Winter Is The Easiest Time Of The Year To Cultivate A Meditation Practice.
Many qigong movements circulate in an infinity pattern. In Chinese medicine, it’s said our healthy energy circulates in this pattern both internally and externally. The infinity symbol is known to create a strong energy field around us. Qigong is the movement practice of Chinese medicine which recognizes that our energy mirrors the cosmos.
During these dark cold days, energetically we are in this womb-like time, like a cocoon, dark, quiet, gentle, and becoming. It’s not a time to push or rush, which the holidays can bring upon us, but a time to be quiet and still. To cultivate a meditation time to be quiet and still can help us stay in tune with the natural world around us, as the animals are hibernating and the trees and plants are still and dormant.
This is the time to conserve our energy, which meditation supports. According to Chinese medicine, the winter correlates to the water element, which is all about packing and conserving our chi, or energy. Each element’s energy corresponds to the energy held in a pair of organs. The kidneys, the yin organ of the water element, store our chi. The lungs receive the energy, and the kidneys store it as energy reserves to get us through the winter.
When we’re feeling overwhelmed by the holidays we can turn to meditation to calm and still the mind. The water element is nourished and fed by the metal element from the autumn, as the minerals deep in the earth create mineral-rich water, which we need to survive. The metal element in the fall corresponds to the lungs, and our breathwork helps to clear the mind so we can achieve the clarity of the water element and tap into our intuition. The brain is part of the water element and is energetically connected to the kidneys. According to traditional Chinese medicine, winter time is the easiest time to meditate and calm the mind.
Stress depletes our kidney chi, which results in an achy low back, achy stiff knees, hearing and memory loss, and an overall sense of fear. So now more than ever is the time to cultivate a meditation practice, which will conserve kidney chi. Strong kidney chi provides us with willpower, endurance, wisdom, and longevity. Meditating strengthens our intuition as we activate the 3rd eye, the energy center in the mid-brain behind the eyes, also known as the Ajna 6th chakra.
Breathwork, or pranayama, for the water element opens the third eye, which cultivates intuition.
This pranayama/meditation technique is helpful to ground our energy when we want to open up the third eye. If we are not grounded, when activating our third eye our perceptions can easily become delusional. It’s important to create a stable foundation from the bottom up so our perceptions are grounded in reality and not based on our samskaras or impressions from past traumas and experiences.
To begin meditation, first, we start with the inner smile, the facial pose to open the mind to a Buddha-like nature.
The Inner Smile
Allow the brow to soften and open.
Let the space between the brow expand.
Expand the outer eyes wide to the outer skull.
Let the outer corners of the mouth widen and lift into a subtle smile.
Feel the throat expand to energetically fill the volume of the neck.
Release the root of the tongue deep in the throat to soften and open.
Let the skin on the sternum energetically expand wide.
Allow the skin around the navel to expand wide.
This drops us into a parasympathetic state of rest and restoration.
This is the expression of the Buddha, which enables Buddha nature.
With a deep, slow abdominal breath we are brought into the present moment.
The present moment is still. There is no emotion in the present moment.
There is only peace.
Grounding to Open Up Intuition
Visualize a blue orb seated in the midbrain.
Inhale chi through the middle of the brow back to the blue orb in the midbrain.
Exhale from the blue orb down the spine deep into the core of the earth.
Inhale from the core of the earth, drawing earth chi up the spine to the blue orb.
Exhale from the blue orb out through the midbrow into the universe..
Repeat for several minutes.
Practicing meditation has so many benefits mentally, emotionally, and physically. Our thoughts affect our cells. Negative thoughts and stress have a direct impact on our overall well-being. Meditation creates space in the mind. Where there’s space there’s clarity. Where there’s clarity there’s wisdom. We want to be guided by our wisdom, not stress and negativity. Meditation brings the mind home, where we can release the grasping and striving and relax into our true nature. In this space, we can release negativity and aggression like mist released into the sky.
Meditation, yoga, and qigong have a miraculous way of releasing our fear and allow us to tap into our compassion for the world. When our fear touches someone’s pain it becomes pity; when our love touches someone’s pain, it becomes compassion.
The stronger and greater your compassion, the stronger and greater your fearlessness and confidence. So compassion reveals itself yet again as your greatest resource and your greatest protection.
When we think of the term Buddha we think of the individual who has awakened and taught many others. But this term is not exclusive as we all have the potential to awaken our Buddha mind. It refers to anyone that has awakened from ignorance and has tapped into their vast potential of wisdom. A Buddha is one who has brought a final end to suffering and brought about lasting peace. For many of us, this seems like a fantasy or dream or an achievement far beyond our reach. Buddha nature is our birthright. This is the good news that the Buddha brought us from his enlightenment, his message is that enlightenment is within reach, which gives us tremendous hope. Through practice, we can all become awakened.
No matter what state our lives are in, our Buddha nature is always there. Nothing can spoil it in this seemingly infinite confusion of life. Our Buddha nature can be compared to the sky and the confusion to the clouds. We need to remember that the clouds are not the sky and do not belong to it. They only hang there and pass by. They can never stain or mark the sky in any way. Our Buddha nature is merely the immaculate sky shining upon itself.
These teachings, meditations, and meridian flow practices can help relieve chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and autoimmune issues. If you, or anyone you know, would like to learn meditation, yoga, and chi gong, come join our Meridian Flow program to find relief and freedom.
If you're a seasoned yogi or yoga teacher and would like to learn and implement these practices join the Master's Path or 300-hour Teacher Training course.
From my heart light to yours~
Namaste,
Maggie