Daoist Meditation Guide

When starting with meditation, most people tend to talk about very complicated techniques. In meditation, the practice is in the foreground, so complicated techniques are not what people should be concerned about.

In Daoist meditation, you focus on natural breathing – nothing else – while you stand in an upright posture. The hip and lower back should be relaxed so that the body can be straight with a slight pressure forward. This way, you ensure your upright posture without using additional tension in your back. Once set up straight, the flow of breath should naturally come and circulate through the body. Daoists want a long breath; the longer the breath is circulating in the lungs, the better and more effective it is.

The eyes should be half-closed, so you don’t fall to sleep by accident. The half-closed eyes are a significant indicator of true Daoist meditation. It means you are nowhere and not flowing somewhere through space with your mind. The Daoist practice is about the here and now and yourself – meditation is about what is inside, not about what the cosmos is outside.

It is often confused with esoteric practices; Daoist meditation takes quite a lot of effort to get used to and be relaxed with it. Nothing is effortless in the beginning, and no energy will come to you in mystical ways.

Why Daoists meditate

Once the physical body is trained properly, the energy has to be focused through the meditation practice. Physical training is about energy capacity, while meditation training – also called Wuji training, is about the void – the focus of there. From Wuji, the emptiness, one can emerge, and if one then two and so on – you know the Daodejing chapter. It basically is true that from Wuji, everything can emerge – your purpose in life and your understanding of Yin and Yang – which will further develop your internal martial arts. It is a practice for the strong, for the experienced students that look for defining their skills.

Meditation with Master Ziji

Meditation should never be shorter than 15 minutes but can be as long as you like after this time limit. Here is a video of Master Ziji meditating, which you can use as a reference: