Natural Health System
and Taoist Principles
Meditation methods
Visual meditation
It is good to give your mind something other to think than your worries and obsessive thoughts. This will greatly improve the flow of blood and energy, especially in the digestive system. Visual meditation ( picturing beautiful landscapes, forests and favorite places ) together with deep breathing is very soothing and practical way of reducing stress. By using your imagination you allow your body to calm down and recharge itself.
If homesick or away from home, which is bad for the stomach, you may picture yourself being at your home even if you are on the other side of the world. Concentrate well, and imagine yourself lying on your bed. Feel the presence of your family and try to feel as cozy as possible. Immediate warming effect can be felt on the stomach. If you are deficient in something, use your mind to nourish this deficiency.
Visualizating doing something creative, such as painting, can bring the body to a total new level of relaxation and also open up any blockages in your digestive system. Find out what works best for you.
"Imagery and visual meditation has been proven to alleviate pain, speed up healing and combat stress, anxiety and other forms of tension. It is acknowledged as an extremely effective healing technique worldwide, having been long overlooked by practitioners of western medicine. Visual meditation works well for people who find it more difficult to focus on a mantra or a particular topic. Though not always curative, by practising imagery or visual meditation it has been proven that 90% of the ailments people go to see their doctor over can be relieved drastically. Imagery is the most fundamental language we have as everything we do is processed through the mind as an image. Sadly, many of the images that are always popping into our heads can often do damage. In fact, the most common type of imagery is worry and negative visualization. Worry though, merely exists in our imaginations and unharnessed, can alter your physiology making a person much more at risk of suffering from various ailments, ranging from acne to arthritis, headaches to heart disease, and ulcers to urinary tract infections. You can use the visual meditation technique to harness the energy of your imagination. When first practicing this technique, you may find that 15 - 20 minutes a day initially to ensure that you're learning to do it properly is adequate. Many people find it easier to practice visual mediation first thing in the morning and again at night before falling asleep, subsequently as you become more experienced and comfortable with the technique, you'll be able to do it for just a few minutes at a time as required throughout the day. Soft and soothing music is a wonderful accompaniment to most meditation methods and is a very personal choice. Breathing is with all forms of meditation, very important, hence the old phrase; "Take a deep breath and count to ten" is more than just a phrase. Imagery and visual meditation is at the heart of all relaxation techniques and is designed to release brain chemicals that act as natural brain tranquilizers, lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety/stress levels."
http://www.project-meditation.org/a_mt2/visual_meditation.htmlMicrocosmic orbit meditation
As the blockages build up to your organs and nervous system during your stressful days due to stress, worrying, excessive sitting, depression etc. it is important to open up all the blockages for the body to heal itself and recharge efficiently. The main energy pathways flow up the spine and down the chest to the stomach (see the picture). Move your mind through the microcosmic orbit to keep it constantly open. First it will take time to complete the whole cycle, but as your practice advances you manage to do it very quickly many times. This is the basic taoist meditation method for building good health and increasing core strenghth.
Mantak Chia has written many books on the topic and you can find good articles on the web too.
Inner smile / Awareness breathing meditation
I have combined awareness breathing method and inner smile method, because they can be easily integrated.
Your mind can penetrate anything found inside your body, even the hardest blockages and masses. Opening the blockages and condensing the energy to your lower abdomen is a practical way for restoring your mental and physical health after a stressful work day.
Take a relaxed meditation posture, preferably a lotus position. When you have settled all the restlessness, drop your consciousness to your lower abdomen, your body's center. Keep your eyes closed. Take deep breaths while holding your mind centered in your tan tien ( area behind navel ) and feel the energy condensing there. Let your awareness spread out at the same time. If your awareness reaches the Earth below you, you will connect yourself with the vast energy fields of the Earth which fill your stomach with warm energy. Gradually you build powerful energy with your digestive strength increasing dramatically. Just keep your body and stomach relaxed at all times.
Now comes the interesting part: Begin to smile down to your stomach. If there are many blockages in your stomach you may not have a very strong connection to your organs at first. You realize that by focusing and smiling down to your abdomen you can solve whatever stress and blockages are there causing you troubles. You can look at your organs, just like you can look out of the window. Just don't give up, you need to face your problems in order to cure them.
Learn to step outside of your mind to allow the body to naturally recover itself, without the mind causing blockages. Simply leave your body and mind alone.
Smile down to your lungs to overcome any sorrow that lies in there, especially practice during fall time or when crying easily( lungs weakest ).
Smile down to your liver to open the liver and cure anger. Liver is not working properly if hair and nails are not growing well. Other signs are bad vision, depression, blockages in stomach and lack of blood.
If anger, hastiness, blockages in the throat, lack of appetite, loss of will to live...then smile to your heart and open it up.
Mantak Chia has many books and articles on how to use inner smile to also for other parts of the body, although I feel the stomach/spleen, liver and lungs are the most important.
http://www.universal-tao.com/article/the_inner_smile.html
Holding the mind and body still meditation
Holding the mind and body still can very effective for soothening stress and allowing the body to heal itself. Thinking constantly or having a racing mind can make the healing very difficult. Holding the mind and body still allows the body to return to normal state and thus aids in healing.
Take a relaxed sitting or standing position ( standing might be better here ). Concentrate on the middle point of your head. Don't allow the mind to race to any direction. While holding the mind still, you may feel how your breathing becomes smooth and body starts to feel very warm. Become aware of any restlessness in your body. Try to hold your body and mind completely silent and still. Concentrate on the heart, try to settle your racing thoughts/awareness.
Feeling the restorative effect of stabile environment is also important.
Understand that fast lifestyle, stressful jobs, constantly changing location, etc. is not good for your health ( stomach,spleen ). Your mind starts racing, body is in stressful state. You become almost like a tree without root.
If you are suffering from racing mind or lead a stressful life, try the following:
First lye down on your back. Relax your muscles. Gradually step out of your own mind and become aware of the unmoving earth and other environment which surround you, don't let your mind to wander too far though. Realize that it is your mind that is restless, not the environment. Your mind then reaches the correct state naturally. If done correctly, immediate effect on the stomach can be felt and blood starts flowing smoothly. This practice is better than just forcing the mind to still. Don't get lost in your mind which is easily led by the senses. Let your awareness spread out.
Another method for curing the racing mind syndrome and stress: Visualize yourself, or physically touch the Earth. Keep your grasp tight, and do not release your hands. Gradually you will make a strong connection with the Earth and cure the racing mind pattern that affects your spleen and digestive system negatively. The key point is to not allow your racing thoughts to lighten your grasp from the Earth.
Learn to absorb the cooling earth energy
The body naturally draws cooling, healing energy from the earth. Depression, sorrow, excessive sitting among other things cause the body to become incapable of absorbing these external energies efficiently, including food. The earth energy feels as a cool force entering your body through your legs and perineum area. It is very close to the reproductive energy of humans. It cools down and heals the internal organs, which become very heat during the every day life. You can practice drawing the earth energy consciously.
Begin sitting in chair in a comfortable position. Take a straight posture and begin to draw up the earth energy through you legs and perineum area. Gradually the feeling becomes very powerful. If you know how to relax and let go of your body in lying position, you till tap yourself to these energies more naturally.
When you let go of your body during relaxation practices, the earth begins to pull down your body. Being aware of this pulling effect and unmoving earth below you is what connects you to the earth's cooling force. Living in high buildings and not close to ground is not good for you, and can cause many diseases.
Note: Usually you need to wait 24 hours to notice benefits of any practice due to natural cycles, but the cooling effects of earth can be felt instantly.