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'[One] needs to draw this energy down and store it in the space below the navel, in the kikai tanden. If one maintains this for months and years without distraction, one morning, the elixir furnace will turn over and everywhere, within and without, will become one great circulating elixir. One will realise that oneself is older than heaven and earth, deathless as space.'
-The hermit Hakuyushi, as quoted by Zen master Hakuin. |
What are energy practices?
Energy practices work with the body's vital energy, called ki in Japanese, qi/chi in Chinese and prana in Sanskrit. Energy practices invite us to connect with our bodies on a subtler level than the conventional physical sensations we experience from day to day, feeling deep lines of connection throughout the body along which this vital energy is said to travel, and even learning to experience the movement of this energy for ourselves.
Energy practices provide a powerful counterbalance to meditation practices, which run the risk of becoming a 'heady', intellectual exercise if not counterweighted with a focus on the body. Through energy practices we can identify and dissolve long-held tensions in our body (both at the physical level and at subtler levels), promote good health and long life, and even deepen our insight practice.
(Before you ask, no, I don't know what's 'really going on' in Western scientific terms with these practices. But I can say for sure that these practices do something tangible, and that if you take the time to practise them, you too can learn to feel this mysterious energy, whatever it might turn out to be.)
Hakuin and Zen sickness
All modern Japanese Rinzai Zen lineages trace back to the great Zen master Hakuin Ekaku, who revived Zen in Japan at a time when it had fallen into disrepair. Hakuin was a firm believer in incredibly intense meditation practice, and the lineages that came after him have tended to retain some of that 'warrior' spirit.
However, Hakuin's intense practice led him into severe health problems. In his late twenties, he felt himself to be on the point of death (at least according to his characteristically dramatic telling of the story), and so he sought out a hermit trained in the Daoist arts of longevity. The hermit, Hakuyushi, taught Hakuin a set of energy practices which not only quickly restored his health but made him more vigorous than before. In the years to come, Hakuin would make these practices a core part of the syllabus that he taught to his followers.
My teacher Daizan has commented that, in his experience, Zen lineages which don't include these energy practices tend to produce a lot of high-level practitioners with conditions like chronic fatigue. Needless to say, Daizan is a big fan of these practices, and promotes them tirelessly through his organisation Zenways.
Two highly effective energy practices
On my Audio page you can find four guided energy practices (in one case with an accompanying video): ah-un breathing, soft ointment meditation, naikan ('inner contemplation') and naitan ('inner transformation'). I'll focus on the latter two here, because they're the two I use most frequently myself.
Naikan: inner contemplation
Naikan is a grounding energy practice which is an excellent counterbalance to intense meditation practice. There's a saying in energetic practices that 'energy flows where attention goes', and if we use meditation practices which either deliberately focus on (e.g.) the nostrils or the forehead, or which unintentionally bring some focus to the head (e.g. because we're exploring 'the mind', which we tend to associate with 'the brain'), we can end up gathering a lot of energy in the head.
In the Chinese and Japanese view of the body, the belly is the centre of the energetic system, specifically a point (called dan tien in Chinese, tanden in Japanese) about two inches below the navel right in the centre of the body. This is a good place to store energy, and focusing on the tanden is a good way of cultivating and strengthening the energetic system. On the other hand, storing energy in the head can lead to severe headaches and migraines, along with a general depletion of energy. You'll sometimes find traditions recommending a focus on the head (especially the 'third eye' in the centre of the forehead or at the crown) because doing so can bring about powerful spiritual experiences; unfortunately, in doing so it seriously depletes your energetic system, and can lead to fatigue, emotional oversensitivity, headaches and other physical problems.
Thus, in naikan we practise drawing the energy into the lower half of the body, energising the tanden and strengthening the legs, providing a solid, stable base for our practice. This takes the pressure away from the head and lays the foundation for a strong, healthy body and mind which is then better suited to withstand the rigours of meditation practice - and daily life!
You can see a video of the naikan practice on the Audio page, but here's a brief description in case the video isn't accessible to you.
Take up a comfortable standing posture, feet somewhere between hip and shoulder width apart, with a slight bend in the knees. Relax the body as much as you can while maintaining an upright spine.
Then, on your next in-breath, open the arms out to your sides, palms facing up, and reach out, up and overhead as if 'gathering fresh energy' from your surroundings. On the out-breath, draw the hands down the front of the body to the level of the navel or just below, palms facing down.
As you breathe in, allow your attention to go wide. As you breathe out, draw the attention inward and downward, from the head down to the belly and legs. Try to get the clear sense that you are drawing everything downward, into the tanden, the legs and the ground beneath you. You may feel the body relaxing; you might even feel like your centre of gravity is moving downward.
Repeat this 21 times standing, then lie down and repeat the same exercise in the horizontal position, another 21 times. Finally, place the hands on the lower belly, and do the exercise 21 more times with just the intention. Then rest in stillness for as long as you like.
Naitan: inner transformation
This practice has a variety of names; within Zen it's known as both naitan and tenborin ('turning the wheel of the Dharma'), but it's perhaps better known as the 'microcosmic orbit' or 'small circulation' in qigong.
Whatever you want to call it, this practice builds on the foundation laid by naikan and then goes one step further. In naikan, we were primarily concerned with gathering energy at the tanden and strengthening our energetic system. In naitan, we will begin to circulate energy around the body, promoting good health and longevity, and potentially even moving us toward insight-producing experiences, but in a way that preserves our energy rather than blasting it out of the top of the head.
This practice relies on two 'vessels', channels in the body which carry the vital energy around. Specifically, we are concerned with the governing vessel, which runs up the back of the body, and the conception vessel, which runs down the front. The aim is to allow energy to circulate up the back and down the front of the body, promoting a natural, healthy flow.
Again, you can find a guided naitan meditation on the Audio page, but here's a brief description.
Start by setting up a comfortable sitting position, and relax the body as much as possible. Then, when you're ready to begin the practice, bring the attention to the tanden. (Remember, energy flows where attention goes.) When you first start doing this practice, you might not feel much, so it can be helpful to visualise energy gathering at this vital point, three inches below the navel, in the centre of the body. You can imagine the tanden as a kind of cauldron which is gradually filling up with vital energy, until finally it reaches the point of overflowing, and the energy begins to flow down to the perineum, the point at the base of the spine between the anus and the genitals.
Now, on your next in-breath, draw your attention gently up the back of the body, from the perineum all the way up to the crown of the head. Then, on your out-breath, draw the attention gently down the front of the body, from the crown all the way to the perineum. Keep breathing and circulating the attention in this way.
You may find that synchronising the breath and the attention is difficult at first. That's fine; persevere, and it'll work itself out in time. You might also start to develop the sense that the circulation of energy is happening either faster or slower than your breath; again, that's fine, just keep breathing and moving the attention. You can think of this like a bicycle - the rate at which you pedal is not necessarily the rate at which the wheels turn, but your job is just to keep turning the pedals and let the wheels take care of themselves. In the same way, just keep breathing and gently moving the attention.
It's important to use a light touch in this practice. We're not trying to force anything - in fact, it can be harmful to do so. If in doubt, always err on the side of less effort, even if it feels like nothing is happening. It takes time for the subtle body to wake up enough for us to be able to perceive it, but it'll happen sooner or later.
Hakuin had this to say about where the practice of naitan could ultimately take us:
If the practitioner maintains this without distraction, one morning, the elixir furnace will turn over and everywhere, within and without, will become one great circulating elixir. The practitioner will realise that they themselves are older than heaven and earth, deathless as space. This is true alchemy. It is not a trivial method for flying in the sky on the wind and mists, or walking on the water. The true immortal can churn the ocean into cream and transform earth into gold.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Energy practices work with the body's vital energy, called ki in Japanese, qi/chi in Chinese and prana in Sanskrit. Energy practices invite us to connect with our bodies on a subtler level than the conventional physical sensations we experience from day to day, feeling deep lines of connection throughout the body along which this vital energy is said to travel, and even learning to experience the movement of this energy for ourselves.
Energy practices provide a powerful counterbalance to meditation practices, which run the risk of becoming a 'heady', intellectual exercise if not counterweighted with a focus on the body. Through energy practices we can identify and dissolve long-held tensions in our body (both at the physical level and at subtler levels), promote good health and long life, and even deepen our insight practice.
(Before you ask, no, I don't know what's 'really going on' in Western scientific terms with these practices. But I can say for sure that these practices do something tangible, and that if you take the time to practise them, you too can learn to feel this mysterious energy, whatever it might turn out to be.)
Hakuin and Zen sickness
All modern Japanese Rinzai Zen lineages trace back to the great Zen master Hakuin Ekaku, who revived Zen in Japan at a time when it had fallen into disrepair. Hakuin was a firm believer in incredibly intense meditation practice, and the lineages that came after him have tended to retain some of that 'warrior' spirit.
However, Hakuin's intense practice led him into severe health problems. In his late twenties, he felt himself to be on the point of death (at least according to his characteristically dramatic telling of the story), and so he sought out a hermit trained in the Daoist arts of longevity. The hermit, Hakuyushi, taught Hakuin a set of energy practices which not only quickly restored his health but made him more vigorous than before. In the years to come, Hakuin would make these practices a core part of the syllabus that he taught to his followers.
My teacher Daizan has commented that, in his experience, Zen lineages which don't include these energy practices tend to produce a lot of high-level practitioners with conditions like chronic fatigue. Needless to say, Daizan is a big fan of these practices, and promotes them tirelessly through his organisation Zenways.
Two highly effective energy practices
On my Audio page you can find four guided energy practices (in one case with an accompanying video): ah-un breathing, soft ointment meditation, naikan ('inner contemplation') and naitan ('inner transformation'). I'll focus on the latter two here, because they're the two I use most frequently myself.
Naikan: inner contemplation
Naikan is a grounding energy practice which is an excellent counterbalance to intense meditation practice. There's a saying in energetic practices that 'energy flows where attention goes', and if we use meditation practices which either deliberately focus on (e.g.) the nostrils or the forehead, or which unintentionally bring some focus to the head (e.g. because we're exploring 'the mind', which we tend to associate with 'the brain'), we can end up gathering a lot of energy in the head.
In the Chinese and Japanese view of the body, the belly is the centre of the energetic system, specifically a point (called dan tien in Chinese, tanden in Japanese) about two inches below the navel right in the centre of the body. This is a good place to store energy, and focusing on the tanden is a good way of cultivating and strengthening the energetic system. On the other hand, storing energy in the head can lead to severe headaches and migraines, along with a general depletion of energy. You'll sometimes find traditions recommending a focus on the head (especially the 'third eye' in the centre of the forehead or at the crown) because doing so can bring about powerful spiritual experiences; unfortunately, in doing so it seriously depletes your energetic system, and can lead to fatigue, emotional oversensitivity, headaches and other physical problems.
Thus, in naikan we practise drawing the energy into the lower half of the body, energising the tanden and strengthening the legs, providing a solid, stable base for our practice. This takes the pressure away from the head and lays the foundation for a strong, healthy body and mind which is then better suited to withstand the rigours of meditation practice - and daily life!
You can see a video of the naikan practice on the Audio page, but here's a brief description in case the video isn't accessible to you.
Take up a comfortable standing posture, feet somewhere between hip and shoulder width apart, with a slight bend in the knees. Relax the body as much as you can while maintaining an upright spine.
Then, on your next in-breath, open the arms out to your sides, palms facing up, and reach out, up and overhead as if 'gathering fresh energy' from your surroundings. On the out-breath, draw the hands down the front of the body to the level of the navel or just below, palms facing down.
As you breathe in, allow your attention to go wide. As you breathe out, draw the attention inward and downward, from the head down to the belly and legs. Try to get the clear sense that you are drawing everything downward, into the tanden, the legs and the ground beneath you. You may feel the body relaxing; you might even feel like your centre of gravity is moving downward.
Repeat this 21 times standing, then lie down and repeat the same exercise in the horizontal position, another 21 times. Finally, place the hands on the lower belly, and do the exercise 21 more times with just the intention. Then rest in stillness for as long as you like.
Naitan: inner transformation
This practice has a variety of names; within Zen it's known as both naitan and tenborin ('turning the wheel of the Dharma'), but it's perhaps better known as the 'microcosmic orbit' or 'small circulation' in qigong.
Whatever you want to call it, this practice builds on the foundation laid by naikan and then goes one step further. In naikan, we were primarily concerned with gathering energy at the tanden and strengthening our energetic system. In naitan, we will begin to circulate energy around the body, promoting good health and longevity, and potentially even moving us toward insight-producing experiences, but in a way that preserves our energy rather than blasting it out of the top of the head.
This practice relies on two 'vessels', channels in the body which carry the vital energy around. Specifically, we are concerned with the governing vessel, which runs up the back of the body, and the conception vessel, which runs down the front. The aim is to allow energy to circulate up the back and down the front of the body, promoting a natural, healthy flow.
Again, you can find a guided naitan meditation on the Audio page, but here's a brief description.
Start by setting up a comfortable sitting position, and relax the body as much as possible. Then, when you're ready to begin the practice, bring the attention to the tanden. (Remember, energy flows where attention goes.) When you first start doing this practice, you might not feel much, so it can be helpful to visualise energy gathering at this vital point, three inches below the navel, in the centre of the body. You can imagine the tanden as a kind of cauldron which is gradually filling up with vital energy, until finally it reaches the point of overflowing, and the energy begins to flow down to the perineum, the point at the base of the spine between the anus and the genitals.
Now, on your next in-breath, draw your attention gently up the back of the body, from the perineum all the way up to the crown of the head. Then, on your out-breath, draw the attention gently down the front of the body, from the crown all the way to the perineum. Keep breathing and circulating the attention in this way.
You may find that synchronising the breath and the attention is difficult at first. That's fine; persevere, and it'll work itself out in time. You might also start to develop the sense that the circulation of energy is happening either faster or slower than your breath; again, that's fine, just keep breathing and moving the attention. You can think of this like a bicycle - the rate at which you pedal is not necessarily the rate at which the wheels turn, but your job is just to keep turning the pedals and let the wheels take care of themselves. In the same way, just keep breathing and gently moving the attention.
It's important to use a light touch in this practice. We're not trying to force anything - in fact, it can be harmful to do so. If in doubt, always err on the side of less effort, even if it feels like nothing is happening. It takes time for the subtle body to wake up enough for us to be able to perceive it, but it'll happen sooner or later.
Hakuin had this to say about where the practice of naitan could ultimately take us:
If the practitioner maintains this without distraction, one morning, the elixir furnace will turn over and everywhere, within and without, will become one great circulating elixir. The practitioner will realise that they themselves are older than heaven and earth, deathless as space. This is true alchemy. It is not a trivial method for flying in the sky on the wind and mists, or walking on the water. The true immortal can churn the ocean into cream and transform earth into gold.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?