You you Welcome to poetic meditations My name is Connor Logan doctor of acupuncture in Chinese medicine accompanied by composer Trevor Wayne Howard And this piece is entitled Sonder Sonder is the feeling you get when moving through a crowd or being amongst others When you feel and realize deeply that those around you have a life as rich,
Complex,
Colorful,
And as varied as your own.
To the point that you may never know the deepness and profundity of that complexity.
This is something that initially may feel daunting or even sad but it is something to be embraced.
Part of the rich tapestry that is this beautiful experience of life.
The great philosopher Marcus Aurelius once said and I'm paraphrasing that we are all prone to look for solace or enlightenment by retreating to special places that we think are more beautiful or more remote or more conducive to introspection.
But he goes on to say that this is a sign of ignorance and happily admits his own in this case.
Further he says that no place is as rich and primed for that task as within your own self and this is the point of meditation.
No matter what the environment,
What is going on at the time,
You always have the gift of a retreat within your own mind,
Breath,
Heart,
And soul.
To bring yourself together and accomplish whatever it is you need at that moment.
With that in mind,
The technique to learn in this meditation is a circuit of breathing.
Something that I learned in medical school taught to me by a Qigong professor,
Dr.
Yoon in Los Angeles.
He tied together breath,
The idea of clearing one's thoughts and building a circuit of ever increasing energy by using two the most important energetic pathways in Chinese medicine.
These are known as the Ren and Du meridians.
To visualize these meridians,
Think of your breath entering and falling down a straight line from your mouth towards an area just below your navel.
Perhaps one or two widths of your thumb below your navel.
This is the initial pathway and part of the overall pathway of the Ren meridian and this is where we want to guide our inhalation.
Then at that level,
We want to begin to build energy that in our mind's eye,
We send through to our back directly to our spine.
This so happens to be directly in between your kidneys,
Which in further lessons you'll learn the significance of.
But for now,
Just know that in this paradigm of medicine,
In Chinese medicine,
It's known as the gate of fire.
In a very appropriate level at which to send this energy through.
We'll come back to how to send that energy through.
But at this point,
Once sent through,
It will ascend.
The end is to visualize a wrapping around like a coiling of a snake or a double helix of DNA,
Wrapping energy around your spine as it ascends towards the back of your head.
Take a moment here and reach behind and touch the bony part of the back of your skull,
Just above the soft uppermost part of your neck.
Feel the difference between the base of your skull and the soft part of your neck.
Press deeply just below the base of your skull into the depression at the top of your neck.
This is important as when you allow your energy to ascend with your breath as you exhale,
It will enter your mind at this point and head directly towards your third eye.
The space between your eyebrows on its way,
Allow it to scour out thoughts from inside,
Much like how you would scoop the last bits of dough out of the bowl when you're baking bread or making cookies.
Thorough and clean.
So let's review and try to put this all together.
Breathe in cool,
Clear energy down the front line of your body.
When it gets to the area below your navel,
Hold it with a motion much like you would use when you clench the lower part of your body.
With this clench,
Hold it for a beat as you visualize energy moving toward your spine and begin your exhalation by unclenching,
Allowing this energy or chi to move up and wrap around your spine to the back of the top of your neck,
Entering and clearing your minds and finally exiting between your eyebrows.
Quicker now,
Breathe in down,
Hold,
Send through,
Unhold,
Send up,
Clear through and exit.
Breathe in,
Hold,
Let go,
Send up,
Scour,
Exit.
Breathe in,
Hold,
Send through,
Let go,
Ascend,
Send through and exit.
Breathe in,
Hold,
Build and send through,
Let go,
Rise,
Enter and clear and exit.
Let's spend a few moments here,
Working on building this circuit.
So so foot in front of foot as I watch for slippery holds.
It's easy to see the molds of prior adventurers.
Why does one choose the boots they do?
Duck and watch for thicket and brush,
Keeping distance from any recoil.
A memory of a stinging thwack under my eye reminds me to be patient.
A switchback clearing,
Are we nearing a town?
Funny that a simple set of huts signifies civilization.
Yes,
We were away from it all for a while,
Were we not?
And what's this anger?
What is this heat creeping up around my spine toward my mind,
Taking away the kind burbling brook of meandering thoughtfulness that had run there for days.
Should I not be able to handle people with ease?
Passing by what I perceive as beneath my pedestal of enlightenment,
They do seem to be enjoying themselves,
Music blaring and not caring how loud they seem to me.
And bare chested,
Bikini breasted,
They search for their drug cove to undress and caress.
The pendulum swings back as I'm able to gather up my philosophy.
I shove it back in my mental sack and settle in with a grin,
Pushing toward our final destination.
Simple as that,
I can be happy that they have their blast,
Their life as rich as my moments past.
So so so so so so what do you eventually feel after you feel better than another?
So what is the education at that moment?
So how does kindness apply itself here?
So and who are you really better than?
So this meditation can be applied in different positions because the goal is for you to take this circuit of ren and do breathing and have it become your default mode of respiration throughout your day.
You may find it easiest to start with this lying down or sitting peacefully,
But eventually you want to breathe in this fashion as you walk,
As you sit in a meeting,
As you commute,
As you enjoy food with others.
So allow it to be the technique that keeps you in the present moment,
Appreciating and engaging,
Setting aside,
Pining,
Wishing,
Or critiquing.
So breathe in and descend down the front of your body.
Hold and build energy.
Send it through.
Release and twist and ascend.
Enter and clear and exit with intention.
Repeat.
So welcome to the rest of your day.
Smile and say hello to people that you meet.
Look up when you're walking.
Be pleasant and present and enjoy the thoughts that a centered and energetic mind exude.
So
