Diving For Pearls

Use this simple breathing exercise to increase lung capacity, and also help you reach that mindful place of meditation. Good luck!

The Simple Way to Breath Through All Four Gates

Here is the link to the upper two gates by themselves, and here is the link to the lower two gates by themselves.

Now let's put it all together.

Once you are comfortable with each of the two gates, it is time for you to put all four gates together. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, palms facing down in front of your body about two inches below your navel. The elbows should be a fist away from the trunk. With the next inhalation, bring your mind from the four gates into the lower energy center. On the exhalation, shift your mind into the four gates. Make sure that your focus is even at all four gates.

You will notice that two of the four gates are sometimes stronger than the others. Certain people may sense the bottom two gates more strongly, and others may sense the upper two more strongly. What needs to be done is to balance the sensation and equalize it between the four gates. Move your mind more intensely into the two gates that you feel less sensation in. Eventually, you will be able to balance the four gates.

In late blogs, I will detail how to visualize the energy moving along a particular path from the gates to the energy center. But for now, practice this technique the simplified way and let me know how it works for you.

Happy meditating!

Simple Breathing Through the Lower Two Gates

[See Upper Two Gates first, here]

After training the two upper gates for a while, place your palms on your center of gravity (lower energy center), and practice sending energy to the lower two gates. Inhale with your mind in the lower energy center. As you exhale, put your mind a few inches below the soles of your feet. Distribute the weight between the ball of the foot and the heel. 

Inhale, bring your mind into the lower energy center, exhale, put your mind and inch or two beyond the soles of your feet.

Continue with this process until you feel comfortable with the mind shifting from the lower energy center to the lower two gates, and then back again.

---

P.S. The dates and deadlines for my new meditation workshops at Yang's Fitness Center in Andover have been extended, so check out their new page about it and how to register. Here, and here, you can find the updated flyers.

Happy stretching!

Simple Breathing Through the Upper Two Gates

Here's last week's post about what Four Gates Breathing is, in case you missed it.

Now let's get started on the first two gates.

You may do this sitting or standing.

Put your hands out, palms facing down. They should rest at the same height as your belly button, and your finders should be slightly spread out. Relax your wrists and make a slight bend in your elbows (do NOT lock them or tense them). Drop your shoulders. Lengthen your spine and feel your head suspended. Relax your face and touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth.

Begin on the exhalation, bringing your mind into the palms. On the inhalation, move your mind from the palms, to your lower energy center.

On the next exhalation, move in the reverse, from the lower energy center to the palms.

As you can see, I'm not asking you to move the energy along any particular path in between the gates and the energy center. If you feel like the energy is moving in your body, that's good! Right now, I want you to focus on the simple method of moving the focus of the mind from the gates to the center, and back.

Meditate With Your Children

This vlog gives you, your family, and your children three methods for meditating together. It is important for children to meditate starting from a young age to develop solid emotional skills later in life. I included some videos to practice below!

Videos to use for practice!

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.

---

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!