By Julia Fairchild

Dantian-like throat pouches in certain lizards called monitors pump air into these lizards’ lungs enabling them to run and breathe at the same time for a sustained period of time, something other types of lizards cannot do.

This observation of throat pumps in lizards reported on by Elizabeth Pennisi in Science (February, 1998, p. 808), reminded me of the way human daoists use the lower abdomen and brought to mind several hypothetical questions.

Humans and other mammals use a specialized muscle, the diaphragm, for breathing, freeing the other muscles for locomotion. Lizards, however, do not have diaphragms and the «rib muscles that cause the lungs to expand and contract also make the lizard’s body stay upright and wiggle from side to side as it runs,» reports Pennisi. She also notes, «Monitor lizards can chase down prey while many of their reptilian cousins sit and wait to snag a meal.»

Researchers suggest monitors evolved throat pumps to overcome this basic body design flaw. Maybe one lizard who discovered the power of the throat dantian survived longer? Do other types of lizards also have a throat dantian and just not use it?

Humans all have a dantian in their lower abdomens but not all humans use it. Just as humans can learn to use their lower abdomen as a breathing pump, why couldn’t other types of lizards be trained to use their throat dantians to breath better and enable them to chase their prey and breathe easily at the same time the way monitor lizards do?

More accurately, we should say humans «relearn» not «learn» to use the lower abdomen as a breathing pump since a human fetus does use its lower abdomen to breathe. It would be interesting to see if baby lizards in the womb use their throat dantians.

Lizard Breathing and the Daoist Art of Breathing (TuNa)

Monitor lizards’ throat pouches expand on the inhale and contract on the exhale in the same way the dantian in the lower abdomen works for humans practicing neigong and Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan (YMT). Scientists also observe monitors breathe by exhaling all at once but inhale in a series of small breaths. Does the monitor lizards’ inhale/exhale ratio equal one, as it should for humans using the Daoist Art of Breathing (TuNa) technique?

Humans can train themselves to breathe using the abdominal dantian to affect better health and longevity. What about monitor lizards? The Science article does not mention whether or not monitor lizards at rest breathe with their throat pouches, but assuming they do, it would be fun to train monitor lizards at rest to slow their breathing rate and increase the volume of air inhaled into and exhaled out of the throat pouch to see if this influences monitor lizards’ longevity.

Abdominal dantian breathing in humans using the Daoist Art of Breathing (TuNa) technique promotes better health and a longer life. Hypothetically, lizards trained to breathe with their throat pouches using TuNa would also live longer.

Dantian Breathing Equals Fluid Motion

The didgeridoo, a wind instrument of the Indigenous Australians of northern Australia, and certain types of Chinese funeral horns, require a continuous flow of air through the instruments to obtain their trademark never-ending flow of sound. Players use their cheeks as pumps to keep up the constant flow of air the same way monitor lizards use their throat pouches to pump air.

Using the cheeks to pump air through the instrument to produce a constant flow of sound may not affect the longevity of the instrument or the player, but it does produce a sound without stops and starts.

Similarly, humans practicing taijiquan and neigong use the abdominal dantian for a never-ending flow of qi around the body that produces the flowing «without stops, without starts» body movement sought for during the practice of taijiquan.

Without that breath connection to the dantian, the perpetual motion we want to achieve during the practice of taijiquan is not possible. The breath connection to the dantian is what enables us to sweat but not get out of breath. It is what enables us to endure over time both in our practice of taijiquan and in our lives. Lizards making a similar breath or dantian connection would, in theory, have comparable results.

Take the QUIZ

	Monitor Lizards	Human Daoists
1. Able to chase prey and breathe easily at the same time?	Yes	Yes
2. Able to obtain an inhale/exhale ratio equal to 1 when using abdominal or throat breathing?	Yes	Yes
3. Throat-pouch or abdominal breathing able to affect longevity?	Yes	Yes
4. Able to learn TuNa (Daoist of Art of Breathing and use it in motion to better survive in the world?	Yes	Yes
5. Able to play the didgeridoo or the Chinese Funeral horn using cheeks to produce a constant flow of air through the instrument for long periods of time?	No	Yes
6. Able to catch a fly on the tip of the tongue in a single bound? 7. Able to achieve immortality?	Yes Yes	No Yes

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Yen-nien Daoguan - Continuing the work of the ancients.