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HOW-TO · SHELF V

Tanden Breathing

  • Tradition
  • Research
  • Experiential

The tanden is the point below the navel held to be the body's centre of gravity. Japanese martial arts, Zen and the tradition of yōjō (nurturing life) have all prized letting the breath drop there. This manual keeps that tradition apart from what research knows about slow breathing, then shows you how to do it.

In brief

  • The tanden lies about three finger-widths below the navel; let the breath drop there.
  • Breathe out longer than in; around six slow breaths a minute calms the body.
  • Start with a few minutes a day: sitting, lying down or walking.

This manual is general information based on published research and the sources available to us. It is not medical advice and has not yet been reviewed by a clinician. For questions about your own body, health, medicines, pregnancy or contraception, talk to a doctor or pharmacist.

What the tanden is

Traditionally it is the seika tanden, a point about three finger-widths below the navel, at the centre inside the body. In the martial arts it is the centre of gravity and of ki; in Zen, the place where the mind settles. Kaibara Ekiken, in his Yōjōkun (1713), made gathering ki in the lower belly the heart of looking after oneself.

There is no organ called the tanden. In terms of the body, dropping the breath into the lower belly means breathing with the diaphragm: as you breathe in, the diaphragm descends and the lower belly expands.

指三本ほどabout 3 finger-widths 横隔膜 · diaphragm吸うと下がる · descends on the in-breath へそ · navel 臍下丹田 · the tanden下腹がふくらむ · the lower belly expands
Where the tanden is, and how the diaphragm moves on the in-breath.

What research knows

Systematic reviews link slow breathing, around six breaths a minute, with greater heart-rate variability and a sense of relaxation. A small trial found that training in diaphragmatic breathing lowered measures of stress. The tradition's account of ki is not the kind of claim research tests; it is presented here as tradition.

The practice

  1. Posture: sit on your sitting bones, spine easily upright, shoulders dropped. Lying down is fine too.
  2. Place a hand: one hand about three finger-widths below the navel.
  3. Begin by breathing out: purse your lips slightly and breathe out thin and long, all the way. The belly slowly draws in.
  4. Breathe in: through the nose, feeling the lower belly swell under your hand. Let the chest stay fairly still.
  5. Count: in for four, out for six to eight. That comes to about six breaths a minute.
  6. Keep going: five minutes to start; ten to fifteen once it is familiar.
吸う4吐く6〜8吸う4吐く6〜8吸う4吐く6〜8吸う4吐く6〜8吸うより長く吐く · breathe out longer than inおよそ1分に6回 · about six breaths a minute in: 4 counts · out: 6–8 counts
The rhythm of slow breathing: out for longer than in.

When to use it

  1. Before sleep: lying down, hand resting on the lower belly.
  2. Before a hard conversation: even three breaths.
  3. During massage: when giver and receiver breathe together, it is easier to let go deeply (see A Map of Massage).
  4. During sex: a long out-breath slows rising arousal and makes it easier to stay inside it (see Not Rushing).
  5. When anxiety is high: put your attention on the counting.

Cautions

If you feel dizzy or light-headed, return to ordinary breathing. Don't force the breath or hold it. If you have asthma or another breathing condition, follow your doctor's advice first. For some people, attending to the breath makes them more unsettled; if so, keep your eyes open and attend only to the counting.

Sources, and what kind of guide this is

  • Tradition Taught within a lineage and documented in its own texts; presented as that tradition describes it.
  • Research Backed by clinical or laboratory studies, cited at the end.
  • Experiential Works for some people and not others; offered to try, never as a promise.
  1. 貝原益軒『養生訓』1713年。
  2. 白隠慧鶴『夜船閑話』1757年。
  3. Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M. et al. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: a systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353.
  4. Ma, X., Yue, Z.-Q., Gong, Z.-Q. et al. (2017). The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 874.

This manual is general information based on the sources available to us. It is not medical advice and has not been reviewed by a clinician. For your own body, health or medicines, talk to a doctor.

Concepts in this manual

DiaphragmParasympathetic nervous systemSlow breathingKiTanden

How these guides are madeGlossary of concepts

Read on

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  • Breath: The One Thing You Can Test Tonight

    Longer out than in, because heart rate falls on the exhale and that is arithmetic rather than poetry. About six a minute, because that is where the blood-pressure reflex and the breath fall into step. Free, testable, and over in five minutes.

  • 自律神経: A Description, Not a Destination

    It is on supplement boxes, salon copy and a great many consultations, and almost nobody can say what it means — including this shelf, which has leaned on it for four essays without defining it. So: what it actually is, what 自律神経失調症 gets right and where it stops the search, the one technique with a real mechanism rather than an appeal to energy, and a plain word about 整える as a selling phrase.

  • Hilot

    Filipino traditional healing, of which manual bodywork is one part: how the knowledge is transmitted, what the colonial record does and does not establish, why the scholarly record is thin, and what a house that borrows the technique owes the tradition it borrowed it from.

  • The Modalities, Compared

    Swedish, shiatsu, anma, deep tissue and the rest: the five axes that actually separate them, how each one feels to receive, and what is gained and lost when a practice is taken out of its tradition and used as a technique.

The reading letter

Twice a week. Three pieces, then one. Chosen from what you ask for, and nothing is sold to you.

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