ON MEDITATION

Meditation can be described as an experience of being in a state of mind that does not require any thinking to be aware of the experience. In most cases, if you think that you are meditating, by default, you are not meditating, because your mind is busy thinking. On the other hand, meditation is quite distinct from a deep sleep where you are completely unconscious of your experience. To the contrary, when meditating, you may experience much greater degrees of consciousness than the habitual level of awareness in your daily life. This is not unlike becoming lucid in a night-dream and realizing that you have never been so awake… even in your daily life.

Think about it: whatever you know about your live is based on your recollection of the facts and events of your life. Your knowledge about life in general is based on the same mechanism of memory that allows you to remember your dreams; that is why the line between the dreaming and waking states of consciousness quickly disappears under scrutiny. Moreover, few people would doubt nowadays that everything in this world is made of energy, just like everything in your dreams is made of nothing else than the energy of consciousness. The true nature of reality is one and the same in both of these worlds - the dream world and the world of daily life - suggesting that they actually are not two separate realities but one mystical universe, however strange or even weird things may appear in different parts of it. You might even say that the only distinction between the daily world and your dream world is in being able to tell that you were dreaming once you wake up, but you may not have such a wherewithal in your daily life… perhaps, until the dream called life is over and you wake up from it.

By following my teachings of Dream Yoga and regularly practicing these Qi Dao meditations, you will learn to recognize that you are dreaming during your dreams, which is called lucidity or lucid dreaming. Being lucid literally means knowing that you are dreaming while having a dream (it applies to both day- and night-dreams). It has many profound implications that directly link it to enlightenment. Indeed, being awake in the dream allows you to:

• Recognize that each and every one of the dream characters, objects and experiences in your dreams are products of your own dreaming consciousness
• Realize that all the qualities of your dream characters and the whole dream world reflect back to you those aspects of your consciousness that you don’t identify with
• Learn to identify not only with your own persona, but also with any other dream characters, since they are all the parts of the same Dream Being, which will lead you to a deep understanding of everything and everyone, as well as developing compassion
• Heal whatever ails you as well as any ailments of your dream characters by connecting to the unmanifest dreams hidden beneath the ailments and enabling those dormant aspects of your dreaming to manifest in the most harmonious fashion
• Demonstrate that your physical abilities, mental capacities and creativity are limited only by your own inhibitions, ignorance or self-limiting beliefs
• Know that fighting against the flow of dreaming is a sure way to transform any dream into a nightmare and promote further suffering
• Comprehend that being creative does not need to translate into manipulating anything in your dream, but rather into finding more creative ways to be in the flow of your dreaming
• Trust that the flow of your dreaming, however mysterious and unpredictable, comes from the source within you - the dreamer
• Expand your sense of identity from merely one of the dream characters to identifying with the dreamer, also referred to as Dream Being; on the grand scale, the creator and the creation are one - the entire universe is dreaming itself into existence.

Imagine now that you can translate all these qualities of consciousness into your daily life. That would be bona-fide enlightenment, wouldn’t it? As I wrote in my recently published book entitled Qi Dao - Tibetan Shamanic Qigong: The Art of Being in the Flow, ‘What I call enlightenment is being completely lucid and awake to the reality of the dream called life… realizing that the source of your individual dreams is the same as the mystical source of the big dream called life.’ This source is what I refer to as Dream Being, which is also the totality of this existence.

Discover the magic of Shamanic meditation as taught by Lama Somananda Tantrapa. This extraordinary audio CD will take you on a mystical journey of discovering your inner world, the world of lucid dreaming and spiritual adventure. In addition to the foundational methods in Dream Yoga and Bön – Tibetan Shamanism, this unique CD also includes the special meditation serving as a preparation for the Qi Dao Initiation into the practice of Empowerment.

A bonus feature, the self-healing practice from the first book in the Qi Dao trilogy, will help you transcend your own patterns of holding tension and become centered. You may enjoy this practice on your own although it is easier to learn and master with a practice partner or a Certified Qi Dao coach. Being centered is essential for developing greater sensitivity of subtle flows of Qi, which will enable you to be in the flow. Learning to be consistently centered may even lead you to receiving an Initiation into the Qi Dao tribe of spiritual adventurers.

Regularly practicing these meditations, you are destined to experience:

· Being accepting of and attentive to your life’s lessons

· Being present and never stuck in the head

· Being grounded, rooted and centered

· Being relaxed, natural and spontaneous

· Being awake in the dream called your daily life

· Being in the flow, in the right place and at the right time.

About the author

Lama Somananda Tantrapa is the holder of the lineage of Qi Dao that has been fostered in his clan for 27 generations since 1224 AD. He has over 30 years of experience in Qi Dao and other internal martial arts. After pioneering Qi Dao Coaching in 2000, he has provided wellness, peak performance and life coaching to hundreds of clients from all walks of life. His coaching has inspired many professional athletes, speakers, dancers, singers, writers and actors to open up to the infinite source of power that exists within everyone.

Lama Tantrapa authored the book and DVD entitled “Qi Dao – Tibetan Shamanic Qigong.” Being an avid speaker and presenter, he appeared on many radio and TV programs in the US, Guam and abroad. He currently serves on the NQA Board of Directors. For more information about Qi Dao Coaching, workshops, retreats, and long-distance learning opportunities, visit www.qidao.org.

MORE ON MEDITATION

The greatest manifestation of Qi Dao meditation is becoming an enlightened being – a fully awake Dream Being. You can not only dissolve the boundary between the worlds of dreaming and daily life but even your dream body will be able to merge with or separate from your physical body at will, which is the most guarded secret behind most of the psychic phenomena and Qigong mastery. This can be considered to be the fourth and final juncture of the Qi Dao journey of self-realization. Of course, after the most profound awakenings, we all tend to fall asleep again; hence enlightenment shouldn’t be viewed as a destination, but rather a process of becoming more and more awake all the time.

In order to be able to translate this kind of lucidity into your daily life, you can develop your awareness through the practice of lucid dreaming, which is the third stage on this Shamanic practice, also referred to as Dream Yoga. Being lucid in your night-dreams will empower you to discover the most extraordinary abilities: essentially, you will be able to experience anything you want, since you will be dreaming everything up. Do you feel like flying tonight? How about being able to visit other planets or galaxies? Would you like to be able to communicate with animals, plants or some otherworldly energy beings? And, of course, things like walking on water or shape-shifting would easily become common place frolics in your dreams.

Most psychologists know what you, as a spiritual explorer, will learn experientially: most of your dreams symbolically reflect your daily life. If you never question reality during the day as to whether you are dreaming, though, how often will you question reality of your dreams at night? That is right; most likely never! So, if you want to be lucid in your dreams, you ought to start asking yourself a question whether you are dreaming during the day, which constitutes the second stage of Qi Dao path of self-realization. During this step, you will be able to learn relating to everyone and everything as dream characters made of energy fields. You will also develop an attitude of being in the flow of the energy by finding harmony with it, without judging or manipulating it.

Obviously, not every beginner is immediately ready to surrender to the flow right away, that is why there is the first, preliminary step that you are about to take now, which will prepare you for the rest of your spiritual journey. As it were, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

The practice of Qi Dao meditation begins with certain preliminary practices that are specifically designed to prepare you for deeper, even more profound Dream Yoga practices presented in my advanced teachings. The sequence of these practices follows a natural progression of training although it may be altered if deemed necessary.

I always suggest enjoying these meditations in the appropriate set and setting. This means that a quiet and focused mindset is crucial for the success of your practice. No doubt, meditation will harmonize your mind, so the more you practice, the more meditative your mindset will become. A setting may be considered appropriate where you would not be distracted by external noises, smells, commotion, and other disturbances. With practice, you will find it possible to meditate in more challenging environments; believe it or not, I have to confess to having meditated in all kinds of places, including hospitals, airports, casinos, and even nightclubs. I also invite you to experiment with meditating at various times of the day to find out when you have the easiest time entering the Qigong state. Eventually, you will learn to seize every opportunity to enjoy being in the flow, thus bringing life into your meditation by bringing meditation into your daily life.

As with everything else in Qi Dao, meditation does not have to be done by the book. For instance, although I suggest certain sitting, standing, reclining, or dynamic meditation practices, you have the freedom of choice regarding your physical position and other aspects of practice. In order to stay free from poor postural habits, make sure that you try various poses and choose the ones that you resonate with. Many yogis are trained to sit in Padmasana (Lotus Pose) with the legs crossed in front of the body. Those who cannot twist their legs into this pose usually resort to a Half-lotus, or Quarter-lotus, which is much easier on the knee and hip joints. I personally prefer to sit in Zen Seiza – a kneeling position with both feet tucked under the buttocks with or without a sitting pillow called Zabuton. Let me bring your attention to some crucial details of sitting in any pose.

First, check your alignment of the spine, including the cervical spine – your neck. If you have a practice partner or anyone who could assist you with testing your sitting position, ask him or her to apply some consistent pressure on the top of your head to find out whether you rely on your bones or muscles to keep yourself upright. If just a slight pressure makes you fold or collapse, you may need to either improve your alignment by gently pulling upwards by the tips of your ears or switch to a different position altogether. If you pay a close attention to your body, you may notice the position of your head and even upper torso changing slightly when you pull upwards by your ears. Your sternum may lift upwards opening up your chest and letting you breath become deeper and easier. You may even have a sigh or release or start yawning, which simply means that your diaphragm has let go of tension offering your body an opportunity to breathe fully and feel more alive.

You can also ask your partner to push you slowly from the front, back or either side in order to test your overall stability when sitting. You may be quite surprised by the degree of influence that the position of your hands can have on your stability. Simply compare the results of the pushing tests with your palms facing up versus the palms down. I invite you to experiment with all of these and other ways to sit in order to discover the way that allows you to be especially relaxed and present – the way you resonate with. Because your body and mind are just different aspects of one and the same organism, you can experience mental relaxation much easier when you are physically relaxed and vice versa.

About the Author

Lama Somananda Tantrapa is the holder of the lineage of Qi Dao that has been fostered in his clan for 27 generations since 1224 AD. He has over 30 years of experience in Qi Dao and other internal martial arts. He was primarily trained by his Grandfather who was the last Grandmaster of this style of Tibetan Shamanic Qigong. In addition to being recognized as an incarnate Bön lama, ordained as a Buddhist monk and initiated into Subud spiritual brotherhood, Rinpoche holds a degree in Cultural Anthropology and certifications in Qigong, Hypnosis and NLP.

Affectionately addressed by his students as Rinpoche, Lama Tantrapa’s initiatives dedicated to peace work and spiritual freedom were subjected to persecution in his homeland thus he received religious asylum in the United States in 1997. His unique background is complex enough to include serving in the Soviet Army’s Special Forces, being kidnapped in the Ukraine and going through several near-death experiences.

Rinpoche’s coaching has inspired many professional athletes, speakers, dancers, singers, writers and actors to open up to the infinite source of intuition that exists within everyone. After pioneering Qi Dao coaching in 2000, he has provided wellness, peak performance and life coaching to hundreds of clients of all ages from all walks of life. For years, he operated Portland Qigong Clinic – one of just a handful of Qigong clinics in the United States at that time. He also founded Academy of Qi Dao – the first and only Qigong School in Guam.

Rinpoche is an author of numerous articles as well as multimedia training materials. Being an avid speaker and presenter, he appeared on many radio and TV programs in the US, Guam and abroad. He is the executive producer and host of his own Internet Radio show “The Secret of Qigong Masters.” He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the USA National Qigong (Chi Kung) Association.

For more information about Qi Dao coaching, workshops, retreats, and long-distance learning opportunities, visit us online at www.qidao.org.