The Effect of Externally-regulated Respiration on the Duration and Aesthetic Evaluation of Meditative Movements

[Abstract]: The meditative movement is a collective term that leads specific body movements. Popular meditative movement practices include yoga, Taijiquan and health Qigong. In that these body works necessitate careful respiratory control, the author intended in this study to identify how regulatory respiration during health nourishing Qigong (Nei Yang Gong) exercise would influence the performance quality. For this purpose, the author chose Yi Jin Xing Qi Fa, one of the health nourishing Qigong. An exercise was performed twice by a practitioner (i.e., the author), both of which were videotaped. Between each exercise, Taiji Qigong Shiba Shi were performed. Taiji Qigong Shiba Shi are another health nourishing Qigong exercise that restricts the inhalation and exhalation durations that practitioners must observe. After the exercises, the author compared the two videotaped performances from the viewpoints of exercise duration, inhalation duration, body/spine rotation and aesthetic movement. Furthermore, verbal records of the practitioner and his instructor were used for the qualitative comparison. From video and verbal records analyses, it was found that, as a result of this Taiji Qigong Shiba Shi performed between two Yi Jin Xing Qi Fa exercises, (1) the duration of the second exercise was longer than the first exercise, (2) the aesthetic evaluation of the performances was scored higher for the second exercise than the first exercise, and (3) the Qi sense of the practitioner was stronger after regulatory respiration exercise. These findings suggest that the externally-regulated respiration improves the quality of meditative movements.