I’m reading the book ‘Healing Love through the Tao’ by Mantak Chia which, so far, seems to be dedicated to describing the microcosmic orbit practice in detail. Of course I haven’t finished the book yet but I try to incorporate what I’ve read so far. I will dedicate a page on this site soon to describe my MCO process and I will update that page as I learn.
For this 30-minute session I sat on the edge of a chair instead of cross-legged on a pillow. I put a slight smile on my face and started with a few minutes of smiling to my vital organs as described in the book. (The Inner Smile is a Taoist practice). I used abdominal breathing a described in the book but not forced, the book states that if you can hear the breath it’s too forceful.
I put the tip of the tongue a little further back than usual but I put it back against the teeth after a while because it was too much to manage along with the other changes to my routine. Mantak Chia says to envision the energy coming in through all the press of the body so that’s what I did. I let the energy go up the spine at the in breath and down the front at the it breath. Abdominal breathing is a bit more difficult in this sitting position , I had to find the exact right angle where my abdominal muscles are relaxed enough for this type of breathing while still able to maintain a straight back. I was also contracting the pelvic floor muscle at the out breath but this felt wrong somehow so I stopped that to feel the difference and it was better , so I didn’t do that anymore for the rest of the session. Maybe the book had something to say on that soon.
In terms of energy it felt ineffective at first, but after 10 minutes or so a subtle warmth was building in the spine and in the abdomen. Picturing the energy going up the spine is easy , it’s the energy going down there front that I find difficult to ‘see’. At the end of the session it did feel like I accumulated some energy in the form of warmth and I let it collect in my abdomen for storage. As I write this report the subtle warmth is still present in my belly. It does feel different though, compared to the previous meditations. I’m curious how this will develop.