Question of the Month: “How to Activate Your Inner Guidance System”
Welcome Members to our August “Question of the Month.” Kevin Schoeninger here.
This month, we’ve been discussing material from my Learn Qigong Meditation Program. We’ve talked about qigong as a practice of cultivating life energy, some principles of this practice, and a foundational qigong practice called Relaxing Down Three Lines. In this Week’s Message, we’ll discuss how qigong enables you to activate and develop your inner guidance.
Let’s begin with two inner powers that you develop as you practice qigong. These powers are Field Awareness and Focal Awareness. Field Awareness is your ability to sense space and Focal Awareness is your ability to sense a specific area within that space.
Field awareness can be called background awareness and Focal Awareness can be called foreground awareness. When we focus on a specific point or path within the body, for instance, we are using Focal Awareness. When we sense a larger space within which these focal points exist, we are using Field Awareness.
Recall our practices from the Open-Focus Brain. Remember narrow and diffuse focus? Narrow focus is Focal Awareness and diffuse focus is Field Awareness.
Remember objective and immersed focus? These are two ways that we relate to what we are focused on. Objective focus is looking at a point of focus from the outside or from the larger Field. Immersed focus is feeling a point or a space from within that point or space.
From a practical point of view, what does all that mean?
Focal Awareness is concentrated and it is used to sense the quality of energy in a specific area and gather energy to that area. Field Awareness is diffuse. It clears and disperses energy into a larger whole. We use objective focus when we want to detach from our emotional entanglement with an energy pattern and immersed focus when we want to feel or build our sense of connection.
If all of that seems complex, simply realize that qigong utilizes all four of these attentional abilities and moves between them. It is a comprehensive and integrated training for body, heart, mind, and spirit.
In qigong, you learn to use all of these powers as they are needed. When you want to build more energy in an area, focus your attention there. When you want to release tension in an area, allow it to diffuse into the larger Field. When you are in the grip of a self-limiting pattern, practice detachment. When you are out of touch with the energy in a particular area, practice immersion within it.
The areas that we work with in qigong are called energy centers and the pathways that connect them are called meridians. There are also many accupoints along the meridians which serve as ideal spots to collect or disperse energy.
The Daoists, who are masters of subtle energy, work with three primary energy centers, each of which is associated with a certain energetic quality or frequency. They call these the three dantians (pronounced “don-tee-en”), meaning “field of the elixir”. The elixir produced by cultivating universal qi (“chee” or life energy) in the three dantians gives you health, peak performance, longevity, and spiritual enlightenment. Because of these profound effects you may also hear the dantians referred to as the Three Treasures.
The lower dantian is located three finger-widths below the navel, in the lower abdomen (three-sevenths of the way from the front to the back of the body). The middle dantian is located in the center of the chest. The upper dantian is located in the center of the head at the intersection of energetic lines from the forehead, the crown-point, and the base of the skull.
These elixir fields are developed within the body by focusing, diffusing, detaching, and immersing attention. As we said, concentrated attention draws energy into an area developing its capacity, diffusing attention through an area releases tension or excessive energetic buildup, detached observation frees you from limiting energetic patterns, and immersed attention connects you to your internal energy and facilitates energy flow.
The three dantians are highly beneficial places in which to store qi and from which to circulate it. They can also be used as checkpoints to evaluate the state of your subtle energy system. Each of the three dantians is associated with specific capacities. As you become sensitive to the quality of energy in these centers you can learn to read the state of your being by knowing what each center represents.
The lower dantian is the center of physical vitality. It is the center of gravity, grounding, stability, mobility, and balance for the body, as well as being the reservoir for jing (sexual energy). This energy is associated with the body and with your hereditary structure, health, vitality, and physical stamina. It is related to the element of water and to the reproductive organs and fluids. It is also the center for primary emotions such as trust and fear.
Concentration on the lower dantian develops your capacity for sensitivity and personal presence within the larger energetic field. Deep breathing is initiated in the lower dantian and you can develop the energy of this center by concentrated attention on Complete Coherent Breathing.
The middle dantian is the center of human feeling. It has purifying and relational functions. The energy here is associated with heart awareness, higher emotions, respiration (drawing qi or life energy from the environment), and the health of the internal organs. It is affiliated with love and refined qualities of exchange with others in the world. The middle dantian resolves the energies of the lower and upper dantians into a synergistic unity.
Opening and refining this energy center develops your capacity for love and compassion. Remember from our Messages on HeartMath that the energetic field of the heart is a powerful force for entraining body and mind. When you practice smiling from your heart you activate core heart feelings that synchronize and integrate the energetic field of your heart with that of your brain and body.
The upper dantian is your mind center. It is associated with the entry of “shen” or high- frequency spiritual energy from above and with powers of mind and awareness, including attention, concentration, imagination, observation, and analytical intelligence. The upper dantian also works in conjunction with the other two dantians to regulate levels of tension and relaxation in the body.
Focus on the upper dantian clears your mind and facilitates the relaxation response, which slows heart rate and respiration while releasing muscle tension. The energy of the upper dantian is light and refined. In the upper dantian you may hear the eternal vibration of creation, the “
Connecting the three dantians is the central channel. Think of the central channel as your energetic core. The central channel relates to spiritual awareness and to the intentional infusion of life energy from the universal field throughout your body as a whole.
For our purposes, we describe the central channel as starting at the perineum, between the genitals and anus. The channel can be visualized as an energetic cylinder extending from there, upward in front of and including the spine, through the three dantians, to the top of the head or crown point. This channel can also be described as extending farther downward, connecting us to earth energies, and upward, connecting us to higher levels of consciousness. For the moment, we will focus on the channel as it is described within the body.
Certainly this is a brief outline of our primary energetic template, but it is sufficient for leading us into practice. In line with our practice at SGM, we are most interested in developing the felt experience of these energies rather than in gaining detailed theoretical information. As we explore our subtle energy system, it will inform us with what we need to know.
In my Learn Qigong Meditation Program, the sixth seated meditation is called Three Dantians and the Central Channel. Practicing this meditation is a great way to open the three primary energy centers and to integrate them through the Central Channel.
What I would like to do in this Weekly Message is to introduce you to sensing these energy centers and feeling their connection with each other. Let’s take a few minutes to do that now.
INNER SENSING EXERCISE:
Find a comfortable seat in a quiet, private environment. Feel your feet firmly on the ground. Let your hands rest in your lap, palms up, one in the other. Relax your lower abdomen, including your pelvic floor and perineum. Feel as if a heavy weight is attached to your tailbone, anchoring you into your seat. Imagine a string attached to the top of your head drawing your spine gently upright.
Allow your shoulders to relax down. Tuck your chin slightly and relax your jaw. Roll the tip of your tongue up to touch the roof of your mouth. Relax your forehead, soften your gaze, and lightly close your eyes.
Focus into your lower abdomen and become aware of your breathing there. Don’t try to make your breathing do anything in particular. Instead, notice the quality of your breath as it is, as if you are an outside observer. This activates objective focus. Become aware of the feeling of your abdomen. What is the overall feeling of the space there? Immerse yourself in the feeling of your abdominal cavity.
Sensing space activates your Field Awareness while feeling into that space activates immersive focus. Feel the entire space of your abdomen in a diffuse way and see if any point within it grabs your attention. Do you feel any spot that is tense or painful? Does any point catch your attention? If so, focus into that point. This activates your Focal Awareness.
If a point grabs your attention, focus there, and bring a feeling of spaciousness into that point. If no particular point draws you to it, focus into a point in the center of your lower abdomen. Allow your focal point to diffuse into the surrounding Field. You may alternate back and forth between focus on the point and the surrounding Field, or you may focus into the point and bring a sense of spaciousness into that point. Experiment. Follow your intuition. You may want to bring Complete Coherent Breathing into that point as we practiced last month.
After you have spent some time sensing the energy in your lower abdomen, allow your attention to move upward. Imagine the Central Channel connecting your abdomen with your heart center and travel through that channel upward to the middle dantian. Center your awareness in your chest and upper back and sense that space as a whole.
Become aware of the feeling of that space. Are there any points of tension in that space? What is the overall feeling tone in that area? If there are any points of tension or pain, feel into those areas and allow them to diffuse out in the larger space of your torso.
Focus into your heart at the same time as you maintain your awareness of the entire space of your chest and upper back. Combine your focal awareness of your heart with your awareness of the whole space of your upper torso.
After spending some time becoming aware of the middle dantian and its surrounding space, allow your attention to move upward through the central channel to the center of your brain.
Feel into the center of your brain and note the quality of the energy there. What do you feel when you focus into the center of your brain? Is it easy to do that? Do you sense any tension there or in any part of your brain or head? What is the overall feeling in your head?
If there is any point of tension, pain, or unease focus into that point and allow it to diffuse into the surrounding space.
Now become aware of the center of your brain simultaneously with the feeling of the entire space of your head. Hold both types of awareness at once so that they merge into one unified experience.
Finally, feel your body as a whole from the inside. Feel your inner body as open, clear, spacious awareness. As you release layers of tension held in your body, your inner body will become a reference point for this experience of inner clarity. This is where the importance of daily practice comes in. Through a daily practice such as qigong, you will release long-held layers of tension and you will return to a state of inner clarity on a daily basis.
Once your inner body awareness becomes sufficiently clear, you will be able to use it as a reliable source of information and life guidance. You will immediately feel any time that tension comes into your inner space and be able to identify and clear it. You will sense the subtle movements of life energy within you and be able to follow these movements to express who you are and why you are here, now.
My suggestion for you this week is to spend some time with this inner sensing practice. If you would like a more structured program to activate and develop the inner guidance of your qi system, check out my Learn Qigong Meditation Program. In this program, you will be led step by step into the most powerful transformational practice that I have ever found. That is why qigong has been my daily practice for the past 23 years.
Make sure to mark your calendars for our Group Coaching Call next Sunday. Details are available on the website.
Also, remember to share your questions, comments, and experiences with Matt, your fellow members, and me through the Comments section at the end of this message.
Until next time,
Happy Practicing,
Kevin