All About Dantian Or Chakra Meditation

In chakra meditation we visualize generating and pooling chi energy in one of three major chakras in the head and torso for a number of different purposes.

If you are new to qigong (a.k.a. chi kung), you should first read up on the concepts of vital chi energy or prana and dantian before continuing on with this lesson on meditation.

There are the three main chakras on which we focus in meditation:

1. The third eye located between your two eyebrows, also known as the spiritual or psychic eye or the upper dantian;
2. The midsection, located in the solar plexus just below and between the rib cage, otherwise known as the Heart Chakra or middle dantian;
3. And the (lower) dantian called the Cinnabar Field or Field of Elixir, located approximately one to three inches below your belly button.

Before attempting any qigong exercise, please read the Disclaimer.

Steps to Chakra Meditation

Step #1:

Choose a meditation posture you wish to assume for this exercise. (See Standing, Sitting and Recumbent or Lying Down Positions).

Step #2:

Next, select the chakra on which you wish to focus your concentration. Each of the three has a different purpose and result.

Generating chi energy in the third eye is for the purpose of spiritual development, developing psychic ability, and attaining enlightenment.

It is perhaps the more difficult of the three to work on, and therefore, should be left as one of the final steps in qigong training for more advanced practitioners. If you practice it too early, you will accomplish nothing.

To focus on this point, keep your eyes closed and your eyeballs rolled up in the direction of the third eye. Over time, you should feel intense pressure there, as the Eye begins to open. Once the Eye is open, you will begin to develop certain psychic abilities and awareness.

However, be aware, if you are not ready for this, (i.e. you do not have the experience or abilities for this advance level of meditation), one of two things can happen:

Either the Eye will not open and you will be disappointed with the results of seeing nothing, or the worse scenario, the psychic abilities or chi energy becomes too overwhelming and you turn insane.

Some practitioners argue that the latter never happens, that it is a myth generated by masters who do not want the public to know their secrets. I cannot say for certain that this is true or not, since I have never experienced it, nor personally know of anyone who has.

However, my master has always been there to supervise my progress whenever he felt I was ready to proceed onto the next step of my training, especially when it involved a potentially hazardous side effect.

I would suggest that if you are not certain of your level of experience, to practice this form of meditation only with the guidance of someone more experienced than you.

Concentrating on the Heart Chakra helps to control the emotions. As you generate chi in this area, you should feel intense, but not painful, heat or pressure. Some practitioners report intense emotions and experiences. It can vary with each individual.

For most practitioners, especially beginners and intermediates, it is best to concentrate on the (lower) dantian for your primary chakra meditation.

This is also where we store our Primordial Energy, the yuan chi which we are born with. We are endowed with a limited amount of this energy when we are born, and when this energy becomes depleted with age, we die.

That is why many chi kung/qigong practitioners focus their meditative efforts on the Lower Dantian to generate more internal chi energy in this area to slow down the depletion and promote health, youth and longevity.

Even if you are not interested in longevity, the Dantian should be your major focus for a large part of your qigong training. It is the foundation of qigong meditation training and the reservoir of strength, chi energy, and resilience.

Overall, collecting internal chi in the Dantian also helps to promote health. We call this generation and amassing of energy the Cauldron of Elixir.

Step #3:

This step is optional. If this is your first time practicing chakra meditation and you are not yet sensitive to the movement of neidan chi or internal chi, you can press firmly or massage on any of the three focal points to get a feel for where you should visualize when doing chakra meditation.

Massaging on these areas will also generate heat and waidan chi or external chi, which will also help in your chakra meditation when generating internal neidan chi.

Step #4:

After that, it is simply a matter of using yogic breathing (see Basic Abdominal Breathing Technique, Alternate Nostril Breathing and Other Yogic Breathing Techniques).

At the same time visualize generating large amounts of neidan chi in the dantian.

When you can feel intense burning heat deep within you that is not uncomfortable to generate, you know you have achieved your goal.

Chakra meditation is probably the most common practice in qigong for jinggong or quiescent meditation and a somewhat less common one in donggong or meditations that involve movement. Practiced regularly, it can be a powerful tool for generating immense concentrations of neidan chi energy in the dantian or the other two focal points.