Key Points of the Exercise in Chen Style Taiji

3. The Key Points of the Exercise
Breathing Naturally, Whilst Concentrating Your Mind When your mind and body posture are relaxed and in position, focus on the movement of your breathing into your lower abdomen. Your breathing should be smooth, soft and natural. At the beginning, in order to speed up the energy collection, you could just simply use deep breaths, not worrying about focusing your mind on the exercise in great detail. Concentrate on your breathing, which should be controlled yet relaxed and as calm as possible, also try to focus your hearing to the back of your head. While you breathe out, the focus of your mind should sink down from your heart to your lower abdomen, which will enable the heart energy to sink down to the Dantian. Constant practice in this way will gradually increase the heat in the Dantian. When you feel plenty of heat down in the Dantian, you should stop concentrating energy down to your lower abdomen in this way. Let the focus of your mind gently move away, whilst still breathing in and out from your Dantian (to maintain the heat and energy). Click here to learn Urinary Stones in TCM.

While you practice this Qigong, your mind should focus lightly on your Dantian. Do not be too frustrated nor persistent with your concentration. If you are more lightly and quietly focused on your Dantian, it will be easier for the energy to flow down to your lower abdomen and run throughout your body. If your mind is too tense and stressed, or if you are in a hurry for a quick result, the energy won't flow freely through your body. As the ancient Chinese medical classic, Yellow Emperor's Internal Canon of Medicine, says, "With light focus and no intention, your internal energy will follow your mind." The more relaxed the body is and the calmer the mind is, the stronger the energy will be and the better it will circulate throughout your body. Click here to learn Chronic Pyelonephritis in TCM.

Constant Practice and Gradual Progression
When you first begin to practice this meditation, use natural breaths and combine the lungs with the lower abdomen at the same time. In accordance with the improvements of your Qigong, gradually begin to use only your lower abdomen, with long, soft, deep and smooth breaths. To develop this type of breathing takes time, and it is not easy or recommended. for beginners to attempt this stage straight away. Beginners should not try to hold their breath to increase its length, longer breathing comes from longer practice. Naturally, people breathe 12 to 40 times a minute, which is the recommended number for beginners to start with. With more experience this will gradually reduce to two or three times a minute. Beginners should be cautious with this type of exercise and should breathe according to their level of fitness.

Relieve Stress and Empty Your Mind
Randomly thinking of things or being anxious will disturb your Qigong practice. It will become easier for you to overcome these kinds of problems as your level of Qigong improves and you become more experienced. It is hard for beginners. But, this book will introduce some useful methods to help you relieve stress and empty your mind. Click here to learn Chronic Renal Failure in TCM.

A) Counting Breath
Count your breaths during your meditation. Start from number one onwards. With this method, concentrate on one thing, counting, so that every other thought in your mind disappears. After a while this one thing will disappear and you will be able to concentrate on your practice.
 
B) Convince Yourself
While practicing meditation, it is quite common to think about lots of things going on in your life. When this happens, you should tell yourself in your mind "I am practicing meditation now and any other things will wait for me to finish my practice. It is pointless to think about them now. I should relax, not worry and concentrate on my practice." Say this to yourself a few times until all other thoughts go away.
 
C) Clear Your Mind
When practicing meditation, some people may find that they have too many thoughts and worries in their mind. This may result in some peoples' minds creating images of what they are thinking or worrying about. If this happens and you feel uncomfortable or scared, you should open your eyes and let the image disappear. This kind of image is caused by your own mind, because you are thinking of something too much. For example, if you are looking forward to visiting somewhere and are constantly thinking about it, you may see that place while you are meditating. In that case, the best way to get rid of an image of that kind is to clear your mind, have a short break and then continue practicing. Click here to learn Proteinuria in TCM.
 
Put Emphasis on the Dantian Naturally
After a period of practicing meditation, the inside and the surface of your body may experience various sensations, such as cold, hot, light, heavy, solid, tingling, bulging or tickling. Initially, the tip of your fingers and your feet will be the likeliest place to get these kinds of feeling. Then the stomach and the intestines may possibly experience some sensations, with your body or part of your body feeling cool on the surface and warmer inside. Some muscles may begin to shake and feel tingly. All these feelings depend on the individual, with some people experiencing strong sensations and others simply feeling relaxed and calm. Sometimes, images may appear in a similar way when your mind is thinking too much. These can range from a mountain or a lake to even a person. In this case, you should not be concerned. Also, you should not be very anxious to see these kinds of images, because they are not real, they are a creation of your mind. Click here to learn Chronic Nephritis in TCM.

As those kinds of images occur, you should not pay attention to them. Focus on your Dantian. Let the image disappear itself. In Chinese we say, "Treat strange things as not strange. Then the strange things will become normal." All these kinds of images will disappear and your mind will gradually become cleared as your level of meditation improves. The perfect stage of meditation is when no thoughts remain in your mind and it is as still as water with long, deep, smooth and continuous breaths, naturally coming only from the lower abdomen. Your mind will drift between being completely absorbed in the moment or absolute concentration.