Ki-Works Homepage Shintaikido Meridian Therapy
Meditation Room
Shintaikido Meditation
We hear about many forms of meditation as we strive to learn how to improve our lives. It is important to realize that in order for your meditation practice to work (that is, to serve it's stated goal), it must be founded on solid principles. These are varied depending on what your desired outcome may be. All useful meditation is based on posture and focus. The basics of posture require a straight, open spine. The pelvis should be tilted forward at the top. The chest should be open and raised. The shoulders should be back a little and square. The head should be raised and tilted very slightly downward. This degree and angle of posture for each individual is different and is based on feel. This feel takes time and practice to develop and is based on results. I spent years meditating, practicing martial arts, and playing the trumpet to develop my posture for meditation and for moving.
Focus is the major aspect of meditation that all teachers talk about. The "mantra" can be anything (only one at a time, please!), such as a sound, a visual item (like a mandala), or the breathing. There are many ways to breathe and many, many misconceptions as to the proper way of breathing. In Ki-Works, we do "kokyu zazen" meditation. "Kokyu" means breath in Japanese. We use a certain way of breathing that allows us to increase our energy, health, and power. "Zazen" means seated meditation. Consistent and proper practice in kokyu zazen meditation will bring amazing results to anything that you do which needs air to make it work.
In future Messages, I will delve more into the aspects of meditation, along with a discussion of what results the various types of meditation are going to produce. Strange as it may seem, some forms of meditation can make you dull and listless, or arrogant. Some have no effect at all, except for making your teacher money.