose/mouth use ; we can breathe through the nose or the mouth. But the air
comes in and goes out through the lungs in different ways depending on if
it’s done through the nose or the mouth.
In fact, when we use the mouth to breathe, we can adopt different forms or
positions with it so that the air comes in or goes out in a determined way to
get a concrete effect.
In the Luohan qigong, we work on the use of different ways to put the
mouth so that the air comes in and goes out in a concrete way, helping the
leading of the air to each height.
We’ll concretely put the mouth as if we were going to pronounce different
sounds that in our case coincide with some vowels.

Tongue position ; because of the fact that several breathing types we use
the mouth to inhale and exhale, the position the tongue takes will influence
the entrance or going out of the air and therefore, the effect we get in this
breathing.

Sounds ; we won’t only use the different positions of the mouth to breathe
but we also have the possibility to make different sounds, especially in the
exhaling. The use of the sounds will help us in two aspects;
When performing different sounds, it causes a series of vibrations which
will help us taking the energy to each height.
The fact a sound is made when exhaling, helps us control the exit of the air,
both in duration and intensity.
Sounds can be stronger or softer, depending on the effect we want to make.
It’s important to know that even if the sounds we’re going to use, and
therefore the different mouth positions, correspond to some vowels of our
vocabulary, this is pure coincidence. As we saw, the purpose of using it is
getting the air in and out in different ways so that it causes several vibration
types.

Let’s see in detail how we use these elements on each height.

High zone:
When we move the high gate, we softly raise the clavicles, helping the air we
inhale to go to the top of the lungs. So when we want to work this zone, the use
of the high gate will helps us in that.

To work the high zone, we’ll inhale through the nose and exhale through the
mouth, putting this one in position to make an “uuuu” sound.

When inhaling, we’ll softly press with the tongue the superior palate and relax
that pressure when exhaling.

The high zone is the most superficial one and therefore, the one that least air
uses. Because of this, we need a lower air entrance and exit, and the breathing
way will help us control and avoid the air going to deeper zones.




Middle zone:

When we’re using the middle gate, we’ll realize that what we do is approximate
the scapulas and expand the thoracic box, which will help us leading the air to
this zone.
In this occasion, we’ll inhale and exhale through the mouth. The position and
therefore the sound we’ll make when exhaling is the correspondent to the letter
“Oooo”.

This position allows a bigger entrance and exit of the air than the occasion
before, and therefore, helps us perform a deeper breathing.

Here, the tongue won’t move. It will stay relaxed in the center, both when
inhaling and exhaling.




Low zone:

When we use the low gate, we expand the low abdomen out, which contributes
the lead of the air to deeper zones in the lungs. Besides, we’ll softly bend the
chin down, closing the high zone, which will help us focusing the job on the low
zone.
Inhale and exhale trough the mouth, adopting a position as if we were going to
pronounce the letter “A”. When we exhale we release an “Aaee” sound.

With the tongue, we’ll touch the inferior palate, just where inferior teeth are
born, both when inhaling and exhaling.

2. Six breathing systems

As we just saw, the basic breathing methods helps us leading the move of the qi
and zones we want to work on.
But with the breathing we can get different effects on the energy independently
the zone we’re working on.

Traditionally, six systems or breathing methods are taught with their

corresponded purposes.

Let’s see these six breathing systems;

Balanced breathings (neutral)

Yang breathing
Yin breathing
Explosion breathing (“Pao sik” in cantonese)
Turtle breathing (“Quai sik” in cantonese)
Embryonic breathing (inverse)

Balanced breathing

Assuming that the concept of yin and yang is already clear, we define the
balanced breathing as the one that has a neutral effect over our organism .

This means, with this we do not pretend to activate (Yang) or sedate (Yin), what
we look for is a neutral or balanced effect. We want to favor the energy
circulation but in a balanced way.
To achieve this we will focus on our inspiration lasting the same as our
expiration.

Generally, and as reference, we’ll count until three when inhaling and count until
three as well when exhaling. Evidently this counting until three will be faster or
slower, depending on the lung capacity of each of us. It’s simply about counting
to get the inhaling and exhaling to be the same duration.

YANG breathing

In this type of breathing, we’ll make the inhaling longer than the exhaling .
We’ll get a similar effect by marking the inhaling (making it stronger).

To ease our goal, we would count until four when inhaling and until three when
exhaling.
The effect we get with this kind of breathing is a Yang work; taking up the
energy, stretching our body, speeding the circulation, etc.

YIN breathing

With this type of breathing, we get the opposite effect, this means we’ll get a
Yin work; taking down the energy, relaxing the body, sedating the circulation,
etc.

To get this, we’ll make the inhaling shorter than the exhalation .

Going back to the counting, we’ll count until three when inhaling and until four
when exhaling.

With only this basic breathing type and understanding the Yin and Yang theory,
we’ve already seen how we can get different effects on our body, performing
small variations on the duration of the different phases of the breathing.

It’s something basic and simple but extremely useful to our practice. Let’s see
how what we just saw is applicable to most of the exercises, and correctly
understanding it, we can adapt our goals, depending on what we look for; if it’s
working in an active way, stimulating, relaxing, and softer or we just want to
perform a balance work.

There are more ways to transform the neutral breathing in Yang or Yin:

A faster breathing will make us perform a more superficial breathing, with

which we’ll get a yang effect, helping the increase of our pulsations, our
energy, etc. In the other hand, a slower breathing will lead us to perform it
deeper, with which we’ll get a Yin effect; more relaxation, slow our cardiac
rhythm, etc.

QUAI SIK (Turtle breathing)

The breathing cycle is composed by four phases;

INHALING-PAUSE-EXHALING-PAUSE

We’ve seen before how we can vary the duration of the inhaling an exhaling
according to our needs.
But we can also use the existent pauses between both of them to get determined
purposes.

The breathing known as “quai sik” or turtle breathing consists on holding the
breathing. This means, we increase the duration of any of the pauses with a
concrete purpose.

In a general way, we could say that inside Luohan qigong, we’ll use this type of
breathing with the intention to keep the qi or the energy in a concrete zone in a
determined time. The duration of the retention we practice in our system tends to
be short, generally from one to two seconds. It’s performed with a pause in the
move of the exercises we’re performing and concentrating on the zone or point
we want to keep the energy in.

There are two variants in this type of breathing; the one in which we perform a
pause after the inhaling and the one in which we make it after exhaling. Let’s see
a little more detailed each of these ones

1. It consists on inhaling, holding the air and then letting it go. It has a Yang
effect, which means that we look to tone the point or zone we’re working
on.

2. In this occasion, we exhale and we make a pause to then keep inhaling.

With this, we get a Yin effect. We want holding the qi in a concrete point or
zone but with a more relaxing purpose.

PAO SIK (Explosion breathing)

This type of breathing consists on releasing abruptly the air after inhaling. It
tends to be used with the purpose of eliminating tensions and favor the qi
circulation. It favors the relaxation and unlocks the energetic and blood
circulation.

Therefore, it’s very useful in situations of worries, stress and tensions, both
muscular and mental.

Frequently, it’s combined with the quai sik or turtle breathing. This means that
after inhaling, we would hold for some seconds the breathing and then release
abruptly the air.
With this combination we’ll get to take the energy to a specified zone to then get
a relaxing effect and get this energy to correctly circulate. We get to tone the qi
and at the same time, we relax the musculature.

Again, we have two ways to perform this type of breathing.

The first variant consists on abruptly expulsing all the air we have inhaled
before. With this, we get a higher sensation of unlocking but it has the
inconvenient that if it’s practiced several times it leads to a excessive qi loss.

The second way we have to practice it, is releasing just a bit of air abruptly after
inhaling to then follow a normal exhalation, this means, softer and controlled.

This one is the most used, because it allows the relaxation of a zone without
having qi loss.

Embryonic breathing (Inverse)

We understand by inverse breathing the one that’s opposite to the normal

breathing, when we inhale, we contract the abdomen moving all of the walls to
the inside. During the exhalation, these walls are expanded to the exterior as if
we relaxed them.

With this, we get a higher pressure over the intern organs, because of the
pressure the diaphragm makes to the interior part when inhaling, adding the
pressure the abdominal walls make to the interior. Therefore, we get to increase
the massage and pumping effect that these muscles make over the intern organs
while the breathing.

In our system, it’s also known as embryonic breathing because we tend to put
our mind or concentration on the belly bottom during its performance. With this,
we get to especially work the Jing (essence).

We’ve seen before the two basic types and the six breathing methods.

We can apply any of the six methods to the two basic breathing ways we’ve
seen.

This means, we can make a natural or lineal breathing be neutral, yang or yin
type. We can also add quai sik, pao sik and even make it embryonic.
Same happens with each height.

The possibilities are huge, but with time and practice, we’ll learn there are
combinations that turn out more logic and are the ones that tend to appear on the
different ways of the system.
 Chapter 9. Conclusion
The Luohan qigong is a really wide system from which we can get numerous
benefits.

What I’ve said so far is just a tiny theoretical introduction where I’ve tried to
explain the basic fundaments of the style and the purposes we follow with its
practice.

It’s really hard to learn from just one book, as good as it may be. But is equally
complicated to advance the qigong way without having any theoretical base that
allows us to understand what we’re doing and why we practice it.

There isn’t only a way in the Luohan qigong. The system supposes an authentic
knowledge and practice treasure, in which each of us has to extract what we
need.

But there is a single way to wander the way we choose. To get any benefit we
want from the Luohan gong; is necessary the practice .

It seems something so obvious that in some occasions we forget that it won’t be

helpful at all if we only theorize about the system, get a certificate or a diploma,
or even taking a training course without any practice. If possible, every day,
even if it is only a short time

There’s no need to be a hermit or turn into Buddhist monks to get benefits from
the Luohan qigong. But practicing every day, each as far as we want to obtain,
turns out to be necessary.

I just hope this introduction to this wonderful intern work system is helpful to
everyone who with its practice is willing to get benefits from the knowledge that
have been transmitted from generating to generation to this day.

Good luck… and good practice!

 Thank you!
I really hope this little book has pleased you and is useful. If so, I would be very
happy if you put a positive rating on Amazon.

Your opinion is very important, and not only helps to position the book among
the many that exist, but also represents recognition of the effort and work
involved in writing it.

Anyway, thank you for buying it and devoting your time to your reading. Thanks
and see you soon!
 About the Author
Jose Beneyto is a Chinese martial arts instructor, specialized in Choy Lee fut
Kungfu and Lohan Chikung. He’s had the opportunity to learn both disciplines
from some of the best teachers there are right now.

He’s also deeply studied the basic traditional Chinese medicine theories, as well
as several oriental techniques to take care of the health, such as acupuncture, Tui
na massage or Phytotherapy, among others.

https://www.facebook.com/LohanChikung/
lohanchikung@yahoo.es
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCojq9JJNuqPSze_-fkTz14Q
 Author's clarification
Throughout this book some words from the Chinese language are used. For this I
have used pinyin, which is a phonetic transcription system of Chinese Mandarin
and is officially recognized in the People's Republic of China. It changes the use
of traditional Chinese characters from conceptual to phonetic. That is, Latin
script is used to transcribe phonetically the Chinese language.

The pinyin system has a complex system of diacritics to mark the tones. That is,
a series of accents and hyphens are used to indicate how their pronunciation
should be. For their correct writing should not omit any of these signs.

But throughout the book many words are repeated a lot and in order to facilitate
their reading I decided to eliminate these diacritics. In order not to lose rigor and
information, I attached the correct way to write the most used Chinese terms in
this book in pinyin.

For the specific concepts of the Luohan system, such as the names of the forms
or some types of breathing, I have used the Cantonese, just as my master
pronounced them.

PINYIN FORMS USED IN THE BOOK

Yīn yin
Yáng yang
Sānbǎo sanbao
Jīng jing
Qì qi
Shén shen
Qìgōng qigong
Dāntián dantian