Do you have a physical practice? Many people have a physical practice. Many people train their physicality in an array of different ways: running, yoga, resistance training, gymnastics, calisthenics, swimming, martial arts, crossfit, cycling etc etc. But the question is, do you have an energetic practice? And if not, why?
You see, energy is the underlying nature of reality. Energy is the fundamental building block of reality. Energy gives rise to the physical. So it makes sense, that one should want to be in touch with their energy to ensure that their energy is in tip top shape. Much like physical training.
Let’s take a look at some energetic practices you could incorporate into your daily life.
Meditation
Meditation is basically the ability to turn your attention inwards and access deeper aspects of yourself. The primary purpose of meditation is to calm your emotions and your mind in order to touch your “source”. Touching your “source” gives you a natural high. The high is like a combination of a feeling of completeness, bliss, fearlessness, and everything is ok-ness. As well as a burst of energy and aliveness.
How to Meditate? Well lets take a brief look at 3 techniques you could employ: breathing, observing, and feeling.
Breathing
- Sit down in a comfortable cross-legged position.
- Relax, close your eyes, and begin to focus on your breath.
- Breathe deep into your belly and try to concentrate on and feel the entire continuous breath from beginning to end, beginning to end and so on.
- All of your concentration shoukd be solely on breathing and the associated sensations of breathing.
- Continue the exercise for 10 – 15 mins and do not underestimate its simplicity.
Observing
- Sit down in a comfortable cross legged position.
- Relax, close your eyes and begin with the breathing meditation previously mentioned. Do this for a few ins or until you are relaxed.
- Now flip your concentration and start simply observing your mind. Simply watch your thoughts without engaging in them. Do nothing but watch. Allow them to come, and allow them to go as they wish. You just observe.
- If you find yourself getting entangled with them, that’s ok, just take a step back and return to watching.
- Continue the exercise for 10 – 15 mins.
Feeling
- Sit down in a comfortable cross legged position.
- Relax, close your eyes and begin with the breathing meditation previously mentioned. Do this for a few ins or until you are relaxed.
- Now flip your concentration and start feeling the skin on your body. Start with your head and feel the skin around your skull. Then move to your neck, shoulders, arms, and your torso. Then move to your legs and feet.
- Now try to feel the skin of your entire body. Hold that feeling.
- Expand that feeling inwards. Feel your entire being. Hold that feeling.
- Continue the exercise for 10 – 15 mins.
Remember, the entire purpose of meditation is to reach a place beyond your emotions and mind. Give these techniques a crack and be patient and dedicated if they don’t bring results at first.
What other energetic practices are there? There are many, many different energetic practices and variations of these practices that are out there. I will probably cover these at a later time but for now one cool thing that I want to share with you is a different perspective.
After meditating and doing all this metaphysical stuff for like over a decade I started to realize how one could incorporate many different practices as part of their “energetic practice”. When you realize one of the basic and primary functions of an energetic practice is to take you beyond emotion and mind, then really anything that does so could be an energetic practice.
So, pretty much all of the physical arts are energetic practices. When you sprint hard for an extended period of time, there is only so long that the ego can chatter about frivolously. Eventually your mind says ”Holy Shit” and is forced to focus on the task at hand. Also known as entering the now… Also known as stepping beyond emotion and mind.
Let’s look at another example. Lets say you are learning a yoga pose or doing some kind of physical activity that requires balance. If the degree of difficulty is adequate, there is only so long that the ego can chatter because eventually it has to focus sharply on the task at hand, that is, keeping balance.
What does this all mean? It means you have a vast array of practices available to you to help you with your energetic/spiritual development. You have a vast array of tools at your disposal. Running, resistance training, swimming, yoga, hand balancing, calisthenics, dancing, tai chi etc etc all of these can be part of your self-development “program”. Furthermore what about drawing, painting, playing an instrument, making jewellery, cooking and so on and so forth. All of these things can help with your development because all of them require you to get out of your head and into the now. They require you to be calm enough to concentrate on the task at hand.
So what practices are you doing today? Find things that fall in line with your interests and start doing them.
Life is challenging. Don’t let it knock you off balance. Train. Find energetic practices that help you and start practicing.
Bye for now, take care.
Photo: Jade Lee
