Another 26-minute morning session after getting up but before breakfast. I used the process as described here. Concentration was difficult, but I never really lost track of what I was doing. The energy seemed absent this time, it didn’t feel lively at all. There were uncomfortable feelings in the abdomen and the spine. A headache came and went. It wasn’t until the very end of the session that it felt like it was waking up and some subtle heat seemed to build up at the root.
The book by Mantak Chia describes simple exercises to open the various energy centers but it isn’t clear to me whether this is a preparatory phase to a single meditation session or a separate practice in general. The book is a bit incoherent that way. Maybe it’ll get clear as I move on.