Evening Meditation: Cleanse the Body & Mind

Filling the body up with positive, nourishing energy is only half of a whole meditation practice. The other half is the cleansing of negative energy and impurities. That is what meditating with the setting sun is all about.

For the best results, you should be facing west when you do your evening meditation. If you can do it outside in the cool air, and hear the crickets and tree frogs begin to chirp, that is even better.

Unlike morning meditation, when our minds are rested from a night of good sleep (hopefully), evening meditation begins with our minds running around and busy. We are still experiencing our higher brainwave patterns that help us be productive at work and school, but which make it hard for us to relax. Many people don't know how to wind-down after work, bringing these active brainwaves into a calmer state. This evening meditation is meant to give you the skills to reduce your stress levels at the end of the day, which will lead to more restful sleep, and thus better morning meditation.

Then, better morning meditation gives us plenty of energy for the day, so we return home feeling less stressed, and we can wind-down more easily. It's one big healthy cycle!

Mediation Practice During Sunset

Find a spot where the sun will shine about 30 minutes before sunset, standing or sitting down on a firm chair. Lengthen the spine, and open the arms and palms to face the horizon. It is the same stance you would take to feel a nice cool breeze. 

Begin to scan the body for the aches, pains, stiffness, and other impurities. Become conscious of them and imagine them dissolving. Like I always say: ice to water, water to gas. Melt the impurities and negative energy with the breath.

Breath deeply through the nose, and when you breath out, visualize the negative energy being pulled out of the body by the force of the setting sun.

Where the sunrise meditation is about pulling energy in, the sunset meditation is about surrendering energy. It is about letting go, which is why it is such a great practice for after work and relieving stress. 

At first, the impurities and negative energy will leave slowly, but over time, as you learn to fully surrender to the force of the setting sun, you will find that the negative energy leaves much more quickly. Begin practicing for 5-10 minutes, and work your way up to 20 or 30 minute sessions.

Happy Stretching!

Morning Meditation: Nourish Your Organs and Spirit

Nourishing the whole body using the rising sun is an ancient meditation practice. Using this meditation between sunrise and noon will strengthen and upgrade your energetic and immune systems, and at the same time nourish your internal organs, strength the core, and awaken your spirit.

The practice involves facing east and directing your Third Eye area toward the rising sun, leading the sun's energy in through the Spiritual Valley and down the center of the body, all the way down to your lower energy center. This meditation can be done standing or sitting, indoors or outdoors.

Meditation Practice During Sunrise

Find a spot where the sun will shine about 10 minutes before sunrise, standing or sitting down on a firm chair. Lengthen the spine as though the top of your head was connected to the heavens by a string and create space for your internal organs.

Have your feet solidly on the ground to make a strong connection to the ground and reduce the stress on your joints. Visualize the connection of your energy with the earth energy coming up from the ground.

Place your hands one on top of the other below your belly button right in front of your lower energy center. Remember to wrap yourself with a blanket or coat on cold days to keep the energy inside the body and prevent its dispersal into the air as extra heat.

Breath deeply through the nose, feeling the energy travel in through your forehead, down through your chest and stomach and into your lower abdomen. When you breath out, visualize the negative energy leaving your body through the breath.

Repeat this for as long as you are comfortable, paying attention to the warmth that spreads through your body. Visualize the warmth spreading all through your organs, even into your extremities all the way to the tips of the toes and fingers.

And that's it!

Happy Stretching!

Tai Chi Ball Workout Guide

When Pedro Martinez returned to Fenway in 2006 as a pitcher for the Mets, Boston honored him with a video tribute at the beginning of the game series, even though he was on the opposing team. The next day Pedro was the starting pitcher for the Mets, but he only lasted three innings, giving up several runs in quick succession.

My friend and student, Larry Lucchino, told me afterward that Boston had "killed Pedro with love." Too many emotions and memories had flooded Pedro's mind, and he was unable to perform.

I also struggled for a long time to take the forces of life that were coming at me and work with them, rather than fight them. When you fight the energy of the moment, you underperform. It is so important to learn how to utilize the energy coming at you, and direct it into something constructive.

That is what practice with the Tai Chi Ball is all about. The ball represents the energetic force of the world around you. The goal is to be like water, yielding, and then forceful. The ball is the energy being absorbed, and then used against itself.

As you go deeper into this practice, you see that this energy you are absorbing and returning can also be something life difficulties in life, or troubling emotions. You take the energy of these problems, and you turn it on the problems to help solve them.

Easier said than done, but here are the motions to practice:

"Grind": Move the ball in a circular motion in front of you, always keeping it roughly level with your navel, as if you were grinding it into a table. Begin with 15 circles in each direction.

Ahn Circles: Move he ball in a circular motion in front of you, always keeping it in-line with your spine, as if you were spinning it around on a big bicycle wheel. Begin with 15 circles both toward you, and away from you.

Advanced Motion, One Arm: This motion includes two circles, one under your armpit, and another above your head. Watch the video to see exactly how it is done. Begin with 15 circles, in forward, and then reverse. Then switch arms and repeat.

If you want to experience this yielding and utilizing forces exercise even more, also practice Centering with a partner, which deals with exactly the same principles.

Happy Stretching!

Advanced Tai Chi Ball Motion

To complete the series on techniques using a Tai Chi Ball, here is the advanced single-arm motion. Do it on both sides with a weight that you can handle, and good luck!

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Don't forget! Soon we are beginning our series on Integrative Pain Management. There is going to be a lot of important information in the upcoming blogs, so stay tuned and get your friends to subscribe!

Ahn Circles with Tai Chi Ball

Part 2 of our Tai Chi Ball Exercises incorporates the Ahn motion into the workout. Picture a wave in the ocean, crashing on the beach, and then lifting a boat out at sea. Then reverse it for the next set. These circles are considered the "intermediate level" of Tai Chi Ball exercise.

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Two Exciting Announcements!

Thank You for helping me get to over 300 subscribers on my Youtube channel! Every person we connect to the mind-body community is another person experiencing a higher quality of life. Keep it going! We're getting close to 450 likes on the Facebook page, too.

Coming Soon on the Blog: An important post series on pain medication, opiates, addiction, and the alternatives that can be found in integrative pain management. If you or someone you know has struggles with chronic pain, or wants to try something besides prescription pain killers, then this series is a must-read.

Happy Stretching!

"Grind" with a Tai Chi Ball

This will be the first in a three video series for building strength and flexibility using a Tai Chi Ball. If you don't have a tai chi ball around, you can use a medicine ball, or even a toy ball or basketball. What is important is that you have something to help you visualize your lower energy center, and focus on your breathing.