An important, and very simple safety, is keeping your energy centered and balanced. As you've probably discovered by now, what you do with your energy affects every part of your life.
Try this exercise with a friend. It can be a lot of fun and it really helps to illustrate the Mind/Body connection.
Have a friend or training partner stand still with their feet pointed straight ahead. Explain to them that they should imagine that they are standing on the edge of a cliff and that you are going to gently push them. They should resist in any way they want to, as long as they don't move their feet.
Gently push them until they lose their balance. Pay attention to how much force you had to use.
Now have them stand in exactly the same position, except this time they should place one thumb in their navel (as a point of reference, for those who don't know where the Dan Tien is) and let the palm of their hand rest on the Dan Tien. Ask them to inhale gently, all the way down into their Dan Tien, feeling the energy flow into it and filling it.
Now push them, gently, again. They should have MUCH better balance this time! Pay attention to how much more force is needed to push them off balance.
When you hold your energy in your center it helps keep you balanced. You've no doubt noticed by now that these exercises tend to work on all parts of your life, not just the physical. Look at how this improved balance can directly affect your martial arts practice also. Improving your physical balance consistently will help you to improve and balance the other areas of your life by extension.
Feel free to share this technique with as many people as possible. It's a fun demo that can be worked into many martial arts demonstrations and it's cool at parties.
Another reason why I like this technique is that it helps you draw hot energy down from your head. If you're doing it right then you shouldn't have that hot Yang energy flowing up to your head without being cooled first. The reality though, is that many of us tend to be very cerebral, and when we think a lot the energy flows up there, resulting in a hot forehead, heat gathering at the back of the soft palette and sometimes a headache and drowsiness. Drawing that hot energy back down to the 2nd chakra can help alleviate those symptoms.
© 2006 Robert Morgen. This article may be used by anyone, anywhere as long as the author's bio and links are included.
"Keeping Your Energy Balanced and Centered" is an excerpt from Robert Morgen's book Easy Meditation for Martial Artists (ISBN: 978-0977380138). His book Kundalini Awakening for Personal Mastery 2nd Edition (ISBN: 978-0979040054) is currently available at a bookstore near you.
Robert Morgen experienced a near-death kundalini awakening in 1992 and spent over a decade discovering what had happened and how to adapt to the changes in his life.
He's a Reiki Master with a Black Belt in Hoshinjutsu and a Deputy Black Belt in Combat Hapkido. He's the founder of Work From Home Magazine, Harmony Magazine, Combat Hapkido Journal and 2 Kundalini Awakening Podcasts.
He's the author of 3 books and 4 CDs on meditation and energy work.
You can join his FREE Affiliate Program at https://questincome.com/aff/?ref=rmorgen
