2 circle walking and taoist meditation - intermediate meditation 1

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BAGUA MASTERY PROGRAM

; ~ . ~l r · : :

~ : ? 7MODULE 2

Circle Walking andTaoist Meditation

Intermediate Meditation

BRUCE FRANTZIS



opyright© 2 1 Bruce Frantzis

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Published by Energy Arts Inc. P.O. Box 99 Fairfax CA 94978-0099

The following tr adem arks are used under license by Energy Arts Inc. from Bruce Frantzis: Fri

Ene rgy Arts® system Mastery ithout Mystery® Longevi ty Breathing® program O pen ing the E

Gates ofYour Body™ Q igong Marria ge of Hea ven a nd Earth™ Qigong Bend the Bow™ Spinal

Spiraling Energy Body™ Q igong Gods Playing in the Clouds™ Q ig ong L iv ing Taoism™ Collectio1

Rev Workout™ HeartChi ™ Bagua M astery Program ™ Bagua Dynam ic S tepp ing System ™ Bagua

nal W arm -up Method ™ and Bagua Body Unif ication M ethod.™

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in this text is not in any w ay intended as a subs ti tute fo r m edical m enta l or em otiona l co unseling

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ing any m artial arts m ovem ent m ed ita t ive arts hea lth or exercise program to re duce the chan

in ju ry or any other harm that m ay result f r om pursuing or trying any t echn ique discussed in this

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Table of Contents

Section : editation 1 Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Key Concepts .............................................................. 5

Progression 5

editation : Put Your ind nto Your Body ........ 6

Part : Wake Up Your Breath and Body ................... 6

P reparat ion ............................................................................... 7

In stru ctio ns .............................................................................. 7

Section 2: editation 1 Part 2 . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 9

Put Your ind ins ide Your Body:

Center to Per iphery Breath ing ................................ 9

Preparation 9

Ins t ruc t ion s ............................................................................... 9

Section 3: editation 1 P art 3 . . . .. . . . . . . . . 15

Breath and Awareness Penetrate Your

Five Extremities ........................................................ 5

Preparation 5

Instructions 5



Section

ed ita tion 1 Part 1

Key oncepts

In M odule 1 the basic physical techniques and m editation principles related to

practicing bagua as m editation were introduced. This section details an actual

m editation session.

Progression

Ideally, all training sessions should be approached from four progressive levels:

1. Walking in a straight line wi th and without the arms engaged. Take

a maximum of ten steps in one direction before tun ing around and

beginning again. If aking a lesser number of steps, o your best to take an

even number of steps two-four-six-eight) before turn ing around.

2. Walking the C ircle without the hands being engaged.

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agua M astery Progra m

3. Walking the Circ le perform in g bagua energ y postures, in c lu d in g th e

Upper Bod y SPC palm position to be introduced in M o du le 4 an d M odule

5, respectively.

4. Walking the C ircle w hile p r acticin g the Single Palm Change SPC).

Maybe your Circle W alk ing w o rkou t wi l l last fifteen, th irty or fo rty-fiv e m in utes, or

even an hour or two or more. Regardless, take o ne instructi on from eac h set th t

fo llows and practice it fo r y our enti re w o rkou t without attem pting the next one.

Once yo u are interna lly satisfied that you ve got th e gist . no m atter how m any

workouts it takes practice the n ext in struction plus the one y ou have jus t

learned tog eth er. Warm u p wi th th e f irs t in s truction and continue sim ultaneously

addin g the second , if yo u can. However, if addin g th e second in struction is too

much , th en just focus o n the firs t one. Again, s tay there fo r as lo ng as it takes un

ti l yo u re ach an in tu it ive degree of in tern al satisfaction and can sim ultaneously

practice, coordin ate an d in te grate instructions 1-2 (above).

Then, p roceed to add in structio n 3, where in structions 1 -2 fo llow each o ther

as th e warm -up and th e b ulk of your practice is spent on instruction 3. If you re

being ho nest, it will m ost l ikely w ill take you a t least a couple of years.

editation :

Put Your Mind into Your Body

P art : ake Up Your rea th and ody

The fun ction of this warm -up is to begin the process of p u tt in g your m ind ins ide

your bo dy. Phase 1 seeks to g t your bre ath and m in d to co nsc iously fee l and

in habit your belly, lo wer ta ntien and al l your intern al organs. Th e m editatio n s

next s tage uses and e xp ands upon this a wareness.

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Module 2: Circle Walking and Taoist Meditation Meditation 7

Preparation

If Walking the Circle during Phase 1 go around the circle three times and then

reverse direction. For a minute or two, begin to warm up by physically Walking

the Circle and relaxing your body and mind to the best of your ability. Begin by

encouraging the energies of your body and mind to know it s time to wake up

rather than remain sleepy. This will help you become more aware.

nstructions

1. Put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth in the way of all Taoist

chi practices.

2. Initially, when you start walking, just get your energy to move and shift

from being sluggish to lively. Become aware of your breath. Then, ideally

using the physical processes of Longevity Breathing, inhale and exhale

from your belly in a nice, easy and comfortable manner. Initially, regardless

of your previous level of training, practice regular breathing. After a while

and if you are more experienced, use reverse breathing. In either case

practice until your belly becomes very alive with a sense of your breath

moving chi inside it.

3. Moving slowly and easily in the same direction, find out what your personal

feeling says about if you are creating too much or too little internal

pressure from your breathing. Your breath s in-and-out movements and

your walking speed shouldn t cause your nervous system to involuntarily

rev up or freeze. Walk and breathe comfortably without starting a cycle of

internal strain. Breathe in and out as you step until your mind and breath

calm down, and your nervous system continues to relax and stabilize.

4. Change direction and see if you can maintain the sense of your mind

waking up and being inside your belly and body. See if that s okay. If not,

continue to walk in the same direction and stabilize again. If so change

again to see if the relaxation level of your body, mind, breath, nervous

© 201 0 Bruce Frantzis AII Rights Reserved.



agua Mastery Program

system remains stable relaxed and comfortable. If so great. If not

internally look inside and find out why not. Correct the situation and

make it so. Just continue to let go until the breath in your belly feels

normal comfortable and stable.

© 2010 Bruce Frantzis AII Rights Reserved.



Section 2

Meditation 1 Part 2

Put Your M ind ins ide Your Body:

Center to Periphery Breathing

Preparation

W hile Walk ing th Circle, in it ial ly go around the circle three times and then reverse

dir ection or fo l low th m ore sp ecif ic instr uct ions from the previous section).

Instructions

1 Extend your bre ath and a llow it to open from your belly. Feel it nternal ly m ove

out in incre m ents u p and down your body in tandem , un ti l it sim ultaneously

spreads and arrives all th way up to your s houlders a nd down to th bottom

of your hips and kw a.

© 201 0 Bruce Frantzis AII Rights Reserved.



10 Bagua Mastery P ro gram

2. A t each increm ent of your breath m oving simultaneously a l i t t le higher

and lower, you hav e several options of how you can coord inate your breath

w ith your physical movements. Each in cremen t is progressively more

difficult, so it s recommended th t you only procee d to the next one after

the previous one has stabilized, m eaning you can do it fairly easily without

strain. Breathe naturally without specifically coordin ating your br eath to

the specific ways you step, or extend or re tract your arms or hands. The

funct ion is to get your internal sense of bre ath moving inside your body,

so it can f luidly move from cen ter (lower tantien) to periphery (bot tom

of the pelvis and shoulders) and back aga in from periphery to center in

smooth, effortless cycles.

• I t does n t matter whether you inhale or exhale from center to

periphery or vice-versa? You may inhale or exhale on ei th er ha lf

of t he center-periphery-center m ovement. Two po ints based

on your body s n atural reactions should guide you:

a Which one (inhale or exhale) can your body mos t easily ad

jus t to without invo luntari ly hold ing your breath even for short

periods of time either m oving center to periphery or periph

ery to center.

b Which breathi ng pattern can yo u actually do withthe least

amount of strain and continuity, as your inhales and exhales

continuously alternate moving between cent er and periphery?

Id eally the practice o bagua requires a firm groun ing in Opening the Energy Gates

o Your Body Q igong.

3. Next, focus on being able to feel everything inside your p elvis as your

m ind, breath and c hi m ove from yo ur center (lower tantien) to the

periphery (pelvis and shoulders). This includes your internal organs,

intestines, sacrum and tai lbone, pelvic bone s, perineum, gen itals and anus.

This now be gins a new b reathing rhythm, where you are not only affecting

your breath, but everything your breath influences.

4 As you atte m p t to become conscious and fully alive wi th each breath,

penetrate and bring a live ever ything in betw een the center and periphery.

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Module : ircle Walking and Taoist Meditation Meditation 7

In your quest, ask yourself questions, until you get better and more

complete answers, e.g.,: Has my mind, by use of the breath, enabled me to

start feeling the inside my body? Does putting my mind inside my body

enable me to feel the physical tissues (ligaments, muscles, bones, blood,

organs, etc. ? If not, try to make your mind ever-more quiet and still until

you can.

5. As your mind goes inside your body and reaches to your shoulders, shoulder

blades and bottom of your hips, begin to recognize and feel what s inside

your inner emotional, mental and psychic world that is blocking your

ability to change. Feel the wrenching of what doesn t want to change and

inhibits your mind s abili ty to feel the inside of your body. Then, see if you

can let the inner resistance go, until your mind can continuously inhabit

and feel that part of your body.

6. Ifyou don t succeed at first, take some more steps as you energize and open

up that area of your body to a greater level of your awareness. Continue

until you break through and can let go of some of your resistance to

changing the chi that affects the frozen or closed places in your awareness.

7. Continue to do this until you have some confidence that between yourtantien, hips and shoulders you can more or less feel what s in there. Some

practitioners can do this relatively quickly while others need much more

time. After a lot of practice, if you reach an intuitive point wher_e you feel

this is not going to happen, simply mov forward to the next instruction.

Eventually, it will naturally happen as long as you let go of timetables.

Gradually, bit by bit, continue to practice as before until you find you can

fill your whole body with breath and awareness and be consciously aware

of the process.

8. Now simultaneously, as you are becoming ever-more aware of your body,

focus on also becoming aware of your awareness that which allows

and empowers you to experience this moment. Move at a speed that

allows you to feel as though you re not pushing your system. Your body

and awareness must naturally open up without strain and maintain the

201 0 Bruce Frantzis AII Rights Reserved.



12 agua Mastery Pro gram

seamless con tinuum between both . Change direc tio n as ofte n as you need

to maybe on ly going around the circle once instead ofthree tim es befo re

changin g direction. Continue un til in ternally y ou feel you're open ing up.

9 Next, using the same center-perip hery-cente r breath ing in tiny progressive

incre ments , exte nd the perip hery to you r e lb ows and knees. Use your

bre ath to penetrate and open up the fe elin g insid e you r thig hs:

• Start with your muscles and blood vessels and eventually , if

possible , down into your bone and bone marrow.

• Then , f rom y our shoulders to your neck, first in to the muscles,

blood, v erte bra e and eventually, m aybe many years later, into

your cere brospinal flu id and the co rd .

1 0 Change whenever you get to a place where e ven if only afte r you take a

few steps your breath and awareness can no longer penetra te, so that your

m ind is not in sid e your body.

• Continue in th is way unti l y ou r m ind, using each breath ,

can natura lly satu rate your body fa irl y effort lessly. The sheer

process of breath in g itse lf makes you aware of you r ody

regard less of how m any other th ings you are aware of at the

same tim e.

• Change when you fee l you need to regardless ofw he ther it's

afte r three or o ne-hundred steps, just m ainta in the continuity

of your body, bre ath and awareness.

11 Walk without changing directio n when you perceive the need to energize

any dead areas

12 Once you have com pleted the pre vio us instructions, take as m any m inute s

as you need to sim ultaneously in tegrate all the instr ucti ons of part one

and two in sid e yourself. All the in structio ns must becom e one seamless,

natu ra l event, rath er th an a series of separate eve nts.

201 0 Bruce Frantzis AI I Rights Reserved.



Module 2: Circle W alking nd Taoist Meditation Meditation 13

When Bruce finished teaching Part 2 of this m edi ta t ion practice, he

th en transmi tted the essence of how to do the previous instructions

using both aud ible anc ient Taoist chants (liturgies) and silently. e

reitera ted the central point of the practice fter th e c hants andbefore the si lent transmissions.

Af ter the one minu te of chant ing, he said: Changing when you

need to, open up the chi bound inside you. Open up that which

blocks the change, that which blocks the ability ofyour m ind, your

awareness to be present inside your body.

Then he deepened the transmission and said, Each breath makes

you aware of w hat 's happening inside. The breathin g process itsel f

first l inks your mind and breath to make you aware of th e inside

your body. So la ter, just by breath ing alone, you can become aware

th e inside ofyour body without having to e specially focus wi th your

mind.

e then si lently t ransmit ted the same inform tion for thirty

seconds.

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Section 3

editation 1 Part 3

Breath and wareness Penetrate

Your Five Extremities

reparation

From Part 3 forward change the d irection you walk after a single revolution of

the circle un less otherwise specified. Continue t fo l low all of the instructions

detailed in Part 2

nstructions

1 Continue the process of Medi tation Part 2 and increm entally extend

your center-to-periphery breathing sideways to your w rists dow n to your

ankles and u p to your occiput the top vertebrae of your neck. Walk for

awhile.

5

2010 Bruce Frantzis AII Rights Reserved



16 Bagua Mastery Program

2. Next, move forward. Breathe from cente r to perip hery to your head and

th ir d eye cente r of your palm and the bubb li ng well point on the ball

of your foot. Usually, this requires some stabil izatio n t ime to seamlessly

in tegrate the center-to-periphery breath in g this far.

Exercise patience and do ot rush ahead to step 3 Bruce sile ntly tr ansm it ted for alm ost two full m in utes du ring th is teach ing

3 Finally, in crem enta lly extend your cente r-to-periphery breathing to your

fingers and fingertips, feet and end of your toes and bai hui point in the

center of the cro wn of your head. In th is final open in g of your bre ath ,

rem ember not to push y ourself in a way that strains your nervous system.

That w il l inhib i t your capacity to sm oothly sustain center-to-periphery

breathing while remaining h ig h ly aware especially being aw are of

awareness itself.

Once again, ask yourself q uestions and try to f ind inform ative personal answers.

As your center-to -perip hery breath ing progresses, notice what's happening.

Ask yourself: Am I aware of m y awareness? W hat else am I aware of? W hat is the

subtle s omething that ex ists inside of me that allo ws me to be aware of things?

For example, if you visualize yourself b eing a nine-foot-ta ll rabb it or a super hero

walking in a circle, w ha t is it inside of you allow in g you to be aware of that vision?

W hat ena bles you to be aware of your b od y? Yes you w an t the breathin g rhythm

to make it auto matic, but w hat is it that allows you to be aware of your body,

breath or to visua lize yourself do in g th is m ovement?

From here forward, to invoke t ha t awareness (w hate ver it may be to you) , the t ex t

w il l in struct you to use your mind to do som ethin g. Sta rt asking: H ow is it t ha t I

can begin to relax this awareness, so it's not tense?

Bruce to help his students etter understand nd wire in how they

can personal ly em b o dy center-to-per iphery breathing then chan ted

nd s ilently t ransm it ted for m ore than five minutes.

2 circle walking and taoist meditation - intermediate meditation 1

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