various fumes and taiji/qigong

[axelb]

it seems that whenever I'm out in a pub and there's mates nearby smoking, the next day I am coughing various coloured things up.

I did some breathing exercises yesterday and it seems to have helped me out.

Have read in a few books that it's pointless doing qigong/taiji if you smoke - does this also apply to being a passive smoker? And what about the effect of heavy traffic fumes? Sometimes after being stuck in traffic for a while on the way to work I am usually coughing up all sorts :(

I used to have asthma when I was younger, I find sometimes I am coughing similar to when I first had asthma.

[Syd]

Black lung mate, thats what city dwellers get from the constant onslaught of traffic pollutants and fumes, passive inhalation of deisel from trucks and the list goes on. I would say that smoking and Taiji are like being a sprinter who smokes, best not to do it. I moved from the city two years ago into the mountains and I've been breathing clean air ever since.

Got any mtns near you? ;)

[axelb]

have a nice garden, with tree's in - thats the closest I'm gonna get to a mountain. I'm not a smoker, but do like going out to pubs (that happen to be smokey).

[woodrow]

There is a show on TV called Trading Spouses. Mothers go live with a different family for a week. This week there is a big, I mean 2, 3 hundred pound big black lady moving in with a white yoga family. The white yoga mom is about 100 pounds and sticks and skin.

The black mom comes over, looks around and goes to sleep. Next morning at 5:30 she hears this flute playing. The guys two kids are playing indian flutes while he does some yoga stuff. She comes in to look and they invite her to stay. They get her to do this and that yoga pose.

Then they get her to do this pose where one leg is on the ground, one hand is on the ground, the other hand is in the air and the other leg is in the air pointing to the back. This lady is huge, I mean really big. She is in this pose and then she says "Oh boy, I got to fart!" and jumps up and runs out of the room. She was moving fast!

I thought of that show when I saw the "various fumes and tai chi" thread title. ;)

[alienlovechild]

Don't leave us hanging, did she fart?

[gerard]

It's impossible to be a true Daoist and live in a populated area. Why? Simply because you are nurturing qi-jing-shen, or the spiritual embryo, and these will be dramatically affected by human pollution, namely EMF, radio wave, air, water, etc. Even today in the mountains you get some of it, but as not as bad as in populated areas.

Best choice would be living in a monastery in the Himalayas or in the Chinese Mountains, or even in one of the less popular Hawaiian islands which have beatiful mountains (volcanoes). However Iceland is considered the best country in the wrold in terms of life expectancy and pollution levels.

Read this please:

http://www.sumeria.net/health/em.html

http://www.healthy-house.co.uk/prod...p?prod_gp_id=11

http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/threats_pollution.htm

http://www.geographia.com/iceland/geology1.htm


Stay away from the city. Well done Syd. I'll be leaving very soon, once I finish my University studies.



:)

[reikislapper]

it seems that whenever I'm out in a pub and there's mates nearby smoking, the next day I am coughing various coloured things up.

I did some breathing exercises yesterday and it seems to have helped me out.

Have read in a few books that it's pointless doing qigong/taiji if you smoke - does this also apply to being a passive smoker? And what about the effect of heavy traffic fumes? Sometimes after being stuck in traffic for a while on the way to work I am usually coughing up all sorts :(

I used to have asthma when I was younger, I find sometimes I am coughing similar to when I first had asthma.

Hi I know how you feel about the coughing as I'm asthmatic and I got this though lung damage through problems with my heart. I live close to a busy main road where the traffic is crazy at times but never mind lol.
Anyway the books you've read are a load of rubbish as qigong/taiji is the perfect exercise to help with your breathing as I've been doing qigong since Jan this year and it's really helped me as I know more about where the problems lie within my health than anything now. I only have bad attacks when I'm getting under a lot of stress or upset with life around me at other times then I seem to keep the asthma under control and I don't even take the medication as I don't need it all of the time lol.
Please give qigong/taiji a chance and see the difference it will make on your life you won't be disappointed
lisa xx

[axelb]

thanks everyone for the info - I wasn't intending on quiting, I was more interested to find out how much it slows your progression in development.

We're moving to a different part of town soon, with a lovely back garden and nice parks about. My parents place where I currently live has a really big communal back garden, and used to have woods behind it - so I always practised there. Recently they have cut the trees down and started building houses - so it's a bit noisey with all the building works - not the best place to practise :(

I'll continue on with my practise - mostly do lunch time practise at the moment as it relaxes me from work and there's a quiet park nearby :)

[woodrow]

Don't leave us hanging, did she fart?

You couldn't tell. She got out of the room too fast. ;)

Maybe she did in the other room, but not on camera.