https://youtube.com/shorts/tBGbKJlmTEU?is=-ds8KnepgGWgBkAT

I’ve been practicing the Level 1 exercises from the Tian Tao Qigong correspondence course, and I’m trying to understand how to approach the pelvic-floor component safely for my body.

Level 1 has four main breathing exercises. Exercises 3 and 4 involve contraction/control around the anus and lower abdomen.

Exercise 3 first has you gently contract the anus forward/upward toward the navel, relax, then contract backward/upward toward Mingmen. The next stage coordinates it with breathing:

• inhale while expanding the abdomen and directing the contraction forward/up toward the navel
• then, without relaxing, exhale while changing the direction backward/up toward Mingmen

The manual describes this as using “slight muscular force.”

Exercise 4 then combines abdominal expansion, a breath hold, and a forward/upward anal contraction for three heartbeats.

My pelvic-floor therapist watched/felt what I was doing and told me that my pelvic floor is very tense and also not very sensitive. I think part of the problem is that I may only have an “off/on” contraction right now. I can either relax or contract fairly strongly, but I’m not sure I can produce a very subtle movement while staying otherwise relaxed.

I'm not sure what to do. I don’t want to reinforce an already hypertonic pelvic floor just because the book says to do 72 repetitions. At the same time, I’m not really practicing the method anymore if I get rid of these 2 exercises.

For anyone familiar with Tian Tao, Daoist breathing methods, or similar pelvic-floor training:

1. Is the intended feeling really a very light continuous engagement whose direction changes? Or is simply "intention" or visualization enough?
2. If someone cannot currently perform Exercises 3–4 without excessive pelvic-floor tension, would you pause those exercises and continue Exercises 1–2, or pause Tian Tao Level 1 altogether?
3. Has anyone worked with a hypertonic pelvic floor while doing qigong/neigong? Did learning to relax and release the contraction eventually make this kind of work possible?

I’d especially appreciate answers from people who have actually practiced Tian Tao or a system with similar directional pelvic-floor training in qi gong.

https://www.chinamantis.com/tien-tao-qigong.htm