The Upper Energy Center

The Upper Energy Center is located in the center of the brain, directly in (toward the nose) from the soft location on the back of the neck where it meets the skull (called the "Jade Pillow" in eastern tradition).

The Upper Energy Center is harder to visualize than the Third Eye, because it is deeper inside the head. The eye area tends to distract from this visualization because it is so often active. I suggest doing the Third Eye breathing exercise from last week's post to "cool" the eye energy first.

Once your are relaxed and have cooled the eye energy, then begin to focus on the Upper Energy Center, and visualize it just as you would the Lower Energy Center.

For some people, it is harder to begin by visualizing the Upper Energy Center. So, I suggest beginning with the Lower Energy Center, and once you have focused on that for a while, move up. The overall idea is to strengthen both to the point where you can visualize both simultaneously, and "echo" or "vibrate" energy between them.

As a quick reminder, make sure to maintain your "inner smile" when working on your energy center visualizations. There is a tendency to become too serious. Keep a happy sensation in your chest, and allow it to spread as you meditate.

Good luck!

The Third Eye

As our first installment in this series about the Energetic Baton, a sequel to our Lower Energy Center Series, we will be dealing with an unrelated topic that often confuses people trying to meditate on the energy centers.

The Third Eye is just behind the forehead, in front of the brain. Specifically, it is centered on a line in the middle of the two lobes of the brain in what is called the "spiritual valley." The Third Eye is a gate, where energy comes into and exits the body. It is important to understand the difference between a gate and an energy center. Energy centers store energy in your body; gates allow energy in and out.

Before you begin exploring the Upper Energy Center, which is very close to the Third Eye, you should practice Third Eye gate breathing. Relax your face, relax your eyes and allow them to move downward. A common mistake during this meditation is to move the eyes upward. This creates tension that will make it harder to focus.

Visualize the energy moving in through the Third Eye on the inhalations, and out on the exhalations. And be patient. As one of my teachers told me, "Do not be too quick to attempt to reopen the third eye."

Next week, the Upper Energy Center.

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If you want to learn more about the Third Eye and Third Eye breathing to cool the spirit, please check out my Sunset Tai Chi book and DVD.

The 5 Pillars of the Mind Body Approach

My mind-body prescriptions and holistic approach to healing is based on five pillars:

Body: The environment in which all other systems must function. This is the foundation of all my prescriptions. Reconnecting with the body is essential to all mind-body programs.

Mind: In eastern tradition, there are two kinds of mind: the emotional mind ("monkey" mind) and the wise mind ("horse" mind). The ancient texts say, "Seize the ape; Obtain the horse."

Breath: This is the primary tool with which to calm the mind. The "banana" used to capture the monkey.

Spirit: This is what is evoked when Tai Chi and Qi Gong teach you to connect to the earth and the heavens. It can be "raised" and "cooled".

Energy: Lastly, the product of the other building blocks being regulated, balanced, and coordinated. This is exactly what you think. A well that you can pull from, keeping you feeling young and alive.

My Two New Udemy Courses

It's too beautiful outside to read a bunch of Tai Chi and Qi Gong theory today, so in this blog post I am going to quickly introduce my two new online Tai Chi courses, and then you can be on your way.

First is my brand new course "Tai Chi for a Focused Mind - Pure and Simple," which is an abridged version of my long course "Improve Your Mental and Physical Success with Tai Chi and Qi Gong." This course doesn't get into the Qi Gong philosophy at all, and only does the minimal breathing and stretching exercises. It's about half as long as my original Tai Chi and Qi Gong course, and because of that it's great for people with very little time during the day.

Both courses teach you the same Tai Chi form, but this shorter course is aimed at helping you focus, and reducing stress. The longer course is more about transitioning into a healthier lifestyle. You can think of them like an introductory course and a graduate level course in the same subject.

My other new course is the companion to my "Relieve and End your Lower Back Pain" course. It's called "Alleviate Upper Back Pain with Tai Chi and Qi Gong." This course is structured exactly like the Lower Back pain course, except it focuses on upper back, shoulder girdle, neck, and head problems. This course was so highly requested that we released it before we finished the supplementary print material for it. All of that is on it's way though, and will be provided to everyone who purchases the course.

NOTE: All of my courses are available here at Udemy, and the short Tai Chi course is on sale for $9.99 through July 31st.

The Three Forces

As the capstone to our series on breathing and the energy centers, we're going to talk about the three forces: Heaven, Human, and Earth.

These three forces are what we seek to unify when we do all of our training. It is easy to put our mind in connection with the human force, the mix of yin and yang energies, since it is the closest to us and our physical being.

Once you have a grasp of the human force (energetic system), expand it upward and downward into the heavens and the earth. Try to reinforce the connection between each of the three forces with every breath.

The heaven (yang) and earth (yin) forces take practice to connect to, and even more practice to stay in touch with. I suggest practicing on connecting to one at a time during your daily practice and meditations. Over time, you will notice the different sensations that are associated with the different forces, and how your own energy combines them all.

Buddhist and Taoist Breathing: The Two Ways to Use Empty-Full Moon

We learned about the Empty Moon and Full Moon breathing skill last week, and this week we are going to talk about the two ways to use this skill.

Buddhist Breathing: When inhaling, expand the abdominal and back muscles to full moon. When exhaling, move the abdominal and back muscles inward to empty moon. On a mental level, do the lower energy center visualization, and continuously loop the mind back there when it begins to wander to other thoughts. When you breath in, picture the energy ball expanding with your muscles, and when you breath out, picture it contracting.

Taoist Breathing: When inhaling, contract the abdominal and back muscles to empty moon. When exhaling, move the abdominal and back muscles outward to full moon. On a mental level, do the lower energy center visualization, and continuously loop the mind back, just like in Buddhist Breathing. When you breath in, picture the energy ball condensing as your muscles pull in, and when you breath out, picture it expanding as your muscles push away.

Buddist breathing will feel the most natural at first, but both types of breathing are very important to overall health and lung function.