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Meditation Course—Week 3 of 5

Week 3 - Tai Chi Meditation

By GARY DEANPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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Tai Chi is a slow moving exercise based around martial arts and is a meditation in itself. It can take a long time to learn to get the movements just right but it is rewarding and fun with a lot of health benefits.

It is advised to perform warm up exercises beforehand and cool down exercises afterwards. I would think about performing the warm up exercises even though you are only performing the meditative stance. It is a good idea to free up the energy within, this is something you become very aware of when performing Tai Chi. While moving you can feel the muscles working, making the blood flow, carrying the energy around the body and leaving the body at the natural exit points such as your hands. It is common for people performing Tai Chi to feel their hands warm up dramatically.

The first seven minutes of the video focus on the exercises you may want to perform before the meditation, you don't have to, it will be a personal choice, but it will give you a flavour of what Tai Chi is all about without spending many months learning one of the many forms.

Meditation

You need to start by freeing yourself from any tension you may be feeling, hopefully the warm-up exercises will help you to achieve this. Your head should be balanced as though it is being held up by a piece of string that is fastened to the top of your head. Bend the knees slightly, with your back straight. Move your arms round as though you are going to hug someone but bring the palms of your hands to face your lower abdomen, this is called your lower Dantian and the store for all your energy.

Place the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, this is to connect the circuit, so the energy can maintain a consistent flow around the body.

The mind can be free from wondering thoughts by focusing on the sensations from energy flowing through the body and the muscles while you maintain this stance.

Breath in a healing white light and imagine it working its way through the head, shoulders, arms, body, and legs, healing and pushing out any negative energy as it goes.

This video shows you a meditative stance, this can be difficult to maintain for some people to begin with, but with regular practice will soon feel the benefit.

Micro Cosmic Orbit

Imagination is a big part of the meditation process, so here is a mental exercise you can try out and perform while you meditate, once you are happy with the stance.

Make sure the tip of your tongue is touching the roof of your mouth. Take a breath and as you breathe in you expand your belly and not your chest. This is supposed to be better for you and focuses the energy around your Dantian.

Imagine a golden light being drawn through into your mouth, working its way down each point highlighted on the image above. With each breath the golden light moves further around the circuit until it meets the tip of your tongue again and let the cycle continue the whole time you are meditating. This allows the energy to pass all the healing points around the body.

Breathing

The flow of energy starts with the breath, as it enters the mouth it starts its circuit around the body as we see in the Micro Cosmic Orbit described above. In some Chinese traditions they will start with a couple of large intakes of breath, letting the belly rise and fall instead of the chest. Then they will take their focus away from the breath, which becomes shallow and indeterminable and you wouldn't be able to tell if the person is breathing or not. This is obviously a more advanced state, which I have tried as I have a naturally tendency to breath shallow anyway, but I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you are just starting out. Breathing deep breaths, get oxygen into the body and to the limbs where it is needed. There is a balance so don't be taking too many deep breaths either, as you may become light headed, the Chinese are all about balance and it is for good reason.

Energy Ball

The meditation stance can be done as in the video above but you can hold your hands parallel in front of you about a head width apart as though you are holding a ball. Start with your knees slightly bent, back straight, head balanced and your feet about a shoulders width apart.

Imagine a small point of white light at the centre of your ball. As you breath in, straighten your legs and move your hands about a shoulders width apart. As you breath out you move back into your previous position, but as you do this imagine the energy being transferred into the ball of light and imagine the ball getting bigger with each time you repeat each movement.

Eventually you will have a complete energy ball, which you should be able to feel in the palm of your hands, you should feel some heat and some resistance as you hold the ball. Once you are well practiced and are comfortable with this you will be able to try other exercises which you can do with the energy ball.

You can change your stance to move your hands vertically instead of horizontally as described above or you can alternate between the two, experiment and see what works best for you.

meditation
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About the Creator

GARY DEAN

Started writing in 2009, after getting made redundant from my job. Now it is a hobby, something I can enjoy and play about with.

https://twitter.com/Gaznt?s=09

https://sites.google.com/site/gdeanscreativewritingspot/Home

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