The “Three Centers”
(San Dan Tian)

There are three major energetic locations in the body: 

1. Lower Center (Lower Dantian)
– storage, grounding, Jing → Qi transformation
– breathing, pelvic floor, deep front line
– foundation for stability and internal power

2. Middle Center (Heart / Chest center)
– emotional regulation, Shen expression
– breath–heart–diaphragm integration
– not a storage field like the lower
– sometimes called the “middle elixir field” in Daoist alchemy,
but function is different

3. Upper Center (Head center)
– clarity, awareness, Shen
– relates to pineal/pituitary, brainstem regulation
– governs consciousness, not Qi storage

Only the lower is a true “Dantian” in the sense you train in Tai Chi/Nei Gong.  The upper and middle are centers, not Dantian storage fields.

Three Centers = Three Breathing Levels 

1. Upper Center = Stress / Shoulder Breathing

This is when people breathe high into the clavicles, throat, shoulders.

• sympathetic activation

• shallow breath

• tight scalenes + upper traps

• “alarm mode” breathing
  
  

This matches the upper center (head/neck) → overactive mind, tension, vigilance.

2. Middle Center = Chest / Solar Plexus Breathing

Most people think they are “breathing into the belly,”
but they actually breathe into the solar plexus + lower ribs:

• diaphragm moves a little

• ribs flare forward

• chest expands

• belly maybe moves, but mostly front + sides of rib cage
  
  

This matches the middle center (heart/diaphragm) — emotional tension, protective patterns.

“Chest breathing is not wrong — it’s just incomplete.”

3. Lower Center = True Abdominal / Dantian Breathing

This is below the navel, deep in the lower abdomen, with pelvic floor and lower back included.

• diaphragm fully descends

• organs shift softly downward

• lower abdomen expands 360°

• pelvic floor drops a little

• lumbar area decompresses
  
  

This corresponds to the lower Dantian, the body’s energetic and mechanical foundation.