In my Xing Yi class we occaisonally do these excercises they refer to as Kidney Breathing. My instructors have said that they help to strengthen the body, revitalize the kidneys, and prevent kidney stones.

I was wondering if anyone had any further information about these excersises? I have asked if there were more than just the 3 we practice in class and they didn't seem to know of others, but I though I might give it a wirl here.

The first:

Lay on your back, put the back of each hand on your kidney underneath you. And then inhale using taoist breathing (expanding the belly) and then prop yourself on your heels and shoulder blades as best you can. We try to hold our breath and hold this posture for about 10-15 seconds and then release it.

We then move on to the second:

Bring your heels up to your buttocks. Keep your hands on your kidneys, and then once again inhale, and raise yourself up trying to stick your stomache into the air and proping yourself up on the tips of the toes and keeping the shoulder blades planted on the floor again. Hold for 10-15 seconds again.

And then the 3rd:

lying on your back still reach forward over your waist as far as you can and form a traingle with your hands such that the index finger and thumb of both hands touch to form the traiagle. Strech your arms as far as you can manage, inhale, and lift your legs and torso up. This one should really get your body convulsing and shaking. Its kind of like holding a situp although you really shouldn't have to come very far up off the ground. You are kind of supporting yourself on your butt.

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Ok well theres the explanation of these. Does anyone know of a more official name for them? Are they some kind of yoga/chi kung? Are there more of them out there?

We usually cycle through them 2-3 times in class (but we only do them every so often). I on the other hand try and do them 2-3 times a week. They really get the blood flowing, and they are VERY tough to do. I really do get a sense that they are excellent for the body though.

Thanks for any input guys!

You are in the wrong bulletin board for this kind of question.

Charles,
The first two exercises are commonly referred to as "bridging" in wrestling (or more specifically as "shoulder bridging").

The third exercise is commonly called a "V up."

All are great exercises, I'm not sure why they would be specifically good for your kidneys.

The "Three Shaolin Exercises" are part of the book "Hsing I", by James McNeil. I don't know why he put them there in a Hsing I book, though.

He gives no explanation of their origin.

Mr. Bean,

Why is this the wrong bulletin board?

Tim,

Thanks for the info I will look in these bridging excercises. They are held in pretty high regard at my school. They tpically save them for "hell" days (Sometimes they decide its a good day to just torture us with an extreme workout and its gaurunteed we will do them those days, but its pretty random and not very often.

Dude,

I will check that out. I am interested in Knowing as much about them as possible.

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Of all the excercises we practice in class these are probably some of the most intense next to the "snake body" warmups we do (Drag ourselves across the dojo and back using our arms only on our stomaches, drag ourselves back and forth on our backs with our arms stretched above our heads and use our shoulder blades to propel ourselves, and the third a sideways routine of similar statue).

I really love them, and attribute some of the gains I have seen in the strengthening of my body to them. In 4 months I have been able to put on more muscle mass and get more definition doing xing yi then I could ever hope going ot the gym (but I never really had much motivation for that anyway).

Thanks for the info all.

I teach V-up log roll in my Aikido class, everyone hates it! But I make them do it, and prove I can do it better to make them tough!

Hi,

One of my friends studies with McNeil and these three exercises are commonly done in that school. They are conditioning exercises but not done as physical exercise like crunches.

I have never heard of them described as Kidney Breathing exercises.

You can also find variations on these three exercises in Yoga. I can't remember the sanskrit names - though the third one is often translated as 'boat pose'.

The kidney breathing that I have learned is mostly focussed on expanding the lower back on the inhale. It's done at least in part to develop mobility of the lower back. We don't do it with any specific posture.

Paul and Ed,

My search of Kidney Breathing on google definately brought up excercises far different than these 3.

Thanks for the yoga translation I will look into that. I'm not quite sure why these intrest me so much but I never knew 3 excersises alone could give you such a workout...phew.

Chris,

Sometimes in class the instructor asks us what we should do next. I usually suggest kidney breathing, followed by a strange gaze, and him repeating to the rest of the class "Ok besides kidney breathing, what would the MAJORITY of the class like to to"

I find it kind of humorous, but I understand that a lot of people would rather not attempt them, or spend their time doing them (Which seems so strange to me).

Guys here are more pragmatic about their views on exercises.

Hi Charles,

There are lots of good breathing, isometric, stance, and stretching exercises out there. I am glad you are so excited about the ones you have learned. But I suggest you take your instructors lead on this one and work them all during your home practice. Class time is much better spent learning new things from your instructor or working on partner stuff with your classmates.

Thanks,
Richard

Richard,
My oppinion is much like yours, I hate to spend valuable class time, that I could be learning new techniques on excersizes I could do at home. But I find in my class's that if I don't give them a hard physical workout before class they fill I didn't work them hard enuff. I think being physically fit is a major part of martial arts training, and that it dose diserve some class time. If you're a normal dude and you have a normal job and only do your martial arts thing in class, then it's good for you to get in some exsercizes in at that aloted time, the wife and kids may not let you get them at home.

-Chris Hein

well thats just how our class is setup. 45 minutes of warmup. 15 minutes or so of hitting the pads. and then 30 mintues on forms.

Once you graduate to the advanced class its just 90 minutes of straight xing yi, but I guess i'll just have to wait on that. And anyway it only takes a good 2 minutes or so to get the needed workout from the excercises.

Those exercises are part of the Tang Shou Tao series of warm ups called Fu Hu Gong. I suppose since they stretch and work the lower torso your kidneys might get some action out of it.

-Jess O

Jess is correct. The majority of the Fu Hu Gong are taken from Judo warm up and conditioning exercises (the "snake body" exercises Charles describes are also taken from Judo conditioning exercises).

JessO'

I know you I was refering to your posts over at EF about the TST. The internet is a small place! ( I am Xing Yi Guy :P )

Tim,

Thanks for the info again. I think I will maybe start checking out some judo books and sites to see what other warmup excercises they might offer.

Charles- Yeah it's hard to keep track of whos who when everyone's got a different name! Fu Hu Gong is good stuff, makes you strong.

-Jess O

fu hu gong? so you say that these were taken from judo? where can i find information on these snake excercises and fu hu gong? interested.

kidney breathing? well i have that book by james mc neil, he calls them the 3 shaolin excercises.
good stuff.

Bruce Frantzis has quite a bit about breathing from the kidneys as well as every other organ. He has some audio tapes and books about it. Pretty good programs all together.

He's coming out with a new program about bladder breathing. As he's gotten better he's determined that bladder breathing is more efficent.

(I thought we were striking)

Bob#2

Since there seems to be some confusion, let me give a simple overview of breathing.

The only organ used in breathing is the lungs. The kidneys and other organs are not used to breathe.

my bowels have bad breath. i try not to let them breath, particularly, "exhale" in public.

"Since there seems to be some confusion, let me give a simple overview of breathing.

The only organ used in breathing is the lungs. The kidneys and other organs are not used to breathe."

I don't believe anyone is stating that you are breathing with anything other than your lungs. Kidney breathing is using the lungs expansion to massage the kidneys. You can do this with for all of the internal organs. But I am sure you know this already tim, haha.

The phenomena is named because deep breathing increases intra-admonial pressure, thus activating the spinae erector group and other back stabilizers giving the impression that the kidneys or back is inflating.

why not call it "spinae erector breathing" to make it less confusing?

Bob#2