Practical exercises - First week 2

1. Sit on a chair; hands on knees, right palm covering left. You can take one of the static poses, which will be discussed in the sections devoted to the “second treasure” of Jing.

2. Close your eyes and completely relax your body. Breathe using the “reverse breathing” type (pulling in the lower abdomen as you inhale and expanding the abdominal area as you exhale, while completely relaxing the chest). For one minute, don't think about anything. If “belly breathing” suits you better, that’s fine.

3. Focus on the hair (bald people should focus on either the remaining hairline or the pores of the scalp). Try to feel your hair.

4. As you exhale, imagine how energy flows from your hair to your head. There should be a feeling that each hair has its own antenna that receives energy radiation. Focus your attention on the entire surface of the head, gradually moving it from the crown to the base of the skull.

5. Squint your eyes slightly and as you inhale, also lightly contracting the muscles of the anus, feel the relationship between your mouth and tongue.

6. Exhale, relax your eyes, anus and feel how your hair radiates energy.

7. Continue to inhale and exhale, during which there should be a feeling that the hair is breathing and each strand is saturated with energy and at the same time radiates it.

8. Mentally direct the energy flow into your mouth. To activate this process, pull in your cheeks.

9. Collect enough saliva in your mouth using the above method. Repeat circular movements with your tongue nine times in opposite directions.

10. Having accumulated saliva, mentally mix it with the energy of the hair.

11. Press the tip of your tongue against the lower gum and its middle part against the upper palate.

12. Tuck your chin in, keep your back straight, swallow saliva with a characteristic sound and feel how energy fills your stomach. Feel how the lower tan tien region becomes warmer.

13. Lightly pat your chest with your palms and walk around the room for fifteen seconds or more.
After doing this exercise, you will feel a salty or metallic taste in your mouth. It's the taste of excess energy.
A number of Taoist exercises deserve mention in these pages. We have already looked at exercises to stimulate salivation and “swallowing saliva.”

Other exercises include squinting the eyes and contracting the anus. By squinting our eyes, we massage and tone the eye muscles and at the same time promote the process of energy absorption. Contracting the anus is an integral part of an exercise I call “perineal strength.”
Almost the entire body weight presses on the perineal area, located between the genitals and the anus. Strengthening this area of ​​the body is one of the original goals of Taoist practice.

Strengthened genitals, perineum and anus direct energy to different areas of the body and promote strong connections between organs. In the above exercise, we simultaneously contracted the anus and tensed the muscles surrounding the eyes, directing energy into the mouth and tongue.
By swallowing saliva, we sent excess energy to the lower area of ​​the tan tien. This area of ​​the body is a key healing center. Therefore, we will return to related techniques more than once. Its location is strictly individual, and in this regard, the instructions of modern Chinese masters differ from the recommendations of the ancient Taoists.
For convenience, we will identify the center as the navel area or a place located about 3 cm below the navel and about 1 cm inside the abdomen.