Four Gates Breathing

The energy that flows through our bodies moves in and our of us via gates. We have five major energy gates in our body, and many other smaller ones. In fact, each of your skin's pores could be considered a tiny gate. The five major gates are:

1. The head. Especially the face, ears, and the center of the top of the head (the baihui point). 
2. The two palms. Especially the center of the palms (the laogong point).
3. The two feet. Especially the bottom of the soles (the yongquan point).

Four Gates Breathing just works with the four hands/feet points, as well as the lower energy center.

The Four Gates - The palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet.

Moving the Energy to the Four Gates, the Simple Way

In order to succeed with the Four Gates visualization, you should first practice visualizing the lower energy center by itself. That energy center is at the crossroads of these four gates, and you must have a solid grasp of it before you start.

Next, we divide the gates into upper body and lower body sections, and practice their visualizations separately. We begin with the two palm gates, because they are the easiest. Next, we visualize only the two lower (soles of the feet) gates. Finally, we incorporate all the separate parts into one practice.

We'll talk about each of these steps in more detail in the following weeks.

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P.S. I have two Meditation Workshops happening soon over at Yang's Fitness Center in Andover, MA. One is on March 1st, and the other is on March 15th. They are 3 hour sessions, which give you a great introduction into morning meditation (Mar 1st) and evening meditation (Mar 15th). You can register for one or both of them using this form, or by calling 978.475.2020.

Don't wait! Today is the last day to get the early-bird discount for the workshop on the 1st. And the early-bird deadline for the second workshop is March 5th, right around the corner.

Feel free to check out the testimonials of people who attended my last workshop back in September, if you are still unsure.

Hope to see you all there!

Why Young People Need Mindfulness

Most medical and media discussion of mindfulness and meditation these days is about adults. People in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. These countless articles and studies shine a light on how to reduce stress from your job, your marriage, your kids, your health, and so on. That is all great, and all very important.

Photo Credit: Axie Breen

But what needs to be talked about more is how mindfulness and meditation help you make better decisions, rather than simply deal with the stress of decisions you've already made. Being quiet and mindful and honest with your feelings is a skill, not a tool you can just pick up and put down. The more you develop that skill, the more often and more efficiently you can utilize it.

So why start later? Don't tell yourself "I'm young and free, I don't have stress right now. I'll meditate later."

That's not the right way to think about mental health and stress. It's like they say about water in the desert: If you feel thirsty, it's already too late to drink.

Photo Credit: Axie Breen

Meditation helps develop your relationship with the true you. You may be unsure about this inner you, or embarrassed by it, or worried by what you might find. That's okay. Not all meditation has to be active, like the Taoists do. Over the years, I have found that sitting in a place of "thoughts of no thoughts," or Buddhist, Zen meditation, is just as important. Just sitting and experiencing the universe and my inner spirit are healing and grounding.

Don't wait until after you've made your major life decisions in your late teens and early 20s to start paying attention to how you really feel, and what connections to the world you really need. Let the times of quiet contemplation guide your life, not just react to it. It's like stretching and strength training and cardio: they prevent future physical illness. Practicing meditation and mindfulness when you are young are key to preventing future stress.

Relaxing the Body

We have talked about meditation frequently on the blog, but there is a step everyone must take before we meditate that is just as important as doing the proper meditation.

We must properly relax our body.

We must let go of unnecessary tension throughout the entire body, because where there is tension, our qi circulation is inhibited.

While sitting in a chair, slowly relax your body. One-by-one, relax your face, shoulders, arms, torso, belly, hips, legs, and feet. Become aware of the up and down forces within in the body that must be maintained for proper meditation.

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Experience the spine, rib cage, and head being gently pulled up, as though suspended on a string from the sky. Feel your abdomen, shoulders and face relax as the tension in your soft tissue melts away.

You can visualize ice melting off into running water from the site of these down forces, to help you experience the release and relaxation.

And remember! Do not slouch. If you collapse forward at all, even a little, you will compress your internal organs. When breathing deep, these organs need space to move so they can benefit from the internal massage. If they are under pressure to begin with, the massage won't do you any good.

Here is the .pdf version of the up and down forces chart. Feel free to print it and hang it up where you meditate, so you can remember them easily.

3 Different Levels of Meditation

This is our last blog post before the holiday break! One last time, I'll ask you to please check out my free 15 Minute Mind-Body Workout course on Udemy.com. It's free to set up a Udemy account, and it takes less than 15 minutes. You need an account to have access to my courses, but it is really free with this coupon link, no strings attached, no spam emails.

Also, the sale on my Sunrise Tai Chi DVD is coming to a close soon, so the holidays are your last chance to get this DVD for less than $10.

Get one, or both of them and share them with your friends and family. I want everyone to experience the healing benefits of Tai Chi and Qi Gong.

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Now, to conclude our meditation series:

3 Different Levels of Meditation

Just like with dieting, different people require different methods for "capturing the mind" with meditation.

FIRST LEVEL OF MEDITATION:

The simplest and easiest method of meditation utilizes external sound or external objects, such as running water, bells ringing, people singing, instrumental music, someone leading with relaxing words, and so on. Focusing just your vision on an external object, such as a candle, falls into this category as well.

SECOND LEVEL OF MEDITATION:

The second method will be repeating a word, similar to praying or chanting. Some people get a mantra and keep saying it while holding certain postures, sitting, standing, or even walking. For a busy mind, or for those individuals which struggle to wrestle control over their brain waves, this method is a great way to start, or stick to, in a busy and integrated life.

MY TRICK FOR SECOND LEVEL MEDITATION:

I teach my students to breath deep and count on the exhalations. This is the trick to move from sounds and repeating words to an even a more quiet place, the breath. When we use only the breath to reach the Theta brain waves, that is considered Zen meditation. Many of my students start with counting the breath, level 2, and then pretty quickly move to using a quieter and more internal method.

THIRD LEVEL OF MEDITATION:

This level is the most quiet one, and that is the reason it is definitely more challenging. You are dealing with the hardest part of yourself to control: the constant thoughts of the busy mind.

When listening to a sound, or counting out loud, you fill up the time and head-space that would normally be used by these constant streams of though. But when using only the breath, you leave space for all these other thoughts to come in, and you need to be strong to keep the thoughts at bay. That is the reason it is so hard, you are just using your breath to calm the brain and change your brain waves to the Theta brain waves. At first work your way up to a few minutes and over time you will be able to sit 45 minutes and experience lots of Theta brain waves during that time.

ENOUGH TALK, HERE IS SOME ACTION:

When it comes to reaching this place between awake and asleep, the first thing you need to do is sit with your spine straight, but not supported, if you can manage it without pain. The reason for that is that you can almost fall asleep, but the force that you need to hold the spine straight will not let you fall asleep all the way. Check out the diagram below, or use this one for printing and home use.

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To begin, do only 1 minute. Set a timer so that you aren't constantly checking the clock and worrying that you are going too long (believe me, when you are just starting out, it will feel like time is crawling by). If 1 minute was too easy or too little time to relax, do 5 minutes. Work your way up by experiencing each length of time, and seeing when you get too fidgety, or too sleepy.

And remember, it isn't about how long you can sit at one time, it is about how often you take the time, even 5 minutes a day, to sit down and meditate. If you commit to meditating 5 minutes every day, pretty soon you'll want to sit for 20, 30, or even 45 minutes at a time and experience the relaxation and healing that can occur when you reach those Theta brain waves and reside there.

Happy Holidays everyone! Happy New Year! And happy stretching!

What Kind of Meditation Should I Do?

When it comes to which meditation one should do, it is a lot like which diet one should use: whichever one works for you. The truth is that different individuals have specific diets that work for them, and a lot that do not. Which ones work and which don't change from person to person.

It's the same with meditation: everybody who mediates is trying to reach theta brain waves, but certain methods of mediation will work better for different individuals, and certain meditations may begin to work, or stop working for individuals as they evolve in their meditation practice.

The goal of all meditation is to be able, by will, to reach the theta brain waves, and over time, to stay in that stage for long periods of time. And even later, to reside there. The difference between staying in theta waves and residing in theta waves. 

There are endless meditation methods you can use to achieve the theta brain waves, and I will talk about them next.

FIRST STEP – STANDING OR SITTING MEDITATION

The first thing we need to recognize when talking about meditation is that we are dealing with and training the brain. Because of that fact, the recommended posture for beginners to start with is staying still. “When being still be as still as a mountain." Choose either sitting or standing. Sitting was my first choice when I started at 16 years old.

When reaching theta brain waves, positive hormone production is activated for certain endorphins, and the production of adrenaline and other hormones is brought to a halt. Your heart rate and pulse slows down, you increase your oxygen intake, you experience less or no anxiety while reaching a total deep relaxation of all the senses, your pain threshold will increase and sometimes you may experience a special experience of total physical transparency. When reaching this place: “you become time,” you may sit for 45 minutes, but your experience will be as if you had only spent a few minutes there.

Here is a visualization-based Taoist meditation that can be done either sitting or standing:

Cooling the Energetic Baton - visualize both the upper and lower energy centers, and then connect those visualizations with the energetic baton and pull the energy from the upper center, seated in the pituitary gland, to the lower center. This strengthens the "guardian energy," or what I call the energetic bubble. This movement of energy through the body is very important for both the philosophies of Tai Chi and Chi Kung. To see a great animation of cooling the energetic baton and the energetic bubble, check out the preview for my Sunrise Tai Chi Video here.

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Controlling the Fluctuation of Brain Waves

The constant work our brain is under when leading a modern lifestyle needs to be alleviated regularly to achieve a sense of calm and emotional balance. It would be great is, at a young age, children were taught how to meditate and understand when they have an imbalance in their brain states: not enough theta waves due to a bad night of sleep, too much stress, etc.

But not every kind of meditation works for everyone. Next Friday, I'll talk about the different levels of meditation that you can move through at your own pace, finding what works for you and what doesn't. Remember, it is all about discipline at first. Give all these kinds of meditation a few tried before you decide to switch to a different one. "You are your greatest enemy: if you can conquer yourself, you can conquer anything."

What is Meditation?

Our brain is active most of the time, day and night. But our brain needs rest exactly the same way our muscles do. We only get this rest if we are relaxed,  balanced, and get a really good night's sleep.

A good night's sleep means moving smoothly through the 5 stages of sleep, especially stages 3 and 4. We can split the 5 stages of sleep into 3 "brain-wave" categories:

First: Beta brain waves (13-22 cycles). This is our normal waking state. The pattern changes as abdominal breathing and the relaxation practice begins.

Second: Alpha brain waves (8-12 cycles). This is the "Relaxation Response," a calm peaceful state of mind with many physical benefits.

Third: Theta brain waves (4-7 cycles). The deeply relaxed state, where healing and recharging take place, and where we are trying to get to when we meditate!

In sleep stages 3 and 4, we are experiencing Theta brain waves.

When we are in Theta brain waves, we are really recharging. Spending time in Theta brain waves every day (or night) allows our fight or flight response, an autonomic nervous system reaction that acts mostly unconsciously, to reset. It is vital to balance this response with good deep sleep and/or meditation. Your decision making center and attention capacity can also be affected negatively by fatigue, so spending time in Theta brain waves will prevent you from feeling too tired, and making poor judgments.

Spending time in these Theta brain waves may even boost our immune system and help us recover from illness.

Next week, we're going to talk about what kind of meditation is right for you, and give you some pointers about how you can tell if you are experiencing the Theta brainwaves or not.