Welcome to this meditation practice.
Inspired from my teacher,
This is the baton breath,
Which is a Tai Chi meditation and energy awareness practice.
You can be seated or standing for this practice.
And as you get more familiar with the practice,
It is a really wonderful one to use standing and deploying in a mindful manner as you move about throughout the day.
So once you've chosen your position,
You want to find a neutral spine.
Feel your pelvis nice and heavy and the tailbone pointing down slightly towards the ground.
So there's a little lengthening in the low back.
But if you're sitting,
Try to ensure that it's a lengthening rather than letting yourself collapsed with gravity.
So to counter this heaviness in your tail,
Lengthen through your spine and feel the crown of the head drawing you upwards towards the sky.
And if the feet are on the ground,
Feel them like roots growing down into the earth.
And if you're cross legged or in another seated position,
Just feel the roots growing down to the earth from your legs.
Really allow them to root down like the bottom of a plant into the earth whilst keeping the head reaching towards the sky.
Trying to hold this position throughout the practice,
Letting the shoulders soften wide and out to the side.
Allow that slight opening in the chest.
Then just reconnect with that nice long neutral spine.
Both reaching down to the earth and up to the sky at the same time.
In the first part of the practice,
You're going to draw your attention and awareness to a point a couple of inches below the navel of the down tien.
This point is the center of gravity in the body.
And if you cannot feel into any sensations or subtle feelings at this point,
Begin to visualize a ball of light at this point.
As you inhale,
Focus and centralize the energy,
Drawing it in and slightly contracting.
Then as you exhale,
Expand and grow the strength of the ball.
The exhale breathes out,
Making the ball of energy stronger and brighter.
Inhaling contracting,
Focus and centralize the energy.
Exhale expanding and radiating the ball outwards.
You do not need to actually do any contractions or muscular movements.
Just focus your mind on this ball of energy just below the navel,
Concentrating and condensing on the inhale,
Expanding and strengthening on the exhale.
Keep your attention at this point with each breath condensing and expanding.
Inhale and exhale.
Exhale.
It's okay if your mind wanders,
Just coming back to that inhale.
Condensing the energy ball and exhale expanding the energy ball.
You're now going to take the energy ball to the point between the eyebrow center,
The third eye and the alignment with the pituitary gland.
So bringing your attention to this point,
And as you did with the tantien ball,
Begin to draw your awareness on the ball,
Condensing on the inhale and expanding on the exhale.
Again,
Don't worry about there being a sense of contraction,
But the energy ball condenses with each inhale and notice its natural expansion and growth on the exhale.
Either notice it as an energy sensation,
Or if you can visualize it,
Imagine it as a ball of light condensing and expanding.
Now,
Remember theuin Theinovember jew.
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Next,
I'm going to try and connect the two balls together.
Drawing a line between them is what creates the baton.
Becoming aware of the energy ball in the dantienne,
The lower abdomen.
And the ball in the third eye,
Between the eyebrow centre.
And then connecting them with this baton through your spine.
Allow the inhale to condense the energy of the baton.
And the exhale to expand and grow the baton's strength.
See if your attention and focus can reside within the baton.
And then the inhale to condense the energy ball.
And notice if either of the balls of energy has a different awareness,
Amount of light or sensation from the other.
Try not to go into analytical thoughts,
But just be aware of the differences of the energy balls and how they hold the baton and its energy.
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You can release your awareness of the baton and the bubbles.
Just be aware of any sensations in your body.
Integrating those energy balls and baton into your body.
And whatever the sensations or experiences were that arose for you during the practice.
And then when you're ready,
Just start to gently maybe take a stretch or bring your hands to your face.
Gently rubbing your face.
And to start to bring you back into your day.
Thank you for joining me with this practice.
I hope that you enjoyed it and have a wonderful day.
