Do You Know This Ancient Trick To Instant Peace?
During these dark, cold days, energetically, we are in this womb-like time, like a cocoon, dark, quiet, gentle, and becoming.
It’s not a time to push or rush but to be quiet and still.
Cultivating a meditation time to be quiet and still can help us stay in tune with the natural world, as the animals are hibernating and the trees and plants are still and dormant.
This is the time to conserve our energy, which meditation supports.
According to Chinese medicine, the winter correlates to the water element, which is all about packing and conserving our chi or energy.
Each element’s energy corresponds to the energy held in a pair of organs. The kidneys, the yin organ of the water element, store our chi. The lungs receive the energy, and the kidneys store it as energy reserves to get us through the winter.
Meditating strengthens our intuition as we activate the 3rd eye, the energy center in the mid-brain behind the eyes, also known as the Ajna 6th chakra.
Breathwork, or pranayama, for the water element, opens the third eye, which cultivates intuition.
The pranayama/meditation technique below is helpful to ground our energy when we want to open up the third eye. If we are not grounded when activating our third eye, our perceptions can easily become delusional.
It’s important to create a stable foundation from the bottom up so our perceptions are grounded in reality and not based on our samskaras, the impressions from past traumas and experiences.
To begin meditation, first, we start with the inner smile, the facial pose to open the mind to a Buddha-like nature:
The Inner Smile
Allow the brow to soften and open.
Let the space between the brow expand.
Expand the outer eyes wide to the outer skull.
Let the outer corners of the mouth widen and lift into a subtle smile.
Feel the throat expand to energetically fill the volume of the neck.
Release the root of the tongue deep in the throat to soften and open.
Let the skin on the sternum energetically expand wide.
Allow the skin around the navel to expand wide.
This drops us into a parasympathetic state of rest and restoration.
This is the expression of the Buddha, which enables Buddha nature.
With a deep, slow abdominal breath, we are brought into the present moment.
The present moment is still. There is no emotion in the present moment.
There is only peace.
Practicing meditation has so many benefits mentally, emotionally, and physically. Our thoughts affect our cells. Negative thoughts and stress have a direct impact on our overall well-being.
Meditation creates space in the mind. Where there’s space, there’s clarity. Where there’s clarity, there’s wisdom. We want to be guided by our wisdom, not stress and negativity.
Meditation brings the mind home, where we can release the grasping and striving and relax into our true nature. In this space, we can release negativity and aggression like mist released into the sky.
Meditation, yoga, and qigong are miraculous ways of releasing our fear and allowing us to tap into our compassion for the world.
When our fear touches someone’s pain, it becomes pity; when our love touches someone’s pain, it becomes compassion.
The stronger and greater your compassion, the stronger and greater your fearlessness and confidence. So compassion reveals itself yet again as your greatest resource and your greatest protection.
When we think of the term Buddha, we think of the individual who has awakened and taught many others. But this term is not exclusive, as we all have the potential to awaken our Buddha mind. It refers to anyone who has awakened from ignorance and has tapped into their vast potential of wisdom.
A Buddha has brought a final end to suffering and brought about lasting peace. For many of us, this seems like a fantasy or dream or an achievement far beyond our reach.
Buddha nature is our birthright. This is the good news that the Buddha brought us from his enlightenment; his message is that enlightenment is within reach, which gives us tremendous hope. Through practice, we can all become awakened.
No matter what state our lives are in, our Buddha nature is always there. Nothing can spoil it in this seemingly infinite confusion of life. Our Buddha nature can be compared to the sky and the confusion to the clouds.
We must remember that the clouds are not the sky and do not belong to it. They only hang there and pass by. They can never stain or mark the sky in any way. Our Buddha nature is merely the immaculate sky shining upon itself.
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